"Kirby -
Just found your blog over the past few days as I've been recovering from back surgery, and what better way to while away the hours of med induced haze than to go through "3++ is the New Black"? Seriously, though, the blog has been a revelation for me. It's like a 40K Master Class, for free. <-- that should be a new quote I can't wait to be able to actually start using what I've learned on the blog on the table, but that's a couple of weeks away.
For now, can you take a look at my Black Templar list? I reworked it after reading the blog and trying to use the lessons learned to create the best BT list I could. I know BT's aren't the most competitive army out there, but I'm sold on the background of the Templars. Anyway, here's the list:
HQ
1 - Emperor's Champ, AAC 140
Troops
5*Initiates 199, power weapon, flamer, frags
(Razorback, TLLC, HKM, Smoke, Searchlight)
5*Initiates 159, power weapon, frags
(Rhino, HKM, Smoke, Searchlight)
5*Initiates 159, power weapon, frags
(Rhino, HKM, Smoke, Searchlight)
Elite
5*Terminators 498, assault cannon, CML, 2 chanfist, Furious Charge
(LRC, HKM, Smoke)
5*Terminators 499, 3LC, 2 TH, Furious Charge
(LRC, HKM, Searchlight, Smoke)
Dreadnought 118
(MM, Smoke)
Heavy Support
Predator Destructor 114
(2*Heavy Bolters, Smoke, Searchlight)
Predator Destructor 114
(2*Heavy Bolters, Smoke, Searchlight)
That's 2000 points on the nose. I'm running it with dual LRC's, 3 troop choices for capturing objectives, Dread to get another MM in the game (and for CC if I can get him there), and the 2 Preds at the back, in the corners, providing suppressing fire (I would have liked to have used the lascannon sponsons but the points weren't there).
The Dread is a worry, and I had thought about swapping the Dread (and an H/KM) for a pair of Speeders w/MM or an Attack Bike Squadron w/MM. That swap puts me at 1996, but it does offer me quite a bit of mobility for tank hunting.
What are your thoughts? Outside of running a completely different army, what else can I do to win with these guys?
Thanks in advance,
Brad
Dallas, TX USA"
Hope your recovery goes well and glad you found the site to distract yourself. For a Black Templars list, it's solid. Couple of issues though. You raised one with the Dread and lack of mobility but you also have a lack of anti-armor capable units. Whilst you've got a bunch of HKM that's about it really. Your shooty Termie squad also doesn't need a ride so you either need to run double Termies in Raiders (which is so-so with BT) or run them as foot shooty elements. Since you said you wanted to run Raiders I'll go with this option.
Drop the searchlights off the tanks and powerweapons off the Initiates. Drop the Dread as well and change the shooty termies to assault termies in a similar setup to your other squad. Also drop the HKM. Now add in a couple speeders and if you can, upgrade the Rhinos to Razorbacks w/TLLC + add meltaguns to the Initiate squads. You should be able to squeeze the points in for that but it will be tight and 15 scoring bodies at 2000 isn't much but that's what BT have to do for double Raider. This way you get more reliable and consistent anti-tank with Razorbacks and Speeders whilst having two rock units in the Terminators.
