December Detachment Review: Hexwarp Thrallband

I woke up this morning excited to see the Tzaangor detachment. You know, for the bit. But then I woke up and saw the Hexwap Thrallband instead and I was happy it wasn’t Tzaangors because you know: that would suck for Thousand Sons players.

Then I started reading the detachment and I started to feel weird.

And then I started reading my discord and woke up to some very sad messages from known doombolt fanatic Brendan Bartok

There’s no other way to put it, this detachment sucks buddy. Let’s get into it.

The army rule is Flow of Magic, it’s essentially daemons where you have you have to control half of the objectives in each part of the map (your deployment zone, no mans land, and the enemy deployment zone) to get a buff. In this case that buff is “Flow of Magic.”

Important note is that your own deployment zone is always in your flow of magic.

When a unit from your army makes a Psychic attack, you can re-roll a wound roll of 1. If you’re wholly within your army’s flow of magic, you instead add 1 to the wound roll of Psychic attacks.

It’s as vexing as it sounds. Why is it not both effects in your Flow of Magic? Like brother that’s stupid.

Enhancements

You’re going to see a trend in this detachments enhancements that amounts to “My character kind of hits harder bro, sometimes”

The first enhancement is Arcane Might, it’s 20 points and adds 1 to the strength of the bearers unit’s psychic weapons. it adds 2 instead if you’re within your army’s Flow of Magic. Before you get excited: No. None of the rubric or scarab occult’s weapons (excluding the one sergeant model) are psychic. Your mind is tricking you into think that their bolters have ever been psychic. I looked it up this morning, that was thanks to the Ensorcelled Infusion stratagem from Cult of Magic. You don’t get that here. At most this gives you a strength 8 psychic attack. F for flunked out of the better cults.

Empowered Manifestation is 20 points and increases the range of psychic abilities by 6″ if you’re within your Flow of Magic. This increase in range applies to rituals. In addition, you can re-roll hazardous tests for psychic weapons equipped by the bearers unit. This ones actually good, another 6″ to any ritual is nice, and you can use the stronger version of your psychic attacks without as much fear that you’ll blow yourself up. You’re probably taking this every time because you’ll need any advantage you can get. B

Empyric Onslaught is 25 points and gives the bearers unit +3 attacks to their ranged psychic weapons while within the Flow of Magic. This isn’t actually bad, like you’ll take this, but really it should be part of Arcane Might. It’s fine. It helps you accomplish the goal of “My character model hits a little harder sometimes.” B

Nocitlith Mantle is neat design on a garbage 15 point enhancement. Your unit is always considered in your flow of magic, but can never be selected to use rituals. Ask yourself if getting +1 to wound on one models psychic attacks are worth trading your ability to Doombolt away. I don’t know. Put this on an Infernal Master near your home objective. Or don’t. Nobody will notice. D-

This is honestly painful to write.

Stratagems

The stratagems are actually not terrible. I’d argue that most of these are good.

Warding Hex lets you sticky an objective you control wholly within your armies Flow of Magic. It’s sticky. It’s good pretty much every time. But the Flow of Magic requirement is a bit restrictive. B-

Wrath of the Doomed wasn’t on my list of things Thousand Sons would get or want. It’s a 4+ fight on death, becoming a 3+ if you’re in your Flow of Magic. I actually don’t hate this, like at all. The surface level play is to put it on your Scarab Occult block. The big brain play is to put it on Magnus and let him pretend he’s Angron for a bit. It’s good. B

Strands of Time lets you fall back then shoot or charge. If you used this on a unit that started wholly within your Flow of Magic they can do both. I don’t think anyone’s ever complained about being able to fall back and shoot with warp flamers. Hell yeah. A+

Through the Veil is something funky and fun. It gives Rubric Marines in reserves Deep Strike. Hell yeah. Or, you can make Scarab occult able to Deep Strike within 6″ wholly within your army’s Flow of Magic. They can not charge after.

I like this a lot just out of what it adds to the armies threat potential. It also gives a sneak peak (I think) of what’s coming in the Balance Dataslate. Bye bye 3″ Deep Strikes? I hope so. A+ for being fun and showing GW learning why 3″ Deep Strikes are bad for the game.

Scouring Warpflame lets you pick a Thousand Sons unit in the shooting phase wholly within your army’s Flow of Magic and gives them the ignore cover ability. You pick one unit hit by those attacks, they can not gain the benefit of cover until the end of the phase. Thousand Sons like shooting, ignoring cover is good. B+

Kaleidoscopic Tempest is stealth on demand for a Psyker unit. If you’re within your armies Flow of Magic you also game cover. Scarab Occult go brr? A+

The stratagems are all honestly super usable. While a lot of this detachment sucks, there’s some fun design here; especially for a Thousand Sons army. I just wish they gave them a detachment rule. Weird that they didn’t.

Lists

I don’t know how this stuff works. I would tell you to just stack Scarab Occult with your best characters so they are well protected, pack some Deep Strike flamers and always bring Magnus, he actually benefits from the +1 to wound the most somehow. Good job Magnus.

Otherwise, I got Brendan Bartok to give us his take on a list and some thoughts on the detachment.

Here are Brendans thoughts first, and they’re lengthy. We appreciate a good effort post around here:

“As a toxic Thousand Sons fan and supporter for a few editions now, I went to bed dreading the inevitable – Index Tzaangors. I was fully prepared for the “Here, buy our Combat Patrol Please” from Games Workshop, that it took me a few minutes to chew and swallow the disgusting mess we did end up receiving. But I can’t just say “bad detachment” and give you a meme list, so I will try my best and break it down.

Now originally I had a whole analysis, but then I realized I wrote a page and a half and Josh needed this 40 minutes ago, so here is the Sparknotes version. Character spam, and Rubrics are still decent in this detachment. You are pretty much trading your ability to deal dev Wounds on your Characters for +1 to wound. Which helps deal with Stat check lists a little better, but in the end still leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. The 1CP to be able to deepstrike a Rubric Squad is pretty nice, softening the blow of losing Umbralfic Crystal by allowing you to keep a few units off the board and deep strike them in later. Could be neat with a 10 man unit of rubric.

But that really is about it for things that are good. Genuinely, this detachment sounds like a writing exercise for a new rules writer that has not played Thousand Sons, or is a Grey Knights main that wants to see Thousand Sons players suffer. Even now I feel my blood boil thinking about how this would make an even better Grey Knights detachment. This detachment in the current state feels like it conflicts with itself. It focuses on the necessity to hold objects, especially in No-Man’s land, but does little to provide help with that. Rubrics bodies are fragile. 3+ 5++ T4 bodies aren’t what you would typically use to lockdown Objectives, especially in no mans land. So you would think, hey why don’t I bring Scarab occult. T5, 2+ 4++ with -1 to Wound sounds pretty chunky, and it is, but then they don’t give anything to aid with their output, and the one neat rule where you can deep strike a unit out of 6, they restrict it so you cant charge? So you just want me to Deep Strike them, not kill anything in their poor shooting, and have someone charge me in my opponent’s turn to lock them up? Kinda lame to me.

Now I admit, not a great list, but I am trying to mitigate what we lost (Dev Wounds) and allow us to use some of our new rules.

I have opted for 3 exalted sorcerers to make our rubrics a little more durable (4++ invuln), and leverage the fact they are the only character that still has Dev wounds. Toss Arcane Might on one of them, I don’t know, the detachment is not on the Warhammer app.

Magnus is still a mainstay. Bring Tzaangors to remember what we did not get, and to potentially steal objectives in the movement phase to get +1 to wound in the following shooting. 10 man rubrics with a character to deepstrike your slow scarabs outside of 6 to be annoying for a turn or 2. Im kinda lost with list building outside of just building a list that would be so much better in the other detachment.”

Is this a case of whiplash? Maybe. Probably. Hyperbole is always fun. He’s likely right that any list you make is just better in Cult of Magic, and that’s sad to me. But regardless, here’s the list I was sent.

Brendan Bartok’s List

CHARACTERS

Exalted Sorcerer (110 points)
• 1x Astral Blast
1x Force weapon
1x Inferno bolt pistol

Magnus the Red (465 points)
• Warlord
• 1x Blade of Magnus
1x Gaze of Magnus
1x Tzeentch’s Firestorm

Thousand Sons Sorcerer in Terminator Armour (115 points)
• 1x Coruscating Flames
1x Force weapon
1x Inferno combi-bolter

BATTLELINE

Rubric Marines (110 points)
• 1x Aspiring Sorcerer
• 1x Force weapon
1x Inferno bolt pistol
1x Warpsmite
• 4x Rubric Marine
• 4x Close combat weapon
1x Icon of Flame
1x Soulreaper cannon
3x Warpflamer

Tzaangors (65 points)
• 1x Twistbray
• 1x Tzaangor blades
• 9x Tzaangor
• 9x Tzaangor blades

OTHER DATASHEETS

Mutalith Vortex Beast (160 points)
• 1x Betentacled maw
1x Mutalith claws
1x Warp vortex

Scarab Occult Terminators (380 points)
• 1x Scarab Occult Sorcerer
• 1x Force weapon
1x Inferno combi-bolter
1x Warpsmite
• 9x Scarab Occult Terminator
• 2x Hellfyre missile rack
7x Inferno combi-bolter
9x Prosperine khopesh
2x Soulreaper cannon

I was also sent a surprise list by a Mr. Daniel Schneider, and it might be the best list possible for the new detachment.

Daniel “What if it was Tzaangors” Schneider

CHARACTERS

Thousand Sons Daemon Prince with Wings (200 points)
• 1x Hellforged weapons
1x Infernal cannon
• Enhancement: Arcane Might

Tzaangor Shaman (60 points)
• Warlord
• 1x Mutating orbs
1x Shaman’s stave

Tzaangor Shaman (60 points)
• 1x Mutating orbs
1x Shaman’s stave

BATTLELINE

Tzaangors (130 points)
• 1x Twistbray
• 1x Tzaangor blades
• 19x Tzaangor
• 1x Brayhorn
1x Herd banner
19x Tzaangor blades

OTHER DATASHEETS

Mutalith Vortex Beast (160 points)
• 1x Betentacled maw
1x Mutalith claws
1x Warp vortex

Thousand Sons Chaos Spawn (65 points)
• 2x Chaos Spawn
• 2x Hideous mutations

Tzaangor Enlightened (90 points)
• 1x Aviarch
• 1x Close combat weapon
1x Fatecaster greatbow
• 5x Enlightened
• 5x Close combat weapon
5x Fatecaster greatbow

“This detachment does almost nothing for Tzaangors 1/10”- Dan

“I’m giving it a 1 instead of a 0 because this detachment now confirms a Tzaangor focused detachment exists in the codex. There is hope for Tzaangors: the rightful heir to the Thousand Sons throne.”

Final Thoughts

You’ll probably just play Cult of Magic. Turns out getting lethal, sustained, or devastating wounds on whatever you want is really good. At least in comparison to re-rolling 1’s to wound sometimes, or +1 to wound, sometimes. And just on the character model and his sergeant buddy.

It’s sad because the stratagems are all really good.

I think Thousand Sons suffer from “I have 6 different units to pick from” syndrome. Combined with an index which has a lot of inherent problems.

When the Codex comes out, maybe this detachment will rock. But only time will tell.

I wish it was Tzaangors.

Be safe, drink water. See you all tomorrow for Admech.