Armies

Pictured are two Thousand Sons sorcerers.

Clearly turned renegade from the true Proserpines - Magnus will find them!

Battalion - Black Legion

Sorcerer (HQ) Force Sword, Plasma Pistol, Psychic powers: Diabolic Strength, Prescience

(HQ) Force Sword, Plasma Pistol, Psychic powers: Sorcerer (HQ) Force Stave, Bolt Pistol, Psychic powers: Death Hex, Warptime

(HQ) Force Stave, Bolt Pistol, Psychic powers: 10 x Chaos Cultists (Troops)

Brutal assault weapons and autopistols

(Troops) Brutal assault weapons and autopistols 10 x Chaos Cultists (Troops)

Autoguns

(Troops) Autoguns 10 x Chaos Space Marines (Troops)

Icon of Vengeance, Combi-plasma (champion), 7 x Boltguns, Missile Launcher, Autocannon

(Troops) Icon of Vengeance, Combi-plasma (champion), 7 x Boltguns, Missile Launcher, Autocannon 3 x Obliterators (Heavy)

Mark of Slaanesh, Fleshmetal guns

Vanguard - Black Legion

Dark Apostle (HQ)

Bolt Pistol, Power Maul

(HQ) Bolt Pistol, Power Maul Helbrute (Elite)

Helbrute plasma cannon, Power scourge

(Elite) Helbrute plasma cannon, Power scourge 7 x Khorne Berzerkers (Elite)

Chainsword, Power fist (champion), 6 x Chainsword and Chainaxe

(Elite) Chainsword, Power fist (champion), 6 x Chainsword and Chainaxe 7 x Plague Marines (Elite)

Boltguns, Great plague cleaver, Melta gun

Outrider - World Eaters

Chaos Lord (HQ)

Mark of Khorne, Bolt pistol, Power sword

Warlord Trait: Flames of Spite

Relic: Brass Collar of Borghaster

Power sword Warlord Trait: 4 x Chaos Bikers (Fast)

Mark of Khorne, Power sword (champion), 3 x Chainswords, Combi-bolters

(Fast) Mark of Khorne, Power sword (champion), 3 x Chainswords, Combi-bolters 1 x Chaos Spawn (Fast)

Mark of Khorne, Hideous mutations

(Fast) Mark of Khorne, Hideous mutations 5 x Raptors (Fast)

Mark of Khorne, Plasma pistol (champion), Plasma gun Bolt Pistols, Chainswords, Icon of Wrath

Mission and Battlefield

Deployment

Thousand Sons - Turn 1

Only one card to start with: Defend Objective 3. That's perfectly doable, and would be a good start.













The Mutalith Vortex Beast advances forward, followed by the flying circus of Disc Sorcerer, Shaman and Enlightened. Magnus flies to the top of the central terrain piece - because who needs cover when you're FABULOUS!





I was expecting good things in the Psychic phase and, with both Kraken's Sorcerers out of Denial range, I'm not disappointed. Magnus gives himself some protection with Glamour of Tzeentch (-1 to hit) and Weaver of Fate (3++ save).



My third power was going to be a Smite on the Plague Marines, but Kraken reveals he does have an anti-psyker tool - the Brass Collar of Borghaster. It stops the power, and forces Magus to take a Perils test. The Daemon Primarch takes a wound from Perils, and then duly ignores it (oh, I already like Magnus).



I'm growing less enamoured by the second.



Bits and pieces elsewhere for the Psychic phase: the Mutalith is sent forward with Warptime, Magus is given Diabolic Strength (not sure he'd need it up there - maybe a Hive Tyrant is about to descend) and the rest is just some Smites on the Cultist screen. I do roll a Perils for my foot Sorcerer (and am freed from having to fret about a CP re-roll - I've got no choice) and he loses three wounds. But my Shaman immediately heals them all back again with Temporal Manipulation. It was a good phase! First turn to me! I start by tucking the Spawn right into the building, so they can't be shot, and then move everything else forward. The Rubrics can get close enough to Objective 3 (in the rocks) and still shoot, backed up by the foot Exalted Sorcerer.The Mutalith Vortex Beast advances forward, followed by the flying circus of Disc Sorcerer, Shaman and Enlightened. Magnus flies to the top of the central terrain piece - because who needs cover when you're FABULOUS!I was expecting good things in the Psychic phase and, with both Kraken's Sorcerers out of Denial range, I'm not disappointed. Magnus gives himself some protection with(-1 to hit) and(3++ save).My third power was going to be aon the Plague Marines, but Kraken reveals he does have an anti-psyker tool - the Brass Collar of Borghaster. It stops the power, and forces Magus to take a Perils test. The Daemon Primarch takes a wound from Perils, and then duly ignores it (oh, I already like Magnus).Bits and pieces elsewhere for the Psychic phase: the Mutalith is sent forward with, Magus is given(not sure he'd need it up there - maybe a Hive Tyrant is about to descend) and the rest is just someon the Cultist screen. I do roll a Perils for my foot Sorcerer (and am freed from having to fret about a CP re-roll - I've got no choice) and he loses three wounds. But my Shaman immediately heals them all back again with Temporal Manipulation. It was a good phase!

Black Legion - Turn 1





Thousand Sons - Turn 2

I currently hold two objectives, so that's two fresh cards: Supremacy (hold three objectives) and Arcane Rite (control one objective and your opponent controls none - I'm guessing that's meant to be a late-game objective, because it's not happening now)





Black Legion - Turn 2

It's a bold strategy, Cotton. Let's see if it pays off for them.

Thousand Sons - Turn 3

I now hold four objectives, so it's a big draw for me: Kingslayer, Domination, Hold the Line and Psychic Supremacy. Hmmm, not the worst cards I could get.









Black Legion - Turn 3

"Looks like a big fella. Better use my knife."

Result: 7:1 plus a concession - Victory to the Thousand Sons!

Dark Locker Room of a Thousand Secrets

*Kraken's Krappy Rolling is a registered trademark. All patents pending.

Points: 1500 | Battalion + Vanguard + Outrider: 10 CPsI kick off by spending another three CPs to put both units of Tzaangor into- I'm now down to four left!I favour the right flank (top-left on the map) with the Rubricae, Exalted Sorcerers, Shaman and Enlightened. Magnus is more central, but my flyers are so fast, they can get pretty much anywhere. The only isolated guys are the Chaos Spawn, camped out in the ruins, holding down the only objective in my reach.The shooting phase isn't too bad either: the Mutalith and Enlightened manage to blast off (with arrows) six wounds from the Helbrute. He goes crazed, but fails his retaliatory shots. The small-arms from the Rubrics kill off all but three of the Cultists, and First Blood is looking likely, but Kraken wisely spends two CPs to keep them in the game (and on the objective).: noneMy poor Enlightened. But at least everything else got off lightly, and now I get to claim two points for successfully defending Objective 3.: Defend Objective 3 (2)I press on with my sweeping attack down Kraken's left flank.The Mutalith and Disc Sorcerer move against the Plague Marines. The Shaman moves towards the Helbrute and Cultists, with my first unit of Tzaangor leaping out of the warp behind them. Magnus jumps down to threaten the bikers (but keeps equidistant between them and the Plague Marines, to give himself a choice of Smite targets).And in a rare move of remembering-my-rules, I activate theand teleport the big unit of Rubrics directly into Kraken's back lines, levelling their inferno boltguns at the Khorne Berserkers.But I still need to hold objectives, which is a problem when your army lacks cheap troops. The Spawn remain cowering on Objective 6, while the Exalted Sorcerer on foot is left to babysit Objective 3.The Psychic phase is mostly taken up with buffing up Magnus once again, as well as healing him back to full health.don't go so well, and I only kill one of the Plague Marines (this, as it turns out, was no bad thing), and a Cultist (Kraken nobly sacrificing his champion to make the Tzaangor's charge longer)In shooting, the Mutalith randomises his powers and doesn't achieve much. The Rubrics open up on the Berserkers, killing four of them (and another flees in the Morale phase).In combat, the Tzaangors make it in against both Cultists and Helbrute, with the Shaman going in against the Cultists only (the big chicken). The Mutalith and Disc Sorcerer double-team the Plague Marines. The Rubrics fail their charge (probably for the best) and Magnus steps up to the bikers.The Chaos Bikers are easily dispatched - Magnus swats all four of them with his whack-a-mole staff. I playon the Tzaangor, to be sure of the Helbrute kill, and they just about finish him off. I saved one Tzaangor for the Cultists and both of his attacks did for the last two.It's an interesting match-up in the centre: because they're Black Legion, the Plague Marines are Ld9, which is exactly what I need to trigger mysword. With it's high-strength, multiple-damage hits, it's tailor-made for killing Plague Marines - and so I go to work without thinking about it. Sure enough, my Sorcerer kills three of them (including the guy on the ground floor), but then we realise the Mutalith is stymied - he can't climb up a level, and he can't get within an inch of the surviving squad. So the three Plague Marines are now, technically, out of combat and that's that.So no Arcane Rite for me (I ditch that - short of a tabling, I'm not getting it), but I do claim 2pts for Supremacy.: Supremacy (2)Yes, with no Overwatch and limited attacks (all right, he has 7 attacks, but even so), Magnus doesn't do so well against large numbers of single-wound troops. He only killed five Cultists (although, granted, he REALLY killed them) and caused four more to flee.The three Plague Marines decide to sidestep both the Tzaangors and Mutalith and just pick on the Exalted Swordsman hero. His invulnerable save (and Kraken's krappy rolling*) sees him right.But my first problem is Magus is still stuck fighting the remnants of the Spawn and lone Cultist. I can easily fly away from combat and Smite at will, but it means I won't be punching anything meaningful this turn. But if I keep him in place and clear away his opponents in the Psychic phase, I'll be back in the game!So I move accordingly. Deciding that I don't need to camp on objectives any more, my foot Sorcerer moves into Smite range of the last Plague Marine. My Disc Sorcerer leaves combat with the Plague Marine to get into Smite range of the Spawn. The Shaman also moves to help Magnus and his herd tag along behind. The Rubrics walk into flamer range of the Chaos Lord, with the Mutalith in tow.On my side of the table, the two Spawn move up against the Raptors, and I drop in my second unit of Tzaangors against the Obliterators.And now the Psychic phase: it kicks off well with the foot Sorcereroff the last Plague Marine, but unfortunately the rest are now in denial range of Kraken's Sorcerers, and they've clearly saved their A-game for this moment. My Disc Sorcerer'son the Spawn is denied. My Shaman'son the Spawn is also denied. My Aspiring Sorcerer tries to reach the Spawn with a, but that fails. I'm starting to feel that I'm going to have one of those psychic phases again...... but I rally. Spending a CP on the Chaos Familiar stratagem, I give my Foot Sorcerer, which manages to finally kill that Spawn. With a shrug of 'I have to do everything myself', Magnusthe last Cultist (doing something like six mortal wounds to him!), then heals some wounds back on himself andover to the two Black Legion Sorcerers. For good measure, I spend my last CP onso he can caston himself. Just about saved that. Phew!The Shooting Phase is more straightforward: the Rubrics douse the Chaos Lord in Warpflame, taking him down to a single wound, and pop off the remaining Berserkers with their Inferno Bolters.In the Combat Phase, the Spawn charge into the Raptors, losing one to Overwatch and whiffing the subsequent combat. The newly-arrived Tzaangor get in on the Obliterators, causing five wounds and taking two casualties (and crucially, tying up the guns).Magnus then steps forward between the two traitorous Sorcerers and whacks them left and right with his mighty beatstick. With no invulnerable save, they both died so quickly that I forgot I wanted to turn one of them into a Spawn.That gives me Slay the Warlord and Kingslayer. I then chuck Psychic Supremacy, as it requires me to make a successful Deny the Witch test, and Magnus is currently scraping the only two enemy psykers from the end of his blade.: Slay the Warlord (1), Kingslayer (2)Oh my. I feel like I brought a machine-gun to a knife fight. In my defence, I think I had a solid plan and a good run of luck. Not everything that went my way was Magnus-based, but damn he's a useful guy to have around.This being my first fight with Magnus, I did play him cautiously - buffing him defensively and picking my moment - but I sense that's how I want to run him. He's a good buffer for the rest of the army, a great distraction, and can be lethal against the right target. Given that even small-arms fire can chip away at him - and there really is nowhere to hide him - I don't think he can just hit and enemy line and tank everything.I think Kraken started off with the right approach: a mass of bodies is probably the right way to deal with Magnus. Unfortunately the mission required board control and, the problem with putting everything on Magnus is that it gives free reign to the other two-thirds of my army.Everything else seemed to come together as well. I like using the Tzaangor in multiple, small packs - despite the exorbitant CP cost - and they both made their charges to kill or tie up what they needed. The Rubric Marines also worked really well once the Dark Matter Crystal popped them into killing range. I'll have to remember that - it's an unexpected attack from a unit most people would assume to be slow.And finally the Seer's Bane swordsman earned his stripes (sort of) with his single-handed takedown of the Plague Marines. This is one Sorcerer determined to move up the ranks.Finally the Command Point re-roll experiment. Personally, I didn't mind it - at least it forced me to live with rolls like Perils and not dither over what to do about it. But it was probably a bad match-up to introduce the rule: I only had four CPs at the start of the battle and Kraken had ten. And he needed re-rolls more than I did throughout the battle. Going forward, I might keep it as a self-imposed restriction for myself, but not a hard rule for the game.