Hey all,
Thanks for stopping by below you will find a guide on how to play Novis, the goal of this guide it to serve as a starting point for new players to the team so they might understand how to play the sisters competitively and get you from a new player to a fledgling mid table general.
Read this is your interested in learning an effective way to play the team to win games, we’ll go into both tactics and strategy. And what you will want to practice in your first 5-10 games.
Before we start in on what models to take, I want to hit on some fundamentals on how the team often plays, and what your goals will largely be in most situations.
How the team plays
the team is fragile, it is 3rd to last in number of wounds in the game with only 2 elf teams with all 3 apl with less. So playing novis, you will lose most of your models as soon as they are targeted, even with faith points barring some good math we will get into.
The team has a lot of damage output, 7 models with profiles poised to do 9 damage or more when supported by faith dice means while you wont survive most attacks, your opponent will be fearing yours.
The team is also incredibly and has the ability to shut down key shots from your opponent.
The team is also incredibly and has the ability to shut down key shots from your opponent.
This mix of low survivability, high damage output, high mobility and shot nullification is the winning combo for novis.
to some readers this might sound surprising as the team heals and also has ways to mitigate damage. But these features of the team aren’t in a functional enough state to make the team competitively viable, so are mostly dismissed or left to the highest end of play to grab the smallest of advantages in niche situations. There are many a novi hopeful that tried to lean into not dying, only to be sadly disappointed.
to some readers this might sound surprising as the team heals and also has ways to mitigate damage. But these features of the team aren’t in a functional enough state to make the team competitively viable, so are mostly dismissed or left to the highest end of play to grab the smallest of advantages in niche situations. There are many a novi hopeful that tried to lean into not dying, only to be sadly disappointed.
Fundamentals on acts of faith, and faith points
Faith points are often best spent on offense for a few reasons:
In the 2024 approved ops and with the shadow of counteract more activations later in the game on weak operatives can prove to be quite the disadvantage. Why spend your resource to give your opponent’s best operatives more actions?
punishing on expended operatives means 2 faith points to make a hit a crit change 2 dice, not one. so while there is an old adage “dice rolled closer to last are always more important” (often meaning changing defense dice is better than offense dice that are rolled first) this doesn’t hold true when you are getting twice the impact for half the spend.
activation count is everything, have 1-2 more operatives than your opponent is crushing, faith dice allow you to manipulate your activation advantage in either offense or defense, but novi snow ball quite well if they eliminate threats from you opponent.
punishing on expended operatives means 2 faith points to make a hit a crit change 2 dice, not one. so while there is an old adage “dice rolled closer to last are always more important” (often meaning changing defense dice is better than offense dice that are rolled first) this doesn’t hold true when you are getting twice the impact for half the spend.
activation count is everything, have 1-2 more operatives than your opponent is crushing, faith dice allow you to manipulate your activation advantage in either offense or defense, but novi snow ball quite well if they eliminate threats from you opponent.
so this basic idea of embrace fragility, offensive ability, mobility and shooting nullification > defense manipulation and healing will impact the rest of our decisions around the team.
Team Selection
We want to do damage with faith dice, and improve mobility, to this end there is a pretty easy set of 10 operatives we bright by default
1- Sister Superior with plasma pistol and power weapon
hot lethal 5+ means this is always strictly better than relic bolter due to punishing
2- Novitiate with a flamer (Purgatus)
This 2+ profile can get reliable shoots at the start of the turn while we wait to for punishing on expended operatives to take effect later in the turn. Its also worth noting that blaze tokens klling an operative can be crushing for the opponent as they essentially have to pass their activation.
1- Novitiate Dialogus
This comms gives us ability for two for one kills, and harasses our opponents with a no reroll area on the field. Keep in mind that you can also give comms from the token you place so even tho APL comms is 6” and visible you have two places on the board where you can measure that from, so this comms can really pass along APL.
1- Novitiate Reliquaries
This lady grants us the faith points we need to confirm attacks, and has the icon bearer ability that allows her to lock down objectives.
1- Novitiate with a rod and bold thrower (Condemnor)
This is the only long range option with about a 50% chance to deal 10 damage on a shot. This is one of the better snipers in the game as there is no heavy restriction and near the preceptor this operative gets serve.
1- Novitiate with two whips (Exactor)
This operative can buff others for extended charge or shooting ranges, stun enemies, melee low-wound foes, or act as a sacrifice. It is one of the most agile team members, adaptable to various roles in different games.
1- Novitiate with an eviscerator (Penitent)
Penitent is a versatile model in combat, with a 60% chance of confirming 2 critical hits for 12 damage. She can consistently deals around 11 damage per fight. With a brutal melee profile and rerolls at the start of fights, Penitent stands out as a key melee operative. The ability to fight twice in one activation makes her a threat to almost any opponent. Mastering game-winning combos like charge, double fight, krak grenade or charge, double fight, loot can elevate your gameplay.
9- Novitiate with twohanded mace (Preceptor)
The preceptor significantly increases the condemnor's chance of dealing 10 damage from around 50% to over 70% when supported by faith points. She also acts as a strong defensive position, dealing 5 damage before being removed from the board. However, her 4+ profile makes her too inconsistent to rely on as an aggressive melee threat.
10- Novitiate with two short swords and a holstered pistol l (duelist)
The duelist always gives you one of two results in melee, great or unfairly great. The ability to parry and hit twice in a row means confirming two crits on this operative leaves a ton of chance you will be pushing 3 or 4 attack dice if you are on the offensive. When this is also backed up by the exactor this melee threat can regularly remove any fight toting marine.
Game Setup
In setup there are a lot of things to think about during deployment, the top few for novis to keep in mind
Vs elites try to deploy 1/5/4
Elites on most open maps are good for this team, the idea is that you only play two objectives, and threaten the 3rd with only 1 model that can flex into the center. Is should feel as though you are playing 9 vs 5 eliets on one side of the board, or 6 v 9 but capping one point. Never play across all 3 points and bully models off points.
Spread out your shooting profiles and your melee threats
Most of the time you will want to ensure each lane has 1 shooting threat and 1 melee threat. So pairing flamers with melee is often a great way to play a side of the board.
Stage your flamers to threaten but not be lost
Whe deploying and staging flamers, its almost never worth to place them in a spot where they can be shoot or killed during an alpha turning point 2. Save flamers for later in the game or mid TP 2 if they cant get the alpha off. you will want to trade pretty much any other piece.
Bully the center with the threat of a 3 apl leader
The leader should often aim to deny movement on the board mostly in the center of the board. The leader is there to disrupt the enemy’s plan and try to styring together a double kill. This often means the leder cannot be placed on the side of the board as they can then be ignored.
Think of the leader as the queen equvlistnt from chess on this team. You often doesn’t want to trade the queen for any other 1 piece. If an alpha can get off a double kill that’s awesome, but if not a leader alpha is often not worth it even into 6 model teams.
Game plan
In this section ill go over what you will want to try to pecice together in your first few games and go from there. These examples wont win you every game, but after performing them 3-5 times your ability to understand how the team wins will go up a lot. So don’t think of these as one simple trick, but more like where to start and deviate from once you understand.
Ploys
This is gernerraly the best way to spen ploys though out the 4 turns
TP 1 - none
TP 2 - Ardent Vengeance. Righteous Advance, Blinding Aura
TP3 - Ardent Vengeance, Blinding Aura
TP 4 – blind aura or Righteous Advance
TP 2 - Ardent Vengeance. Righteous Advance, Blinding Aura
TP3 - Ardent Vengeance, Blinding Aura
TP 4 – blind aura or Righteous Advance
Again this isn’t the only way to play ploys obviously. But this is what you should be thinking about. Turning point one no exchanges should be happening. Turning point two you will want to start with using good profiles like flamers and 3+ melee then near the end of the turn rely on punishing on expended to keep damage going thru.
Starting out combos
Combo 1
One of the most impactful things about the team is the long range they can achieve. This is often easiest exploited by the flamers. The idea is to stage a flamer 13.9 inches away from a group of enemy operatives give that flamer +1 apl with the comms, win initiative, then dash in the strat phase with righteous advance, then move, dash, shoot. This allows you 12 inches of movement with 2+ inches for shooting no cover. It can also be paired with seek light ploy to great effect. Getting this or threatening this play at the end of turning point one into turning point two is something all new players should look to do.
Combo 2
Another great think about the team in binding aura, it can stop shooting and allow access to parts of the board that would otherwise be deadly to your operatives. One way to push this advantage is to pair it with smoke, like this: a friendly melee operative goes in a kills an enemy operative. The enemy then activates looking to remove Blinding aura, so shoots targeting the melee. Then you throw a smoke to provide that operative obscuring for the rest of the turn. This BA into Smoke trick can make what would be otherwise bad trades more in your favor by protecting the operative OR making enemy operatives come closer for a revenge kill.
Combo 3
The last game ending combo to look out for when starting out is a Charge, fight, fight, shoot. This is often best done by the duelist or preceptor but any melee operative other than the leader can do. The idea is to take your melee operative and give them +1 move and free fight from the exactor AND +1 apl from your comms. If your duelist has both of these buffs you can ritous advance for pretty much a 11 inch charge, go into a elite gunner or fists, kill that operative, then throw a krak into another. This tick also works by giving the penitent just +1 apl. Bulky operatives or low wound operatives you can kill in combat means you either remove an elite and injury another OR maybe get 3 kills in one activation.
Looking forward
this is a first version of this guide and as I get more requests for info I will keep adding my thoughts on how to best play this awesome team, keep checking back for updates, or send me a email at disregardingdice@gmail.com for a burning question you may have about the team.
thanks for reading!
thanks for reading!