Today we’ll think about how to play for the most special Traitor Legion – Thousand Sons. As usual – we create an army based on the unique detachment, without allies. We also don’t seek maximum power – the only matter is background, playability and logic.
Well, that’s hard. Maybe, it’s the hardest legion to collect. It’s totally based on unique units, which are too expensive and can’t deal with all the tasks on the battlefield. It’s obvious, that our strongest side is magic. Only it can effectively fight vehicles, compensate weakness in close combat and the absence of AP2. To make magic more effective, we need to assume, that all the sorcerers take 3ML and Spell Familiar as a must.
The key word for this army is EXPENSIVE. It reminds of the Grey Knights, nonetheless, Sorcerers are much more effective. Both in magic and shooting. The first thing, we need to decide – it’s whether we take Magnus, or not. He is definitely a key figure of this army, and his price and effectiveness make him a core of the roster. Sire, he can burn down several squads per turn, but he still needs support. Extra warp-charges and other dangerous squads, since he’s mortal and can be easily killed if the enemy focuses at him.
There are 3 options to take Magnus. Core formation with 3 terminator squads and Command – with 3 Exalted Sorcerers or Daemon Princes. Also, he can be taken as a separate command choice. We name only the minimum number of units – they are too expensive to take all 9.
If you take Magnus as a core, it’s already 1400 points minimum. 1550, if you give terminators Soulreaper cannons and rockets. (It’s worth it) For standard 1850 you can only add Tzaangor formation, which is completely useless in such roster. The enemy will first kill Magnus, and then the other units won’t be dangerous anymore. Moreover, this roster lacks warp-charge points and Magnus may not be able to cast at full force. So, if you play below 2500 points, it’s better to forget about this idea. But if you do, it might be nice to add Ahriman Exiles for 1000+ points. This will help you to complete almost every task and such army can destroy half of the enemies’ one for the one psychic phase.
Magnus looks more effective in Command slot. Sorcerers give him enough warp-charges and they are more dangerous that terminators themselves. However, the price is almost the same – an Exalted Sorcerer with all the required upgrades costs the same as the squad of terminators. Also, you’ll need a core formation and auxiliary. If you play from 2500 pts, it can be War Cabal as a core and some Helldrakes as an auxiliary.
You can see that this concept is far from ideal. Playing Magnus is hard and it’s definitely not for everyone. However, you can try creating roster based on Ahriman – also a dangerous psyker, since he can cast 3 witchfires per turn. If you go into the Hereteck discipline, you might be able to destroy a knight in one psychic phase. However, he lacks cast re-roll, so you’ll have to boost him by taking the formation of Ahriman’s Exiles, where he casts on 3+. The formation is a command choice, so, you still need a core – War Cabal, indeed. There are enough solid units, there you can hide Sorcerers. Also, there are some additional warp charges. Well, termies and rubricks are not the most effective units, but they are hard to kill and they effectively destroy everything with 3+ and lower armor. For other purposes you have magic. Helldrakes are still for the auxiliary – there’s no CSM roster, which can be spoiled by a Helldrake. This might be the best way to field Thousand Sons. The army doesn’t focus on a single unit, it’s tough and mobile (Rhinos, Deep Strike and Artefact with 12 inch move)
For a bigger point limit, you can take Magnus as a command choice and even Tzaangors for the auxiliary – with all the dangerous units they will be able to survive and complete some secondary tasks.
As you can see, fielding an adequate army of Thousand Sons is quite a challenge. It’s really great when you play with a 2500+ points army. We’ve discussed all the formations, but there are not so many playable combinations. Also, as any other magic army, it highly depends on luck and random. So, pray for the blessing of Tzeench before you go into the battle!
