Acts of Faith
To the new or veteran'd coming back to play Sisters of Battle from 3rd, 4th, or even earlier to 5th Edition, Acts of Faith back then and right now is what makes playing Sisters of Battle the army viable. If you have picked up a copy of the 5th Edition codex (White Dwarf Issue 380-381 UK and 379-380 US) and glance at the different abilities that all of the units have and their Acts of Faith, it can be a lot to take in to remember what they do and how and most certainly when to use them.
So here are all of the Acts of Faith for every unit in the 5th Edition codex.
So here are all of the Acts of Faith for every unit in the 5th Edition codex.
Faith Points
Lets start off with possibly the most important thing you need to do before you move in your Movement Phase. Roll a D6 and see how many Faith Points you can potentially get. If you roll a 2, you get 2 Faith Points for your army that turn (Unless you take Uriah Jacobus, Protector of the Faith who allows you to re-roll the dice to determine the number of Faith Points you can have EACH TURN).
Shield of Faith
To begin, almost every Sisters of Battle unit has Shield of Faith. Models with Shield of Faith special rule have a 6+ invulnerable save! This means that nearly everything can be saved if melta'd or is being attacked by twice the Toughness value of a Sisters unit (3 for the most part). The biggest benefit from Shield of Faith is that ALL Sisters of Battle vehicles get a 6+ invulnerable save! This doesn't mean you shouldn't take extra armour (unless you have had bad luck or want more points elsewhere) but it definitely helps advert a melta round or a powerfist even.
HQ
Saint Celestine - Shield of Faith
Canoness – Shield of Faith, The Passion
Uriah Jacobus, Protector of the Faith - Shield of Faith
Ecclesiarchy Confessor - Shield of Faith
Battle Conclave - None
Elites
Ecclesiarchy Priests – Shield of Faith
Sisters Repentia - Shield of Faith, Spirit of the Martyr
Troops
Battle Sisters – Shield of Faith, Light of the Emperor
Dedicated Transport
Rhino – Shield of Faith
Immolator – Shield of Faith
Fast Attack
Dominion Squads – Shield of Faith, Holy Fusillade
Heavy Support
Retributor Squads – Shield of Faith, Divine Guidance
Exorcist – Shield of Faith
How to use your Faith Points
At first using Acts of Faith can be daunting or confusing; more likely the quandary.
Say I have a Battle Sisters squad of 20 Sisters comprised of 1 Sister Superior with a Power Sword and Bolt Pistol, 1 Simulacrum Imperialis, 1 Flamer, and 1 Multi-Melta and the rest are all Battle Sisters regulars. That is a lot of Bolters that you are firing at 24 inches, plus the Multi-Melta you'd be firing. Now say you are within double tap range of 12 inches. That is one heck of a punch of Bolter rounds into the enemy.
What if 2/3's or better missed in either the To Hit part of the Shooting Phase; 1's across the table. Did you forget to use the Light of the Emperor Act of Faith? If you did you'd be kicking yourself. Now say that you wanted to use Light of Emperor before shooting just in case any 1's you rolled happened on To Hit. You now have a good chance of hitting more enemies with 17 Bolters (16 regulars + 1 Simulacrum Imperialis with a Bolter) and 1 Multi-Melta shot.
To use Light of Emperor, roll a D6 and on a 5+ you have successfully used an Act of Faith. Now that may seem difficult, you have only a 33% of rolling a 5 or 6. BUT to help you with achieving your Acts of Faith without having any troubles you have a few options. First of which are these:
If you caught on then you noticed that it is not too difficult rolling Acts of Faith right now. On a roll of a 2 you could still get all three of these additives and be able to use an Act of Faith.
Lets say its Turn 2 and you are shooting with your Battle Sisters Squad as described earlier except you have lost one regular Battle Sister to plasma fire. You are within double tap range of an Ork horde and a little more so with your Flamer. You didn't move in the last Movement Phase so your Multi-Melta can fire. So you unleash holy fury upon the green skins. You roll your D6 for using Light of the Emperor before you shoot and you roll a 2. You have your Sister Superior and have lost 1 Battle Sister already, thats +2 to the result and its still not enough to use Light of the Emperor (5+).
But wait! All is not lost, you brought a Simulacrum Imperialis! You can re-roll your result and see if you can bring holy fire upon these xenos! You roll a D6 again and roll a 4, REJOICE! With the additives you now have a 6! All of your To Hit misses of a 1 can be re-rolled! You target the green scum and lay waste to the horde.
Lets now say that half of your shots hit and a quarter of them were all 1's including that Multi-Melta shot. With Light of the Emperor, you can rejoice and re-roll those 1's and half of those hit too! Out of the seventeen Bolter rounds that were double tapped (34 shots +1 if the Superior's pistol hit even) you have unleased 66% of the possible Bolter rounds into the green tide (24 shots). While the Flame template auto-hits, you still have achieved enough damage alone with Boltguns to make the xenos break morale and turn tide. Victory!
You can see how re-rolling helped you win that skirmish against the xenos threat. If you didn't use Light of the Emperor, you would have only had about a 50% chance of doing anything on the To Hit part of this attack and maybe not as well on the To Wound. Having the ability to re-roll your misses of a 1 is a very powerful thing indeed, and so are all Acts of Faith.
To help you with Acts of Faith in the fight here is a checklist for you to memorize or carry around that will help you play Sisters of Battle.
1. Roll for Faith Points before Movement
2. Use any Acts of Faith in the Movement Phase if needed. (5+ to be successful with additive modifiers)
After your turn is over the remaining, if any, Faith Points are lost. Repeat this list every time it is your turn.
In the end, it is up to YOU to know these Acts of Faith and how and when to use your Faith Points!
Lets start off with possibly the most important thing you need to do before you move in your Movement Phase. Roll a D6 and see how many Faith Points you can potentially get. If you roll a 2, you get 2 Faith Points for your army that turn (Unless you take Uriah Jacobus, Protector of the Faith who allows you to re-roll the dice to determine the number of Faith Points you can have EACH TURN).
Shield of Faith
To begin, almost every Sisters of Battle unit has Shield of Faith. Models with Shield of Faith special rule have a 6+ invulnerable save! This means that nearly everything can be saved if melta'd or is being attacked by twice the Toughness value of a Sisters unit (3 for the most part). The biggest benefit from Shield of Faith is that ALL Sisters of Battle vehicles get a 6+ invulnerable save! This doesn't mean you shouldn't take extra armour (unless you have had bad luck or want more points elsewhere) but it definitely helps advert a melta round or a powerfist even.
- Don't forget that you can use this if you are not in cover, if you are, just use the 4+ cover save. Popping smoke gives you a 4+ cover save, a Rosarius has a 4+ invul. save, an iron halo gives a 4+ invul. save, Storm Shields have a 3+ invul. save, using any one of these would therefore make Shield of Faith is useless that turn.
HQ
Saint Celestine - Shield of Faith
Canoness – Shield of Faith, The Passion
- The Passion: A Canoness leads her Sisters through the chaos of melee, striking at their foes with a special hatred born out of holy fervour. This Act of Faith is used in the Assault phase. If successful, the Canoness and her unit receive +1 Initiative and the Preferred Enemy special rule until the end of the Assault phase.
- Endless Crusade: Limbs do not tire when the spirit of the Emperor moves them, but find fresh strength in their righteous work. This Act of Faith is used in the Movement phase. If successful the unit gains the Relentless and the Move Through Cover special rules until the end of the turn.
Uriah Jacobus, Protector of the Faith - Shield of Faith
Ecclesiarchy Confessor - Shield of Faith
Battle Conclave - None
Elites
Ecclesiarchy Priests – Shield of Faith
Sisters Repentia - Shield of Faith, Spirit of the Martyr
- Spirit of the Martyr: the Sisters Repentia summon the strength to land one final blow. This Act of Faith is used in the Assault phase. If successful, do not remove any models in the unit if they are killed before they have attacked. Instead, place them on their side. After all other models involved in the assault have made their attacks, any mortally injured model placed on its side gets to make a single attack. After these attacks have been made, any models on their side are removed as casualties.
- Hand of the Emperor: Celestians call upon the Emperor to grant them the courage and the strength to strike down their foes. This Act of Faith is used in the Assault phase. If successful, the unit gains +1 Strength and the Fearless special rule until the end of the phase.
Troops
Battle Sisters – Shield of Faith, Light of the Emperor
- Light of the Emperor: Armed with their faith in the Emperor, Battle Sisters are driven to great feats of prowess. This Act of Faith can be used in the Movement phase, the Shooting phase or the Assault phase. If used in the Movement phase when the Battle Sisters squad is falling back, the unit immediately regroups, despite any normal restrictions. If used in the Shooting or Assault phase, the unit re-rolls any failed To Hit rolls of a 1 until the end of that phase. Note that the same squad can use Light of the Emperor in two or more phases if you choose, but a separate Faith Point and Act of Faith test are required in each phase.
Dedicated Transport
Rhino – Shield of Faith
Immolator – Shield of Faith
Fast Attack
Dominion Squads – Shield of Faith, Holy Fusillade
- Holy Fusillade: Praying to the Emperor to focus his wrath through their weapons, the Dominions unleash a storm of firepower. This Act of Faith is used in the Shooting phase. If successful, the unit’s weapons count as being twin-linked until the end of the phase.
- The Emperor's Deliverance: As the Seraphim recite rites of destruction, every shot becomes a mortal blow. This Act of Faith is used in the Shooting phase. If successful, the unit’s Shooting attacks re-roll any failed To Wound rolls until the end of the phase.
Heavy Support
Retributor Squads – Shield of Faith, Divine Guidance
- Divine Guidance: Guided by the will of the Emperor, the Retributors’ shots shatter their enemies’ armour with contemptuous ease. This Act of Faith is used in the Shooting phase. If successful, the unit’s weapons gain Rending until the end of the phase.
Exorcist – Shield of Faith
How to use your Faith Points
At first using Acts of Faith can be daunting or confusing; more likely the quandary.
Say I have a Battle Sisters squad of 20 Sisters comprised of 1 Sister Superior with a Power Sword and Bolt Pistol, 1 Simulacrum Imperialis, 1 Flamer, and 1 Multi-Melta and the rest are all Battle Sisters regulars. That is a lot of Bolters that you are firing at 24 inches, plus the Multi-Melta you'd be firing. Now say you are within double tap range of 12 inches. That is one heck of a punch of Bolter rounds into the enemy.
What if 2/3's or better missed in either the To Hit part of the Shooting Phase; 1's across the table. Did you forget to use the Light of the Emperor Act of Faith? If you did you'd be kicking yourself. Now say that you wanted to use Light of Emperor before shooting just in case any 1's you rolled happened on To Hit. You now have a good chance of hitting more enemies with 17 Bolters (16 regulars + 1 Simulacrum Imperialis with a Bolter) and 1 Multi-Melta shot.
To use Light of Emperor, roll a D6 and on a 5+ you have successfully used an Act of Faith. Now that may seem difficult, you have only a 33% of rolling a 5 or 6. BUT to help you with achieving your Acts of Faith without having any troubles you have a few options. First of which are these:
- Do you have a superior of any sort within the squad, alive? If so then +1 to the result you rolled.
- Have you had any casualties within the squad? If so then +1 to the result you rolled.
- Have you had an independent character from your army or an allied army that is also Sisters of Battle? If so then +1 to the result you rolled.
If you caught on then you noticed that it is not too difficult rolling Acts of Faith right now. On a roll of a 2 you could still get all three of these additives and be able to use an Act of Faith.
Lets say its Turn 2 and you are shooting with your Battle Sisters Squad as described earlier except you have lost one regular Battle Sister to plasma fire. You are within double tap range of an Ork horde and a little more so with your Flamer. You didn't move in the last Movement Phase so your Multi-Melta can fire. So you unleash holy fury upon the green skins. You roll your D6 for using Light of the Emperor before you shoot and you roll a 2. You have your Sister Superior and have lost 1 Battle Sister already, thats +2 to the result and its still not enough to use Light of the Emperor (5+).
But wait! All is not lost, you brought a Simulacrum Imperialis! You can re-roll your result and see if you can bring holy fire upon these xenos! You roll a D6 again and roll a 4, REJOICE! With the additives you now have a 6! All of your To Hit misses of a 1 can be re-rolled! You target the green scum and lay waste to the horde.
Lets now say that half of your shots hit and a quarter of them were all 1's including that Multi-Melta shot. With Light of the Emperor, you can rejoice and re-roll those 1's and half of those hit too! Out of the seventeen Bolter rounds that were double tapped (34 shots +1 if the Superior's pistol hit even) you have unleased 66% of the possible Bolter rounds into the green tide (24 shots). While the Flame template auto-hits, you still have achieved enough damage alone with Boltguns to make the xenos break morale and turn tide. Victory!
You can see how re-rolling helped you win that skirmish against the xenos threat. If you didn't use Light of the Emperor, you would have only had about a 50% chance of doing anything on the To Hit part of this attack and maybe not as well on the To Wound. Having the ability to re-roll your misses of a 1 is a very powerful thing indeed, and so are all Acts of Faith.
To help you with Acts of Faith in the fight here is a checklist for you to memorize or carry around that will help you play Sisters of Battle.
1. Roll for Faith Points before Movement
2. Use any Acts of Faith in the Movement Phase if needed. (5+ to be successful with additive modifiers)
- Deduct a Faith Point from the total if successful or unsuccessful (Repeat Step 2 as necessary)
- Move your Units
- Deduct a Faith Point from the total if successful or unsuccessful (Repeat Step 3 as necessary)
- Pick a target and Shoot.
- Deduct a Faith Point from the total if successful or unsuccessful (Repeat Step 4 as necessary)
- Assault
After your turn is over the remaining, if any, Faith Points are lost. Repeat this list every time it is your turn.
In the end, it is up to YOU to know these Acts of Faith and how and when to use your Faith Points!