Serrated Sun - 2000 Points & Thousand Sons - 2000 Points

[ChaosReigns]

Hey guys,

 

So I'm in the process of painting up some drop pods so I can use Last of the Serrated Sun for my Word Bearers and I'm also looking at planning out some purchases for a Pride of the Legion Thousand Sons force. If anyone has advice about either list I would appreciate the commentary a great deal. Anyway, here are the lists.

 

So a few comments about the Word Bearers list. First of all, Zardu Layak and the Chaplain are going to go in the squad of eight Veterans. The Chaplain will be rolling on Biomancy. Secondly, while I think Zardu fits synergizes better with this list, I'd like to use Erebus for this list simply for fluff purposes (I like the character better). Would it be possible to take Erebus and a Librarian, or would the Librarian have to be a third HQ choice? How does the Librarian not being able to be taken as a "compulsory" HQ fit with the Word Bearers' Charismatic Leadership? Or is Erebus filling out all of the requirements here? Also, I'm only at 1891 points with this first list. Does anyone have any suggestions regarding what to spend my last hundred or so points on?

 

EDIT: Okay, so here's a modified version of the Word Bearers list for 2500 taking the advice so far received into account. I have a couple of the Mhara Gal Tainted Dreadnoughts that I bought because I love the look of the models, but unfortunately they're way overcosted (not to mention I have a bunch of daemons and psykers who they might accidentally injure), so I'll field them as standard Contemptors here to fill out my points. I'm leaning heavily towards power mauls for the Gal Vorbak. I added a Sicaran too for some additional anti-vehicle and anti-flier firepower. It'll be starting on the ground with the two Contemptors. Might be just as well, because it looks like (if I'm not mistaken) a bunch of missions in the 30k rules end in a loss if you have no models on the table at the end of the player turn.

 

Legiones Astartes: Word Bearers – 2500 Points

 

Rite of War: Last of the Serrated Sun

 

HQ – 370 points

 

High Chaplain Erebus                     (Warlord Trait: Intimidating Presence)

 

Psychic Powers:

-Smite

-

 

Zardu Layak

 

Psychic Powers:

-Cursed Earth

-Molten Beam

 

Troops – 540 points

 

Gal Vorbak Dark Brethren (x5)
+Power Maul
+Power Fist (Dark Martyr)
+Artificer Armour (Dark Martyr)
+Dedicated Transport: Legion Drop Pod
Total: 270 points

 

Gal Vorbak Dark Brethren (x5)
+Power Maul
+Power Fist (Dark Martyr)
+Artificer Armour (Dark Martyr)
+Dedicated Transport: Legion Drop Pod
Total: 270 points

 

Elites – 906 points

 

Legion Veteran Tactical Squad (x9)
+3 Combi-meltas
+Combi-melta (Veteran Sergeant)
+Power Fist (Veteran Sergeant)
+Artificer Armour (Veteran Sergeant)
+Dedicated Transport: Legion Drop Pod
Total: 248 points

 

Veteran Tactics: Marksmen

 

Legion Veteran Tactical Squad (x9)
+3 Combi-meltas
+Combi-melta (Veteran Sergeant)
+Power Fist (Veteran Sergeant)
+Artificer Armour (Veteran Sergeant)
+Dedicated Transport: Legion Drop Pod
Total: 248 points

 

Veteran Tactics: Marksmen

 

Contemptor Dreadnought Talon – 410 points

 

Legion Contemptor Dreadnought
+Plasma Cannon
+Dreadnought Close Combat Weapon w/ In-built Plasma Blaster
Total: 205 points

 

Legion Contemptor Dreadnought
+Plasma Cannon
+Dreadnought Close Combat Weapon w/ In-built Plasma Blaster
Total: 205 points

 

Heavy Support – 680 points

 

Legion Sicaran Battle Tank
+Accelerator Autocannon
+Lascannon Sponsons
+Armoured Ceramite
+Auxiliary Drive
Total: 235 points

 

Leviathan Pattern Siege Dreadnought
+Armoured Ceramite
+Phosphex Discharger
+2 Grav-flux Bombards
+ Dedicated Transport: Legion Dreadnought Drop Pod
Total: 445 points

 

List Total: 2496 points

 

Okay, and here's the second list. I'm planning on having Amon roll on Divination and the Librarian roll on Biomancy. Amon's super outflank will be used for the Castellax-Achea Maniple. Now that I'm looking at it, I forgot to give the Librarian Arcane Litanies, so I should probably see if I can free up ten points for that. The last squad of Sekhmet is meant for anti-horde duty.

 

Legiones Astartes: Thousand Sons – 2000 Points

 

Rite of War: Pride of the Legion

 

HQ – 310 points

 

Magistus Amon                      (Warlord Trait: Lord of Hidden Paths)

 

Cult Arcana: Corvidae & Athanean

 

Psychic Powers:
-Prescience
-
-
-

 

Librarian
+Mastery Level 2
+Force Stave
+Melta Bombs
+Artificer Armour
+Refractor Field
Total: 140 points

 

Cult Arcana: Pavoni

 

Psychic Powers:
-Smite
-
-

 

Troops – 1390 points

 

Legion Veteran Tactical Squad (x10)
+Legion Vexilla
+2 Plasma Guns
+Power Axe (Veteran Sergeant)
+Asphyx Shells
+Brotherhood of Psykers (Mastery Level 1)
Total: 255 points

 

Veteran Tactics: Marksmen

 

Cult Arcana: Corvidae

 

Psychic Powers:
-Prescience
-

 

Legion Veteran Tactical Squad (x10)
+Legion Vexilla
+2 Plasma Guns
+Power Axe (Veteran Sergeant)
+Asphyx Shells
+Brotherhood of Psykers (Mastery Level 1)
Total: 255 points

 

Veteran Tactics: Marksmen

 

Cult Arcana: Corvidae

 

Psychic Powers:
-Prescience
-

 

Sekhmet Terminator Cabal (Cataphractii Armour x5)
+Force Axes – free
+2 Chainfists – 20 points
+5 Combi-meltas – 25 points
Total: 300 points

 

Cult Arcana: Raptora

 

Psychic Powers:
-Assail
-Levitation
-Psychic Maelstrom

 

Sekhmet Terminator Cabal (Cataphractii Armour x5)
+Force Axes – free
+2 Chainfists – 20 points
+5 Combi-meltas – 25 points
Total: 300 points

 

Cult Arcana: Raptora

 

Psychic Powers:
-Assail
-Levitation
-Psychic Maelstrom

 

Sekhmet Terminator Cabal (Tartaros Armour x5)
+Force Swords – free
+5 Comb-flamers – 25 points
Total: 280 points

 

Cult Arcana: Pyrae

 

Psychic Powers:
-Levitation
-Fiery Form
 

Heavy Support – 300 points

 

Castellax-Achea Battle-automata Maniple (x2)
+2 Aether-flame Cannons
Total: 300 points

 

List Total: 2000 points

Edited August 6, 2017 by ChaosReigns

[Caillum]

WORD BEARERS

"Charismatic Leadership" can be a bit confusing at times, especially when Erebus is added in. Basically, WB must always take 2 Compulsory HQs (ie. one that doesn't have the "Support Officer" rule) and 1 of them must be a Chaplain or stock Centurion. Erebus counts as a Chaplain, so then you'd only need one other Compulsory HQ. Librarians are "Support Officers", so they won't count unfortunately.

 

Your Gal Vorbak can only have 1 special weapon for every 5 models, so each squad will have to lose a meltagun. I would take power weapons, as they're principally a combat unit.

 

I always keep a combat weapon on a Leviathan. It makes it a much more flexible unit.

 

Be careful with "Dark Channeling" - it is a cool rule, but when you only have 2 Scoring units, rolling a 6 on them will really hamper your objective game (as cool as having the Daemon rule is). Might be best to save the points and invest them elsewhere.

 

Veterans are, IMHO, the strongest unit right now. "Machine Killers" is pretty nifty, but I prefer "Marksmen", as they can function in multiple ways. 9-strong, with 5+ carrying combi-meltas. Put Erebus/Chaplain in one and Zardu in the other, and they're really flexible units. They can dish out anti-tank shots on arrival, then Sniper a bunch of opponents with their boltguns OR bolt pistols - people forget this a lot. They'll also have Zealot, so no need to worry about Morale and they dish out a lot of pain in Assault. Solid.

 

Finally, getting a 5th Drop Pod in there is advised - always best to have an odd number, so more arrive on Turn 1. If you're aiming for 2k you're limited to a Deathstorm, but at 2500 (often considered the baseline points level) you will have plenty of options. :)

[Caillum]

THOUSAND SONS

Nice list! Castellax-Achea are just about the coolest unit in the whole army, so I approve. Would be good to get a 3rd one though.

 

Your Veterans in this list are absolutely perfect. Only thing I'd do is give them Rhinos (with dozer blades & multi-meltas) to help with mobility. You may need to drop a couple of models to get your Characters in with them though. The Cataphractii Sekhmet will levitate where they need to go, but the Tartaros might be a bit slow (even if they can Run). If you drop them, you can take a 3rd Castellax and the 2 Rhinos. Again, 2500 is much easier to fit in a balanced list.

 

Hope this all helps!

[ChaosReigns]

Hey Caillum, thanks for the replies!

 

I realized I've made some stupid mistakes with both lists. First of all, judging by what Battlescribe is telling me you actually have to pay for the special weapon upgrades that the Consul rule confers, whereas I thought that (like in 40k) a Librarian's force weapon or Chaplain's crozius was included as part of the package. I'm going to have to keep that in mind when I use generic HQ's in the future.

 

Secondly, I'm not sure why I thought Gal Vorbak could take two special weapons in a squad of five. lol

 

Thirdly, here I was stressing that I couldn't get Zardu Layak and Erebus in the same list because of Master of the Legion, but that's plainly wrong. I'm honestly not sure what I was thinking there either.

 

With regards to the fifth drop pod, would the Dreadnought Drop Pod the Leviathan is riding in not count towards the total? My Leviathan is going to be serving as a Hellforged Leviathan for my 40k Word Bearers also so sadly the second Grav-flux Bombard needs to stay for that, since I need its horde clearing power to use against Orks and Tyranids, both of which I play against regularly. That's also why he's still got the flamers instead of the volkite.

 

Lastly, what power weapon do you suppose would be best for the Gal Vorbak? A rending power maul seems like it has potential, but on the other hand I think an argument could be made that the reliable armour piercing of a power sword (at strength 5 and with rending no less) could also be pretty phenomenal.

 

Anyway, I'll look into drafting up 2500 points lists in that case. I've only played 30k Word Bearers against 40k opponents previously, but I just found out a few days ago that there's a 30k club near where I live, so that's reinvigorated my will to get some games going even with the release of 8th edition.

 

EDIT: Modified version of the Word Bearers list posted above.

Edited August 6, 2017 by ChaosReigns

[Caillum]

With regards to the Leviathan's pod - derp. Clearly I cannot count. :) Yeah, you're good there.

 

You're on the money with the power mauls. They are the most commonly used weapon.

 

I would try magnetising the Leviathan's weapon arms. You'll get a lot of mileage out of it, as the unit can be tailored to the different lists you make.

 

New list looks good! I always take dozer blades on Tanks though, especially Fast ones like a Sicaran - they will stop an Immobilsed result 97% of the time! If you like to roll the dice, keep those plasma weapons on the Contemptors. :P I prefer Cortus these days - cheap, fast, and with 2 grav guns & a chainfist, they're absolutely deadly. Same deal with them - magnets are the key!

[ChaosReigns]

Question for you gents - was there ever any resolution with regards to the question of how many melta bombs can be used in melee in the Horus Heresy ruleset, and whether or not that old 7th edition FAQ ruling of one grenade/melta bomb per phase per unit applied to 30k?

[Argel Tal]

Yep the WB list looks good, maybe i'd swap the contemptors for quad mortars to get more firepower. 2 scoring units is a bit low with only 10 guys in 3+ but at this level of points you don't have much choice... I fond Erebus a bit disappointing, i'd better have a std chap with burning lore but Zardu WT is just bad.

 

Concerning grenades, for the moment we follow the latest FAQ of 40k V7 so only one nade per unit in CC... You can houserule this stupid FAQ or wait for the latest version of the book from FW and hope that they will fix it.

[Withershadow]

Drop Pods on the Gal Vorbak is not great. They have to disembark and eat a round of shooting out in the open. Edited August 9, 2017 by Withershadow

[Argel Tal]

Sure but it's hard to get the double claws at this point level (plus it's expensive money wise), just drop near ruins or use the structure of the pods to create covers. Optimal is claws for sure but maybe easier to fit at 3K. Or as I said drop Erebus for std chap and a contemptor and you should have your points + maybe a quad mortar or two. 

[ChaosReigns]

Okay, thanks for the advice, guys. I'll see if I can move some points around to get two Dreadclaws into the list. I might just drop the Sicaran and Leviathan in favour of taking Quad Mortars, which are very inexpensive and look relatively durable.

I wouldn't mind getting another scoring unit into the list too. What about Lorgar and a plasma Support Squad? That combination of choosing what spells you want from Divination and massed AP2 sounds pretty vicious.

 

EDIT - Hey guys, what about this list? Erebus really has to stay, since his miniature is awesome and he's one of my favourite Word Bearers characters. That's a big difference between the XVII in 30k and 40k, namely the inclusion of special characters in the former. I dropped the vehicles in favour of a couple quad mortars and used the extra points to deck out a plasma support squad which is going to be riding in a drop pod with Lorgar. That will give me three scoring units, at least. Erebus and Zardu Layak are still each going to go in one of the Veteran squads. Hopefully Lorgar's presence will also take some of the heat off the Gal Vorbak. It's also worth pointing out that there are still five pods total in the list for the purposes of drop pod assault.

 

Legiones Astartes: Word Bearers – 2500 Points

 

Rite of War: Last of the Serrated Sun

 

HQ – 370 points

 

High Chaplain Erebus

 

Psychic Powers:
-Smite
-

 

Zardu Layak, the Crimson Apostle

 

Psychic Powers:
-Cursed Earth
-Molten Beam

 

Troops – 1010 points

 

Gal Vorbak Dark Brethren (x5)
+Power Maul
+Power Fist (Dark Martyr)
+Artificer Armour (Dark Martyr)
+Dedicated Transport: Anvillus Pattern Dreadclaw Drop Pod
Total: 350 points

 

Gal Vorbak Dark Brethren (x5)
+Power Maul
+Power Fist (Dark Martyr)
+Artificer Armour (Dark Martyr)
+Dedicated Transport: Anvillus Pattern Dreadclaw Drop Pod
Total: 350 points

 

Legion Tactical Support Squad (x8)
+8 Plasma Guns
+Artificer Armour (Legion Sergeant)
+Dedicated Transport: Legion Drop Pod
Total: 310 points
 

Elites – 666 points

 

Legion Quad Launcher Support Battery
+1 Legion Rapier
+Frag Shells
+Incendiary Shells
+Shatter Shells
Total: 75 points

 

Legion Quad Launcher Support Battery
+1 Legion Rapier
+Frag Shells
+Incendiary Shells
+Shatter Shells
Total: 75 points

 

Legion Veteran Tactical Squad (x9)
+5 Combi-meltas
+Power Fist (Veteran Sergeant)
+Artificer Armour (Veteran Sergeant)
+Dedicated Transport: Legion Drop Pod
Total: 258 points

 

Veteran Tactics: Marksmen

 

 

 

Legion Veteran Tactical Squad (x9)
+5 Combi-meltas
+Power Fist (Veteran Sergeant)
+Artificer Armour (Veteran Sergeant)
+Dedicated Transport: Legion Drop Pod
Total: 258 points

 

Legion Tactics: Marksmen

 

Lord of War – 450 points

 

Lorgar Transfigured

 

Psychic Powers:
-Prescience
-Precognition
-Perfect Timing
-Scrier’s Gaze

 

List Total: 2496 points

Edited August 11, 2017 by ChaosReigns

[Argel Tal]

Looks quite nasty, you will have to chose wisely the first wave of pods.

 

Be carefull with the rapiers placement: If they are killed during your opponent t1, you auto lose. Not sure you need to buy the inciendiary shells, the frag shell do the job very well and incendiary lack good ap to be effective. You could try to get some nuncio voxes on the vets to avoid some scattering and control the next wave of incoming pods.

 

Concerning Lorgar, forewarning can also be a good way to prevent the unit from getting charged. Though scriers gaze is also very good for the reserve reroll... Up to you and depending on what your opponent brings

 

Maybe try to fit some meltas in your vets if you have the points.

 

I'd say for the first pod wave you could chose: Lorgar/plasma + vet to kill some annoying back line units like scorpius, mortars... And then up to you if you drop one gv or another vet squad.

[Marshal Loss]

• If you're putting combi-meltas on veterans, give them Machine Killers, not Marksmen. Leave the infantry killing for your Gal Vorbak and support squad

 

Overall the list is pretty good though, should do fine against most lists

Edited August 13, 2017 by Marshal Loss

[Caillum]

Erebus is a Chaplain ML - it's mentioned specifically in his rules.

 

But I concur - good looking list! :)