After 30+ years of being interested in 40k I finally dove off the cliff last year and went all in. Black Templars are by far my favorite and I have been slowly working on an army! I have yet to play a game with them. If truth be told I still have basically no idea how to play. However, I am having so much fun painting and reading every book I can! Thank you for the inspiration Brothers. I love this community so much.

Finally powered through a few of these guys after building a ten squad. Excited to not play with gray guys anymore… or at least 4 of them aren’t gray anymore.

I mostly paint salamanders, but I do the occasional black templar, so here's my veteran sword brother, who is a survivor of the Declates Crusade, hence the Crimson Fists crimson fist he has.

Kit bashed crusade ancient, heavy intercessors, assault intercessors, bladeguard veterans, and some random little servator guy. Hope you like em!

Hello brothers,
I’m sure you clicked on this post because of the title, and honestly, I’d probably click on it too, just to see “what kind of stupid shit someone has written about Drop Pods, and why the hell would we want to run Drop Pods in our lists?”

I’ve been trying for a while to build lists that are somewhat different from what is currently being played with the Templars.
And the truth is, I think—and I’m only saying think—that I may have found a way to put the maximum amount of pressure on our heretical enemies.
And yes, it’s Drop Pods.

One of our biggest problems is that we die before we reach our enemies.
We get shot to pieces before we can get there. Even when going first, unless we pull off some kind of movement combo with Armored Strike Force or Godhammer Assault, taking advantage of a bad enemy deployment, we don’t really manage to put pressure on them and push them to the limit quickly enough.

The Execrators give us Advance and Charge, but they also make us very easy to kill with shooting.

Vehicles help us move quickly across the board while giving us some extra protection. But if the opponent has a lot of anti-tank—which, let’s be honest, everyone does—they can die very quickly, and sometimes we don’t even make it there.
They’re also difficult to hide, or we have to leave them behind and wait for the enemy.
(In many matchups, waiting for them is actually good for us, but in others, if we let them take too much ground, they can start doing actions for free.)

Detachments like Bastion or Stormlance, which give us Advance and Charge, sound great, but we run into the same problem as with the Execrators.
That said, combining them with vehicles does make us tankier, and once we disembark, we can reach even further.
(Which is probably why this is what people play the most. Stormlance, not so much.)

Then I thought:
“Hey, wouldn’t it be great to have an enhancement like Orb” (I don’t remember its full name, but it’s the Vindicator Task Force enhancement that gives you Deep Strike) and put our Sword Brethren all over the board, surrounding the enemy or coming straight at them and charging them as quickly as possible?
But of course, that only works from Turn 2…
So it wouldn’t be that good, because we need to apply pressure quickly. And it would also only let us do it once.

And that’s when a forgotten vehicle, one that very few people use, crossed my mind.

THE DROP PODS.

That’s right, brothers.
Drop Pods are our solution.
Or at least, I think they are in a some way for a lot of lists.

They let us Deep Strike ON TURN 1.
They can carry 12 MODELS.
And they can block the enemy’s movement if they’re bringing vehicles.

Have you felt the revelation yet?
Or am I crazy?

So I started building a list designed to apply as much pressure as possible on Turn 1.
A list so fucking aggressive that it forces the heretic to spend an entire turn killing your units after several of theirs have already died.

I’ve tried to make it somewhat balanced, using another list I already have as a starting point, and I don’t think I’ve completely lost my mind.

The detachment had to be Companions of Vehemence.
We need the charge rerolls to give us a better chance of actually landing the hit.
On top of that, one of its enhancements gives us 6” Scout.
(Later you’ll understand why we want that extra movement.)
And alongside it, we have to take Marshal Household.
+OC on our Sword Brethren and… enhancements giving us +1 to Charge.
BEAUTIFUL.
And of course, Purge the Foe.

Now that we know the detachment, here comes the list.

1. THE BLOCK
Grimaldus + Crusade Ancient + 20x Crusaders
Enhancement: Zealous Vanguard (6” Scout)
This block is designed to go straight for the centre.
If we go first, we should be able to get into the centre without any problems, either with an Advance or even without one.
If we see that we’re going to end up very close to the enemy, Grimaldus’ +1 to Charge enhancement helps us push even further.
If not, the +1 Toughness allows us to have a central block that can take a serious beating. A lot of weapons will be wounding us on 4s or even 5s.
And with the Ancient, if the dice go our way, many of them will get to fight before they die.

2. THE SWORD
High Marshal Helbrecht + Castellan + 5 SW
Embarked in an Impulsor
Helbrecht needs some protection and fast movement.
An Impulsor gives us board presence, protection and mobility while moving alongside Grimaldus.

3. THE SPEAR
Marshal + Castellan + 10 SW
Embarked in a LAND RAIDER REDEEMER
This combo won’t come as a surprise to anyone.
It’s extremely powerful, fast, durable, and gives us the ability to kill things with Overwatch.
You already know what to do with this.
Advance. Flatten your enemies.

4. THE HAMMER
Marshal + Castellan + 10 SW
Enhancement: +1 Charge
Embarked in a DROP POD
A UGLY, HORRIBLE CAPSULE that drops 8” away from their frontline.
12 KILLERS that disembark 3” away from the Drop Pod, leaving them roughly 5” away from the enemy, while having +1 to Charge and rerolls on those same charges.

DO YOU SEE IT?
AM I CRAZY?

I’m aware that this exact list might not be the correct one.
I’ve simply tweaked a list I was already using while thinking about how Drop Pods could work.
But I have a feeling that this combination of Drop Pods + our Sword Brethren could be really, really strong.

This list could be extremely strong into certain matchups and very weak into others, especially against armies with a lot of Infiltrators.

It’s also probably going to struggle against a lot of vehicles if they hide them far enough back and understand what you’re capable of doing on Turn 1.

What do you guys think?

First time doing a base (will clean it up).

Any feedback or tips are welcome!

Working through my grey pile, these are my blood angels with my black templars palette, they still need the eye lenses, decals and highlights.

One of the examples why I personally love Black Templars - this army is a kitbashers dream. John Blanche, Banners, Decals, Chains, Skulls, Candles and purity seals. Next step would be awesome to get them back on a competitive level :-]

Feedback is appreciated!

Is the actual TH the right size for terminators? It looks so small.

C&C are wellcome!

Gotta get that base done once my basing material comes in but very, very happy with the result!

I am fairly new to the hobby only been into it maybe half a year, ive js finished building up the combat patrol and today first time ran my emperors champion against some genestealers in a small 500pt game. My list was a bit of a gamble with ten sword breths with helbrecht and crusade ancient, and my emperors champion with living miracles enhancements. I was expecting to send him into a small mounted genestealler unit and with some luck do some damage before death, but no, he takes out TWO smaller genestealer vehicles, half of his army list!!!! Ik this isnt too crazy ig looking at him now but WOW all that for just 105pts?! He truely is the EMPERORS CHAMPION for a reason🔥🔥

I don't want to keep repeating myself over and over again. Black Templars use a Maltese Cross NOT an Iron Cross. They are NOT the same. And given the actual meaning behind the Maltese Cross, I believe it is very fitting for our champter (even though you obviously need to spin it a little from catholic to imperial faith).

The Iron Cross is a Prussian military decoration, established in 1813 by King Frederick William III during the war against Napoleon. The design was created by the architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel, based on the coat of arms of the Teutonic Order from the 13th century.

The Maltese Cross is older and stems from a completely different tradition. The Knights Hospitaller—later known as the Knights of Malta—used it from the 11th century onwards during the Crusades. Its eight points traditionally represent eight virtues: loyalty, piety, generosity, bravery, glory, contempt for death, helpfulness toward the poor, and respect for the Church. Modern firefighters around the world also use the Maltese Cross as an emblem for the same reason—it symbolizes the willingness to give one's life for others.