5th Edition Skirmish versus Thousand Sons Chaos Marines!
I got a chance to go in early to the Tacoma GW store and checked out the action. 2 players from the league were going at it: David with Witch Hunters and Chris with Deathwing. Since no one else was around to play, I watched their game and had a good time. Shortly before the end of their game, another guy from the league came in (not sure of his name) and asked to play against somebody. He was looking for a league game, and I'm not part of the league at the moment, so he needed to play one of them. Chris offered to play him, and David offered to play me. He switched over to Thousand Sons and we agreed to a point total and got the party started!

Game: Annihilation. Spearhead (Table Quarter Deployment.)

Lists

Thousand Sons Chaos Space Marines:

Ahriman

Tactical Squad: 8 Rubric Marines and 1 Sorceror
Tactical Squad: 8 Rubric Marines and 1 Sorceror, mounted in a Chaos Rhino

Vindicator

Approximately 1000pts

Each of the Sorcerors and Ahriman had a power that was similar to a lascannon, but S8. (Bolt of Change? Don't remember the name offhand.) Ahriman also had the Warp Time power, which he used frequently.

Tau List:

97 Shas’El Commander w/Plasma Rifle, Fusion Blaster, Target Array, HWMT

139 2x Crisis Suit: Plasma, MP, MT. Tm Ldr w/HWMT and TA
139 2x Crisis Suit: Plasma, MP, MT. Tm Ldr w/HWMT and TA
139 2x Crisis Suit: Plasma, MP, MT. Tm Ldr w/HWMT and TA

100 8xShas’La FireWarriors w/Pulse Rifles, Tm Ldr also has Markerlight.
100 8xShas’La FireWarriors w/Pulse Rifles, Tm Ldr also has Markerlight.
100 8xShas’La FireWarriors w/Pulse Rifles, Tm Ldr also has Markerlight.

70 Piranha Fusion Blaster, TA

80 Broadside, Advanced Stabilization.
80 Broadside, Advanced Stabilization.
80 Broadside, Advanced Stabilization.

985pts

I knew that the Thousand Sons had changed significantly since the last Chaos Codex, so I made sure to ask David about how they were different. AP3 Bolters, Invulnerable saves. Pretty nasty stuff. Knowing that was the case, I knew that I couldn't afford to let him shoot me, and I didn't want him anywhere close to my lines. I was glad to hear that they didn't have 2 Wounds anymore, though invulnerable saves are certainly difficult. I was also a little concerned by our mission. Given that we were playing Annihilation and he had 4 killpoints worth of units (Ahriman, the two squads and the Vindicator) and I had 11!

Turn 1

Tau: I didn't like the look of that Vindicator ready to drop big pie plates on me, but I liked the look of the Rhino with it's payload of Thousand Sons even less! Hence, my squads attempted to Markerlight the vehicles and my Broadsides took aim. I fired on the Rhino with the Broadside that could only see the Rhino, and I fired on the Vindicator with the Broadside that could only see the Vindicator. The Broadside that could see both of them waited to see if either needed to be hit again. They both were destroyed, so it fired into one of the squads and killed a Rubric Marine for me.

Thousand Sons: One of the squads had rolled poorly on their Slow and Purposeful check, while the other had moved quickly on it (perhaps in reaction to their Rhino going up in flames behind them) The Sorceror from one of the squads fired a (Bolt of Change?) psychic attack at one of my FW teams and killed one member. The rest of the army was too far away to do any damage. (Note here that I considered having the team fall back and try to stay out of LOS in the next turn, but I decided that their cover was good enough for them to survive a little longer. Basically, I wanted to be able to use that Markerlight, and possibly their Rifles, but I also hoped to keep a Sorceror or two occupied with them, rather than trying to kill something else. With their cover save, they could have handled Sorcerors shooting at them all game for very little damage.)

Turn 2

Tau: I was pleased that the Rhino wouldn't be carrying the Thousand Sons closer to me, but they were still advancing, so it was time to light up the infantry before they got close enough to shred my Tau. Due to the difference in their movement last turn, the rhino squad was now closer to my lines. I opted to shoot the closer squad, instead of the one I had already damaged. (As I was doing this, I wasn't sure if it was the correct decision or not, but I stuck with it.) One of my Markerlights managed to hit the squad, but I didn't really have much that could take advantage of it. (I'm sure that having BS5 and BS4 instead of 4 and 3 helped the one Crisis Team that used it, but it was only 2 plasma bolts and 4 Missile Pod warheads, so it wasn't a huge deal.) I moved up the Piranha this turn, in anticipation of using it to help apply some firepower at close range in the next turn or so. All my Crisis Teams moved around the building in my quarter and drew a bead on the Rhino squad. The Broadsides crabwalked sidewise to get clear sight lines as well. The one FireWarrior squad that could see also fired on them. When the dust cleared, I had downed all 8 of the Rubric Marines, and only the Sorceror and Ahriman were left standing from that squad. Satisfied with a job well done, the Crisis Teams jetted back behind the building and out of harm's way.

Thousand Sons: The remaining Rubric squad moved forward and joined Ahriman, while the lone Sorceror also moved up. Angered by the damage done to his Rubric Marines, Ahriman blasted the Piranha with a Psychic power and shattered it. Deprived of other targets, he then ignited the wreckage with the power of his mind.

Turn 3

Tau: While I had severely damaged his army, the remaining force was certainly capable of gutting mine, so the Crisis Teams jumped back out to do their damage again, while the Broadsides hunkered down and got used to the idea of acting like snipers. The Sorceror from the Rhino squad went down, as did 6 Rubrics from the other squad, leaving only 1 Rubric, 1 Sorceror and Ahriman, who had taken a Wound in the firefight. I moved the FireWarriors closest to Ahriman back, but I forgot to Run them during the mayhem of shooting...

Thousand Sons: Unable to draw a bead on my Crisis Teams and not having the range to hit my Broadsides, Ahriman and the Sorceror fired into the FireWarrior team that had started to withdraw. Three of them died to Psychic Attacks, and they all fell back.

Turn 4

Tau: The FireWarriors continued to fall back, shaken by the sudden deaths of their Team members. My Crisis Teams knew that this turn was make or break. Even though there were only 3 enemy models left on the board, those models were easily capable of killing 2 of my Crisis Teams in a single turn! In addition, they all had invulnerable saves and good armor. One of my teams wouldn't be capable of getting LOS to any targets if it moved to it's normal position. They opted instead to leap to the top of the building they were hiding behind. It cost one of them a Wound, but it got them within rapidfire range of Ahriman and company. Once more my Tau unleashed Hell for the Greater good, and when it was all said and done, the battlefield was covered in dust and ash from the fallen Rubric Marines and Ahriman had vanished.

I had a good time playing against David. We laughed and joked a bit and played a good game. I know it looks pretty one-sided, but if he'd gotten his forces any closer, it would have been really bad for my little blue guys! It didn't occur to me until the next day, but I think if he had Run his squads forward instead of shooting with the Sorcerors and Ahriman, it might have put me in a world of hurt. He may not have realized that my teams could do so much damage, or he might simply have not considered it. That's the funny thing about a new edition, sometimes you forget your options. On the other hand, he might not have been able to do the damage to me that he did. Hindsight may be 20/20, but Armchair Generalship is dicey at best!

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