Thousand Sons Assaulting

[minigun762]

So my understanding is that Thousand Sons can assault after rapid firing but they're doing at I1, if this is the case, how often do you want to do this?

I can understand the idea of charging Berserkers or Orks to deny them Furious Charge, but wouldn't it be better to be walking backwards and hoping to stay outside of charge range entirely?

 

The best I can think of is if your squad is stuck in a corner and can't fall back, then they might as well charge in to get that extra attack (and deny their opponent).

[eyescrossed]

Or, if the enemy doesn't have grenades, leave them in cover and shoot with them.

[minigun762]

Or, if the enemy doesn't have grenades, leave them in cover and shoot with them.

 

Good point, then you're atleast hitting before them.

 

I guess I look at Thousand Sons and kinda treat them like Loyalists Marines as far as assaulting, they're not very good at it but sometimes its just the better option and in this case you can rapid fire then charge vs popping off some Bolt Pistol rounds prior.

Damn normal CSMs spoil me with all their wargear. :)

[JamesI]

I find it rare I want to assault with my TSons (except when they've all died and all that remains is the sorceror).

 

When I do assault, its usually with some regular chaos marine (or raptor) backup so the TSons are more of a support to the fight than the unit I expect to win it for me.

[davidren2401]

So my understanding is that Thousand Sons can assault after rapid firing but they're doing at I1

 

I really can't find anything in the rulebook or codex to suggest they suffer an initiative penalty

[Democratus]

I really can't find anything in the rulebook or codex to suggest they suffer an initiative penalty

 

Under the "Assaulting through Cover" section in the BRB:

 

"if an assaulting unit had to take a difficult or dangerous terrain test during their assault move, all of its models have their Initiative value lowered to 1 when attacking"

[davidren2401]

I really can't find anything in the rulebook or codex to suggest they suffer an initiative penalty

 

Under the "Assaulting through Cover" section in the BRB:

 

"if an assaulting unit had to take a difficult or dangerous terrain test during their assault move, all of its models have their Initiative value lowered to 1 when attacking"

 

Ah good point. I always wondered why they bothered saying "including in assaults" in the slow and purposeful rules. Anyways on to the question: Yes I do often assault with my Thousand Sons because 1) If you're within 6" of an enemy in your assault phase you may as well deny them the +1 attack next turn (not to mention any furious charge benefits) and 2) in combat my thousand sons just act as meat shields (and damn good ones too) so that my sorcerer lives to deliver a warptime+force weapon coup de grace, so their initiative doesn't reallly bother me

[Spareknikov]

If there is something valuable you don't want your enemy attacking or claiming, tie them up with the Thousand Sons. But make sure you know they will survive well enough! This way you can deny the enemy what they want, and you have another turn to reinforce the Thousand Son lines with any available troops you have that may be better at close combat. B)

[minigun762]

Sounds to me that most people consider charging with Thousand Sons to be a tactical decision. "Is it better to deny my enemy the advantage?" kinda of thought process which is about what I thought.

 

Charging is not your first option most likely, but its a valid option in some situations. Besides a squad of Fearless 3+/4++ save warriors makes for a pretty decent tarpit unit I'd say B)

[Roultox]

Charging a small near-dead unit to prevent the sons from getting shot is a tactic.

Charging a multi-wound model you want to slap with the force weapon is good.

Charging to stop a unit from getting the charge bonus, and that you can just charge for the hell of it.

Using warptime on the sorcerer makes them very dangerous in melee, and arguably difficult to deal with for melee munching in their own way.

 

Being able to rapid fire AND charge is just as good as getting a charge bonus, except with AP3 bolter shots, and dont forget the sorcerer and whatever power you got for him.

 

Tying up a power weapon unit that gets a rare power weapon hit in here and there, like banshees and harlequins rending (low str attacks vs T4 and 3+sv is good because they cant take hits well at T3 and 4+/5+ saves). Even a small genestealer unit cant stand up too well against 6+ attacks, about 3 or 4 stealers would fall over after enough rounds with average luck.

 

The weakest melee unit in the chaos arsenal is arguably the most tactical given that they come with a sorcerer and can rapid fire before charging.