Things
look bleak for Black Templars these days.
Their current codex is ancient and strictly non-competitive in a
tournament setting as the main army. All
the rumors point to the BT getting a White Dwarf codex sometime in 2013, and
based on the history of the last few WD codices… let’s just say we might
actually prefer to keep our ancient over-costed codex if the alternative is
anything like the Sisters of Battle. Our
current codex is a dinosaur on life support, and our future codex has a good
chance of being still-born. Things could
be better.
The
BT are all but useless as a main army in competitive 6th
edition. Our HQ and Troops are
significantly overcosted, and as those are areas that every army needs to
compete, it puts a strain out. So where
is the glimmer of hope? Simply put, as
allies. The BT have some interesting
units that can be complimentary as an allied force, and I’ll go over the
options here.
HQ: BT can bring a Terminator captain with a retinue
of Tank Hunting 2x Ass-can/cyclone terminators.
When is this useful? Let’s say
you have a good codex that has good options in heavy support and elites, but
you still want some more strong and tough anti-tank. Getting a shooty anti-tank unit out of an HQ
slot is rare. Not many modern armies can
bring shooty anti-tank units in HQ so if you are strapped for empty FOC slots,
this can really bolster your army
Troops: As I mentioned before, our troops are
stiflingly overpriced. But we have one
attractive option: 20x man crusader squad with krak grenades. This is a fairly tough to shift blob that is
Fearless in assaults and, when a chaplain is attached, will be in your
deployment zone immediately if you choose to shoot at them. This unit is pricey for a Troop choice, but
it provide something only Chaos normally has access to: a 20 man MEQ unit with
close combat potential. There are a lot
of armies who bring allied CSM just for this type of unit, and depending on the
army and their ally options, this might be better. Or at least legal.
Elites: 5x Terminator squad with 2x heavy weapons and
Tank Hunters. These are almost strictly
better than any modern codex’ similar options.
Tank
Hunting venerable dread with TLLC and Missile Launcher. The ability to glance kill the dread hurts
the points investment you take in Venerable.
However, your guns are 48” range and hit really hard. There are not too many better anti-heavy tank
units in the game. I could easily see
this incorporated into a GK list as the “fourth” psyfleman. Or in a C:SM Master of the Forge list as the
“sixth” rifleman.
Heavy
Support: Power of the Machine Spirit
Vindicator. Our FAQ weakened this option
by changing PotMS to match the new codices.
However, other books can’t take PotMS on their Vindis, so this is a
unique option. Many SM lists these days
are bringing Vindis, and some other armies that can’t wish they could. This is the option to take an upgraded
Vindi. I would definitely consider this
one in any list that is considering bringing a Vindi.
That’s
about it. Like I said, this codex is on
life support/death row; so us remaining Black Templar players have to do the
best with what good options are left.
Thoughts? Comments?
Questions?
Think about it this way though: you just have to suffer through that white dwarf codex for a few years before you get a real codex with super-powered characters and fast tanks and whatnot. Then you can be even MORE like Blood Angels!
ReplyDeleteYou missed Typhoon Land Speeders. Also consider that the 20 man Crusader squad can work great as a relatively cheap bubble wrap with neophytes bringing down the cost of each model in the unit (13 points each... about 15 each with upgrades).
ReplyDeleteI considered the typhoons, but I had a hard time envisioning the army who would want them that can also have templar allies.
ReplyDeleteThey offer another target in a mechanised/semi-mech list... one which is easier to kill than a Rhino and is able to threaten the opponent on T1 with its Typhoon Missile Launchers.
ReplyDeleteAlso cheaper than their Space Marine & Blood Angel equivalent. Could view them as the 4th 'poor man' Dreadnought in Grey Knight army.
I think that speeders and attack bikes were always in competition with one another, and now that bikers are true toughness 5 and speeders have a mere 2 hull points, attack bikes are just better now. The cheaper BT variant does make the choice harder, granted.
DeleteThey weren't in 'competition'. Rather, they were the only two viable Fast Attach options available to Black Templars. A Black Templar Bike Squadron w/ Attack Bike is more expensive than their vanilla equivalent w/ each bike costing 32 pts & the attack bike 50 pts base.
DeletePlus, they serve two very different jobs. Land Speeders are able to provide long range AT as well as AI. Attack Bikes are either short range AT or medium-long range AI.
I always thought BT assault marines with Storm Shields were interesting as a tarpit unit vs most anything...
ReplyDeleteActually, if they had just left well enough alone in the 6th Ed FAQ, we'd be doing fine. Losing the Drop Pod rule (#1 reason I bailed to Necrons for NOVA, GW moron in charge didn't just "update" the rules, they made Drop Pods an illegal choice for all BT lists...until after NOVA, with FAQs dated the last week in July...) hurt some, outright nerfing of AACNMTO, the HQ tax and requiring full RZ moves **without** allowing the RZ into CC that the entire rule was originally meant for just kind of killed it.
ReplyDeleteIt wasn't 6th, it was the moron(s) in charge of the FAQ writing.
The game is very interesting to me. I would like to play this game very much. For those who want to play this game come to see the web here too. gclub
ReplyDelete