Warhammer 40K: We Need to Talk About Black Templars
Adam here, to talk about the brand new Black Templars and how some of their previews may affect the tournament scene.
Soon we will see a new codex in the wilds that is 40K. The Black Templars were announced a while back and their preorder is this Saturday. As usual, Games Workshop has given us a little peek into what we can expect from the new codex for the successors of Dorn. With a new codex comes new and updated rules. Now because it’s not a full codex release, it is still a supplement, there is still enough in the book to make them a full-fledged army. Long-time Black Templar players seem to have a lot to look forward to and already it seems that they have some good tech for the tournament scene. This week we will have a look at the rules we have seen so far and what rules we really need to see to get a better handle on what the army can do.
Templar Vows
The new book brings with it new vows for the army and we are shown two of them: Accept Any Challenge, No Matter the Odd, and Abhor the Witch, Destroy the Witch. The first one is good as you stay in the Assault Doctrine if in close combat. This allows you to get into grips with your opponent as soon as possible instead of waiting until turn three. Always getting the bonus attack is also helpful, especially when a combat goes beyond the initial charge. I don’t think the Passion is a real drawback for the army. If you take Oath of Moment as a Secondary then you aren’t falling back anyway so this just insures it.
I think the second vow that was previewed might be much stronger. If your opponent has any psykers then each unit gets an additional 3″ of movement in their first turn. This gets them closer to the enemy, especially if it’s against Thousand Sons or Grey Knights, and make better use of the Black Templar’s vow and reroll ones to wound. The Passion is actually a detriment because, the way I read it, if a psyker unit is within eighteen inches of the Black Templar unit, that Black Templar unit cannot perform an action. Depending on the secondaries that the Black Templar player takes, this could cost them the game.
Relics
Just as we were shown a couple of the Black Templar vows, we were also shown a couple of the relics that will be available to the army: The Holy Orb and the Icon of Heinmann. The Holy Orb, or Holy Hand Grenade as I usually call it, seems like a very tame relic but I think it can come in clutch at times. It is one use only and, on a 2+, does D3 mortal wounds. This seems kind of mundane and not that special as there are other ways to do mortal wounds without using up a relic slot or with a better relic. I believe the shining star of this relic is the fact that the unit that the orb is used on is unable to fight until all your units fight. This can be clutch as it allows you to possibly kill your opponent’s key units and prevents your opponent from using the Counter-Charge stratagem.
The Icon of Heinmann is more defensive in nature and protects the character from the AP of both shooting and melee attacks. This is really beneficial to the character as many guns and melee weapons are usually AP 1 or 2, especially for regular troops. It really ups the resilience of your character so that the only reason the character would die would be due to your bad dice rolls as opposed to high AP weapons.
Devout Push
(Author’s Note: This section has been updated due to new information) Currently, this stratagem is the bread and butter of the army. We now see how this stratagem has changed in that you basically get a free 3″ move or an extra pile in move, if in engagement range. For the 3″ move, it must be towards the enemy or towards an objective. This is pretty useful especially if you happen to roll a bad advance roll and are just out of range from claiming an objective. It seems a bit more tactical depending on how you use it. Ultimately I think that this is more of a sideways benefit as you lose the quick moving aspect of the stratagem but you gain more in how it can help you get those extra points whether it’s with the primary or secondary points. There are many times those extra points, or denying those points to your opponent, can be the difference between winning and losing.
~That’s all for this week. I hope you enjoyed the article. Let me know what you think, and your hope for the codex, in the comments section below.
