Yesterday, I managed to test my Thousand Sons out against Space Wolves. YAY! Vengeance for Prospero! Anyway, since I...am severely lacking money these months, I couldn't afford to add anything to my Thousand Sons list, so I went with my usual. My opponent brough a bunch of Space Wolves, and I think he brought 1 Battalion and 1 Vanguard or Outrider or something. I'm not sure. I just know he had about 10 Command Points or so.
The Space Wolves consisted of one Rune Priest named Character (the guy who could cast 2 psychic spells, deny 2 psychic spells and add 1 to his cast and deny the witch rolls), some Wolf Lord - can't remember if he's Ragnar or something, probably not -, another Character with Deep Striking Capability and has 2 Fenrisian Wolves as bodyguards, 3 Inceptors with plasma exterminators, 10 Sky Claws, Blood Claws inside a Stormwolf, 2 squads of Intercessors (I think), a bunch of Wulfen, a Murderfang, Longfangs with 2 lascannons and 2 missile launchers, and...I think that's about it. I don't remember anything else, so that really should be it.
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| Thousand Sons mustering for war |
My Thousand Sons list is a Daemon Prince, Ahzek Ahriman, Exalted Sorcerer on disc, Exalted Sorcerer on foot, 2 squads of 5 Rubric Marines, a squad of 10 Rubric Marines with warpflamers inside a Chaos Rhino, 3 squads of 10 Traitor Guardsmen...cough, Cultists, 5 Scarab Occult Terminators, a Deredeo Dreadnought and a Contemptor Dreadnought. That's it, I believe. That looks pretty weak, to be honest. I'm such a rubbish Thousand Sons player. People will criticize and reprimand me for not using Tzaangors at all, for not spamming Daemon Princes, and for including Scarab Occult Terminators and Rubric Marines in my list. I can already see the hate, flames and criticisms. Oh well, whatever. I will play whatever I want. And since I like Rubric Marines and Scarab Occult Terminators, that's what I'm going to play. HMPH!
The mission was the relic, which meant we had a single objective marker in the center of the table to represent the relic. Narrative-wise, you could see it as Ahriman and the Thousand Sons wanting to grab a relic to gain forbidden knowledge - probably to undo the Rubric and restore their brothers' bodies from dust. The Space Wolves, led by a Rune Priest, seess this in a vision and race to deny them the relic. For they are mortal enemies and the Space Wolves are still burning with a desire to avenge the destruction wrought upon Fenris a few years ago.
We rolled off, and my opponent got first turn. I failed to seize the initiative. That's that, I suppose. I had deployed everything in cover except the Rhino, and put the Scarab Occult Terminators in Deep Strike (my opponent did the same for the Character with Fenrisian Wolves bodyguards, Sky Claws and Inceptors). So I was gearing up for a brutal onslaught from the Wolves.
Turn 1
The Rune Priest named Character cast a couple of psychic spells. I think he failed the first and passed the second or something, but the thing is that he succeeded in casting a psychic spell, so my opponent spent 3 Command Points to use Cloak of the Storm or something, so that all units within 6" of the Rune Priest Character are shielded - any enemy units targeting them during the shooting phase deduct 1 from their hit rolls. Ugh. The Stormwolf opened fire and reduced my Rhino to just 1 wound, despite firing everything it had upon the Rhino. Poor Rhino. But my Rhino hung on and survived with just 1 wound remaining. That was hilarious. Everyone just moved and Advanced, except maybe the Intercessors, who opened fire and killed 6 Traitor Guardsmen. Despite being Traitor Guardsmen, I had to use the datasheet of Cultists for them, and their poor leadership saw 1 running away, leaving 3 survivors. Oh well. That sucked. But other than that, he failed to kill a single unit. It didn't matter anyway, since there was no First Blood in the Victory Conditions. Oh, the Intercessors fired their auxiliary grenade launchers (krak) at the Rhino, but failed to wound him, so he survived again. Maybe I made one save. Can't remember. As for the Long Fangs, they fired their lascannons into my Contemptor Dreadnought, but I rolled 2 5+s and made my invulnerable saves. Lucky! The missile launchers failed to hit the Rhino, which survived.
During my turn, I had my Deredeo Dreadnought stay still so that he can use Helical Targeting Array. Meanwhile Ahriman moved and advanced, and snatched the Relic...or tried to, but couldn't because he's Calvary and lost the Infantry Keyword. Big derp and mistake on my part there. My Daemon Prince and Exalted Sorcerer on disc also moved up. My wounded Rhino crawled 3" and advanced another 1" or something. The Rune Priest Character denied Ahriman's Warptime, and perhaps one of the Smites. But Ahriman used Doombolt and Smite, the Exalted Sorcerer also used Smite and Tzeentch's Firestorm, and the Daemon Prince also used Smite and Gaze of Fate, and they piled the mortal wounds atop the Stormwolf. The Deredeo Dreadnought then opened up and destroyed the Stormwolf with his Butcher Array cannons, and maybe fired his Greater Havoc Launcher somewhere (I can't remember), but probably failed to wound or something. He was hitting on 3+ because of the Cloak of the Storm and the Stormwolf's Hard to Hit giving him a -2 to his hit rolls, but his Helical Targeting Array gave him +1 to hit against units with Fly. The Contemptor Dreadnought fired on the Murderfang and took him down to 2 wounds. I think that was it, as everyone was out of range of my Rubric Marines. Oh well. Oh, and one Blood Claw died as he crashed out of the Stormwolf, but otherwise the rest survived.
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| The VIPs of the game - Contemptor Dreadnought and Deredeo Dreadnought |
Turn 2
This was where everything went bad for me. I made a terrible mistake in moving Ahriman and the Exalted Sorcerer forward. In any case, my opponent moved the Murderfang and everyone toward Ahriman, with only the Wulfen barreling toward my Exalted Sorcerer on disc. Meanwhile, the Longfangs stayed still. The Inceptors, Sky Claws and Deep Striking guy with 2 Fenrisian Wolves Deep Struck 9" away from my wounded Chaos Rhino and another squad of Rubric Marines.
I can't remember, but I don't think he succeeded in casting his psychic spells this turn, or I denied him.
Everyone fired upon Ahriman, and despite all the shooting, he weathered the assault with his 3++ invulnerable save and took only a single wound from that. The Longfangs fired all their lascannons on the Chaos Rhino and finally destroyed him. I think they fired their missile launchers on my Contemptor Dreadnought, but missed. Or I made a save. I can't remember. I just know my Contemptor Dreadnought just didn't take any damage whatsoever. The Inceptors fired and wiped out my poor Rubric Marines, taking out all but 2 guys. The Sky Claws tried to fire on the remaining 2 Rubric Marines, but with All is Dust, they weathered all the shots and survived with 2+ saves against AP 0 weapons. I think that was it for shooting.
The charge and assault phases were brutal. First, he charged my squad of 10 Rubric Marines that had disembarked from the destroyed Rhino - and I didn't roll a single 1, so none of them died - with his Inceptors, Sky Claws, and named Character with 2 Fenrisian Wolves. The 10 Rubric Marines opened up with their warpflamers and killed all 3 Inceptors, all 10 Sky Claws, and the named Character
and his Fenrisian Wolves. They got to fire Overwatch 3 times as each charger tried to charge them and failed. That hurt. That really hurt. As for how my Rubric Marines could fire their 8" warpflamers in overwatch...well, they disembarked 3" away from the destroyed Rhino and thus were about 6" (or 7" or 6.1") away from the charging units who Deep Struck 9" away from the Rhino.
On the other hand, the Murderfang, Rune Priest, Wolf Lord, Blood Claws all charged into Ahriman, and the Murderfang murdered Ahriman with his Damage D6 weapon despite Ahriman making all but one invulnerable saves. That single failed invulnerable save meant that the Murderfang's attack went through, and did Damage D6 - and he rolled a 4. With the 1 wound Ahriman suffered earlier, it meant that he died. Ouch. Across from that battle, the Wulfen charged into the Exalted Sorcerer on disc, howling in joy, and ripped him apart with their Lightning Claws. Double Ouch. They then consolidated into my Daemon Prince.
With no idea what to do and my 2 most potent psykers dead, I was pretty much in trouble. The relic had fallen into the hands of the Space Wolves, and they were decimating my lines. On the bright side, the surviving 2 Rubric Marines passed their morale and didn't lose anyone.
During my turn, I completely forgot to Deep Strike my Scarab Occult Terminators. Stupid, bloody mistake there. I am so dumb. I am a total disgrace to all Thousand Sons players, and bring them huge shame, not only because I don't play Tzaangors, but also because I forgot to Deep Strike the very Scarab Occult Terminators that are supposedly trash and I'm not allowed by the Thousand Sons community to field them.
Anyway, I only moved my Rubric Marines forward, except the single squad who was still in cover. 10 Traitor Guardsmen fixed bayonets and moved forward to support the Daemon Prince locked in combat with the Wulfen. I can't remember what I did, but I basically used Smite to whittle down the Intercessors, while the Rune Priest denied a few of them. So only 1 Intercessor died from the Smites Then in shooting, I killed 3 Intercessors in one squad and all the surviving Blood Claws (4 of them) with the Warpflamer Rubric Marines after using Veterans of the Long War Stratagem. The Deredeo Dreadnought finished off the wounded Murderfang with his Butcher Array cannons, and wounded an Intercessor in another squad. I think. The Contemptor Dreadnought fired upon the Longfangs and killed only 2 of them. I then charged the 10 Warpflamer Rubric Marines into the sole surviving Intercessor and the Rune Priest, but I don't think I managed to wound them. In return, they killed a couple of Rubric Marines in combat, especially since the Wolf Priest did a Heroic Intervention - but I made my 4++ Invulnerable saves against his D1 sword because of All is Dust. Meanwhile my Daemon Prince killed about 2 or 3 Wulfen, while my Guardsmen did...absolutely nothing. Well, they actually did a few wounds, but the Wulfen were making their 5+ Feel No Pain saves like crazy and didn't take any damage from the Guardsmen's bayonets. 2 or 3 of them got ripped apart by the Daemon Prince, though. In return, they did 7 wounds to him, leaving him with just 1 wound left after he made quite a few 4++ invulnerable saves. Ugh.
The Relic was still in Space Wolves hands. Or should I say paws? Or claws?
Turn 3
The Wolf Lord, Rune Priest and Lone Intercessor remained locked in combat with my warpflamer Rubric Marines. My opponent used the Lone Wolf Stratagem for the sole surviving Intercessor and turned him into a Character with 4 Wounds. Ugh. His Intercessors fired and killed 1 Rubric Marine in the squad of 2. His Longfangs fired and I rolled 2 5++ invulnerable saves for my Contemptor Dreadnought
again. That thing just refused to take any damage. Awesome! The Intercessors charged my warpflamer Rubric Marines, but only the Rune Priest and Wolf Lord could do any damage against their All is Dust rule and 2+ save (which became 4++ against the Wolf Lord and 4+ against the Rune Priest), and I lost a few more Rubric Marines. But I spent 2 Command Points and used the Counteroffensive Stratagem for my Daemon Prince to attack the Wulfen first, and I managed to kill another 2. The remaining 3 or 4 Wulfen killed my Daemon Prince, and split their attacks to kill 6 Traitor Guardsmen. Ouch.
Then came my turn. I had my Traitor Guardsmen fall back - and I completely forgot to do morale for them. Not that it would have mattered - whether they were wiped out or not, they were completely useless for the rest of the game. My fresh squad of 10 Traitor Guardsmen stomped out from behind cover to fire upon the remaining Wulfen with their lasguns, while the Rubric Marines with warpflamers fell back - I think by then, I only had 2 or 4 of them left. I can't remember. Maybe 2. The single Aspiring Sorcerer also moved closer. This time, I remembered to Deep Strike my Scarab Occult Terminators. They appeared on my opponent's side of the table, about 9" away from the Rune Priest and Lone Wolf Intercessor, cutting off their path of retreat (since they were hemmed in by my Aspiring Sorcerer, warpflamer Rubric Marines and the rest of my army). I had the 3 Guardsmen from the decimated first squad descend, and my 5 Rubric Marines - their squad completely untouched - moved out into the open.
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| Yup, I killed all those poor Space Wolves. That's why the table is so empty. |
Anyway, I did a bunch of Smites and maybe killed 1 Intercessors when the Rune Priest failed to deny the witch. On the other side, my sole surviving Exalted Sorcerer, and the 3rd Aspiring Sorcerer killed either 1 or 2 Wulfen with Smites. I know, by the end of the psychic phase, there were only 2 Wulfen left - and one of them had taken 1 wound.
During the shooting phase, my Traitor Guardsmen fired their lasguns on the 2 remaining Wulfen and slew them. Yeah. Traitor Guardsmen killed 2 Wulfen with
lasguns. I could hardly believe it. The Contemptor Dreadnought fired and killed the remaining Longfangs. Yes! Between the Deredeo Dreadnought and the fresh squad of Rubric Marines, they massacred the 2nd squad of Intercessors, and I didn't even get to roll for the Greater Havoc Launcher. With only 3 Characters left and no other models - yeah, at this point, my opponent literally had only 3 models on the table - my Scarab Occult Terminators had their pick, and I split their fire. Their inferno combibolters, Soul Reaper Cannon and Hellfyre missile rack didn't do much...the Lone Wolf Intercessor made most of his saves, and I think he only took maybe 1 or 2 damage? The Rune Priest also only took 1 damage, or maybe none at all. The Wolf Lord, who was still holding the Relic, also didn't sustain any damage, or none that I can remember. I charged, and...failed the charge. Oh, well.
Turn 4
Time was slowing running out. The three Characters moved up toward the Scarab Occult Terminators, and between their shooting and combat, they managed to kill 1 Scarab Occult Terminator and put 1 wound on another. I tried to fight back, but I only succeeded in putting a single wound on the Rune Priest and failed to kill him.
During my turn, I had the Scarab Occult Terminators. Then, between a few Smites, inferno combibolters, 2 Butcher Array Cannons, a Greater Havoc Launcher, and a couple of warpflamers, I massacred all 3 Characters, and the Relic fell to me, allowing me to pick it up with my Aspiring Sorcerer and warpflamer Rubric Marine. There was nothing else for me to say. I had tabled my opponent, and the Relic was in the warlocks' hands. The Thousand Sons have achieved vengeance for Prospero yet again!
THE THOUSAND SONS ARE AWESOME!
Admittedly, my opponent committed the biggest blunder by charging a significant portion of his army - 3 units, which consisted of 3 Inceptors with plasma exterminators, 10 Sky Claws, 1 Character with Fenrisian Wolves - into my warpflamer Rubric Marines and got totally wiped out. He had no idea that my warpflamers had AP -2, and thought he would be able to make the 3+ armor saves necessary to brave through the flames. Don't mess with the Thousand Sons! Underestimate them, and boom! While the Thousand Sons certainly dominate the psychic phase, they have pretty strong shooting too, especially against Marine equivalents and armies relying on 3+ armor saves to tank damage.
And so the Thousand Sons escape with the Relic after slaughtering the hapless Space Wolves who foolishly thought they could stand in our way of our quest for knowledge. They paid for their folly with their lives, and even now, their tortured souls scream and writhe within Tzeentch's ever-changing cage...
