The first article delves into the origins of the Thousand Sons's use of automata, explaining that we have a knack for empowering machines with sorcery and created the Castellax-Achea battle automata with the help of Zhao-Arkhad.
After the Heresy, without Zhao-Arkhad, it turned out that the Thousand Sons ended up creating their own robots as a result of producing servants immune to the mutation that haunted our legion. The Sekhetar, apparently, were crafted in the image of ancient Prosperine spirits (Egyptian, basically).
Apparently, they are supposed to be big and intricate, but designed for stealth, with complex magical shrouds woven into their bodies to conceal them from all but the most advanced augurs. They are then posted as sentinels over places of great fate and power.
They are activated by secret hexagrammic commands, complex logic routines allowing them to single priority targets and gun them down. We keep them as far away from Daemons as possible because you obviously don't want such malicous beings possessing our guardian automata.
They are equipped with the same Hellfyre missile racks that Scarab Occult Terminators sport, which fire long-range anti-armor projectiles. For close engagement, they carry a heavy warpflamer, which is paired with either a pyreflux meltagun or a power claw. They are Prophetic Sentinels laced with spells of auto-divination and oracular logic (basically, the logic of an oracle), so they can overwatch or Heroic Intervention for free.
They also get Infiltrate and Stealth, which means you can deploy them outside your deployment zone and opponents get a -1 to hit to ranged attacks when targeting these guys. They also have Toughness 6, armor save 3+, a 5++ invulnerable save and 4 wounds, exactly the same profile as a Castellax or Castellax-Achea battle-automata from Horus Heresy.
We also have a couple of new detachments previewed. First, though, our army rule has changed, so no more Cabal Points. Instead, we get Rituals.
To manifest a ritual, basically, you select a unit with a psyker (or Sorcerer) in it, roll 2D6 or 3D6 if you're willing to risk D3 mortal wounds on rolls of doubles and triples, and if you get a value equal or more than the warp charge value, the ritual succeeds. Also, if you roll 10+, you get bonus effects. Wow.
So basically a Thousand Sons version of the Chaos Space Marines' rules. Yay.
Rubricae Phalanx basically gives your Rubric Marines and Scarab Occult Terminators the old All is Dust ability from 8th edition, which means a +1 to their armor saves against Damage 1 weapons. Unfortunately, most people will be shooting your Rubric Marines and Scarab Occult Terminators with D2 or higher weapons. Like plasma and meltas. I guess it's better against boltguns and lasguns, but if your opponent is shooting lasguns at Rubric Marines and Scarab Occult Terminators, then...y'know, they're pretty much frakked. Like in lore.
Also, as long as my Scarab Occult Sorcerer is still alive, any enemy unit targeting my Terminators will get a -1 to their wound rolls. Whoa. That's just awesome.
Oh, Rubric Marines get extra AP on their inferno boltguns now. Hmm, cool. What about warpflamers? Another thing, Rhinos apparently give disembarking units +1 to their hit and wound rolls...for psychic attacks. So save that Infernal Fusillade Stratagem to make their inferno boltguns Strength 5 and psychic.
Warpforged Cabal seems more to my liking, making great use of vehicles! Nice! We get Warpfire Infusion, which gives each Vehicle unit one re-roll for hit, wound or damage rolls. But if they're within 6" of a psyker (your Sorcerers), they get one re-roll for hit, wound and damage rolls. So three re-rolls spread across a single phase. Damn.
On the other hand, if your vehicle is destroyed within 6" of your Sorcerers, they explode on a 5+ instead of 6. Yikes.
Warp Syphon drains a wound from a nearby vehicle, but allows you to re-roll a single D6 for the warp charges for your rituals. A really cool enhancement that stands out to me. Time to start stocking up on vehicles and Sekhetar Robots! Wish I didn't sell my Forgefiends, but obviously, I have no way of transporting them home. Oh, well. Helbrutes definitely benefit too, but that's what the Thousand Sons Contemptor Dreadnoughts are for!
I wonder what the other detachments are, and if Cult of Magic will make a return...
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