WH40000 - what's your opinion?

[AngelsSonata]

I received my copy of the codex today and there are a few things that have surprised me so far. Haven't had a proper read through, but seeing the new units like the Dogmata and the new characters Aestred Thurga and Agathae Dolan to be elites. Glad to see Zephyrim are now fast attack choices.

[Andol]

I received my copy of the codex today and there are a few things that have surprised me so far. Haven't had a proper read through, but seeing the new units like the Dogmata and the new characters Aestred Thurga and Agathae Dolan to be elites. Glad to see Zephyrim are now fast attack choices.

Oh dear...putting Zephyrim in fast attack... kind of messes with my list building down the road when it comes to trying to take them beside my dominions... XD

[Ollumhammersong]

it makes alot more sense this way. assault marines are fast attack, so are stormboyz. not sure why they weren't fast attack in 8th

[Andol]

Makes sense... yes... harder on list building though sadly. Plus I have to chose between them and the Seraphim Squad if I want to have the build I do. Which is better for deep striking into backfield and causing havoc? I mean I am sure that will depend on my Order as well... need to look over Bloody Rose again  >:)

Yeah, but Morveen being strong in every list is kind of an issue... a bit meta warping if you don't take her. Though at 2000 points... I would consider it :D

[Ollumhammersong]

You could just take an extra outsider detachment

[Andol]

You could just take an extra outsider detachment

I thought about that, but isn't that two command points... and given the way sisters play... you end up spending a lot of command points to boost them in other ways. It would be something I would need to test actually. It really depends on what kind of bonus's I can stack on the Zyraphiam's power swords. Then again at the same time their are some good relics for the Seraphim, like that plasma pistol that just hits a bunch of stuff in a straight line.

[Ollumhammersong]

Well the other option is scaling up to a brigade. that opens more fast attack slots

[AngelsSonata]

I think I've only seen a few people run Brigade detachments and even then they're horde armies such as Orks, Tyranids and a foot slogging Imperial Guard army. I can't see it being done for Sisters of Battle.

[Ollumhammersong]

I could see it, you just have to have a specific plan in mind going into it. In this instance doing a a horde of nuns so to speak. Lots of bodies for objective grabbing, not falling for the trap overpriced vehicles or warsuits. Having a sort of avenging angel theme with all the fast attack options. Valorous heart or bloody rose certainly, and You would definitely need a solid plan of attack going into a game but I can see it. There's definitely some stratagem combos that could be exploited.

[Andol]

I don't think I am at the point were I would want to scale up to Brigade. I want a chance to try out different Sisters units since I am first starting off and the Battalion level seems the best place to do that. As for the avenging angels... yeah I was going to use Bloody Rose anyway since they give a lot of things that help out in melee. I am getting my copy of the book probably this Saturday and would need some time to study it to find out a nice combo at 1500 points.

What I have seen though... I thought of a nice little combo to maximize my invul saves around the army. Including use of Celestine (Her Warlord trait hands out the +1 invul thing)... a priest using the hymn that boost invul saves... and a Cannoness who has the invul save thing...

After playing my first game I found that being able to use that invul save against a lot of higher - AP style weapons will allow the big blob of Sisters (Now that we can take 20 in a friggen Sqaud) to wade in and do what they do, both in shooting and melee. 

[AngelsSonata]

Be wary of stacking invulnerable saves. As far as I'm aware, there's a cap at modifiers so I think that the three boosts to the invulnerable save will be null and void unless you spread them out between units. I could be wrong, and I'll have to double to check it but I'm fairly certain that they stopped stacking modifiers like that.

Edit: Scratch that I was wrong. I missed the rules regarding the hymns, though the best they'll be is 4+ which is still nothing to sneeze at.

[Andol]

Be wary of stacking invulnerable saves. As far as I'm aware, there's a cap at modifiers so I think that the three boosts to the invulnerable save will be null and void unless you spread them out between units. I could be wrong, and I'll have to double to check it but I'm fairly certain that they stopped stacking modifiers like that.

Edit: Scratch that I was wrong. I missed the rules regarding the hymns, though the best they'll be is 4+ which is still nothing to sneeze at.

Yeah the stacking of the invul is like one of the sisters biggest tactics. You just have to go about it in a different manner in this edition. With the tactic coming down to how you spread it out over the army, but still making sure you get plenty of other hymns too.

[AngelsSonata]

Yeah the stacking of the invul is like one of the sisters biggest tactics. You just have to go about it in a different manner in this edition. With the tactic coming down to how you spread it out over the army, but still making sure you get plenty of other hymns too.

Probably why I never had much luck with them in small games since starting the army last year, though I didn't get many games back then so it was difficult gaining experience. I think with a new codex in line with the new 9th edition rules can help me get better.

[Andol]

In small game I would say to take 'The Preacher' at 25 points a model. They give the war hymn that you need to get +1 to the invul save. Then give your cannoness the warlord trait that does the same thing. Then if you want to get risky at low points... you could make a secondary warlord and give it to them too, with a CP point. It is not that hard to spread around even at lower points. You just have to know how. Just from the experience with my first game I could see how useful that level of invul save would be if it effected every damn model in an army.

Heck even Zepheriam increase their own invul save by one. So by having Celestine as my warlord... yeah... they get the +4 by being near her. XD

[AngelsSonata]

It's an interesting idea and strategy but I just did a quick read-through of stratagems. Unfortunately you cannot use the stratagem to give a character an already selected warlord trait. It must be unique.

[Andol]

It's an interesting idea and strategy but I just did a quick read-through of stratagems. Unfortunately you cannot use the stratagem to give a character an already selected warlord trait. It must be unique.

That is why it is better with the Celestine as your warlord. She gets it already, so words as written it is not a selected one. If this is not the case though, that does free you up to get other ones and leave the invuls to your priest. Do note that most of these only effect CORE, but after looking at the damn book... almost everything worth taking is CORE. My first army is going to be an all infantry force, with no tanks... only Mortifiers as vehicles.   

[AngelsSonata]

I think it might be worth getting in touch with the FAQ department for 40K, but I'm fairly certain that although Celestine is required to take that particular warlord trait, it would no longer be unique as a model on the board would already have it.

[Andol]

Meh I am sure their is still plenty of ways to make sure to get most of your army covered by the shield of faith boost. I was thinking of maybe making my Cannoness my warlord instead.

[Zekromnomnom]

This is unrelated to the miniatures but I was actually wondering about novel recommendations from people. So far I've mostly been listening to Gaunt's Ghosts and the Horus Heresy books and was wondering which books might be good to read to get more perspective on some xenos.

[TheGlyphstone]

Which Xenos do you want perspective on? Different stories use different races as antagonists, or very rarely protagonists.

[Zekromnomnom]

Eldar or ork or tyranid? Almost all of the like eight books I've listened to have dealt with the imperium fighting other human groups, so any of those could be could.

[TheGlyphstone]

Tyranid books are hard because they basically have no characterization to them. There's plenty of stories where they are the bad guys but it's just a backdrop of 'win or they eat us' for the actual protagonists.

For Eldar, the best available is the Path of the Eldar trilogy/omnibus - Path of the Warrior, Path of the Seer, and Path of the Outcast. Each follows a different Eldar protagonist from one Craftworld as they follow different paths in life.

There are two Phoenix Lord novels as well - one about Asurmen, Phoenix Lord of the Dire Avengers, and one about Jain Zarr, Phoenix Lord of the Howling Banshees.

If you're interested in the Dark Eldar, they also have a three-book series/omnibus - Path of the Dark Eldar, naturally.

Orks mostly feature as antagonists, the only PoV story I know of is the old comic Deff Skwadron, but it's a hoot.

As far as books where Orks feature as the enemies, you've got the Beast Arises series from the Heresy era line, there's also a few Ciaphas Cain novels vs. Orks - Caves of Ice and Death or Glory specifically. The War For Armageddon omnibus and the Commissar Yarrick omibus are both heavily Ork-centric antagonist books.

[Zekromnomnom]

I'll go ahead and screenshot that for when I have more credits on my audible and see what I can find. Thanks.

[TheGlyphstone]

Oh, if audiobooks are an option, apparently the Prophet of the Waaauugh audio dramas are also well regarded as an ork PoV story.

[Norwegian One]

Agree with Glyph, stories with Tyranids are mostly with them as the bad guys. Though, there are some pretty good books in that regards. Lucien Soulban's "Desert Raiders" comes to mind. Also a couple of the Ciaphas Cain books ("Duty Calls" and "For the Emperor", if my memory serves me well).