Inspired by a recent Reddit post, I wanted to kick this blog off with a breakdown of the Thousand Sons lists at the upcoming 2021 London Grand Tournament. For reference, you can find the lists here. Very importantly, this event has a unique layout which you can find here.
There are a total of 591 lists registered at the event, of which Thousand Sons makeup 30, which means there is a meta representation of 5.08%.
Cults
Mono Duplicity – 14 (47%)
Mono Time – 3 (10%)
Duplicity/Time – 7 (23%)
Duplicity/Scheming – 1 (3%)
Knowledge/Time – 1 (3%)
Knowledge/Duplicity – 1 (3%)
Time/Magic – 1 (3%)
Duplicity/Mutation – 1 (3%)
*Based on the lists, there was 1 whose cult could not be determined.
Obviously, as many people have predicted, Duplicity appears to reign supreme, with some Time sprinkled in. Duplicity/Time leads the way with multi-cult lists. In the coming weeks I will be doing a breakdown of multi-cult combos, but I wanted to point out that I was fairly surprised to see only 1 list bringing Mutation. This may have something to do with the terrain setup in general, and this is a trend I would be interested to see play out in the future.
Units
Supreme Commander
Magnus the Red – 8
Big red appears in 26% of lists. Compared to other factions bearing a supreme commander/primarch, this number seems low. Over time I think this number could drop even further. Unfortunately, Magnus is relatively fragile for his points, and, as you’ll see below, there are a number of other, easier to hide, much cheaper options. There was also one list with Magnus and Mortarion with a Thousand Sons detachment.
HQ
Exalted Sorcerer on disc – 15
Exalted Sorcerer on foot – 12
Ahriman – 23
Daemon Prince – 21
Infernal Master – 21
Sorcerer – 6
Sorcerer in Terminator Armor – 4
First off, these lists are averaging 3.4 HQs per list, proving once again, that Thousand Sons are one of the most HeroHammer of all factions. There are clear tiers here. On average, lists seem to be bringing an Exalted Sorcerer of some variety, an Infernal Master, and then Ahriman and/or a Daemon Prince. The Daemon Prince numbers are slightly skewed due to a few lists bringing 2. As lists evolve, it is clear that Ahriman, although expensive, seems to be retaining his role as an almost auto include.
To be honest, I’m a little surprised that only 70% of lists include an Infernal Master. Goonhammer did an excellent breakdown here showing the raw value of the infernal priest. The vast majority of these bear the same Pacts – Glimpse of Eternity and Malefic Maelstrom.
The numbers for sorcerers and terminator sorcerers are relatively low. It appears that players, at least at this point, are not taking advantage of the new thrall rule, allowing these characters to appear in a list without taking up a slot.
For what its’ worth, the vast majority of Daemon Princes present were of the winged variety.
Troops
MSU Rubrics – 65
Non-MSU Rubrics – 7
Warpflamer Rubrics – 19
Large Warpflamer squads – 6
Tzaangors – 10
Cultists 8
Thousand Sons are unique in that there are only 3 troop options, with 2, cultists and tzaangors, being much weakened from their previous iterations. There are limited appearances for cultists and Tzaangors. With Tzaangors costing 2ppm more than a cultist, but including Objective Secured and a 5++, cultists seem to only make appearances as cheap detachment fillers to unlock extra HQ slots. This means that every list will include Rubrics of some variety. The question appears to be whether the rubrics will be of the MSU variety or not.
There are a couple of things I think we can take from this. First, the average list is going to average 2 to 3 rubric squads of the MSU variety. The vast majority of these will be inferno bolter rubrics. Several lists are sprinkling in warpflamers. The optimal number remains to be seen. An average 5-man squad, with a SRC, 3 boltguns, and an aspiring sorcerer, will appear to be the most efficient way to fill detachments at the moment.
Icons of Flame seem to be distributed as points filler. I’ve got plans to do a deep dive on cabal points in the future, but I personally think this is a mistake. Especially with MSU squads that will exist to hold objectives, an icon of flame can be a very budget friendly way to greatly expand the number of cabal points available to your army.
Elites
Contemptor Dreadnought – 19
Scarab Occult Large Block – 26
Scarab Occult MSU – 25
Helbrute – 7
Tzaangor Shaman – 5
Leviathan Dreadnought – 2
The meat of any Thousand Sons list is going to fall here. Scarab Occult are incredibly durable, and capable of soaking up massive amounts of damage. With nearly every list featuring AT LEAST 10 of these big boys, and the majority of lists featuring at roughly 15.
The dreadnought slot has a large number of Volkite Contemptors. These seemed to come in pairs when they came, or 1 contemptor paired with either a helbrute or leviathan. Thousand Sons are a relatively CP starved army, so bringing 2 contemptors is an interesting choice. I’m very interested in seeing how these lists play out. Off the cuff, I am inclined to think that in a multi-detachment army with 2 WLTs and 2-3+ relics, 2 contemptors may leave you feeling the hurt as the game goes on.
On the flip side I love the Tzaangor Shaman picks. The Shaman is a cheap, fast, action and spell monkey. When your are building a Thousand Sons list and making decisions regarding secondaries, you would be well served to consider the Tzaangor Shaman, especially for Mutate Landscape.
Fast Attack
1x Chaos Spawn – 3
3x Chaos Spawn – 1
5x Chaos Spawn – 16
Tzaangor Enlightened – 8
Thousand Sons Chaos Spawn are quickly becoming one of the best units in the whole Codex. There seem to be a few varieties of these. First, there is multiple spawn that are used for screens or holding objectives. Second, there are the 5 model squads, usually targeted with various defensive buffs like a 4++ or -1 to hit, and thrown up the board to be downright obnoxious. At only 23 ppm, these units are a downright bargain and I expect the larger squads to proliferate as the meta matures.
Other
Mutalith Vortex Beast – 4
Forgefied – 5
Heldrake – 5
Vindicator 1
To me, this is the section of the codex with the most area for experimentation. The Vortex beast is capable of pumping out respectable MW output, and in a Duplicity force can be thrown all over the table. After playing a number of games with Forgefiends, I am yet to be impressed, however I have yet to play them into an Ork buggy list, where I can absolutely see the appeal of the high strength shooting. The updated Heldrake sheet seems strong, primarily as an aggressive early distraction.
Dedicated Transport
Rhino – 10
Much commotion has been made of the new rhino, and roughly a third of the lists seem to include them. At a bargain-bin price, and sporting a 5++ and multiple AP-2 shots, the new rhino, especially with an added combi-melta is a crappier raider, but still one of the best transports in the game. Given the terrain layout, I expect these will perform well during the tournament.
Overall we are starting to see some clear trends develop. Hopefully after this weekend we can see which units performed and which didn’t to help separate some of these datasheets even more.
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