4/5 stars. Everything is viable here at a reasonable to good level! But it remains a legion that is not beginner friendly.
Warlord Traits.
The Thousand Sons legion comes with 3 warlord traits, with only 1 of them being restricted to traitors only.
Evoker of Pain. For the traitors, this trait allows the Thousand Sons player to transfer failed perils of the warp checks on to nearby enemy units with interest. This is a great trait, but does require an aggressive play style. The bonus reaction is for assault.
Magister of Prospero. The all round fluffy option. Roll an extra dice for psychic checks and discard the highest. You will want this one most of the time. The added movement reaction is great.
Eidolon of Suffering. This one sits oddly with me, but it does describe the less than able members of the legion very appropriately. Instead of psychic powers, the warlord has adamantium will, and in some circumstances (nearby psychics being activated) gains rage which can increase during the battle. So by all means wind him up by putting him near another psyker of your own and you have your wind up rage machine. Bonus reaction is shooting.
Rites of War.
The Achaean Configuration. New for second edition, this rite of war allows you to bring castellax-achea automata - psychic robots - as non compulsory troops. Why would you want to do this? Because you can divert your perils of the warp right over to them with this rite of war. In effect then, they are peril capacitors! There are some restrictions such as having more than one model, a techmarine, and a praevian, but this rite opens up a very interesting play style wherein you cast as many spells per turn as you can muster and put anything negative onto the robots.
The Guard of the Crimson King. The carry over from First Edition is going to be the default choice for most players I would expect. Six units can gain deep strike and fear when they come into play for the first turn whilst giving you Sekhmet cabals as troops. But you have to go with Magnus, Ahriman, or praetor with psychic abilities. But you were going to do that anyway, which is why it is the default choice. The lack of allies is a minor issue in comparison to this.
Difference to First Edition.
Plenty of change here (pun not entirely intended). Some new things, and some re-jigged old things. Overall the Thousand Sons are looking healthy in second edition and I like most of what I am seeing here. Not only are the rules fluffy, but all of them are playable. As stated previously for this legion though, it is not a beginner friendly one, and this same theme continues here. Players need to inject a lot of thought into their list building to maximize the benefits.
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