Thursday, April 15, 2010

Thousand Sons, the sleeping troop?



Hey Folks. Today I'd like to talk a little about my favorite Chaos God, Tzeentch. I've played Thousand Sons for many years and have experienced Tzeentch's balls kicked with each new codex and 40K rule edition. Truly they are the masters of change. With the rise of recent MEQ armies like Space Wolves and Blood Angels, my T-sons are getting dusted off. (Not too much... they need dust too.)

Let's look at the basic cost. 8 Thousand Sons and the mandatory Sorcerer is 244 points if you still like sacred numbers. Expensive yes, but you get a lot of punch. Aside from the AP3 bolters, it's the force weapon that really adds value to the unit in my opinion and is really the "sleeper" ability. The option to field multiple force weapons in an army is really an amazing thing. On top of that, it's held by non independent characters and can further be boosted with Warp Time. Tyranids fear it and with the creep of Hero Hammer, this underrated weapon has become much more useful.

Of course there is the endless debate of Bolt of Change vs Warp Time on Aspiring Sorcerers. Both have their ways on the battlefield. Looking at armies that are either wholly or heavily Tzeentch based, there's a lack of anti-tank. Bolt of Change works pretty good and can be shot from a rhino hatch. At the same time, T-sons lack a little on the combat side and warp time is very useful against MEQ and MCEQ. I think it really comes down to your local meta game.

What about their save? Their 4++ save really could start to shine with the upcoming Blood Angels. With so many power weapons and the like, T-sons may be able to tarpit Angels and widdle them down with warp timed sorcerers. For the first time, I believe Nurgle will be outmatched as the "best" CSM troop when it comes to fighting Blood Angels.

There are a lot of support options available to T-son armies. Even more so than some actually think. At 1850, 3 solid units is usually your core. Probably backed up by some smaller packs of lesser daemons. Obliterators are the obvious heavy choice. (I prefer to mix them with defilers). But again with the sleeping side of Tzeentch, I feel that dreadnoughts are wonderful support to T-Sons. I usually field two. One with a lascannon and the other with dual CCWs. Fire Frenzy can be annoying but it's only a 1/6 chance. Through personal experience, my dreads have done more good than harm by providing wonderful combat support.

HQs are really a flavor thing. The most common choice would be a winged Prince with MoT, Warp Time and Wind of Chaos/Bolt of Change. For about 200 points, you get a really mean MC that has good survivability and close combat prowess. My personal favorite is a Sorcerer on Disc with Warp time and Bolt of Change. There are a few reasons. One is having another force weapon with 6 attacks on the charge. (3+Disc+CCW/Pistol+charge). One thing I think most players don’t even realize is that independent characters can join Obliterator units. I've used these sorcerers along with obliterator units on foot to provide a little extra anti-tank and 4++ save support. Once I'm close enough, he flies away and takes on MCs and ICs with his force weapon.

At the end of the day I will actually be fielding more T-sons due to the growth of Blood Angels. We will also have to wait and see what sort of silly pants Dark Eldar bring to the table. As for Grey Knights, I say bring it. It's an immeasurable feud with the Lord of Change. I’ve also included a sample 1850 list of a dedicated T-son army that I would probably field.

Daemon Prince
Wnigs
Mark of Tzeentch
Warptime
Winds of Chaos

8 Thousand Sons
Personal Icon
Aspiring Sorcerer
Bolt of Change
Rhino

8 Thousand Sons
Personal Icon
Aspiring Sorcerer
Warptime
Rhino
Combi-Melta

8 Thousand Sons
Personal Icon
Aspiring Sorcerer
Warptime
Rhino
Combi-Melta

6 Lesser Daemons

6 Lesser Daemons

2 Obliterators

2 Obliterators

Dreadnought
Extra CCW
Extra Armor

Dreadnought
Lascannon

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

League Round 5



Well This is the final round for the 10+ week league. I am faced up against a very experienced Ork player with 2250 points to work with. The mission is slightly modified with dawn of war and 5 objective counters. The game lasts a minimum of 7 turns and a maximum of 9.

I am in second place with battle points and am playing the top player. There are 10 total players.

Orks 495
Chaos (me) 445
Tau 440
IG 430
Chaos (underdog) 400


Round 5 Clean and simple. 2250 points

Seize Ground (5 objectives) with Dawn of War deployment. 4 x 6 table, standard terrain density (25%)

SCENARIO RULES:

Random game length with rolling for game end at end of turn 7, instead of turn 5. Night Fighting on turn 1 per Dawn of War rules.

SPECIAL OBJECTIVES:

Control quarters of the board. Keep in mind that scoring units can only control objectives OR table quarters. Make the choice. Obviously, units controlling a objective are contesting that table quarter. Scoring units can only control one table quarter each.

LEAGUE POINTS:

Win = 100 pts

Tie = 75 pts

Loss = 50 pts

Bonus:

If you control 1 table quarter: 5 pts

If you control 2 table quarter: 10 pts

If you control 3 table quarter: 15 pts

If you control 4 table quarter: 25 pts

If you kill all enemy HQs: 10 pts

If you kill all opponents Heavy choices: 10 pts If you have at least 1 HQ left (not fleeing) at the end of the game : 5 pts

 
My list is as follows. The two CSM squads were not given rhinos. BOTH will be deploying on the table with a Daemon prince (type determined by deployment order). Both have "blank" champions due to lack of points and to work as hosts. Since this is DoW and table quarters, I will be able to hold two quarters easily with both squads. The greater daemon will come out as needed with one of these two squads. The rest will arrive on first turn. Although it is situational, the obliterators will probably deep strike. There are no kill points. I maxed out on 5-man daemon units to hold the objectives. This list may change. I have two weeks to play the round. I don't have the models, but I'd like to field just plague marines on the table plus daemons. I may have time to build some more.

10 CSM
Icon of Chaos Glory
Champion
1 Melta
Lascannon

10 CSM
Icon of Chaos Glory
Lascannon
Melta
Champion

7 Plague Marines
2 Flamer
champion
Personal Icon
Power weapon
Rhino
Extra Armor
Combi-Melta

7 Plague Marines
2 Flamer
champion
Personal Icon
Power weapon
Rhino
Extra Armor
Combi-Flamer

Greater Daemon

Daemon Prince
Mark of Slaanesh
Wings
Lash of submission

Daemon Prince
Mark of Tzeentch
Wings
Warp Time
Bolt of Change

2 Obliterators

2 Obliterators

2 Obliterators

5 Lesser Daemons

5 Lesser Daemons

5 Lesser Daemons

5 Lesser Daemons

5 Lesser Daemons

5 Lesser Daemons


I have enough models to make about 4 more squads plus extras of plague marines if I convert them this week. Here's the list with just plague marines.

10 Plague Marines
2 Flamer
Champion
Power weapon
Personal Icon
Rhino
Combi-Melta

10 Plague Marines
2 Flamer
Champion
Power weapon
Personal Icon
Rhino
Combi-Flamer

10 Plague Marines
2 Melta
Champion
Powerfist
Personal Icon
Rhino
Havoc Launcher

10 Plague Marines
2 Plasma
Champion
Powerfist
Personal Icon
Rhino

2 Obliterators

2 Obliterators

2 Obliterators

Daemon Prince
Mark of Slaanesh
Wings
Lash of submission

Daemon Prince
Mark of Tzeentch
Wings
Warp Time
Bolt of Change

6 Lesser Daemon

6 Lesser Daemon