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So a LOT of changes in the new codex for the Black Templars. From what I am seeing, while our troop units (crusader squads) got a cheaper, nearly every elite unit got more expensive and we lost a lot of our close combat benefits.

So, how does the Black Templar chapter stay a close combat assaulting army in this new codex (Please understand that this is also from a FLUFF point of view). There are three general units for close combat in a SM list, your assault marines, your bikes, and your normal infantry (to include terminators). Black Templars used to have decent units in all these respects, but they REALLY had good terminators with the rage and furious charge. But thats gone now. The other thing was their crusader squads got close to the enemy in the enemy turn due to righteous zeal, making them more mobile than they are now. So we lost the ability for normal infantry to get into close combat as easily.

White Scars will ALWAYS do bikes better than Black Templars can.
Raven Guard will ALWAYS do assault marines better than Black Templars.
Dark Angels will ALWAYS have better terminators than Black Templars since we lost our bonuses.
That leaves our crusader squads to be our close combat "niche" unit. The crusader squad is unique to our army, a close combat army, but it will get shredded before it ever gets there.

I see maybe two methods to make the Black Templars stay fluffy and close combat based.
1) Horde army - Spam cheap crusader squads, numbers count for something and those scouts can just soak up the wounds while I foot slog forward.
2) Land Raider - In 6th, the Land Raider Crusader is still a very hard nut to crack, and being the only assault (non-flyer) vehicle, it can get the crusaders into combat semi reliably, especially since you can take them as DTs for the squad.

Personally, I am NOT a fan of playing a horde SM army...space marines of any chapter just don't do hordes...its not really in the fluff. And the other option would work, but the thought of buying more pricey land raiders makes me kind of cringe.

So...other than the two potential tactics here, anyone else have any ideas on how to keep the "Close Combat" army the Black Templars are supposed to be in the current meta? Without breaking the fluff of their chapter?

Frankly, the only real way to play CC BT without being completely invalidated by other options is through the 100-120 marine horde. Think of it as a full-scale assault by a numerous chapter.

Yeah pretty much.

Assault in 6th edition is crippled by only a single thing- and no, it's not overwatch.

It's delivery. Not being able to assault from vehicles, not being able to assault from deep striking or reserves. If you play an assault army you're FORCED to either foot-slog or pop onto the board in the range of enemy guns and suffer a turn of shooting for free. Either way, weight of fire is so readily available to most armies now that you'll get shot to pieces trying to make the journey.

So you have two options: Either put your units in Land Raiders (expensive), or, option 2, target saturation. Black Templar squads can be taken in units of 20- that's for a reason. Neophytes basically exist to be ablative wounds. Use that advantage to field as many fething models as you can and just overwhelm your opponent's firepower.

It's a viable tactic- not very competitive, but certainly doable in more casual games.

Pretty much what I am feeling as well. But, I am not going to buy another 100 marines and scouts just to be able to stay fluffy and capable of actually playing.

More and more I am feeling my Templars will get shelved until a supplement. Losing our special rules killed our fluff and made us MUCH LESS capable than other chapters. I am also not going to repaint all I have lol.

Start bringing triple LRC with crusader hordes. That by itself should do a good job of getting you to close combat, but you can throw in some added help of some droppod units for turn 1 disruption/Anti-tank action.