Chaos Space Marines vs Thousand Sons, 20.08.2024

I painted up two Rhinos, and I immediately got an idea for a new type of list. Previously, infantry blobs were unwieldy due to a large footprint. Now, I could include 3. So I dropped the Land Raider, and switched to Renegade Raiders for the transport-related stratagems. We played mission G: The Ritual.

 

Battle round 1

The Thousand Sons pulled No Prisoners and Behind Enemy Lines. This meant a group of Rubrics Umbralific Crystal'ing into my deployment zone. Then doombolt and shooting into a Rhino.

An immediate drawback of the Rhino list is not filling my deployment zone to screen.

Overall shooting went badly, and I only lost a Rhino. I compensated by loosing 3 Rubrics in the disembarkation, and rerolling a 1 into a 1.

In the backfield, the Thousand Sons created a new objective.

I got Marked for Death, which was unattainable and turned into a command point. I had my two Rhinos  on the flanks do Containment, and the scouted up Accursed Cultists create a new objective. Now, on to the fun stuff.

I flamed the invading Rubrics, then charged in 5 Raptors from behind the wall, then charged in the Rubrics. All of this went badly, and the Exalted Sorcerer still survived.

Battle round 2

Double move the Mutalith into the center to Establish Locus.

Drop the Terminators into my backfield to keep me busy. The Exalted Sorcerer fell back, but I flamed him down. Also Rapid Ingress Haarken's raptor squad as an answer to the termies.

Doombolt once again barely did anything, so the Terminators just shot down my Rubrics. One infantry blob gone.

Other than that, everything was well hidden, and all the Thousand Sons backline did nothing.

On my turn, I had Assassination (and Sabotage, which I threw away, as I was in need of command points). I moved out everything: Chosen on the left, Legionaries on the right, Raptors in the back, Obliterators drop down from reserve to support the Chosen. Rhino in upper-left corner created a new objective.

The Thousand Sons player was like: "Dude, you're gonna table me this turn." Laughable. The Raptors shot the Terminators, doing some wounds, then charged in, doing 1 MW (1 4+ on 10 dice), then fought, killing one more model. On the return strike, the squad went down to half. Disappointing.

At least the Legionaries wiped out a squad of Rubrics and Ahriman with some overkill, stopping Recover Assets. Also tagged the Forgefiend.

With no rerolls (because I played dumb), the Chosen barely scratched Magnus. At least they killed off the squad of Rubrics - but the Infernal Master was still up. The Obliterators also had to help. On the return strike, the squad was decimated.

Battle round 3

Magnus and the Infernal Master wiped the rest of the Chosen squad. At least the Mutalith was pinned to the center due to Area Denial.

Another squad of Rubrics charged in after shooting at the Legionaries, but Unfailingly Obdurate saved their hides. They clapped back hard.

On the other side, the kiling slowed, but the Terminators were winning.

I got Engage on all Fronts, which was a given, and Behind Enemy Lines, which I threw away.

Tank shocking Rhino to the Rescue!

And the best Cultists in the galaxy create a new objective.

I moved the Obliterators to take care of the Mutalith, but they weren't very successful.

Battle round 4

The Terminator Sorcerer, lone survivor, retreated.

Combined shooting destroyed my Rhino for Overwhelming Force. Extend Battle Lines was a given.

On my turn, Storm Hostile Objective and Bring It Down meant one target: the Mutalith. The best Cultists ever took the objective, while the Obliterators shot it down. In the back, Haarken finally killed the Terminator.

Battle round 5

In the meantime, the Forgefiend was continually taking damage in melee (rerolling wounds is great), failed battleshock, and died to falling back. The Thousand Sons had two models left. The Infernal Master killed himself to overcharging his psychic powers. It was up to Magnus to do Bring It Down (my Rhino rolled like a chump and died). He also shot down the Raptor squad, leaving Haarken at 1W, and charged the Obliterators, killing one.

I got Extend Battle Lines (a given) and No Prisoners, which was Magnus. I pulled back the Obliterator, shot at him with my surviving Sorcerer, leaving him at 1W. Then my Accursed Cultists charged in, doing nothing.

Conclusion

Overwhelming victory 81-37! I definitely did not expect this. 

We both did average on secondaries, but I did very well on primary, due to keeping the Thousand Sons back in their zone, and creating a new objective every turn for me to hold.

We both did mistakes during play (whisky may have had a part in that), but we both had fun.