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So, got into orks recently, and I'm about to try and snatch up a couple of AoBR boxes before they disappear to get the orks in them. Until now, the marines were no use to me, as I didn't really intend to start a marine army in any shape or form. However, with the new ally rules that 6th has coming up, I decided I'd look into starting an army I've always had interest in, Black Templars. Probably won't have a full army of them for a while, but since I'll be getting a bunch of marines in the boxes anyways, may as well see if they're worth it.

So, is the AoBR box a good start to a Black Templar army? They'll probably get used only as allies for a long time, but that doesn't bother me too much. I play horde infantry a lot, and I know that's something Templars specialize in, so their playstyle should sync pretty well with my lists. Lots of powerblobs, shoota and slugga boys, etc.

I know the AoBR box has a Space Marine Captain, 10 Tactical Space Marines, Five Space Marine Terminators, and a Space Marine Dreadnought, and that they're not very posable. I'm pretty decent at conversion though, and I'm not scared of trying to mod certain models to make them fit with the templar theme. Plus this gives me an excuse to start using greenstuff. I also know that I'll need some guy called an emperor's champion as well. Is there anything else I would need to look into for a basic Templar force, or would 2 AoBR boxes and the champion be about all I need for now?

Thanks for any help and advice you guys can give. Templars always looked like a fun army to play and now I might finally have a chance to mess around with them a bit

Orks and Black Templar can't ally :/

^ this. As for a BT force, the AoBR set has a decent starting list for any marine army, its just very basic. Identifying them as BT will come from using the BT codex, painting them appropriately, and converting them to have the BT iconography.

Also, hating Orks. Almost no marine chapter hates the Orks as much as BT. They actually chased Ghaz out of known space just to hunt him down finally.

Given that BTs want to be running about with pistols and chainswords, the AOBR won't be a good place to start. The Terminators and Dreadnought would be ok, but the Tactical marines would be out of place.

I'd just buy BT units straight up.

tgjensen wrote:Orks and Black Templar can't ally :/

Huh thats wierd, i could've sworn i saw that somewhere. Oh well, my main army is IG, so this doesnt worry me too much. I was mainly mentioning orks to show people what I was used to playing. Thanks for the heads up though. With all the other bizarre ally combos out there, at least there's one dissallowed choice that makes sense

So as for using them with IG, anything in particular that works well in combination with them? I know black templar shooty terminators and landspeeders are decent, should I look into those?

I started out 40k and my Templars using AoBR. Magnetize two of the storm bolters on the terminators and bitz order the metal assault cannons, and put magnets on their backs if you want to put CMLs on there. Unfortunately, only one model actually has a chainsword, so if WYSIWYG is a concern, use them as bolter guys for las/plas squads. There is one thing though-you are missing out on sweet bitz from the BT upgrade kit, and the BT upgrade+ a tactical box is the most fun I've had with assembling models. I would recommend only one AoBR set just because of the lack of chainswords.

Final comment-what sort of Templar would consider allying with the foul xenos? Report to the chaplain at once, brother

Dont bother; start with a Battleforce box and Templar bitz.

d3m01iti0n wrote:Dont bother; start with a Battleforce box and Templar bitz.

I looked for a templar battleforce and couldnt find one. Are they not made anymore?

MrMoustaffa wrote:

d3m01iti0n wrote:Dont bother; start with a Battleforce box and Templar bitz.

I looked for a templar battleforce and couldnt find one. Are they not made anymore?

No, I mean the Space Marine Battleforce. 15 Tac Marines, 5 Jump Marines, 5 Scouts, and a Rhino.

Another thing to take into account is the AoBR models are lower quality, boring poses, limited weaponry, and the Tac Marine arrow is molded on their right shoulder. BT doesnt follow the Codex Astartes and as such dont use the standard Tac, Devestator, and Assault designations and simply have the BT cross on both shoulders. You could sand em down but what a hassle.

Ok so lets say I'm not worried about the looks. Maybe I'll make a custom army or do something for fun like some angry marines (or better yet. classy marines. Basically they wear tophats and monicles and speak in british accents. Yes, its silly, but it gives me an excuse to learn how to use greenstuff) But for whatever reason, I'm not worried about what the marines look like. Does the AoBR have stuff that would at least be slightly useful wargearwise for the black templars? that's the main thing I need to know, because I'm already certain I'm buying at least one AoBR, I probably wont be buying extra stuff for a while.

Long story short, I'll already be buying the AoBR for the orks, would there be a point to keeping the marines to try and start a black templars army, or would I be better off just selling them and using the cash to buy kits that have more options and parts?

Sell them and use the cash to buy other stuff.

The good news is that you won't have to put down alot of cash in expensive vehicles now. Maybe keep the Dreadnought as it can transfer to BTs.

Grey Templar wrote:Sell them and use the cash to buy other stuff.

The good news is that you won't have to put down alot of cash in expensive vehicles now. Maybe keep the Dreadnought as it can transfer to BTs.

Ok cool. What about the termies? I've got some sentinel ML's I can use as typhoon missle launchers for them to make them the tactical kind.

The fluffy way to run BT's is to give every dude a chainsword and a bolt pistol. This is not something you can do with the AoBR marines.

That said the current competative mindset is to go with many small units in razorbacks and 2 squads of 5 terminators with typhoon missile launchers backed up by landspeeders.

The AoBR terinators are excelent for this purpose.

No, not a good place to start a BT army. I would sugest the Blood Angel box. Alot of chain swords/power weapons and bolt pistols in that box.

Ok so keep the terminators and the dreads, sell off the tacticals and the captain? Sounds simple enough.

I can get the bits for chainswords and bolt pistols fairly easy however, as we have a local store that sells space marine bits and they always have bolt pistols and chain swords. Is there something about their arms that prevents you from using different arms and bits?

MrMoustaffa wrote:Ok so keep the terminators and the dreads, sell off the tacticals and the captain? Sounds simple enough.

I can get the bits for chainswords and bolt pistols fairly easy however, as we have a local store that sells space marine bits and they always have bolt pistols and chain swords. Is there something about their arms that prevents you from using different arms and bits?

Yes

BT terminators are currently best run as 5 TH/SS dudes with 2 of them carrying Clyclone missile launchers, and they get Tank Hunters as a veteran skill.

One main snag with the AOBR terminators as they have PFs and SBs.


But with the 6th ed changes having a shooty squad wouldn't be a bad idea so I suppose its down to personal preference. They won't look as cool without the BT iconography.

Grey Templar wrote:BT terminators are currently best run as 5 TH/SS dudes with 2 of them carrying Clyclone missile launchers, and they get Tank Hunters as a veteran skill.

One main snag with the AOBR terminators as they have PFs and SBs.


But with the 6th ed changes having a shooty squad wouldn't be a bad idea so I suppose its down to personal preference. They won't look as cool without the BT iconography.

Yeah this is the problem I keep noticing. Out of all the space marine codexes I find interesting, it has to be the oldest, least supported, unique looking, and probably most expensive to start. The special pauldron emblems don't make things easier, not to mention their other special symbols and gear. I only see a few options.

1. Sell the marines, and either put that money towards more orks and IG, or towards actual BT kits. Only problem with this is that I'll have to drop roughly 60 bucks per 10 marines once I'm done buying the black templar upgrade sprues and everything.

2. Use the AoBR stuff as is, and make a counts as Black Templar army (angry marines, classy marines, original chapter, etc) Could be the most fun and cheapest, but will be the hardest, as it requires lots of greenstuff and may not come across as black templars right away.

3. Keep the termies and Dread, and save up for actual black templar marines down the road. Probably smartest comprimise, and since I'll only be using them as allies, shouldn't break the bank TOO badly...

I don't know what to do here guys, which do you think would be the smartest of the 3?

I'd do #3

The Terminators and Dreds will look fine just with some BT transfers and a BT paint job. They don't really need the extra bling to look ok.


If you want to save money, you can always troll E-bay for BT auctions. You can pick things up much cheaper there then buying things new.

truthfully the captain probably would work for BT as well. I dont know much about BT but a power weapon and bolter seems to be reasonably transferable. should be reasonably usable I'd imagine. Also he wouldnt be cumbersome to mod his hand attaches easily and the symbolism isnt anything too chapter specific

Ok first of the captain is NOT transferable by any means. He has a PW and a bolter, in the BT book this is a single handed and a 2 handed weapon which you cannot do.
The dread is meh but it can work in a pod, personally I prefer the ML/TLLC ven dread w/ TH.

The rest is fine KEEP IT.

The termis are really good. Get a regular box of assault termis and a BT upgrade box. DON'T put the bolters on, instead you can put all of the claws and hammer/shields on those 10 terminators and use the BT shoulder pads to finish them up! If you want shooty guys go online and find CML bits but try to NOT use the PW that comes with 'em.

As for the rest, well it isn't amazing but it is ok. The ML can be used in what people call as Las/Plas squad. Thats 5 guys w/ 1 guy having a plasma gun the other a lascannon. The ML is slightly cheaper so in smaller point games it is fine to swap out there. The flamer is a bit meh, but if the rumors are true it may be better than melta so keep it too. The bolters are what fills up the squad so keep them as that gets you 2 squads of the Las/Plas bolters. The Sgt can be used as one of the many bp/ccw marines that you will need for assault templars.

Oh...just fyi don't run razorbacks they are too expensive run rhinos. The marine battleforce is a 1 stop shop for BT. Read up on assault marines before deciding but otherwise use the legs to make more poseable crusaders w/ Bp/ccw.

Akroma06 wrote:Ok first of the captain is NOT transferable by any means. He has a PW and a bolter, in the BT book this is a single handed and a 2 handed weapon which you cannot do.
The dread is meh but it can work in a pod, personally I prefer the ML/TLLC ven dread w/ TH.

The rest is fine KEEP IT.

The termis are really good. Get a regular box of assault termis and a BT upgrade box. DON'T put the bolters on, instead you can put all of the claws and hammer/shields on those 10 terminators and use the BT shoulder pads to finish them up! If you want shooty guys go online and find CML bits but try to NOT use the PW that comes with 'em.

As for the rest, well it isn't amazing but it is ok. The ML can be used in what people call as Las/Plas squad. Thats 5 guys w/ 1 guy having a plasma gun the other a lascannon. The ML is slightly cheaper so in smaller point games it is fine to swap out there. The flamer is a bit meh, but if the rumors are true it may be better than melta so keep it too. The bolters are what fills up the squad so keep them as that gets you 2 squads of the Las/Plas bolters. The Sgt can be used as one of the many bp/ccw marines that you will need for assault templars.

Oh...just fyi don't run razorbacks they are too expensive run rhinos. The marine battleforce is a 1 stop shop for BT. Read up on assault marines before deciding but otherwise use the legs to make more poseable crusaders w/ Bp/ccw.

Ok cool. I'm probably not going to do a 5man las plas squad, unless I can load them up in a chimera as I don't feel like buying a couple of razorbacks at the moment with the rumored nerfs to transports (Which oddly enough, might be possible if what I read is correct. I could've sworn BT and IG are battle brothers, but I'm sure I'm wrong) but it's good to know that i can at least find a use for the regular crummy marines in the meantime. Big things I'm interested in are the dread and the termies. If I really get into how they play, I'll probably end up investing in a couple of honest to god black templar squads (upgrade sprue and all, even though $60 for a single 10 man unit pains me ) as well as some of their initiates they use for ablative wounds. I would really like to do a couple of big crusader squads to help bumrush my opponent with a wave of guardsmen and yarrick and the emperor's champion in tow...

Sounds like option #3 is looking the best though, and I'll probably end up selling the regular marines and the captain (as he has a setup I don't see myself using) in the box. After seeing them up close in that pic, there will be almost nothing I can do with them, and I'd rather do em right and spend a bit more cash than go cheap and end up with some that look crappy. Are the termies fairly posable or are they one piece as well?