Rubric Marines!

Greetings, fellow Disciples of Tzeentch! Warhammer Community has been kind enough to provide us an article on Rubric Marines today! Let's see what they have.



Today, we invite Eddie to be our tactician, and here's what he has to say about the Rubric Marines.

Rubric Marines are amongst the most reliable and dependable troops choices in Warhammer 40,000. In a pure Thousand Sons force (or Detachment), not only do they gain the advantage of being able to secure objectives against enemy units, they also gain access to a lot of synergies with other units, Stratagems and powers, both obvious and subtle.

In most situations, Rubric Marines are very durable; an increased save against Damage 1 weaponry makes them all but immune to most small arms fire, and against heavier weaponry, Tzeentch was nice enough to give them all a 5+ invulnerable save. In practice, this means your enemy is probably going to have to bring heavy weaponry to bear to remove any sizeable unit of Rubric Marines at range. This is fine – if they’re shooting your Rubric Marines, it means they’re leaving your vehicles and monsters alone. Use this natural resilience to force your opponent to make hard choices about where they direct their best firepower – when everything in your army requires their best weapons to take out, you force your opponent to concentrate on some units at the expense of others.

Yeah. Sounds pretty cool to me. Eddie says not to throw them into close combat, though. While they will survive melee and can tarpit enemies, there are much better units for that role (*cough* Tzaangors *cough*). Anyway, the Rubric Marines shine because of their durability and their weapons loadout. Eddie looks at both the inferno boltgun and the warpflamer.



Take note, the inferno boltgun synergizes better with the soulreaper cannon because it has the same range, and is also designed to mow down infantry - the same role as your inferno boltguns. Both the inferno boltguns and soulreaper cannon are meant to take down armored infantry such as Marines and their equivalent, so make sure you use the AP -2 to their maximum advantage.



On the other hand, warpflamers lack the range of the inferno boltguns, and there's no point bringing a soulreaper cannon with your warpflamer dudes. While only packing a measly 8" range, they are devastating against hordes and they auto-hit. Awesome. For maximum carnage, pack a 10-men Rubric Marine squad, all equipped with warpflamers, and dish out 9D6 Strength 4 AP -2 auto-hits. They'll literally melt hordes. Yeah, we'll turn all into dust like our Rubric dudes.

Eddie offers a few good advice on how to use warpflamer dudes. They're great in overwatch - 9D6 auto-hit shots are no joke. If you need to get rid of light vehicles (Toughness 7 or 6), throw in the Veterans of the Long War Stratagem and they'll wound those things on a 4+. Need to get rid of power armored blobs like those treacherous Space Puppies? Use that and they'll be wounding them on 3+s. Infantry? 2+s. I wouldn't waste my Command Points on those unless I really, really need them dead, though.

If you ask me, the best way to use these guys is to webway infiltrate them within 9" of whatever horde you need dead, cast Warp Time on them with a Deep-striking Sorcerer in Terminator Armor or Exalted Sorcerer on disc, move them another 5" forward, and roast whatever needs cooking. All is dust indeed.

Then you have the Aspiring Sorcerers.



Even Eddie thinks their gimped Smite is useless. In other words, you do not bring loads of Rubric Marines because you want to spam Smite. No, you bring them along with their Discipline of Change. To make your Rubric Marines (and Scarab Occult Terminators) more durable and survivable than they already are, you have the choice of casting either Glamor of Tzeentch or Weaver of Fates.



Cool, right? This will make your Rubric Marines a lot more survivable than Tzaangors. They're also a lot more shooty. Don't listen to the nonsense the haters in dakka dakka are spouting about how Tzaangors are superior to Rubric Marines in every way (especially this guy who claims 1) Rubrics are outmatched by Tzangors in almost every aspect.). They obviously have no idea what they're talking about. Are you telling me Tzaangors outmatch Rubric Marines in shooting? With our AP -2 and better BS? Can Tzaangors take warpflamers? No, Tzaangors are better than Rubric Marines only in melee. Shooting wise, durability wise, they are worse. Not to mention, you'll lose a ton of Tzaangors to morale because of how fragile they are, as well as to overwatch when you charge them into whatever. Rubric Marines do not face the same problem. If you think Tzaangors are better than Rubric Marines in almost every aspect, then you're not playing them right. I can think of a dozen situations where I want my Rubric Marines instead of Tzaangors. Hell, my Thousand Sons army has no Tzaangors right now. Besides, Tzaangors don't have an Aspiring Sorcerer, which will make your already durable Rubric Marines even harder to kill!

Some people are just complaining for the sake of it.

Anyway, Eddie has advice on how to move your Rubric Marines. They include transports, where you load them up on Rhinos and Land Raiders. I'll pass on that. Sure, they'll make your slow 5" movement Rubric Marines a lot more mobile, but if I wanted fast, mobile Troops to grab objectives, I would bring Tzaangors instead. No, Rubric Marines excel in holding backfield objectives, getting dug in and being difficult to remove. I'm not saying they are impossible to wipe out, but your opponent has to devote a ton of firepower just to remove them, and that's firepower not directed at your Daemon Engines. Tzaangors will just die to weight of fire, like lasguns, pulse rifles, heavy bolters, boltguns, Punisher gatling cannons, Damage-1 weapons and other anti-infantry weapons. Your Rubric Marines, on the other hand, will laugh at even plasma rifles, un-supercharged plasma guns, hot-shot lasguns and other inferno boltguns. Seriously, do the math. And in the event you lose 1 or 2 to the weight of fire, they will not succumb as easily to morale as your Tzaangors.

Whoops, getting distracted here. What I mean to say, your Rubric Marines don't neeed the protection of a transport, and they're nigh indestructible against anti-infantry weapons so stick them in your backfield and dig them in to hold objectives. They excel at that a lot more than the supposedly superior Tzaangors. roll eyes

But the codex now offers you a lot of flexibility to move your slow Rubric Marines across the table if you need to! Can't get any hordes within range of your warpflamers? Look no further than Webway Infiltration. Spend a Command Point, Deep Strike them in the enemy's deployment zone, cast Warp Time with a Deep Striking Sorcerer in Terminator Armor (who is also being protected by Scarab Occult Terminators), and then unleash the flames!

Oh, you killed everything in your opponent's deployment zone and must now rush back toward your own deployment zone because your enemy's Deep Striking units have wiped out the Tzaangors there? Use Black Matter Crystal to warp them across the table - you did take the Relic on your Sorcerer in Terminator armor, right? - and unleash another bunch of flames. Or if your opponent charged you and made into combat, tarpitting your poor Rubric Marines, just pull the eject button and warp them across the table to flame another horde. It's a great hit-and-run tactic that allows you to move your Rubric Marines around the table with great flexibility.

Now, I can hear people crying out that the Webway Infiltration and Black Matter Crystal will be better for Tzaangors. In some cases, probably. But why would you use them to Deep Strike your Tzaangors!? They already move pretty fast, can Advance because quite frankly, their autopistols don't do jack. But honestly, even though they are better in melee, they suck in shooting, and to get them into combat, you're gonna eat a lot of overwatch and lose a few models before they slam in. Yeah, they might tear apart your opponents in melee with the Tzaangor Shaman's buff, but honestly? Strength 4 AP 0 attacks aren't going to do much. I would rather shoot Strength 4 AP -2 shots from a distance without losing a few guys to overwatch. And fire my own overwatch when people charge at my Rubric Marines. Jeez, stop staring at the Tzaangors with blinkers and accept that there are roles where Rubric Marines are much better than them. Use your damned imagination. Do the math. Stop howling about how Tzaangors are superior to Rubric Marines and start thinking about how to better use the latter. The Rubric Marines' strengths lie in shooting and durability. Build an army around that. Tzaangors are for those players who prefer hordes and volume of fire - but they are glass cannons who can't shoot and must get within range of your opponent to actually do anything. Whereas your Rubric Marines can dig in, secure an Objective and survive whatever firepower your opponent throws at them.

Looking at the complaints really gets me annoyed. The problem isn't with Games Workshop. They have given you new tools to play with your Rubric Marines, but for some reason you're just focusing on how they're good or better for Tzaangors and completely ignoring how they excel for your Rubric Marines. Seriously, I can spend a Command Point on 30-40 Tzaangors, cast Warptime on them and then charge them into combat but I'll lose a bunch of them to overwatch and to morale, plus their Strength 4 AP 0 attacks wouldn't do much against armored foes. On the other hand, 10 Rubric Marines with 9 warpflamers and 9D6 Strength 4 AP -2 attacks plus an Aspiring Sorcerer to keep them more survivable would do the same job without losing any models to overwatch or morale. And would probably kill more too, to be honest. Or maybe I'm doing my math wrong, but your 10 Rubric Marines will be sticking around for a long while whereas that blob of Tzaangors will go down really, really fast. Not only that, you have a lot more tactical flexibility with Rubric Marines and their warpflamers due to the split fire mechanic in 8th Edition. 2 5-men enemy squads? Sure you can declare a multi-charge and eat both squads' overwatch with your Tzaangors, but you can split fire your Rubric Marines into both squads safely without wasting your charge (especially if you can only charge and fight one unit). 4 warpflamers into the first squad, 5 warpflamers into the second. Boom. If your opponent has his 2 squads bunched together, you can probably split your Tzaangors in combat, but if he doesn't? You waste one turn getting rid of one squad at a time. Good luck fighting against Tau.

Think about it. Look at the ways you can play with Rubric Marines and stop comparing or thinking about how Tzaangors will do the job better - yes, they will do the job better in melee, but they can't shoot, they die to a breeze, and they are vulnerable to morale and overwatch. Your Rubric Marines are not, and they have superior shooting weapons, and have the option to deal out a devastating overwatch of their own. Quit complaining, pull the blinkers away from your eyes and explore your new tactical options with your Rubric Marines. Don't let the supposedly good stuff of Tzaangors blind you to the Rubric Marines' strengths.

You're playing an army of Tzeentch followers. Nothing is going to be straightforward. Your Thousand Sons army isn't going to be straightforward. It's not as simple as Tzaangors are better in every respect or spamming hordes of Tzaangors. There are many cases where Tzaangors are flat out worse than Rubric Marines. If you would just pull away those blinkers, stop drinking salty tears and quit focusing on the synergy between Tzaangor units and actually consider using the Stratagems, psychic spells and Relics for Rubric Marines and Scarab Occult Terminators, you'll see it.

I'm sure my advice will fall on deaf ears, but...oh well. I tried.

Guard versus Guard

Two weeks ago and last week I played a game against Death Guard, and I lost both games. I was too busy to type out the battle reports because of my semester but both games I essentially got tabled. I did wipe out a huge chunk of his forces, including Nurglings, Plague Marines, and one Blighthauler, but essentially I didn't do much against his Terminators. Both Deathshroud and Blightlord Terminators are insane. Not only do they have 4++ invulnerable saves, which render them effectively safe from my AP -3 plasma, they have Disgustingly Resilient rolls on top of that, and I just couldn't kill them. I could only watch as they scythe down both tanks and infantry alike. I have no idea how to counter Death Guard, especially their Disgustingly Resilient and invulnerable Terminators.

I wanted to try a third game today, but I was exhausted. Fell asleep in the afternoon after staying up all night (and morning) to study so that I could wargame today. Backfired because I ended up taking a nap and oversleeping until 5pm. Nope, no wargaming for me today, sorry.

Anyway, the first game was my standard Banehammer/Shadowsword list with a Spearhead Detachment of Leman Russ tanks and Wyverns, and my Kamikaze Troopers with their Valkyrie. The Banehammer actually did well an took out the Deathshroud Terminators, but eventually died. Then I was essentially tabled.

 For the second game, I fielded a Brigade. Yes. I finally have an Imperial Guard Brigade. Still pointless as I got wiped out by the Terminators again. Oh well. In any case, this is what my Imperial Guard Brigade list looks like:

2 Company Commanders with bolt pistols and power swords
3 Tempestors Prime with Tempestus command rods and power swords
3 Tempestus command squads with 4 plasma guns each
Kamikaze Troopers with 2 plasma guns
Kamikaze Troopers with 2 hot-shot volley guns
10 Kasrkins (Kamikaze Troopers)
3 infantry squads with 1 bolt pistol and 1 plasma gun each
2 Armored Sentinels with lascannons
Armored Sentinel with plasma cannon
Heavy weapons squad with 3 mortars
Heavy weapons squad with 3 lascannons
Wyvern with heavy bolter
Total: 1,256 points, 9 Command Points

I paired it with my Spearhead Detachment, which was:

Tank Commander in Leman Russ Executioner tank with lascannon and plasma cannons
Leman Russ Exeuctioner with lascannon and plasma cannons
Leman Russ Annihilator with lascannon and plasma cannons
Wyvern with heavy bolter
Total: 744 points, 1 Command Point

Grand total: 2,000 points, 13 Command Points

That netted me a total of 13 Command Points. I need to learn how to use Stratagems more efficiently. I almost didn't use any except Jury Rigged, Command Re-roll and Defensive Gunners. I forgot to use Vengeance for Cadia or Overlapping Fire, which might have helped me tremendously, given how I had so many Command Points. Maybe next time. I mean, what's the point of having so many Command Points if I don't use them? Then again, it was my first time using this list, so I'm still learning. Not only that, I was earning a lot of Command Points with the Kurov's Aquila relic and refunding a few (not as many as the former) through the Grand Strategist Warlord Trait.

Imperial Guard is awesome at farming Command Points. This is why I love this army.

Anyway, I still lost because I screwed up my Deep Strike. I threw away my plasma Kamikaze Troopers for nothing. Okay, I destroyed a single Blighthauler, but honestly, that wasn't worth the points. Sigh. I wanted to try again today, but I overslept and missed the opportunity to wargame. Next week then. Next week. UGH.

Oh, and speaking of Brigade, that was made possible by me adding a 3rd plasma Kamikaze command squad and 2 Armored Sentinels with lascannons. Not only did I finish my Brigade, I added Assassin support to my roster. So now I have 3 Assassins - a Vindicare Assassin, an Eversor Assassin and a Culexus Assassin. I can't wait to try them out. Was supposed to try them today, but again, I overslept. Sigh. Next week then. Next week.

Not only did I reinforce my roster with 3 Assassins, I also finished building my Thanatar siege-automata and 2 Castellax battle-automata! AWESOME! My Mechanicum army is complete! All I need is Imperial Armor: Fires of Cyraxus and I'll be able to field my Castellax and Thanatar in Warhammer 40,000 games! I hope to run them alongside my Imperial Knights, but that will be quite the elite army. We'll see. Anyway, I'll have to wait for Fires of Cyraxus, which is rumored to come out in March. Until then...

For the Emperor!

The 41st Millennium ends as the Imperial Guard and Assassins find themselves confronting gigantic stuffed animals that pour out of the Warp...

Sorcererous Power

Yay! We can preorder our Thousand Sons codex next week! Warhammer Community has posted on the Thousand Sons as usual!



Oh, and we also get datacards!



Nice! I'll be getting both the codex and the datacards. Always been a huge fan of the Thousand Sons and I'm so glad to see them get their own codex!

We're also getting an upgrade pack for the Tzaangors, so look forward to that as well!

Tzaangors and Thousand Sons

Okay, this is getting ridiculous. I'm looking at Dakka Dakka and there are a lot of people who are making ridiculous claims about the new Thousand Sons codex, so I thought I'll just put some thoughts out there and get them to calm down. I doubt they will, though. People will only listen to what they want to hear.

This Thousand Sons codex rumors thread and this Thousand Sons are dead thread are getting out of hand. I do understand if people are upset if they're forced to take Tzaangors, but I don't think that's the case at all.

I mean, people like Nintura are making fallacious claims such as "So you'd rather show up, take an hour to setup a game and deploy, knowing you're playing an underpowered army and likely lose? And that sounds fun? I'm not saying every game needs to be waac, but if you can't really win, why play at all?" or "Being competitive or just losing horrible is in fact a form of being forced... "Hey you can play this bad army and you'll lose 80% of your games, but hey we aren't forcing you to play! Instead, here, we'll make winning much more easier but it requires you to buy a whole new army. But again, that's only IF you want to win"" Now this is getting ridiculous. Have you played a game with them yet? Obviously not. And if you lose most of the time, perhaps the problem isn't with your list but the way you play them or your strategy/deployment. Just because Tzaangors have synergy with the new units like Tzaangor Shaman or Tzaangor Enlightened doesn't mean your Rubric Marines are useless. Where's the link? How do Tzaangors being good suddenly lead to your Rubric Marines and Scarab Occult Terminators suddenly being useless and causing you to lose most of your games? If anything, you have new psychic powers and Stratagems that buffs them - they're a lot stronger than they were in the Index. As I said, if you're losing 80% of your games (and where did he get those statistics from?), then the problem is with you, not the Marines or even the Tzaangors.

Honestly, right now it sounds like he's saying, "Tzaangors are good. Therefore, Rubric Marines are bad." No, wait...how did you arrive to that conclusion? What do Tzaangors being good have anything to do with Rubric Marines being bad or you losing most of your games?

Nintura also makes another hyperbolic argument. "Because, and again, it is not Thousand Sons supported by Gors. It's Gors supported by Thousand Sons. And really, you dont even need them."

That's like saying my tank army is not Leman Russ tanks supported by infantry, but infantry supported by Leman Russ tanks, and that I don't even need my tanks. What BS. Just because hordes are the meta now doesn't mean you must play only infantry squads and heavy weapon squads. I like tanks, I play them and I win regularly. And of course Tzaangors outnumber Rubric Marines. They're a horde unit. Why are you complaining about a horde unit outnumbering your elite unit? That makes no sense. That's like me complaining that I have more infantry than tanks. Well, duh. Infantry are meant to outnumber vehicles. In the same vein, your chaff/fodder Tzaangors are supposed to outnumber your Rubric Marines. That's their job.

This doesn't mean Tzaangors become the focus of your army, or that it's a Tzaangor army supported by unnecessary Rubric Marines. If they're there to bubblewrap your Rubric Marines to do the real job (capture objectives while your Tzaangors distract the enemy and die) then yeah, Tzaangors are the support unit. Complaining that they outnumber Rubric Marines when that's their job as chaff/fodder is just absurd.

And then you have Wulfey complaining, "Why ever take rubrics? They are junk. 30x tzaangor bombs hits on 2+ from an aura, and get +1 to wound from the strategem. And they charge on an 8" off a deepstrike. Can you can warptime them. And you can deepstrike them from either strategems or relics. What a joke. hitting an 8" charge on 2d6 rerolling 1 dice from a CP is like 70-80%. And the other tzaangor bomb can warptime. And if you have CP, they fight twice for 2CP."

Again, another ridiculous statement. Rubric Marines have completely different roles from Tzaangors. Here, you want a melee unit. Of course Tzaangors are better in melee. But he seems to have forgotten that 30-men Tzaangors are susceptible to morale. Not only that, with their terrible armor save (6+) and mediocre invulnerable save (5++), they die very easily. Rubric Marines have a 3+ armor save, going up to 2+ against 1-damage weapons, and their invulnerable saves go up to 4++ against 1 damage weapons (hot-shot lasguns, plasma rifles, etc.) They are much more durable. Not only that, they are much better at shooting. Your Tzaangors have autopistols at best, which are Strength 3 AP0. Why bother with them? Rubric Marines are better at range with their Strength 4 AP -2 inferno bolters, more durable, and even have an Aspiring Sorcerer who can cast Tzeentch's Glamor to make them even harder to kill. And seriously, can Tzaangors take warpflamers? No. Rubric Marines can take 4-9 warpflamers, Deep Strike 9" away, have an Exalted Sorcerer or use Chaos Familiar to swap the power for Warp Time, and then incinerate hordes with 4D6 or 9D6 Strength 4 AP -2 attacks. And that's just the shooting phase.

No, Rubric Marines have their uses and excel in different roles when compared to Tzaangors. Dismissing them and claiming that Tzaangors are superior in every way is just delusional. Furthermore, when we talk about synergy - who's going to benefit from the Exalted Sorcerer's "re-roll to hit rolls of ones" in the shooting phase? The Rubric Marines with their inferno bolters, of course. Not the Tzaangors with their pathetic autopistols. And if we're talking about the Legion Trait, Brotherhood of Sorcerers, who benefits from that? Not the Tzaangors who have no psychic ability to speak of, but the Aspiring Sorcerer (and the Scarab Occult Sorcerer) in your Rubric Marines (and Scarab Occult Terminators). Even the Legion Trait is designed for your Marines, not your mutant hordes. The only one who benefits from the Legion Trait is the Tzaangor Shaman, but hey, are you going to build your army around a Tzaangor Shaman with lots of Tzaangors? That would be a waste of your Legion Trait.

Then you have Thousand-Son-Sorcerer, whose constant whining has totally destroyed his credibility. "Why do we have no way to recover CP when we are one of the lowest model count armies? Lower then DG in model count and they have a CP recoup method. " Obviously he missed the Helm of Third Eye, which allows you to recover Command Points whenever your opponent uses a Stratagem. At this point, he sounds like he's grasping at straws and whining for the sake of whining.

Oh, and his statement "This is the problem, as other armies get their codices we will fall further and further behind, until we are in the bottom 5 or 6 armies in the game if that. That is IF we run Rubrics, if we run Tzaangors we will probably be one of the best armies in the game." And he knows our ranking how? Has he played a game with Rubric Marines with the new codex? Honestly, the whining is getting out of hand. Yes, Tzaangors are good. I get it. They have good synergy with the new units. I also get that. But how does "good" Tzaangors suddenly equate to Rubric Marines being bad/not competitive?

And his BS "Anything Rubrics do, Tzaangors do better.". I just explained why. And this statement. "All kinds, but that usually involves getting some sort of spread on units with a codex release. Not 4 new units either a gor or something to buff gors." We only have 2 new units that are Tzaangors - the Shaman and the Enlightened. Not 4. Again, he's undermining his credibility with all these absurd claims and falsehoods. And we have stuff to buff Rubric Marines too, so why the hell is he complaining? Surely any blind guy can see that the re-roll hit rolls of ones will benefit the Rubric Marines more in the shooting phase than the Tzaangors. Holy...this guy is just delusional.

Again, if you think Rubric Marines are overcosted, then you're playing them wrong. There are plenty of new ways to play them. My 9-men warpflamer squad that uses the webway and Warptime is one of them. Don't want to use Tzaangors? Buff your Maulerfiend with a Mutalix Vortext (I'm pretty sure nobody would complain if it's Daemon Engines that get the spotlight in a Thousand Sons codex, ironically - but if it's Tzaangors, then all hell breaks loose). Need anti-vehicle? Helbrutes and Predators. Don't give me the "but we need Rubric Havocs!" If you have Rubric Havocs then there's no point having lascannon Predators or Helbrutes. And honestly, with so many ways to dish mortal wounds, these mortal wounds hurt high-wound, elite units more than fodder units - which melt away to the Rubric Marines' inferno bolters and warpflamers.

Speaking of which, I would rather take Rubric Marines and warpflamers/inferno bolters against horde armies than fragile Tzaangors. Both units have their niche, and complaining that Tzaangors render Rubric Marines obsolete and useless is just the height of stupidity. Use your imagination. Tzaangors die easily without Rubric Marine support. They're glass cannons. Sure, the new Stratagems, the Tzaangor Shaman aura and Mutalix Vortex will give them extra firepower and stronger attacks (in melee), but they lack the ranged shooting firepower that Rubric Marines have. They also lack the durability that Rubric Marines have to camp on objectives and shrug off high AP firepower or hordes' 1-damage firepower. They also aren't as versatile because they can't cast psychic spells, whereas the Aspiring Sorcerer can. And a 24" Smite with the Brotherhood of Sorcerers Legion Trait at that. Can Tzaangors do that? No.

Now, if you think your Rubric Marine list is weak, stop whining and actually sit down and think of ways you can use them. The problem with Thousand-Son-Sorcerer, Nintura and the others is that they are too obsessed with Tzaangors and bashing them. Stop talking about Tzaangors. If you don't want Tzaangors in your army, then stop talking about them or thinking about them. Focus on how you want to play Thouand Sons with Rubric Marines. Quit whining about how you will lose with 60 Rubric Marines and instead focus on how you can win with them. 60 Rubric Marines means 6 different Change spells, and you can Deep Strike a bunch of them either with the Stratagem or the relic. And if you do, give them warpflamers for horde control. Don't give me the "warpflamers suck or are overcosted" BS. Use them. Play with them. Experiment with your list, Stratagems, deployment and tactics. If you lose, find out why you lose and stop blaming it on the Tzaaangors. Tzaangors aren't the reason you lost, and neither is it the Rubric Marines being bad (because quite frankly, they are good). You ever see a Space Marine list that runs only tactical squads? I don't. They have Predator support, tank support, Dreadnought support, etc. You don't want to use Tzaangors? Well, you have Predators, Vindicators, even Land Raiders. You have Daemon Engines - look at the Defiler, Forgefiend and Maulerfiend! Use those! Don't whine about Rubric Marines being terrible and Tzaangors being must-take. They are not. You have options other than Tzaangors - your Helbrutes, tanks and Daemon Engines. You can take Tzeentch allies if you like Horrors. You can field a Supreme Command Detachment of 3-5 Exalted Sorcerers or Sorcerers and have them fly all over the place while giving your Rubric Marines re-rolls of ones for their inferno bolters, and warp time warpflamer Rubric Marines into flamer range. You can Glamor of Tzeentch them, then tarpit an annoying enemy. There's so much stuff you can think about Rubric Marines and how to use them (and Scarab Occult Terminators too). If you're wasting time complaining about Tzaangors, why not use that time and energy to think about how to better use your Rubric Marines and Scarab Occult Terminators instead of writing them off right from the start?!

Honestly, just think about it. All right?

Codex: Tzaangor

Today, Warhammer Community has posted a new article on the new units in Codex: Thousand Sons, and they have confirmed our worst fears. This isn't a codex for the Thousand Sons. It's a codex for Tzaangors. Rage, everyone! Rise up and overthrow Games Workshop for their travesty! How dare they turn our Thousand Sons codex into a Tzaangor codex? We don't want Tzaangors and mutants! Why are Rubric Marines so overcosted?! What's with the missed opportunity with Stratagems?! GRAAAAAH!

Okay, finish throwing your tantrum, Thousand-Son-Sorcererer? Or Warpspy? Well, jokes aside, they do have a point. Looking at the article alone, it seems it's all about Tzaangors now.



We already know about this Tzaangor Stratagem, you posted it on Monday. Not sure why you're slapping it into our faces again...



Anyway, moving on...our Tzaangor Enlightened has three wargear options confirmed. They are mounted on Discs of Tzeentch (yay?), which gives them the Daemon keyword, so you can cast the Discipline of Tzeentch spells to buff them. Yay, I suppose.



Not only that, every hit roll of 6 will cause an automatic wound - in other words, no rolling to wound! It's not a mortal wound, though. But it's a nifty ability that comes with all 3 different wargears, which is as you see below...



Cool, eh? I guess. Oh, and they get buffed by Tzaangor Shamans, who are in the Elites slot. They can cast spells from the Discipline of Change plus they buff Tzaangor units nearby.



Cool! In other words, Tzaangor Enlightened will be doing automatic wounds on hit rolls of 5+! Not enough? Then cast Prescience on them and they'll be wounding on hit rolls of 4+! Can you imagine that?!

Oh, and the new Mutalith Vortex? You have a choice between picking one powerful effect per turn, or roll 2 dice randomly for 2 effects in that turn!



Seems like the Mutalith Vortex usually buffs close combat units. So uh...Tzaangors again? That's what the Warhammer Community article says. To be imaginative, I can imagine combining the Mutalith Vortex with a Maulerfiend and buffing his Strength (they have Mark of Chaos, so if you take a Maulerfiend in a Thousand Sons army, he'll be Tzeentch). Plus he's a great source of mortal wounds! Nice!

But wait...what about the Rubric Marines and Scarab Occult Sorcerers? According the Warhammer Community, our "codex will be a toolbox, allowing you to create any Thousand Sons army you see fit, whether you’re looking to field a traditional force of Rubricae, a coven of warp-fuelled sorcerers" and we will have "new ways to use classic units like Rubric Marines, powerful rules to benefit your Sorcerers, and a dizzying array of psychic powers". But according to Thousand-Son-Sorcererer, Warpspy and Nintura, the leaks in this video have proven that Rubric Marines suck, that Warhammer Community (and Games Workshop) has lied and disappointed us, and that we will be forced to take Tzaangors and drop Rubric Marines totally in order to be competitive. I don't know...we'll see.

Problems: no ways to mitigate perils, no ways of boosting casting of psychic spells, Rubric Marines and Scarab Occult Terminators remain overcosted (funny, I thought they were cheaper than 7th edition and are pretty durable for their points). Soulreaper cannon can only be taken every 10 Rubric Marines. Exalted Sorcerers can no longer take force swords, but can take a power sword in addition to their force stave...huh? What? Inferno bolt weapon upgrade for a weapon for the cost of 1 Command Point. Hell no. Exalted Sorcerers are the same as Sorcerers except with the re-rolls of hit rolls of ones aura. No discounts apparently (but we seem to have discounts from the Chaos Space Marines codex?). Well, I'll check the codex when I get it, but until then, we'll see.

New Imperial Knight!

Hey, guys! Lots of announcements from the Las Vegas Open, and guess what? Imperial Knights will be getting a new Knight. Warhammer Community has posted a lot of stuff, but this being an Imperial Knight (and Imperial Guard, Adeptus Mechanicus and now Thousand Sons) blog, I'm more interested in the Knight Armiger!

According to the post, Knights Armiger are smaller Knights piloted by bastard children of Barons and Knight nobles...well, I'll just copy and paste here.

Smaller than their cousins and crewed by aspiring nobles, low-born commoners with a knack for war, or even the bastard children of Barons and High Kings, Armigers hunt and fight at the flanks of their larger kin. Knight Armigers will open up new tactical possibilities for Imperial Knights players, like a medieval lord hunting with his hounds, benefiting from a wider range of army builds.

That sounds awesome! I'll keep an eye out for this guy and add him to my collection! Right now, my Knights are pretty expensive, especially when I want to add allies, so swapping one Knight for one of these guys would allow me to open up more tactical possibilities and leave more room for allies (looking at you, Adeptus Mechanicus). I'm still waiting for Imperial Armor: Fires of Cyraxus, which is rumored to be released in March and if possible, I want to run an Imperial Knight army with Legio Cybernetica allies. Furthermore, I'm planning on throwing in a Spearhead Detachment (Leman Russ tanks) alongside my Knights if this new Knight Armiger is cheap enough for me to do so.

Just look at that guy! He looks so awesome! WOOHOO! I can't wait! I hope he's a Lord of War too, maybe about 200-300 points, because that will greatly help me and open up more space for allies!

Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 2 announced!

Hey, guys. I just came from the Warhammer 40,000 Discord server and look at what news I found!

AWESOME! Was a fan of the first game (I'm sure you guys remember my posts on the first Battlefleet Gothic Armada game). I hope we get bigger caps this time because I was kind of suffocated by only being able to field 1 Battleship and a couple of battlecruisers. I want an entire fleet! And I can't wait to build my Adeptus Mechanicus fleet!

Oh, and from the trailer, it appears that the game is set after the fall of Cadia and the rise of the Primarch, so this looks really interesting!