Some observations on a Mechanized Templar Crusade

[Tiger9gamer]

So before the new Tau and Eldar come to dump all over it, I have been having some fun with an (almost) all first born list. Just wanna share my observations with the forum. I have been playing in a mostly friendly environment, slowly getting better at the game as I adapt my lists. I havn't been facing buggy spam, crusher stampedes, custodes or any of the other real top meta, but my games were not complete cakewalks by any means. Some real nail biters as I maneuver and push units around the board.

Some observations for the units I ran so far:

Redemptor dread w/ onslaught cannon, plasma cannon and storm bolters: He's great as a back field unit, pushing up the board, or dealing damage to targets, but his reputation usually makes him target number 1. I am also disappointed by how swingy his plasma cannon is at times, and I wish he could get something like a lascannon kinda gun or multi-melta array. Something to make his weapon more consistent. Other than that, I can usually rely on him to do damage, but when he fails his rolls it's a huge hit to my game as he is the best anti-tank I got at the moment. Looking to fix that, but I am also pretty excited to try a second one, this time for Close combat (heavy flamer, fragstorm, plasma and icarus gun) so he pushes forward with my troops.

Venerable Dread w/ Storm bolter and multi-melta: This guy either gets killed in one round and I miss his anti-tank weapon, or he is a walking war machine able to help hold a flank with minimal support. Not a lot of in between with this guy, But I do love all he can provide. Close combat, assault, toughness... Yea, this guy rocks. May be replaced with aforementioned second redemptor, but I may also get a lascannon/missile launcher version in the future. He barely ever makes his 6+ FNP save though.

Marshal w/ Jump pack, TH & SS, Iron Resolve, Master of Arms and Tanhauser's bones: Yea, The bones are not on the chaplain in my lists. I only really charge the chappy into units I know he can help kill, or just keep him near an assault for his buffs. I find that even with 6 wounds, this captain is a beast. He is able to jump over terrain pieces, can run solo against other heroes (dice willing), tank an enemy hero's combat for a few rounds, and be a general nuisance. He got even better now that I realize Master of Arms lets him hit first in the oppnent's phase even with charges (Defender gets first pick of an activation in this case.). He provided the finishing blow on a few ork warbosses, necron overlords, or filthy psykers, and he can hit like a truck. Tanny's bones gives him that extra layer of protection he needs. Still gets shredded by small arms fire or volume of attacks, but it is mostly on me to avoid that. Last game he tanked a command barge's attacks and killed a very defensive overlord with a little help from his friends.

10 man Vanguard vet squad w/ 2 TH & SS, 7 Lightning Claws & SS, Champion of the feast with SS & Fist of Balthas: Ran these boys two different ways.

In LRC w/ MM and with Chief Apothecary and afformentioned Marshal w/o jump pack: Terrible. could never get where I needed them as the LRC is very unwieldy, and once the transport is killed they are left just sort of... walking. Worst they ever did was bouncing off a squad of Mephrit crawlers and dying to spawn. Thankfully, I took the time to magnetize their back packs.

W/ Jump packs: Holy moley what a difference this is. They are on the ground in the command phase and I can buff them to high heaven with a nearby chaplain. Divine protection, Fervent acclimation and litany of hate from the nearby Bombastic Delivery chappy can rip and tear almost any infantry apart. Dealing with the turn after is a bit of a challenge, as I had games where I rolled abysmally and they get shot to pieces or charged and slaughtered. Still, even if only the Champ and one other guy survives they are a force to be reckoned with. The lightning claws are amazing for how many attacks they can put out reliably.

Speaking of the Champion of the Feast, I am convinced that this is probably my favorite way to run him. Often times he can nearly wipe a squad or target out by himself, and the thunder hammers are just there to help finish it. Combined with a Marshal and Castellan he is easily the most reliable model in the game for putting the hurt on damn near anything. In fact, my experience with this boy makes me confused why anyone would just toss the strat on a random eliminator just for the extra wound. It is really wasting like, half the point of this strat, and that +1 attack and WS makes for an amazing soldier.

That's all for now, but I am going to be adding more later on as I feel like it
 

Edited February 14, 2022 by Tiger9gamer

[Tiger9gamer]

Alright, talking into the void yet again but this may be helpful for some people so why not!

My observations on Firstborn crusader squads (in rhinos particularly)

I made so many firstborn crusaders now, and half of them I wish I didn't put power fists on. I admit though, it was fun painting so many marines, especially ones I haven't played with since late 5th edition when I switched to admech. I do wish that the initiate with a power weapon could either have a special rule that gave them +1 attack with it, or just give them lightning claws, as that would aliviate some issues I got with them. Lately even a 5 point power weapon on the initiates are very disappointing, but that is in part because of my notoriously bad rolls. I almost always give the sword brother a power weapon though, and going to phase out the power swords and axes I have been using for a lightning claw, both for the extra attack and the re-roll to wounds. maybe in the future, all power weapons can give +1 attack but I am not holding my breath.

Anyways, I had experience running 20 crusaders for a few games now. The first few times I have been running them as x4 squads of 5 marines each, and they have turned out to be almost too squishy to be practical. not enough damage output on the charge, easy to kick off an objective, and while flexible with how much ground they could cover it is not actually practical to have them cover that much ground if they get slaughtered easily.

So in recent games I have consolidated two 5 man squads into a 10 man squad, and suped up the sword brother to carry two LC's and the bones of mordred. I have been liking it so far too. He cut down 6 storm boys when I rolled three 6's, which is pretty impressive for a basic sword brother, and the rest of the squad cut the orks down. Plus, they can take some casualties and still remain a good threat, only getting better when a Chaplain is nearby to provide his buffs. I am probably going to bring a flamer on the squad too instead of a power sword, just to have some ranged options. Overall I am pretty happy with these squads and will keep bringing them...

Mostly because of the Rhinos. These guys are the secret gem of my list. Fast as hell, able to block off lanes for assaulting and movement, sometimes forcing people to waste shots on them just to get them away... and able to score me secondaries. Overall, really good models for tricky stuff. Plus, they can provide my squads protection against anti-infantry squads for at least one turn.

 

[Tokugawa]

Non-brother classic crusader initiate has…cough, A1. Don't worth any cc special weapon upgrades. If you have too many crusader models glued with special cc weapons and want to play WYSIWYG, you can run…"vanguard veteran with special cc weapons and without jump packs" or company veterans.

[Tiger9gamer]

Non-brother classic crusader initiate has…cough, A1. Don't worth any cc special weapon upgrades. If you have too many crusader models glued with special cc weapons and want to play WYSIWYG, you can run…"vanguard veteran with special cc weapons and without jump packs" or company veterans.

yea, I thought it could be enough but I was mistaken. Gonna go 1 squad of 10 chainsword crusaders w/ Bones of mordred and 2 LC's on the Sword brother, maybe adding a flamer. The other two squads of five will just have the serg with a special weapon. Slowly learning my lesson, but I am learning lol. I may convert stuff in the future, but for now I will let them be.

 

I may just run a mixed power weapon squad in the future like you mentioned just for the hell of it, but right now I am enjoying my list. I am going to change it up a bit when I get my bits I ordered though, but not too much. I hope I can field a Predator annihilator w/ heavy bolters sometime to continue my theme, and will make observations on it in the future.

Edited February 15, 2022 by Tiger9gamer

[noigrim]

I like to put them on a pod with a champion (old datasheet) and the sword of judgement

[Tiger9gamer]

Another observation cause I wanna talk out loud:

Leviathan with x3 hunter killer missiles, grav bombard, x2 flamers and leviathan siege claw: I got this second hand, so the loadout was fixed... but that aside, I like him. He either goes ignored the entire game and causes Havoc, or he tanks a lot of attention. I'm knocking on wood after I write this, but he hasn't died yet! which is odd... cause my redemptor dies almost every game for around the same stats. 

His load out isn't the best and I would swap out his gun for maybe a melta cannon, but this boy is a monster in close combat. 6 attacks on the charge, Str 14, 3 damage each... I like him. probably going to get a second one because I had so much fun painting him! going to stop taking hunter killer missiles though. 15 points of waste almost every single game.