5000pts Thousand Sons vs. Custodes Lessons Learned

[Archaeinox]

March 12th a friend came up to the store and we played a big 5000pt game after I closed up. I used every model I own. He just built his Custodes, so of course they aren't painted. We will do a smaller all-painted batrep soon for you guys. 

We played the very basic 3-card Maelstrom mission so that we could focus on the gameplay. Due to duplicate spell saturation, I had guys on the left and right take the same powers in case I needed one on either side of the battlefield (Death Hex, Gift of Chaos on two exalted sorcerers, for example). Yeah, it was Matched Play so no attempting the same one twice except Smite.

 

 

Victory for the Thousand Sons with relative ease. 10-8 Maelstrom points, there were 3 Custodes models remaining on the far left flank in my deployment zone who were chasing a Predator down. I through Fateweaver at them and he eventually died. If we were being competitive, the entire army would have just removed the 3 Custodes in the psychic phase and I would have had more points but I decided against it. We made it to bottom of turn 6 in 4 hours.

 

Things that went bad:

 

-The Vexillor Preators spread across his deployment zone with the -1 to hit in the shooting phase banner SUCK. They must die. I only killed 2 all game, and both were in turn 4.

 

-Tzaangors failed charge vs. 5 custodian guard turn 1 even with Warptime, Gaze of Fate AND a Command Re-roll. Double 1s twice, basically. The cost of failing that was giving 5 Wardens, a Shield Captain, 5 Custodian Guard and a Vexillor extra movement as they charged the Tzaangors. Eventually, the Vexillor would be in range to bring down more Allarus Custodes at close range....

 

-6 Allarus custodes terminators charged all 15 Scarab Occult Terminators. The only guys left were the Scarab Occult Sorcerers, who eventually fell back.. but they could have died easily. Watch out for those big axes- they are powerfists that hit easier.

 

Mistakes I made:

 

-The psychic phase was so long turn 4 that I forgot to shoot two Predators and the Land Raider because I got ahead of myself and went straight to the infantry units' shooting.

 

-Deploying all 3 Scarab Occult Terminator squads next to each other for the Allarus to arrive then multi charge. Splitting their attacks (2 vs each unit) was enough to remove the Scarabs as a threat.

 

-Not popping Cabalistic Ritual to ensure that Death Hex was super hard to deny.. Somehow a Custodes character stopped it with a lucky roll.

 

Things that went well: 

 

-Magnus did 10 (land raider), 10 (Wardens) and 6 (Custodes Guardians) Mortal Wounds to units over the course of the game thanks to his +2 to cast combined with what happened after he re-rolled a 1 for a test. That's not counting what dmg was done with his Bolt of Change and Doombolt, which sometimes went to other units. Magnus killed the Land Raider with the help of a Prescience'd predator in the shooting phase.

 

-The best targets for Magnus to charge are the Guardians/Wardens (3 wounds each), or the Jetbikes if they are wounded. Always assume that even though Magnus will hit and wound a ton, your opponent will make tons of Invul Saves. Nevertheless, he can help erase a unit but I recommend softening it up just to guarantee the kill.

 

-Ahriman's spell set was Temporal Manipulation, Glamour of Tzeentch and Death Hex. With so much other offensive guys, it was great to have him staying in my deployment zone and just zipping around to buff and heal Magnus from a distance. Don't forget to plan ahead for your spell ranges. If you know me, you know I prefer Ahriman on foot if you aren't taking Magnus. In this situation, however, it was imperative that he fly around in the safety of my deployment zone and applying a spell at +1 to cast where needed. He was always in range of 2 Thousand Sons psykers for Cabalistic Ritual but I only used it once.

 

 

[WarriorFish]

Good to see that the Sons can handle apoc well enough, though I'm guessing that the strength of Custode's durability was lessened due to the availability of Smite which was a string to your bow? Against them cheaper hordes are best which isn't so great for more elite Rubrics etc so maybe it equalled out in the end? Great to see so many Sons on the table top (albeit far away )

[Archaeinox]

Yeah Smite definitely helped. Though to be honest, my "normal" smites only did 1 or 2 wounds most of the time (and more 1 than 2). It was, however, nice to attempt to find an application for all 18 powers accessible to the combined TS and Tzeentch demons army and not JUST use smite.

[Re'Koleq't]

Nice.

 

I especially like your point about ensuring cabalistic ritual is used on death hex to make it much harder to deny.

 

The successful casting or not of that power can swing a combat massively or ensure big bads like Morty or Rob get taken out completely.

[Archaeinox]

I absolutely agree with you. 

 

In a massive game like that it is possible to miss it. You have to be committed to remember those important combos before the game. I was not, I was in a hurry to play. And yes I had fun but I made mistakes because of rushing

[Nym]

Did Kairos do well before his last turn demise ?

 

I've ordered a Lord of change to be my warlord from time to time (with 3++ relic and -1 damage trait) but I'd like to hear about people's experience with Kairos.

[Archaeinox]

Did Kairos do well before his last turn demise ?

 

I've ordered a Lord of change to be my warlord from time to time (with 3++ relic and -1 damage trait) but I'd like to hear about people's experience with Kairos.

 

If by "well" you mean reliably casting Gaze of Fate each turn and Smiting Custodes at 36" away until it became just another Smite once they closed the distance, yes, he fulfilled those roles perfectly...

 

With so much redundancy of powers (Magnus having access to the Tzeentch discipline, for example), Kairos didn't really serve a purpose. I could have put him in combat earlier than I did but I wanted to play my 3 big unique characters defensively. I think it payed off.

 

I can't recommend Kairos over a Lord of Change with the configuration you mentioned. Hitting on 2+ is serious business, along with the 3++ and the ability to choose a trait. For what it's worth, I suffered Perils with Fateweaver and rolled a 1 (he was the Warlord) and still ended up taking Perils.. Should have just given it to Magnus for the extra power.

 

After we lost the Oracles formation (Wrath of Magnus era) and moved into 8th, I sold my Lord of Change. I regret it.

Edited March 16, 2018 by Archaeinox

[Skerr]

Thanks Arch, great read. I had a game against Elder recently and death hex was invaluable against his war walkers sneaking up on my DZ.