Bonzi

Modifiers can't exceed more than +1/-1 in total. In this instance indirect fire will impose a -1 to hit and the target will gain cover, so +1 to their save not to exceed a 3+ save. Heavy grants +1 to hit if the weapon has not moved. So indirect fire + heavy cancel out and leave you at a 5+. If you are shooting indirect fire and have not moved and your or the target grants a +1 to hit based on yield, that's a -1 and +2 to hit, putting you at a 4+. Shooting direct with heavy and with a yield bonus is 2+ to hit, but the modifier limit again puts you at a 4+ to hit. So 50/50 hitting at best and indirect fire will cancel out your AP -1. At max 10 dice shot with max hit bonus will get you 5 hits, assume 3+ to wound vs most infantry targets means 3-4 wounds with no rend....you're probably killing 1 Marine per mortar. My assumption is that the units special rule isn't shown which may make targeted units move slower or remove cover. These mortars are probably utility units, not straight damage output.

I do like the Crusade. I had hoped this edition would see Crusade expanded and improved in the books but honestly it was mostly a copy paste from the previous edition. Natchmund Gauntlet was a fantastic book but the wave reinforcements were needlessly complicated. I personally think some of the deep strike mechanics in Natchmund were testbeds to make deep strike and reserves more interesting in the next edition.

Well, 3 year vs 6 year is a distinction without a difference if we have to eat an index every three years. Don't get me wrong, they did a decent job on the indexes....but that's a punishment cycle for whoever is the last three dexes of the edition. I already think GWs sales of the late dexes are gonna suffer after what they did to World Eaters and Guard last edition....here's your book...and it's no longer relevant.

I hope and pray to the emperor that we don't go index again. I'm sick of the dex grind and don't want to reset to index again. That said, I think the writing is on the wall that when Sisters do get their new dex, miracle dice are gone. GW has learned the dice substitute mechanic does not balance well.

I don't know as I would assume sisters will get much of a point change in November. We are on the last few dexes for the edition and decent odds has them announcing the next edition early next year. Unless an army is massively underperforming I wouldn't expect the next point balance to be revolutionary because by November we will be in the end game of the edition.

Don't forget our humble Dialogus. Turning any miracle dice used for her unit into a six is great tech for getting use out of low roll miracle dice. That plus a one off removing battleshock from a unit within 12" is great given how cheap she is points wise. Double value for the Detachment that lets units use two miracle dice.

Rule of cool is just as important as viability in a lot of ways. If a unit makes you happy, make sure to get it into your list. Win or lose, a rule of cool army always wins. It also helps with motivation for painting models. I love the shear utility of Seraphim. They're great utility/action units, they're dangerous on overwatch, and great harassment. Put the cannoness in one squad and Celestine in the other. Guaranteed fun.

If you're running the Army of Faith detachment, I'd say the biggest thing you're missing is another squad of Seraphim/Zypherim. Most of the strats for that detachment key off of being area of effect if a jump squad is nearby. With only one squad your opportunities are limited. Some melee punch wouldn't be terrible. If you want to win melee you'll probably need arcos. If you just need to slow down melee threats 5 man Sacresants or Penitent engines will do well. I like Mortifers because they come with twin heavy bolters which is a lot of Dakka and makes them a good utility unit that can do actions, shoot well, and can threaten weakened units. Personally I love Exorcists as an iconic Sisters unit and an amazing model...but this edition they've never done anything but disappoint me. D6+2 shots on damage D6 weapons....it's guaranteed to break your heart every time. GW has really over priced these guys because of their indirect fire. Another Castigator will do more damage and improve the rest of your army more, for fewer points.

I ran the Sisters out against some Space Marines after the latest balance patch. I would say with the new changes we now at least have two good detachments in Martyrs and Champions. Zephrim feel better without the miracle spend for their abilities. Retributors now are at least a neutral choice rather than being bad. I don't understand how Castigators got a points drop rather than the Exorcist. Generically I would say we should be closer to that 50% win rate that they kicked us down from.

The models are fantastic but I agree with the Goonhammer review that the unit at 100pts doesn't really give us anything we need. It's just another infantry unit competing for the same roles as Battle sisters, Novitiates, and Dominions. I do like how many flamers the unit can carry and there are some fun rules in there, especially the miracle lady who can open hand slap someone for 3 damage devastating wounds

Well, it looks like the balance update is in and we have a partial walk back of the miracle dice nerf, and a handful of units getting a welcome points cut. Now we at least get a miracle dice for every unit which dies so overall we are down by probably 1/3rd of our miracle dice rather than 2/3rds. Arcos, Repentia, Sacresants, Seraphim, Zypherim, and Dominions all taking a cut are welcome. The disappointments for me are Retributors and the Exorcist remaining inexcusably over-costed. I also think they should have taken back the nerf to Bringers of Flame range.

I think a lot of the points will get walked back and hopefully the rule nerf to Bringers of Flame. I don't think they'll fully walk back the miracle dice because it's very apparent from the Eldar changes and these nerfs, GW has real heartburn around the dice substitution mechanic. I would bet money that in the next edition the mechanic will be gone entirely. The shame of this is the entire codex is built around using miracle dice....you can't just take them away without revisiting every unit that uses or generates miracle dice. So we have a dex built around a mechanic that GW clearly wants to phase out which probably means we will be in some amount of limbo until a new edition drops.

I will say a month on from the nerf bat, I have put Sisters on the table in the last couple weeks and have had success. I have built skew lists just to goof off based around a few key assumptions. #1. Don't build around miracle dice, it isn't worth it and you won't get enough to matter. Spending points to improve or manage that resource is a waste of time. #2. Most of our units are too expensive and too fragile and our characters have too little impact to be worth the cost of adding them to units. #3. Hallowed Martyr has the best generic buffs and the most useful and affordable strats. In all my lists my biggest focus has been on spamming basic sisters squads, rhinos, and immolators as the core. 40-50 Sisters hitting the table with a lot of Rhino hulls for mobility. One to two characters max. I don't bother with Seraphim, Zephyrim, Sacresants, or Retributors....they all cost too much and dies to easy. I focus almost entirely around board control and performing actions for score. The lists can kill in aggregate, but individual units usually don't do much at all, just chip damage that adds up. Sisters are frail, but 40-50 3+ saves along with and 40-60 wounds worth of T9/10 vehicles takes time to chew through and most armies build units around taking down dangerous targets. Those units fail to make much impact when they can only kill a Rhino or 5 Sisters a turn. I have won the games I've played but even in winning, it doesn't feel very satisfying. It's hard not to ask your opponent 'you pay how much for that unit?' or 'your army rule lets you do what!?' and then feel upset at how bland or over-costed Sisters feel by comparison. Miracle dice feel...pointless. Granted some of that is that I didn't build my list to use or improve them...but I'm only using one per turn max, less if I'm only rolling duds. I love Sisters and I'm happy I have found ways to win with them in their current state and I did have fun making skew horde lists that surprised opponents. But I will say for every bit of fun I had, there was an equal measure of frustration or disappointment for how raw the faction is right now.

It makes a lot of utility choices strong on their own. Tomb Blades, Triarch Praetorians, and Triarch Stalker were able to do more than just complete actions and hold points. With the +1 to hit those units punched above their weight in the games I've played.

It's certainly the best detachment for them but at the end of the day, AnniBarges just don't do much that's unique or interesting. The splash mortals are nice but not reliable. +1 to hit vs targets on objectives is nice and the reroll 1s from a CCB lord is good too, but at the end of the day it's still only St 8 AP 0 attacks. Damage 2 is nice but with no rend you need volume and barges just don't have volume unless you're super hot on the 6s. It's a gun that's good against tough multiwound models that don't have good armor saves.....that's an incredibly narrow niche. The times I've brought a single AnniBarge this edition they've been nice chip damage and are pretty tough with a 4++ but I've always struggled to get my value from them. By contrast the Starshatter rules and reroll CCB can lift Doomstalkers and Doomsday Arks to some really high lethality and those units are dangerous enough to benefit from the durability strats of the detachment.