Expelliarmus: Thousand Sons vs Thousand Sons

It's civil war among the sorcerers of Prospero!

Thousand Sons vs Thousand Sons.

I, Stylus, will be plumbing the depths of my Thousand Sons collection on this Skype battle, as I furnish both sides of the field. Rapid (here in italics) is interested in giving Prospero's finest another spin, and so I gave him first choice of my army, while I would build an opposing force from whatever he left behind.

Dust Busters - Thousand Sons (Rubric)

I got the pick of the litter with Stylus' Thousand sons. We played a narrative campaign some months ago and I personally had brilliant fun with the Tzaangor bomb. Thinking to try something different this time and attempt some Smite screening I went for the Rubrics and Scarab Occult. Ferried by the Rhinos and Teleporters. Fast moving and a bit of a Carnifex is the Heldrake, myself and Billyb0b used the Heldrake to great effect. Lets be honest, its a great looking model whatever mark its under.

Battalion Detachment - Cult of Magic

• Sorcerer (HQ) (Warlord)
  Force Sword, Inferno Bolt pistol, Frag & Krak Grenades,
  Powers: Astral Blast, Death hex, Tzeentch's Firestorm
  Warlord Trait: High Magister
  Relic: Dark Matter Crystal
• Sorcerer in Terminator Armour (HQ)
  Force Stave, Inferno Bolt pistol, Frag & Krak Grenades,
  Powers: Astral Blast, Glamour of Tzeentch, Prescience
  Magister: Devastating Sorcery
  
• 5 x Rubric Marines (Troop)
  Force Stave, Inferno bolt pistol, 4 x Inferno Boltgun
  Powers: Astral Blast, Weaver of Fates
• 5 x Rubric Marines (Troop)
  Force Stave, Inferno bolt pistol, 4 x Inferno Boltgun
  Powers: Astral Blast, Weaver of Fates
• 15 x Chaos Cultists (Troop)
  Autoguns
• 6 x Scarab Occult Terminators (Elite)
  Force Stave, 5 x Inferno Combi-Bolter, 4 x Power Sword,
  Powers: Astral Blast, Glamour of Tzeentch
• Heldrake (Heavy)
  Baleflamer, Heldrake claws
• Rhino (Transport)
  Combi-bolter, combi-bolter
• Rhino (Transport)
  Combi-bolter

Points: 1,000 | Battle-forged + Battalion - Magister: 5 CPs 

Bird Is The Herd - Thousand Sons (Tzaangor)

I got to build my army out of what Rapid rejected, and when I saw that all the Tzaangor units were left behind, the theme wrote itself!

Two big packs of Tzaangor for melee and objective grabbing, a big unit of Enlightened for troubleshooting. A couple of Shamans to keep them in line (one of which with Dark Matter Crystal) and a big pack of Spawn because I ran out of Tzaangor.

Finally, since I needed a non-Rubric HQ, a Daemon Prince. I went with the Cult of Mutation, since the bonus spell isn't going to see much use (only the Daemon Prince can take it), but the warlord traits and relic will turn him into a mincing machine.

I plan to be patient and counterpunch with this army. My Daemon Prince can take out anything, but I daren't leave him exposed to the answering Smites, so I need to choose my targets well. As well as the mission secondary objective, I chose Engage On All Fronts, since this is a pretty mobile army, and Slay the Warlord, for the narrative (this is internecine warfare, after all)

Patrol Detachment - Cult of Mutation

• Demon Prince of Tzeentch with wings (HQ) (Warlord)
  2 x Malefic Talons
  Warp Reality, Warptime, Prescience
  Warlord Trait: Touch of Vicissitude
  Relic: Exalted Mutation*
• 18 x Tzaangors (Troop)
  Brayhorn, Tzaangor blades, Icon of Flame
• 18 x Tzaangors (Troop)
  Brayhorn, Tzaangor blades, Icon of Flame
• Tzaangor Shaman (Elite)
  Force Stave, Glamour of Tzeentch
• Tzaangor Shaman (Elite)
  Force Stave, Weaver of Fates, Dark Matter Crystal
• 5 x Chaos Spawn (Fast)
  Hideous mutations
• 8 x Tzaangor Enlightened (Fast)
  Fatecaster Greatbow

Points: 999 | Battle-forged + Patrol - Relics of Thousand Sons: 5 CPs

*Note: I now realise that only Sorcerers can have the Exalted Mutation relic, not Daemon Princes. So that was my bad and my warlord shouldn't have been quite so killy.
In fairness, had I known this on the day, I would have used the Chaos Familiar stratagem to swap out Warp Reality for the Diabolic Strength power, which I could have cast every turn and given me the same combat output. Either way, inexcusable rookie mistake on my part.

Mission and Deployment

We randomly determined the mission: Eternal War - Incursion - Forward Push. As well as the usual primaries, this rewards getting deep into the enemy deployment zone and completing actions. Good job there's enough Dark Matter Crystals to go around.

I began deploying first and put everything on the board. I'm going to be outgunned here, so I'd rather overwhelm Rapid with too many targets, than put a unit into Webway Infiltration and get shot up piecemeal.

The Spawn went front and centre, with the two big packs of Tzaangor ready to charge up the middle and overwhelm the objectives.

Behind them went the Enlightened, who are big enough to push out deepstrikers, and fast enough to make up the distance. My Daemon Prince and two Tzaangor Shaman tucked themselves into the gaps, safe for the moment.

Rubricae deployment

 

 

 

The cultist start up high to one side of the board. Little bit of "deepstrike" denial. Dark Matter Crystal and all that..

 

 

The first Rhino sets up next to objective with a squad of Rubrics inside. Sorcerer next to it, within 3in but also within range of the cultist to fling them forward. My plan was to get them forward and cause some interference on the point nearest but outside of Stylus' deployment. Second Rhino and Heldrake set up near but also centrally.

 

 

My Terminators and Terminator Sorcerer are ready for a teleport strike.

Secondaries

The Thousand Sons (Rubrics) secondary objectives were:

• Forward Push: the mission-specific objective - if you complete an action on one of the four objectives, you score 1, 2, 4 or 8 VP (depending on how far from your deployment zone it is)
• Linebreaker: (4VP for having two units in the enemy deployment zone at the end of your turn)
• Slay the Warlord: 6VP for killing the enemy warlord

The Thousand Sons (Tzaangor) secondary objectives were:

• Forward Push: as above
• Engage on All Fronts: (2VP to have units in three table quarters and 6" from the centre at the end of the turn. 3VP to have units in all four quarters 6" from the centre.)
• Slay the Warlord: 6VP for killing the enemy warlord

Turn 1 - Rubricae

 

Stylus' Spawn are a considerable concern of mine. Dropping the stratagem to choose their abilities, reroll etc has hurt me significantly in the past. The Heldrake flies forward to drop some hurt onto them. I'm aware that he's about to take a lot of Smite and the Daemon Prince will be eyeing him up but he is a Carnifex... His flamer takes 1 Spawn out and sets a second aflame, burning off two wounds. Not too bad.

 

Rhino pushes forward to hold the point and keep a bead on those coming forward, he chooses to execute his action for that tasty 1 victory point.

 

 

With no other powers in range, the Cultists are thrown across the field ready to offer some denial for second turn and attempt a thinning of the herd. Surprisingly they take out 5 of the Tzaangors! 

They look as surprised as I am.

Objectives secured: Forward Push (1)

Rubricae 1 : 0 Tzaangor

Turn 1 - Tzaangor

I've survived the opening shots more-or-less intact, and now fate has delivered some morsels for me to peck at.

The shot-up pack of Tzaangor move towards the Cultists behind the pipes, while the intact on sits tight on my home objective.

Everyone else heads towards the Heldrake, led by the singed Chaos Spawn, who are in the mood for some payback.

To facilitate this, I throw all my buffs on the Spawn: Prescience, Weaver of Fates, Glamour of Tzeentch - and then knock a wound off the Heldrake with a cheeky Smite.

A volley of arrows from the Enlightened plink off a couple more wounds from the Deamon Engine, then it's straight to the charges!

The Tzaangor leap over the pipes and, with the aid of Veterans of the Long War, hack the Cultists to pieces, leaving only three alive (who are too stunned to hit back).

The Chaos Spawn lead the charge against the Heldrake - which is what Rapid was saving his Overwatch stratagem for. Five baleflamer hits later, and only two Spawn make it up the walls and into combat.

Which allows my Daemon Prince to saunter past the charred lumps of misshapen flesh and wonder what all the fuss what about as he also engages the Heldrake.

Daemon Princes are pretty tasty in combat at the best of times, but with Touch of  Vicissitude and Exalted Mutation, this guy's as mean as they come. He shreds the Heldrake before the Spawn have a chance to swing a tentacle.

With nothing else to do, the Spawn just consolidate forward (this is me forgetting that, in 9th Ed, they won't be screening the Daemon Prince from enemy fire)

Meanwhile the Cultists predictably fail their Moral test, but their champion bravely holds on as the other sensibly flee.

Objectives secured: none

Rubricae 1 : 0 Tzaangor

Turn 2 - Rubricae

 

Well let's be honest, I just threw away a Heldrake. But those Spawn are significantly deader than before.

 

 

Finding some sense the lone Cultist ru... tactically withdraws to the central ruin 

 

 

While Stylus' Tzaangors watch in confusion as the final cultist finally decided to run away. A squad of Scarab Occult and Sorcerer Terminator appear with a blink of light behind them.

Believe it or not, I was hoping the Tzaangors would charge into the Cultists to open up the space for these boys to sit on the difficult terrain. 

 

Prescience goes onto the Terminators but Smite fails into the Tzaangors. The Terminators empty their clips into the Tzaangors that decimated the Cultists.

 

Feeling the need to join the party my Rubrics get out of the Rhino. Moving to the centre of the battlefield they take aim at the Tzaangors ahead and whittle them down further. Weaver of Fates cast on themselves to try and stave off the next round of pain.

 

Opening its rear door, cheesing it forward, leaving the Rubrics to get up and shake it off. The second Rhino opens up into the same squad of Tzaangors and finishes them off.

Within range a Smite befalls Stylus'  Spawn, with the Rubric fire they are less a few wounds. THEY WONT DIE!

Objectives secured: Primary (10), Linebreaker (4)

Rubricae 15 : 0 Tzaangor

Turn 2 - Tzaangor

Scarab Occult - who invited these guys?

After briefly considering running away to the far side of the table, I decide to get aggressive and deal with the biggest threat in the army. If they're left alone and standing still, then Infernal Fusillade is on the cards and I'm in a world of pain.

The Daemon Prince, Tzaangor Shamans and Enlightened swing around 90-degrees and head back for my own deployment zone to take out the Terminators.

The exceptions are the two remaining Spawn, who jump down from the building to threaten the central Rubrics.

I also use the Dark Matter Crystal to jump the remaining pack of Tzaangor into the enemy deployment zone - and handily, the Sorcerer warlord happens to be the closest target for a charge!

The Scarab Occult suffer a barrage of Smites (no subtly required here), which kills four of them, another Weaver of Fates on the Spawn, and I finish off with a Warptime to get the Daemon Prince to an unfailable charge.

Things are less effective for the Enlightened, who score a number of wounds on the nearest Rhino, only to have all but one of the shots bounce off!

Rapid's final Command Point is spend to Overwatch the charging Spawn - which is a good bet, since a single wound will halve my fighting strength. However, the wounded Spawn is clearly blessed and makes it through unscathed on a paid of sixes.

They're not so fortunate in the resulting fight, despite my use of Fated Mutation, and only manage to bring down one Rubric Marine for no loss in return.

The Daemon Prince clearly fancies his chances with all-comers, and splits his nine attacks (plus mortal wounds on a 6) between the two remaining Terminators and the Terminator Sorcerer.

However, with Weaver of Fates augmenting the Scarab Occult's invulnerable save, the Aspiring Sorcerer actually survives the onslaught, and puts two wounds back on the Daemon Prince!

The Terminator Sorcerer isn't so fortunate, and is torn to shreds three times over.

Finally, the Tzaangor in the back field make their charge - and with the aid of a CP reroll, they smash into the Sorcerer.

With Veterans of the Long War in play, plus their rerolls to hit for being natural Relic Hunters, the Tzaangor hack down the enemy warlord, and decide to stay put (looting the corpse, I imagine) on the back objective, rather than consolidate into the nearby Rubrics.

I may be losing on the Primaries, but that was a strong turn that neutralised a lot of threats, and pulled in a few points for me!

Objectives secured: Primaries (5), Engage On All Fronts (2), Slay The Warlord (6)

Rubricae 15 : 13 Tzaangor

Turn 3 - Rubricae 

I was kind of hoping to have a round or two with those Scarab Occults to mince through the Tzaangors back field, the Daemon Prince was clearly having none of that.

 

 

So my Rhino stays on point performing his Forward Push action. Scarab Occult Sorcerer stumbles backwards through the rough terrain to attempt some sort of escape. He's not even fooling himself here.

 

 

After watching their Warlord crumple my Rubrics swear revenge! Between a Smite, their Bolters the Rhinos Bolters and the Combat phase (Rubric and Rhino) 5 die. 5. Much sad face.

My Rubrics finally deal with the last Spawn. They let out a sigh of relief but are pretty beat up, licking their wounds.

 

Seeing his opportunity for glory... or is it stupidity... the Cultist Champion bolts out of cover and onto the objective he and his squad first tried to hold what feels like a day ago.

Objectives secured: Primaries (5), Forward Push (2)

Rubricae 22 : 13 Tzaangor

Turn 3 - Tzaangor

Enough with the diversion, time to get back downfield!

My flying circus of Tzaangor Shaman (Mildred) and Enlightened fly towards the nearest Rhino, hoping to contest that objective it keeps scoring. The other Tzaangor Shaman (George) stays on my backline objective.

The Daemon Prince flies over that pesky Scarab Occult Sorcerer and makes for the Rubrics in the central ruin. What's left of the Tzaangor stay put in the backfield.

The Daemon Prince uses Warptime to land menacingly above the Rubrics, but the rest of my psychic action either fails or is countered. Crucially, George's Smite on the Scarab Occult Sorcerer fails, so he's still at large. Mildred is not impressed.

It falls to the Enlightened to split their bowfire, felling that plucky Cultist Champion with a couple of shots, and putting seven wounds on the Scarab Occult Sorcerer. With All Is Dust (or the crater light cover, take your pick), his armour save is 2+, and so Rapid would need to roll two 1s to have him killed. Needless to say, he is equal to the challenge, and the last of the Scarab Occult falls.

I have less luck with the Enlightened's charge against the Rhino, which doesn't go far enough to get on the objective, and instead cause a traffic jam of flying discs, joined by Milred, who combine to scratch a couple of wounds off the hull.

The fight over the enemy objective continues with one Rubric and a couple of Tzaangor falling - but crucially, the beastmen still have the numbers to hold the objective.

Objectives secured: Primaries (10)

Rubricae 22 : 23 Tzaangor

Turn 4 - Rubricae 

Running out of bodies quickly, the points reflecting that. It's a going to be a tough turn to try and stop the windfall to Stylus. 

 

Their rage reaching epic proportions my Rubrics cast 2 spells using the Great Sorcerer stratagem, Smite and Astral Blast to finally remove the Tzaangor from the battlefield. A worth while command point

 

Seeing his opportunity to close down the Daemon Prince from charging into the Rubrics, my Rhino goes right into him. To my massive surprise he plinks off a wound! For the next turn at least he cannot charge. 

Except the Daemon Prince gets to strike back - which he does so and rips the Rhino to pieces in a single round of combat! 

That was a bit of a no-win situation for Rapid there - if he hadn't charged the Daemon Prince, it was close enough to heroically intervene into the other Rhino and kill it. The fresh Rhino had a decent chance of holding up for a turn and stalling my advance, but it was not to be, and now my warlord is free to rampage.

Utterly surrounded, the other Rhino is deleted from existence and does not explode!

 

Its looking very thin on the ground and its quite clear I wont last another turn.

Objectives secured: Primaries (5)

Rubricae 27 : 23 Tzaangor

Turn 4 - Tzaangor

With that stroke of fortune with the Rhinos, this game is mine. Accordingly, my four remaining units scatter to grab an objective each (and George, who is already on his objective, completes an action to gain an extra VP for Forward Push)

My Daemon Prince heads to the enemy objective to complete his MVP performance. He doesn't even get a chance to get blunt his talons, since his Smite removes the final three Rubrics, and the last of Rapid's army.

Objectives secured: Primaries (5), Forward Push (1), Engage On All Fronts (2)

Rubricae 27 : 32 Tzaangor

Turn 5 - Tzaangor

With that tabling, the game is over. But we quickly worked out that in my final turn, I would have scored the full points for the primaries, as well as being able to complete the Forward Push actions on all four of the objectives (exceeding my VP limit there), as well as scoring Engage On All Fronts.

So that final turn turned a close match into a bit of an avalanche. Which I guess shows the importance of not leaving your opponent free reign over the objectives!

Objectives secured: Primaries (15), Forward Push (14), Engage On All Fronts (3)

Rubricae 27 : 69 Tzaangor

Result: Victory to the Thousand Sons!

Locker Room

Wow, I guess Thousand Sons can be pretty potent in melee, especially when the Daemon Prince has goodies from the Cult of Mutation! Without him, I think the army would have struggled, but it still had the advantages of speed and resilience to push on through.

My plan was to counterpunch, and that worked out well. I was basically able to gang up on the various elements of Rapid's army and take them out one at a time without exposing myself. The Tzaangor assassination of the enemy warlord was just the icing on the cake.

Fun to play, and hat's off to Rapid. I know from experience that Thousand Sons psychic shenanigans is a steep learning curve, and he did a good job of allocating what spells went where. I think holding back for a turn or two and letting the bolters do their work might have served him better than an aggressive push, but that's a hard call to make in 9th Ed when objective grabbing is imperative.

 

I would agree with Stylus' call. I should have stalked more with the Heldrake instead of slamming him in first thing. My focus was too tight on the Spawn and not the overall game. I went into the game wanting to hold my objectives and use the Scarab Occult and Cultists to interfere with Stylus' ability to hold the primaries. I think that would have worked had the Scarab Occults been used on the battlefield first thing. 

The Dark Matter Crystal could have thrown them to another position had the baddies got too near them. Cultists should have stayed back and screened the Warlord more. Perhaps kept them on the back point and got the other Rubrics forward to leverage their Psychic and Bolters.

The Psychic phase was a struggle to understand where to throw Smites, Buffs, Nerfs etc. But it's a wonderful extra layer to the game that needs more exploring on my part!

 

Fantastic game for me!