Are Chaos players spoiled for choice?

[Irisado]

Whiners are going to whine, unfortunately. It seems to be some sort of benchmark to new stuff these days - there has to be something to moan about it! There has to! There has to! OMG the models come unpainted! ./whine

People used to whine back in the days of Rogue Trader and second edition too.  I had a friend back then who used to complain about everything.  It's just the internet means that we all get exposed to more whining.  I just don't read it, or if I have to for any particular reason, I'll either disagree with it, or post something positive to counteract it .

Oh, really Isi? They didn't do anything 'fun and giggles' with the Sorcerer? That's suck. *bit turned down*
I was thinking of modelling the grey past of my Ultrawolves (who may have been a Thousand Sons root, long story, hehe) but with a bland Sorcerer that just became a lot less enticing a prospect. :/

The Sorcerer HQ choice is very good, it's just the interaction between the Aspiring Sorcerer and the Thousand Sons he leads which is a bit lacking in my opinion.  The Chaos HQ section is revitalised though, with the Daemon Prince no longer the default choice, and I'd certainly be tempted to field a Sorcerer and Lord HQ combination in games where I could afford a dual HQ, rather than the Daemon Prince.

This is why the Chaos codex does offer so much more choice now.  Your good units were limited in fifth, but now you can make a much wider range of units work for you, depending on the style of army you want to field.

[LinnScarlett]

Out with the cookiecutter built, in with the new idowhatiwantandstillkickbutt! I hope the coming 6th E codexi will also be this nice, with tons of valid options to play with.

Glad to hear it's not as bad as I instantly feared! Would be fun to play a bit with the 1kS.

Hehe, and also quite glad I am not the only one haunting this place when at (bored with) work!
*doddles her pen, trying to find comparable characteristics in the sediments her artefacts came from* 

[Irisado]

The other thing that helps Chaos armies, particularly Thousand Sons, is being able to ally with Daemons.  Thousand Sons on their own still look pretty tricky to use, based on my observations, and discussions with experienced Thousand Sons players elsewhere, but combine them with Tzeentch Daemons, and the army as a whole becomes much more threatening and versatile.

These alliances have also given Chaos players a wider set of options and tactical considerations to take into account when formulating their army lists, so it's all looking pretty positive in my opinion.

[Chicop76]

The other thing that helps Chaos armies, particularly Thousand Sons, is being able to ally with Daemons.  Thousand Sons on their own still look pretty tricky to use, based on my observations, and discussions with experienced Thousand Sons players elsewhere, but combine them with Tzeentch Daemons, and the army as a whole becomes much more threatening and versatile.

These alliances have also given Chaos players a wider set of options and tactical considerations to take into account when formulating their army lists, so it's all looking pretty positive in my opinion.

It does allow you to use real daemons and a step back to what Chaos use to be. The daemon option allows you to cover the mobility problem, anti-air, and terminators. I play mono Tzeentch for Daemons and toyed with the ideal of taking on some Tzeentch space marines.

[DEF Knight]

Oh, really Isi? They didn't do anything 'fun and giggles' with the Sorcerer? That's suck. *bit turned down*

Thousand Sons function largely as they did in the previous codex, albeit they can get Soulblaze for their bolters, they've got a few less disadvantages (including no more "The Sorcerer Commands"), the sorcerer is cheaper, and the sorcerer's powers have a bit more offensive punch, though are rolled randomly as per new psychic power rules.

The Sorcerer HQ choice is very good, it's just the interaction between the Aspiring Sorcerer and the Thousand Sons he leads which is a bit lacking in my opinion.

I was hoping for that too

[Aun]

Thousand Sons and all Tzeentch armies definitely got a boost in this codex and with sixth edition, which makes me very happy having played them for a decade now. The unit itself got cheaper (no more 90 point Aspiring Sorcerers!) and weirdly got better in combat with space marines. Still, its very disappointing that the Aspiring Sorcerer can only take a single spell from the lore of Tzeentch.
That lore is particularly disappointing considering the great powers that Slaanesh and Nurgle have access to. The primaris Power, Tzeentch's Firestorm suffers greatly from a lack of any AP and a random strength value. While it could be useful in giving a Thousand Sons unit more theoretical firepower against larger blobs of troops like Guardsmen or Orks, those really arent the targets the unit should be firing at anyway and I've never had it do anything worthwhile.
Doombolt is a great power that gives the unit a great high strength low AP punch that automatically hits whatever you point it at. The sorcerer cant use Breath of Chaos at all because it requires two warp charges and Boon of Mutation IMO is near worthless. Thus, more often than not you find your sorcerer saddled with the mediocre Firestorm.
I really wish they had made the Thousand Sons Aspiring Sorcerer either a level 2 psyker or let him take powers in other disciplines rather than that of Tzeentch because it really doesn't benefit him at all.

Thousand Sons make a great unit though for any army and bodyguard for a sorcerer, but I really wouldnt advise taking more than a single unit of them. They are simply far to expensive and the lack of special and heavy weapons hurts them a great deal (Unless you buy melta bombs, the whole unit is helpless against a Dreadnaught).

[crisis_vyper]

I would say that if you are undivided, you are definitely spoiled for choices through and back. However I will speak as a Death Guard player, and I can see that my list is quite regimented in the sense that my choices are quite obvious for me. Of course, this does not mean that my army is underpowered. On the contrary I find that it can handle a lot of things. The cultist for example are great as they are a cheap and large unit to have that can hold objectives while the rest of the Death guard could go about doing their own shenanigans.

The only thing I have a gripe about is the  Helldrake, as it is something I am unsure off despite its capabilities, as it is not as fluffy to have for a Death Guard player. Of course, I can always make it a large fly or something and I will be on my merry way.