Thousand Sons are up today, and the Warhammer Community is giving us all a preview of what is come. Finally a dedicated codex.
via Warhammer Community
https://www.warhammer-community.com/2018/01/22/faction-focus-the-thousand-sonsgw-homepage-post-2/
After decades of waiting, the Thousand Sons are finally receiving their own codex. It’s been a long journey for the Thousand Sons. From a passing mention in the early editions of Warhammer 40,000, they’ve evolved into a fan-favourite faction, seeing a growing number of unique units, a distinct and unusual range from Forge World representing their forces in the Horus Heresy and, of course, being the first Traitor Legion to receive their Daemon Primarch in plastic.
Now, the Thousand Sons are receiving a codex of their own, designed to represent how this brotherhood of sorcerers, automata and beasts masters the battlefields of the 41st Millennium. Your 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 or even a chittering horde of beasts and mutants.
First and foremost, Thousand Sons players will be rewarded for their dedicated list building with Brotherhood of Sorcerers, a special rule designed to help them capitalise on their psychic powers.
That’s not all. To further reward players who choose to use the sorcerous might of the Thousand Sons, the new codex gives you not one but THREE new Psychic Disciplines to draw from. In addition to the full Dark Hereticus discipline from Codex: Chaos Space Marines (reprinted for convenience in this codex), you’ll be able to take advantage of the Discipline of Change, a set of powers designed to enhance your own units or excoriate the enemy with a storm of mortal wounds.
The Glamour of Tzeentch power, for instance, allows you to shield a nearby unit – handy for stopping Magnus meeting an inglorious demise at the end of a lascannon or for keeping a large unit of Rubric Marines on an objective.
If you’re looking to isolate a particularly dangerous enemy unit, the Doombolt psychic power both restricts their movement and deals some mortal wounds to boot:
Daemonic sorcerers in your Thousand Sons army – that’s Daemon Princes of Tzeentch and Magnus the Red himself – can also take advantage of the Discipline of Tzeentch from Codex: Chaos Daemons, again reprinted for your convenience in Codex: Thousand Sons. By combining these disciplines, you’ll be able to truly dominate the Psychic phase with dizzying barrages of psychic might.
Of course, the Thousand Sons aren’t just known for their Sorcerers, and in the new codex, you’ll have a range of new tricks to use with your infantry and vehicles, too. Want to use a unit of Rubric Marines with warpflamers but don’t want to risk them as they cross the table? Simply use the Webway Infiltration Stratagem, followed by the Warptime psychic power, to get them close enough to your enemy to unleash hell. Should any foe manage to charge you, simply use the Dark Matter Crystal and teleport somewhere else…
Warpflame Gargoyles, on the other hand, has the potential to cause mortal wounds to any enemy units that think your Rhinos will be a pushover in close combat, while particularly cunning generals may want to use the large footprint of a Land Raider or Defiler to hit multiple units at once.
Of course, if you’d rather make use of the various bestial monstrositiesthat fight alongside the Thousand Sons, this codex has plenty of options for making your Chaos Spawn and Tzaangors fight even harder. If you’re intending to use a large unit of Tzaangors, you’ll want to make use of the Cycle of Slaughter Stratagem – ideal for wiping out a particularly stubborn foe or catching anyone you managed to consolidate into.
Meanwhile, Fated Mutation makes Chaos Spawn a little more reliable – after all, you don’t want to get caught with extra AP when you needed more attacks!
Finally, in one of the most thematic Stratagems in the book, you’ll be able to represent the horrific effects of the flesh-change (or just imploring Tzeentch’s favour at the wrong moment) with the aptly named The Flesh-Change Stratagem.
While we can’t guarantee this will win you games, it’s certainly very grimdark – and a great way to punish any foe that thinks he’s got the drop on a Sorcerer with one wound left…
