Thousand Sons Tactica

[Imperial Commander Gent]

This has been in the making for a long while for me and after over a month of research and play testing, I have compiled this list of dos and donts for our most venerable Legion.

I shall start from the top!
HQ:

Ahriman, with his force weapoin, 5 attacks on the charge, and 3 psychic powers per turn, this guy is a monster! His biggest frailty is a krak rocket or a large swarm of tyranids. To protect him, I would throw him in either a close combat oriented chosen squad, or a sit back and shoot basic squad. He will add some serious assault punch to whichever unit he adds and some major ranged additions with his psychic powers.

Demon Prince, the demon prince is very generic now, but I still use him in my games, for relatively cheap you have one fairly effective combat monster who will more than likely die, but will at least kick some ass in the process. Either give him wings for static defense of your line, or keep him on foot and attach him to some termies and watch your opponent cry!

Chaos Lord, Fairly effective for a very low points cost if you want some cheap mindless killing machine. While I will not personally use him unless for fluff purposes, for a cheap 120 points, you can get 4-5 power weapon attacks at I 5 and WS 6, nothing to laugh at.

Chaos Sorceror Lord, you can dump a LOT of points into this guy and make him very effective. Stick him on a disc of tzeentch give him warp time and watch your opponent cry with your 6 force weapon attacks on the charge! With that 18" charge range, you also make your opponent think, should I kill him?

Daemon Weapon; I wouldnt use this tzeentch daemon weapon, I would rather use doombolt or bolt of change instead (and for less points)

Elites:
Chosen, when you want some assault punch in this army, chosen are the way to go. With good options for assault weapons and some fairly powerful cclose combat HQ choices, this unit can be VERY useful, if used correctly and in conjunction with a powerful sorceror lord or Ahriman. My Personally favorite set up is this (the unit is joined by Ahriman)

7 Chosen, Icon of Tzeentch, Meltagun, 1 Powerfist, 2 Pairs of Lightning Claws, 3 Bolters
Aspiring Champion, Power Fist
TOTAL: 284 Points, yes it is expensive points wise, but in a big game, this unit is very effective at smashing whatever gets too close to your gun line!

Terminators, With an icon of Tzeentch, 2+ 4+ saves are so nice and makes these guys VERY durable on the field. Also at a fairly light points cost, this unit is worth it! I would like to take at least one every game and watch my opponent cringe at their assault capabilities.

Possessed, An interesting choice, though I will leave them at home, too expensive for the already expensive marines in our legion, I dont find them useful enough for us.

Dreadnought, LEAVE IT AT HOME! You dont need them to go crazy and blast your own units! I leave them at home every time now because of bad experiences each game.

Troops:

Thousand Sons, I LOVE THESE GUYS! At 2000 points I will field 6 units of 9 of these guys and watch my power armored opponets cry when they receive no saves. They are awesome now, though A LOT MORE FRAGILE! Dont send them charging in blindly anymore hoping their 2 wounds will keep them alive, cus they only have 1 wound now. That 4+ invulnerable save is very sweet, but remember, YOU AREN'T invincible!!!

Fast Attack:

Chaos Bikers, very interesting choice with the new rules, but unless you are Khorne or Nurgle, almost useless! A 5+ invulnerable for guys who turbo boost to get a 3+, yeah, doesnt help much. I would advise leaving these guys at home.

Raptors, I like raptors, but not as much anymore, though Khorne Raptors are awesome! Still, I will include a unit of them in my army because of their ability to support your firing line. Keep them in reserve and launch swift counter-assaults.

Chaos Havocs, I like that we CAN use them, but I will leave them at home in favor of more basic troopies with their sorcerors. If you do use them, have them for ONE purpose, either anti-infantry or anti-tank. Dont waste your weapons choices.

Obliterators, yes, 2 wound models with a 2+ 4+ save is cool, but i say leave them at home, I cant really see them fitting in well with the rest of tzeentches plan and so I find thm unfluffly in our forces. They are useful if you want them, but I personally wont use them.

Chaos Predator, these things are a little too expensive, but an anti-infantry one is very useful because the amount of supressing fire there is.

Chaos Vindicator, I wouldnt mind having one, but I prefer infantry in these forces, though not a bad choice for a mere 125 points.

Chaos Defiler, Equip it with 4 arms and it is EVIL! It is fun to add in this army as a backup assault unit to defend your gun line, though there are other things that will be more effective.

Chaos Land Raider, not as cool as it used to be, but if you want something to ride around in style, this is the way to go! DO daemonically possess it, I know BS 3, but still, it has all Twin Linked Weapons.

FORGET ALL ABOUT DAEMONS FOR NOW!!!!!!!!!

So that about sums it up guys. May the changer of ways bring you glorious victory in battle and may all your enemies burst in flame!

[GriplionGremlin]

not bad but i noticed some discrepancies. also i have a different angle on some items.

bikers - if they have a mark of tzeentch then thier turbo boost becomes a 2+ as the icon/mark of tzeentch improves any existing invul save by 1! that and thier icon works as teleport hommer so you can ds termies, oblits or deamons right into your opponents face and with very little chance of losing your bikes first. and once they bring in the units then they've done thier job. give them a melta gun or 2 and let them run after vehs for the rest of the game. it'll really annoy your opponent!

defiler - with i3 you better stay away from any hth that includes sm or other chaos! you wont last most of the time. i dont care how many attacks you have if you dont get to take them it really means not a dang thing. also its nice that gw upted the ws by 1!!! but come on guys! they claim they wanted to make the defiler more of a hth monster. okay make it atleast equal to a dread. not remain worse than one!. like i said unless you're in hth with something that cant hurt it, a veh (not a dread) or something even slower than the defiler just keep it back for fire support. otherwise a waste of points.

sorcerer - a disk is nice but a bike is better. see above for normal bikers and the same goes for this guy. give him a personal icon, warp time and wind of chaos. and since (and i've checked) as long as your psychic powers dont go into affect in the same phase of the turn you can use both warp time and wind of chaos reroll all that dont wound and wound any model or glance a veh on a 4+. if you need more range give him a familiar and bolt of change.

oblits - they have 2+/5+ not 2+/4+ they cant have any marks or icons so no bonus to thier save for these guys. ds them from a unit of bikes and blast away. try to stay out of hth with them as they'll always go last unless you want to use a "normal" on thier i4 but you wont kill much with them that way. just remember you now have plasma cannon and multi-melta options!!!and the flamer is now also twin linked!!!

ahriman is only 4 attacks on the charge as the staff and bp are already part of his profile. he's nice but to much points for what you get in small games. you'd get more affect out of a regular sorcerer tooled up.

dread - its all a matter of positioning. if you play your models effectively you can limit the chance of him going nuts on your own guys (one of the guys at my local store keeps forgeting this and toasting his own guys...)

pread - cheaper then before, definately worth a look

chosen - you can have up to 5 guys with speacial weapon choices, only 1 can choose a hvy but other than that up to 5 can change out thier weapons. and they infiltrate. can be very nasty if played right.

deamon prince - always give him wings!!!! no offense but screw keeping him with a unit. for 150pts he gets 12" move, 4+ invul and no matter what he cant be instant killed unless you playing against D str weapons in apoc games! charge him at your opponent. he'll either concentrate on it to kill it or ignore it and then you waste him in hth. if you have the points left over give him warp time to improve his kill ratio and/or wind of chaos to toast more prior to charging. just becareful on which ones you cover as those are the ones that can be removed before hth which may stop your charge.

lord - termie armor and deamonic weapon. ds him blast away and then next turn charge! for vehs give him a combi melta for a quick shot if you can get him close! 5pts and take out a land raider!!

possessed - i agree with the randomness of the special ability they are a toss up on effectiveness but they are fun to use and no where near as random as the original 3rd ed codex where you rolled 3 times for all of thier abils and any double/triples were wasted!!! think diversonary tactics anytime you bring these guys. give them a rhino. even if you get speed/flight they rhino can run around doing what ever to mess up the other guy.

over all pretty good job dude!

[Imperial Commander Gent]

I have one quick point, ahrimans extra attack for two weapons is not included in the profile. If it was, it would say that it was. Defilers only worry about something going FASTER than it and killing it is a dreadnought or a monstrous creature. If he charges a marine squad, that powerfist doesnt do much until he has already ripped apart most of the squad. Yes there are krak and meltas, but they only hit on a six if the defiler charges. How is a sorceror better on a bike? He doesnt get the +1 attack, moves at the same rate sure and +1 T is nice, but seriously, when he is on a bike as opposed to a disc, he is at - 2 attacks. How is that better? Turboboosting does not give bikers a 2+ save. Called the roolz boys on it.

[GriplionGremlin]

i haven't called the roolzboys but the mark/icon of tzeentch says it improves any existing invul save by 1. doesnt say it doesn't work for turboboosting as that gives the bikes an invul save same as thier armor.

and bike versus disk - disk you move 12 and assault 6 no matter what you cant change it. on a bike its 12/6 however you can turbo boost to get him closer or further way from something. plus with the bonus to toughness it increases his survivability. if you are counting on your sorcerer in hth for anything other than killing multiple wound models its kind of a waste. he's far more deadly out of hth with a psycic power. yes warp time help increase his chances however if you use warp time you cant use the power of the force weapon. it is the only thing a psycer cant do together. a force weapon specifically states (with the exception of ahriman) that its ability can only be used if the psycer has not used a power that turn, not phase, turn. so the higher mobility and toughness is more valuable to a sorcerer. and if you want hth killer from a sorcerer run 2, 1 on bike and 1 in termie armor and ds the termie one off the biker after he turbo boosts ifo a unit both of them light up the squad assaut with the biker and then come in next turn with the termie and clean up any left overs.

[Imperial Commander Gent]

Now there is a tactic I can see using!