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I'm thinking of getting a Black templars, but i'm not sure about them. Their codex is very old, Although I really like their background and stuff.


Should I get them?

Lokirfellheart wrote:I'm thinking of getting a Black templars, but i'm not sure about them. Their codex is very old, Although I really like their background and stuff.


Should I get them?

It all depends on one thing. Do you like them? If so, get them. If not, don't.
If you like they're background take them, honestly you won't regret it. Even if the codex is old, is it still playable? If it is, play them. There are still other codexes that are old, yet people still field them. Most aren't even 5th edition yet.

In, short, get them.

I once had a battle (CSM versus Ultras, Blood Angels and Black Templars) where the Black Templars proved to be quite awesome. The Chaos player had a few rhinos, Havocs and Terminators, and we knew the only way to kill them was with our two Dreadnaughts.
Havoc marines are of course not fun to fight with just two dreads. Our Black Templar friend saved the day in the very first turn (it all was over in 5 or 6 turns). His command squad, with Chaplain and Emperor's champion (I think) can deep strike and killed all the Havocs. All the Black Templars died eventually, but not before they'd destroyed a Rhino with chainswords and the Terminators with the Champion.
After that the Blood Angels' Death company destroyed all the other rhinos and even some kind of sorcerer (apparently Chaos guy's best model) and the Dreadnaughts just marched in and killed about twenty guys of infantry.

But yeah, what I'm trying to say is, Black Templars can be very powerful.

BT's can move upto 9" every enemy shooting phase, thanks to their Zeal. You can use Neophytes(scouts) as ablative wounds for power armoured marines.

Assault Marines are somewhat useful compared to their contemporaries.

Terminators can take Tankhunters, which means your Stormbolters and Assault Cannons can bust lightly armoured vehicles...

They are one of the Loyalist armies with a close combat specialty ( along with Blood Angels and Space Wolves ). Sure the Codex is old, but it has survived with dignity. It is not as filled with unusable or quirky rules like, say the Daemon Hunters.

Pros:
- Access to army wide Preferred Enemy
- Access to old style Veteran skills
- Rightheous Zeal ( shoot them and they just get angry and come closer )
- Large squad sizes
Cons:
- No psykers
- "Kill them all" ( target selection can go awry )
- Anti-tank is limited

If you like them play them, It dosn't matter that the codex is outdated, I have just started my own BT army today!
On the internet there is plenty of tactics and such to help BT be competitive in 5th edition, check out this website http://www.implausiblenature.net/bt-101-where-to-start.html

Welcome to the Eternal Crusade!

I've checked out the codex, and apart from the lack of librarians, I think it is actually better than the current SM codex, due to the cool vows, Emperors champion (finally a GW metal blister I actually really like) and I for some reason love the iconography, background and Grand Marshal Helbrecht.

Just be aware that we don't get all of the shiny toys that the codex Marines get (no ironclads, no whilrwinds, no sternguard, no vanguard, few special characters).

Also, a lot of our stuff costs more than the Space Marines equivalents.

Finally, our troops don't come with grenades as standard issue. Not the end of the world, but it makes our troop squads pretty expensive.

On the up side, we get the stuff that A-P mentioned. I enjoy playing Black Templar, but I recognise that I'm limited in my selection as compared to Codex Marines.

What matters most is if you like them. The codex being old isn't always a problem as you've got lots of strange weaponry and good skills that the new codices don't have.

The playability of a codex is more about if you take the units that are different from standard marine units and not about anything else. I play Dark Angels regularly, which many say is outdated. They work good because I use the units that sperate them from the rest of the marines.

If you like the fluff and unique units use them.

Black Templars have to take an oath. One of those oaths gives the entire army preferred enemy. There are few things scarier than a squad of assault Terminators with lightning claws, furious charge, and preferred enemy. That's a squad of strength 5, initiative 5, reroll miss and reroll hit Terminators. Yeah.

The codex has some weird quirks, and some dated equipment. However, it has amazing Terminators and the plastics for Black Templars are still awesome.

They are 100% worth taking!

I am a fanboy though, so you may have to ignore some of what I say!

IMHO, they are the best close combat army of all the space marines. Their power in close combat is unmatched (preferred enemy is a MASSIVE bonus).

There are ways to get around some of the disadvantages, for example Techmarines. With gun servitors, they can act as a "makeshift" devastator squad.

We do suffer from lack of sternguard/vanguard, but honestly, with my particular list its all about the close combat. And no one does it better. As has been mentioned earlier, assault termies with furious charge + LC's, re-rolling to hit AND wound? Nasty. Not many other units in the game can boast of fighting prowess like that.

The emperors champion is a 1 man killing machine as well, I always run him in a unit of sword brethren to maximise his potential.

I honestly don;t see the lack of psykers as a handicap - I'd likely spend my points anyway on a choppy HQ.

Ultimately you have to go with what sort of fluff and style you like as well, but the boys in black were and always will be my first army.