Ahriman: 140 pts / Ahriman on Disc of Tzeench: 150 pts
Ahriman is the only other named character in the index. He's got 2 profiles because he can be on foot or on the Disc of Tzeench. I'm putting them together because the only difference between them is that for 10 points the Disc version gets +4" of movement, an additional Wound, and the Fly keyword.
Ahriman does not have a crazy profile. His stats are actually a little underwhelming, especially after looking at Magnus'. He doesn't even have a 2+ armor save, though he does have the 4++ one would expect.
His shooting and melee output isn't outstanding either. For shooting attacks he has an Inferno bolt pistol and Psychic Stalk.
- 18" 1 WS 2+ S6 AP -1 D6 Precision Psychic
which seems solid, but it only having 18" and AP -1 we probably don't have to worry too much about it sniping out characters most of the time.
For melee he has the Black Staff of Ahriman, with a decent 5 Strength 7 attacks hitting on 2+ for 3 damage a pop, but again is only AP -1.
Ahriman's Datasheet abilities are solid. He adds a lot of Cabal Points to the pool, provides a beneficial buff to a squad of Rubrics he joins, and can enact a Ritual for free once per round. I'd imagine that's usually going to be used on a Twist of Fate on a key turn. Combined with a character with the Lord of the Forbidden Lore upgrade to pop it on a second unit, and the TSons player can potentially have a turn where he wrecks his opponent's 2 most important units.
Infernal Master: 105 pts
The Infernal Master is one of two relatively-cheap characters that can be attached to Rubric Marines to beef up their output. Of the two, the Infernal Master wins out in competitive play on the strength of his superior Cabal Point generation. His statline isn't much: T4 3+ W4 5++ profiles and swinging 4 attacks with a force weapon in melee.
For his ranged attack, the Infernal Master has the Screamer Invocation, with a standard and focused profile:
- Screamer Invocation: 18" 2D3 Auto-hits S6 AP -2 Damage 1 Torrent Psychic
- Screamer Invocation (Focused): As above, but with 2D6 shots and Hazardous
For datasheet abilities, the Infernal Master's Glimpse of Eternity allows the TSons player to once per turn change one of the Master's Hit, Wound, Damage, or Saves to a 6 and Malefic Maelstrom conveys Sustained Hits 1 to his unit, which matters a little because Rubric Squads are typically going to have a Soulreaper cannon, plus the Aspiring Sorcerer's Warpsmite ability. The Infernal Master generates 2 Cabal Points a turn, which is a big part of the reason why they're preferred over TSons Sorcerers.
Exalted Sorcerer: 110 pts
I'm told you won't generally see these guys in competitive lists, but I already wrote the entry and I figure it doesn't hurt to retain it in the event you play against someone who's going a little off-meta.
The Exalted Sorcerer is an upgrade on the guys listed above. Basically the same profile with 1 more Wound and a 4++ save. For melee they have the option of taking a Prosperine kopesh, which loses out over the Force weapon by being 4 attacks hitting on 3's at Strength 5, but gains by being AP -2. I suppose Damage 2 instead of D3 is roughly equivalent, but I like having to do less fiddly little die rolls.
For ranged attacks, the big show is Astral Blast.
- Astral Blast: 18" D6 WS 2+ S6 AP -2 Damage D3 Devastating Wounds Blast Psychic
He's also got the same pistol options as the TSons Sorcerer. I'd imagine they're generally being given Warpflame pistols.
For datasheet abilities, the Exalted Sorcerer generates 2 Cabal Points, can bring back 1 or 2 killed Rubrics with Rebind Rubricae (or take D3 mortal wounds if the TSons player rolls a 1), and grants his squad a 4++ with Arcane Shield, which is less of an upgrade than it sounds like because the only unit he can be attached to is Rubric Marines, which are coming up shortly.
Exalted Sorcerer on Disc of Tzeentch: 115 pts
You'd think given the Ahriman precedent, the Exalted Disc Sorcerer would be the same as the foot Exalted Sorcerer, just with an extra Wound and move movement, but annoyingly that is not the case. In addition to the extra Wound and Movement, he's got a different Witchfire power and Datasheet ability. Got the same melee profile with the Force weapon/Prosperine khopesh options though, so let's get into what's different.
- Arcane Fire: 18" D6 Auto-hits S6 AP -2 Damage D3 Psychic Torrent Ignores Cover
In a vacuum Arcane Fire seems like a lateral move from Astral Blast, but Arcane Fire synergizes better with the firepower of the attached Rubric Squad. The Disc Sorcerer also has the same pistol options as his foot counterpart, so I'd expect to see Warpflame pistols.
The Disc Sorcerer has Cabal of Sorcerers 2 and Arcane Shield like his foot counterpart does. Instead of Rebind Rubricae, the Disc Sorcerer has Binding Tendrils, which debuffs the movement of a unit hit by his Arcane Fire, inflicting a -2 penalty on its Movement and Charge rolls.
The Disc Sorcerer can be attached to a squad of Rubric Marines, but judging from the lists I've looked at, it looks like they tend to be run solo, flying around on their little hoverboards and being a nuisance. (BR this is in fact the case.) The lists I've looked at have had both Disc Sorcerers and Infernal Masters and not enough Rubric Squads for all of them to have attached squads. I imagine with their superior movement, invulnerable save, and wounds, the Disc Sorcerers are the characters run solo and the Infernal Masters are joining squads.
In addition to the characters I've described above, there's also the TSons Sorcerers, TSons Terminator Sorcerer and the Tzanngor Shaman. I don't feel the need to spend any time on the TSons Sorcerer or Terminator Sorcerer because they hardly ever see play. The Tzanngor Shaman is worth a brief mention because he can be given the Umbralefic Crystal and attached to a unit of 20 Tzanngors and teleport them to screen and/or snatch objectives. He also grants the attached squad a 5+ Feen No Pain, which can make them surprisingly durable combined with their 6++.
Battleline
Rubric Marines: 110 pts for 5 / 200 pts for 10
Rubric Marines are the bread-and-butter unit of the Cult of Magic. At first glance, they don't seem too remarkable. They have the standard Marine profile with 5" movement and a 5++, which is nice but not spectacular. Their melee profile isn't much to write home about, being identical to Tactical Marines (and thus worse than Intercessors), with the Aspiring Sorcerer being locked to having a Force weapon with 3 attacks.
The draw with Rubrics is their ranged output and datasheet ability. Every Rubric in the squad can take a Warpflamer, and one can take a Soulreaper cannon. On top of that, the Aspiring Sorcerer can take the ubiquitous Warpflame pistol and has the Warpsmite power. The profiles are below:
- Warpflamer: 12" D6 Auto-hits S4 AP -1 Damage 1 Ignores Cover Torrent
- Soulreaper cannon: 24" 6 WS 3+ AP -1 Damage 1 Devastating Wounds
- Warpsmite: 18" 2 WS 3+ S4 AP -3 Damage 1 Devastating Wounds Pistol Psychic Anti-Infantry 4+
- Warpflame Pistol: 12" D6 Auto-hits S3 AP -1 Damage 1 Pistol Ignores Cover Torrent
As if the unit being able run around with 4 Torrent weapons and an assault cannon equivalent aren't enough, Rubric's Datasheet ability, Bringers of Change allows them to reroll all Wound rolls against units on objectives, and 1's against units not on objectives. Seeing as we've got to put units on objectives to score Primary points, they're going to be rerolling all Wound rolls most of the time. They confer that ability on their attached characters too, and those Infernal Masters' attack power is also a Torrent attack as you'll recall.
Additionally, Rubrics have Cabal of Sorcerers 1, so each unit generates a Cabal Point for the pool, and one Rubric can take an Icon of Flame, which improves the AP on Critical Wounds by 1.
I have to admit, I'm a little salty that the GW rules developers thought it was a good idea to give TSons such an absurdly efficient Battleline unit.
Tzaangors: 65 pts for 10 / 130 pts for 20
Tzaangors are a chaff unit I don't think I need to discuss too much. They're T4, 6++, and their default melee weapons are S5 AP -1. Their main virtues are that they're cheap and OC 2. As previously mentioned, they can be joined by a Tzaangor Shaman, giving them a FNP 5+ and the shaman can carry the Umbralefic Crystal and teleport the unit once per game, which can be followed up by moving the unit with the Temporal Surge ritual. Their datasheet ability, Relic Hunters, adds a Cabal Point to the pool on a 4+ for every Tzaangor unit on an objective. You're likely to see either them or TSons Cultists sitting on backfield objectives.
Other Datasheets
Mutalith Vortex Beast: 160 pts
The Mutalith Vortex Beast is one of the other key units in the Cult of Magic list, and as you can see from its profile, it's a chonker. It has the same Toughness as a Predator, and more wounds. It's only got a 4+ save, but makes up for that by having a 5++, and in addition to that one if its datasheet abilities is a FNP 5+. So, chewing through its wounds is going to take a dedicated effort.
The MVB's ranged attack is the Warp Vortex, and it has 3 profiles.
- Warp Vortex - torrent: 12" 2D6 Auto-hits S6 AP -1 Damage 1 Ignores Cover Torrent
- Warp Vortex - blast: 24" D6+3 BS 3+ S9 AP -2 Damage 2 Blast
- Warp Vortex - beam: 24" 1 BS 3+ S18 AP -4 Damage D6+6 Devastating Wounds
So the MVB has a shooting attack for all occasions, but it's probably not going to use the beam too much, as the TSons player can mortal out big targets with Doombolt.
The MVB is pretty formidable in close combat too. It's got a pile (15 to be specific) of S7 Damage 1 attacks and 5 S9 AP -2 Damage 4 attacks.
For Datasheet abilities, the MVB has the aforementioned 5+ FNP, Immaterial Flare which doubles the range of Rituals cast by TSons Psykers within 6" of him, and Mutating Vortex which makes opposing units within 6" take Mortal Wounds (1, D3, or D6 depending on what the TSons player rolls). Oh, it blows up too, Deadly Demise D6, so be aware of that.
Tzaangor Enlightened: 50 pts for 3 / 90 pts for 6
Tzaangor Enlightened are a cheap little utility unit the TSons player can send out to score Secondary points with. They're probably on par with Cultists as far as unit durability is, but are considerably faster with their 10" movement, and don't take up as big a footprint as 10 Cultists do.
They actually have a default decent melee weapon option with their Divining Spear, giving them each 3 S5 AP -1 Damage 1 attacks with Precision and Lance, and they can replace that with a basic close combat weapon and a Fatecaster greatbow, giving them 2 shots with a 30" range at S5 AP -1 Damage 2 with Lethal Hits and Precision. You probably don't have to worry about either too much as either way the hit on 4+, and they're apt to be doing actions to score Secondary points anyway.
They have a pretty good base speed with their 10" movement, and their Datasheet ability is Malign Trickery, which is a D6" reactive move once per turn when an opposing unit makes a Normal, Advance, or Fall Back move within 9" of them. Be aware of that if you're intending to pick them up with something trivial, as they could well hop to the other side a wall to avoid getting shot at by your Scouts.
Thousand Sons Cultists
Ben told me to take a look at TSons Cultists, and as he's the TSons expert I did what he said. For the most part, they're what you'd expect - a T3, 6+, 1 Wound, OC 1, 10-man chaff unit for 55 points. Their shooting and melee profiles are not any different from any other basic Chaos Cultist unit. They do have a 6+ Invulnerable save, so they may occasionally take a little more killing than you might expect.
What's different about TSons Cultists is their datasheet abilities. They have a 6" Scout move, which they share in common with Death Guard Cultists, but Chaos Marine Cultists and Jakhals do not have. They also have a cute little Pawns of Fate ability, which causes them to generate CP either when they kill a unit or when they die, triggering on a 2+ roll in either case. So a TSons player might try to have Cultists peel the last wound off a unit to generate CP, or just run them out to die (obliging you to stick something out to kill them in the process), also likely generating a CP in the process.
I'm not saying don't kill the Cultists, I'm just saying opponents might time sticking them out for when they want CP for a big turn.
Assorted
Thousand Sons have access to the motor pool of vehicles available to non-cult Chaos Marine lists: Rhinos, Predators, Vindicators, Land Raiders, Forgefiends, Maulerfiends, Helbrutes, Heldrakes, and Defilers. They also have Daemon Princes (both winged and on foot) and Chaos Spawn in common with the non-cult Chaos Forces. I don't think I need to go over them. You're likely familiar with all of them already, and other than Rhinos and Spawn, not many of them seem to be appearing in TSons lists, at least not as of this writing.
How to play against the army
Looking at everything the TSons player has to work with, it looks like they oblige opponents to get close or get pounded at range by Magnus, MVBs, and Sorcerers casting Doombolt, then swoop in with multiple squads of Rubrics with their absurd output of Torrent weapons. Anything that gets through that then has to contend with Magnus and the MVBs in close combat, which is not a great place to be either. You can't reliably hide from Magnus' shooting either, because the Warp Sight strat will let Magnus hit things outside Line of Site.
On top of that, Magnus is an absolute brick, between his inherent abilities and being able to reroll failed saves and blank the results of a damage roll with rituals and strats. Just to give you an idea how tough he is, you will not reliably kill him with a brick of Eradicators with a Harmacist in Dev Doctrine. Assuming about 8 hits that successfully wound, he'll probably save half of those right off the bat. He'll then reroll two of those saves (one with the 2 Cabal Point ritual, one with the reroll strat), probably succeeding on at least one of those, and maybe both. When you roll for damage, he'll blank the highest one you roll, and shave -1 off the damage off whatever's left. Even if you can get your Eradicators within melta range, you'd have to roll pretty hot to get Magnus within danger range of being killed. Expect to dedicate a lot of effort to be able to finish off Magnus, preferably with some of those things being able to deal Mortal Wounds, like Grenades and Tank Shock, maybe Jump Intercessors' impact Mortals too.
Expect Magnus' offense to be pretty obnoxious too. With 3D3 + D6+3 + Blast shots, that's a lot of ranged attacks from the jump. The TSons player will be able to pick either Sustained Hits, Lethal Hits, or Devastating Wounds with the detachment ability, and then reroll all Hits and Wounds with the Devastating Sorcery strat, so he's likely to get a lot of critical hits/wounds as needed. If the TSons player wants him to hit a target out of LOS, he can pop Warp Sight onto Magnus to give him Indirect and Ignores Cover. The one downside to Magnus' shooting is the native AP is kind of poor, but the Twist of Fate ritual can buff that too. Expect the TSons player to be pouring a lot of resources into Magnus.
The army will be surprisingly mobile too, likely to be able use Temporal Surge on 2 units a turn, and then once per game also able to teleport the unit with the character carrying the Umbralefic Crystal. Piles of 1-damage Torrent weapons rerolling Wound rolls are an almost-ideal profile for picking up Deathwing Knights.
Then there are the Mutalith Vortex Beasts, who are also contributing to long range firepower and are tougher than they ought to be with their FNP. They can throw Blast shots with good AP into squads or throw a high-strength high-damage beam into a big tough target, like a Land Raider or a Repulsor. One MVB beam plus a Doombolt or two will reasonably take out most vehicles.
Playing into Thousand Sons, bear in mind that, other than Magnus and the MVBs, most of their army are Space Marine profiles with 5+ invulnerable saves. That's not a super-tough package. Picking up a squad of Rubrics with an Infernal Master attached will deny the TSons player almost as many Cabal Points as picking up Magnus (3 Cabal Points for Rubrics+IM as opposed to 4 for Magnus). If you can pick up one of those floating Exalted Disc Sorcerers, that's 2 Cabal Points denied for a fairly minor effort. Taking away Cabal Points degrades the army's ability to function, so it's worth going after the easier kills.
Picking up the Disc Sorcerers also picks off the units your TSons opponents are using to spot for Magnus using the Warp Sight strat, so it's worth doing for another reason.
Also, the army's secondary scoring units are pretty weedy - either Cultists or Tzaangor Enlightened. If you can hold back some resources to pop those guys off (say, Jump Intercessors or Scouts), then you oblige your opponent to choose between scoring secondaries with his more important units, or just not score secondaries at all.
Whatever you have that you'd put into big tough targets you're probably better off putting into the Vortex Beasts instead of Magnus. The MVBs are going to do as much damage as Magnus does, but are going to be much easier to bring down. You'd rather pick up one of your opponent's assets than leave Magnus alive and fully functional and not have anything to show for your effort.
Magnus himself is an obvious centerpiece and linchpin that is really going to make you want to take him out, but as previously stated, doing so is a tall order. If your opponent sticks Magnus out in front of your entire army and you have a really good chance of taking him off the board, then go for it. Don't overextend for a half-assed chance to get him, or even for a reasonable chance to get him (unless you absolutely have to), because if the dice don't go in your favor, then you're the worse off for it and haven't accomplished anything.
Keep an eye on how many Cabal Points your opponent has left before committing much effort into Magnus. If he's sitting on 4 Cabal Points and still has his character with Lore of the Forbidden Lore on the table, then he'll be able to reroll 2 saves that turn, so he may well stick Magnus out to draw fire, banking on being able to reroll 2 saves, blank the damage of a failed save, and count on Magnus's -1 damage effect. Even if he's not sitting on the Cabal Points your opponent might just spike the 4++ saves at an inconvenient time. Magnus's damage output is not inconsiderable, but his long-ranged offense caps off at AP -2 without a Ritual buff, so you can AoC against his shooting to reduce its effect. The effort you put into picking up Magnus is likely to be better put into picking up Rubrics and the considerably-more-squishy utility pieces.
Other than that, all I can say is the obvious: use terrain to your advantage, play smart, and exploit mistakes or misfortune on your opponent's part. Other than Magnus and the Vortex Beasts, most of the army is not that durable, so go after the Disc Sorcerers, the squads of Rubrics with their attached characters, and the tech pieces with most of your army. You may not touch Magnus, but he can only stand in one place at a time. You can win a game without hurting him.
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