Friday, January 14, 2011

Black Templars 2,500 List: I Like Terminators

What follows is not optimized.  I know a dozen ways I could shave points in this list to buy more firepower.  And as 'Ard Boyz season approaches, I will.  This is basically a hybrid foot/mech list heavy on Terminators.  I like Terminators with Tank Hunters and heavy weapons.  I like Terminators with Thunderhammer/Storm Shields and Preferred Enemy.  This list has all of that.  Here goes...

The old Black is now 3++



Emperor's Champion
-AAC
140

[Duh.]

Castellan
-Terminator Armor
-Thunderhammer
-Stormshield
-4x Terminator Command Squad
-2x Cyclone Launchers
-Tank Hunters
360

[Does the Castellan need that much gear?  His only real role is to open up two more elite FOC choices, so no.  However, I have a badass Lysander converted Black Templar Marshal/Castellan and I intend to use it.  Plus he is bad ass enough to be somewhat of a deterrent.]

Castellan
-Terminator Armor
-Power Weapon
-Storm Bolter
-4x Terminator Command Squad
-2x Cyclone Missile Launchers
-Tank Hunters
-330

[Again, I could go slightly cheaper, but I expect these units to draw a lot of enemy attention, and I want a decent fighty HQ in it.  If you're going to commit resources to killing these guys, I want you to pay for it heavily.]

5x Terminator Squad
-2x Assault Cannons
-Tank Hunters
-255

[Why not Cyclones?  Because rending, tank hunting Asscans are pretty hot.  Plus, against certain types of opponents, like squadrons and semi-tough units with a cover save, they preform better. In this case, I prefer some variety over redundancy.]
10x Terminator Assault Squad
-Thunderhammer Stormshields
-Furious Charge
-430

[I wanted a thunderbubble to protect the shootier dudes.  I figure 10 TH/SS with EC attached is a pretty mean CC unit.  I actually wanted two of these, but I would have to ditch the Asscan terminators and some speeders, and I didn't feel it was worth it.]

3x Landspeeder
-Multimelta
-Heavy Flamer
225

[I know that BT Typhoons are the bees' knees now.  But I don't have any Typhoon models and I don't intend to get any.  And I actually need these more in this particular army.  This army has no other ability to project melta downfield, and these fill that role.  They are on Landraider/Battlewagon control duty, which is something Typhoons aren't so good at.  Don't get me wrong, the Typhoons are an insane deal now, but this list already has a ton of long range firepower.]

4x5 Initiates w/ Bolt Pistol and CCW
-Missile Launcher
-Meltagun
-Razorback
-Twin Linked Lascannon
760

[Fairly standard BT troop choices now.  A missile launcher and TLLC with melta back up is more firepower than most troop choices can bring.  They aren't as tough as grey hunters, but they can shoot a bit better.]

=Total 2,500

Obviously not optimized fully, but it will be fun to play.  My thinking is you can more fully tweak out the CC elements, especially the equipment on the HQ to add more firepower, but then it becomes a black space marine army with heavy firepower from a terminator firebase.  I think my list does that decently well, while still feeling like a Black Templar army should.  Call me a carebear fluff bunny, I guess.  I figure a list like this will be at least enough to make it past the prelims.  We'll see.

As soon as I assemble some Cyclone Launcher Termies I'll take it for a spin.  This has everything I want in a 40k army: lot's of bad ass elite troops, serious long range firepower, a strong close combat element that people can't take for granted, and fairly useful troop choices.  Is it possible that BT are a decent 5th edition 'dex now?!

6 comments:

  1. insanity. Man I need CC in a desperate way. I was almost going to trade away my missile launchers for some, but I am seriously rethinking that now.

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  2. oh, btw: you need more Hammernators. =p

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  3. Heh... looks interesting. Not as slow as it would seem, either. And like you said, not exactly optimized :-p. But it looks fun. Mostly I'm just happy they got the update they did :)

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  4. I like the Castellan with Lightning Claw instead of Thunderhammer. You've already got 3 PF in his squad, and with AAC he'll be able to re-roll hits and wounds, making him pretty efficient. It also saves a few points.

    Tank Hunting Assault Cannons are fun, I have an army built around it. But don't forget about the Tank Hunting Storm Bolters-- great for side shots on lesser armor. The more dice you throw, the better.

    That said, and having played a lot of Tank Hunting Assault Cannon games, I think 4 Cyclone dice will be better than 8 Cannon dice, especially against lower AV mech spam.

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  5. I guess i'm sort of confused as to how missile launchers work into the crusader squads, am i missing something?

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  6. This is an old list. But really those units don't ride in the Razors. They deploy in cover near objectives and pew pew missiles. The Razors can then go off and do their own tank busting thing.

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