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I'm ready to start a Black Templar army very slowly, and what better way than starting as allied detachment for my guard?
So I have precisely no experience with BT or allies at all. so question being, what units should I start off with to be most useful?
what with slight rumors of BT being released eventually, units that most likely wont become obsolete would be preferred.

Well you need a crusade squad there the troops. Unless they change fluff they will always be there. I would do a big squad if 10 initiates and 10 neophytes with a chaplain and a emperors champion. For starters. Make the CC oriented cause that's BT strength.

HQ:

Emperor's Champion, AACNMTO 140
Reclusiarch, bolt pistol, artificer armor, termie honors, frags, kraks, melta bombs 139

TROOPs:

Crusaders, 1x BP/PF, 1x MG, 8x BP/CCW, frags and kraks, 215

Total: 494

The squad gets 35 regular attacks reroll-to-hit and 3 PF attacks reroll-to-hit on the charge. Your champ has to challenge which let's your chappy punch faces in with 7 S6 attacks reroll-to-hit.

Cheers.

The main saving grace of the BT book is terminators, spam them as much as you can.

I'm thinking about buying the DA models from the dark vengeance kit from a friend and converting them until I can buy the actual models. seems easy enough for most of them. I guess myu question now is are the bikes going to be useful?

also what models are neophytes made out of? if their not technically wearing power armor then it seems they cant be made of actual marines. what am I missing here? :edit: scouts. durp

 phoenix darkus wrote:
494

The squad gets 35 regular attacks reroll-to-hit and 3 PF attacks reroll-to-hit on the charge.

So we have 35 str4 ap- and 3 str8 ap2 attacks, once per turn max. Not counting their bolt pistols, which can if not careful knock you out of charge range. No transport which means at the earliest a t3 charge (but more likely t4) and that's if they don't get charged by something else first. For essentially 500pts, guard could bring far more shooting than this squad could ever hope to achieve. Hell, I could bring 2 manticore and have points left over. That's more than making up for the 35str4 ap- attacks. It also IDs things the fist couldn't hope to. There are so many better options in the guard codex that will do the same job as this squad, for less points!

There's also the issue of a strange target amidst the guard. My TAC list brings a lot of plasma, against guard they're pretty below par, but suddenly they have a juicy target to fire into, negating the usual lack of targets for those expensive guns.

Finally, the most important point. Synergy. Where is it? This allied section is just a sum of its parts. You want to take advantage of battle brothers or plug a gap, not just blow points in charging headlong into the enemy, only to get butchered by the weapons that are great at killing marines but over costed for killing GEQ. The reason people love SW as guard allies is because ATSKNF helps to keep a blob on the table, prescience makes that blob deadly accurate, and you also bring along psyker defence for your trouble. It's more than the sum of its parts, it's alies that make each other better.
Unfortunately I don't know enough about the BT codex to suggest anything better.

Filling in gaps would depend on the OPs list, and as always there is no "best" allied contingent, but only the most useful, which I highly doubt your suggestion would be.

there is no way that squad would be a t4 charge.

Righteous zeal brings you closer with every casualty. So when you get to charge on turn 2, maybe t3, you will probably have lost a few marines, but thats okay because the marines were pretty much a delivery system for these two hardcore HQ choices.

Or better yet, take out two marines and put this squad in a drop pod. That's for sure a t2 assault. and when you land, use that melta gun or even a flamer to weaken your target.

You don't need to take an Emperor's Champion unless your list has at least 750 BT points (IIRC). There is also a FAQ on when you have to take vows with Allied Forces as well. So look into that.

That being said, taking AACNMTO for 50pts for only 10 Initiates seems a little steep. That's 5 points per extra attack and only if you get the charge off. As well as the extra HQ attack (still not worth it).

As an allied force, you're probably only going to take 1 troops choice so you'll want to maximize their potential. Chaplains give the one squad you want to buff rerolls to hit on the charge as well as fearless.

The biggest decision the OP needs to make is whether you want:

10 Iniaties+4 Neophytes+Chaplain in a LRC (DT or Heavy slot)

OR

10 Iniaties+10 Neophytes+Chaplain+3 Servitors for the extra RZ movement

Honestly, those are the only two ways of setting up allies with BT atm. Other options are Venerable Dreads with Tank Hunters or Dual CML Terminators. But since you need a troops and those other elite slot options, it gets pricey really fast.

Best of luck with the Black Crusade!

5 Marines in Drop Pod with Fist and Meltagun - 135

1 Reclusiarch with Bolt Pistol and Artificier Armour - 116

Drop Marines at a flank and be generally annoying, put Chaplain in Guardsman blob for Fearless. Add Typhoons and Terminators to taste. Templars really aren't good as allies, since they don't offer anything other MEQ Codices don't other than blob-troops, which Guard already does.

I thought you couldnt attach ICs to allied units?

TyCorny wrote:
I thought you couldnt attach ICs to allied units?

You can if the 2 factions are Battle Brothers.

Honestly I would take the Techmarine of doom, the one where you can get 5 or 6 powerfist attacks, cuz he can run around repairing guard tanks until someone eventually gets close to one and then just craps on them in CC.

Take a bare marine squad with a flamer to camp an objective, maybe a terminator squad as well to objective camp. This is something guard doesn't do very well unless were talking about a home objective.

I'd also like to add my current group totally omits objectives, so basically I only get to play last man standing wins. As such just looking for the killy-est BT I can muster until further notice

Dude... objectives are like.. 90% of the game. Your really missing out man, I used to be the same way. Soon as I started playing objective games I had way more fun with the game.