HQ

Emperor's Champion

Black Templar Chaplain

Troop

Scouts

Black Templar Crusader Squad 1

Elite

Black Templar Assault Centurion, Heralds of Ruin Kill Team Leader

Fast Attack

.....

Heavy Support.

Black Templar Land Raider Crusader

40k, 7th edition, and the Black Templars.

     Warhammer 40k is my favorite tabletop wargame. Between the lore, the feel of the mechanics and system, and the aesthetic, I'm completely sold on it. I've invested hundreds of dollars this week alone, and will continue to purchase more for my army as a collection. I am a hobbyist-gamer, and things aren't changing. People continually bitch about 40k, and how things suck, or what's wrong with it, or how things aren't working out for them, or about the company (GW), but they are just spoiled naysayers. Being vocal and negative doesn't mean you are correct.

     I've only played in sixth edition, but it's pretty obvious that it's broken. It's very likely that GW didn't think things through numerous times, but merely adapted with each consecutive codex. Wanting to make money is the nature of business, and 100% this is a business for someone in every wargame. You can't fault them for wanting to sell models, but kind of forcing people to buy models is just ridiculous. Honestly, between Fantasy and 40k, GW has something magical on their hands, and 7th edition may be a grand blend of both worlds for 40k.
     The current problem with 40k is that it's entirely shooting oriented, psychic powers rule the world, and allies creates ridiculous combos and OP deathstars. So how does 7th look like it's going to address these issues for the game, and as a result for Black Templars? Well let's see what is confirmed:

1) Battleforged armies and unbound armies.

     Just play battleforged. Disallow unbound if you don't know your opponent or think he's trying to jerk you around. Infinite heldrakes don't affect Land Raiders very well/easily, so whatever. He can't deny objectives, and probably can't score either. If there isn't a rule change, he has to have something on the table that is hard to remove to even make it to turn 2. Hardly the "OP!" outcry that the first trickling of comments held when unbound where initially revealed. I'm sure we can dissect other "OP Unbound army lists!" pretty simply. 8 Chapter Masters on bikes with storm shields still fight at initiative 1 against a Battleforged Imperial Knight lists, and if you stomp well they all die. The rewards for being battleforged in the game are just too profound to really warrant most general "OP" unbound things you can think of.

2) Psyker Phase.

     Mmm. This is great. It's very much sounding like you require a 4 or higher on a die roll to succeed on a psychic power. But you need a success for every Warp Charge the spell requires. Hmmm. Even with 1d6+Total Mastery Level of psykers in army, it's looking like on average you won't just be spamming easy, powerful psyker powers every turn. That sounds good to me. If you are limited by how many dice you can use for a power, say your psyker level or psyker level +1, then you can't guarantee you can get off pivotal powers necessary all the time, let alone for things like the Seerstar or Screamerstar. On top of all of this, double 1s or 6s are looking to be perils. Perils is on a separate chart, and if it's as  potentially devastating as Fantasy's spell chart - then ouchie. And we get a Deny the Witch pool? Assuming Adamantium Will protects against spells, I wouldn't find it odd to see a unit with Adamantium Will getting to act as a Pysker master level 1 for Deny the Witch pool. Then an army of Adamantium Will units in Black Templars will a hard to beat army make. We are one of the only armies that gets no access to Psykers, and the only one that gets no access to Psykers with army-wide "pseudo-resistance".

3) Consolidation into assault.

     This is still rumor, and not entirely confirmed. What is confirmed is spilling over wounds from challenges, which already will make the Chapter Master even more potent and terrifying than he is now. Units will no longer slow down trouble characters from massive wounds, and denying challenges will slow down units immensely. Consolidation into another assault is pretty simple and effective, and blunt. There's not much more to say there. Gunlining will create a domino of death for your army. Spread out and be mobile. Or hit back harder. The choice is yours.

4) Scoring models/units and Objective Secured.

     There's a blurb that says a dedicated transport that's taken by a unit counts as a unit of that type. So a troop, IE: Crusader squads, taking a dedicated transport, aka Land Raider Crusader, makes the LRC count as a troop unit. If vehicles end up being able to score, this would become huge, and pretty much blow my mind. If vehicles can't score that's fine, because the major thing that appears to be coming is everything scores. Troops have the advantage with Objective Secured (preventing other units from denying them objectives that don't have the Objective Secured SR). Let's take 2 crusader squads in LRCs and call our troop choices for the day. I'm prepping my Assault Centurions now incase this is the change. If I can score with Assault Centurions, I'll be tempted to take them finally.


Take how much more difficult it will be to cast spells, the ability we can try to Dispel (Deny the Witch) key powers, not needing to take 3-4 troops in a 2k list with Crusader Squads, everything scoring, consolidation into combat, and being rewarded for not having allies (Since ally troops don't get objective secured)....that's a blender of Black Templar death that I wait for anxiously.

The days ahead.

     Eight days later and I've finished my Swamp Gobber Bellows, Horthol, and a max unit of Longriders. Oh yeah, busy, busy! Going to take new pictures of all my completed Trollblood stuff tonight and should them all up by the end of the weekend. With my first 50-point list completed and fully painted, I'll probably be playing that pretty heavily when I can find a game here and there while working on either my Warriors of Chaos or Black Templars. It's likely to be Black Templars, but I'll be focusing on a Heralds of Ruin Kill Team campaign my local store is running for a bit until I figure out how the new edition changes things.
     On the 40k front, I didn't attend the Highlander tournament. But that's fine. I managed to get in a few games with my Black Templars (/w Imperial Knight) recently and I must say...I am loving the Imperial Knight. I don't think it's too powerful, but what it brings to the table really draws a lot of firepower from my Land Raider. A Land Raider + an Imperial Knight + a Void Shield Generator = one extremely tough to bring down gunline. While the Land Raider and Imperial Knight are designed as a gunline, they can solidly take out stuff a few turns while everything focuses on taking on the threats to the Knight and the Land Raider. After that it's just safely scoring for the win!

Black Templar Imperial Knight.

Black Templar Imperial Knight

Black Templar Imperial Knight, Top Down view

Black Templar Imperial Knight

April (not)Fools. Highlander Style tournament in a month, 40k-style!

I few days late, but whatever...

The Warriors of Chaos are forming quite nicely. I've been working on a Daemon Prince conversion that has come together exactly as I pictured him, so hurray to that! I'll get pictures up when I can and he's on a base. Until then....

Highlander 40k Tournament

In exactly one month I have a 40k tournament, Highlander style. The general idea is that you can choose only one model/unit selection once. So if you want a Storm Talon, you only can get one pretty much no matter the means. There are a few more rules tagged on, but the idea is to get away from the standard tournament meta and try out some new, fun ideas. As for troops, you can cycle through your choices until you come back around and re-select already chosen units. This is only for Troops, however. I'm not sure if I agree, as an Imperial Knight army can still field 5 Knights due to the rules (not technically, but that's what the Tournament Organizer ruled), but hopefully we don't have any of those players (or rather, if we do, none of them are bigger than me so I can punch them a couple times).  So, list!

Primary (Black Templars)
------------------------
HQ - Chapter Master, Bike, Artificer, Power Fist, Shield Eternal - 245

Elite - Sternguard x10, x2 Melta, x2 Combi-Melta, Drop Pod - 305

Troop - Bikes x5, x2 Grav-Guns, x1 Combi-Grav - 145
Troop - Crusader Squad x10, Chainswords, Power Axe, Melta, Sword Brother /w Melta Bomb and Power Sword, Drop Pod - 230
Troop - Scouts x5, Camo Cloaks, Snipers - 70
Troop - Tactical Squad x5, Lascannon - 90
Troop - Crusader Squad x10, Chainswords, Power Axe, Melta, Sword Brother /w Melta Bomb and Power Sword, Drop Pod - 230
Troop - Bikes x5, x2 Grav-Guns, x1 Combi-Grav - 145

Heavy - Thunderfire Cannon - 100
Heavy - Centurion Devastators x3, Grav Cannons, Omniscope - 290

I have a month to prepare and redo my list, but that's what I'm thinking so far. I've already started painting, and some of my choices are just because I have them painted already. It feels like a potent list and should be able to deal with a lot of armies, as well as have a ton of scoring. It'd be hit or miss against 5 Imperial Knights, but should last against other powerful options.

Taking this to my FLGS tonight:

HQ - Chapter Master, Terminator Armor, Thunder Hammer, Shield Eternal

Troop - Crusader Squad, x5 Initiates, Plasma Gun, Lascannon
Troop - Crusader Squad, x5 Initiates
        /w Land Raider Crusader, Multi-Melta, Extra Armor
Troop - Crusader Squad, x5 Initiates
        /w Land Raider Crusader, Multi-Melta

Heavy Support - Centurion Devastators x3, Grav Cannons and Amps x3, Omniscope
/w Land Raider Redeemer, Multi-Melta, Extra Armor
Heavy Support - Thunderfire Cannon
Heavy Support - Thunderfire Cannon

Fortification - Void Shield Generator

------------------------------------------------

Should be good fun. Just got done building my Chapter Master in terminator armor, and should be done with my Void Shield Generator. Put together the Las+Plas crusader squad this morning while watching last night's Walking Dead episode, so the army should be ready to roll out. Here's how I expect it to play:

I'll probably roll on the Personal Warlord Traits table to try to get Feel No Pain or to make the Chapter Master a scoring unit. Deployment depends on whether or not my opponent has a means to get melta inside my VSG's bubble first turn or not. But my typical idea for deployment is to toss the Las+Plas crusader squad in bolstered ruins for backfield objective camping (3+ armor/3+ cover - good stuff), and probably toss a TFC near the unit to help soak up firepower or to help versus oncoming enemies - since the Techmarine with a servo-harness that comes with the TFC is a beast. I plan to deploy my Void Shield Generator close to the edge of my deployment zone so I can edge up the Land Raider's while still maintaining durability granted from the Void Shield themselves. The Centurion Devastators probably get joined by the Chapter Master, although they most likely will disembark from the side of the LRR and leave the Chapter Master inside it to go hunt down his own trouble threats. Nothing screams Black Templars than a Marshall storming alone through an enemy deployment zone! It's an extremely aggressive list, at least it needs to be played like one, and trouble threats need to go down very early. If an army can't easy deal with a Land Raider, though, then the game is mine by default. I will bubble wrap TFCs in Land Raider's and just shoot down approaching enemies if armor 14 is too much for my foe.

BT CM:

Bits used: Terminator Librarian, heavily scraped, Forgeworld Black Templar Terminator bits, standard assault terminator thunder hammer, grey knights head, and green stuff for the hood.

Not sure if I like how the cloak came out, so I might re-do it. I have to have something there, though, due to the way the terminator librarian is. I'll probably add some more Black Templar bits once I get the hood sorted out.


EDIT: BONUS LIST!

HQ - Chapter Master, Terminator, Thunder Hammer, Shield Eternal, 235

Troop - Crusader Squad, x5 Initiates (bolters), Flamer - 75
/w Land Raider Crusader, /w MM and Extra Armor - 265
Troop - Crusader Squad, x5 Initiates (bolters), Flamer - 75
/w Land Raider Crusader, /w MM and Extra Armor - 265
Troop - Crusader Squad, x10 Initiates (ccw+pistol), Power Weapon, Sword Brother /w Power Weapon - 180

Heavy Support - Land Raider Redeemer, /w MM and Extra Armor - 255
Heavy Support - Storm Raven, /w MM - 200
Heavy Support - Storm Raven, /w MM - 200

Fortification - Void Shield Generator - 100

That's a lot of heavy armor. It doesn't deal with Super-heavies or Imperial Knights very well, but you should know before you play a game if they'll be fielded.

Void Shield Generator.

So here's what I came up with. It's still very much a work in progress. I'll be having the barrier/wall on the top wrapping around the entire structure. I'd already be finished, but the walls keep coming unglued and it keeps coming apart, so it's going to take some serious work and a little green stuff to solve. I also will be figuring out something to put on the inside of the windows so I can paint them up as stained glass or something. Should be awesome, but it'll take awhile.

New 40k list.

I'm still playing through the last list I posted and testing it out. It's been slow painting for awhile, so I got to stick that list out until it's all pretty looking. In the meantime, though, I have a list idea that seems pretty good. Once I can get some playtesting done, I should see how decent it is.

Space Marines (Black Templars)
------------------------------
HQ: Techmarine, conversion beamer - 110

Troops: Scouts x10, x10 snipers, camo cloaks, 140
Troops: Scouts x5, Land Speeder Storm, 100
Troops: Scouts x5, Land Speeder Storm, 100

Elite: Sternguard x10, x2 Melta, x2 Combi-melta, Drop Pod, 305

Heavy: Dev. Cents x3, x3 Missile Launchers, Omniscope, x3 Grav Cannons and Amps, 290
Heavy: Dev. Cents x3, x3 Missile Launchers, Omniscope, x3 Grav Cannons and Amps, 290
Heavy: Thunderfire Cannon, 100

Fortification: Void Shield Generator, x2 extra shields, 100

Inquisition
-----------
HQ: Coteaz, 100
HQ: Inquisitor, x3 Servo Skulls, 34

Troop: Servitors x3, MMs, Chimera /w Psybolt Ammo, 90
Troop: Servitors x3, MMs, Chimera /w Psybolt Ammo, 90

Seems pretty okay. It doesn't have a counter assault unit, but the land speeder storms cerebus launcher can help out, and it has units to stick in the path while trying to blow a death star up with bullets. It has 6 scoring units when needed (combat squading the sniper scouts), and has 18 kill points, which is rough. It has 5 rough units that can deal significant damage to vehicles (which shoots up to 8 if it's lightly armored from the psybolt heavy bolters on chimeras and the TFC's capabilities). I'm okay with the Land Speeder Storms not grabbing assault cannons, since points weren't available, and the heavy flamers are a welcomed addition to the army. With those heavy flamers, the army has 5 ignore cover capable units. The snipers are the main reserve block, to stick it out in 2+ cover and be the scoring unit that lasts. I would protect them at all costs, as I don't expect the other troops to live too long if they start getting gunned down (but thankfully the Void Shield Generator helps with that). With the sniper scouts and the Dev. Cents, I have 3 solid MC tackling units, with the grav cannons being the ace in the hole. Anti-flier is Coteaz tossing prescience on a unit of Dev. Cents., and trying to place defensively for his reserve attack special ability. The Techmarine hides in a corner, trying to shoot things 48+ inches away with the conversion beamer for it's Str 10, AP 1 Blast. 36-48 inches is still fine with a Str 8, AP 1(2? maybe?). Either way, he sticks it out with some scout snipers (Combat squaded or not), and sticks to the back for heavy firepower tacked on to the scouts. They act as pseudo-wounds with their 2+ cover. If my opponent has ignore cover capabilities, I just adjust, and destroy any ignore cover options fire turn, most likely (especially if I win the roll off, as Coteaz prevents my opponent from stealing initiative pretty much all the time). If my opponent has Coteaz, and I win the roll off, then I still win, since I make him re-roll a stolen initiative on the first roll, and since you can't re-roll a re-roll...his chances of taking first turn are less likely).

Honor Guard.

     As a Black Templar fan, the Honor Guard are about as top notch of a close combat unit as you can get. They get quite expensive, though, so I haven't figured out how to toss them in a list an be satisfied. Never-the-less, this is a hobby that I love, so I decided to put together a 10-man unit consisting of the Chapter Banner and four relic blades. At $3.40, it's pretty expensive since it's lacking a transport or a deep strike option, but I plan to paint them up nice and use them in fun games. Their upgrade choices leaves me well off to take down their total unit to almost any number IE: A 5-man unit would probably get 2 relic blades and leave out the Chapter Banner, or a 8-man would get 3 relic blades and the chapter banner.

     I haven't added the Black Templar bits yet, but I'm happy with the banner (especially with the skeleton hanging from the top of it). Anyone wielding a weapon with 2-hands has a relic blade, and the guy up front with the frills on his helmet is the leader.
     I built them using two Blood Angels Sanguinary Guard boxes and some random bits I had around. It took awhile to scrap off all the Blood Angels markings, but it was well worth it. I was going to  use different legs, but thought that if I modeled them in "action poses" it might come out alright. Legs designed to look like the model is landing, for example, was put together trying to make like the Templar was jumping back to parry/dodge a blow. Even though it'll be awhile, I can't wait for them to be finished up and painted.

Lone Wolf.

Two pics of my lone wolf. I need to get better at taking pictures so these guys look like they do in real life. Some of the shading and color doesn't show, and that makes him lose some of his pizzazz.

5-man with flamer.

Finished them up. Here's a shot of three of them (pictures aren't coming out that well - I need some proper lighting). Now it's time to paint up the drop pod and Rune Priest. After that I'll be working on the Inquisition portion of the list. Hoping to have a battle report in the next few days, if I can remember when I'm setting up the table for a game tonight.

Space Wolves allies!

I've finished putting together my small Space Wolf allies and all I have left is to paint them all up. This is my test model, and I'm liking the way it came out. There's more blood than I was going for, but I don't work with enough lighting.

Update:

Added basing stuff and pupils. Pupils really make a difference.

Tyranids - the lame-Os.

     Still working on the new list for the next month or so (see below). The new Tyranid codex is going to through a wrench in my army, and it'd be a hard fought victory if I can beat a list with Flying Monstrous Creature spam. Against a Daemon army, I'd be all for it. I have a turn before they are flying, hopefully, and I can deal with S5 vector strikes, but Tyranids getting a S8 vector strike guy and having the ability to field 4 FMCs without barely putting a dent into their army points kind of blows. You can easily field 5 FMCs under 1,000 points, and that sucks. But that's probably because vector strikes suck. AP 3? Dear god, that's silly on FMCs. You're killing my bikes a bit too easily, so they won't be living long. It's sad news for my current list indeed. I can only hope I can count on my Coteaz unit doing some serious damage, and with his unit being scoring...still pull out some sort of win.

New 40k list!

I finally have a new list ready to rock out. I'll be putting it together very shortly and painting up what I can. I have a new smart phone with a pretty good camera, so picks and battle reports will be coming! I'll be experimenting with this list for a month or two to see how it goes, and can't wait to put it up against some new Tyranids!

Black Templars:

HQ - Chapter Master, bike, you know what's up, 245

Troops:

Bikes x5, x2 grav guns, x1 combi-grav, Attack Bike /w MM, 179

Bikes x5, x2 grav guns, x1 combi-grav, Attack Bike /w MM, 179

Bikes x5, x2 grav guns, x1 combi-grav, Attack Bike /w MM, 179

Heavy Support:

TFC, 100

TFC, 100

Allies (Space Wolves):

HQ - Rune Priest, Bike, 135

Troop - Grey Hunters x5, x1 Flamer, 75

Inquisition:

HQ - Coteaz, 100

HQ - Xenos Inquisitor, ML 1, Rad Grenades, Force Sword, x3 Servo Skulls, Liberus Herecticus, Power Armor, 102

Troop - Inquisitorial Henchmen Warband (x2 Ministorum Priests, x4 Death Cult Assassins, x4 Crusaders), 170

Transport - Land Raider Redeemer, 240

I still have 46 points to spend, but there are plenty of options to toss out. They are mostly upgrading what I already have, though. Maybe some Psybolt ammo for the Redeemer, and a melta gun as well. Chapter Master may be upgraded to a Thunder Hammer for big pimp action. Rune Priest wouldn't mind some artificer armor either. And I can always add a drop pod to the Grey Hunters and just really push the field to attack my enemy on their own turf.

Such a busy holiday season.

     I'm not sure if anyone is even reading this, but it's been a busy end of the year. My tournament went fine, but nothing spectacular to report. I took what I had painted over what I thought would be a much better odds of winning. I did enough collateral objective damage that neither me or any of my opponents got too many points in the end of each game, win or lose.
     The new year will bring me back into line with some of the rumors and releases that have made it out recently, and I'll be going over some list ideas. I'll try to make Centurion Devastators work. My main beef with them is that they cost the same as 5 bikers, that I usually make troops, that bring 2 grav guns and a combi grav. While they bring out more shots, taking 10 bikers and 4 grav guns and 2 combi gravs for their cost creates a faster and more durable unit(s) that can easily camp objectives and deal early game damage by targeting the same units (6 grav gun shots are a ton of shots, including bolter fire and a faster platform, not getting to re-roll failed wounds/pens blows, but the gain is more useful)...that's not even mentioning that they free up the Heavy Support slot that is so precious in the Space Marines codex (TFCs are infinitely useful at every stage of the game, so 2 feels mandatory in my lists).
      Anyways, more thoughts and lists, and finally Battle Reports incoming at the start of the new year!

Coverage.

So, to talk a bit more about my ideas for the Inquisition codex in details.

The death star -

There are some very interesting options for creating a close combat death star, but it doesn't feel like the options available really compete with the other ones out there. I think Space Marines can handle well enough the Death Star portion of the list, while maintaining mobility without having to take a transport. A Chapter Master getting Ministorum Priest buffs, namely re-rolling failed armor and invulnerable saves, would be top notch. But that slows down the death star and limits it to walking acrossed the board, which is never the option we'd prefer to take. Things would just stay away from you. Given that Tau and Eldar are top notch competitors, you'd just lose to their jetpack/bike moves and just get further and further way. But it's fun to think about.

Maybe a Valkyrie unit that parachutes in turn 2 and meets up with the biker Chapter Master, which works well since that means the orbital bombardment has been used up. We'll have to wait and see how the new fortifications expansion changes the fortifications currently in the game. Rumor has it the Skyshield Landing Pad can be upgraded to have a flier starting on it..if I can scout an Inquisitor with the relic and the death star inside their flier transport from there turn 1, then we might be on to something! But until then, my plans are to stick with a Biker chapter master and a large bike squad for squishy things dead.

Ranged first support -

Oh, here is where the good stuff starts rolling in. For 60% of 100 points I can get psyammo'd Chimeras with dual Heavy Bolters as a transport. That's 10 points a shot for a Str 6 AP 4 gun with good range. Before that starts sounding pretty good, we get to tag on 5 fire points and good front armor. Woot! Now we're talking! From there we get to start cherry picking what stuff we want inside. For long range support, my bet is on 8 Psykers and a Ministorum Priest. That gives them Zealot and a large blast, Str 10 AP 1 psyker power. That's just 1 fire point, too. Jokaero Weaponsmiths are really nice, and 3 is the magic number for me. I think 3 is a good amount for the chart roll, without losing out on some nice bonuses with how it seems to work. Keeping it cheap, we'd have:

8 Psykers, Ministorum Priest, Chimera /w Psyammo at around 165 points. Nice. We take Coteaz, so that unit is a nice backfield/mid-field scoring unit.

3 Jokaeros, 3 Servitors, and an Inquisitor with 3 servo-skulls seems a good bet for mid-field coverage. That's lining up to be around 200 points if I decide to go with a mastery levels on the Inquisitor...which might be a good option since they are all BS 3, and Prescience would be solid. The servitors are taking Multi-meltas there, by the way.

But what I'm getting the most out of from my Inquisition detachment is board coverage and control during deployment, better chances to go first (Coteaz be thy name), and even cheaper units that supplement what my Las+plas black templars would be attempting to do in my main army. The sad part I find in all of that is that means I need to find other uses for my black templars that isn't always going to be bikes.

Sample army:

HQ: Chapter Master, Bike, Power Fist, Shield Eternal
HQ(Inquisition): Coteaz
HQ(Inquisition): Inquisitor, x3 Servoskulls, Pysker level 1

Troops: Scouts x5, Land Speeder Storm /w Heavy Flamer
Troops: Scouts x5, Land Speeder Storm /w Heavy Flamer
Troops: Bikes x5, grav guns x2, combi-grav, Attack Bike /w Multi-melta
Troops: Bikes x5, grav guns x2, combi-grav, Attack Bike /w Multi-melta
Troops(Inquisition)*: x8 Psykers, Ministorum Priest, Chimera /w Psy-ammo
Troops(Inquisition)*: x8 Psykers, Ministorum Priest, Chimera /w Psy-ammo
Troops(Inquisition)*: x10 Psykers
*I know these aren't really troops, but Coteaz makes them scoring, so they might as well be.

Fast Attack: Stormtalon /w Skyhammer
Fast Attack: Stormtalon /w Skyhammer

Heavy Support: Thunderfire Cannon

Around 1,750. It's just for fun, of course, but it could be a lot of fun. You're throwing around 4 Str 10 AP 1 large blasts turn 1, and 3 every turn after that from the Psykers. Your lose strength each turn that passes and Psyker that dies, but you might just win after a good turn 1. :P