Detachment Focus: Warpmeld Pact

In our Detachment Focus series we take a deep dive into an army’s Detachments, covering what’s in them, how they play, and how they’ll fit into the broader meta and your games. In this Detachment Focus we’re looking at the Warpmeld Pact from the Thousand Sons.

When you think of a Thousand Sons army you probably think of Rubric Marines, Scarabs, Psycher Characters, and some great vehicles. What if you wanted a Detachment that focused on none of those? Well if that’s the case this is the Detachment for you!

Detachment Overview

In all seriousness, this supports some great sheets in the Thousand Sons book. Mutaliths, Spawn, and Tzaangor Enlightened all get some great bonuses in this Detachment and you were gonna take those anyway. It also makes Tzaangor Battleline so if you really want to load up on blue Beastmen this is a great way to do it.

The Video Version

If you’d like to watch a video version of this Detachment Focus, we’ve got you covered here:

Detachment Rule: Warpmeld Sacrifice

Unlike a lot of other Detachments, you’ll want to keep this one in mind regardless of whose turn it is. Any time one of your TZEENTCH MUTANT units attacks, it can take d3 mortal wounds to add 1 to the wound roll. On the flip side, any time your opponent attacks one of your TZEENTCH MUTANT units, your unit can take d3 mortal wounds to subtract 1 from the incoming wound rolls.

The ability to add 1 to wound rolls is useful for any of your units, especially considering how scary units like Tzaangor Enlightened and Mutalith Vortex Beasts can be. The defensive half of the rule might seem like it’s a bit rough–taking mortal wounds to avoid normal wounds isn’t a great tradeoff for your normal Tzaangors–but the 5+ Feel No Pain on Chaos Spawn and Mutaliths makes it worth considering. And if you’ve got a 20-model blob of Tzaangors, the math might work out in your favor occasionally, but don’t count on it.

Enhancements

Most of the enhancements here go on Tzaangor Shamans and will mostly benefit units of Tzaangors and Tzaangor Enlightened. Enlightened are great but really only benefit from one of these, and Tzaangors are not really worth investing in so you may pass on some of these buffs unless you have some points left over.

• Warpmeld Dagger – This is a neat one. When you make a Ritual roll you can see the result then have this unit take D3 mortals to get that much of a bonus to the test. This is great for pushing an important ritual over if need be but, since your Shamans only have 4 wounds, you aren’t likely to use this twice.
• Diamond of Distortion – The Diamond grants the unit the bearer is with -1 to be hit. This is nice for a unit of Enlightened or if you want to make a particularly sticky block of 20 Tzaangors but it’s also the most expensive of the bunch here.
• Bray Lord – This lets you get some extra buffs for your Tzaangors. It goes on either a Sorcerer or Infernal Master and gives them Scouts 6” and the ability to join Tzaangors. Giving your Tzaangors Lethals from the Sorcerer is nice, but realistically their job isn’t really to take anything down.
• Flowing Flesh – Another one that can only go on a Shaman. This gives the model a 4+ Feel No Pain and an extra wound. This is neat with a lone Shaman, making him just annoying enough to remove and with his speed he makes for a good objective bozo.

Stratagems

• Gift of Change (Epic Deed, 1 CP) – This is a fun one. Whenever a Thousand Sons character dies you can spend a CP to turn them into a Chaos Spawn unit with a single model. This is fun to recover a bit from losing a character, giving you a solid objective play unit or even just something extra to move block. 
• Warped Vicissitude (Strategic Ploy, 1 CP) – When a Tzaangor unit is targeted by an attack, you can spend a CP to give them a 4+ Invulnerable Save. This is one you’ll likely use often on your big brick you’re using to bully objectives, making them that much more annoying to remove.
• Deranged Ferocity (Strategic Ploy, 1 CP) – When you fight with a MUTANT model, you can pile in and consolidate 6” and are eligible to fight while within 3”. The intention here is likely Tzaangors to help get everyone in, but if you’re looking to put spawn in inconvenient places, this is a good tool for doing that.
• Blessed Transmutations (Strategic Ploy, 1 CP) – Pick a Psyker and a nearby Tzaangor unit and that Tzaangor unit regains D3+1 models. This is nice for topping off a unit you may have used the Warpmeld Pact on or just to bring some OC over the edge to pinch an objective.
• Touched by Tzeentch (Strategic Ploy, 1 CP) – This is the real winner of the Detachment. Pick a MUTANT unit and it can advance and shoot or charge. This is amazing for getting your Mutaliths into position to splash mortals or even just to throw Spawn in inconvenient places.
• Twisted Mirage (Strategic Ploy, 1 CP) – This is an interesting one, it lets your MUTANT unit come in from reserves effectively using the Deep Strike rule but as long as it’s not a Mutalith it’ll come in 6” away. This can be nifty for getting some Tzaangors where they need to be or enhancing your Spawn objective play.

Playing This Detachment

Overall this is a pretty straightforward Detachment. You’ll be running a lot of Spawn, Mutaliths, and Tzaangor Enlightened. All of these are hyper efficient units in normal Thousand Sons lists and only get better with the support this Detachment gives them. Mutaliths in particular are amazing with a flat -1 to wound, making units trying to punch up into them do virtually nothing. You’ll be looking to out OC your opponents with Tzaangors while bullying objectives with your more beefy units. You also definitely run some normal Thousand Sons units to go with this army, don’t just fill up on Tzaangors.

Strengths

• Buffs for some of your best units. Almost all your Mutant units are units you were gonna consider taking anyway, and this Detachment just pushes them further.

• Flat -1 To Wound. We’ve largely seen rules writing move away from things being -1 to wound if the strength is lower than the target’s toughness. Getting access to it here makes punching up into these units incredibly difficult.
• OC 2 Tzaangors. OC 2 Tzaangors means they’ll be much better as an objective bullying unit, where even just half a squad can take a point from most units in the game.

Weaknesses

• Tzaangors aren’t that good. While Tzaangors are great objective play units, they’re not great in combat and this Detachment is definitely trying to push you towards that gameplan.

• Nothing here for your normal units. There’s almost nothing here for your normal units except the ability to turn guys into spawn when they die, which isn’t exactly what I’d call “support”.
• Not-so-great enhancements. There’s nothing here that’s particularly exciting for your units, it’s mostly just stuff to fill out the list.

A Sample List

Sample List - Click to Expand

The Idea behind this list is to run all the good Mutant units as well as enough support to get your rituals going. Magnus is kind of an outside pick and may need to be replaced with more shooting, but he provides more beef and works nicely with the Mutaliths. For the other characters, two Tzaangor Shamans run with the Enlightened while the one with Flowing Flesh runs around solo doing objectives and taking way too much investment to remove compared to his cost. The Exalted Sorcerer on Disk runs with the third Enlightened unit, giving you an option that can sit back and snipe without having to worry about retribution from long range. Lastly the Daemon Prince provides a fantastic buff for Tzaangors while providing a sizable melee threat.

Final Thoughts

This is a neat Detachment, providing a path towards a playstyle that isn’t really present in the other ones. While its Stratagems and Enhancements aren’t all winners, there’s some great tools to help some great units get where they need to be. Overall this is definitely worth a look for a nice change of pace from the standard Rubric game plan.

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