Into the Eye of Tzeentch

[Ryan3000]

Hey guys, I have a 2k army on order and this thread will be about my journey modeling,painting, practicing and competing at tournaments.

 

I'll start off with the list I will start with and the reasons behind it all.

[Ryan3000]

This is the list:

 

++ Battalion Detachment 0CP (Chaos - Thousand Sons) [66 PL, 9 Cabal Points, 1,261pts] ++

 

+ Configuration +

 

Cults of the Legion: Cult of Duplicity

 

Detachment Command Cost

 

+ HQ [19 PL, 7 Cabal Points, 330pts] +

 

Exalted Sorcerer [8 PL, 3 Cabal Points, 135pts]: 11. Gaze of Hate, 23. Temporal Surge, Dilettante [2 PL, 35pts], Force stave, Frag & Krak grenades, Inferno Bolt Pistol, Paradoxical Chatterfowl, Smite, Umbralefic Crystal

 

Infernal Master [5 PL, 2 Cabal Points, 90pts]: 22. Weaver of Fates, 4. Diabolic Savant, 5. Glimpse of Eternity, Force stave, Frag & Krak grenades, Inferno Bolt Pistol, Smite

 

Sorcerer [6 PL, 2 Cabal Points, 105pts]: 11. Tzeentch's Firestorm, 31. Cacodaemonic Curse, Force sword, Frag & Krak grenades, Inferno Bolt Pistol, Loyal Thrall [1 PL, 15pts], Master Misinformator, Smite, The Chronos Tutorum, Warlord

 

+ Troops [24 PL, 1 Cabal Points, 474pts] +

 

Rubric Marines [12 PL, 1 Cabal Points, 269pts]

. Aspiring Sorcerer [1 Cabal Points, 26pts]: 32. Pyric Flux, Force stave, Smite, Warpflame pistol [5pts]

. 9x Rubric Marine w/ warpflamer [243pts]: 9x Warpflamer [54pts]

 

Thousand Sons Cultists [8 PL, 135pts]

. Cultist Champion [5pts]: Autogun

. 26x Cultist w/ autogun [130pts]: 26x Autogun

 

Tzaangors [4 PL, 70pts]

. Twistbray [7pts]: Tzaangor blades

. 9x Tzaangor w/ Tzaangor blades [63pts]: 9x Tzaangor blades

 

+ Elites [10 PL, 1 Cabal Points, 215pts] +

 

Scarab Occult Terminators [10 PL, 1 Cabal Points, 215pts]: Hellfyre missile rack [10pts]

. Scarab Occult Sorcerer [1 Cabal Points, 40pts]: Force stave, Inferno combi-bolter, Smite

. 3x Terminator [120pts]: 3x Inferno combi-bolter, 3x Prosperine khopesh

. Terminator w/ Heavy Weapon [45pts]: Prosperine khopesh, Soulreaper cannon [5pts]

 

+ Fast Attack [4 PL, 77pts] +

 

Chaos Spawn [1 PL, 23pts]

. Chaos Spawn [1 PL, 23pts]: Hideous mutations

 

Tzaangor Enlightened [3 PL, 54pts]: Aviarch [18pts], Divining spears

. 2x Enlightened [36pts]

. . 2x Disc of Tzeentch: 2x Disc blades

 

+ Flyer [9 PL, 165pts] +

 

Heldrake [9 PL, 165pts]: Baleflamer, Heldrake claws

 

++ Patrol Detachment -2CP (Chaos - Thousand Sons) [35 PL, -4CP, 8 Cabal Points, 739pts] ++

 

+ Configuration [-2CP] +

 

Cults of the Legion: Cult of Magic

 

Detachment Command Cost [-2CP]

 

+ Stratagems [-1CP] +

 

Sorcerous Arcana [-1CP]: Additional Relics [-1CP]

 

+ HQ [13 PL, -1CP, 5 Cabal Points, 245pts] +

 

Exalted Sorcerer [8 PL, -1CP, 3 Cabal Points, 155pts]: 13. Doombolt, 23. Baleful Devolution, Devastating Sorcery, Force stave, Frag & Krak grenades, High Acolytes [-1CP], Inferno Bolt Pistol, Prosperine khopesh [5pts], Rehati [1 PL, 25pts], Smite, Warpweave Mantle

. Disc of Tzeentch [1 PL, 25pts]: Disc blades

 

Infernal Master [5 PL, 2 Cabal Points, 90pts]: 12. Glamour of Tzeentch, 5. Glimpse of Eternity, 6. Malefic Maelstrom, Force stave, Frag & Krak grenades, Inferno Bolt Pistol, Smite

 

+ Troops [12 PL, 2 Cabal Points, 279pts] +

 

Rubric Marines [12 PL, 2 Cabal Points, 279pts]: Icon of Flame [1 Cabal Points, 10pts]

. Aspiring Sorcerer [1 Cabal Points, 26pts]: 32. Pyric Flux, Force stave, Smite, Warpflame pistol [5pts]

. 9x Rubric Marine w/ warpflamer [243pts]: 9x Warpflamer [54pts]

 

+ Elites [10 PL, 1 Cabal Points, 215pts] +

 

Scarab Occult Terminators [10 PL, 1 Cabal Points, 215pts]: Hellfyre missile rack [10pts]

. Scarab Occult Sorcerer [1 Cabal Points, 40pts]: Force stave, Inferno combi-bolter, Smite

. 3x Terminator [120pts]: 3x Inferno combi-bolter, 3x Prosperine khopesh

. Terminator w/ Heavy Weapon [45pts]: Prosperine khopesh, Soulreaper cannon [5pts]

 

++ Total: [17 Cabal Points, 101 PL, -4CP, 2,000pts] ++

 

The broad strokes of the plan is to put the 2 flamer squads into the enemy face tur 1 using either Risen Rubricae, Sorcerous Facade or the Crystal. 1 squad can cast Pyric Flux on themselves and the other gets the plus 1 from an infernal master while casting Astral Blast.

 

The Exalted on disc jumps out and throws out mortals then the other Exalted Temporal Surges either him to safety or one squad of SOT teleports/surges out to help him.

 

The Tzaangors hold the back and the Enlightened and Spawn are the early msu trading for objective units. While the cultists move to the mid board and protect the main bulk of characters while being a huge pain to kill off.

 

The Helldrake is a third in their face unit that can cause additional mortals with Vector Strike or Warpflame Gargoyles.

 

And lastly the Cult of Magic SOT teleport in turn 2 to add another Astral Blast and their shooting to keep the pressure on.

 

The secondaries that I have built around/think would work well is:

 

Warp Ritual from the Loyal Thrall Sorcerer in the center of the board while hidden by the cultists.

 

Stranglehold from the Enlightened and Spawn jumping onto points while teleporting units around the board to pick up or clear other objectives.

 

And then the best Flex Pick out of things like Wrath of Magnus, Banners, Assassinate, Burn Empires, etc.

[Mushkilla]

Looks like a good starting point.

 

From a collecting point of view you can always make lists that are heavy on characters to begin with (means less building/painting before you get going). I'd also recommend playing with proxies while you're building up your army. When admech came out I had a dream of running 30-40 kataphrons, I proxied them with 65mm bases with marines bluetacked to them played a few games and realised it was a terrible idea, and not fun or effective as an army. When I wanted to test out running 40+ rubrics I used proxies too. I wanted to make damn sure it was a list I'd enjoy before painting all that endless gold trim.

 

A few observations in regards to your list.

 

You only have one sorcerer with Temporal Surge. Temporal Surge only has a range of 6" and that sorcerer isn't on a disk so you are going to struggle to target the units you want to with it unless your positioning is perfect. You can boost the range to 12" with Imbued Manifestation but that's going to eat into your small cabal point pool of 17. If you want to use Temporal Surge to move a sorcerer back you'll to safety you will want a casting range of 12" especially if you are targeting a disk sorcerer, you'll also wand a reliable way to cast it. If you are needing to use Imbued Manifestation to get that 12" range you won't be able to use any other cabalistic rituals to help it go off (only one ritual can be used per unit). A key part of playing this army is planning around our powers failing. If a tactic requires a power to go off, then you need to find ways to make sure it's practically guaranteed. We can't afford to throw away an exalted sorcerer because we failed to cast a power.

 

This is the reason my go to temporal surge sorcerer load out is the following:

 

Exalted Sorcerer, disk, Dilettante - 160

Relic: Prism of Echoes and Athenaean Scroll

Powers: Temporal Surge, Pyric Flux

 

Gives me a reliable cast and the extra casting range.

 

In your current set up needing to boost the range on temporal surge will also compete with Astral Blast which is a prim candidate for Imbued Manifestation you really don't want to have your sorcerers 12" away from your opponents units. Another thing regarding Astral Blast, you'll want to combo it with Arrogance of Aeons so that you can boost its range and still use Malevolent Charge on it.

 

I'd question taking Duplicity and the Crystal. Especially in a list that only really has a handful of valid duplicity targets that don't already have a teleport mechanism (2x rubrics and 1x Tgors). You could probably get away running a different cult or dropping the crystal.

 

I'd also caution against a hammer blow playstyle. Dropping two units of flamer rubrics in you opponents face turn 1 is scary but will just lead to them getting shot off the board. They are much more of a scalpel than a hammer.

 

Hope that helps. 

Edited October 3, 2021 by Mushkilla

[Ryan3000]

Thanks for the feedback Mush! You are absolutely right about the range of Temporal Surge. The easy fix is to swap the paradoxical chatterfowl with the prism but I really like the crazy chickens in my current dread heavy meta. However temporal surge isn't a huge part of my overall plan. Its mainly to get the cultists swarming the mid board or pull magic man back to safety. I think I would be happy enough with the prism and then using a cp or glimpse of infinity reroll to make sure it goes off. Definitely something I will keep an eye on in my next couple games and report on.

 

Yes I know duplicity and the Crystal may seem redundant, duplicity is mostly there for the pre game redeploy. I have found any kind of redeploy power to be so strong. And then the Crystal both as an option to teleport 2 units in a turn but also a guarantee that I dont need to rely on the spell going off.

 

I dont entirely think that throwing up 2 flamer units is a hammerblow tactic. I know that we can take the primary game and the secondaries that I'm looking at are not interactive with the opponent for the most part so if I can pin the opponent in their dz while removing a few key units and taking the board then I belive that is my path to victory.

 

I have battles against an Imperial Knights list and a White Scars list this week using proxies so will put up some reports.

[WarriorFish]

Good to see a new WIP get started, hoping to see pictures of your progress soon Further to what Mush has said I'll add that you shouldn't be too concerned with lists at this start. They will no doubt evolve mutate as you get experience and learn how you want to play - playing with what the codex can do will be a great way to keep your grey matter busy while you get to painting the army up and will also help you plan your next unit

[GreenPlasma]

To add to what WarriorFish said, it’s a lot easier to get a grip on things at low points with a smaller list. There’s a lot of moving parts in Thousand Sons. Starting small and evolving — err, mutating— can be a lot of fun if you take it as a chamber for experimentation.

[Ryan3000]

Cheers Fish and Plasma! I should probably clarify that some of the selections are because I already have them as part of my other Chaos army (the cultists, helldrake, a sorcerer and infernal master) that will reduce my painting/modeling time. And play regular 2k point games and tournaments with my other other Chaos army the dark angels. But even with the experience, my cheat sheet for this Sons army is long!! Edited October 4, 2021 by Ryan3000

[Xenith]

Personally, I'd drop the loyal Thrall upgrade to save 15, use 10 to upgrade the sorcerer to an exalted sorcerer, then use the infernal master to perform the psychic actions. You cast the same number of powers per turn, but get +1WS, BS, A and W on a sorcerer, and an extra CaP for 5pts less. Are you actually also on 0 CP? We're a CP hungry army, and you wont be able to use risen Rubricae etc without them at the start of the game. I think I count 7? If you use Risen, then you're down to 5 in turn 1, which seems pretty risky as you dont have the Daemons Eye Helm to recover some. 

 

Baleful devolution is pretty limited, I'd swap that for Firestorm, especially if that's your 'mortal spamming' sorcerer. 

 

Looking forward to seeing the army take shape! 

Edited October 4, 2021 by Xenith

[Ryan3000]

That's a good shout Xenith. I'll go through why I had it set that and what it would look like changed.

 

My thinking was the normal sorcerer would take the Seeker after Shadows warlord trait to roll an extra d6 and drop 1 of my pick when doing psychic actions. This guy ideally does Warp Ritual and the Cabal points action to gain a CP. They are both low enough that it is actually impossible to fail but the 3d6 means I can dodge perils. Then, because I thought Weaver of Fate was a key power, the Infernal Master can make the Diabolic Savant pact to give himself a reroll.

 

But swapping it around like you suggest works with what Mush said earlier that my temporal surge exalted has too short a range to be effective. So he gets the prism and Weaver moves to him (if we can mix disciplines) giving it a longer range. And then the sorcerer gets upgraded to an exalted. I think the only downside to this is a few less rerolls on powers while the upside is the bonus stats on the exalted, an extra CaP and save 5 points. Now to get rid of Dilettante and I can put him on a disc...

 

Yes I'm not sure why battlescribe came out with that but it should have 7 cp. I'm committed to using 4 CaP a turn to get the extra cp and I think it should be enough to do the things I need to.

Edited October 4, 2021 by Ryan3000

[Xenith]

Only one psychic action per unit per turn, I'm afraid, so the warp ritual and cabal ritual can't be done by the same model. I think the action still requires the model not to manifest any powers, so unless it's a loyal thrall, do the cabal power on a aspiring sorc.

[Ryan3000]

Ok I need help haha. I got my Hexfire box today and for the life of me I can't figure out how to put up a picture?

[WarriorFish]

duz made a brief intro here that should help :tu: Hexfire is a nice box, great for anyone starting out so you'll enjoy it :)

[Xenith]

No worries - the first stop is this link on posting and hosting pics:

 

http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/141716-posting-and-hosting-images-at-the-bc/

 

Then check out your gallery - click your name at the top of the desktop screen, and it'll come up, then you can add photos. Bear in mind they need to be sub 2mb, so you might have to resize them if they're taken on a modern phone. I open them in paint, shrink to 30%, then save.

 

Edit: Ninja'd!

Edited October 5, 2021 by Xenith