Thousand Sons at Adepticon 2018

The dust has settled from Adepticon, the first major where we saw elements of the new Thousand Sons codex in action. We’ll take a look at what we saw and the review the lists that featured Thousand Sons.

Overall Results

We saw new elements from the Thousand Sons codex showing up all over the place, even the final table. Nick Nanavati’s list featured the Tzaangor Bomb I ran a rough stats article on a short while back.

Elsewhere, we saw quite a few lists featuring Thousand Sons. There were a total of 254 competitors in the tournament at Adepticon. If you’re unfamiliar with how the ITC tournaments work, you are scored and ranked on more than just how you do competitively. For the purposes of this article, I’m be looking solely at how the list did on the table.

Place Player Battle Points Strength of Schedule 23 Eric Dionne 120 4190 33 Chris Hanes 120 3122 40 Allan Hernandez 120 4143 54 Dominik Tavernaro 112 3128 81 James Morgan 91 5197 99 Justin Curtis 94 6216 120 Bret Killeen 80 2080 157 Neil Applebee 58 4181 243 Steve Stoeklen 0 1057 244 George Tsemberlis 0 3120

"Your ITC faction is determined as follows: find the the most specific Faction Keyword (which is typically the last Faction Keyword listed on each unit's’ datasheet) shared by every model in the detachment with the most points in it in your army."

Eric Dionne - 23rd (1999pts, 9CP)

Thousand Sons Battalion

HQ

Ahriman on Disc of Tzeentch

Daemon Prince of Tzeentch (Wings, Talons)

Troops

10 Cultists with Autoguns

10 Cultists with Autoguns

27 Tzaangors with Tzaangor Blades, Brayhorn

Elites

Tzaangor Shaman

Fast Attack

9x Tzaangor Enlightened with Fatecaster Bows

Tzeentch Daemons Battalion

HQ

Fluxmaster (Warlord, Daemonspark, The Impossible Robe)

The Changeling

Troops

30 Pink Horrors with Daemonic Icon

30 Pink Horrors with Daemonic Icon

10 Brimstone Horrors

Thousand Sons Super-heavy Aux

Lord of War

Magnus the Red

Eric’s list primarily focuses on Tzaangors and Pink Horrors in large mobs being able to deepstrike where he needs them. The Fluxmaster gives them some boosted strength and The Changeling adds a 6+ FNP which, for that many models, is not bad at all.

Chris Hanes - 33rd (1997pts, 4CP)

Thousand Sons Outrider

HQ

Ahriman on Disc of Tzeentch

Troops

30 Tzaangors with Tzaangor Blades, Brayhorn

Elites

Tzaangor Shaman

Tzaangor Shaman

Fast AttackM

9x Tzaangor Enlightened with Fatecaster Bows

9x Tzaangor Enlightened with Fatecaster Bows

9x Tzaangor Enlightened with Fatecaster Bows

9x Tzaangor Enlightened with Fatecaster Bows

9x Tzaangor Enlightened with Fatecaster Bows

9x Tzaangor Enlightened with Fatecaster Bows

Chao Daemons Patrol

HQ

Fluxmaster (Warlord, Daemonspark, Endless Grimoire)

Troops

3 Nurglings

3 Nurglings

Fast AttackM

9x Tzaangor Enlightened with Fatecaster Bows

9x Tzaangor Enlightened with Fatecaster Bows

Chris’s list is quite different, taking advantage of the new Tzaangor Englightened, 72 of them in total. He also brings a few Nurglings to help with board control and screening off early, which is an important thing. Also not to overlook the fact that he has a big Tzaangor Bomb, this army is super mobile, something that would unheard of in 7th.

Allan Hernandez (1865pts, 7CP, 135 Reinforcements)

Tzeentch Daemons Battalion

HQ

Lord of Change (Warlord, Incorporeal Form, Baleful Sword)

Changecaster

Troops

29 Pink Horrors with Daemonic Icon

10 Brimstone Horrors

10 Brimstone Horrors

≈ HQ

Ahriman on Disc of Tzeentch

Daemon Prince of Tzeentch (Wings, Talons)

Daemon Prince of Tzeentch (Wings, Talons)

Chaos Daemons Patrol

HQ

The Changeling

Troops

3 Nurglings

3 Nurglings

Allan’s list is a departure from the Tzaangor-heavy lists we’ve already covered. It does bring the big Pink Horror bomb along with the Changecaster/Changeling combo. For added measure, he brings a Lord of Change, which helps out with morale in addition to being a beast. Also, don’t overlook the 135pts he has set aside for summoning, which is enough to grab any of the following:

Changecaster

Fluxmaster

Blue Scribes

19 Pink Horrors

27 Blue Horrors

45 Brimstone Horrors

Exalted Flamer

4 Flamers

4 Screamers

Burning Chariot

Dominik Tavernaro (1998pts, 7CP)

Thousand Sons Battalion

HQ

Ahriman on Disc of Tzeentch

Daemon Prince of Tzeentch (Wings, Talons)

Troops

13 Cultists - Shotgun, 8 Autoguns, 4 Brutal Assault Weapons

13 Cultists - Shotgun, 8 Autoguns, 4 Brutal Assault Weapons

13 Cultists - Shotgun, 8 Autoguns, 4 Brutal Assault Weapons

Elites

Tzaangor Shaman

Fast AttackM

9x Tzaangor Enlightened with Fatecaster Bows

9x Tzaangor Enlightened with Fatecaster Bows

Chaos Daemons Spearhead

HQ

Fateskimmer (Staff of Change)

Troops

20 Pink Horrors

Heavy Support

Burning Chariot

Burning Chariot

Burning Chariot

Thousand Sons Super-heavy Aux

Lord of War

Magnus the Red

Dominik’s list focused again on the Pink Horrors in large number however, he brings just enough to get the extra shot per model. He mixes in cc weapons with his cultists along with 3 Burning Chariots.

Analyzing the Top Lists

These lists made it into (roughly) the top 20% of finishers at Adepticon. One thing common to each of them is that they all take advantage of either Tzaangors or Pink Horrors in some way. When they did, they either had something in the army that could Warptime them or they brought Changecaster/Changeling to boost the horrors. Another interesting splash were Nurglings, used for scouting and board control early. Ahriman and Daemon Princes rounded out the common selections taken.

Another clear standout was that if Tzaangor Enlightened were taken, at least 1 Shaman was included.

Overall, it’s good to see Thousand Sons lists making a good showing at Tournaments now. Tzaangors are clearly a strong cornerstone now to any Thousand Sons army.

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