Black Templars - Frtiz guide

No Retreat! No Surrender! No Mercy! | Page 1

Fritz’s Guide To Black Templars For Warhammer 40,000


Introduction…

Welcome to my primer on how I’m playing Black Templars in the Warhammer 40,000 game. With so many Space Marine chapters to pick from, why join the great crusade and go with the Black Templars?

Do you like bringing the close assault brutality that would wipe the floor with even the mightiest of Blood Angels?

Do you like extra resilient land raiders and veteran dreadnoughts?

Drop pods? Want to play a TRUE drop pod army?

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.

No Retreat! No Surrender! No Mercy!


What Makes Black Templars So Special? Next to the Dark Angels the Black Templar codex is the last of the Space Marine books in need of an update, and this is both an advantage and a hindrance. While the ‘Templars don’t have access to some of the latest and greatest chapter toys like ironclad dreads, or multi-variant razorbacks they more than make up for it with their special rules- rules that we are going to use to put xeno scum and traitors to mankind to the chain sword!

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…

Army wide skills such as preferred enemy…

Furious charge, and tank hunter veteran skills…

Fearless…

Zeal…

Old smoke launcher rules…

True drop pod assault…


…to name but a few. These difference allow the army to play in an entirely different complexity then other chapters- they may be Space marines, but they don’t play like them.

Black Templar Disadvantages? That said, these advantages come at a cost, and if one does not understand the limitations of the Black Templars and plays them like Blood Angels or Space Wolves, they will fold on the table and you will be responsible for dooming the chapter to a slow death.

Black Templars need to make do with less…

Remember, they were written for 4th edition, and now in 5th

‘Templars don’t enjoy this luxury. Older vehicle rules, older wargear, and 4

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.

th

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…


Black Templar Unit Review? So when you are looking at what units to fill your Black Templar army out with what filter are we going to apply in the selection process? Obviously one that takes advantage of the unique ‘Templar rules, while minimizing the disadvantages. After this we’ll look at the three main “competitive” builds followed by mission specific tactics for the standard 40K missions.

Keep in mind we want preferred enemy status, furious charge, tank hunters and any unique wargear options not open to the other marine ‘dexes- otherwise we might as well play vanilla marines who get the same units for 25% or so less…


HQ :Emperor’s Champion- Pretty standard here- take the vow that given you army wide preferred enemy as a building block for the rest of your units. This rule more than anything, when combined with other vet skills is what makes ‘Templars so deadly.

HQ: Marshal- As an HQ choice the Marshal gives you an army wide LD boost to use for zeal checks along with a model with a decent amount of attacks at I 5. The Marshal also unlocks some unique wargear like the holy orb of Antioch.

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.


Elite: Sword Brethren Terminators- Bread and butter of the Black Templars. Two versions- walking terminators with assault cannons and tank hunter- +1 to the assault cannon roll, plus preferred enemy with the power fists, OR assault terminators in a land raider with lightning claws and furious charge- terminators hitting at I5 and S5 rerolling failed hits and wounds would make even Eldar players with their fortune and doom re-rolls cry.

Elite: Dreadnoughts- Tank hunters and preferred enemy combined with venerable. Put the dread in cover and give him a las cannon, hitting on a twin linked 3+ with S 10. Venerable only makes him all the more resilient, and as needed he can assault and benefit from preferred enemy also.

Troops: Crusader Squads- Mix in neophytes as fodder and mixed armor rules, ability to take bolt pistols and a CCW weapon boosting the number of base attacks to combine with preferred enemy, and power fists.


Fast Attack: Assault Marines- Plasma pistols, and melta-bombs, especially nasty when combined with a Chaplain.

Heavy Support: Vindicators- Machine spirit, a bit pricey for 30 points, but the ability to always move and shoot is huge in a support vehicle.

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.


From a primer perspective, these are the units we want to build our ‘Templars with and around. Sure you can take land speeders, but they are just like the ones in the other marine books and any points we have to spend, we want to spend leveraging what makes Black Templars special- just something to consider and think about as you assemble your crusade.

Three Main Black Templar Builds… The next filter to apply to leverage these unique skills is what template are we going to use to build our army. Currently there are three main/competitive builds- ‘Templar Horde, Drop Pod Assault, and Mech Rush. Selecting your units from above, consider how they would fit into these templates…

‘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.

Assault marines follow as a second wave, as assault cannon terminators also march forward.

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


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.



Fritz’s Black Templar Army List…

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: Emperor’s Champion W/ Preferred Enemy

HQ: Marshal W/ Power Sword, Storm Bolter, Bolt Pistol, Holy Orb, Teleport Homer

HQ: Command Squad W/ Company Champion + Apoc + Furious Charge + Rhino

Elite: 5 TT/SS Terminators

Elite: 5 LC Terminators W/ Furious Charge

Elite: Dreadnought W/Tank Hunter

Troops: Crusader Sqaud W/ Power Fist + Razorback HB/LC

Elites: 8 Assault Marines W/ Plasma Pistols + Melta Bombs

Heavy: Godhammer Land Raider

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.

Finally, the third group of terminators and assault marines drop in behind/next to my opponent to open up a null deployment (see my Tyranid .PDF) option to allow my land raider and command squad rhino to actually make it across the table.


Just a quick note on why I only have two troop choices despite “troops” being mandatory for two out of the three standard missions. Black Templars, Dark Angels, Eldar, etc. are all 4th edition codexes which means back in that version of 40K troops were not needed to “win” the games- which means you took two troops and an HQ to fill out the force org chart and then spend the rest of your points on fun units that you wanted. You could win the missions with anything. Well in 5th troops are key to winning and all of the new codexes allow you to take troops that are cheap in points and can actually do something along with the rest of your units in the codex- grey hunters being the perfect example. With ‘Templars and a 4th

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.

ed. codex I need to spend my points on the most “killy” units to keep my army effective and able to deal with the newer books. I need to not only move on objectives but also kill my opponent’s troops.

See where I am going with this?

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.


Mission Tactics I’ve talked about active vs. reactive players (blog) and how you want to go into each game with a “plan” based on how your army operates and how it is built- what is it trying to do to win the game. Once you have a plan, don’t change it, force your opponent to adapt to YOU.

Seize Ground…

Multiple objectives, looking to place objectives in the following pattern, two one side, the others loaded up on the other. You want to take the side with two objective.

My land raider, rhino, dread, and razorbacks all deploy or if facing overwhelming firepower go into reserves so they can come on and shoot to help even things out. Obviously I’m going to be using cover to my advantage.

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


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.


At this point the death stars then move out backed by the razorbacks in support. Mid table the death stars continue on and crash into my opponent taking out as much as they can before they die, as the supporting razorbacks break off and move to take the two objectives on my side of the table.

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


they can’t just waltz over and take your objectives, while wiping out their capacity to hold their own objectives. Example: My land raider moves up and has two targets in front of it, a jacked out Blood Angels terminator squad with an IC, priest, etc. or a lowly troop unit- what do I target. The troops! Take them out, and then prepare to engage and tie up the other assault squad.

Capture and Control

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.


Deployment, again maybe reserve if my opponent is looking to alpha strike, or if cover is present land raider, razorbacks, and dread out on the table. TT/SS terminators and assault marines in reserve to deep strike.

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.

Deepstriking units land on the outskirts of my opponent, looking to take up position into cover to go to ground and wait as needed- again survival is key, to keep them up till mid end game.

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.


Mid game my TT/SS assault terminators and assault marines then move out and engage- the goal is to target and kill troops and then tarpit my opponent on their side of the table, and if I can’t do this along with the help of my lightning claw termies, dread, and command squad then I’ll focus on contesting the objective.

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.


Conclusion… Well, that about wraps it up for my primer to playing Black Templars, hopefully it gives you some insights and a starting point for your own crusader army.

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.

As always any feedback, comments, and flamers are welcomed via my blog at: http://saimhann.blogspot.com/ or YouTube channel at: http://www.youtube.com/user/WayOfSaimHann. Also, if you have enjoyed this .PDF please consider looking at some of the other guides and 40K/Mordheim .PDF’s up at my blog.

~ Fritz

http://saimhann.blogspot.com/�

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Black Templars - Frtiz guide