The first competitive season for 40k has arrived, with War Zone: Nachmund giving us new points, missions, secondary objectives, and rules to contemplate. These rules represent a major shake-up for competitive 40k and to help you make sense of it all, we’re going through each faction and talking about how things have changed for them and how they might compete.
Faction Overview
Although it initially looked like they might be the stronger of the two books, Thousand Sons haven’t enjoyed the same success as Grey Knights since the two books released, in part because the Thousand Sons, while competitive, lack the raw power of some of the Grey Knights’ better datasheets and their Purifying Ritual secondary objective.
Over the last few months several builds emerged for Thousand Sons, mostly relying on the Cults of Duplicity and Time, with the strongest builds often combining both. As a result, War Zone: Nachmund is very much a mixed bag for the Thousand Sons, who are hurt more than most factions by the restriction on combining subfactions within a single army. That said, there are definitely successful builds out there that only use one, and it’s likely that the stronger – Cult of Duplicity – will win out in these cases. That’s bad news for anyone who built around a heavy Cult of Time presence, but there’s likely still a place for the Cult of Time in the new missions.
As an army with plenty of invulnerable saves and little reliance on vehicles, Thousand Sons are already well-positioned to handle some of the meta shifts we’re seeing toward vehicle-destroying units. The downside is that two of the newest armies – Black Templars and Adeptus Custodes – have gained a host of new protections against psychic powers and mortal wounds, making dealing with them more of an uphill battle. On the other side, Sisters of Battle, Tyranids, Grey Knights, and Orks both got substantial nerfs in the new updates, and that’s ultimately a gain for Thousand Sons. But overall, the outlook isn’t great for the sons of Magnus, who are struggling against superior lists that can easily shrug off their mortal wounds and bully even Scarab Occult Terminators off objectives.
The bigger issue for Thousand Sons is dealing with the Adeptus Custodes – Thousand Sons have a particularly rough matchup against Custodes, who no longer fear the army’s mortal wounds and often bring along a unit of Sisters of Silence as well. There isn’t really a path to victory in Nachmund right now that doesn’t wind through 1-2 Custodes armies, almost certainly running the Emperor’s Chosen to ignore mortal wounds on a 4+. There are ways the Thousand Sons can still just throw out enough mortals to push through that, but ultimately those games tend to be tense affairs where one wrong move from the Sons spells defeat.
The Points Changes
For whatever reason the Thousand Sons went untouched by the new point changes. That’s a blessing and a curse – while none of their units needed increases, there are several units that could have really used drops, chief among them Magnus the Red, who just does not have the durability necessary to be worth fielding for his cost.
The New Missions
The new missions place a much heavier emphasis on objective secured units and infantry, which are both great news for the Thousand Sons, whose armies rely heavily on both. The potential downsides here are that Chaos Spawn may be slightly less useful and doing actions will turn off a unit’s ability to cast psychic powers, shoot, and fight – a much more costly trade than performing Psychic Actions. This in turn makes Tzaangors much more useful for Thousand Sons in the new missions, and we’ll likely see 1-2 units start to pop up more often in Thousand Sons armies.
The Cult of Duplicity can really shine here, where the ability to send ObSec units across the board helps the faction make surprise moves into the opponent’s territory to plant bombs, scan far-off objectives, or hold objectives for data intercepts. Just be mindful that by the time you teleport onto an objective, it’s too late to do an action on it.
Building A List
Since the points haven’t changed for Thousand Sons, we can look to recent successful lists for some guidance on how to build for the Nachmund environment. And generally it’s hard to compete with what the Cult of Duplicity are offering in that respect – the ability to completely shift deployment of a key unit after you know if you’re going first or second is huge, and the ability to move around the table quickly with the Sorcerous Facade power has a ton of value when you need to get onto certain objectives quickly, even if it doesn’t help you with most actions right away.
We’ll start by looking at a mono-Duplicity list, like this one run by Chris Woods at the recent Beachhead Brawl event. Chris started off 4-0 with the list before dropping a close game to T’au in round 5, then notching a tie and a loss against Custodes in rounds 6 and 7, respectively.
Chris Woods – Thousand Sons
+ Battalion Detachment 0CP (Chaos – Thousand Sons) [105 PL, 2,000pts, 10CP] ++
Cults of the Legion: Cult of Duplicity
Sorcerous Arcana [-1CP]: Additional Relics [-1CP]
+ HQ [21 PL, 375pts, -1CP] +
Exalted Sorcerer [8 PL, 135pts]: 12. Glamour of Tzeentch, 22. Weaver of Fates, Athenaean Scrolls, Dilettante [2 PL, 35pts], Force stave, Frag & Krak grenades, Inferno Bolt Pistol, Master Misinformator, Smite, Umbralefic Crystal, Warlord
Infernal Master [5 PL, 90pts]: 31. Empyric Guidance, 5. Glimpse of Eternity, 6. Malefic Maelstrom, Force stave, Frag & Krak grenades, Inferno Bolt Pistol, Smite
Thousand Sons Daemon Prince [8 PL, 150pts, -1CP]: 21. Temporal Manipulation, 22. Swelled by the Warp, 6. Aetherstride, Conniving Plate, Hellforged sword [10pts], High Acolytes [-1CP], Malefic talon, Smite
+ Troops [28 PL, 472pts] +
Rubric Marines [12 PL, 192pts]
. Aspiring Sorcerer [26pts]: 32. Pyric Flux, Force stave, Smite, Warpflame pistol [5pts]
. Rubric Marine w/ soulreaper cannon [31pts]: Soulreaper cannon [10pts]
. 5x Rubric Marine w/ warpflamer [135pts]: 5x Warpflamer [30pts]
Rubric Marines [6 PL, 105pts]
. Aspiring Sorcerer [21pts]: Force stave, Inferno Bolt Pistol, Smite, Doombolt
. 4x Rubric Marine w/ inferno boltgun [84pts]: 4x Inferno boltgun
Rubric Marines [6 PL, 105pts]
. Aspiring Sorcerer [1pts]: Force stave, Inferno Bolt Pistol, Smite, Doombolt
. 4x Rubric Marine w/ inferno boltgun [84pts]: 4x Inferno boltgun
Tzaangors [4 PL, 70pts]
. Twistbray [7pts]: Tzaangor blades
. 9x Tzaangor w/ autopistol and chainsword [63pts]: 9x Autopistol, 9x Chainsword
+ Elites [1 Cabal Points, 21 PL, 450pts] +
Scarab Occult Terminators [21 PL, 450pts]: 2x Hellfyre missile rack [20pts]
. Scarab Occult Sorcerer [1 PL, 60pts]: 21. Presage, Ardent Automata [1 PL, 20pts], Force stave, Inferno combi-bolter, Smite
. 7x Terminator [280pts]: 7x Inferno combi-bolter, 7x Prosperine khopesh
. Terminator w/ Heavy Weapon [45pts]: Prosperine khopesh, Soulreaper cannon [5pts]
. Terminator w/ Heavy Weapon [45pts]: Prosperine khopesh, Soulreaper cannon [5pts]
+ Fast Attack [1 PL, 23pts] +
Chaos Spawn [1 PL, 23pts]
+ Heavy Support [16 PL, 350pts] +
Forgefiend [8 PL, 175pts]: 2x Heavy Hades autocannons [50pts], Ectoplasma cannon [15pts]
Forgefiend [8 PL, 175pts]: 2x Heavy Hades autocannons [50pts], Ectoplasma cannon [15pts]
+ Flyer [18 PL, 330pts] +
Heldrake [9 PL, 165pts]: Hades autocannon, Heldrake claws
Heldrake [9 PL, 165pts]: Hades autocannon, Heldrake claws
++ Total: [105 PL, 2,000pts, 10CP] ++
What’s immediately notable about this list is that it pulls out the daemon engines, which haven’t seen a ton of competitive play for Thousand Sons. Both the Heldrake and the Forgefiend have decent datasheets in the 9th edition Codex, but were previously overshadowed by other options like the Volkite Contemptor. The Forgefiends don’t benefit from any of the buffs that Contemptors got, but also don’t really need them, they’re just pretty solid shooting units at a fair cost and every now and then you can use Ensorcelled Infusion on them to give them AP-3 on their heavy Hades Autocannons. In a pinch they also make fine targets for Malefic Maelstrom to get S9 shotting.
The other thing this list brings to the table is a pair of Heldrakes. Heldrakes are more annoying than threatening in most games, particularly since Thousand Sons Heldrakes are AIRCRAFT. Still, they’re solid for scoring Engage on All Fronts, and can be a chore to kill with their -1 to hit from the Hard to Hit rule. They can also drop to Hover and get off turn 1 charges against targets that have been poorly placed, tying up key enemy units.
Otherwise, the list opts for the large unit of heavily-armed Scarabs and three units of minimum-sized Rubics, giving one Warpflamers and Pyric Flux to max out their damage. The Warpflamers make great Master Misinformator targets, redeploying with Risen Rubricae when going first to make for an aggressive attack, while the Warlord Trait can redeploy other units to protect them going second. The Tzaangors here act as durable rear-objective holders.
Tim Nordin’s List
For another take on the Cult of Duplicity, there’s Tim Nordin’s list, which went 4-1 at the Viking Games Winter Warhammer 40k Tournament in Sweden this past weekend, starting 2-1 and beating Drukhari and Custodes before falling to a second Custodes player in round 3, and finally winning his last two games against Necrons and Crusher Stampede Tyranids.
++ Battalion Detachment 0CP (Chaos – Thousand Sons) [97 PL, 7CP, 16 Cabal Points, 2,000pts] ++
Cults of the Legion: Cult of Duplicity
Sorcerous Arcana [-2CP]: 2x Additional Relics
- No Force Org Slot +
Sorcerer [5 PL, 2 Cabal Points, 90pts]: 21. Temporal Manipulation, 23. Temporal Surge, Force stave, Inferno Bolt Pistol, Umbralefic Crystal
- HQ +
Ahriman [9 PL, 3 Cabal Points, 180pts]: 12. Glamour of Tzeentch, 21. Presage, 22. Weaver of Fates, Disc of Tzeentch
Exalted Sorcerer [7 PL, 3 Cabal Points, 125pts]: 11. Tzeentch’s Firestorm, 13. Doombolt, 6. Aetherstride, Athenaean Scrolls, Inferno Bolt Pistol, Rehati, Warlord
Infernal Master [5 PL, -1CP, 2 Cabal Points, 90pts]: 31. Empyric Guidance, Egleighen’s Orrery, High Acolytes, Master Misinformator
- Troops +
Rubric Marines [6 PL, 2 Cabal Points, 115pts]: Icon of Flame
. Aspiring Sorcerer: 11. Gaze of Hate, Inferno Bolt Pistol
. 4x Rubric Marine w/ inferno boltgun: 4x Inferno boltgun
Rubric Marines [6 PL, 2 Cabal Points, 115pts]: Icon of Flame
. Aspiring Sorcerer: 11. Gaze of Hate, Inferno Bolt Pistol
. 4x Rubric Marine w/ inferno boltgun: 4x Inferno boltgun
Thousand Sons Cultists [5 PL, 90pts]
. Cultist Champion: Autogun
. 17x Cultist w/ autogun: 17x Autogun
- Elites +
Chaos Contemptor Dreadnought [8 PL, -1CP, 195pts]: Hellforged cyclone missile launcher, 2x Twin volkite culverin
Chaos Contemptor Dreadnought [8 PL, -1CP, 195pts]: Hellforged cyclone missile launcher, 2x Twin volkite culverin
Scarab Occult Terminators [21 PL, 1 Cabal Points, 445pts]: 2x Hellfyre missile rack
. Scarab Occult Sorcerer: 22. Weaver of Fates, Inferno combi-bolter, Rites of Coalescence
. 7x Terminator: 7x Inferno combi-bolter, 7x Prosperine khopesh
. Terminator w/ Heavy Weapon: Soulreaper cannon
. Terminator w/ Heavy Weapon: Soulreaper cannon
Scarab Occult Terminators [10 PL, 1 Cabal Points, 215pts]: Hellfyre missile rack
. Scarab Occult Sorcerer: 22. Weaver of Fates, Inferno combi-bolter
. 3x Terminator: 3x Inferno combi-bolter, 3x Prosperine khopesh
. Terminator w/ Heavy Weapon: Soulreaper cannon
- Heavy Support +
Mutalith Vortex Beast [7 PL, 145pts]
++ Total: [16 Cabal Points, 97 PL, 7CP, 2,000pts] ++
This list shows off that even with increase point costs, Volkite Contemptors are still strong units, particularly when you can use Ensorcelled Infusion to improve their AP by 1. They’re supported by 15 Scarab Terminators to hold mid-table objectives. And even though this isn’t a Cult of Time list, the large Scarab squad still packs Rites of Coalescence on its Terminator Sorcerer to help keep the squad on the table.
The Cult of Time List Version
The other common Cult in use for Thousand Sons was the Cult of Time, which relies on using large squads of Scarab Occult Terminators with the ability to heal back 2 models per turn to hold objectives. Most of these lists in Nachmund have chosen to double down on the Scarabs, running two large units of Scarabs over another unit of Rubrics with Warpflamers – these don’t really have a ton of play when you don’t have Master Misinformator to redeploy them aggressively.
+ Battalion Detachment 0CP (Chaos – Thousand Sons) [100 PL, 12CP, 13 Cabal Points, 1,995 pts] ++
Cults of the Legion: Cult of Time
- HQ +
Ahriman [9 PL, 3 Cabal Points, 180pts]: 11. Gaze of Hate, 11. Tzeentch’s Firestorm, 13. Doombolt, Disc of Tzeentch
Exalted Sorcerer [6 PL, 3 Cabal Points, 100pts]: 12. Glamour of Tzeentch, 22. Weaver of Fates, Immaterial Echo, Inferno Bolt Pistol, Umbralefic Crystal, Warlord
- Troops +
Rubric Marines [12 PL, 2 Cabal Points, 230pts]: Icon of Flame
. 8x Rubric Marine w/ inferno boltgun: 8x Inferno boltgun
. Rubric Marine w/ soulreaper cannon: Soulreaper cannon
Rubric Marines [12 PL, 2 Cabal Points, 230pts]: Icon of Flame
. 8x Rubric Marine w/ inferno boltgun: 8x Inferno boltgun
. Rubric Marine w/ soulreaper cannon: Soulreaper cannon
Rubric Marines [12 PL, 1 Cabal Points, 220pts]
. 8x Rubric Marine w/ inferno boltgun: 8x Inferno boltgun
. Rubric Marine w/ soulreaper cannon: Soulreaper cannon
- Elites +
Scarab Occult Terminators [21 PL, 1 Cabal Points, 445pts]: 2x Hellfyre missile rack
. Scarab Occult Sorcerer: 23. Temporal Surge, Inferno combi-bolter, Rites of Coalescence
. 7x Terminator: 7x Inferno combi-bolter, 7x Prosperine khopesh
. Terminator w/ Heavy Weapon: Soulreaper cannon
. Terminator w/ Heavy Weapon: Soulreaper cannon
Scarab Occult Terminators [20 PL, 1 Cabal Points, 430pts]: 2x Hellfyre missile rack
. Scarab Occult Sorcerer: 23. Temporal Surge, Inferno combi-bolter
. 7x Terminator: 7x Inferno combi-bolter, 7x Prosperine khopesh
. Terminator w/ Heavy Weapon: Soulreaper cannon
. Terminator w/ Heavy Weapon: Soulreaper cannon
- Dedicated Transport +
Chaos Rhino [4 PL, 85pts]
Chaos Rhino [4 PL, 80pts]
++ Total: [13 Cabal Points, 100 PL, 12CP, 1,995 pts] ++
This list is all power armor, and goes heavy on the Scarabs, putting an Exalted Sorcerer with one to provide additional buffs to durability and damage output while giving them the ability to zip around the table with the Umbralefic Crystal. Ahriman’s here as a mortal wounds output machine, and can lend a similar aura bonus to the other unit of Scarabs. Both sorcerers give extra opportunities to fire off 9+ casts to get back a dead model. Rites of Coalescence helps with this as well, giving the unit a free heal to guarantee the unit gets back 2 models instead of just healing one. The idea here is that one unit plays more aggressively while the other plays a bit more defensively, so you aren’t over-stretching your healing capabilities.
Final Thoughts
It’s a tough environment for Thousand Sons right now. They match up poorly against some key armies at the top of the meta right now, with likely negative matchups against Custodes, Crusher Stampede, and Grey Knights. They’re not a bottom-tier army by any stretch, and have some good tools for competing, but the last few weeks show a meta that’s shaping up to be fairly exclusionary at the top levels and that may mean Thousand Sons are stuck on the outside looking in until next season.
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