Editing Warhammer 40,000/9th Edition Tactics/Thousand Sons (section)

===Abhor The Witch And You!===

Remember when we were hyped to get an early codex and have all these fun rules and different combos, plus D2 swords and Obsec Terminators. Then we got Armor of Contempt and suddenly no one could scratch Rubrics with D1 weapons. We even used the Daemon Codex to fuck around with everyone with a torrent of 15+5d3 high-AP autohitting deepstrike flamer shots. 

So why didn't we ever become truly OP? Because of Abhor The Witch. In an army where your troops, elites, and every single HQ option is a Psyker, the Secondary is basically tailor-made to reign in excessive Psykers. Your opponent is just as likely to have no Psykers as they are to have just one or two, so it's a good decision to build a list to address the advantage your opponent will have in Matched Play. There are no exact rules to it, but things to consider include

# '''Limit your Characters''': Each character lost gives your opponent 3 VP, any other Psykers give them 2. There is no way to avoid losing Psykers but taking more than two or three makes maxing this out so much easier, especially when you consider that every additional HQ costs just as much as an additional layer of bubblewrap. Consider taking only the HQs you actually need, like an Exalted that's been kitted out with Relics, Ahriman, or an Infernal Master for buffing. You can also take a Sorcerer in Teminator Armor and keep him tucked away until you absolutely need him. 
#*Daemon Princes are risky choices because they make all their points back in melee, but will not survive getting charged or being counter-attacked, especially not now that the [[Warhammer_40,000/Tactics/World_Eaters_(9E)|skulljocks are coming back]]. Similarly, there's no point in Tzaangor Shamans; they're just too squishy and niche, you may as well just use an Infernal Master or a basic Sorcerer to do actions for you.
# '''Go For Dust and Mutants''': Similarly, Terminators and Rubrics give off the same amount of VP when they die, and are both Obsec. You should make Scarabs the core of your army and take large groups to avoid giving away VP: 1x10+2x5 or 2x10 are reasonable loadouts. Still, leave room for Rubrics, which can be taken in Flamer Bricks for deepstrike/redeploy, or in reserve as MSUs with Soulreaper cannons. Tack on your non-Psyker units to fill in the rest of your slots: Cultists give you board presence while Tzaangors will actually have a chance of not dying; have them move around to corners of the battlefield where they wont be seen, or have them advance ahead of your Discs so that in the next turn you have some bubblewrap already in place. Other good list fillers include the Terrax, Chaos Spawn (take groups of 3-5 to give character protection), and Daemon Engines. But you can also outsource your Heavy Elite Supports with...
# '''Auxiliaries''': You may as well soup with factions that have better non-Psyker options, especially now that they don't cost CP. A Patrol of Tzeentch Daemons or a Knight makes a good distraction from the Witch-hunt. That being said, if you're taking a Knight, they can also take ''Bring it Down'', and can get 2/3 VP for killing it anyway. Take only enough vehicles that they can't max it out, or deal with their anti-tank ASAP; otherwise, stick to Daemons.
# '''Ramp Up On Secondaries:''' You will always have Psykers, so you may as well think of your units in terms of how many points you can squeeze out before they die, Rubrics especially. 
#*Consider ''Mutate Landscape'' or ''Burn Empires'', making use of Duplicity's teleporting or our other deepstrike/redeploy options; at 3/4 points, you're gaining a point over them so long as you complete the action. 
#*''Sorcerous Prowess'' is a trap. Any army that can Abhor the Witch can't give you 5/3 points for killing their Psykers because they have none. Getting two points for killing something isn't very good, and you may as well take Bring It Down or Grind Them Down because they don't care how enemies die.