[HH1.0] Thousand Sons tactica

[Nusquam]

I just reread Magnus' Aura ability again to make sure I'm not crazy.

 

If he and his unit is invisible, you can not hit him in shooting or CC. It's just a flat -1 to hit. Which means you only hit Magnus and his unit on a 6 in CC, minus 1, is 5. You always miss.

 

Magnus is utterly broken, as in he breaks the games mechanics so you can not harm him.

[1ncarnadine]

On the flip side, I'm not really impressed by the Ammitara are... underwhelming? Their psychic power is brilliant, but sniper rifles are sniper rifles.

 

Castellax-Achea are cute. I think they might be the only unit that makes good use of the special plasma cannons, in fact. Castellax with delicious 36" S7 AP2 blasts...

 

And the Khenetai Blades. Hm. Don't see them doing anything without an assault transport.

 

100% on the Ammitara. Love the idea, love all the special rules, then I looked at their weapons, then I desperately looked at their weapon options.... nope. Sniper rifles.

 

Khenetai demand a Dreadclaw. 

[Withershadow]

On the flip side, I'm not really impressed by the Ammitara are... underwhelming? Their psychic power is brilliant, but sniper rifles are sniper rifles.

 

Castellax-Achea are cute. I think they might be the only unit that makes good use of the special plasma cannons, in fact. Castellax with delicious 36" S7 AP2 blasts...

 

And the Khenetai Blades. Hm. Don't see them doing anything without an assault transport.

I must be missing something. Where are the rules coming from? I am in all the threads and blogs I thought!

[Mango Polo]

They come from the book I am holding in my hands :P

[Withershadow]

Oh, so you're just passing judgement on rules you have access to without sharing said rules? You are a bad man! :P

[Mango Polo]

I don't know what's the official stance of B&C beyond "no points costs".

Please let me know if I'm overstepping myself with the details and I'll edit accordingly.

 

But to summarize, so we can engage more easily in TS tactica:

 

Legiones Astartes: TS

• You must determine your Warlord first when creating an army. Warlord must be an IC with a ML of 1 or more and with the highest Ld value.
• Access to all BRB psychic disciplines except Malefic.
• HQ IC that are not psykers can buy ML1 + exchange power -> force weapon for 5 points
• Each unit must select an Arcana from one of five.
• Compulsory Troops MUST have the same Arcana as the Warlord.
• If Arcana = Psy discipline, then  the unit can harness Warp Charges on a 3+
• If a detachment unit suffers a wound from Perils, every unit in the force must test for pinning.
• If every IC in the detachment are killed, all remaining units suffer -1 Ld and cannot sweep.

 

Cult Arcana

• Pavoni, +1 to run and sweeping advance distances
• Raptora, 6++ Inv or augment existing Inv save by 1 to a maximum of 3++
• Corvidae, re-roll failed To-Hit of 1 if the unit has remained stationary in this turn's movement phase
• Athanean, immune to Fear and gets Adamantium Will
• Pyrae,  gain Hammer of Wrath, or if already has HoW gets a second HoW

 

Legion Special Doodads

• Praetors MUST buy ML 1 up to 3, and can do the power -> force swap.
• Veterans and Legion Termies can buy Brotherhood of Psykers ML1.
• IC can buy Arcane Litanies to ignore their first failed Perils.
• Aether-Fire Cannons are 36" S7 AP2 plasma cannons with Heavy 1, Blast, Soul Blaze, Gets Hot
• Asphyx Shells get Shred. IC can buy them for bolt pistol/gun, combi-bolters. Veterans and Legion Termies can also buy them. Rotor Cannon support squads can also buy them.

 

Osiron Dreadnoughts

• Any Contemptor Talon can pay for the Osiron upgrade.
• Gain Psychic Pilot ML1. Powers are generated from Telekinesis, Telepathy, Pyromancy or Divination.
• Gain Adamantium Will.
• Must exchange the CCW with: Dreadnought Force Blade, Sx2 AP2 Force with inbuilt combi-bolter and Asphyx Shells

 

Castellax-Achea

• Same stats as a Castellax, but unless noted they lose all special rules (e.g. cortex)
• Mauler Cannon with Asphyx Shells and Refractor Field.
• Can replace the Mauler with an Aether-Fire Cannon.
• As long as a LA: TS unit with at least ML1 is within 24", the unit behaves normally. Otherwise, no Charge, Run or Sweeping.
• Can fire 3 weapons.
• LA: TS psykers within 12" can use the Castellax to cast Witchfires and Maledictions; range and LoS measured from the Castellax.
• If ANYONE suffers a Perik (friend or foe) within 12", do a Ld test. Failure = d6 automatic wounds, no saves of any kind. Death from this effect result in maximum reactor blast.

Sekhmet Terminators

• Two wounds.
• Can be equipped with either Tartaros or Cataphractii armor. Your choice.
• Equipped with force weapon of your choice and combi-bolters with Asphyx shells.
• Brotherhood of Psykers ML2.
• Can take a Proteus DT if 5, or a Spartan if 6-10.
• Any replace the force weapon with a pfist PLUS a lightning claw or another pfist or a chainfist.
• Any can buy combi-weapons and retain the Asphyx Shells.

Khenetai Ocult Blades

• Elites, 5 strong in power armour with two force swords.
• Brotherhood ML1.
• If 3 or less in unit, +1A to everyone.
• If 4-8, +1A and +1 WS
• If 9-10, +2A and +2 WS

Ammitara Occult Intercession Cabal

• FA scoutrs, 5 strong, with sniper rifles.
• Brotherhood of Psykers ML1.
• For every 5, one can take a meltagun or plasma gun.
• Can have a Storm Eagle as a DT.
• Unique psy power: Mind Killer, allows re-rolling all failed To Hit and To Wound, and attacks Ignore Cover.

Edited February 3, 2017 by Mango Polo

[Nusquam]

So that means the special Termis can take a Cult discipline? So 4++ Tartaros with force axes? That could be pretty good.

 

Didn't the FAQ make it so rerolling 1s helped with thing slike plasma cannons? If so Precog Cult Aether-Fire plasma cannons will be pretty sweet.

[ANGRYMARINE]

So its either 2 powers or a force weapon on HQs?

[Mango Polo]

4++ tartaros or 3++ cataphractii. The Sekhmet are specifically called out as being able to use either :")

[Nusquam]

Right, but I want to be able to sweep ha. It's too bad they only get telekinesis and pyromancy.

[Mango Polo]

Fair enough. Now you have all the basic rules, wargear, etc. and the units. Hopefully enough to discuss the army's potential ;)

[Nusquam]

Close, but not quite. Without points costs, which individual can't be posted here, we can't say for sure. These units look cool, but if they're wildly over-costed then no one is going to take them outside of fluff reasons.

[Mango Polo]

The Sekhmet are way undercosted, to the point that I seriously question if someone accidentally typed a 3 instead of a 4 ;)

[Nusquam]

Such a tease

[1ncarnadine]

^Yeah, pretty much. I wondered the same thing. It's almost criminal to get additional bodies for as much as basic Legion Terminators.

 

Also, the Khenetai Blade Cabal are priced very closely to Alpha Legion Headhunters. The base price may be off by a melta bomb or two.

[Nusquam]

Found the unit entries

 

The super scouts are decent. They are just slightly better Recons, but worse Mor Deythan. I didn't expect them to be amazing, but I did think they would have something a little better than a twinlinked/shred/ignores cover power. Which sounds great, but with only two plasmaguns and a bunch of heavy 1 sniper rifles, isn't astounding. I wish they could at least take shotguns instead. Very cool, but lacking in crunch. If they could at least score you could take them as batteries. Taking the precog cult makes them effectivelt twin linked anyway. I don't see any reason to actually take them outside of thematics.

 

The Sekhmet Terminators are not nearly as cheap as I was lead to believe. It's not that they are under-costed, it's that they are well costed in a world of over-costed things. They don't offer much over regular termis if you upgrade them to psykers. They have ML2 for the extra die and power, but only get telekinesis and pyro, the two worst schools in the game. Stubborn isn't bad, but it's not great either. W2 is their best feature, and the only thing that potentially keeps them better than regular psychic termis. With W2 and Force axes they could put some serious hurt on multiwound enemy termis, but likely only mutual destruction as it's still I1 when fists/hammers swing. But make them Raptoras for a 4++ or 3++. The harnessing telekinesis on a 3+ is just a byproduct. They really need an IC rolling on Biomancy to fish for Endurance.

 

The Blade Cabal are pretty cool. They will mince any scoring unit easily. Force swords and a boatload of attacks on 10 will wipe any power armor unit, save for charged palantine blades with spears. Plus they can choose what school to generate from. Expensive but can be effective if used well.

 

The Psychic Contemptor is pretty cool. Expensive but very potent. Give one a pod/anvillus and it's a serious threat depending on what powers you rolled up for it. Just plain good.

 

The Psy-automata are interesting. It WIll Not Die and a 5++ will keep them around. Being a relay to extend witchfires is cool. In Zone mortalis these guys will be borderline OP with the right combos.

 

Magnus, is uttery broken. He cannot be even hit by 99% of the thing sin the game if he has invisibility cast on him, which you will likely have multiple sources of. Say he gets nerf'd or invis does, or you just don't want to be that mean. He can still fling S:D shots around like crazy.

 

Ahriman is pure divination support beefstick. He is ML4 and will be a serious force multiplier to any army.

Amon is also good. He can generate from div an telepathy for a broader range of powers. He is pure tech like Ahriman, but his tech are mostly special rules like his no enter zone of 12" for deepstrike and 24" for outflanking. He isn't AP2 in melee but he's pretty bufftastic.

 

The first RoW, The Axis of Dissolution is pretty terrible by comparison I'm afraid. Having to take the max number of bodies in any troop choice is painful. All you get in return is better morale near an objective(hope you dont play kill points), BS2 in overwatch(situation at best, and why are you getting charged?), and rerolls against falling back units(Why?).

 

However, the second RoW is undoubtedly, one of the best in the game. The only real tax is you have to take to Sekhmet termi units, but all termis and magnus(who can be an HQ instead of LoW, hello sub 2k games) can deep strike, and you roll 2d6 for determining bonus warp charges during the psychic phase and pick the better. Take how utterly broken Magnus is into consideration and you will probably win any game with this RoW with ease. You would have to purposefully hamstring yourself in order to give your opponent a fair shot, this is not an exaggeration.

 

The soul blaze plasma canons are way too expensive for just adding soul blaze.

 

ML3 2+/3++ Praetors is amazing.

 

Overall, extremely powerful. Easily the best legion army in the game RAW.

[Slips]

Yeahhh...10 Blade Cabal are dishing out 50+ Attacks on the charge all with Ap3 and possibly force active.

 

So...they'll chew through anything without 2+ Saves preeeeety easily especially if, for example, you gave them Iron Arm since they are a Brotherhood that can take any cult. There is some RNG to it but if you get it...welllll...dang. Especially since Iron Arm would give them Smash.

Edited February 4, 2017 by Slipstreams

[Nusquam]

Iron Arm, Warp Speed, and Endurance would be amazing on them, but the other powers would be mediocre. Ashen Blow for HoW would be pretty good, Quickblood is OK; the real bonus would be manifesting biomancy on a 3+.

[Runefyre]

The Magnus screw up pisses me off so much. People better E-mail FW about that one. Makes absolutely no flaming sense.

[Slips]

I guess its a good thing they're ML1. But having an ML2+ IC with them to activate Force and/or Endurance for them will be really what makes them pretty insane if the unit itself gets Iron Arm (Preferably) or Warp Speed (80+ Attacks at I7 Ap3) but theres still the change you roll something "bleh"

[Athrawes]

The Magnus screw up pisses me off so much. People better E-mail FW about that one. Makes absolutely no flaming sense.

 

I agree. It should be capped at a 6+ to hit if he casts invisibility, that makes him even with Russ' armor ability.

[Withershadow]

I'm curious how much the plasma cannons cost.

 

The maulers are much nicer with shred (on top of their pinning), losing cortex means they can sweep, and refractor field is also better in melee than atomantic shielding.

 

I like it, hope they aren't much more expensive than stock.

[1ncarnadine]

I'm curious how much the plasma cannons cost.

 

The maulers are much nicer with shred (on top of their pinning), losing cortex means they can sweep, and refractor field is also better in melee than atomantic shielding.

 

I like it, hope they aren't much more expensive than stock.

 

They can Sweep. They lose most of the regular Castellax upgrade options, though. Their only upgrade is just that Aether-flame Cannon, no Enhanced Targeting Array or Siege Wreckers or anything. Oh well.

 

Cost as much as a regular Castellax with Darkfire & Power Blades.

[Nusquam]

They're going to be devastating in Zone Mortalis. You can hop witchfires through walls with them and an aether-fire canon will gain shred. Too bad a Praevian can't take them(yet). Their model is going to be sweet too.

 

Speaking of models, anyone know a good way to get left and right handed swords? Until the Blade Kabal gets an upgrade pack it's going to be difficult modeling them. Though I suppose you could take BaC marines, buy some normal swords, and use the sheathed CCW as the second blade...

[Black Cohort]

They're going to be devastating in Zone Mortalis. You can hop witchfires through walls with them and an aether-fire canon will gain shred. Too bad a Praevian can't take them(yet). Their model is going to be sweet too.

 

Speaking of models, anyone know a good way to get left and right handed swords? Until the Blade Kabal gets an upgrade pack it's going to be difficult modeling them. Though I suppose you could take BaC marines, buy some normal swords, and use the sheathed CCW as the second blade...

 

grey knight kits have the shorter dual swords in bulk, you can probably get them fairly cheap from a bits store.