40K: Thousand Sons Grand Coven Detachment
BoLS continues the Wrath of Magnus coverage this week. Today we look at the Thousand Sons detachment – the Grand Coven.
The Thousand Sons are BACK! After a decade in the dark the Thousand Sons are back with a nefarious vengeance. They are an army that will utterly dominate the psychic phase and will bring a unique set of abilities to thier players and challenger to their foes.
What we will say is the GW Design Studio has done a great job of updating the boring and underpowered single Thousand Sons unit from the CSM codex, expanding upon it and keeping it’s original flavor intact. Look for an army full of icy automotons marching forward in lockstep, under the control of myraid levels of Sorcerous leaders. From the lowly Aspiring Sorcerers leading each squad or Rubrics all the way up to Magnus the Red himself, you will find a perfect set of psykers to produce as much power as you desire. These will of course be backed up by a set of formations, relics and new psychic Discipline of Tzeentch to kick things up a notch.
Before you skip ahead remember the campaign book also contains the Tzeentch Chaos Daemons detachment – The Pandemonium, but you’ll need to buy the book to see the insanity it contains. Now, onto what you came for, the set of units and formation that make up the Thousand Sons unique detachment.
Take a good look at those new abilities and units to get a feel for the detachment.
Into the Grand Coven
Core: The Grand Coven is build around your choice of the War Cabal or the Sekhmet Conclave.
The War Cabal is the more pedestrian choice with more mandatory HQ choices and more in total if you want to go max psykers (more on that later). It is accompanied by a possible mix of Rubrics and Scarab Occult Terminators. You have a mandatory choice of 4 units.
The Sehkmet Conclave is more restrictive. You also have 4 mandatory choices, but it’s all about Scarab Occult Termys. Of course this is how you get Magnus as a mandatory choice – and let’s be honest – Magnus is going to wreck some face on the tabletop.
Command: All these formations are about getting more psykers onto the table.
Auxiliary: Moving onto the mandatory Auxiliary choices gives you 4 options:
War Coven – for those who want ALL the psychic dice!
Tzaangor Warherd – for those who want a non-rubric infantry horde to balance out the Rubricae in your Core choices.
Daemon Engines, Legion Armory – for those who want the cheap way out for the formation tax.
Benefits of the Changer of Ways
Now that you’ve filled out your Grand Coven, what does Tzeentch give you for your efforts?
- Reroll your warlord trains – meh, everyone has that…
- Reroll Perils of the Warp – nice!
- All psykers manifest one additional power per psychic phase – BOOM There it is!
What we have here is a detachment built around not Rubrics (you do have to take some), but enhanced psykers. The primary decision is what level of psykers you want in your army. It is certainly possible to go the almost entirely psykers route with a War Cabal and War Coven to fill out your mandatory slots – then go max Sorcerers in each. You could get 14 Mastery level 3+ psykers with just those two formations.
After that, its just a matter of figuring out what non-psykers you want to fill out your force. You could go Rubics (War Cabal), Scarab Occult (Sekhment Conclave), or Tzaangor/Spawn (Warherd). Finally season with vehicles to taste – OR even more psykers via the Command formations. With this much potential for dominating the psychic phase I don’t think many tabletop Thousand Sons will direct many points on the Legion Armory or Daemon Engines.
One thing is certain – you better bring a LOT of psychic power dice.
War Zone Fenris: Wrath of Magnus (Hardback) $75
The skies of Fenris are aflame, the awful truth revealed. The Thousand Sons, hidden architects of the Space Wolves’ darkest hour, have launched an arcane invasion across those realms sacred to the Sons of Russ. The Wulfen’s Curse has taken hold, the daemonic invasions that followed it a precursor to deadly Imperial bombardments that saw Chapter set against Chapter. The bringer of this system-spanning doom is Magnus the Red, an ancient demigod overthrown by the Fenrisians of yore. With the daemon primarch’s reappearance in realspace, a vendetta ten thousand years in the making has flared into world-shattering violence. The Crimson King is back to conquer Fenris, and the legions of the Warp march with him.
The Books
War Zone Fenris: Wrath of Magnus is the concluding part of the saga that began with War Zone Fenris: Curse of the Wulfen, in which the Thousand Sons return to Fenris to enact vengeance on the hated Space Wolves – led by their Daemon Primarch, Magnus the Red.
Book 1
This 136-page hardback book contains the thunderous, galaxy-shaking story of the Wrath of Magnus; set over 3 chapters, it features a huge selection of brand-new artwork supporting the story within. There’s also a uniform guide, with colours and icon guides for several Thousand Sons warbands:
– Thralls of Magnus
– The Sectai Prosperine
– The Tizcan Host
– The Prism of Fate
– The Blades of Magnus
– The Exiled and EstrangedBook 2
The 64-page book 2 of War Zone Fenris: Wrath of Magnus features a huge amount of new Chaos Space Marines and Chaos Daemons:
AdvertisementNew datasheets, special rules and wargear for:
– Ahriman
– Exalted Sorcerer
– Tzaangors
– Rubric Marines
– Scarab Occult Terminators
– Magnus the Red6 Formations for Codex: Chaos Space Marines:
– War Cabal
– War Coven
– Tzaangor Warherd
– Sekhmet Conclave
– Ahriman’s Exiles
– Rehati War SectPlus new and updated psychic disciplines:
– an updated Discipline of Tzeentch
– Sinistrum Discipline
– Heretech Discipline
– Ectomancy Discipline
– Geomortis DisciplineThousand Sons special rules:
– 6 Thousand Sons Warlord Traits
– Chaos Artefacts of the Thousand Sons
– Thousand Sons Grand Coven Detachment
– 6 Thousand Sons Tactical Objectives
– 3 Thousand Sons Altar of War missionsNew datasheets, special rules and wargear for:
– Pink Horrors
– Blue Horrors
– Brimstone Horrors4 Formations for Codex: Chaos Daemons:
– Lorestealer Host
– Brimstone Conflagration
– Omniscient Oracles
– Heralds AnarchicPlus new and updated daemonic loci and icons of Chaos.
AdvertisementDaemons of Tzeentch special rules:
– Tzeentchian Warp Storm table
– Pandemoniad of Tzeentch Detachment
– 6 Daemons of Tzeentch Tactical Objectives
– 3 Daemons of Tzeentch Altar of War missions
~Have fun folks, and check back all week for more Wrath of Magnus reviews and more.
