Thousand Sons, how to use them?

[Lord Krungharr]

I've been thinking about getting an Ahriman and some Thousand Sons, yet I have heard nobody say they are really worth taking at all. But if they're in a Land Raider or Dreadclaw, would that help them out at all? AP3 bolters with S&P and a 4+ invul, that sounds pretty good.

Curious about battle experiences people have had with them....

[Captain Bubonicus]

I've only played against 'em once - a nice 1500pt. force of old 2nd ed. models. I had swarm 'Nids backed up by a few biggies, and he struggled against them because his AP3 firepower didn't really count for much against my crappy saves and he was lacking heavy weapons to threaten my big 'Nids.

Two impressions:

-He was more deadly in the assault phase than I was expecting - fearless and the effects of being able to rapid-fire and then charge made him unexpectedly effective against my 'gaunts.

-I can't remember whether he didn't get useful psychic powers, or whether he just didn't use them aggressively, but I don't remember his multiple LV1 Sorcerers doing much in the psychic phase.

This was back in 6th ed., so the new Maelstrom Missions might change things.

[Lord Krungharr]

Hmmm, maybe just a single squad for infantry hunting is decent, especially vs MEQs, etc.;though against a hordes like you fielded, probably not all that great besides a tarpit. I wish the sorcerer was optional so the squad would be less points, oh well, at least they get the Chaos Focus blast power now automatically.

I guess Ahriman might be worth getting though with the 3 of the same Witchfires per turn. And he can make my infantry infiltrate, that's something. Maybe that's what they kind of intended since the Thousand Sons are slow and do max damage close up?

[Captain Bubonicus]

His Sons were mechanized - all of 'em were in Rhinos. And he didn't field Ahriman (probably because of the points level we were playing.) He had plenty of mobility in those Rhinos, though - I had to play hide-and-seek with him and chase him around near the end of the game, and he ended up grabbing an objective that I thought I'd protected adequately (but hadn't!)

*edit*

Got curious and found this - it's a 6th edition review, but I think it hits the major points. It recommends no more than 2 TS units in an army:

http://bloodofkittens.com/blog/2012/10/14/its-like-tactics-thousand-sons-review/

[Katharon]

Ten-man squad of them in a rhino will do you fine. You can easily enough give them an enemy tactical squad or equivalent to hunt down and murder both in ranged and in CC. Makes for some fun.

[daboarder]

They make a good battery for fueling Ahrimans 15 witchfire Doom

[timff8]

Personal opinion as a Chaos player is that their one use is for generating you a whole load of warpcharges. Each unit gets a sorcerer, there you go.

Any other use for them is pretty much a mediocre selection. As "tough" marines Plague Marines do it better, as marine-killers noise marines, heldrakes and burning brand characters do it better. It doesn't help that to unlock them as Troops you have to take a crappy character or Ahriman.

[Katharon]

Any other use for them is pretty much a mediocre selection. As "tough" marines Plague Marines do it better, as marine-killers noise marines, heldrakes and burning brand characters do it better. It doesn't help that to unlock them as Troops you have to take a crappy character or Ahriman.

Or a simple, cheap Sorcerer with the Mark of Tzeentch. That is how I know a lot of 1kSons players pull of all Thousand Sons lists, to fit in as many squads as possible.

[timff8]

Sorcerers with Tzeentch are mediocre at best. They have to roll on the Tzeentch table, which is the worst of the 3 God power tables. Their mark can net them a 3++ but with 2 wounds and few attacks they're hardly built to smash stuff. Scooting around on a Disc is better done by a Tzeentch Lord with the Brand.

[Lord Krungharr]

Hmmmm, these posts give me some ideas to try. I never really thought of the extra Warp Charge from the Aspiring Sorcerers, that's a bit helpful. The Tzeentch powers have the Breath of Chaos which is pretty good, and I like that Boon power too. If the Beam was Melta too, it would be so much better but still could help sometimes, unless it's WC2, might be. That's steep.

I haven't used Rhinos for anything in a long while, but perhaps just for the AP3 bolters it might work. The Rhinos will probably die turn 2 but they could get the Sons somewhere useful, and they can slowpoke it from there laying down suppressive fire for my faster units, maybe tarpit another unit if necessary. Too bad I can't get the Burning Brand AND the Daemonheart Relic on the same model :)

[The Sovereign]

My CSM army is entirely 1K Sons themed. I would say Sons are a very noncompetitive legion, though I've had some good luck with them at higher points levels (1750+), which allows you to take 3-4 10 man squads, plus other useful stuff like a heldrake and cultists. Ahriman is hit or miss, but his warlord trait is decent. They really need a legion supplement. Badly.

[timff8]

Ahriman's Warlord trait is fricken' boss. Infiltrate a 20-man blob of CSM tooled for CC and watch them go, a giant blob of cultists with a Chaplain, etc.

Thousand Sons don't need a supplement; they need a re-design. Let them do something useful like poisoned, instant-death-on-a-6 bolters, and 2+ saves rather than a 4++. Still shooting, still tough, but much better.