Great Crusade/Horus Heresy Era Weapons, Vehicles & Armour

[The Praetorian of Inwit]

Hi there Sorcerers. Looking for any info on what types of weapons, if any, the Thousand Sons favored or disliked during the days of the GC/HH? Also if they used a particular mark of armour more  than others? Lastly were there any vehicles they had a preference for or against? 

[Xenith]

"A Thousand Sons" has a lot of the info you're looking for. They have a preference for Reaper Autocannons, probably anything with the word reaper in it, actually, and would have been equipped with a lot of Mk4 as horus diverted resources towards likely traitors. 40k rubric marines are in Mk4 armour. From 30k, they would also like modified plasma (aetherfire) weapons, and have a fondness for rotor type weapons (rotor cannons with asphyx shells, soulreaper cannons). 

[No Foes Remain]

If you can find your hands on a pdf copy on the internet, HH Black Book 7: Inferno covers that as well. Flicking through mine it mentions they had a preferance for Mk4 armour, which they were replacing their Mk2 with, and had their own 'Achean' sub pattern of both Mk2 and Mk4.

 

Quote

From the period of Magnus' reformation onwards, a number of unique variants of power armour helms appear within the ranks of the Thousand Sons. While not universal, they are believed to invoke certain ritual factors and materials in their construction.
MkII 'Crusade' Achean Sub-pattern Introduced after 'Pesedjet' structural reform, mid-Great Crusade onwards, and still used by veteran and specialist formations by the time of the Burning of Prospera.
MkIV 'Maximus' Achean Sub-pattern Introduced during the latter Great Crusade, widespread adoption of MkIV sub-patterns locally manufactured by Arkhadine sub-forge.

 

Page 153.

 

Quote

The Legionary's power armour is of the Mkiii 'Iron' pattern which was still widely present in the Legion, although being largely phased out in favour of increasing stockpiles of the more advanced MkiV pattern in the Thousand Sons' line units.

 

Page 160

 

Quote

If the Thousand Sons displayed a favour towards a unit configuration, it was to the mechanised tactical squad as its principal infantry paradigm, with mobile speeder and flyerbased reconnaissance units embedded across the Legion's deployments as a near-universal adjunct.

The exact reasons for this are not recorded, but it is possible that it was simply seen as the most efficient and adaptable method of deploying warriors into the field, and that the psychic might of the Legion made greater specialisation less necessary that it might have.

This possible explanation tallies with a number of engagements when the Legion deployed forces against armoured or fortified enemies without the full complement of heavy materiel and equipment that would have been used by other Legions under similar circumstances, relying upon psychic power rather than just shot and shell to carry the day.

It is however also notable that despite this reliance on basic troops, the deadly arithmetic of attrition-based ·warfare was never a game that the Thousand Sons Legion entered into willingly, actively avoiding the meat grinder of mass-assault tactics and striving never to allow themselves to become encircled or undertake sacrificial holding actions, regardless of the prize at stake. Instead, they always strove to stack the odds of battle in their favour, either through exacting strategic planning, the considered use of ancillary forces such as battle-automata as shields and vanguards, and of course, by far more occult and less easily understood means.

 

Page 151

 

Hope these help.

[The Praetorian of Inwit]

Thanks guys :) That helps. It gives me a few ideas of what to theme a TS army around.