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This is a footslogging BT list I've been thinking about for 5th Edition. Comments and Ideas below:

Black Templars 1850 Points Army List

HEADQUARTERS
Grimaldus
Reclusiarch w/ 3 Cenobytes, Bolt Pistol, Holy Orb of Antioch, Meltabombs
Emperor's Champion w/ Accept Any Challenge

ELITES
Sword Brethren (8) w/ Lightning Claw Pair (+Terminator Honors), Power Weapon (+Terminator Honors), Infiltrate

TROOPS
Crusader Squad (9/9) w/ Power Fist, Meltagun
Crusader Squad (9/9) w/ Power Fist, Meltagun
Crusader Squad (10/0) w/ Power Fist, Meltagun
Crusader Squad (8/0) w/ Power Fist, Meltagun
Crusader Squad (8/0) w/ Power Fist, Meltagun
Crusader Squad (8/0) w/ Power Fist, Meltagun

* * * * *

1850 Points, 87 Models.

The list has 70 scoring models, split into 6 Crusader Squads.

Grimaldus and the Reclusiarch will attach to the 18-man Crusader Squads.
The Emperor's Champion will attach to the 10-man Crusader Squad.

Those three squads will form the main attack. They will move up the middle, hopefully dislodging my opponent and forcing him to move to my flanks in an attempt to keep out of assault. The Sword Brethren will attempt to Outflank, and will either catch my opponent's forces as he hits the flanks of my main blob, or will move to contest the objective in his zone. Either way, this move will allow me to descend on one side of the board and sweep a single flank.

As I don't expect those 63 models to survive long, the remaining 3 8-man Squads will hang back and cover my objective. In a Kill Points game, they'll move forward on the flanks of either side of the main group, funneling my opponent into a smaller area.

I imagine this list will take massive casualties, and will have a hard time with vehicle-heavy lists. It is extremely model-heavy though, especially for MEQ, and will be a blast to play.

Any comments, criticisms, and bits of advice on tactics are greatly appreciated.

CK

"Accept" became awesome in 5th.

IMO,for a Templar,to crush your enemy is the first,to get a higher score,is not the first.

8-man squad is too fragile in close combat....to replace 1 or 2 such squads with stormboyz(i think the 2-point-metabomb could still be taken,before the new official codex) may be better.

Not a bad BT troop-heavy army, but it seem lack of heavy weapons. I know that new rule stated only Troop choice can be scoring, however you would need a Land Raider Crusader(awesome armors, CC bonus & weapons) I suggest.

It is alot of models, thats for sure, but those three tiny squads could get dropped just because of how small. They are. But multiple squads can cause problems, no matter how small. I would always keep those 8 man squads together, and you own objective should be covered. As you said, it should be fun to play. I look forward to seeing how it does against DEMONZILLA.

The list is a bit dump and certainly boring to play.
I'd take three large Crusader squads and add a few support units.
Should be more fun.

I managed to get in two games yesterday against a Daemonzilla list. Actual upgrades recorded from memory, so I might miss a couple of things:

Bloodthirster w/ Unholy Might, Instrument of Chaos
Bloodthirster w/ Unholy Might, Instrument of Chaos

Bloodcrushers (3) w/ Instrument of Chaos
Bloodcrushers (3) w/ Instrument of Chaos
Bloodcrushers (3) w/ Instrument of Chaos

Bloodletters (5)
Bloodletters (5)
Bloodletters (5)
Bloodletters (5)

Daemon Prince w/ Mark of Nurgle, Cloud of Flies, Daemonic Flight, Noxious Touch
Daemon Prince w/ Mark of Nurgle, Cloud of Flies, Daemonic Flight, Noxious Touch
Daemon Prince w/ Mark of Nurgle, Cloud of Flies, Daemonic Flight, Noxious Touch

* * * * *

Basically, I had built the above list to see if a horde CC-oriented army could hold its own against Daemonzilla.

The answer: it most definitely cannot.

On top of having his entire attack be capable of charging my forces with impunity, I was forced to castle up and keep myself from stretching out. The first game, I actually managed to do pretty well up until turn 5, when I had 18 models baseically whiff at killing 2 Bloodletters in 4+ cover, denying me a kill point. That's 16 Bolt Pistols, a Meltagun, and Grimaldus' Master-Crafted Plasma Pistol (the PlasPistol accounted for the only kill in that entire shooting phase). Then I failed a 4+ Invulnerable and surrendered a kill point to my opponent upon losing the already wounded Emperor's Champion.

What bothered me about all this is that I had Grimaldus, his attached squad, the Reclusiarch, his attached squad, the Champion, and his attached squad all in fortified cover, granting me the initiative (coupled with the Suffer Not vow, which I changed to with my opponent's permission when I realized that it would be worthless against his 5 MCs and that I'd be wounding on a roll of a 6 without it). So despite having 55 very killy models atop a fortified shrine, he still managed to kill the Champion, his entire 10-man squad, and a dozen Marines and Neophytes from the two larger squads.

I lost the high ground when he managed to simultaneously charge a single 8-man squad with all 5 DMCs, forcing me to distribute attacks on a base-to-base basis, meaning that although my horrible dice-rolling managed to connect some hits and beat up on his big guys a bit, I only managed to completely kill one of them (After chucking an Orb, 2 Melta shots, 18 Bolt Pistol shots, and nearly 60 CC attacks that rerolled to hit on 4+ (against a Daemon Prince).

The 3 smaller Crusader Squads got eaten for breakfast by the 5 DMCs, giving my opponent a cool 3 KP on top of the Emperor's Champion and his attached squad for a total of 5 KP. My Sword Brethren came in on the opposite side of the board in turn 2, nearly 60" away from the action. They did not participate in the game in any way, shape or form. My opponent even ran his troops towards them for the last two turns of the game (which ended after Turn 6) and both my SB and his 'Letters were still 18" away.

I took out a Bloodletter squad that strayed too close on the Deep Strike with a hail of Bolt Pistols, and killed a DP in H2H after a lot of softening up with shooting.

At the end of the game, I still had both large Crusader Squads at roughly 2/3 strength each, but that was it. My 8-man squads were gone, the 10-man was gone, and the Champ was gone, leaving me locked in Assault with 9 Bloodcrushers and the 2 DPs and 2 Bloodthirsters close behind. Chaulk up one very bloodied win for Chaos Daemons.

* * * * *

Basically, the list's weaknesses turned out to be the downfall I feared. I thought that with 5 DMCs I'd be able to overwhelm them with 87 bodies, however without the aid of at least a little ranged firepower, I was completely without the ability to put pressure on my opponent as he moved freely about the board without a care as to what I did.

What I'm considering doing with this list is the following: Dropping the three 8-man Squads and beefing up the Emperor's Champion's Squad to a 20-man Crusader Squad. The other two will do the same.

(@Wuestenfux: After this battle, I tend to agree with you regarding the standard Black Templar FOC selections for Troops. Three 20-man Squads each with a Character will do much better, and will be able to respond to horrendous firepower and assault much better than the 8-man units I had previously hoped would hang back and hold an objective (which they did in game 2 until I rolled two sixes at the end of the 5th and 6th turns, allowing my opponent to finish off everything else in the army and then turn to my 24 basic Initiates controlling the objective I started on).)

With the remainder of the points, I will probably be tossing in either a couple small squads of Terminators (after getting rid of the Sword Brethren) or possibly some Dakka Marines with Bolters, Lascannon, and Plasma Guns to fill a meager fire support role.

I'll also need to figure out how to pan out this list at 1750, since that will be the new Tourney-standard size.

Anyway, take from that what you will. I'll toy around with some ideas tonight, and get back with an update.

CK

I'd include some fire support units that are able to thin out the enemy units before the assault.
In the 4th ed, I'd opt for a few cheap Predators. But in the 5th ed, tanks become pillboxes;
that's a bad move. Dreads could also give cover fire, and Land Raiders are now much more viable
than in the 4th ed.
Against Daemons, I'd mount my squads in Rhinos. This allows to outmaneuver the enemy and
to pick the fights to your liking.

I've always been a fan of moving my Templars as a brick up the line with flanking support in the form of LS Tornados, Meltagun Bikers, a Dread or two, and the like. With 63 sloggers, I would personally lean towards the lighter stuff so that you don't have a couple of large targets demanding the attention of every lascannon or railgun. Instead you give the good ol target bombardment.

But either way, enemy ranks have always seemed to me like a metal wall--you ram it, it dents, but if you shoot it full of holes first, you rip right through. Just watch Armageddon, Ben Affleck knows what I'm talking about.

Well it's late and that's all I got.
Happy Hunting

What about considering High Marshal Helbrect and a full command squad? With the retinue rule he can't be singled out in combat. That's 15 models and with the banner makes for a pretty uber unit. Give them furious charge and Helbrect can be a match for those princes, etc. He's strength 6 on the charge. Additionally, with the Accept the Challenge vow he is re-rolling his Str 5 power weapon in further rounds of combat. Lastly, his D3 extra attacks is helpful since it works if you charge or are charged. He's got 4 wounds which can keep him around longer than most characters. The Accept vow really made him a better character choice in 5th.

Capt K

Wait, how is he Strength 6 on the Charge? I'm under the impression that you cannot combine Furious Charge and the Suffer Not vow Strength bonuses (I think you mean Suffer Not when you say Accept Any Challenge). Please let me know if that is not the case.

Similarly, Preferred Enemy from Accept Any Challenge is useless against Monstrous Creatures and Independent Characters (you simply don't get to use it). Strength 5 is what allowed me to hurt his units at all.

I am considering doing something quite similar with Grimaldus. A 10-man Crusader Squad with a Castellan and Grimaldus will make for some nasty rounds of CC. If I eliminate the Castellan and give the squad a Standard, I can pop 2 Relics on the Charge and give my basic units 5 attacks on the charge (Grimaldus will get 8). That's nothing to sneeze at, if you ask me.

The only problem is that it is an expensive squad. With all the goodies, I'm looking at about 250 points for 10 models, plus 195 for Grimaldus. I'd rather take a 20-man scoring Crusader Squad and stick Grimaldus inside of it, which is what I did in that game. Both he and his Reclusiarch counterpart in the other big squad stayed alive through the entire game (the first time around). They didn't do enough in the second against the 5 DMCs though.

CK