Goatboy’s 40K: I am Son One Thousand One
Goatboy here again and I got a peek at the newest pain the butt on the block – the Wrath of Magnus book.
Let me first just say – if the Traitor Legion detachments/rules/formations are anything like this – then we are in for a really awesome set of weeks and a rebirth of the Chaos Legions for next year. Overall I found the rules to be interesting, powerful, and very distinct. We have an army that is not some kind of Counts as monster nor is it something that feels like an Imperial Evil Twist list. It is something new, unique and a definite player on the competitive scene. Kudos to GW and I am so sorry for my wallet and the future of my painting schedule.
Magically Good Models
We’ll first talk about the thing I like most about this hobby – the miniatures themselves. I got to take a close look at the Rubric Marine sprues. They look amazing with so much little detail that it just blows everyone else’s minis out of the water. The weapons have so much tiny details that it is insane. One of the heads even has mesh in the recessed sections of the head. Full mesh that is distinct, perfect, and something I have never seen so well made on a model before. Beyond that each weapon looks like something from the 30k universe and old school 40k. The bolters have a look that doesn’t look like anything in the modern marine. The legs themselves, while resembling the Chosen, lose all the random nature of the filigree. They are so crisp, so tight, and so perfectly design that I am just amazed checking them out. These guys are priced to move as they are 50 bucks and the minimum squad size is still 5. So you get sets of troops in every box – and a few bits of “sorcerer” bits will give you their leader.
I didn’t get to look at any of the other miniatures up close but I suspect each of them are also pretty dang cool. With the listed rules the best value beyond the Rubric Marines is the Exalted sorcerer boxed set as the 3 of them are not a unit – and instead are 3 distinct models for HQ choices. This should give you a good idea on how the army has a plethora of Sorcerers in all their formations and build types. This kit will be one of my favorites as I know I will end up kit bashing, building, and creating a lot of distinct characters.
SQUAWK – He’s got a relic – GET HIM!
Unit First Thoughts
Beyond the model side of things – this seems like an army built for those players that do not want to have a ton on the table top. The units are expensive. This is offset by giving you a ton of psychic dice to mess with so I suspect most armies will be built with the summoning side of Chaos set up to help keep your board full of gribblies. The Rubric Marines are still basically the same with some new weapon load out options and some Artifacts to help alleviate being so slow and tiresome. They have a pretty decent set of Artifacts with a push towards utility versus sheer power. They can mix and match with the Chaos book Artifacts too.
The new Tzaangor cheap troop unit is very cheap indeed. It isn’t a Daemon but it is like a weird Cultists with an Invulnerable save due to the Mark of Tzeentch. The model looks great but it does feel weird in the book. I am guessing that a whole lot of cultists don’t survive on the Sorcerer planet. They do have a crazy rule that makes them always want your opponents Relics. Greedy little buggers is what they are. The Terminators themselves also seem pretty neat as while they are expensive you do get a Level 2 sorcerer for your troubles and a ton of weapon options. They feel more inline with the Imperial options with missiles, cool guns, and other neat weapon options. I feel they are a bit too expensive but that is always the case with any terminator option.
Fear my 18″ D!
Formations & Rules
Rules wise there are a ton of “strong” formations that might bend towards some problems. The Formations are built around the idea that having 9 of them gives you an ability. It is a decent one – but something that is very clumsy to fulfill on some of them. They do have a cheap “core” option that can get expensive but initially is very cheap. This will let you fill out your initial core and start to get a few mixes of the “awesome” formations they have. The biggest thing from the formations that I see is that a lot of them are mixes of specific HQ options that when combined can be very powerful. You can say that the Exalted Sorcerer boxed set will be a very common item to buy a few of.
The new Tzeentch psychic tree is a mixture of the old Tzeentch powers with some new stuff thrown in. Did you miss Puppet Master? Well we have a new one that is back and does the exact same thing for more WC. They also have some weird mixes of Witchfires too with Magnus having the biggest and baddest of them all with a beam D power. Yup – a beam of D that is very long and very threatening. You could even say it is off-putting in its threat range. Speaking of Magnus – he is one of the best raw casters in the game right now. Mix that in with his stats, his personal spell, and his plethora of rules and you got something wrecking the table top. The Tree also has another decent beam spell that is set up like their old Doombolt power. Of course in the Hands of Ahriman you could have 3 of them shooting out at once.
They still have access to other parts of the Chaos Book so you can still have a Chaos Lord if you go with a CAD. You have some restrictions on these units types with the “taxes” being something you suspect if you think about it (Veterans, Mark of Tzeentch). Overall the Thousand Sons seem good and give me high hopes towards the other Legion army lists coming.
Speaking of Daemons…
Of course you think that the book is just about the Thousand Sons right? Well you are wrong as they also give you a Tzeentch Deamon detachment too. It is a pretty crazy one as there are 2 Formations that just scream for abuse. Of course they utilize a mass of HQ’s and create those problem situations. Still will see how much of an issue it is as the Detachment Decurion itself has some pretty rough core taxes.
They have access to new Loci, some new rules, and the craziest thing is an updated Warpstorm table. Do you remember how there were rumors about changes to the table? Well this one is a complete refresh of the rules with a lot less “issue” problems and a lot more random damage to your non daemon friends. I don’t know how useful it will end up being but it is something to think about when throwing out some of the daemons into your army. The other crazy thing is a return to split apart horrors. It is pretty nutty and will require a good deal of modeling and other options. I am guessing will see some new “mini-mini” releases to coincide with the Daemon release. If not expect a lot of 3rd party options, weird green stuff dudes, and some blue painted jerks.
Who you gonna call? – GHOSTBUSTERS! Sisters of Silence!
Overall this book is a must have for anyone interested in the Chaos army. I am pretty sure will see the Thousand Sons in the Traitor Legion book – as the Marine ones were reprinted in Angels of Death from the Tau Campaign book. My best advice for the upcoming year is to make sure to grab some sisters of Silence, practice getting in range to shut off powers, and hope Magnus doesn’t start to pay attention to you – because you can’t hide from his all seeing eye.
~ #Magnusseesyou!
