How to anti-tank

[DavionStar]

So a lot of us know that Thousand Sons don't have a lot of great anti-tank. And a friend I've been playing with lots of tanks. (Namely the heavy artillery pipe organ tanks the sisters field) I feel like Plasma is the way to go since it's reliable, but we don't have a lot of that. Pretty much just Helbrutes. The Ectoplasma on Forgefiends is D3 damage so it's about the same as a lot of other options. Not to mention short-ish range. I'm considering a Forgefiend with Autocannons. -1 AP isn't great but the range and number of shots might make up for it. There's also just throwing in more casters to Smite the crap out of them. I just find rockets and lascannons underwhelming when I try to use them. One shot and I seem to always roll 1 on the damage.

 

Keeping my options open but I was thinking of the following.

 

- Fiendish Forgeworks: Get more Forgefiends and use strategems to buff them for no -1 hit on moving and rerolling misses.

- Smite for the Smite God: Maybe Terminator, or normal for lower costs. Another Exalted in my list might not be bad for the aura.

- Helbrutes, Helbrutes everywhere: Just get all the Helbrute Plasma cannons firing. If it wounds itself who cares, maybe it gets an extra shot off. Or a melee unit or two since the fists have 14 strength and -3 ap. I'd have to go Cult of Dup to make this worth it so I could try launching a Helbrute every turn.

- Make some Noise: Noise Marines with Blastmasters. Since it's basically a Plasma gun.

- Cry Havoc: Havocs outfitted with as many Plasma Guns and/or Rocket launchers as I can afford

- Lemons: Renegade Leman Russ tanks with Plasma Cannons? Not sure how worth it these would be.

- Chaos Knights: I have to imagine there's some good options here.

 

If anyone has experience and can help guide me that'd be great.

[Rune Priest Ridcully]

Are you willing to look at FW options? If so Contemptors/leviathan dreadnoughts, xiphon interceptors could do it potentially.

[Captain Antargo]

9th edition will be coming out soon, so hopefully they will release some strong units for TS and possibly Renegade Primaris which could give some cool units.

[Prot]

This conversation comes up semi-regularly, especially with newer players. Here's a few topics that cover a lot of common answers:

 

http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/363091-thousand-sons-and-tanking-go-big-or-go-home/?p=5503365

 

http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/359028-anti-armor/?p=5403435

 

At the end of the day the short answer is:

- Mortal Wounds; The great equalizer. Very potent.

- Forgeworld: Great shooting phase options include: dual Twin-las Contemptors, Xiphon Interceptor, etc.

- Close Combat. Daemon Princes and Magnus are very capable in this role.

Edited June 3, 2020 by Prot

[DavionStar]

Thanks for the tips folks. And totally missed that "Thousand Sons and tanking" post. Whoops. Maybe last night I glossed over it cause I was thinking it was talking Predators.

 

My daemon prince actually tore up my friend's Immolator pretty nicely. Sadly their Tzaangor bodyguard got wiped out right before and got taken out next turn.

 

I'm definitely ok with trying Forge World. I wanted to get a Contemptor anyway cause our faction specific one has a lovely model. Sadly their closed right now, hopefully they'll open soon. But I can try them out in TTSim. The other FW options I'll have to look into. I could always try to make a "Rubric headdress" for the Leviathan dread if I go that route. ;P

 

Something else I noticed was the War Dogs being mentioned, which is what I think gave me the original idea. I'm assuming Thermal Spears on those if I go with them? Not sure how they've changed with Machine War.

 

For all of those mechs I was just planning on calling them giant Rubric constructs anyway so fluff is covered. I've also found some really nice conversion bits for War Dogs online so I can make them look more Thousand Sonsy.

 

At any rate, I'll try both types out against my friend and see how it goes. I'm learning bit by bit with each game I play. I'll get there eventually.

[Sorceress]

Generally people like the autocannons on the war dogs. Massive range, lots of shots 4d3 and flat 3 damage. If your looking at demon engines remember they have the demon and likely tzeetch keyword making them valid targets for Flickering flames. +1 to wound is very nice against tough tanks. But hopefully we will see better options in 9th.

[Prot]

I actually use my Knight detachment fairly often with my Thousand Sons. Wardogs with Autocannons are indeed a lot of fun. Really they don't have true 'knight' rules with being able to disengage from close combat but they are good. Think of them as fancy dreadnoughts. You can go as far as a full sized knight, but it isn't necessary really. 

 

The wardogs with Melta and chainglaive are actually good too. Especially with an army that may not want to be combat all the time with all aspects (Such as Ahriman). 

 

The only downside (for me) with a knight detachment is it's one less detachment you can use on of the specializations from Psychic Awakening on. But for sheer effectiveness you might want to experiment with them.

[Arbiter7]

are tri-las predators that bad? sorry noob here just started a TS army

Edited June 10, 2020 by Arbiter7

[The Yncarne]

I found the triple las predators to die relatively quickly with doing minimal damage.

[Montoya]

are tri-las predators that bad? sorry noob here just started a TS army

 

I've actually always had good luck with my las-predators.   So, no I don't think they are that bad.

 

I'm starting to get convinced from this thread that the quad las contemptor dreads are the better option though due to the 2+ BS and manoeverability etc.     Couple that with the fact that they are cheaper in points than the predator, and it really tips the balance in the dreads favour.

 

Biggest issue with the dreads is $.    

Edited June 10, 2020 by Montoya