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My blog is primarily my own personal fluff in the Warhammer 40,000 universe regarding the Draconis system such as the Knight House Yato in Ryusei, their Household Militia, the Draconian Defenders, and the Forge World of Draconis IV with its Adeptus Mechanicus priesthood, Cybernetica cohorts and Skitarii legions, and the Titan Legion, Legio Draconis, known as the Dark Dragons.

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Friday, June 2, 2017

Faction Focus: Thousand Sons

I was so happy when I saw that there is a Faction Focus on the Thousand Sons today, and I eagerly went to read it. But...there was very little info. I think all I got was that Magnus will be as awesome as ever, and the Rubric Marines and Scarab Occult Terminators will be tougher and harder to kill, but that's about it.



It's by Frankie, who wrote the Chaos article, so...what was I expecting?



He admits that we have a problem with Thousand Sons right now because of how expensive they are, and how they're not worth taking. He then promises that it will all change for them in the 8th Edition. So I was wondering if that meant we get a point reduction for the Rubric Marines or something?

Well, at least he elaborates on Magnus. To be honest, I think the whole article could just focus on Magnus alone, because...let's just say that's the only "unit" Frankie goes in depth into. Magnus is a boss, has Toughness 7 (hah! My Leman Russ tanks and Imperial Knights are still tougher!), 18 Wounds (that's a lot) and 4++ invulnerable save. I'm assuming the invulnerable save still works the same way as they did in 7th Edition, so sounds cool there. He's still quite the awesome psyker, but instead of being a Level 5 Mastery Psyker he can only manifest 3 psychic spells per turn. On the other hand, he gets +2 to casting psychic spells, so they are much more likely to go off. Awesome!



As usual, he's a beast in close combat, able to deal 7 Strength 16 (what?!), AP -4 attacks that deal a flat 3 damage each. He's going to wreck my poor Imperial Knights in combat. Oh, and he can move 16". Not to mention he buffs Thousand Sons units by allowing them to re-roll their 1s for to hit and invulnerable saves. That's pretty neat.

Scarab Occult Terminators are as tough as ever, get the 2 Wounds and can Deep Strike (now called Teleport Strike) like all other Terminators, but they have the awesome All is Dust ability, which gives them a +1 to their armor save roll if the attack has a Damage characteristic of 1. Nice! They're still Relentless, no change from 7th Edition.



No change for their weapons either. Huh? Apparently they have inferno combi-bolters now, which is Rapid Fire 2, Strength 4 and AP -2. Basically the same as before, except that you have Rapid Fire 2 instead of just Rapid Fire. Okay, that's new. I think. And being combi-weapons, these guys can bring other ranged weapons, apparently, like something that deals D3 Damage with AP -3, but Frankie being Frankie doesn't say.



So...are they cheaper? Can the Scarab Occult Sorcerer manifest 2 psychic powers? Nothing on that.

We have Rubric Marines who are slower than normal Space Marines, but they also have the All is Dust ability that makes them hard to kill. Wow, they're essentially Terminators with 2+ save against any weapon that only deals 1 Damage to them. This makes them more awesome against my Imperial Guard and their lasguns. Except that I don't use infantry but Leman Russ tanks instead, but that will hurt my Leman Russ Punishers.



Same inferno boltgun with AP -2 (the new AP 3), so no change there. Soulreaper cannons return with the same old Heavy 4, Strength 5, AP -3, but I don't think Rubric Marines are still Slow and Purposeful (basically Relentless), so they might suffer a penalty from moving and shooting that. I'm a flamer guy (come on, just look at my Company Command Squad, 1 Heavy flamer and 3 flamers? What am I smoking?) so I'll take the AP -2 flamer instead, thank you very much.



Wait. That's it? Hey, Frankie! You said something changed about them being expensive! So are they still expensive, or are they cheaper? Don't leave us hanging! They still look pretty expensive, judging froom the power rating! How does this change anything? And Thousand Sons are not just Rubric Marines and Scarab Occult Sorcerers! What about psychic powers? Has the whole Change or Tzeentch discipline been removed and replaced with something new? How does psychic powers work for Thousand Sons now? Hey!

Edit: Thanks to Jesse, who is a lot more informative than Frankie in his "official" Faction Focus, it seems that Rubric Marines have a price reduction! They now cost 20 points per model (18 plus 2 for inferno boltguns) instead of the former 23! And a squad of 5 Rubric Marines is 125 points as opposed to 150 in the last edition. Thank you, Jesse! Apparently inferno warpflamers have gone up in price, and rightly so given how strong flamers become in this edition, but that's all I know.

You can't have a Faction Focus on the Thousand Sons and say nothing about psychic powers! I mean, it's great you talked about Magnus being a potent pysker, but what exactly are his psychic powers? I heard Ahriman can also manifest 3 powers a turn! But that's it! How do Exalted Sorcerers work? Do Thousand Sons gain a +1 to their psychic rolls like Magnus's +2? Come on, dude, this is a Thousand Sons army! We want to know about how they dominate in the psychic phase! Especially since the psychic phase has been totally transformed in 8th Edition! How do Thousnd Sons fare in the psychic phase now, do they gain any bonuses for psykers, and what kind of powers do they have access to?

Ugh...no, instead Magnus is a badass psyker...and this is not from Frankie but from a leak I know. Basically Magnus has an ability called Wrath of Magnus, which allows his Smite to deal D6 Mortal Wounds instead of D3. Yeah. Nasty. But Frankie says nothing of that, and it's up to me to inform you. Sigh.

Oh. And that last line where Frankie claims each squad has a Sorcerer who can deal Mortal Wounds? That's basically Smite, which can be casted by all psykers. I want to know how differently Thousand Sons play as psykers, because if all I want is Smite, I can just take Primaris Psykers for my Imperial Guard army. Ugh.

Anyway, sorry about all the raving and ranting, and I'll let you guys know more when I find more information.

Edit: So the Facebook page says something about the psychic powers of the Thousand Sons.

When will Thousand Sons get their unique psychic discipline?

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14
16 hrs
Warhammer 40,000 All of the Factions will be getting loads more attention when their codexes are released in the future.

In other words, we will have to wait for an actual codex for the Thousand Sons before we finally get to see new, unique psychic disciplines. From other sources, it appears that they can only use 3 powers, and it's not worth it because the Aspiring Sorcerer will more than likely end up nuking his own squad. Yeah...

In other words, the Thousand Sons is basically an army that spams nothing but Smite now. According to those other sources, it's not even the full Smite, but a lesser Smite (whatever that means).

8 comments:

  1. Rubric Marines are 20pts (18 base + 2pts for the Inferno Boltgun) and the Aspiring Sorcerer is 45pts (30 base, +1pt for the Inferno Boltpistol and +14pts for the Force Stave) so a base unit is 125pts. No idea if that is more or less than 7th but for what they can do that's actually a decent price in 8th (points have largely gone up across the board on most armies).

    3 powers a turn is VERY good for 8th Ed. The Psychic phase has been very much toned down in 8th and there are very few Psykers who can do that. The Swarmlord used to be a Mastery Level 3 Psyker and it can only manifest 2 powers a turn and gets no bonus to casting. Even Eldrad, who also can cast 3 powers a turn, gets no bonus to his casting attempts.

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    1. If I'm not mistaken, Rubric Marines used to cost about 22-23 points each. I remember a 5-men squad of Rubric Marines including the Aspiring Sorcerer is 150 points, so the base unit is 25 points cheaper than it was in 7th Edition. That is indeed great news!

      Oh. I need to read up more on the Psychic phase then. It just feels very underwhelming when you put it that way. I mean, fluff-wise, thanks to the Great Rift, there's a huge awakening of psykers across the Imperium, and it seems that psykers are getting more powerful, but then they get toned down a lot on the tabletop in 8th Edition.

      What about Exalted Sorcerers? How much do they cost?

      By the way, I'm not complaining about Magnus or Ahriman only getting 3 powers a turn. I'm frustrated at Frankie's lack of elaboration. Thousand Sons used to be a very flavorful army based around psychic powers. It wasn't just fielding tough to kill Rubric Marines and Scarab Occult Terminators for their 4++ invulnerable save. It was also dominating the psychic phase. I'm not a balance guy, nor am I asking for Thousand Sons to be some uber-psyker ultra-competitive list. I have no complaints if their psychic powers are toned down.

      I wanted to ask what they can do for the psychic phase, because that was the central theme for the army in past editions, and not talking about the psychic abilities of Thousand Sons just doesn't make it a Thousand Sons article, if you know what I mean. It's like talking about Tyranids without their horde tactics and melee buffs or Genestealer Cults without their Infiltration and Ambush stuff. I just want to know more about the psychic powers of Thousand Sons, and I don't necessarily need them to be competitive or powerful. Just wondering if I can still play a thematically psychic force. If that makes sense.

      What about Scarab Occult Sorcerers? Do they manifest 1 power now? And I'm guessing Exalted Sorcerers and normal Sorcerers only manifest up to 2 powers?

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  2. You're going to be really disappointed then, sorry. The majority of Factions only get 3 Psychic Powers each, including Thousand Sons.

    In addition to the three powers all Psykers can also cast Smite.

    Worse, when playing Matched Play games each power can only be attempted ONCE per turn. So if you try and cast Warp Time, and fail, you don't get to try again until next turn even if three other Psykers know it.

    The only exception to this is Smite. So while "dominate the psychic phase" is still something that Thousand Sons do... in practice that just means you'll be casting Smite over and over...

    I've played a few games ither 8th now and the Psychic Phase has been the only disappointment. But its been a pretty big disappointment.

    However - because Psychic Powers ARE so few and far between I've noticed getting them off has been a much bigger deal.

    Scarab Occult Sorcerors, like Aspiring Sorcerors ONLY know Smite, they don't get any other powers, and its the weaker version of Smite you saw way back on the Rubric datasheet.

    Exalted Sorcerors know two powers+Smite and can cast 2 powers in tje Psychic Phase making them equal to Farseers and Hive Tyrants.

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    1. Oh, that sucks.

      On the other hand, I see that my Leman Russ tanks have been buffed for the most part, particularly tank commanders. People are worried about the plasma cannons and Executioner cannons go off, but I'm going to abuse the Tank Commander's order to re-roll 1s to hit to mitigate that plasma stuff, and supercharge all the way! Ha ha ha ha!

      I just kind of regret not having Leman Russ Battle Tanks now. I think I'll get another Leman Russ Battle Tank with a lascannon, another Executioner. Then I'll use Knight Commander Pask and one Tank Commander, and field 3 Executioners, and supercharge their stuff!

      I don't know if it will work, of course I'll have all of them belong to the Cadian regiment (cough, I mean Draconian), but I hope regiments will help increase their Ballistic Skill or something, otherwise it's not worth taking them.

      And I'm wondering if I should convert my Stormsword into a Shadowsword or a Banesword instead. They look cool. It'll be funny if I choose to run a super-heavy detachment with a Shadowsword and 2 Knights, or a Shadowsword and 4 Knights.

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  3. Regiments don't confer any bonuses. They might when the Codex gets released in the future but right now all the bracketed keywords do is help differentiate units for special rule interactions.

    I believe that all the Baneblade variants have a rule that lets them ignore the -1 penalty for shooting after moving but I'll have to check the wording on it tomorrow. I know they have a rule that lets them shoot even when in combat.

    4 Knights and a Shadowsword is going to be a VERY large game haha. The cheapest Knight is 380ish points (Gallant mayne?
    Whichever one has two melee weapons instead of guns) and they go up to well over 500 now. I think the Baneblades are even more expensive.

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    1. I believe Baneblades are cheaper. The standard Baneblade was 525 points base, without all the additional upgrades like twin-linked bolters and lascannon sponsons (50 points a pair). Hellhammer was 540. Stormsword was 485. This was all before you add the 50 points per pair sponsons of one lascannon and one twin-linked heavy bolter. How much do they cost now?

      Ah, I see. That sucks. Yeah, the one with two melee weapons is the Knight Gallant. The Knight Crusader is the one with the Avenger Gatling Cannon on one hand and the Thermal cannon/rapid-fire battle cannon on the other, and he's the most expensive. The one with the Avenger Gatling cannon and one melee weapon is the Knight Warden, the other with thermal cannon and one melee weapon is the Knight Errant who happens to be the second cheapest, and the last one with the rapid-fire battle cannon and one melee weapon is the Knight Paladin.

      I guess the only way to field that is to play 2,500-point games.

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  4. The Baneblade has actually gotten cheaper then. Base (with default wargear) is 484pts but can get up to over a 100pts more expensive depending on how many upgrades you take (each Lascannon sponson is +20pts and you can still take Storm Bolter, Hunter Killer missiles etc).

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