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Months ago I bought some Space Marine models, including a Battleforce, Assault Squad, Tac Marines, Sternguard, and an Ironclad Dreadnought. First I wanted to include them in my Chaos Force as recently renegade Marines. After I had them built and primed, I tried a few matches using the Space Marines codex. Fun, Sternguard eating Bloodthirsters and the like. I never bought the codex, I just used a friends. Fast forward to today.

Minutes ago I sat in the theatre's old, creaky chair as apes overran San Francisco and ran into the Californian Redwood Forests. Wishing Jake Gyllenhaal were the main actor, I zoned out. Zeal. Righteous pride. Holy fury. Black. Templars. Black Templars!

Whoa! On the way home I vowed to buy a Black Templars codex and finally get around to painting my Astartes. "But you don't know a damn thing. Aren't they uncompetitive?" "Stop, I don't care! Fight with burning passion!"

Seeing as how I play a small Menoth force for Warmachine and my non-Tzeentch units in my Chaos army (vanilla CSM, vehicles, terminators) are Word Bearers, and my own faith's fire, it's no big surprise that such an empowered group popped into my head.

I want to get into Black Templars, but I also don't want to waste money. Right now I have a total of 25 Tactical Marines, 10 Assault Marines, an Ironclad Dreadnought, Rhino, 10 Scouts, and Finecast Sternguard. On my to buy list are Sword Brethren (perhaps two boxes?) and the Black Templar codex when I get my paycheck tomorrow. Until I get the codex I don't know what to buy yet. Can some Black Templar players give me some hints and tips on this awesome army?

There apparently a good army anyway buddy..thats all i know sorry..

Black Templars are in definite need of a new codex, but don't let the Power Gamers tell you they are noncompetitive. As with any army in 40k, as long as you love it, you will love playing it. I started 40k playing infantry guard, and to this day I only own 4 LRBTs, I have close to 8k non-apocalypse IG, mostly infantry.

Now that spiel is out of the way, you should focus on function over looks for now to see if you really like it. Nothing sucks more than converting up a cool looking army and it not fitting your play style *eyes my Ad Mech GKs*

I suggest looking into buying a land raider, or two, or three. The Black Templar player at my store plays with three Crusaders filled with Sword Brethren and Neophytes. Its a fluffy list, it does not win all the time, but it looks freaking rad and I always have a good time playing it.

Hope this helps.

-Bong

Well, if you are wanting to get into Black Templars you will probably want to pick up an emperor's champion and some assault terminators. The champion can give the most of the army preferred enemy, and assault terminators with dual lightning claws and furious charge are IMHO one of the best units in the game.

+1 to the lightning claw idea mentioned. Two land raider crusaders is enough. Two boxes of Storm Bretheren would be adequate, but you'll have to make initiates with special weapons. They're lovely models, but I'd never use them as actual SB--just a spiffy looking initiate squad (or command squad, as the case may be).

It really depends on your choice of play--Drop Podding in a few Terminator squads can work (CML for the win), as can a mech-based army. I'm a bit of a generalist, though. I prefer to have the ability to field what I want, when I want. My BT garage holds 3 vindicators, 3 predators, 2 LRC's, and 4 or 5 dreadnoughts. Mind you I'm a bit well off, and this is a year or so of constant collecting.

I've never found any real use for the jump pack assault marines, but they can be a good asset. Definitely grab another squad of initiates (SB or not), and a Rhino or two. The Emperor's Champ is a must, and a termie chaplain/regular chaplain can be a great addition.

So Sword Brethren, Emprah's Champ, and some Termies so far it seems. I'll probably hold on the termies till i check out the book

You may want to get a good look at the book before you get the sword brethren as well. They are awesome models, I have some myself, but rules wise sometimes they can be found wanting. They only have 1 attack base, but you can give them veteran abilities. You just many wanna look into it first.

Yes, get the book first and most importantly... look at the faq before buying anything

The codex has been altered quite a bit; especially in the cost of upgrades.

If you play 750pts or more, you MUST take an emperor's champion, that's in the rules, so buy one of those for sure. You can use him as your only HQ if you wish, but you don't have to, in which case, he doesn't use up force organization. This actually enables you to take 3 HQ units if you wish (including him)

Forget the sword brethren. Without enough upgrades, they are glorified assault marines without jump packs. With the upgrades, they are the same cost as terminators, but not quite as good.

In 5th edition, troops tend to be the key to winning games. Unfortunately, BT troops are a weak part of the army. Not being able to combat squad, and a few other restrictions, make them much less effective than the other marine counterparts. I tend to go for the minimum approach with troops, just taking 2 squads of 5 initiates. It sounds risky, but with proper playing, you can always keep at least one group of them alive, and the points you save allow you to ramp up the rest of your heavy hitters.

The 3 general builds that seem to work well are:
1. Full out drop pod army
2. CML terminator and land speeder spam
3. Combined arms mech

Being an old codex means you have quite a few disadvantages. However, if you make use of the cheaper dreadnoughts and army upgrades, as well as the veteran abilities, you can offset this to an extent. You may not have the WAAC flavor of the month army that wins ard boyz this year, but you will have a fun army that can still win games and really surprise people

As I'm a little short on time at the moment, so all I can really put forth at the moment is that I highly recommend you check out my Black Templar's website before you make any large purchases. More than likely, it'll answer most of your questions. If you still have some after that, feel free to email me (which is located on the site).

It'll give you at least another perspective on the army at the very least, if you choose not to listen to the advice written there.

Thanks Marshall, I read through a lot of your website. I learned a lot, but make sure that you update some of the articles because the FAQ changed some things that are still outdated. I made a 1k list that's kinda fluffy, but I like it.

Emperor's Champion- Accept Any Challenge, No Matter The Cost!

Reclusiarch- Teleport Homer, Bolt Pistol, Auspex (I had 9 point of swing when I was done)

Crusader Squad- x10 Initiate, x10 Neophyte, Power Fist and Bolt Pistol, MeltaGun

Crusader Squad- x5 Initiate, Lascannon, Plasma Gun, Rhino

Dreadnought- Venerable Status

Dreadnought- Lascannon

Drop Pod x2


I know it's not great by any means, but I like the thought of a horde of crazed zealots a lot. After playing Chaos and having B-A-D dreadnoughts this is a welcome change. Throw them in Drop Pods, should be a party.

Theyare a great army to play and paint but they need a new codex so i would wait.

Black Templars are very competitive. Army wide preffered enemy is shockinly good. Max out your squads and just run a horde list.

1500 pts army

Emp Champ. AACNMTO

10 Initiates 1/P fist 10 Neophytes
10 Initiates 1/P fist 10 Neophytes
10 Initiates 1/P fist 10 Neophytes
10 Initiates 1/P fist 10 Neophytes
10 Initiates 1/P fist 8 Neophytes


How could you not.

Assuming I didn't fatfinger my calculator, you're under by 11 points. Get rid of the Auspex and Teleport Homer, and you can upgrade the rhino to a razorback for your Las/Plas squad. Whether or not you'd want to drop two Neophytes to get a TL Las cannon or not would be up to you. Or, take out the teleport homer and put smokes on your rhino. Should help early survivability, and without anything to teleport in (Drop pods aren't affected by the homer), it's a needless cost.

You're creating a strong core for your Templar to spring from, and for a 1000 point list I think it'll serve you well.

Do not buy sword brethren! I have 2 boxes of them and never use them. When you buy 2 boxes the squad becomes illegal to play. Assault terminators are the way to go. get rhinos, tac marines and put a powerfist and a melta gun in the squad and give everybody else bolt pistol chainsword. Also the black templar upgrade kit is boss......just fyi. Hope you injoy crusading with the emperors knights!

Two boxes of Sword Brethren make 8 CC marines. You'd be a fool to use them as actual SB, but they make a nice looking initiates on the field. It's just a matter of getting special weapons in there as well. I like the look of them far more than regular marines, and while there was a hell of a lot more detail, I felt like I had a better time painting them, too.

True. They were fun to paint.


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True. They were fun to paint.

Black and white looks good on models.

Though the white can be difficult to paint.

They can be, but I've seen areas that look godawful can look on average or better than average once I put a coat or two of varnish on them.