Arise, heirs of Sigismund! Draw your swords and give praise to the God-Emperor, for today you march to victory!
This article was originally published on the Warhammer-community page.
Book 2 of the Psychic Awakening series, Faith & Fury, is on its way, including a huge rules section dedicated to the Black Templars Chapter. Today, we’re taking a look at how you can master these new rules to create a mighty host worthy of Sigismund himself. Let’s start with the leaders of your crusade.
Marshalling Your Black Templars
Simply put, you’re almost certainly going to want to include High Marshal Helbrecht to lead your force. Not only does he offer ALL OF THE RE-ROLLS* thanks to being a Chapter Master, but his Crusade of Wrath ability grants a Strength bonus to nearby Black Templars. This frequently makes a crucial difference, as it means your Space Marines will wound Toughness 4 enemies on a 3+ in melee – perfect for dealing with the Heretic Astartes, among others!
Whether you’re a competitive gamer or just in it for the ride, you may as well hand in your Templar’s robes if you don’t include the Emperor’s Champion in your army! Irrespective of your preferred play style, the Emperor’s Champion is an exceptional melee fighter to have at your disposal and is among the best Character-killers in the game.
In fact, against enemy Characters, the combined abilities of Sigismund’s Honour and Slayer of Champions will give him +1 Strength, +1 Attacks – that’s a total of 6 Attacks, or 7 in the first round of combat with Shock Assault – and the ability to re-roll hits. What’s more, you get all that on top of his Black Sword’s brutal profile and additional ability!
Another trick you’ll have up your tabard is that, should your opponent’s Character manage to survive a round of combat with the Emperor’s Champion – kudos to them as that’s not an easy feat! – you can play Tenacious Assault to pin them in place and seal their fate…
Burn (Shoot or Stab) the Witch!
If there’s one thing that Black Templars can’t stand, it’s witches.** By ‘witches’, we of course mean rogue psykers, though if we’re being honest, they’re not exactly keen on sanctioned ones either! They may still rely on Astropaths to guide their crusading fleets through the warp, but they won’t allow any psykers within their own ranks under any circumstances. However, the Black Templars more than make up for this fact by being REALLY good at killing psykers. Like, super-good! Take this neat combo, for example…
For a single Command Point, you can bestow a Chapter Relic – or, more specifically, one of three Crusade Relics – upon a Sword Brother or Sergeant. In this case, we’re talking an Intercessor Sergeant equipped with a stalker bolt rifle. Make sure he’s armed with Witchseeker Bolts and your improvised ‘witch sniper’ will not only be free to target their Psyker of choice, but can potentially inflict 5 wounds with a single shot!
Time Your Incursion
Incursors offer the Black Templars a highly effective way to take and hold a forward position before the battle begins, offering deadly-accurate fire support while saving themselves to launch a ferocious attack once the Assault Doctrine becomes active. Their 3 Attacks on the charge, the Knights of Sigismund ability and their paired combat blades will see your Incursors dish out a world of hurt, with a unit of ten landing an average of 20 hits, 5 of which will be doubled and wound automatically.
Of course, as a Black Templars unit, they’ll be re-rolling their charge rolls from their forward position, so combining their assault with your units mounted in transports will be easy! Speaking of which…
Crusading From a Crusader
In our Black Templars Rules Preview last week, we mentioned the effectiveness of the Shock and Awe Stratagem. It’s particularly horrible in conjunction with a tooled-up melee unit like Assault Terminators charging out of a Land Raider Crusader – seriously, go take a look!
This attack can be made even more devastating if you lead it with a Chaplain, who can provide re-rolls to hit with their Litanies of Battle – or, in the case of Black Templars, an additional Attack with one of their Litanies of the Devout, Fires of Devotion.
Better still, lead them with Chaplain Grimaldus, who, as a Master of Sanctity, can recite BOTH of these Litanies for the ultimate killer combo!
That’s merely the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the ‘crusade combos’ available to the Black Templars. If you haven’t already done so, pre-order your copy of Faith & Fury today – soon you’ll be plotting and scheming with their glorious new rules! In the meantime, pick up a copy of the War for Armageddon omnibus, which includes Aaron Dembski-Bowden’s masterpiece, Helsreach, where Grimaldus cemented his place in Chapter legend – it’s an epic read!
* And let’s be honest – who doesn’t like re-rolls? Especially when you’re leading a glorious massed charge in the heart of the enemy line, sword in hand, like Sigismund of old!
** Not to mention tyrants, traitors, heretics and those who fail to understand the value of a good blade. Believe it or not, this is an abridged list…
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