Are Black Templars Competitive
Black Templars have new rules and many new Primaris units:
Helbrecht
Grimaldus
Emperor’s Champion
Primaris Crusader Squad
Sword Brethren
++ Sword Brethren +
Sword Brethren are the fluff unit but make excellent conversions for Blade Guard Veterans. All other units listed above are competitive. The best way to play Black Templars competitively is Black Tide - all infantry swarming the table. All units listed above are Primaris and as such have access to THP. Black Templars play the primary objectives well. Scoring secondary objectives requires some degree of skill.
++ Emperor’s Champion ++
Our champion is often called out as non competitive by those who have not yet grasped our inner strengths - they cannot win at the competitive level with Black Templars and so look for scape goats to blame. Often they will also decry secondaries as well. For 100 points you get a true monster with AP4 S8/9 3D melee attacks. AP4 prior to the assault phase I should add… even Sanguinary Guard truly fear him and rightly so. AP4 is the utter bane of Armor of Contempt and at S9 you are wounding Knights on 3+. Consider that you never need more than one Chaplain.
++ Primaris Crusader Squad ++
Even Chaos Space Marines can no longer field squads of Marines greater than 10. I have discussed this unit in great detail in two other articles. There’s absolutely no reason to ever take Assault Intercessors for Black Templars.
+++ VOWS +++
Our two best vows are Uphold and Accept Any Challenge. I find myself always taking the former… it is super powerful for Marines. The latter is excellent versus any faction that has Armor of Contempt. The less you have to think is powerful.
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My next tactical article will cover scoring secondaries.