Background
Early in M42, after the proving grounds of Adelphus, High Marshal Helbrecht authorized the forming of a new crusade to be broken off of his own Armageddon Crusade. This was to be called Geotide, named after the small planet in the Halo Stars that the crusade was to first report to in order to chase down those Orks that were fleeing there from the planet of Armageddon. This is why the Crusade Seal of Armageddon and Geotide are remarkably similar.
The Geotide Crusade is charged with hunting down and cleansing all foes that have withdrawn and/or fled Armageddon.
Army List
HQ 1:
Crusade Marshal Halor; Marshal’s Sword, Bolt Pistol, Rites of Battle
Chaplain Marthin; Master of Sanctity, Rosarius, Crozius Arcanum, Crusader Seal
Crusade Banner Bearer Leonis; Crusade Banner, Bolt Pistol, Crusader Seal
Command Squad; 5 Initiates: 1 with Chainsword and Bolt Pistol, 4 with Bolters, Crusader Seals
323 Points
HQ 2:
Brother Arkus, Champion of the Emperor; Black Sword, Bolt Pistol, Armor of Faith, Suffer not the Unclean to Live Vow
125 Points
Elite 1:
Dreadnought Lazarus; Storm Bolter, Multi-Melta, Power Claw
115 Points
Elite 2
Sword Brethren Squad Tremelay; 5 Sword Brethren Terminators. 1 with Storm Bolter and Power Sword, 4 with Storm Bolter and Power Fists. Crusader Seals.
210 Points
edit: Actually illegal with C: BT unless using as a Terminator Command Squad which requires you to have a Termi HQ.
Troop 1
Crusader Squad Amand; 10 Initiates. 1 with Chainsword and Bolt Pistol, 1 with Flamer, 1 with Missile Launcher, 7 with Bolters. Crusader Seals.
196 Points
Troop 2
Crusader Squad Barres; 10 Initiates. 1 with Chainsword and Bolt Pistol, 1 with Flamer, 1 with Missile Launcher, 7 with Bolters. Crusader Seals.
196 Points
Troop 3
Crusader Squad Chartres; 10 Initiates. 1 with Chainsword and Bolt Pistol, 1 with Flamer, 1 with Missile Launcher, 7 with Bolters. Crusader Seals.
196 Points
Fast Attack 1
Land Speeder Squadron; 1 Speeder with 2 Initiates. Heavy Bolter.
50 Points
Total Army Points: 1411
Full Army Photo
The Geotide Crusade
This is my whole army of Black Templars in all of their glory.
Unit Photos
HQ
Command Squad
The full command squad in a single HQ choice!
Crusade Marshal Halor
I got the Marshal from the AOBR basic set and painted him in Black Templar colors.
Chaplain Marthin
The first independent character that I bought. He originally had a banner off of his backpack that has since broken off. I personally think that the model looks better without it.
Crusade Banner Bearer Leonis
The most recent character addition to my army. The banner was a quick MSpaint job combining three different banners that I've found and meshed together.
Command Escorts
I got these with the old Citadel Miniatures basic paint set, so I put them to good use as a command squad. The only exception is the sergeant, which came with AOBR. The original sergeant from this squad wound up being the sergeant for Squad Chartres
Brother Arkus
My second independent character that I ended up buying. He’s been the pride and joy of my army ever since I got him.
Elites
Dreadnought Lazarus
Another model from the AOBR set that got added to my army. AOBR is, so far, the best investment I’ve ever made.
Squad Tremlay
Terminator Squad, also from AOBR. Not quite finished with the paint job yet, but it was good enough to pass for my article in my opinion.
Troops
Squad Amand
The first Tactical Squad that I’ve ever bought. Only one Marine still has its original decal on its left shoulder. All others have since come off and have been repainted on by hand.
Squad Barres
The second Tactical Squad that I’ve bought back in the day. Also have all been repainted and touched up recently.
Squad Chartres
This squad came from AOBR and prompted the entire repainting of my army to match. This sergeant is the one that came from the old Citadel Miniatures Paint Set that came with a five man Space Marine Squad.
Fast Attack
GeoTide Land Speeder
The first vehicle I’ve ever purchased. The spoiler fin on the rear didn’t come out as even as I had hoped, but it’s worked out so far. I’ve had to constantly re-glue the flight base due to breakage over the years.
Heavy Support
None yet, I plan on getting a couple of Land Raider Crusaders eventually.
Transport
None yet, I plan on getting Rhinos for each of my troop squads eventually.
Why I Started This Army
Ever since I first picked up the Warhammer 40K book and saw the pictures of the Black Templars, I was hooked. They were cool looking, and most importantly they were easy for me to paint! Once I got my hands on the Black Templars Codex and read the history behind them, the deal was sealed and the rest is history. I’ve been expanding upon my meager Space Marine army ever since.
All of my painting has been done with acrylic paint that can be found at WalMart or any other hobby store. After I get all the details done on them, they are then sprayed over with a light coat of sealant. Yeah, it gets the plastic models a bit shiny, but at least the paint jobs are nicely protected. I eventually am going to cover all the bases in green frock for added detail.
Record of Battles
Battle 1: Baptism of Fire
Planet Adelphus, near Armageddon: Black Templars and Dark Angels vs. Space Wolves and Salamanders
I don’t remember exactly why we were going at it in what looked like a Space Marine mass melee, but I do remember that it was a lot of fun. This was way back when I first started Warhammer 40K and only had maybe 2 tactical squads, a Land Speeder, and a Chaplain with a command squad.
On turns 1 & 2 it was more jockeying for position than anything else. My partner who had the Dark Angels was holding the left flank pretty well and I was trying to move up on the right side while under fire. I lost a couple of marines, but not enough to be too damaging. I sent my speeder across the board to support the Dark Angels and didn’t see much more of it afterwards. It was immobilized on turn 2 and later destroyed on turn 3.
On turns 3 & 4, things got really interesting. Everyone met in the middle and mixed it up. Up to this point I had been practically pinned on our side of the board, but when it came to melee fighting, I ended up gaining ground. The pivotal point came sometime in turn 4 when my Dark Angels partner won a fight with the Space Wolves and forced them to retreat, right into one of my tactical squads. One full squad of Space Wolves bit it under the crossfire rule.
On turns 5 & 6, it was more or less a rout for the Space Wolf/Salamander force. We managed to push them back across the center of the table and keep our forces relatively intact. At the end we were victorious in controlling, albeit barely, three quarters of the table.
Battle 2: Need more cowbell
DieselJester's Black Templars vs. evoixmr's Tyranids
Some rock of a planet somewhere...
I'm reminded of the 6P's: Prior Proper Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance. I kinda screwed myself over off the start, but I still had fun with this. Besides, I never saw Tyranids in action before, so this ended up being a really cool battle for me. I took my army list as above and evoixmr took about the same number of Tyranids and we went at it. We set up pretty evenly, which just goes to show how long its been since I've played.
Turns 1 and 2: evoixmr got first move. So it was move, shoot to make you feel good, Move some more, maybe take down a model or two. I actually got the first kill in by Meltaing one unluckly little Tyranid. Best shot my Dreadnought got in all night. I accidently tangled up my Emperor's Champion in a crater, so he wasn't able to be much use until later. Stupid me. Ah well.
Turn 3: The turn we make contact. By this time I was really cursing my bad choices of placement. I had Tyranids raining down all over me from all directions. Lucklily for me the little ankle bitters didn't do too much damage in assault and I managed to cream three full squads of them through assaulting and overruning. That was about the high point of my side of the game. Since evoixmr took "Numberless" with his swarms, all three came back next turn. Doh!
Turn 4: The tide turns (wait a minute... was it ever in my favor to begin with?). By this time we were really mixing it up. My elites and fast attack are bearing down on his heavy support, but I think bolter fire just made them mad. Thankfully, the swarms were too far back to be really any help for him, but unluckly for me, I lost my Emperor's Champion to a botched wound save roll. He goes down under a swarm of Tryranids and doesn't come back up.
Turn 5 and 6: These turns were more of a formality than anything else. I'd lost Squads 2 and 3 at this point along with my Dreadnought and Skimmer. All I had left was my Command Squad and Squad 1. My Terminators bought the farm when they got up to his Synapse Lord. I actually took out one of his heavy supports with my command squad, munched down another swarm and was actually wounding his Synapse Lord by the time Turn 6 ended. Needless to say the Tyranids won this one. I only had four models left standing (The Marshal, the Chaplain, and 2 Space Marines).
I had fun with this game. I definately need to invest in some transports and heavy support for this army if I ever hope to field it against a Tyranid Army again. Ah well, live and learn, eh? :)
