Thousand Sons Project

[The Yncarne]

I've been lurking in this forum for a few months now. With a tourney coming up in June, I thought I'd pull out some really old Chaos models and try to build a list to take to that. I have several questions on what I have and what I should look at buying and expanding the army.

 

Here's what I have.

• 1 squad of the original rubrics
  
• 3 old school rhinos
  
• 2-3 old school dreads (the one with the claw and plasma "cannon")
  
• ~ 15 old school chaos termies, primarily bolters and fists with a sprinkling of chain fists
  
• a smattering of 1st edition heavy weapons (rocket launchers, grenade launchers, multi-meltas)
  
• 3 squads of the current rubrics
  
• 1 squad of current terminators
  
• 1 1st ed Lord of Change and a current version of same
  
• 7 raptors; 3 meltas and one AC with LCs.
  

 

I could have made a pretty good army with that back in 1st through 3rd editions, but 5th is a different story. Where should I take this in the current game and what should I look at getting? I am thinking my core army will be:

 

Ahriman or another sorcerer

• 3 squads of 7 rubrics with a sorcerer in a rhino
  
• a squad of oblits
  
• a squad of havocs with either autocannons or rocket launchers
  
• a squad of chosen with plasma guns in a rhino
  

 

I had wanted to do a sorcerer themed list with a lot of conversions on chosen/terminators, but it doesn't sound like a list that could win more than 25% of my games.

 

Is the army pretty much limited to shooting? The impression I get is the core of the army is shooting, with poor mobility and limited HTH options. Is this accurate? Where should I go from here assuming an 1850, 2000 and 2500 point level?

 

If I were to go with dreads, what is the best option for them? Do I focus on the anti-armor given the relative lack of anti-tank anywhere other than heavy support? A few years back the standard was the TL las cannons and rocket launchers. Looks like the decimator is a better dread than the dread, but I can't use it in most tournies.

 

I can ask a lot more questions, but this is enough for now!

 

Thanks for any suggestions you may have.

[Narse]

• 1 squad of the original rubrics
  
• 3 old school rhinos
  
• 2-3 old school dreads (the one with the claw and plasma "cannon")
  
• ~ 15 old school chaos termies, primarily bolters and fists with a sprinkling of chain fists
  
• a smattering of 1st edition heavy weapons (rocket launchers, grenade launchers, multi-meltas)
  
• 3 squads of the current rubrics
  
• 1 squad of current terminators
  
• 1 1st ed Lord of Change and a current version of same
  
• 7 raptors; 3 meltas and one AC with LCs.
  

 

Is the army pretty much limited to shooting? The impression I get is the core of the army is shooting, with poor mobility and limited HTH options. Is this accurate? Where should I go from here assuming an 1850, 2000 and 2500 point level?

 

Use the 1st edition Lord of change as a demon prince,

Use the Raptors with melta's as an anti-tank squad, keeping the AC,

Make a Havok heavy support missle launcher rocket team,

Use the 3 dreads, under the current rules they are pretty good for Thousand Sons weakness Busting Rhino's and melee combat,

3 10-man Squads of Thousand Sons Rhino

 

 

That's the base i'd use, tossing it into army builder it comes up to 1732ish, you still need heavy support that's where I would look to put purchases.

 

- if you have more you can make a walking Thousand Sons Squad for holding starting objectives I have found it to be near unkillable and soaks up some fire.

[The Yncarne]

Thanks for the suggestions!

 

So are you saying dreads should carry a TL las cannon and the rocket launcher or stick with the plasma cannon and DCW? I don't mind getting a dread, just curious how others use them.

[Ah-a-nothepsis]

To me, dreads are a good way to add a favorite weapon platform to your army that is required for the enemies you fight. For example, if you already run a few missile launcher havocs because you usually encounter Orks, a 100pt dread with a missile launcher is a good choice. When the havocs die or the dread gets popped, you still have access to the weapon you need.

 

The same can be said about it's TLLC or TLAC option. If you have tons of melta in your list, why not have an auto cannon for enemy skimmers? It's the perfect weapon for all the AV10 we see now thanks to Dark Eldar.

 

When we build an 'all-comers' chaos list, the dread can provide us with a relatively cheap option for a weapon that does something a little different than our troops choices.

 

All that said, I believe it is too fragile for adding upgrades and making it greater than 125pts. TLLC is the most I'd go. Keep 'em cheap! If you like the TLLC/Missile Launcher combo, test out the autocannon + missile launcher first. ^.~

[Narse]

So are you saying dreads should carry a TL las cannon and the rocket launcher or stick with the plasma cannon and DCW? I don't mind getting a dread, just curious how others use them.

 

I wouldn't suggest even remodeling them, if its the edition I remember those guns could be used as a variety of things now adays but there is really nothing wrong with Plasma Cannons. As long as the Dreads have a chance of poping a Rhino it's acceptable.

 

If you want, you can also give the Demon Prince a Bolt of Change for more firepower. The basic issue is for your troops to be efficient you have to bust enemies out of vehicles and make them walk towards you. Busting a vehicle gives a 4+ cover save so the first round of AP 3 shots is wasted anyway. So, you need alot of weapons capable of busting troop transports of varying armor on the first turn.

 

 

In general, I like a variety of weapons loadouts cause you never know what the future will hold.

 

An Example: A few months ago they theorized that Rapid Fire weapons would become 24 inch 2 shots when stationary, and 1 18 inch shot when moving.... this would make it equal to a Storm Bolter when stationary... seems like it could be done, makes some sense.... but then again chaos terminators have twin-linking+relentless so now they are Storm Bolter's that reroll misses... then we add the purposed marked terminator squads and we have twin-linked AP 3 Storm Bolters! It would really suck to have remodeled those old Terminators just to have GW change the optimal build on ya. (they also seem to do this every 7 years btw)

 

So instead of converting old figs to meet current standards look for ways of making newer purchases blend in with old units. Maybe Ebay some old 1st edition Reaper Autocannon Termies, a 3 man squad of termies for counter charging + a Reaper autocannon might be acceptable. Keep them next to a Thousand Sons squad and use them like independent characters. Also, take a look at the Forge World's new chaos geared Autocannon its the same as ones used previously for Reaper Autocannons.... could you imagine if they make all old Reaper Auto-cannons into Butcher cannons!

 

I also like the keep it cheap motto. (for instance if I played Gray Knights i'd take 60 strike squad marines to a 1750 point game, 60+ Force weapons with Strength 5 Assault 2 weapons, GL)

[Ah-a-nothepsis]

chaos terminators have twin-linking+relentless

 

I wish :\

[Excessus]

well, at least their lack of relentless doesn't affect the reaper autocannon...always something, heh

[Ah-a-nothepsis]

Haha, yay for our book!

[The Yncarne]

Thanks for the comments.

 

Its nice to get some perspective on the dreads. I played Khorne and Nurgle back in 1st and second edition so termies and dreads have an emotional attachment for me. I did run 4 AC havocs a few years back and was impressed by them. Unfortunately, I seem to have misplaced them. It looks like it is actually cheaper to buy 4 old school rocket launchers from FW than 4 ACs from GW US. :rolleyes:

 

So looks like I'll be looking at ACs and rocket launchers for havocs and dreads. I also considered melta havocs as they're a bit cheaper than chosen, but that can come later.