++ The Brotherhood of Dust - A Thousand Sons Community ++

[Zodd1888]

It's so hard right now to build TSons competitively. I just haven't been able to come up with anything pure TSons w/o FW that even comes close to working.

[Khannis]

I'm finally getting my first minis ready next week, and I'm wondering about what to use myself.

I'm thinking of something like:
3x Exalted Sorcerers (maybe 4?)
2x10 Rubrics
2x10 Scarab Occult
2x Contemptors
Leviathan or Deredeo

Thoughts? I thought about some Hellforged Sicarans, but I'm under the impression that the new ones haven't been FAQd-in by the Dark Mechanicum yet.

[Grendaxe]

I'm finally getting my first minis ready next week, and I'm wondering about what to use myself.

 

I'm thinking of something like:

3x Exalted Sorcerers (maybe 4?)

2x10 Rubrics

2x10 Scarab Occult

2x Contemptors

Leviathan or Deredeo

 

Thoughts? I thought about some Hellforged Sicarans, but I'm under the impression that the new ones haven't been FAQd-in by the Dark Mechanicum yet.

If you're going for exalted sorcerers i would recommend at least running Ahriman. For like 20p extra you get a +1 bonus to cast/deny with 3 powers and 3 denies.

 

I always liked daemon princes better than exalts. For 180p you can also kill stuff in CC while still casting smite should you need psychic power. (Ahriman is a safer bet to cast high WC powers anyway). And you get a better aura imo.

 

You're also going to have a massive marine killing power with 20 rubrics and 20 scarabs. But going against T5+ will be difficult.Your contemptors will have to do all the work against T5+ models. Maybe it will be okay but i'm not familiar enough with forgeworld stuff.

 

And finally you're going to be really vulnerable to CC with a very low model count. Perhaps some tzaangors to up the body count, shield units and grab objectives? 

 

 

 

 

[Khannis]

 

If you're going for exalted sorcerers i would recommend at least running Ahriman. For like 20p extra you get a +1 bonus to cast/deny with 3 powers and 3 denies.

 

I always liked daemon princes better than exalts. For 180p you can also kill stuff in CC while still casting smite should you need psychic power. (Ahriman is a safer bet to cast high WC powers anyway). And you get a better aura imo.

 

You're also going to have a massive marine killing power with 20 rubrics and 20 scarabs. But going against T5+ will be difficult.Your contemptors will have to do all the work against T5+ models. Maybe it will be okay but i'm not familiar enough with forgeworld stuff.

 

And finally you're going to be really vulnerable to CC with a very low model count. Perhaps some tzaangors to up the body count, shield units and grab objectives? 

Ahriman, as a character, was a primary influence on me to make a Thousand Sons army, and I'm a very fluff-oriented kind of guy, even though I still try to build somewhat rounded-out lists, as winning sometimes can be fun

 

So, I'm definitely on-board with adding Ahriman to my list (either as himself or as a count-as, mainly for color-scheme purposes). That being said, I'd rather not deal with daemons in general, useful as they may be, and I know they can be very much so. I know screenless lists seem to be in a considerable disadvantage in the current meta, but I don't think there's a fluffy way around this for the moment.

 

So the idea is to constantly buff the durability of Rubrics and Scarabs deployed hammer-and-anvil style, while providing high-value distraction/fire support (or even melee capabilities) against high toughness, and just murder anything MEQ and below, while using the VotL stratagem for those "this needs to die" moments. It also seems to me that a focus on mortal wounds could be a good thing vs certain armies, but I don't see how it could be viable with Thousand Sons, apart from 4-5 Psykers casting smite.

[The Yncarne]

I believe you can find basic Hellforged Sicarans in the FW Chaos Index. Maybe you refer to one of the newer variants?

 

I loved my Sicaran in 6th / 7th but have not used it in the current edition (it's painted in loyalist colors). I have had good luck running two hellforged annihilator predators in 8th. Perhaps dropping a SOT unit can get you part of the way there?

 

This suggestion will probably diminish the lists composite strength though. How do you intend to play objective-based scenarios with relatively limited mobility?

[Khannis]

I believe you can find basic Hellforged Sicarans in the FW Chaos Index. Maybe you refer to one of the newer variants?

I loved my Sicaran in 6th / 7th but have not used it in the current edition (it's painted in loyalist colors). I have had good luck running two hellforged annihilator predators in 8th. Perhaps dropping a SOT unit can get you part of the way there?

This suggestion will probably diminish the lists composite strength though. How do you intend to play objective-based scenarios with relatively limited mobility?

Yes, I was actually referring to the newer, more specialized ones. And I confess that my mobility plans don't go much further than DS the SOTs and Warptime something every turn. Maybe Discs on every Sorc for some quick grabs? Maybe I'm wrong, but Rhinos seem to be a rather poor option at the moment.

[The Yncarne]

I don't have any solid answers for mobility at this time. I've been using rhinos or land raiders to transport my rubrics to get the mobility to take objectives. I suspect other players can provide better advice.

 

I do okay in my marine play group but fear I'll be owned by just about any other army in a larger context.

[Khannis]

I don't have any solid answers for mobility at this time. I've been using rhinos or land raiders to transport my rubrics to get the mobility to take objectives. I suspect other players can provide better advice.

 

I do okay in my marine play group but fear I'll be owned by just about any other army in a larger context.

Again, I'm not much of a competitive player, but it seems to me that we should constantly be spamming our psychic powers, and using them to our advantage. Besides, I feel Rhinos aren't a significant increase to our survivability, although they can be for our mobility (even with our ever-faithful Warptime). The argument could be made for Land Raiders though, as they are a good firepower platform in addition to a VERY survivable transport.

[The Yncarne]

Id love to spam psychic powers, but rule of one means warp time is at best once per turn. If it were berserkers maybe once is enough.

 

I will say if your land raider transport gets below 3-4 wounds, run away as fast as possible! :-)

[Skerr]

It has probably been mentioned though I could see a command point or 2 being allocated for a Stratagem that allowed 1 or more sorcerers to ignore the rule of one for a turn.

[Khannis]

It has probably been mentioned though I could see a command point or 2 being allocated for a Stratagem that allowed 1 or more sorcerers to ignore the rule of one for a turn.

 

That would be GLORIOUS. Especially since I'm pretty sure we're getting more psychic powers in the Codex.

[Ethrion]

It's so hard right now to build TSons competitively. I just haven't been able to come up with anything pure TSons w/o FW that even comes close to working.

I've been running Ahriman, an Exalted, 1 chaos lord, 2x 10 rubricae, 10 pink horrors, 5 scarab, 10 havocs w/ autocannons, 2 spawn, and 2 predators with autocannon/lascannons. It probably isn't tournament competitive but it's nice and balanced, can smite 8 times if needs be, and has enough standard anti-armour to cope. I'd say give that a whirl, see how it plays. That gives me 7 CP as well which is nice.

[Archaeinox]

It has probably been mentioned though I could see a command point or 2 being allocated for a Stratagem that allowed 1 or more sorcerers to ignore the rule of one for a turn.

 

 

The problem with that is that the army must function when Matched Play is not being used.

 

For example, if someone buys Codex: Thousand Sons and that stratagem is in it but they don't care about the Rule of One in a game because of reason X, Y or Z, it's a wasted stratagem.

[Zodd1888]

Spells familiar reroll would totally work as part of legion rules.

[1000 Sons]

1 command point, add 2 to the roll of the next cast of smite.

[Khannis]

While I agree that would indeed be a nice stratagem for us, I still (dare to) expect rules that enable our psychic strategy to the extent that the plague/attrition strategy has been enabled for the Death Guard.

 

(Which is a lot. I mean, some of the interactions seem insanely cost-effective for what they do, to say the least!)

[Skerr]

Good points on a strategem needing to be useful in all styles of play and not just matched.  Back to speculation board... 

[MyD4rkPassenger]

Could we possibly get a strategem that improves the smite of a non hq sorcerer to normal smite?  Call it rush of the immaterium or something along those lines?

 

EDIT: Also as my favorite character in 40k, does anyone else think Ahriman needs some protection against mortal wounds a la Eldrad? Nothing over the top, its just frustrating when the best mortal sorcerer in the chaos faction almost killed himself casting smite, as he did in my last game. 

[Skerr]

I was thinking that too.  It would be a great stratagem to tie into our theme of deception.  An opponent not to concerned with a mini smite until said Aspiring Sorcerer exercises a point to go from mini smite to full frontal smite!?  That would be cool especially with favorable rolls.

[Paladin777]

I still like the idea of aspiring sorcerers getting a power tree that buffs the rubrics within their squad in small ways. Maybe some extra movement, S/T bump or something.

[Skerr]

Agreed, I am hoping there is a way to buff a unit of SOTs STR to a 5.

[Skerr]

Could we possibly get a strategem that improves the smite of a non hq sorcerer to normal smite?  Call it rush of the immaterium or something along those lines?

 

EDIT: Also as my favorite character in 40k, does anyone else think Ahriman needs some protection against mortal wounds a la Eldrad? Nothing over the top, its just frustrating when the best mortal sorcerer in the chaos faction almost killed himself casting smite, as he did in my last game. 

I could see this for Magnus in place of ignoring perils maybe before Ahriman gets it but it would be great!

[Rune Priest Ridcully]

 

Could we possibly get a strategem that improves the smite of a non hq sorcerer to normal smite?  Call it rush of the immaterium or something along those lines?

 

EDIT: Also as my favorite character in 40k, does anyone else think Ahriman needs some protection against mortal wounds a la Eldrad? Nothing over the top, its just frustrating when the best mortal sorcerer in the chaos faction almost killed himself casting smite, as he did in my last game. 

I could see this for Magnus in place of ignoring perils maybe before Ahriman gets it but it would be great!

 

Not going to lie, after seeing what Eldar get I'm hoping our army bonus could maybe be something like "Thousand sons may take invun saves against mortal wounds" or some such, as it is DG have better psykers then us due to their inbuilt perils protection.

[Skerr]

Hmmm,  Well I have been doing a heck lot more painting than I have been playing (like some of you) so not up on all the rules for everyone though if that is the case it will be very disappointing to not get strong mitigation though I am optimistic they got cool stuff planned for us.

[Khannis]

While I do think we're very vulnerable to certain mortal wounds strats (that somehow get around our copious amounts of deny the witch), I'd prefer that any rules that add to our resistance be relegated to stratagems, to allow our army bonus to give us a bonus where we sorely need, or psychic offense.

It's just too limited and fragile right now, even when one of your sorcs manage to somehow not kill themselves. You'd think that 10,000 year old knowledge-addicted warp-infused superhumans would take a little more to bring down than "casting that one smite at that guardsmen squad". Being more resilient is always nice, but IMHO a good set of powers and the means to make our psychic phase into reliable dakka/disruption is much more important to the core identity of the army.