She also picks up a 6” heroic and is that much nastier in a fight, with her blade going to AP-4 and doing two automatic mortals and ending the attack sequence on a six to hit. In the shooting phase Stern fires off a Smite type attack, buffed if there are any Chaos units nearby. This appears to be an attempt to support the incredibly awesome Pious Vorne Blackstone Fortress model.

Blessings of the Faithful are a new set of rules that allow you to upgrade the Canoness and Palatine units in your army in a similar way that Space Marine players are able to upgrade their Librarians and Apothecaries.Inspiring Orator has also gotten some boosts, which gives +3” to hymns or Command abilities, and also grants an aura that allows CORE units within 6” to ignore the Combat Attrition penalty for being below Half Strength. Catechism of Repugnance improves bolt weapons for one nearby Adepta Sororitas Core/Character unit within 6″. When starting out your Crusade you’ll select an Adepta Sororitas Character to be marked for Sainthood and that Character will gain the Saint Potentia keyword. In addition, the Dogmata allows a nearby unit to perform an action and still Shoot and can bestow the Objective Secured rule on target unit too! Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom.

You are likely to have fewer Miracle dice than before, but this is definitely helpful for making sure that you’ve got a 6 on hand whenever you need one. These vary from destroying enemy models, passing invulnerable saves, using certain Stratagems or even collecting Battle Scars. Essentially, small units of these are still great line infantry, and there’s a real angle on going big in the new book.Psalm of Righteous Smiting buffs the melee prowess of the Priest themselves, increasing attacks, strength and armour penetration of their melee attacks. A decent stratagem, especially if you have units with high shot volume – massed bolters under Defenders of the Faith (see below) seem like a good pick here.

The upside she gets in trade for these things is the standard Chapter Master full hit re-rolls buff for a Martyred Lady unit, and improved combat capabilities (gaining strength and AP in melee and strength on her flamers). On the attack the Abbess does not pull any punches either with access to a dual profile melee weapon to deal with both hordes or tougher targets in addition to two ranged weapons, a buffed up Heavy Bolter and a pretty nifty missile lancher. Once per battle round you can change the value of a Miracle dice used for an Act of Faith to a 6 for a nearby Core or Character unit. Overall this is a surprisingly sweeping set of changes to a stratagem section that didn’t exactly feel like it was underperforming. That’s a little easier said than done, to be fair, because getting rid of Celestine for good is a bigger challenge than ever.The Pulpit of Saint Holline’s Basilica substantially different, now Infantry within 6″ count as being in light cover. Each time a unit with this conviction makes a Normal Move or Advance Move it counts as having Remained Stationary until the end of your Shooting phase. Finally Light of the Emperor has been rewritten in line with the new Morale mechanics in 9th edition, meaning the affected unit ignores all modifiers to it’s Leadership and during Combat Attrition tests.

A cheap character with access to the Blessings of the Faithful will be a useful addition in most lists I think.

Holy Vanguard ability allows this squad and a Transport it is embarked upon to make a Normal Move of up to 6″. As before, this allows you to re-roll hit rolls for melee attacks in a turn where your unit charged, was charged, or made a Heroic Intervention. War Hymn adds 1 to the attacks characteristic of one nearby Adepta Ministorum Core/Character or Engine of Redeption unit within 6″.