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I'm thinking about starting a themed chaos army and like the idea of a thousand sons force with Ahriman leading, I've never played chaos but they seem quite expensive? What advice could you give me on putting together a chaos army that's at least competitive enough not to get tabled to easily but still TS themed? Thanks:-)

You're gonna be facing an uphill battle, TS cult troops pay a premium to be good against MEQ but gain nothing vs everything else.

As much as I love the theme of Thousand Sons, their rules are awful. They pay a premium to over-specialise against a single enemy type that doesn't really come out that often. Specifically 3+ save models on foot without invulnerable saves, cover saves, or other rules like FNP or RP. The Sorcerer is hamstrung with a worthless Psychic Power table.

Basically, if you want a competitive army you're going to be minimising the number of Thousand Sons in it because they're too expensive and slow. Thematically you'd probably pick up Daemon allies to fill in most of the things the Sons can't manage, like Hordes or Vehicles. At which point you're probably better off taking a Daemon army with Ahriman and Cultists for allies.

Yea reading the book I had a feeling this would be the case, its a shame, thanks guys:-)

Just because you are running TS doesn't mean you have to use only cult troops. Nothing stops you from using the entire codex.
As long as it is recognizable who are rubic and who aren't, knock yourself out.
Personally I use my rubic marines as standard marines. The figures are awesome and I want them on the table.

As long as there's a distinct blue and gold color scheme coming down the board, it'll be recognizable as thousand sons-themed. Well, that or ultramarines, but put some daemon machines in there and that'll get cleared up fast.

I am doing the same thing, but I am only planing on taking 2 squads of TS Marines. I am still working out the rest.