Warhammer 40K: The Thousand Sons Could Break The Psychic Phase
Let’s take a look at the new Thousand Sons‘ crazy psychic abilities.
Thousand Sons have a new book out and, according to people in the know, it’s pretty good! It’s a big buff for Magnus and his boys, and adds a lot of nice fluffy things. As part of it, they’ve gotten some really massive boosts to their psychic powers. However in boosting them it’s possible that they’ve broken the psychic phase. Ultimately we’ve got to ask ourselves – how much psychic is too much psychic? Let’s take a look.
Masters Of Psychic Powers
This book has just a ton of psychic powers in it. Aside from Smite, which everyone knows of course, you’ve got access to two disciplines. Note: not only does the book have two disciplines, but these are extra large ones, with 9 powers each. That’s a total of 18 powers that are widely known. On top of those, each of the 9 cults in the book has its own unique power, adding another 9. That gives you a whopping 27 (28 counting smite) powers to use! That’s just a ton, on par with the number of stratagems many books get.
They Cast So Much
So they have access to a lot of powers, but can they use them? Well, yes. This book has a ton of casters in it. The vast majority of their characters can cast powers. In addition their Rubric Marines and Terminators can cast as well. It wouldn’t be that hard to build an army where every unit can cast. So how much could they cast? Well, it’s possible with the right build that you could get at least 1 cast per 100 pts spent on your army, if you were really building for it. Thus in a 2000 point game you could likely build out an army that would know every last one of the 18 basic spells, and have access to smite, and 3 Cult spells. And could cast them each turn. That’s a massive 22 unique powers a turn!
Is This Too Much?
On the one hand, this seems pretty cool. Thousand Sons getting to cast a ton is very fluffy and makes the list feel like it should. I can’t complain there. Something like this is probably good for the army. However, 22 powers in a turn, well that’s just a lot. First off there is a massive level of complication there, with just a ton of effects that you’ll have to remember. Some of these are fairly easy, just doing damage, but others are status effects, that you will have to remember. Just think if used every stratagem you had, every single turn.
And that’s another point on the complication scale. Thousand Sons don’t really lose out on anything for this. They still get a ton of other rules, from stratagems, to the new Pacts, to Warlord traits, etc. You’ve got to keep track of everything they had before, and now add on up to 22 powers. It’s just a lot.
Timewise also it’s going to really eat into a game. Casting a couple powers doesn’t take that much time. Even casting one power a lot (such as smite) isn’t all that time-consuming as you don’t have to think much about it. But going over 22ish unique powers a turn, finding targets, recalling what they do, and resolving them? Well, that’s not going to be quick. Heck, even at half that number, at 11, you’d be taking up a ton of time.
The Psychic Phase Is Boring
Not only is it going to be time-consuming, but I reckon it won’t be much fun. The Psychic Phase is one of the least interactive and often most boring phases in the game. In most other phases there is some level of player interaction. The combat phase of course is the most interactive, but even during the shooting phase you get to constantly take save (yes the movement phase is also one-sided, but A. nothing is generally happening to your stuff during the other player’s phase, and B. it can be one of the more mentally simulating phases). During the Psychic Phase the opposing player often doesn’t have much to do. Unless you are playing certain armies you won’t get saves and can’t really affect the enemy. Some armies, like T’au, simply can’t do anything in the phase. 
Some armies if built right might have some minimal interaction. A couple Deny the Witches might exist, and vs an army with only a couple of powers this can make for an interesting back and forth. However vs 22 spells you will just be overwhelmed and have little to do. Unless you happen to play one of the super psychic armies, like Thousand Sons or Grey Knights you are just going to be outmatched on a massive scale. And this isn’t fun. The experience of sitting there while the other player resolves up to 22 powers with very minimal or even no input from yourself, other than pulling off models isn’t an enjoyable experience. Ultimately this leaves me to worry that Thousand Sons might have broken the Psychic Phase.
So, did Thousand Sons break the phase, or are they finally doing what they always should have done? Let us know what you think, down in the comments!
