Goatboy here with my favorite changes from the new 40K 10th Edition Back Templars Codex supplement, and just how powerful the crusaders are now.
Goatboy here with a quick rundown of five things I like from the new Black Templar Supplement. I always considered the Black Templars to be the extremely good guy version of my World Eaters. They are a bunch of crazy murderous soldiers who don’t care about skulls but do care about doing “good” for the Emperor. The army is also one of those easy to paint and easy to “make fancy” when building them out which is a pretty good thing for the hobby. The new book really seems to push them into its own flavor of Space Marines and I feel even more disctinctive than the Space Wolves were.
#5 – Changes to their Oath Mechanic
I know Oath of Moment is extremely powerful and one of the cornerstones of the Space Marine experience but I appreciate GW going out and creating a new “oath” mechanic for the Black Templars. Instead of picking a unit to get rerolls against the Black Templars pick from four different oaths at the beginning of the game to change up their rules a bit. Abhor the Witch, Destroy the Witch lets you gain precision on your weapons when shooting at Psyker Units. Accept Any Challenge, no Matter the Odds gives you a +1 to wound versus things that are tougher than your strength in melee. Suffer not the Unclean to Live lets you fallback/charge as well as not needing to consolidate towards the nearest closest enemy unit. Finally Uphold the Honour of the Emperor lets you gain Sticky Objectives for your units as well as your units can do actions if they advanced. I am not sure which one will be the best as the last one could be interesting in a horde army and the consolidation one lets you do a ton of movement tricks. Remember kids – movement wins games in Warhammer 40k. Also don’t go near a downed power line no matter how many times you think it will give you super powers.
#4 – Special Versions of “Standard” Space Marine Datasheets
I like that they built out a ton of Space Marine default datasheets with Black Templar tweaks. It is neat to see this and wish they did that with other supplements. It gives them a lot more room to create unique interactions and gives players a fun set of options for their Supplement armies. The ones here are a ton of tanks gained the option to have a Multi-Melta which gives them more damaging options. It also lets GW balance a bit more with points beyond just broad changes to datasheets.
#3 Crusader Squads – Too Legit To Quit
Crusader squads got a nice change with an update to their Righteous Zeal ability. They now get to make a blood surge like move that lets them go d6+2 inches towards the nearest unit. You mix this with some character options and you got a powerful little unit of death. Heck the new running “Chaplain” even gives units they are attached to Advance and Charge which means this pile of wounds is going to be running at you like some kind of crazy pile of nonsense. Throw in one of the Crusade Ancients and now you got a unit of jerks that can fight on Death on a 4+ and gain OC if the unit kills something. Now you can utilize the Vindication Task Force to gain a -1 to be wounded by anything if the Strength is higher than their Toughness and are near an objective marker. On top of that they can now Righteous Zeal themselves towards an objective instead of a unit too. Then you throw on an enhancement of Consecrating Aura and the unit gets a 5+ invulnerable save. That is a huge pile of nonsense that is going to move around the table like an angry Amoeba.
#2 – Companions of Vehemence Detachment is SOLID!
This detachment has a ton of Enhancements that affect the bearers’ units with things like Incendiary Animus that gives the unit a +1 to the AP value of melee weapons. Oathbound Exemplar gives the unit a +1 to their advance rolls as well as being able to Advance and do an Action. Merciless Denunciation lets the unit reroll all hits for those that have a Chaplain or Judiciar attached to them. Finally we got a nice 6″ scout ability by Zealous Vanguard as well. Anything that lets you do some movement tricks is extremely powerful in this game.
#1 – High Marshal Helbrecht Is a Beast!
Any character with a flat 3 Damage attack needs to be looked at. This guy has the Chapter Master keyword so he can join up with the unit and still have some friends come along. He gives the unit a +1 to their a strength and attacks for melee weapons and is a beast in combat. He even has a nice Mortal wound effect for a unit within engagement range that is dependent on how many models are in the unit. For every 5 models add a +1 to the roll with a 2-3 caused d3 mortals, 4-5 causing a flat 3, and a 5 causing D3+3 mortal wounds.
The army really feels like they want to push you towards big hordes of zealots with some support platforms behind them. This feels pretty mean and on par with how they feel Black Templars should play. Will see if they actually do some good work and are cheap enough to have 3+ hordes of jerks running across the table top.
No Pity! No Remorse! No Fear!
Thomas Reidy, aka Goatboy, the ever-evil member of BoLS. I do arts, play 40k, and even paint a lot of stuff. I have been playing Warhammer 40K since the 1990s, and have won multiple national events including Adepticon and GW GTs. I’ve been writing for BoLS for 15 years. Look at my Instagram to see what I am working on – or working on for someone. I am always doing something hobby related.