# Are Black Templar worth playing?



## Brian007 (Aug 8, 2008)

I have about 3-4000 points of space marine sitting in a box and I was thinking about painting them up. I like the look of the Black Templar and their back story as well. I guess I am wondering what other players think about the army as a whole. I looked over the book and it looks like they are more point per modle than the newer space marine armies. So with that being said, is the book to out dated to be a competitive army?
Please give reasons with your answer as well.

If you are pro Templar please feel free to give me some ideas on what is good and some basic ideas.

Thank You!


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## ChugginDatHaterade (Nov 15, 2010)

Black templar do 4th edition style infantry gunline very well. But they havent evolved since then.


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## Medic Marine (Jun 28, 2009)

Same boat as my DA, they cost more and as a resut fewer of them. This in my opinion causes you to be smarter about how you play. More thought less random violence. As for how they play, I would ask yourself if they fit you rather than can i win with them. It is a game and it should be an army you wanna play and can connect with.


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## Jackinator (Nov 18, 2008)

They can be a very interesting army to play, I'm afraid I disagree with ChugginDatHaterade as I don't think they've ever played gunline particularly well. Really, there are 3 common approaches with Black Templars:

1. Foot slogging marine horde, usually consisting of about 2 or 3 squads of Black templars, with 10 initiates and 10 neophytes. Includes a number of Dreadnoughts to provide fire support. Relies on using neophytes to soak up damage leaving the majority of the initiates alive to get into close combat. Operates with sledgehammer techniques to bludgeon the enemy into submission.

2. Mechanised, again usually 2 or 3 squads of Black templars but of 9 or 10 marines this time, accompanied by any independant characters you might have, in rhino's. May include Dreadnoughts or predator tanks for fire support but relies on getting to the enemy quickly to do it's damage.

3. ChugginDatHaterades suggestion of the gunline, due to the fact that Black Templars are the only Space Marine army that can still use the min-max technique with small squads of marines with a special and a heavy weapon. Suffers due to lack of devastator squads and zeal but can be effective to get a lot of heavy weapons for a comparatively small investment.

There are also other approaches such as Land Raider rush but those three are the most common that I have encountered. I would steer clear of the last one though as it is the least effective of the three. I prefer a mechanised force due to the speed at which you can reach the enemy while vows allow you that extra punch that really makes what is essentially the average tactical marine an extremely effective close combat machine.


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## jaren (Jul 7, 2008)

I enjoy them quite a bit, I use an armoured column with 2 lrc's with asault termies, 4 rhinos with marines squads in them and 2 speeders. my hq's are a chapter master level commander with POLC and our required emperor's champion with AACNMTC.

this is a simplified version of my army, we are very strong in melee, our ranged leaves something to be desired, though in my list i do have 8 melta weapons, not huge range but a good threat to have to face.

if you have any other questions please ask them!


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## Creidim (Jan 6, 2011)

the only bad thing ive seen with their termies is storm shields still give them 5+ so no benfit, or am i thinking of the wrong army?


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## Stephen_Newman (Jul 14, 2009)

I find that there are some sick upgrades for BT that are overlooked.

For example terminator armoured sword brethren squads can be either 3 or more men with 2 assault cannons or consist of a number of lightning claw armed vets with furious chrage and backed by a chaplain means murder for the infantry they hit.

Special and heavy weapons can be min-maxed in squads and the Emporers Champion is a beast in combat.

They only main problem with templers nowadays is that in objective missions you shoot them and then they run off their objective:laugh:


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## Capt.Al'rahhem (Jan 24, 2009)

Stephen_Newman said:


> For example terminator armoured sword brethren squads can be either 3 or more men with 2 assault cannons...


Wait are you saying the one guy can have 2 Assult Cannons? That doesn't make sence but I've never read the C:BT.


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## Jackinator (Nov 18, 2008)

Black Templar cc terminators have storm shields that provide them with a 4+ invulnerable save. Storm shields have never given a 5+, you're thinking combat shields. And no, what he means is that the squad can have two assault cannons, without having to buy ten terminators. The number of weapon upgrades is not governed by the size of the unit.


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## fishywinkles (Nov 8, 2009)

Regular terminator squads are min 5 while terminator command squads are min 3. Both can take 2 assault cannons at minimum squad size as well as tank hunters.


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## Souleater1806 (Oct 19, 2010)

As a Black Templar player, I think we are a very fun army to play.

-Old smoke rules rock
-Rerolling failed hits rocks
-FURIOUS CHARGE on assault termies rocks real hard
-Vindicators + POTMS rocks

But we do have some glaring holes.

-Zeal hinders more than it helps.
-Infantry still have to take target priority tests.
-Lots of LD checks.

I recomend playing a couple test games with them before you decide to paint them up as Templars.


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## Brian007 (Aug 8, 2008)

So could I paint them up red, black and white and then play them as blood angels and also "red" templar?
Kind of 2 for 1?


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## Stephen_Newman (Jul 14, 2009)

Brian007 said:


> So could I paint them up red, black and white and then play them as blood angels and also "red" templar?
> Kind of 2 for 1?


I like that. Plus if they fail that bad then you could pass them off as BA.


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## dspadres (Jan 10, 2011)

I really enjoy playing my Black Templars. I've had them for a few years and they haven't let me down, for the most part. Their biggest downfall is the codex is out dated so we don't have access to new stuff that other marines do. For example, machine spirit for templars is a BS2 as opposed to BS4 for other guys. One other thing that is annoying is they're being out done by wolves and BA but that's only because they're very new.

I honestly enjoy playing an "outdated" army mostly because people that I play underestimate their power and it's fun to wipe the floor with someone because they had no respect.


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## msteward (Jan 5, 2011)

When I was learning the overall ins and outs of the game it was against BT and I regulart got smoked because I didnt know my about what I was doing. But I find them to be an absolute pain in the ass to fight, of the armies I play in my gaming group, the Templars are the only ones I haven't beaten.


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## LordWaffles (Jan 15, 2008)

Stephen_Newman said:


> They only main problem with templers nowadays is that in objective missions you shoot them and then they run off their objective:laugh:


This is counteracted by being a good templar player, in example:
You get shot
You pass morale
You are obligated to move "up to the distance rolled on 1d6"

The keyword is "up to" you can blow on the marines and count as having raged in the general direction of the closest enemy.
I wrote a huge tactica about everything templar, and some other tacticas were listed and are good reads. But at the end of the day it's a very simple question:
Do you want to play to win? Play wolves instead.
If you enjoy the fun aspect of 40k, templar are awesome.

This being said I got to the second round of 'ard boyz and took fifth place with them(Would have gotten third but that's a different story), so they can still match up but it's an uphill battle at an extremely competitive level of play.


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## Zonder (Nov 15, 2010)

Just FYI the new GW Black Templars FAQ changes their storm shields to a 3+ and changes the wording on zeal to specifically prohibit going to ground to gain an extra d6 movement. As well as makes land raiders assault vehicles. I think I remember it changing POTMS to BS4 as well but not sure on that one.


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## DarKKKKK (Feb 22, 2008)

Zonder said:


> Just FYI the new GW Black Templars FAQ changes their storm shields to a 3+ and changes the wording on zeal to specifically prohibit going to ground to gain an extra d6 movement. As well as makes land raiders assault vehicles. I think I remember it changing POTMS to BS4 as well but not sure on that one.


He is right, thanks to Katie Drake for the heads up: http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/c...ndex=1&aId=3400019&multiPageMode=true&start=2


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## ohiocat110 (Sep 15, 2010)

Neophytes got a lot more interesting now that their shotguns got bumped up to S4. Lot of other changes too. If you were considering BT, this will only help the cause.


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## FaithfulDemise (Jul 10, 2010)

I saw a few BT armies before the BT codex came out and they were alright. After the new rules came out and the players changed their armies abit, them seem to be interesting to play. It is more like chess than just charging in and blowing the enemy to pieces with the army but it looks interesting to play.


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## Steaknchips (Dec 28, 2009)

I'd definatly have a look though the new FAQ before you make a decision - some old rules like oldschool smoke have gone (sad times) and rules via shooting nearest target have been clarified. Also changes to include 3+ Storm sheilds, 2 Cyclone Termies per squad, landraider claification on rules and more....

Personally I think its going to make BT's more flexable in how they can be played but have a read up first and make your own mind up.


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## LordWaffles (Jan 15, 2008)

Losing the smoke rule hurt us bad, but gaining 3++ shields means we can field a marshall without him sitting at a 5++.
Fielding the marshall means you don't have to babysit squads as much as they're all ld10 when they lose a dude, which is fantastic for a las/plas squad.
The new machine spirit rules on our vindicators makes them wayyyy better.

Still even with all the new mechanic gadgetry we still pay more for rhinos/razorbacks, and don't have the longfang support that space wolves get. Still it's fun, just maybe not mathematically the greatest army.


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