Welcome back to Vantage Point, the Kill Team tactics series that equips itself with 10 EP of strategic know-how and leaves the frag grenades at home. We recently observed the elite T’au Pathfinders as they prepare the ground to reinvade the Vedik system, and now it’s time to prepare your Adepta Sororitas Novitiates to meet this threat. Kill Team Designer and budding drill abbot Elliot Hamer is on hand to offer his sage advice.
Elliot: The Novitiates are a skill-based kill team who rely on divine acts to perform at their best. Their relatively average characteristics and 10-model count may at first seem tough to use, but with the right Acts of Faith, you can wield a team that punches far above its weight. Here are a few tips for getting the best out of this Adepta Sororitas kill team.
Faith
The Acts of Faith ability is intrinsic to Novitiate kill teams, allowing a human to perform above expectations courtesy of divine intervention from the Emperor! A key activation can be transformed with the right use of Faith points to turn the tide of the battle in an instant, so lean on this ability as much as possible.
Familiarise yourself with how they work, maximise how many you generate by including the Pronatus and carefully selecting your equipment, and have your key combos ready.
Hallowed Ground
The Novitiates have a lot of rules that take effect in a certain area of the killzone. This gives them a presence on the table that makes up for their relatively low model count for a team with an average of 7 Wounds. Here are a few examples:
You can use the Novitiate Reliquarius’ Plant the Icon action and the Condemnor’s Null Rod ability to make it difficult for enemy operatives to take control of contested objectives.
Use the Novitiate Dialogus’ Auto-Broadcaster action and a Novitiate Preceptor’s Unflinching Determination ability to hinder your opponent’s capacity to make successful shooting attacks, particularly when you’re backing up your defence dice with Acts of Faith.
Concentrated Aggression
Key operatives can concentrate powerful attacks on groups of enemy units. Even if they get taken down in retaliation, it has forced your opponent to deal with them while your other operatives take control of the table.
The Novitiate Penitent, when whipped into a frenzy from the Novitiate Exactor, has a larger charge distance. Once you enter the Engagement Range of the first enemy, you can still continue the charge, you just can’t leave it. Tag numerous enemy operatives, then cause havoc with the Reap special rule and Absolution Through Destruction action. Even if the Penitent goes down, they’ve earned their redemption and then some!
With the Burning Advance action and the Burning Wrath Tactical Ploy, the Novitiate Purgatus can set an inferno in the enemy’s lines, incinerating enemy operatives gathering for an attack. Even just injuring multiple enemy operatives can slow them down enough so they can’t reach a key location in the killzone.
A Novitiate Superior with +1APL from the Dialogus can charge, fight with a power weapon, and shoot with a plasma pistol, then chain activate one of the aforementioned operatives with Lead By Example. This is a combo with frightening damage potential!
Suppressing Fire
The Novitiate kill team is at its best up-close with the enemy. They don’t have many high-end ranged weapons, so you’ll often need to move under Conceal orders in earlier Turning Points to set up your big attacks.
The downside of this is that your opponent can liberally apply the Engage order and shoot you as you move forward. Try to use deterrents, such as the Novitiate Condemnor or other operatives backed up with the Eyes of the Emperor and Sanctified Rounds Strategic Ploys.Keeping these deterrent operatives ready, and activating your other operatives first, means your opponent will have to think about the risk of engaging. If they shoot your operatives pushing up the table, you have your deterrents to shoot back. The prospect of getting shot by a silent Condemnor stakethrower backed up with Acts of Faith is quite daunting.
Vary Your Roster
Don’t forget, Kill Team is a roster-based game – you select operatives from an extended list that are most suited for the mission, terrain, where your drop zone is, and your opponent’s faction. The Novitiates have plenty of different options, and it's worth getting a good understanding of all the different roles they fill.
Don’t be afraid to leave operatives on the bench for a game. Having ten who all excel at a specialist task but who aren't flexible enough to adapt mid-battle can be unforgiving, so don’t overlook the humble Novitiate Militant. With a Damage characteristic of 4/5 and Balanced on their Novitiate blade, they are excellent deterrents to eager enemy operatives trying to breach your lines. They’re also great candidates for risky objective captures or as the first line of defence to keep more valuable operatives safe.
Thanks for the strategic knowledge, Elliot. You can order your copy of Kill Team: Chalnath now or go deeper into the world of spec-ops skirmish battles with the Kill Team: Compendium, which contains rules for almost every faction found in Warhammer 40,000. We’re nearly done covering all of the new kill teams so far, but don’t get comfortable – the new year brings new possibilities, and Vantage Point will be there to guide you through.