Wrath of Magnus has arrived! And sample builds!

My copy of Wrath of Magnus has finally arrived today! YAY! I had just finished cooking lunch when I had the thought to check my doorstep. And yeah, when I opened the door I found the box addressed to me from Games Workshop right on my doorstep. I knew at once that my copy of Wrath of Magnus had arrived!

Okay, this is the deal. Now that I've gotten the book, I'll be doing something very similar to what I've done for Mont'ka last year. In other words, I'm going to read the book carefully and slowly, then follow up with posts on the review of the fluff (with spoilers!), an analysis of the formations, detachments, and several possible strategies. I don't know. We shall see. I'll be including a post on the new units, especially the new Horrors, which should be up shortly later today if I have the time. I will post on the Horrors after this, so watch out for that (or don't because it's clear I have no idea what I'm talking about, I'm not a top-tier Warhammer 40K tabletop gamer and I'm pretty much an amateur in terms of gaming). But hey, it's a blog and it's my duty to tell you guys what's new, what's cool and what's hot. And trust me, with their Flickering Flames and Brimstone splitting stuff, the new Horrors are HOT.

Anyway, now that I've gotten the points cost and rules, I'm going to run through sample builds of what you can expect from the new formations and Daemons of Tzeentch Detachment or Thousand Sons Detachment. These will be the typical 1,850-point lists, and let's see how many units or formations we can fit into there! It'll be short, so don't worry. More in-depth analysis will be done after I finish reading the books.

Here we go!

Thousand Sons Grand Coven #1 (Standard Theme) (1,850 points)

Core:
War Cabal (1,028)

Exalted Sorcerer (Mastery Level 3), Spell Familiar, Disc of Tzeentch, Seer's Bane (270)
Exalted Sorcerer (Mastery Level 3), Spell Familiar, Astral Grimoire, Helm of the Third Eye, Staff of Arcane Compulsion (260)
1 squad of 5 Rubric Marines, 4 warpflamers (178)
Chaos Rhino as Dedicated Transport (35)
1 squad of 5 Scarab Occult Terminators, 1 heavy warpflamer, 1 hellfyre missile rack (285)

Command:
Lord of the Legion
Magnus the Red (650)

Auxiliary:
Daemon Engines
Heldrake, baleflamer (170)

Total: 1,848

Thousand Sons Grand Coven #2 (Psyker Theme) (1,850 points)

Core:
War Cabal (1,366)

Exalted Sorcerer (Mastery Level 3), Spell Familiar, Disc of Tzeentch, Seer's Bane (270)
Exalted Sorcerer (Mastery Level 3), Spell Familiar, Astral Grimoire (230)
Exalted Sorcerer (Mastery Level 3), Spell Familiar (200)
1 squad of 10 Rubric Marines, 8 warpflamers, 1 soulreaper cannon (346)
Chaos Rhino as Dedicated Transport (35)
1 squad of 5 Scarab Occult Terminators, 1 heavy warpflamer, 1 hellfyre missile rack (285)

Auxiliary:
Daemon Engines
Heldrake, baleflamer (170)

Allied Daemon Formation:
Heralds Anarchic (310)

1 Herald of Tzeentch (Mastery Level 3), Exalted Locus of Conjuration (120)
2 Heralds of Tzeentch (Mastery Level 3) (2x95=190)

Total: 1,846

Thousand Sons Grand Coven #3 (Propsero Burns Theme) (1,850 points)

Core:
Sekhmet Conclave (1,510)

Magnus the Red (650)
2 squads of 5 Scarab Occult Terminators, heavy warpflamer, hellfyre missile rack (2x285=570)
1 squad of 5 Scarab Occult Terminators, heavy warpflamer, hellfyre missile rack, power sword (290)

Auxiliary:
Daemon Engines
Heldrake with baleflamer (170)

Allied Daemon Formation:
Brimstone Conflagration (170)

1 Exalted Flamer of Tzeentch (50)
4 units of Brimstone Horrors (4x30=120)

Total: 1,850

Thousand Sons Grand Coven #4 (Tough Terminator Theme) (1,850 points)

Core:
Sekhmet Conclave (1,100)

Exalted Sorcerer (Mastery Level 3), Spell Familiar, Astral Grimoire (230)
2 squads of 5 Scarab Occult Terminators, heavy warpflamer, hellfyre missile rack (2x285=570)
1 squad of 5 Scarab Occult Terminators, soulreaper cannon, hellfyre missile rack (300)

Auxiliary:
War Coven (750)

Exalted Sorcerer (Mastery Level 3), Spell Familiar, Disc of Tzeentch, Seer's Bane (270)
Exalted Sorcerer (Mastery Level 3), Spell Familiar (200)
2 Sorcerers (Mastery Level 3), Mark of Tzeentch, Spell Familiar (2x140=280)

Total: 1,850

Thousand Sons Grand Coven #5 (Objectives Theme) (1,850 points)

Core:
War Cabal (1,538)

Exalted Sorcerer (Mastery Level 3), Spell Familiar, Disc of Tzeentch, Seer's Bane (270)
Exalted Sorcerer (Mastery Level 3), Spell Familiar, Astral Grimoire (230)
Exalted Sorcerer (Mastery Level 3), Spell Familiar, Disc of Tzeentch (230)
Sorcerer (Mastery Level 3), Mark of Tzeentch, Spell Familiar, Helm of the Third Eye (160)
1 squad of 5 Rubric Marines, 4 warpflamers (178)
Chaos Rhino as Dedicated Transport (35)
1 squad of 5 Rubric Marines (150)
1 squad of 5 Scarab Occult Terminators, 1 heavy warpflamer, 1 hellfyre missile rack (285)

Auxiliary:
Daemon Engines
Heldrake, baleflamer (170)

Legion Armory
Predator with twin-linked lascannon, lascannon sponsons (140)

Total: 1,848

Thousand Sons Grand Coven #6 (Objectives Theme) (1,850 points)

Core:
War Cabal (1,368)

Exalted Sorcerer (Mastery Level 3), Spell Familiar, Disc of Tzeentch, Seer's Bane (270)
Exalted Sorcerer (Mastery Level 3), Spell Familiar, Astral Grimoire (230)
Exalted Sorcerer (Mastery Level 3), Spell Familiar, Helm of the Third Eye (220)
1 squad of 5 Rubric Marines, 4 warpflamers (178)
Chaos Rhino as Dedicated Transport (35)
1 squad of 5 Rubric Marines (150)
1 squad of 5 Scarab Occult Terminators, 1 heavy warpflamer, 1 hellfyre missile rack (285)

Auxiliary:
Daemon Engines
Heldrake, baleflamer (170)
Hekdrake, Hades autocannon (170)

Legion Armory
Predator with twin-linked lascannon, lascannon sponsons (140)

Total: 1,848

Pandemoniad of Tzeentch #1 (Psychic Theme) (1,850 points)

Core:
Warpflame Host (830)
Herald of Tzeentch (Mastery Level 3), Disc of Tzeentch, Exalted Locus of Conjuration, the Endless Grimoire (180)
4 Exalted Flamers of Tzeentch (4x50=200)
5 units of 10 Pink Horrors (5x90=450)

Command:
Omniscient Oracles (810)

Kairos Fateweaver (300)
2 Lords of Change (Mastery Level 3), (2x255=510)

Auxiliary:
Heralds Anarchic
3 Heralds of Tzeentch (Mastery Level 1), Exalted of Locus of Conjuration (3x70=210)

Total: 1,850

Pandemoniad of Tzeentch #2 (Horror Theme) (1,850 points)

Core:
Warpflame Host (870)
Herald of Tzeentch (Mastery Level 3), Disc of Tzeentch, Exalted Locus of Conjuration, the Endless Grimoire (180)
3 Exalted Flamers of Tzeentch (3x50=150)
6 units of 10 Pink Horrors (6x90=540)

Command:
Omniscient Oracles (555)

Kairos Fateweaver (300)
Lord of Change (Mastery Level 3) (255)

Auxiliary:
Heralds Anarchic
3 Heralds of Tzeentch (Mastery Level 1), Exalted of Locus of Conjuration (3x70=210)

Brimstone Conflagration (200)
Exalted Flamer (50)
5 units of 10 Brimstone Horrors (5x30=150)

Total: 1,835

Here are 8 fun sample lists that I constructed. They are not meant to be competitive, but more fun and fluffy. Which is your favorite list? Which list would you like to see me field on the tabletop? I'll leave this open to you guys and see which is the most popular build and possibly go for it (of course, final decision is up to me, seeing as how I'm the one who has to spend the money, ugh). They are meant to be fun and are built along a particular theme. I'll probably elaborate on each theme in much more detail with more in-depth analysis after all the Wrath of Magnus review, and I'll see which list you guys want. Thanks, and look forward to the post on Horrors later!

Imperial Agents

Warhammer Community has released a very interesting post regarding Imperial Agents today.

Apparently Imperial Agents will be very different from the usual codex. While it provides the rules and detachments/formations (I think) for all the specialist forces of the Imperium such as the Inquisition, Officio Assassinorum, Deathwatch, Grey Knights, Adepta Sororitas, Cult Mechanicus, Adeptus Astra Telepathica, Aeronautica Imperialis, and even the Legion of the Damned, it doesn't replace the codex for say, Deathwatch or Grey Knights (or even Cult Mechanicus). Apparently, what they plan is for you to add not an army or detachment, but for you to add maybe say a small elite strike force of Grey Knights or Deathwatch to your Imperial army. Imperial Guard? Oh, your general just requisitioned a small strike force of Grey Knights to help fend of a Daemon incursion. Necrons waking up under a hive planet? Right, the Deathwatch's elite strike squad has just joined your Imperial Guard army and tanks for a surgical strike!

One of the ways you can also create an army is by building a fluffy and thematic core around your various Inquisitions and their respective power armored warriors appropriate to their specialization. In other words, you can have an Ordo Malleus Inquisitor lead Grey Knights into battle, Ordo Xenos lead Deathwatch into an alien hive and Ordo Hereticus lead your Sisters of Battle (Adepta Sororitas) into a city tainted with heresy. Stuff like that. Very fluffy, it sounds fun!

I'll update you guys when I have more details!

You weren't expecting me, right? Eh...you were? Ugh, I guess everyone's watched the prologue for The Lord Inquisitor by now...

Joe Dever and Lone Wolf

This is not related to Warhammer 40K, but I thought I should put this out as Joe Dever has been one of my favorite authors - his Lone Wolf gamebooks have particularly played a huge role in my childhood. I've devoured most of his Lone Wolf gamebooks, read them over and over again, increased my combat skill and endurance points, dragged around the legendary Sommerswerd and screaming, "For Sommerlund and the Kai!"

Recently I even came across a Lone Wolf website that has all his books in ebook form, from the first book Flight from the Dark all the way to The Hunger of Sejanoz which isn't the last book. And I've probably read the Kai, MagnaKai and Grand Master series a few dozen times. The books are just that good. I can't say I'm a fan of the New Order, but the first three series especially captured my attention as a child, and I still vividly remember fighting against the Deathlord of Ixia, resisting Shamath, confronting the dark god Naar, and the Darklord Gnaag at the end of MagnaKai - I enjoyed kicking his ass with the Sommerswerd. The Masters of Darkness, Fire on the Water, Deathlord of Ixia, all these were my favorite books and I would read them over and over again. All right, I cheated a bit with the combat skill system by inflating my stats with Sommerswerd and the weapon mastery and psi-surge, but who wouldn't? I was a kid back then, and I read it for fun, not to have a challenge, ha ha. The lore for me was more important than winning combat. In any case, I love all these books and as a kid I spent countless hours poring over them and imagining myself as the titular Lone Wolf with his legendary Sommerswerd, having adventures and running about slaying Darklords and resisting dark gods. Those days never seem to end.

Alas, last week, his official Facebook page made the announcement that Joe Dever has passed away. It came as a blow to me - first was David Gemmell about 10 years ago. I started reading David Gemmell's heroic fantasy novels in 2006, and he quickly became one of my favorite authors...only for me to find out that he passed away earlier that year. And now, when I recently returned to Lone Wolf, I find out that he's...gone. As the guy in Project Anon said, the Grand Master has passed away after a brave and private ten-year battle with illness.

Fantasy will never be the same without him.

Why put it here? I guess it's because Lone Wolf is a gamebook series, so it's sort of related to Warhammer 40K? Warhammer 40K is close to Dungeon and Dragons, which is in turn what largely shaped and influenced Joe Dever in writing Lone Wolf. Wargaming, or gaming, will never be the same without him.

Kind of sad...as life moves on, more tragedies happen, and I often look back on the simpler days of my childhood with a heavy tinge of nostalgia, wishing that I could often return to those days and indulge myself once again in Lone Wolf. That said, I think a lot of good things have happened, and nostalgia is just that: nostalgia. It doesn't mean the past is much better than the present, and while we miss a lot of things in our childhood, I think I've also gained a lot during my times as an adult. I wouldn't have been able to afford my Warhammer 40K hobby if I remained a kid forever. In the same way, I think we should continue to look forward and march on, undertaking new adventures. I'm sure Joe Dever would approve.

For Sommerlund and the Kai!

Oh the horror!

Wrath of Magnus has only just been released today (though I still haven't gotten my copy yet) and already an FAQ is out. Warhammer Community has posted an FAQ for Wrath of Magnus and you can read it here.

Okay, I haven't gotten the book yet, but I'm sure everyone has been aware that Pink Horrors have undergone a radical change from their current incarnation in the Chaos Daemons codex. One of the new rules that most Chaos fans are getting excited about (I'm generalizing here, of course some find it meh, some don't like it, etc.) is the Splitting Rule. Apparently whenever you kill a Pink Horror, it splits into two - yes, TWO Blue Horrors. And it's not unit, by the way, it's each Pink Horror MODEL. So have fun killing that unit of 10 Pink Horrors over there...unless your opponent gets bad Daemon Instability rolls, you'll be staring at 20 new Blue Horrors.

As if that wasn't enough, the 20 new Blue Horrors have the same rule. For each Blue Horror model killed (yes, MODEL, not unit), replace them with 2 new Brimstone Horrors. So you might be seeing potentially up to 40 Brimstone Horrors if you try wiping them out. Fortunately, Brimestone Horrors no longer split so if you kill those guys, you don't have to worry about anything else. I'm pretty sure the armored tanks of the Imperial Guard with their blast weapons will obliterate them without any worry. Oh, and wounds spill over, so even if you overkill the unit of Pink Horrors with 20 wounds against their 10, you can spill over another 10 to wipe out another 10 of the 20 new Blue Horrors. Except that you'll get another 20 Brimestone Horrors in their place, but I digress.

In other words, don't worry about their Split, spam blast and template weapons, which the Imperial Guard thankfully have a lot in supply. YAY! Not to mention, these Horros aren't so tough. The Pink Horrors are basically Imperial Guardsmen with no lasguns (they have Flickering Fire and psychic powers though), with only Toughness 3, and Blue Horrors have Toughness 2. Brimstone Horrors? Toughness 1, which means any weapon will Instant Death them, making their 2 wounds absolutely pointless - unless your opponent is using tons of Strength 1 Poison weapons, which you can laugh at.

Now here's the kick in the teeth. Do you remember the popular meta where people spammed Pink Horrors to have access to Malefic Daemonology powers? Apparently a few trolls had lists where they spammed lists of Pink Horrors and had them Psychic Focus Daemonology (Malefic) powers to get the Primaris Summoning power. Whatever for, you may ask? Well, to spawn more Pink Horrors, of course! Increase the number of warp charges and bodies on the tables. Double the size of your army in just one psychic phase! So in the end you'll get an infinite list of Pink Horrors that drown the table in sheer numbers...

...except that it doesn't always work in reality. On paper, that sounds cool, but on the table, it doesn't really execute very well. For one thing, it costs 3 warp charges, so casting it is quite the bitch. Ugh.  Additionally, using your entire army to create more army doesn't really accomplish anything, unless you want to swamp the objectives with bodies to score them and even then I don't think the Pink Horrors you just summoned have Objective Secured - probably only your original troops choice have that. Anyway, you also need to kill your enemy, or they'll just wipe out both your original army and the reinforcements you summoned with blast, templates or sheer weight of dice. No kidding. So yeah.

The problem is none of that matters now. No more horrifying Horror swarm list. No more doubling your army size in a psychic phase. Nope. You know why? This latest FAQ just expliclty states:

Q: Do the new Pink Horrors get Malefic psychic powers?
A: No, they do not get Daemonology (Malefic) Powers.

So there you have it, folks. Pink Horrors no longer get Daemonology Malefic psychic powers. That Pink Horror list you just built in order to spam summoning is no longer legal. UGH! DAMN IT! Or in retrospect, praise the Emperor because it means we don't have to face such a list. Yay. It's kind of sad, I wanted to run a Brimstone Conflagration list with 9 units of Brimstone Horrors. No, not to summon more Pink Horrors, but so that I can roll on the Daemonology Malefic table and hopefully get Possession. Using the 9 warp charges they generate, I wanted to spam Possession as much as possible because why the hell not? Imagine the look on my opponent's face when one of my Brimstone Horror squad explodes into a full-grown Bloodthirster.

However, it's unfortunate but Horrors only have access to the Psychic table of Change. The horror! Yes, how horrifying. I think. I guess. No more trying to summon stuff or Possession shennigans, though if you really want that I guess I would rather take the Psykana Division from the Cadian Battlegroup. That's all I can say, but it makes for a fun and somewhat fluffy (HERESY!) list. I mean, just ally a Psykana Division, call them heretics or traitors - which is likely because dabbling in the occult and psychic powers beyond Man is heresy after all - to your Daemon list and BOOM! You can roll on the table and pray that your Wrydvane Psykers roll Possession, and proceed to transform them into a Greater Daemon or something. Except that you only have a 1/6 chance of pulling it off, and the rest of them become deadweight. Plus they're not as cheap and spammable as Brimstone Horrors (still affordable somewhat, since the Wyrdvane Psykers are only twice their cost), so there's that to consider. Oh well. Anyway, we shall see. For the Emperor.

Shipped from Fenris, lost in the Warp

All right, so I received an email from Games Workshop that my copy of Wrath of Magnus has shipped today (or yesterday). Apparently they've finally seen fit to ship it from the Fenris system, and it is en route via the Munitorum...uh, FedEx. Unfortunately, when I clicked on the tracking number they provided, I was informed that my copy was currently lost in the Warp, and it will take 3-5 days for the delivery ship to translate into real-space. I hope their Geller fields didn't fail or anything.

Anyway, today is the day when Wrath of Magnus is officially released, especially in Games Workshop retailers and wherever, so grab your copy! I'm sure everyone else is writing their reviews and whatever at this point of time, having received their copy long ago. As for me...I'll do the usual thing and wait patiently for my copy to arrive, and then I'll do an in-depth analysis and coverage of the fluff, formations, Thousand Sons detachment, Tzeentch Daemons detachment, etc. I mean, those new Horrors are horrifying! The horror!

Emperor willing, that shouldn't take too long, but as we all know, the Warp is fickle. Well, let's just pray that the light of the Astronomican shines through!

FOR THE EMPEROR!

Madness? This is Magnus

The following is a scene that played out when Leman Russ arrives in Prospero to arrest Magnus for heresy and treason.

Leman Russ: Listen carefully, Magnus. The Emperor conquers and controls everything He rests His eyes upon. He leads an army so massive it shakes the stars with its march, so vast it fills the galaxy to the brim. All the God-Emperor requires is this: for your head. A token of Prospero's submission to the will of the All-Father.

Magnus: Submission. Well, that's a bit of a problem. See, I've already used my supposedly heretic psychic powers and found out that you've been misled by that whore-son Horus to come kill me...

Leman Russ: We must be diplomatic.

Magnus: And of course the Thousand Sons...have their knowledge of the arcane lore to consider.

Leman Russ: Choose your next words carefully, Magnus. They may be your last as Primarch.

Magnus: A Primarch's head... (he points his staff at Russ, his potent psychic powers crackling to life. All around him, Thousand Sons follow his lead and conjure witchfire on the other Space Wolves.)

Leman Russ: Madman! You're a madman!

Magnus: A head, huh? Why not I deliver the Emperor your head instead?

Leman Russ: No Primarch, even the Warmaster himself, no Primarch threatens another Primarch!

Magnus: You bring the entirety of your legion and space fleet to my system. You insult my Chief Librarian. You threaten my Sons with genocide and Exterminatus. Oh, I've chosen my words carefully, Russ. Perhaps you should have done the same.

Leman Russ: This is blasphemy! This is madness! (Magnus lowers his staff and gazes upon Russ)

Magnus: Madness? THIS IS MAGNUS! (unleashes Gaze of Magnus, rolls a 6 - Russ takes 6+D6 wounds, no saves allowed, and is obliterated)

Armies of the Thousand Sons

As usual, while just rummaging around my usual social media hangouts, I saw this post from the Warhammer Community website. It's a post featuring the armies of the Thousand Sons and introducing a few of the new detachments and formations.

First up, the post begins with the usua Combined Arms Detachment, which you can tailor accordingly to create a Thousand Sons flavored Combined Arms Detachment. As you probably know by now (if you're familiar with Chaos Space Marines armies), in the vanila Chaos Space Marines codex you can take Thousand Sons (or Rubric Marines) as your Elites choice, but that's about it. So you can still take the new Thousand Sons units as featured in the Traitor Legions codex supplement or use the new datasheets for your new Thousand Sons models in your current Chaos Space Marines army if you sod desire.

However, why would you want to do that?

Raiders of Lost Knowledge

Rubric Marines

The whole point of receiving all these new Traitor Legions codex supplements and Wrath of Magnus rules is to field your own Thousand Sons army! Otherwise we wouldn't be bothered updating these models. And there's a huge advantage in doing so - by creating a purely Thousand Sons force, your sorcerer-Marines get a load of enviable bonuses, and this applies to any formation AND Combined Arms Detachment. So long as you meet the requirements of a Thousand Sons Detachment, you can still field nothing but Thousand Sons and get their bonuses. For example, you can take Rubric Marines as Elites and field Tzaangors as your Troops choice because they get Objective Secured. This means your Thousand Sons detachment still get the Blessing of Tzeentch, Blood Feud and Legacy of the Rubricae rules. Hooray. Don't ask me what those are, though. I have no idea myself, and I'll find out for you guys when I receive my Wrath of Magnus books.

Oh, by the way, you can take Rubric Marines as your Troops choice, so if you're not fond of Tzaangors, you can just take Rubric Marines as Troops to fulfill your normal Combined Arms Detachment requirements. Hip hip hooray. Speaking of which, if Ahriman is your Warlord, he seems to grant your army Infiltrate, or at least infantry units anyway. The Warhammer Community post jokes about Infiltrating 20 Rubric Marines into your opponent's Deployment Zone on turn 1, but I'm pretty sure there's the 12" out of sight rule and 18" within sight rule that you've to take into account, so no abuse of Infiltration there.

Lords of the Silver Towers

Tzaangor Warherd

The next section the Warhammer Community post features the Lords of the Silver Towers because apparently each Exalted Sorcerer is the Lord of a Silver Tower. What does that mean? Apparently once per game each Exalted Sorcerer has the ability to lay down a S9 AP2, lance, heavy 1 blast template with unlimited range and I think target doesn't need to be in line of sight. Something like the Orbital Bombardment from your Master of Ordnance in the Imperial Guard Company Command Squad. I'll let you guys know the full, precise rules when I get Wrath of Magnus. Anyway, this is neither here nor there, the focus is the Tzaangor Warherd featured above.

Apparently, if you want to play horde style with your Thousand Sons because you kind of hate how elite and how few in numbers they are, and like me you're used to fielding hordes of cheap bodies (Imperial Guard, baby!)...well, actually I'm different because I field armor companies filled with tanks, so never mind. In any case, you do have the option to field masses of Tzaangors because each of these guys are only 7 points each - 8 if you give them an autopistol. Why would you want to do that? Because Rubric Marines are extremely expensive at 23 points per model - more than 3 times the cost of a Tzaangor.

So if you prefer to build a small elite force of nothing but psykers and screw the Rubric Marines, you can actually just build an army with a lot of Sorcerers/Exalted Sorcerers and a lot more Tzaangors. Yay. The Warhammer Community recommends that you make use of the smaller formations in the book, such as the War Coven and Tzaangor Warherd, because Exalted Sorcerers and Tzaangors are at their best at this. This allows you to spam ridiculous psychic powers and still have the numbers of bodies to capture objectives. Hoo-rah!

Legion at War

Sekhmet Conclave

Next up is the Legion at War section, which is the one I am (and probably everyone else) very interested in. This features the Sons of Magnus Detachment, which is the way you want to play Thousand Sons in larger games (and I only play large games, so yay for me). Like any other themed detachment like my Cadian Battle Group, the Sons of Magnus Detachment is composed of many smaller formations (all useful) that grants overall command benefits such as bolstering your psychic powers of all your warriors within these formations.

Warhammer Community, as usual, recommends that you bring along Magnus in these really big games because he's a beast, quite frankly. I think you remember my post on his stats and stuff the other day, just look to that to have an idea how broken he is (he still gets squashed by a Strength D weapon though, if you roll a 6). The Warhammer Community likes the Sekhmet Conclave the most because you get to field Magnus in it PLUS a horde of Scarab Occult Terminators, and potentially boost Magnus's toughness to 8. Or you can replace Magnus with any of his chief Lieutenants such as Ahriman or an Exalted Sorcerer, up to you. In any case, this formation makes him a beast, and you can tailor your Sons of Magnus Detachment accordingly.

That's all the post had, and don't worry. Once I get my hands on the actual book next week (I think), I'll cover all the formations and do an in-depth analysis. I think I'll also cover the Tzeentch Daemons formations as well to complete the thing, I always had a soft spot for Tzeentch after all.

Emperor willing, the book should arrive sometime next week (it's officially released on 3rd December, this Saturday), so look forward for more updates then! FOR THE EMPEROR! Don't worry, the Thousand Sons are still loyal to the Emperor...who am I kidding...