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Hello!


After a while of being fairly dull with 40k, mostly in the meaning that I haven't tried out the new Space Marine Codex much, nor have I thought much about it... I've decided to brainstorm the Black Templars.

Black Templars have been my go-to army since I was but a wee lad reading White Dwarf, and I've always liked them. They were different, and comical (See: Holy Orb of Antioch) however, now they've been rolled into the standard marine codex. To my relief, they kept a lot of what made them what they were, and only got better, in my opinion.

The Crusader Squad makes a big difference in how to play Black Templars, as opposed to Imperial Fists, or Ultramarines. You have access to the cheapest meatshields in the Codex, and, you have some of the cheapest squads in the Codex. You can get more bodies on the field more efficiently than another Space Marine Army, and you can roll 20 man squads to sit on objectives, with convenient meatshields to take care of all that AP 2/AP 3 rolling around on the field these days.

I've only played a few games with them, and so far they seem to have potential as a tactical choice, but I think luck made my attempts sour.

(One game, I deployed them too close to the board edge due to how the terrain was set up. One Plasma cannon routed 20 men, and 200-some-points off the field turn 1. Yeouch.)

What are everyone's thoughts?

Thanks.

I plan on using the crusader squad to go with msu of las/plas. Ive only got one game under me with the new codex, but it was a win, whereas every game using the old codex i played i lost.

I had four 6initiates-1neophyte las/plas squads. the four lascannons were enough to halt the advances of his land raider. The plasma guns and bolters wore down a few of his units. I noticed that they werent super effective at causing a bunch of damage, but diggin in to terrain and using the neophyte to soak up at least one wound was nice. I am going to stick with at least 3 of these squads for next time and see if I can get in a larger squad somewhere else. Either drop pod, LRC, or footslogging to see how effective that extra run distance can prove.

Only 2 ways I've played crusader squads:

-big blob in a LRC with an attached character (chaplain for rerolls, EC if you want a cheap leader that gives fearless, or decked out CM for a true beatstick)

-5-man MSU squads in rhinos, I like the PG, combi-PG, and either HB or ML for some snapfire chance

I'm not sure if you're gonna face lots of flyers but in general I would always recommend a transport for your troops for some protection (Helldrake)

I typically run them as MSU drop podded in with melta and a sword brother with a combi-melta. This supports anti infantry dreads (assault cannon and heavy flamer) and combi-plas or melta sternguard.

I've also had success with 5 intiates armed with las/missile and plasma gun with 2-3 neophytes for objective holding and fire support.

Occasionally a 19 strong footslogging squad with a sword brother and independent character is fun though