Early Winners and Losers of Ninth Edition

All, July 15, 2020

The leaks are out, the dust is settling, lets check out who won and lost within the Thousand Sons codex

Winners

Overall, the Thousand Sons made out quite well in the transition from 8th. There are many units that saw the expected point increase however, we did see a few surprises in there that should give every Thousand Sons player something be happy about.

1 - Magnus the Red

Okay, lets start with what I think is the biggest winner in the codex, Magnus the Red. If you remember in my Nine Things for Ninth Edition post, we called out Magnus the Dead for the inability to keep him safe on turn one. Now in 9th edition, we have the ability to put anything into strategic reserves, fixing one of the core issues players face fielding Magnus. Whether this makes up for his relatively small price increase will take a little while to sort out.

Pessimistic Spin

Okay so, now he comes in and sits there for a turn since you he can only come in near the board edge AND we’re likely to NOT be able to Warptime him after he comes in. It also costs 3 CP to make it happen - which is expensive in the new economy.

2 - Exalted Sorcerers

Weighing in at 100pts/model (equipped), not much else needs to be said about Exalted Sorcerers in 9th. They now slot right in with the other HQ options making them a possible auto-pick for your armies. With the re-roll 1 aura, they can add a lot more support than the classic Sorcerers, which have been seeing a nice reduction in price themselves over the past few cycles. The key to what makes this such a winning change is that Exalted Sorcerers get a better BS/WS (2+), more wounds (5), and more attacks (4). These might seem like small changes however, play enough games and you start to miss those extra bonuses on the regular Sorcerer.

Pessimistic Spin

The new character restrictions and emphasis on mobility are likely going to require you to take the On-Disc alternative. Not a bad thing really but there really isn’t a whole lot not to like about a cheap Chaos Lord + Sorcerer model.

3 - Defilers

At the end of 8th, Defilers were already becoming an attractive option for Thousand Sons armies, as many of the new Cults (such as Duplicity) introduced significant mechanic improvements. Now with 9th, we see Defilers receive another modest point decrease which, in the grand scheme (giggity), is a good point decrease. This is because just about everything else in the game is receiving a point increase making Defilers a very attractive option at a 135pts to start. Spend an extra 5 points to take that Defiler Scourge with a Reaper Autocannon and at 140pts you have a model, including it’s Battle Cannon, that can be a half-respectable gun platform AND annihilate in close combat. Couple this with the ability to put them in reserves, potentially re-deploy them on the board with Duplicity, and they don’t suffer the -1 penalty for moving and shooting - you get yourself a recipe for these bad boys to make a come back.

Pessimistic Spin

They’re big easy to see. You get the Obscure benefit from terrain but you also have to deal with that as well. It might be hard to charge into some situations as it’s still a 9” charge. 4+ BS/WS still stings but at least theres Demon Forge. Also, can we get a new model for this guy? Please?

4 - Rubric Marines

While Rubric Marines did go up slightly, Force Staves became free - thats right FREE. This means a 5-man squad only goes up 2pts in total and, relative to the mass increase in points, makes this a huge win at the core of the army. As you look at the missions for 9th, one thing stands out - board control and objective holding will be the prime scoring mechanism over the kill first, objectives second format of 8th. This means you need relatively cheap (check), durable (check), and effective (check) troop choices to make the core of a good army in 9th. Now, don’t get this confused with trying to say Rubric Marines are world beaters - that’s not the case. However, they present one of the better troop options now in the game for armies other than Space Marine dogs.

Pessimistic Spin

Inferno Boltguns aren’t as scary as we want them to be. Taking a block of 20 might not be as impressive as originally thought - then again, maybe it will be?

5 - Chaos Spawns

Wait a second, these guys? things? went up in points - how can they make the Winners list? Simple: they dodged a huge increase in points and gained the ability to move through walls in 9th since they are Beasts. This, coupled with a great stratagem lurking in our codex, actually makes Chaos Spawns a viable assault unit for an affordable price. Did I mention they get the Cult keyword too?

Pessimistic Spin WS 4+ and man are these models old.

More Winners

Losers

1 - Tzaangor Enlightened

Where to begin…maybe with a unit that already struggled but now has increased from 135pts to a whopping 180 in 9th edition. I’m going to be honest, this is a terrible change. You take a unit that saw little play, due to the introduction of the Rule of Three, couple it without a way to keep them alive (T4/5++), and you had the flying goatmen on the sidelines for the entirety of 8th edition. Now you increase their points as if they were breaking the game? Folks I’m as stumped on this one as you are.

Optimistic Spin

Now, I get it, theres the strategy here of being able to put them in strategic reserves now and bring them in on a table edge with an effective 29” threat range - which ain’t to shabby. But for 180ts?

2 - Scarab Occult Terminators

Much the same story as I just mentioned with Tzaangor Enlightened - the Terminators will go from maybe land to never land on 9th edition lists. Based on 8th edition loadouts (which aren’t expected to change), they’re not just staying on the shelf, but being pushed towards the back to collect more dust. Not only did their base cost go up, but so did Power Swords. While the Force Staff the Sorcerer can take gets you back some points, its not enough to make up for the huge increases the unit takes across the board. Clocking in at 200pts with a Hellfyre rack, a lackluster unit of 5 is going to be at the bottom of the barrel in your Elite slot options to start 9th edition out.

Optimistic Spin

Do they get Force Swords now? Nah, we know thats not gonna happen right? Compared to a 10-man (or 2x 5-mans) unit of Rubric Marines (180pts), a 5-man unit of Scarab Occult (185pts) becomes only marginally more effective with Power Swords and mathematically easier to kill with the array of multi-damage weapons in the game. Granted, when you make this comparison their point increase doesn’t look quite as bad, where you pay 5pts for the ability to Deepstrike for free; use Powerswords; use Bolter Discipline all the time; and gain a 2+ armor save. Hmm, maybe this isn’t as bad as we think?

3 - Tzaangors

For an edition that was marketed as bringing back Close Combat, I fail to see where this is going to happen. Despite having just received a point increase in the recent Chapter Approved, this was obviously not overlooked and they kept this change going into 9th. When you, again, consider that everything went up in points, the 1pt increase to Tzaangors means they kept this unit right in line with where they are today.

Optimistic Spin

Maybe they can still play a role in 9th edition’s meta - they are the only other viable troop option after Rubric Marines. Still, the days of the 30-man Tzaangor bombs are long gone.

4 - Cultists

They just can’t make up their mind with Cultists. First they were fine, then overpowered, then over-nerfed, then brought back into normalcy and now nerfed again. I’m not going to say this is because their points increase, it’s because when you compare them to a Guardsman, they should not cost more. Guardsman have WAY more options to help/support them. They’ve stripped just about every benefit Cultists can get in an army, not to mention NOTHING unique in a Thousand Sons army, and decided that they are still better than Guardsman for some reason. They have the mechanisms to adjust points for units in different armies appropriately and they need to start using it. You want to nerf Cultists because they are supposedly too good in Chaos Space Marine armies? Fine, but don’t punish them in Thousand Sons armies that don’t have the same problem.

Optimistic Spin

You won’t have to paint any cultists for 9th edition.

5 - Ahriman

Not a great way to start 9th edition out but let’s be gentle here - this is not the end of the world for Ahriman. He’ll still be in plenty of Thousand Sons lists but with two key changes (his point increase and Exalted point drops) he’ll no longer be an auto-take in your army. This is going to feel awkward for veteran Thousand Sons players, and you souping bastards too, as Ahriman has been an automatic inclusion since the Index days of 8th. The real key becomes how important that +1 to cast really is.

Optimistic Spin

It’s possible they give Ahriman the Supreme Commander trait, making him a Supreme Command option to let you maximize your Cult HQs. It’s also great that they FAQ’d the Cult restrictions from Ritual of the Damned to make it possible to have Magnus and Ahriman in your army, as your Warlord, without missing out on Cult benefits.

More Losers

Summary

Now that we have some points, we’re starting to get a clear picture on what 9th edition looks like. Thousand Sons will likely still have the same cast (for the most part) with some new (fun) additions like Defilers in the mix. There’s still a lot that can change when the official rules and updates drop, along with FAQs, Forgeworld re-writes, and the Codexes that are expected to start dropping shortly after 9th.