So I've been looking at the 'new' SoB codex and i must say, it is a definite improvement from the old IMHO. I know ima get flamed for this but its pretty plain after a decent look through, there is a very 'competitive' army under all the fuss. Don't get me wrong, it would have been nice to get a real book with the whole shebang, but GW did a good job streamlining the faith system and reworking a 'new' army by fixing some old unit entries and costs.
New faith system good, you say?...Yes. It is now much easier to understand and use compared to the old rolling +/- unit strength. Now nearly any squad can be optimized to successfully cast their act of faith, if your willing to pay the points for the goodies ( similacrum imperialis, priest,etc) Most of the new acts of faith are surprisingly powerful. Rending retributors? Hell yes please! Be it mech'd up in an immolator with RENDING HFs or on the cheap with RENDING HBs, theses guys will find uses...assuming you can tear yourself away from the exorcists and the awesomeness that is penitent engines. With the canoness, you can play match up a little bit with her/her squads acts of faith to make some interesting combos. No longer do you just pile all the armies worth of faith into 1-2 combats, usually involving seraphim. Now it really is more of a army wide thing, so sad.=( You never need more than a few acts of faith a turn anyway, so the d6 faith a turn helps as its an 'infinite' supply of faith. If you're that worried about rolling 1's, just take uriah as he's a steal for what you get.
Exorcists were pretty good to begin with, so not nerfing them is almost as good as not leveling them up. Penitent engines look hella scarier now with up to 8 attacks each on the charge, coupled with unstoppable rampage. I'm guessing we'll be seeing plenty more of them now on. Even Repentia, with increased attacks and spirit of the martyr seem almost.. useful. Battle conclaves seem fun. What happens when you run a 9 man cult assassin unit lead by uriah, in a rhino? Dead marines happen =). Hell, just about dead anything happens.
Maybe basic sisters should've costed less, maybe not. In today's environment you are still getting 'about' your moneys worth with AoF, SoF, etc. Think of the increase the balance to the adjustments to seraphim, celestine, and HB retributors etc... You're still getting the arguably 'best' things about a marine (power armour, bolter, bs4 ) at less. Were you really gonna charge marines with nuns, expecting them to win?
I guess what I'm trying to say is, that this new 'codex' is not as bad as the interwebs make it out to be. My prediction is we're gonna see some really powerful lists coming out of this, and be crying cheese and OP in about a month. Keep in mind I do not consider this a 'new' 'dex, just a massive update to get them in line with 5th. Apologies extended if you owned an army of Arbites.... much like a gangrene amputation, this had to be done eventually.