Motodachi 
Continuing where we left off, we’ll now touch on the units and strategies of the Brotherhood!
Before we start looking at units, we first need to understand a unique keyword affiliated with our beloved masked zealots – Faith (X). A Brotherhood player gets to tally up all of the Faith (X) in their army and create a pool of Faith points. Certain models can use one Faith Point to re-roll one die, giving the player a get-out-of-jail-free card for failed rolls, or making sure they hit their target in combat. The main caveat is that to use the Faith pool, the model in question needs to have the Faith (X) keyword (more on that later).
Sacred Warriors
We will start with the line troops and current backbone of most Brotherhood lists, the Sacred Warrior!
Sacred Warriors are the Brotherhood’s standard 4 DP 0SP Troopers, boasting good Armor and DEF, excellent CC, Faith(1) and Fearless. Don’t let their R-75 Retributor fool you, these guys are plenty formidable in CC, especially during Charge actions. Not that their ranged combat is bad, though. Their Carbine lets them accurately strike up to 24″, but 8″ is their good range band. Fearless means that you can safely Counterattack most of the time, especially if you’re behind Cover, though you can always play it safe and Dive for Cover instead. Where the Sacred Warriors shine, though, is their Charge game. Their MV 4 and Reach (1) mean that they can move and strike targets that are 5″ away, and 11″ if you maximize your distance using a Move + Reposition + Charge + Reach. Their CC of 14 becomes a 16 on a Charge, and their DAM 14 goes up to 16. That kind of DAM is no joke, and you can even boost it all the way up to 18 with a Cybernetic Arm (heresy, I know). Just as an added bonus, their Duelist rule protects them from other CC specialists!
The only other option for Sacred Warrior is a Support unit with the same profile, but with the Eruptor LMG + Flamer combo in addition to their Avenger Sword. The LMG gives them a strong range, which is much needed by the Brotherhood given the main weakness of the army (and the Sacred Warriors in particular) is being out-ranged. I find the Flamer is used sparingly, but it’s a great alternative to models in Cover, or who have Camouflage, or if you can get more than a single model under the template. While melee remains a Brotherhood strong suit, the Sacred Warrior Support can provide some strong ranged combat potential to an otherwise melee-oriented (for now) army.
Mortificators
Next up, the (un)official poster boys/girls of the Brotherhood, the (in)famous Mortificators!
Mortificators are elite CC specialists, plain and simple. They are equipped with a silenced Punisher Handgun for some ranged capabilities. Their exceptional MV 6 mean that they can zoom around the battlefield, and they are very difficult to strike in both melee and at range due to their DEF -2 and (for ranged purposes) Camouflage (2). Be advised, though, that their weakness is their paper-thin armor, second only to the Undead Legionnaire. They typically end up failing their AR test on a 7 or less. One would think that to counter the Mortificators, melee is the only option, but this is wrong. Grenades and Flamers are their main weakness as it bypasses all of their defensive capabilities besides their base DEF score.
Weaknesses aside, their profiles are decorated by a plethora of Special Abilities, the most powerful – in my opinion – being Shadowed. Shadowed means that models can’t react to their movement (no ambushing these guys/gals!) or Charge actions. First Strike is the second strongest – paired with Executioner(2), it means that if you strike someone from melee, you do so with DAM x2 if your target hasn’t activated yet this turn. There are also utility options like Gymnastic, Dodge and Fearless which can boost your survivability and terrain traversal.
You get all of that for the price of 6DP. Yes, it is 50% more expensive than your standard Trooper, but that price is worth it! Oh, and did I mention that these guys are your only access to Smoke Grenades in the entire Brotherhood roster? Be careful though, as smoke cloud block your own LOS too, and you can’t charge to a target you can’t see.
If you are willing to be adventurous, you can shop for a Leader profile. This has the exact same profile (with the extra goodies offered by Leaders), so you have an even more deadly, faith-driven (though not Faith (X)) assassin!
The last option you get with these guys is the Redemption Assassin. This has the Unique designation, which means you can only field one per game. This model has the Trooper Designation but you pay an extra DP for them. he Redemption Assassin swaps their Silenced Pistol for the more powerful Avalanche Handgun, and gives the model the Advance Deploy ability which bumps their deployment potential a little bit.
One thing to keep in mind is that, uniquely in the Brotherhood list, Mortificators and the Redemption Assassin do not have the Faith (X) rule, and so cannot access the Faith Pool without the use of the Devotion and Zeal Asset.
Overall, all of these profiles will give a headache to your opponent. Don’t forget that you can pair these guys with a Hyperactivator for a whooping 16″ movement in a single turn, with no ambushes to worry about!
Fury Elite Guard
Lastly the GOAT, Fury Elite Guard.
If Mortificators are the swift and deadly part of the roster, the Fury Elite Guard are a walking menace. They are slow but, boy if they reach you… ST 5 + 9DAM from their Deliverer Battleblade, +2 from Fierce Charge, + 2 from Thrust (2) adds up to a whopping DAM 18. Add a Cybernetic Power Arm for an eye-watering DAM 20. That is, of course, only if they can reach the enemy with their MV4. Luckily, Faith can keep them alive (literally and figuratively), and having a 23AR + DEF -1 sure can help too. They do, however, cost 6DP, which means they are rather expensive, but for good reason. They create a 6″ area that in which they can meet anyone with a Charge Ambush Reaction. Or, you can simply Move + Reposition + Charge for a flat 12″ YOLO assault. Even Razides can easily fail their AR tests against these beasts. Oh, and they are on a 30mm base. Their weakness? You guessed it – range. If an enemy keeps their distance, their pistols can do little about it. Keep in mind that any enemy must stay outside of 12″, otherwise they risk getting Charged by one of the nastiest close combat specialists in the game.
Assets
F-214 Flamer: Take a Handgun and give it Continuous and Projected in Short range. This means your Mortificators or Fury Elite Guard can run around guns blazing (literally!!). It will only have a 6″ range, though, so most of the time you have better things to do. Say your opponent has a horde of models, though, and it might start to look like a good idea. Don’t forget you can use Projected guns in melee, so you can catch your opponent off-guard with this Asset.
Devotion and Zeal: Remember, at the beginning of the article, we said that models without Faith(X) can not use the Faith Pool? Well, this can be amended for a measly 1DP. Right now, this means you’re able to give Mortificators or the Redemption Assassin access to the Faith pool, which can make them extra scary in combat, or save them from from when their flimsy armor fails.
Word of the Cardinal: You get to auto-succeed a TN(LD) test for the cost of a Faith point. That can be used to secure an Objective, or, say a save against something Terrifying.
Overall, the Brotherhood is a melee-oriented, elite-themed army, which benefits greatly from their access re-rolls via Faith (X). Their main weakness is being out-ranged, and the possibility of spending all of their Faith Points very early on in the game.
