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Which formation is better?

Obviously, it depends what you want to use them for. Well, can anyone give me some guidance what you think the different uses for each formation would be? Is there something that the Cabal can do that is better than Ahriman's Exalted? The major difference, as I see it, is that Ahriman's exalted formation are more expensive, have access to the astral grimoire, and has a lesser chance of rolling for invisibility due to the fact that they have to roll one spell on the tzeench table. The Cabal, it seems to me, if you just want to spam invisibility in the most cost efficient way, are the way to go. This is how I currently use my Cabal, and it's how I've managed to keep up with my Eldar friends. I'm thinking about trying Ahriman's Exiled, however, I'm concerned that the price may not be worth it. My usual list is built around the general strategy of bringing two blood thirsters and a bunch of sorcerers to cast invisibility. And I've got tons of renegade guardsmen that I litter the board with. Any thoughts on whether it would be worthwhile to switch to Ahriman's Exalted formation?

I think it'd definatly be worth considering, The Black Legion Cyclopia Cabal ASSUMING you can afford the points increase, the big thing the cyclopia cabal has is the ability to force a unit on the other side to shoot for you, a big thing don't get me wrong but not what you're apparently using them for. Arhiman's exiles get's better reliability on psykic powers, and, if you expand it eneugh, better survivability, so it depends on how much you want to spend.

I want to love Ahrimans exiles, but it's just so excruciatingly expensive. A closer comparison is the war coven. A heavy tax in MoT but you at least can get a bonus to casting telepathy (assuming fishing for invisibility is your plan) but still have less chance of getting the power you want, at greater expense, than the cyclopea cabal.

The Cabal has 3 models minimum instead of 4, has an optional Mark instead of being forced to take Tzeentch, auto-grants an amazing power and grants free Warp Charge for attempting to cast it. Add the Black Legion tactic and it's a no-contest if you ask me.

Also fwiw, the Nurgle and Slaanesh mounts are both quite useful and arguably far more useful than giving a Disc to a regular-ranked Sorcerer, if you ask me. The Palanquin gives extra HP if you want summon spells, while the Seeker lets you Outflank a unit with good odds that it ends up on the correct table edge. Both Disciplines are arguably superior to Tzeentch's own in a vacuum, and easily superior when you account for getting a better version of Treason of Tzeentch.

I see what you guys are saying. I guess I just want to try out some thousand sons sorcerers to get my hands on the astral grimoire. I should just find out what the cheapest possible way to get the relic is. Maybe a war coven with astral grimoire is better than cyclopia cabal. Who knows, I'll need to try it out I guess.

Cheapest is relative. It depends on if there was anything else you wanted to take anyway. For example, you can take Fist of the Gods if you were planning to take tanks anyway.

What does your army usually look like anyway?

Well it depends on what you want. The cabal doesn't have access to to either divination, seers bane, or grimoire. So it might end up cheaper if you need those things, but generally the cabal will be cheaper and fill your needs just fine.

here is my most recent power list at 3000 points its pretty much the most hardcore list I can make.

The Unending Host
HQ
Renegade Command nurgle autocannon rhino
Elites
X3 spawn
X3 spawn
Troops
10 zombies
19 zombies
X15 renegades krak grenades
X15 renegades krak grenades
X15 renegades krak grenades
X10 renegades autocannon rhino
X10 renegades autocannon rhino
X10 renegades autocannon rhino
Heavy Support
X3 Chaos Rapier Weapons Battery x3 conversion beamer

Daemonkin 1695
HQ
Bloodthirster of Rage
Bloodthirster of Fury
Chaos Lord goredrinker sigil of corruption
Troops
X8 csm melta chimera
X8 csm melta chimera
X5 possessed
Land Raider
Soul Grinder
Soul Grinder

Cyclopia Cabal 420
Sorcerer spell familiar x3 ML jump pack
Sorcerer spell familiar x3 ML jump pack
Sorcerer spell familiar x3 ML

Then I just cast invisibility on bloodthirsters and either the heavy conversion beamer or the land raider. Pretty much all my lists run both bloodthirsters with the cabal at 1500 points and up. I kind of want to move away from the forgeworld book and solely use traitor legions and khorne daemonkin if possible. Simply for army coherence. It's a nightmare trying to patch an army together from so many books. I'm thinking running some daemonkin, sorcerer cabal/ thousand sons coven, plus lost and the damned to make use of my renegades.


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i want to use the astral grimoire to maybe get some use out of my dusty terminators. jump them along behind my rhinos would be fun. So I could build a list of three fast heavy hitters, namely, two bloodthirsters and a jump squad of terminators. Ideally I'd also get invisibility for those thirsters.

Cabal can go w/o marks, so can generate more powers that you need and most importantly can be added to any list and that's the main reason you're gona see it more often. They're also cheaper.
Ahriman exiles have MoT which greatly reduces their retinue choices. But they have access to very powerful artifacts like seer's bane and astral grimoire. I've seen them rock in a magic list with a bunch of AL infiltrating cultists and a couple 20-30 strong units where the sorcs hid to than make everything invisible and soul-switch + kill stuff on the go.