Alright! This one will be much more fresh for us, as we didn't get too much in the way of Thousand Sons reveals. So let's sit back, grab a book, poor some tea, and enjoy some quality time with everyone's favorite Space Nerds.
ARMY RULES
We've already seen both the Army and Faction rules, and they look really good. One thing we have to keep an eye out for as we look at the Datasheets is how many Cabal points each one gives us. The more Cabal points we have to spend each round, the better. We'll also want to keep an eye out for each unit's Psychic weapons and any particular synergy with the three Kindred Sorcery rules. In particular, we want to see how much synergy we can find for Wrath of the Immaterium, or ways to get DEVASTATING WOUNDS with Pyschic Maelstrom.
STRATAGEMS
Psychic Dominion
I can't remember if we've seen this one or one like it, but this I seem to recall a Stratagem like this. It establishes KSons as the dominant Psychic force on the battlefield, crushing any Psychic attacks made against them. This is going to be extremely situational; I'm not predicting a Psyker heavy meta. But against my Tyranids, Grey Knights, and, of course, other Thousand Sons, this could be useful.
Destined By Fate
Wow! Just nullify an attack! You will almost certainly use this, especially if you're fielding Magnus.
Devastating Sorcery
Full re-rolls to Hit and Wound for Psychic Attacks for one unit. Pretty good, especially with Kindred Sorcery.
Ensorcelled Infusion
Up the power of a units bolters and make them PSYCHIC for Kindred Sorcery. This could be pretty useful, especially in combination with Devastating Sorcery.
Sorcerous Might
Another stratagem to give another buff to Psychic attacks. While this doesn't feel impressive, there will be times when you'll find yourself just outside of range. And 9" is a pretty big increase.
Warp Sight
It's 2CP, but giving a unit INDIRECT FIRE can be really potent. The fact you get to ignore cover makes this even better.
These are all pretty nice Stratagems. Two of them are pretty situational, but nice to have in your pocket. Really the go-to here is the combo of Devastating Sorcery and Ensorcelled Infusion. Combine that with Wrath of the Immaterium and the Thousand Sons are raining mortals down once again.
ENHANCEMENTS
Lord of Forbidden Lore
If you can make sure you're earning plenty of Cabal points, this is great! The new rituals are awesome, and being able to use them more will be really good.
Umbralefic Crystal
A once per battle teleport is pretty fun. I'll be surprised if there isn't at least one unit with an ability like this, too. But more is definitely better.
Athenaean Scrolls
If you're having trouble generating as many Cabal points as you want, this will get you 1 more. This probably won't be worth it, but we'll have to see how scarce they are.
Arcane Vortex
Our boring enhancement for KSons, +1 Strength and Damage is still nothing to sneeze at.
This is a pretty mixed bag. Lord of Forbidden Lore is practically auto-include if it's not too expensive. Athenaean Scrolls stays home, unless it turns out to be harder to generate Cabal points than you'd expect.
DATASHEETS
Ahriman
We've already seen what he does, as he was one of the two spoilers we've gotten. He grants us 3 Cabal points, which is probably pretty good. I'm betting only Magnus will give us more. His combat stats aren't anything to write home about, but you're bringing him for the free ritual.
Ahriman on Disc of Tzeentch
The only difference here is the movement characteristic. This probably means you'll be leaving this version of Ahriman home, since you'll want him with some rubrics for protection. If there's a way to get him Lone Operative, he might be worth taking for the extra movement. But I'm betting you just take the basic version.
Thousand Sons Land Raider
Well that's a choice for a follow up datasheet. It's a Land Raider. There will be times you will want to get a unit into combat, if only just to tie something up, and lascannons are still good shooting. But this is definitely the army that benefits the least from these.
Thousand Sons Vehicles
I guess we're just doing all of these. They get the inferno versions of the bolt weapons, which is kinda nice. Annihilators will be good fire support. My guess is you'll have better ways to deal with hordes than a Destructor. Rhinos are probably going to be nice little transports. Vindicators are another potential way to tie things up.
Thousand Sons Chaos Spawn
From vehicles to Chaos Spawn, I do find it weird we're doing the Thousand Sons versions of things before we get to more unique units. It's a chaos spawn. If they're cheap, maybe you'll take them to screen.
Thousand Sons Defiler
If terrain lets you move these around, Defilers might be a really good choice for this army. You don't have a lot of combat units. Anything that can force your opponent to deal with charge threats is a good. It's also nice this gets inferno versions too.
Exalted Sorcerer
The Exalted Sorcerer has a similar profile to Ahriman, except his Psychic attack is more focused around taking out units than characters. He gets 2 Cabal points, so scaling looks like it will be pretty similar to 9th. He gets DEVASTATING WOUNDS normally, so if you've got three of these you'll be wanting to use SUSTAINED HITS as often as you can. He makes your Rubrics extremely tanking with a 4+ Invuln, and he can try to resurrect them in your Command phase. Unless they're stupid expensive, I can easily see taking three of these.
Exalted Sorcerer on Disc of Tzeentch
In addition to the extra move, which you likely won't use much, he gets a Psychic power that allows him to attempt to halve Movement, Advance, and Charge rolls for an enemy unit. You're guaranteed to get at least two attempts at this (unless your opponent removes him of course), so this will likely be pretty useful. He also trades out the Blast weapon for a Torrent weapon, making him a nice Overwatch target. Pretty good board control here!
Thousand Sons Forgefiend
The Thousand Sons version of this Daemon Engine can "suppress" a unit for -1 to Hit. It's otherwise identical to the generic Forgefiend.
Thousand Sons Helbrute
Again, we get inferno versions for all our bolt weapons. But the cool thing here is he helps us recycle our Cabal points, granting an additional Cabal point each time a nearby Psyker uses a ritual.
Thousand Sons Heldrake
Rather than try to be anti-aircraft, this Heldrake marks targets for you and prevents them from gaining cover. This is honestly pretty good, considering how dependent KSons are on shooting.
Infernal Master
The Infernal Master also gets you 2 Cabal points. He comes with at Torrent weapon, which is always good. These torrent powers are a good reason to take DEVASTATING WOUNDS from Kindred Sorcery. Plus he hands out SUSTAINED HITS 1, which is the other good buff, though this doesn't help him much. But the kicker is he can just change a dice to a 6, guaranteeing him at least one mortal wound in shooting.
Magnus the Red
Well hello big guy! I was honestly expecting they'd save you for last. The order of Datasheets in this Index has been weird. Just the way Tzeentch likes it!
Magnus gets you 4 Cabal points, already making him a good choice for your army. His profile is pretty beefy, with T11 and 16 wounds. He gets both Gaze of Magnus and Tzeentch's Firestorm, raining down shots and potentially mortals. And he's still a Primarch in combat, with 7 S16, AP-3, D3 attacks with DEVASTATING WOUNDS on the strike. His Commander ability lets him choose between -1 Damage, forcing a unit to take HAZARDOUS tests in shooting, and granting an Aura of +2" Movement. That last one in particular is really good! He also just always grants an Aura of +1 to Hit and Wound to his Sons' Psychic attacks. Magnus is definitely a great piece to have in your army.
Thousand Sons Maulerfiend
Remember how I said you'd need to get units in combat? Well this version of the Maulerfiend has free Heroic Intervention. Strangely he's not a monster, which I didn't notice before, so he's not getting those magma cutters in combat.
Mutalith Vortex Beast
We got to have part of this Datasheet previewed, but now we get the full picture. While bringing it to improve your rituals is definitely nice, those shooting profiles are also really good. It's also no slouch in combat, with a decent number of S7 attacks or five S9, AP-2, and 4 damage strikes. Plus nearby enemies have to deal with mortal wounds raining on them and take Battle-shock tests.
Rubric Marines
We've already seen these previewed, but now we know they'll be the main unit that most of your leaders can join. So you'll want plenty of these. Good thing they're Battleline.
Scarab Occult Terminators
There was a period in 9th when these things were nigh unkillable. They're still tough when they have a Leader, gaining the new version of Transhuman. And as Terminators, they punch decently hard into other infantry and lighter vehicles and monsters.
Thousand Sons Sorcerer
The generic Sorcerer only gets you 1 Cabal point, but every bit helps. Fires of the Abyss is short ranged but gets a lot of shots. And as if you needed a reason to not take LETHAL HITS from Kindred Sorcery, he just hands it out to his unit. But wow! He makes it so you can't shoot his unit if he's outside of 18"! This is amazing protection!
Thousand Sons Sorcerer in Terminator Armour
You're probably going to want at least one unit of Terminators, and they'll want a leader. Coruscating Flames is an interesting power, doing a spattering of potential mortals to Monsters and Vehicles while still having a decent profile against anything else. He still grants LETHAL HITS, but now he also grants re-roll 1s against a chosen target.
Thousand Sons Cultists
If you can manage to kill a unit with these guys, you get 1CP. More likely, you'll get the second half of their ability and get 1CP when they're destroyed. Spend these poor fools wisely to make sure you're getting CP when you need it.
Thousand Sons Daemon Prince
For some reason this one moves slightly slower than the generic one, making me almost wonder if someone accidentally copied part of the Death Guard sheet and forgot to change it. He comes with an interesting ability to let a unit of Rubrics or Terminators try and snipe off a character. As a bonus, he also grants Stealth to nearby units.
Thousand Sons Daemon Prince with Wings
Oh wow! He appropriately gets to roll 9 dice on his bombing run! Fluffy and powerful! And while he doesn't have Deep Strike, he can teleport himself to another part of the Battlefield.
Tzaangor Enlightened
KSons players have never take particularly well to their inheritance from AoS and Fantasy. Though this has often been because Tzaangors usually didn't have rules to support them. Here again, they don't have a lot of that synergizes with their Space Marine masters. But at least they can be a bit evasive as a screen, getting one of those D6" moves when the enemy gets close.
Tzaangor Shaman
Hey! At least the Shaman gives you a Cabal point! He also gets the benefit of Kindred Sorcery on his attacks. Since Tzaangors are usually screening units, the fact he gets them a 5+ FNP is very nice. And re-roll Hits of 1 should help them be a potential threat too.
Tzaangors
They're honestly not bad in combat, especially if they have a Shaman with them. And with a Brayhorn they should reliably get there. They can also get you some free Cabal points if you roll well with them.
FINAL THOUGHTS
As expected, the Thousand Sons have a few tricks ups their armoured robes. But strangely the bulk of them come from their Army Rules and not from the units themselves. They don't have a lot of re-rolls outside of Stratagems, so they might have a little trouble getting the most out of Kindred Sorcery. And as I suspected, you basically never want to choose LETHAL HITS. You can much more easily build into either SUSTAINED HITS or DEVASTATING WOUNDS. I think I'd probably try for the latter, just to see if I could get that old rain of mortals going again.
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