Thinking about starting my own crusade...

[Brother Talarian]

Hello Templars,

 

I've been tempted to starting a new army to join your ranks, though I'm in the fence between the Templar and BA. I like the melee aspect of both armies. I'll post this somewhere in the BA forums as well to get both opinions.

 

1. Based on what you've seen of 8th (early I know I'll ask later as well) and experience in 7th. What should some standard first buys be? BT feel but functional

 

2. What might a typical army look like? 1,500 points ish. (Just so I know how much I'll need to invest, right budget ATM)

 

3. What are some of your glorious moments/why do you recommend (or not? :/) this army.

 

Thanks in advance

[+Chaplain Matthias+]

I'm brand new too so I can't answer 2 and 3, but to answer #1, get a bunch of bolt pistol and chainsword marines and make a crusader squad! That's where you start

Edited June 3, 2017 by ChaplainMatthias

[Marshal_Roujakis]

 

1. Based on what you've seen of 8th (early I know I'll ask later as well) and experience in 7th. What should some standard first buys be? BT feel but functional

 

 

First functional but Fluffy buy?

Crusader Squads for starters, maybe one 14 man squad and a single 5-man Las/Plas squad would be a great place to begin with... followed by an Emperor's Champion HQ and a Land Raider Crusader you're probably looking at purchasing a BT upgrade sprue, 1 Tac box, one scout box, a Dev Squad for the Lascannon and a Land Raider Crusader... these would be a decent start for 8th and a decent starter for 7th...

 

2. What might a typical army look like? 1,500 points ish. (Just so I know how much I'll need to invest, right budget ATM)

 

Not quite sure what it would look like in 8th as the points system for that is still not directly at my hands (I can scour the forum once again for the leaked images, but couldn't be bothered ) but in 7th a typical 1500 pts. list usually composes of a small CAD similar to the one above and a Land Speeder + Stormtalon Formation for additional fire support...

But Templars don't have a single playstyle, so there;s probably going to be some Drop Pod lists out there with just 1500 pts.

 

3. What are some of your glorious moments/why do you recommend (or not? :/) this army.

 

 

Helsreach by Aaron Demski-Bowden

Gods of Mars by Graham McNeill

Templar by John French

 

yeah... those entire books... definitely...

And why do I recommend this over any other Space Marine Chapters?

Well... if you find yourself being at least one of the things on this list then welcome to the Black Templars

 

Also, unlike the Blood Angels, or most of the other Chapters, we never stopped Crusading, we couldn't care less about the losses, we excel at stubbornness and pride ourselves over our purity of purpose and bottomless Zeal... we tend to not defend, but push forward and attack, we take the light of the Emperor to the darkest corners of the galaxy, we seek the foe in his domain to slaughter him where he lurks, we have the unflinching hardiness of Dorn, combined with the fiery fierceness of Sigismund... and with the righteousness of the Emperor, our faith becomes our shield, while our duty becomes our sword, with this, none can stand against us, for the Emperor is with us... and you will always find us where the fighting is fiercest, in the heart of the storm...

 

that is why I recommend the Templars

Edited June 3, 2017 by Marshal_Roujakis

[Dumbcow1]

Helsreach....just read it.

You'll understand.

[Marshal Mattias]

Best moments?

 

The Emperor's Champion, striding out to face the enemy warlord... 300+ points versus <150... and freaking one-shotting him with an insta-death...

A 15-man Crusader squad launching a multi-charge out of a Land Raider Crusader, led by their chaplain, and smashing and routing an entire gunline...

A single lone crusader, charging a squad of firewarriors and winning combat, only to sweep the entire unit...

An ironclad dreadnought, leaping from the back of a storm raven and charging an imperial knight, tearing it to pieces?

The same ironclad, drop-podding in front of a Baneblade, then blowing it sky-high in CC?

A landraider crusader, ramming enemy tanks to death?

Playing every game with a not-so-secret alternative objective - BURN THE WITCH!

Immolating Tigurius with a pintle-mounted multimelta?

Responding to every unlikely-made saving throw (especially deny the witch) with "Faith is my shield" or "The Emperor Protects"

Calculating the most sensible and tactically sound opportunities for careful board control and kiting of enemies, before announcing "For Sigismund!" and then just charging the biggest bad guy on the field.

 

And in 8th?

Perhaps a tide of Black Ceramite, chainsords and banners waving, legging it up the field, peppered with Champions, Chaplains and Special Characters, overlapping buffs of zealotry, ready to drown the enemy in their own blood, all while bellowing the Litanies of Hate for the enemies of the Emperor?

 

Maybe a triple-landraider armoured column, filled with assault terminators and veterans, supported to by a screen of fast moving firepower and a command squad on bikes, tooled up with lances and knightly gear?

 

Maybe a shower of black rain, as drop pods land on objectives, spilling out mixed-armour crusader squads, flamers and meltas everywhere, devastation rained down upon the enemy at point blank range?

 

There are just too many ways to have fun with Black Templars...

Edited June 3, 2017 by Marshal Mattias
ZEAL

[d3m01iti0n]

My best Templar moment was a tourney I player years ago when the old dex was valid. Nobody in my area played them and most ppl weren't familiar with their rules. First match vs Chaos the other player was stunned when I advanced in his turn after shooting casualties. How can you do that??

 

Second match, one opposing teammate was wise to the tactics and advised the IG player "DON'T shoot that blob, you'll piss them off" lol. Still Mopped em with no movement buffs.

 

Grimaldus and Crusader squad making it nearly unscathed across the board in LRC to flatten an entire IG platoon. Literally swept my friends entire back line off the board.

 

Later in 6th, my EC taking a Nurgle Daemon down to one wound before dying. Sure he didn't win but that was a hell of feat to mortally wound the fat pus bag, leaving him to be finished off by chainswords.

 

After we lost our proper rules I had some really terrible games where I got straight flattened. Demoralizing to say the least. So bad in fact that I sold my army and was recently lucky enough to track them down and get them back. The new ruleset looks very strong and I expect to see these guys on the table more often. I see a lot of good advice here. Keep a small build in mind and expand. Grimaldus seems to be a good starter HQ for rerolls and his Cenobytes for moral pass. Two Crusader squads, one CC, one Bolter. Then CC Neophytes(Scouts) then Bolter Neos. Repeat to double their numbers. That's a solid force of bodies for smaller games. Expand from there into LRCs, more HQs, am Ironclad, and that's basically your fluffy core BT force. Season with your own preferences from there. Fill your gaps where you notice you lack. Vinicators are a classic go to tank.

Edited June 3, 2017 by d3m01iti0n

[AndrewChristlieb]

I think the basic to buy list has been well covered so I won't add there. Some of my favorite moments though...

 

Wiping out a unit of Paladins with concentrated firepower from a point blank LRC. Lots of ones rolled...

 

Crusader sqaud surrounded by a seemingly insurmountable horde of Nids and cutting their way through despite the crazy number of them.

 

LRC on it's last wound rushing up the middle of the table at full tilt just so the machine spirit can core an IG tank commander with a single well placed multimelta shot (actually rolled a 6 to hit too so could have just snap shotted it, but then got box cars to penetrate and blew him sky high) The whole time the IG player kept asking everyone, can he even do that?

 

Stormraven dropping in and a squad of Vanguard plus dreadnought all jumping straight into a lopsided fight against a large group of Orks just to cut them to ribbons in close combat.

 

When a Space Wolves player tells you you really don't want to charge your Marshal and Crusader Squad at his TWC death star so you do it anyway and shove a burning blade down his warlord's throat in a challenge then send everyone who's left yelping away.

 

When your local ig player calls your basic troop choice a death star ;)

 

When the Emperor's Champion tanks two squads of scatter laser fire from elf bikers to give your TFC time to wipe them out while the Tech gunner shouts dodge this ya pointy eared.... yeah... When the same game sees your EC and Vanguard take down a Wraithknight and your LRC shrugs off the 'D' flamer guys and then wipes them out. Oh and it was his ATC list against the fluffy casual 1850 I run most of the time...

 

My TFC gunner got pinned down in CC by some ork commandos and held them for two turns so the orks sent in some mega armored nobs... which couldn't land a blow and were tied up the rest of the game with him as his servo arms kept ripping chunks out of them...

 

Had a cron player put his Wraiths and spider thing right infront of an LRC full of terminators and my las Devastators Heavy weapon Crusaders seeing them as the biggest threat so the Crusaders and LRC casually removed the spider and the Termies took out the Wraiths first turn (dumb deployment, but I did steal the initiative so it might have worked out for him).

 

So many more too I'm sure, but I think you should get the picture. ;)

Edited June 3, 2017 by AndrewChristlieb

[Marshal Wolfhart]

The expression on the face of Tau players when they shoot at templars, maybe kill some, heck even most of them, but a few reach their lines. And then... victory is its own reward. Priceless

[AndrewChristlieb]

Ah! How can I forget chasing Riptides around the table with an LRC as their shots harmlessly bounce off while whittling them down with assault cannons and multi melta :D

 

Oh and of course the old "Wait, those are just Marines, how many attacks?!" when Neophyte Bob dies to overwatch. Promptly followed by, "Oh this is just the first batch, I only have 32 dice" ;)

[Gendo]

Read Helsreach then go buy BT, could also play nicely if you already have IG ;)

 

Best moments are wiping off most of the opponent on turn 1 with my sorry CC marines in 7th, and having the opponent underestimate my "small guy" THE Emperor's Champion to then lose multiple characters to it.

 

There's also something special about disembarking 16 Templars from the LRC.

 

For a first kit I'd buy:

 

2 tactical Squads (consider the Skyhammer box with a cheap Pod)

2+ BT upgrade kit (can't remember the mileage on those but it depends on how much BT you put in each model)

1 Devastator Squad (for the heavy weapons)

4 Scouts boxes

1 LRC

2 Razorback (a Rhino with extra weapon) 

1 BT HQ of your liking

 

The tac squads and scouts may seem excessive but you'll just fill the LRC and up to 3 smaller squads if you mix in heavy weapons.

Or less if you want to have extra models with different equipment.

 

The two Razorback/Rhino seem very useful in 8th and the LRC is a must ;)

 

Isn't going to be 1500pts but it's a solid start of stuff you'll need which wont break the bank especially bought from a discount retailer, my advice is paint those and have a feel for it, then expand with what you fancy.

[Gendo]

Ah! How can I forget chasing Riptides around the table with an LRC as their shots harmlessly bounce off while whittling them down with assault cannons and multi melta

 

Oh and of course the old "Wait, those are just Marines, how many attacks?!" when Neophyte Bob dies to overwatch. Promptly followed by, "Oh this is just the first batch, I only have 32 dice"

 

True, 40+ dice don't even fit in my large hands, then you see your opponent breaking a sweat, priceless.

[Brother Talarian]

Thank you everyone for the great advice... I feel the zeal rising. Gendo, thank you for the detailed shopping list. Also, I do play guard so it's a nice combo ;).

 

So I suppose buying the Templar upgrade kit is a must, eh? I find the tabards to be too cool.

 

Do tactical squads come with CS+BP? I'd like to get up close and personal. The bloodclawa suggestion seems promising.... though they have a lot of wolf bits.

 

Are vanguard veterans seen/useful in a BT army? I simply like the look of them.

 

Thanks again brothers.

[CantusMaximGloria]

Vanguard Vets are absolutely awesome! I bought 10 last edition and split them between LC pairs and PF/TH Storm Shield guys to have versatility and they haven't disappointed me yet! Just today I had 4 of my LC Vanguards and my Relic Blade Veteran charge a Carnifex and come 1 wound short of 1 rounding that monster! I did crush him next round of combat though. I've also killed a wraithlord and wave serpent with my tank hunting squad easily earning their points back each time. Highly recommended with jump packs and chaplains, just a fantastically brutal unit.

[Gendo]

Thank you everyone for the great advice... I feel the zeal rising. Gendo, thank you for the detailed shopping list. Also, I do play guard so it's a nice combo .

 

So I suppose buying the Templar upgrade kit is a must, eh? I find the tabards to be too cool.

 

Do tactical squads come with CS+BP? I'd like to get up close and personal. The bloodclawa suggestion seems promising.... though they have a lot of wolf bits.

 

Are vanguard veterans seen/useful in a BT army? I simply like the look of them.

 

Thanks again brothers.

 

I usually buy one upgrade sprue for each tac squad box.

 

With the tac squad you get 1 chainsword, in the upgrade sprue you get 6 chainswords and 6 pistols with chains, power weapons, specials and lots of heraldry, upgrades for LRC and Rhino too.

 

Good value imo but makes your infantry fairly expensive, don't forget the Neophytes too, boxes are cheaper but comes with 5 scouts.

Edited June 30, 2017 by Gendo

[Brother Talarian]

Brothers... I feel the zeal rising even more. I went back to my parents' place and found some of my first models... they're heretical... but with some modifications they may be worthy after some repenting.

 

Chaos predator

Chaos rhino

Razorback

A handful of marines (SW bits on them... need to try and figure out how to remove some of these)

Twin las dread, are these good now?

Terminators

 

And was thinking of using AoS dudes for TH/SS assault termiea.... they got a knight vibe going on.

 

Thoughts? Advice to strip models? Decent force?

[Brother Talarian]

I have been converted.. I purchased Helsreach. I smell a crusade brewing....