Don’t miss this rules breakdown of the brand new Tzeentch Daemons, and the Tzaangors from the Wrath of Magnus Supplement!
Grab your calcluators and a taste for Chicken as we talk a walk down the Crystal Labyrinith and try to reason about the new Tzeentch Daemons.
First off BoLS has the contents of the book:
And our friends at Frontline Gaming got to read the new Wrath of Magnus book, and here’s what Reece had to say about it in his post:
Tzaangors: ported over form Age of Sigmar, this light infantry unit is pretty cool! Tzeentch armies can be very light on models, and that is where Tzaangors come in. Rocking a Guardsman statline but with WS and T 4, they’re not bad. The 6++ save is a bit rough, but that is not a big deal: they’re cannon fodder and that extra 16.67% of durability does add up with big units. They come stock with either 2 close combat weapons, or with an Autopistol and Chainsword. One of them can be upgraded to a Twistbray (Sarge).
- At 70pts for the unit of 10, and the ability to go up to units of 30, these guys are great for board control, taking objectives and forming the grist of an all Tzeentch Deathstar. With a 6++ and T4, they’re significantly more durable than your average light infantry unit. I think these guys are great for upping your model count and adding some durability to a Tzeentch army. Honestly, these will probably for the default troop choice in most Tzeetch armies that don’t utilize other detachments for that role. Objective Secured is still a tournament winning ability.
Chaos Daemons
There’s some cool stuff to be had in the Daemon section of the book and one, big issue, lol. Pink Horrors….GW, what have you done!?
Melodramatics aside, let’s dig in!
- Warp Storm of Tzeentch: They have an altered version of the Warp Storm table which is slightly more Tzeenthified!
- Daemonic Gifts of Tzeentch: There are some new Loci for Tzeentch units which compliment or replace the older versions.
- Pink Horrors: What…the…I sincerely hope I am not reading these rules right (and please correct me if I missed something) but this is the most powerful troop unit in the game now by a country mile and is going to cause very real problems. Why do I say this? For one, simple reason: Split. Split is a new special rule that brings an old rule back into the game. Pink Horrors that are killed split into two Blue Horrors in each phase. So you kill a few Pink Horrors in the shooting phase: they spawn a new unit (which is a Psyker). Kill some more in the assault phase? The first unit of Blue Horrors gets bigger or you form an entirely new unit. Shave off some more in the psychic phase? Repeat the process. These then morph into a base of 2 Brimstone Horrors in the same way. All of these units are Psykers, Daemons of Tzeentch (with a 5++, rerolling 1’s), Psykers, can Deep Strike, etc. The issue is that (again, unless I missed something) a 90 point unit of Pink Horrors gives you 250 points of units: 10 Pinks (90pts) to 20 Blues (50x2pts) to 20 Brimstone Horrors (30x2pts) which can be spread out over easily a dozen units. These units can all contribute warp charge and are all able to also summon in other units…yeah. We’ll talk about this more in a second.
Blue Horrors: Just link Pink Horrors, but cheaper. Sure they’re Toughness and Strength 2, but who cares? They give you everything Pink Horrors do at nearly half the price. They lack some of the bells and whistles but you get cheap warp charge and more psychic powers from them. They’d be an auto-take troop if weren’t for the fact that there’s an even MORE efficient choice coming right up!
- Split: If a friendly unit of Pink Horrors suffers any casualties, the slain Horrors will split and create Blue Horrors at the end of that phase (after all other units have performed their actions and made their attacks). Two Blue Horrors are created for each slain Pink Horror – if there is already a friendly Blue Horror unit within 6″ of the Pink Horrors, add the newly created Blue Horrors to that unit, otherwise set them up as a new unit within 6″ of the unit of Pink Horrors. If a rule causes a whole unit of Pink Horrors to be removed at once (excluding Daemonic Instability), you can immediately create a unit of Blue Horrors, just before removing the last model from the Pink Horrors unit. The unit of Blue Horrors has two models for each model in the unit of Pink Horrors at the point at which it is removed, and must be set up with all models within 6″ of the last model from the Pink Horrors unit.
Brimstone Horrors: Say hello to the best troop in the game! If it weren’t for the fact that every choice above it creates it, these little buggers on their own merit would be king. For a measly 30pts you get a troops choice that Deep Strikes, has Objective Secured in a CAD, has a 5++, rerolling 1’s, is a Psyker and can be taken in units of up to 20, 2 wound models. Yes, they are only toughness 1, but who cares? They can go to ground in cover for a 3+, rerolling 1’s, generate Warp Charge, have an invul and come stock with 20 wounds. Anything that doesn’t have a strength value or is only strength 1 (sorry, Dark Eldar!) will take twice as much firepower to chew through these guys than the Blue Horrors….who cost more points but are vastly inferior (but are still an incredible Troops choice on their own merit). Yeah, for 30 points this unit over-performs by a mile. What do you all think? Would you like a 30pt psyker with 20 wounds, an invul save, rerolls saves of 1 and can deep strike in your army?
Split Again: Same verbiage as Split but specifying Blue Horrors make Brimstone Horrors at a ratio of 1:1 as opposed to 1:2 as with Pinks to Blue. There are 2 Brimstone Horrors on a base, so the fluff ratio is the same but in terms of models, you get 1 base of Brimes. This also explains the 2 wound characteristic (as there are two of the little buggers!).
Daemonic Loci of Tzeentch
- Lesser Locus of Transmogrification: Causes auto-hits on units as Horrors are killed: strength 3 hit for Pinks, 2 for Blues, 1 for Brimstones.
- Lesser Locus of Metamorphosis: The bearer and its unit have It Will Not Die.
- Great Locus of Change: Roll a D6 each, the bearer of the Loci and models in its unit substitute this number for their strength.
- Greater Locus of Trickery: Roll a D6 each turn. When enemy units target the bearer of this Loci or its unit and roll the same number count as a 1 instead.
- Exalted Locus of Conjuration: This model and all models in its unit add 1 to the Strength of all hits caused by psychic powers they manifest.
- Exalted Locus of Creation: Each time a Pink Horror in the bearer of the Loci’s unit dies, it creates 4 Blue Horrors instead of two. Blue Horrors subsequently split into two Brimstone Horrors…
So I think we can all see where Reece is going here, this mechanic can make a bunch of feel badsies for your opponent for sure. Plus if you thought the Gladius was bad or even War-Con for the freebies, this may just take the cake.
Besides that the Loci all seem to be about average except the bottom one that is quite the force multiplier to say the least. I do like the Conjuration one for just getting over Instant Death thresholds however if you play your cards right.
I would expect the new Tzaangors to become the “Kroot” of Chaos, meaning you’ll see them being taken to fill compulsory slots in formations and detachments over the Rubric marines.
Time to break out the calculator if your playing with Pink Horrors? What do you think of their rules for the Daemons?
That’s it for this one, we’ll break down more of the book from Frontline’s teaser post as soon as we can.
Latest on the new Thousand Sons Model Releases & Rules
About the Author: Rob Baer
Rob Baer
Job Title: Managing Editor
Founded Spikey Bits in 2009
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About Rob Baer: Founder, Publisher, & Managing Editor of Spikey Bits, the leading tabletop gaming news website focused on the hobby side of wargaming and miniatures.
Rob also co-founded and currently hosts the Long War Podcast, which has over 350 episodes and focuses on tabletop miniatures gaming, specializing in Warhammer 40k. and spent six years writing for Bell of Lost Souls.
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