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Do you like bringing the close assault brutality that would wipe the floor
with even the mightiest of Blood Angels?
These are just a few reasons to play Black Templars, but the number
one reasons is that while they are Space Marines they play radically
different then the other ‘marine armies out there. This allows you to
play and enjoy Space Marines, while brining an entirely new game to
the table. Your opponent may have faced “marines” before, but Black
Templars are an entirely different breed of super humans.
The BT codex was written at a time when 40K was a radically different
game then the more streamlined and vanilla version it is today. Chapter
traits, veteran status, upgrades, and the like all used to be standard fare
in the ‘marine ‘dexes- now but a memory- but that memory lives on
with the Black Templars.
So here is what makes them stand apart from the other codex
chapters…
Fearless…
Zeal…
Remember, they were written for 4th edition, and now in 5th edition the
trend for GW is to sell more models, which is fair as a business. The
quickest way to do this is to slash the points on the new codexes
coming out. Make troops less, tanks less, etc. and now you have 30%
more models on the table.
‘Templars don’t enjoy this luxury. Older vehicle rules, older wargear,
and 4th ed. marine costs means an already small Space Marine army will
be even smaller, but hey, at least we aren’t talking Deathwing model
count…
HQ: Chaplain- Decent wounds, fearless, and the ability to re-roll failed
attacks at first glance the chaplain seems redundant with the Emperor’s
Champion granting army wide preferred enemy / rerolls. That said the
Chaplain allows you to re-roll all attacks like melta-bombs, etc. when
joined to certain units that can take them.
HQ: Command Squads- Pricy, easy to get stuck with toys that look cool
but add no value, command squads allow you to take furious charge
when combined with the EC vow of preferred enemy and a sprinkling of
power weapons gives you a nice hard hitting death star unit before you
add in a marshal or chaplain.
Others: Land Raider & Razorbacks- Old smoke rules which mean all
penetrating hits become a glance, when combined with cover or vehicle
stacking shenanigans you can first get a 4+ cover save, then a smoke
benefit taking all penetrating hits down to a glance.
‘Templar Horde: All bodies on the table, no vehicles to get taken out by
a lucky las cannon shot, moving and running forward until assault range
and then no retreat, no surrender, no mercy!
The core of this list is built around Helbrecht and a command squad to
take advantage of his army wide LD. From here you continue building
crusader squads with dual close combat weapons, neophytes for fodder
and melta guns.
Deploy as far forward as you can, using cover for your assault marines
and terminators, move and run on turn one. Turn two the assault
terminators start moving and shooting, as the rest of the wave moves
No Retreat! No Surrender! No Mercy! | Page 9
and runs till contact range. Keep in mind that the zeal moves will help
propel you across the table, and in this capacity you also want to take
crusader seals since rolling a 5/6 each turn is huge- giving you vehicle
like movement while still on foot. Be prepared to take losses on the
way in, but once you are in, then go to work. Down side of this list is
you need lots of bodies to make it happen, and with all the zeal
movement it will leave you feeling like you are playing Orks or Tyranids.
Drop Pod Assault: All drop pods, everything, and anything, nothing
starts on the table. ‘Templars use the old ‘pod rules of having
everything in reserve. Dreadnoughts, terminators, and melta gun
crusader units all poding in, using the pods for cover, and then full
attack. Everything needs to be in a pod so you have enough critical
mass so even with some ho-hum reserve rolls overwhelming force is
still coming in.
Mech Rush: Looks like a marine army, but plays like Black Templars.
Rhinos, and Land Raiders with crusaders, terminators, and command
squads. Move forward into cover, pop smoke, and by turn two you are
in. The smallest model count of the three lists since you are spending
points on both vehicles and elite units that take advantage of the
‘Templar rules.
The Black Templar build that I’ve focused on and enjoy playing is a
variant of the mech rush. I’ve played the ‘Templar horde and while I
enjoy the mass close combat brutality transporting and pushing around
so many models is a herculean feat. Same with drop pods for a few
games, but buying and building so many pods was also an issue, but
maybe that is more of your liking. With the mech rush list I found a
focused way to deliver the hurt leveraging the units we covered in the
first part of this .PDF. At 1750 points my list looks like this:
HQ: Marshal W/ Power Sword, Storm Bolter, Bolt Pistol, Holy Orb,
Teleport Homer
Tactically the army is divided up into three groups. The lightning claw
terminators go in the land raider, and the Marshal joins the command
squad in the rhino. This gives me two hard hitting death star units to
drive right into my opponent.
The second group supports the frontal assault of the land raider and
command squad consisting of the dreadnought and two crusader
squads, and then later breaks off for objective securing in seize ground
and capture and control missions.
After the initial contact with my opponent most of my units will not
survive till the end of the game, so, and as I’ve found if I dropped the
command squad and took another troop unit, I’d have to use that troop
unit to kill my opponent and by turn four/five it would be gone itself,
perhaps trading 1 for 1 at best. BUT with a command squad and some
skill I can take out 2 to 3 units before the command squad drops.
BT’s are optimized for 4th edition so I need to play up to the strengths
of that rather than trying to play a 5th edition game with a 5th edition
codex.
Seize Ground…
As much as I want to wreck face with the land raider and rhino death
star waiting is the game- there is no way I’m making it across the table
No Retreat! No Surrender! No Mercy! | Page 15
to deliver the package until other factors are in place. So in the mean
time the godhammer fires its las-cannons to help de-mech along with
the dread and las cannon razorback to give me some targets to assault.
When the TT/SS terminators and assault marines come up on deck they
put their faith in their wargear and look to the emperor and deepstrike
in around my opponent- which should be clustered on objectives-
another reason why if you not their placement they are not right up on
the side- at least the ones I can place- this gives me room to deepstrike.
Once I come in I’ll shoot and or run into cover. These units are a
distraction and their only job is to stay alive as long as they can, keep
my opponent busy.
Of course there is a bit more to it than this, but the key is to figure out
HOW to make this plan work- terrain, movement, and target priority is
key, and I’ll just touch base a bit on target priority.
With all the mech craze in today’s game de-meching units and spilling
out the guys inside so you have something to assault when your units
arrive. Also knowing what to kill and assault, and when to hold back
with the infiltrating units is key, along with targeting troops, troops, and
troops. You have to hold your two objectives, keep your opponent so
busy dealing with the “templar insanity on their side of the table that
In C&C we are looking at some of the same tactics used in seize ground
only with a focus on two objectives. In this mission I am looking to do
two things- hold my objective and contest my opponents. Ideally I’d like
to get both objectives in the center of the table, but I’ll place mine in
the center.
Turn one is firing las cannons, heavy bolters, and assault cannons to try
and de-mech and open up targets to assault. Turn two depends on if
my terminators and/or assault marines come in. If they don’t I hang
tight, if they do then it’s time to move out, full attack. I move
everything out and pop smoke + run on the dread. Use cover to collect
a cover save then the smoke downgrade to glance. I want a giant wave
of steel and Templar fury to be coming to my opponent.
My land raider + termies, command squad, and dread will push forward
engaging my opponent. If the land raider gets blown up half way, the
termies get out and keep running to my opponent, etc. the idea is to
keep pushing so my opponent has to meet me in the center/away from
their objective/base. Once my two troop razorbacks make it to the
center mid way they then stop and start to back pedal back to my
objective. Their goal was to make my main attack look bigger then it
was and to maybe take some shots off my land raider and command
rhino. If my command rhino is destroyed I may even hop in one of the
razorbacks and continue moving forward as my troops run back, etc.
Annihilation
Two ways to play annihilation, the “fun” and heroic way, or the sneaky
WAAC way not befitting the honor of a Space Marine, especially a Black
Templar, but unfortunately SOP for tournaments.
The heroic way when I don’t really care about winning and just want to
crush in the assault it to deploy everything as far forward as I can, take
first turn, move and pop smoke. Turn two move again, possibly assault
out of the land rider, and then turn three assault with everything else.
TT/SS storm shield termies come in off a teleport homer which has the
command squad rhino leading the push to get those termies in there.
Assault marines might deep strike in, or follow up using the bulk of the
land raider to protect them as the more likely option.
I’m hoping you will take my ideas, and filter them down into your own
army, making changes as needed for your own style of play and local
gaming community.
~ Fritz