Here I go again with 40K ADD, in my last post I spoke about putting together a Khrone list that centered on presenting as many fast killy units to an opponent at one time and basically win games on overwhelming pressure. Now I'm going to talk about a list that is centered on winning the psychic phase, basically putting out both maledictions and buffs to overwhelm the opponent by buffing or weakening key units. I`m a huge Thousand Sons fan and own a big Thousand Sons army that I wanted to dust off and start using again. The problem of course is to make the army viable in todays meta at least to make it a little competitive and not just a fluff bunny list that loses to everything under the sun. How do we solve this? Well, lets look at the unit itself -
The Thousand Sons squad.
The squad brings with it fearless, a 4 up invul save, power armor, and ap3 bolters. Not bad so far and on its own something to consider however lets look at its not so good features. The squad is slow and purposeful which in 5th edition might have been a boon by allowing you to move and shoot but with the changes to rapid fire weapons in 6th, its a big hindrance. The squad cant run which means you have to invest in rhinos to get them across the battlefield which adds to their points cost and the biggest issue about it, you cant overwatch when assaulted. This is huge and due to their ap3 bolters, might have actually deterred enemies from assaulting (+3 or higher armor saves). The next issue is the squad having to take an expensive character with limited options. The aspiring sorcerer clocks in at almost 65 points which is as much or more than an actual sorcerer. If I am going to pay the same price, please give me the same options, +1 wound, WS 5 and the option to buy another psychic level. At least make it that the guy could pick from any psychic tree. Dont think this what be over powering and the cost itself would be a very good limiter. The last of course is the cost of the unit. 9 guys with a Rhino clocks in around 277 points. For that price the unit should at least come with grenades or a way to increase the strength of their bolters so at least they could go after light vehicles. How about changing their guns to assault 2 so at least they can be the shooty unit that they are meant to be.
OK,ok so enough with the complaining, now how do we play them in 6th? I take a squad that maximizes their shooting ability but still keep their sacred number, so 9 in a squad. To improve the units mobility, I take a Rhino. To give the unit some anti tank ability, I give the champ melta bombs. This clocks in at 282 points, pretty expensive but OK for my purposes. I usually take 2 squads like this unless it's a big game where I take 3 squads. The strength of the army is not in these squads but the resilience that the squad provides the attached sorcerer lord. It grants him fearless, and a squad with a built in sigil invulnerable save. In this army I take 2 sorcerer lords to maximize my attempts at getting the best powers out of telepathy. And that my friends is the crux of the army, basically taking dual sorcerers to try to get hallucination and invisibility and casting it on as many units as possible so that the thousand sons can pick them apart through bolter fire or in close combat. If the aspiring champ or the tzeentch sorcerer picks up doombolt than that adds to the squads battle effectiveness. We could take the squad in small 5 man squads but i feel that other CSM units do this better namely chosen or plague marines. With my troop choices done, I also take the required heldrake and a squad of oblits. I have been finding that a lascannon predator also solves my problem of long range firepower as well and for a cheap price. Now the question remains what to take for a counter attack unit to aid the thousand sons? I know here i will get laughed at as I usually take possessed. Here me out though, the squad is fearless, has high strength and the random abilities are actually quite good now. Now couple that that with lets say a grimore wielding herald of tzeentch getting them to a 2+ invul. Yeah I know too gimmicky but scary. Adding daemon allies just opens up more options and more importantly options that would make the list even more effective. The same trick could be done with terminators and without a doubt the unit would be more effective but I just love how possessed look and the fact that termies are not fearless really bugs me. Below is a list that I plan on trying. I already played the list once against a daemon army but would like to try it against several builds before i deem it a success or failure. This would be my "base" list, one that I would add on too.
+++ Thousand Sons New Base List (1748pts) +++
+++ 1750pt Codex: Chaos Daemons 2013, Chaos Space Marines 6th Ed (2012) by SN Roster (Allied Detachment, Primary Detachment)) +++
+ HQ + (125pts)
* Daemonic Heralds (125pts)
* Herald of Tzeentch (125pts)
(Change Discipline, Daemonic Instability, Deep Strike, Independent Character)
D6 Exalted Daemonic Reward (30pts) (Exalted Rewards, Hellforged Artefacts), Psyker Level 3 (50pts)
* Daemon of Tzeentch
(Hatred (Daemon of Nurgle), Re-roll all Saving throws results of 1, Tzeentch Psyker Powers)
Daemon (5+ Invulnerable Save, Fear)
+ Troops + (95pts)
* Pink Horrors of Tzeentch (95pts)
(Blue Horrors, Brotherhood of Sorcerers, Change Discipline, Daemonic Instability, Deep Strike, Magic Made Manifest)
Iridescent Horror (5pts), 10x Pink Horrors (90pts)
* Daemon of Tzeentch
(Hatred (Daemon of Nurgle), Re-roll all Saving throws results of 1, Tzeentch Psyker Powers)
Daemon (5+ Invulnerable Save, Fear)
Chaos Space Marines 6th Ed (2012) by SN (Primary Detachment) Selections:
+ HQ + (315pts)
* Sorcerer (165pts)
(Champion of Chaos, Independent Character, Psyker)
2x Additional Mastery Level (50pts), Mark of Tzeentch (15pts), Sigil of corruption (25pts), Spell familiar (15pts)
* Power Armour
Bolt Pistol, Force Weapon
* Sorcerer (150pts)
(Champion of Chaos, Independent Character, Psyker)
2x Additional Mastery Level (50pts), Sigil of corruption (25pts), Spell familiar (15pts)
* Power Armour
Bolt Pistol, Force Weapon
+ Elites + (334pts)
* Possessed (334pts)
(Daemon, Fearless, Fleet, Vessels of Chaos)
* Chaos Rhino (35pts)
(Repair)
Combi-bolter, Searchlight, Smoke launchers
* 9x Possessed (279pts)
9x Mark of Tzeentch (45pts)
* Possessed Champion (20pts)
(Champion of Chaos)
2x Gift of mutation (20pts)
+ Troops + (564pts)
* Thousand Sons (Troops) (282pts)
(Fearless, Mark of Tzeentch, Slow and Purposeful, Veterans of the Long War)
8x Thousand Son (184pts)
* Aspiring Sorcerer (63pts)
Melta Bombs (5pts)
* Chaos Rhino (35pts)
(Repair)
Combi-bolter, Searchlight, Smoke launchers
* Thousand Sons (Troops) (282pts)
(Fearless, Mark of Tzeentch, Slow and Purposeful, Veterans of the Long War)
8x Thousand Son (184pts)
* Aspiring Sorcerer (63pts)
Melta Bombs (5pts)
* Chaos Rhino (35pts)
(Repair)
Combi-bolter, Searchlight, Smoke launchers
+ Fast Attack + (170pts)
* Heldrake (170pts)
(Daemon, Daemonforge, It Will Not Die, Meteroric Descent)
Baleflamer
+ Heavy Support + (145pts)
* Chaos Predator (145pts)
Lascannons (40pts), Twin-Linked Lascannon (25pts), Warpflame gargoyles (5pts)
I plan this use this list or something similar in my next games. Let me know what you think, great list or fluff bunny list that is incredibly worthless.. Pics are from another Thousand Sons player and Ahriman from the GW site
