These squads have no Sergeants, because the experienced members are quickly elevated to the rank of Sword Brethren, who take on the role of non-commissioned officers. Due to their preference for engaging their foes in close combat, few Black Templars are willing to use heavy ranged weapons. As a result, Devastator Squads are unusually rare amongst the Astartes of this Chapter.
The Chapter's zealous hatred for mutants and inherent distrust of the Warp and anything related to it means that the Chapter possesses no Librarians.
The Grey Knights, known for their incorruptibility and closeness to the Emperor, represent the only Imperial psykers that the Black Templars will take as allies. The Black Templar's extreme revulsion to fighting alongside any individuals tainted by the Empyrean would normally prevent them from being allied with anyone with such abilities.
The Grey Knights are the exception as the Black Templars consider it an honour to fight alongside Astartes whose membership was originally chosen by the Emperor, who bear a portion of his direct genetic inheritance and have never once been corrupted by Chaos. This attitude can prove to be challenging for those Black Templars who are chosen to serve in the Deathwatch and must learn to fight alongside the Librarians of other Chapters as part of a Kill-team. Since the Black Templars have no Chapter homeworld, all of their recruiting is done via their Chapter Keeps.
Chapter Keeps are built on most worlds conquered by the Black Templars, and are used as staging ground for Crusade forces and recruitment posts for the Chapter. A Chapter Keep only recruits a few individuals a year. Only the most skilled Aspirants are allowed to join, and if they pass the initial tests, they are implanted with the gene-seed organs that will eventually transform them into full Space Marines and Neophytes of the Chapter.
When roughly two dozen Neophytes are available at a Chapter Keep and have been approved by the Keep's Castellan and the Chapter's Apothecaries and Chaplains, they are despatched to a Crusade fleet for the next stage of their induction. Upon reaching a Crusade fleet, the Neophytes are put through many gruelling tasks and trials by the Initiates of the Black Templars. These trials test the Neophytes to their limits, separating out the weaker recruits from the stronger.
Should a survivor of the trials impress one of the assembled Battle-Brothers, an Initiate may take it upon himself to personally mentor the Neophyte in the art of war. From that point on, the Initiate takes sole responsibility for his pupil's training and conduct. He swears an oath to prepare the Neophyte for his entry into the brotherhood that is the Chapter, teach him of its history, and guide him through its holy rites of worship to the Emperor.
In return, the Neophyte pledges obedience to his master and vows never to bring dishonour to his name. Neophytes also act as servants to their mentors, waiting on them at the great banquets and seeing to their day-to-day requirements.
The Crusade's Chaplains oversee this training and make sure the Neophyte learns the history of the Chapter, and watch for any signs of weakness in the Neophyte's faith. The Neophyte will also accompany his Initiate into combat, and should his master fall, another Brother will take up his training.
The bond between the Initiate and his Neophyte pupil is strong, and if the Neophyte meets his end, the Initiate will swear a death oath to avenge his apprentice, or die trying. It is the Initiate's prerogative to say when his apprentice's training is complete. Once he has proven his valour and skill, a Black Templars Neophyte submits to the Chapter's Chaplains to undergo the final trials of purity before, in a ceremony of great reverence, he is elevated into the ranks of a full Battle-Brother of Initiate status and honoured with a suit of Power Armour.
He is now truly a Black Templar, possessed of great power, and sworn to use it in the Emperor's service unto death. The Black Templars' zealous hatred of mutants and the Warp prevents them from recruiting any man who bears genetic impurities, including the mutation that allows an individual to wield psychic abilities.
This is why the Black Templars' order of battle contains no Librarians. Once accepted into a Chapter's Fighting Company, an Initiate fights alongside his other Black Templar Battle-Brothers, forging a name for himself within the Chapter and perfecting his fighting abilities. If the Initiate lives long enough, he will eventually apprentice a Neophyte of his own. In this way, the skills, traditions and experience of the Chapter are preserved and passed down, Master to Neophyte.
Initiates form the majority of the Chapter's Fighting Companies and are split up into Crusade Squads of up to twenty Initiates. Each squad is a deadly force with a range of skills and abilities. Initiates are armed primarily with Bolters, though, given the Black Templars' preference for fighting face-to-face, many choose to carry weapons more suited to close combat like Chainswords. Some squad members may carry more specialised weaponry, such as Plasma Guns, Flamers or mighty Power Fists. Black Templars squads are highly flexible and have the tactical adaptability to deal with virtually any foe, instructing their Neophytes by bloody example.
On the battlefield, an Initiate often stands beside his young Neophyte, teaching him through bloody example the way of Bolter and blade. In this way, the Neophyte learns first hand the methods of waging war and of destroying the Emperor's enemies. After fighting as part of a Crusader Squad on several battlefields, it is common though for groups of Black Templars Neophytes to be tasked together into independent squads, akin to a Codex Chapter's Scout Squads.
These units are tasked with infiltrating enemy positions or fulfilling some other critical mission. For a Neophyte to be trusted so speaks volumes of his Initiate's faith in his abilities, and the Neophyte fights all the harder, lest they show such trust to be misplaced. The Black Templars have continued in the style of their first High Marshal, preferring close, melee combat to ranged warfare.
This is further emphasised by the fanaticism of the Black Templars' Initiates, whose righteous anger makes them impulsive and headstrong. When making war, a Black Templars Crusade will focus on two main tactics.
The first is orbital assault; the Crusade will use Drop Pods and Thunderhawk gunships to perform a mass-landing in the wake of a heavy orbital bombardment. If enemy resistance is still strong after this initial assault, the Templars will land their heavy armour and launch an armoured spearhead against the weakest link in the enemy's defensive line. As part of their dedication to the Emperor and their Crusade, the Black Templars swear fell oaths of faith and protection. Before a battle, it is considered customary to renew one of these oaths, the individual vow serving as a focus on the particular aspect of the Battle-Brother's duties considered to be necessary to ensure success for the overall Crusade.
Due to the fact that the Black Templars have such a hate and distrust for the Warp and anything within it or derived from it, Black Templars will not allow Librarians or any beings with psychic powers to fight amongst their ranks or in an alliance with them, except for the Grey Knights. Every Black Templar has a deep prejudice against any type of psyker, which can lead to trouble between the Chapter and those Imperial Adepta that often use Sanctioned Psykers, such as the Inquisition or even certain regiments of the Imperial Guard.
The Land Raider Crusader variant of the standard Land Raider was developed by the Black Templars during the Jerulas Crusade, to aid them in the numerous hive city sieges required to reclaim that Hive World for the Emperor.
As word of the design's successes spread, many other Chapters pressured the Tech-priests of Mars into releasing construction schematics of the Crusader. Eventually the design was officially recognised by the Adeptus Mechanicus in M39 , but this was seen as a mere formality; over three-quarters of the Chapters had already put Crusader Pattern Land Raiders into effective use.
The Land Raider Crusader is a line-breaking main battle tank, built and armed to plough into the enemy formation and disgorge its larger-than-normal cargo of Astartes directly into close combat. The Crusader is armed with side sponson-mounted Hurricane Bolters as well as a hull-mounted Assault Cannon and a Multi-melta. By replacing the side sponson Lascannon of the original Land Raider design with the Bolters, the Land Raider Crusader has given up some of its anti-armour capability in exchange for a significant increase in its troop-carrying capacity.
It also has Frag Assault Launchers to help pin the enemy unit being attacked. Several of the greatest heroes to have served their Vigil from Watch Fortress Erioch were drawn from the Chapter, though their names and deeds may only be read in the annals of the Deathwatch, and these are sealed from access by all but the most privileged.
Black Templars are known to make worthy members of a Kill-team, though their zealousness can occasionally put them at odds with other members. Black Templars never back down from a challenge and they are reluctant to re-deploy from battle in the face of overwhelming odds. A mission that requires stealth and observation may find itself compromised should a Black Templars Battle-Brother take it upon himself to engage a foe he should be watching from afar.
For this reason, only the most self-disciplined and open-minded of Black Templars are seconded to the Deathwatch; the strain on their minds to tolerate the myriad different expressions of a thousand divergent Chapter cults embodied by the new Battle-Brothers of the Long Watch will be enormous, and to be forced to live and fight alongside psykers, either the other Chapter's detached Librarians or the Ordo Xenos' psychically-gifted Inquisitors, will test the seconded Black Templar's faith and tolerance to their very limits.
But a Black Templar does not have to suppress his essential nature to operate in the Deathwatch. Instead, on the field of battle, it is his greatest weapon, for his righteousness and zeal allow him to face and to overcome the most terrifying enemies facing the Imperium. The Black Templars' order of battle contains several specialist formations and ranks not present in other Space Marine Chapters, including:.
The fighting skills of a High Marshal are unsurpassed with Bolters, blades or bare hands, as his rank speaks of a bloody past littered with the devastated enemies of the most terrifying and inhuman sort.
However, it is not enough for the High Marshal to be the Chapter's foremost warrior, for he must also be a superb tactician and strategist, grounded in the teachings of those who have gone before him and honed through countless decisions made in the heat of battle.
He is also steeped in the lore of the Black Templars, privy to all of the Chapter's secrets. A High Marshal is the supreme commander of the Chapter's ongoing Crusades, keeping track of their overall progress and making tactical decisions in regards to the deployment of the Chapter's forces and occasionally blessing individual Crusades with his inspirational presence. The High Marshal is one of the most autonomous military commanders in the Imperium, decreeing by his own designs where his warriors will fight and without recourse to the dictates of the High Lords of Terra.
Marshals are the great warriors who lead the individual Crusades of the Black Templars. These ferocious Space Marines possess superb tactical abilities, second in experience to only the High Marshal himself.
The purity and ultimate success of a Crusade is entrusted unto the Marshal and such a duty is a sacred and glorious responsibility. A Marshal is not only a warrior so deadly that he will rarely meet his match on the field of battle, but one whose expertise includes concerns beyond the battlefield, for the leading of a Crusade is a mighty task indeed. As a result, only the most inspirational and determined warriors may rise to become a Marshal, having long proved their courage and determination within the ranks of the Sword Brethren or as a Castellan leading a Fighting Company.
The Marshals are able to coordinate the Space Marines under their command and lead them and their Crusades to ultimate victory, whatever the opposition. A Castellan is responsible for leading an entire Fighting Company of the Chapter on the field of battle during the numerous ongoing Crusades conducted by the Black Templars.
Only those Sword Brethren who have proven themselves as devotional warriors and inspirational leaders may rise to this esteemed rank. These hardened Veterans have earned their ascension to command rank through their bloody and zealous dedication to the Chapter's cause.
As masters of the battlefield, Castellans are able to read its ebb and flow, and adjust their tactical formations accordingly.
Leading from the front by example, a Castellan's Astartes know what it is to be a Black Templar and a dedicated warrior of Sigismund and the Emperor, and from his leadership they learn the trade of battle and the craft of death. Equivalent to the elite members of a standard Codex-compliant Chapter's Veteran 1st Company, the greatest warriors of a Black Templars Crusade are inducted into the Marshal's household.
Known as the Sword Brethren, they are no longer required to train Neophytes and they will receive additional training, particularly in the use of Tactical Dreadnought Terminator Armour. After completion of this training, Sword Brethren will use Terminator Armour whenever available, usually selecting melee weapons to use with it, an area of combat where all Black Templars excel. Like most Black Templars, Sword Brethren will fight with others out of familiarity rather than in organised squads, and they will always be found in the thickest of the fighting.
If the Marshal of a Crusade is either killed or promoted to the position of High Marshal of the Chapter, one of the Sword Brethren will be elevated to take his place. The Sword Brethren of a Crusade who receives this honour is decided by ritual combat.
The winner of the melee earns the right to become a Marshal upon the approval of the High Marshal; there has only been one case in Black Templars history of the High Marshal withholding his approval or reversing it, the Gervahr Repeal of the 36th Millennium.
Sword Brethren of the Black Templars often wear a cream-coloured cloak and have red trim on their black pauldrons to signify their elite status. Sigismund was named Emperor's Champion, a title sometimes applied to Dorn, and in that act a new tradition was formed, which is honoured amongst the Black Templars, the direct descendants of Sigismund, to this day. When the Master of Mankind and His gene-sons teleported away to face Horus, Sigismund led the remaining warriors, not as a general, but as an example, taking the battle to the enemy in person and emboldening the hearts of the defenders with his deeds.
Sigismund sought out the greatest warriors amongst the teeming hordes of the enemy, facing mighty Chaos Space Marine leaders as well as towering fiends from the great beyond, and defeating every single one of them. Sigismund was chosen as Emperor's Champion because he was filled with such devotion to the Father of Mankind, and to the Imperium and the Great Crusade that had created it, that he was a shining exemplar of all that the Legiones Astartes were and could be.
The oath he took when he accepted the mantle of Emperor's Champion resounded through the ages, and was so weighty that it could never be broken. While Sigismund's beloved Emperor fell on that day, the Emperor's Champion prevailed and, with Horus defeated, the vile hosts on the surface were routed.
Later, the Imperial Fists split into Chapters and Sigismund's fiery zeal was recognised. He became the first High Marshal of the Black Templars, and his belief that the Great Crusade would never end became a reality embodied by the new Chapter and its never-ending Crusades. Ever since the Battle of Terra, it has become a cherished tradition amongst the Black Templars to field one who the chaplains have proclaimed the Emperor's Champion.
On the eve of battle, the Black Templars pray, fast, and meditate upon their duty, and it is not uncommon for one amongst their number to be blessed with some form of vision that speaks to him of his duty and shows him portents of things yet to come.
The Battle-Brother then presents himself to the Chaplains and confesses his vision and if he is found true, is declared to be the Emperor's Champion.
The Battle-Brother is ritually prepared for the coming battle, the attendants of the Reclusiam cladding him in the Armour of Faith and presenting him with the Black Sword.
In theory, each Black Templars Crusade force has its own Emperor's Champion who serves as such for the duration of a protracted battle or a campaign, but in practise each Fighting Company is likely to have one, each battle producing its own Champion if one has not come forward already. It is common for Black Templars Battle-Brothers serving with the Deathwatch to pray and fast on the eve of a mission, just as they would before a battle within the ranks of their own Chapter.
On some extremely rare occasions, such a Battle Brother may feel the blessings of righteous certainty upon him, and know that he must take up the mantle of the Emperor's Champion. Within his Chapter, the Battle-Brother would seek out the Chaplains and be declared the Emperor's Champion by them, but this may not be possible whilst he is serving the Long Watch. As part of their dedication to the Emperor and their crusade, the Black Templars swear fell oaths of faith and protection.
Before a battle, it is considered customary to renew one of these oaths, the individual vow serving as a focus on the particular aspect of the battle-brother's duties considered to be necessary to ensure success for the overall crusade. Due to the fact that the Black Templars have such a hate and distrust for the Warp and anything within it or derived from it, Black Templars will not allow Librarians or any beings with psychic powers to fight amongst their ranks or in an alliance with them, except for the Grey Knights.
Every Black Templar has a deep prejudice against any type of psyker , which can lead to trouble between the Chapter and those Imperial Adepta that often use Sanctioned Psykers , such as the Inquisition or even certain regiments of the Astra Militarum.
The Land Raider Crusader variant of the standard Land Raider was developed by the Black Templars during the Jerulas Crusade , to aid them in the numerous hive city sieges required to reclaim that Hive World for the Emperor. As word of the design's successes spread, many other Chapters pressured the Tech-priests of Mars into releasing construction schematics of the Crusader. Eventually the design was officially recognised by the Adeptus Mechanicus in M39, but this was seen as a mere formality; over three-quarters of the Chapters had already put Crusader Pattern Land Raiders into effective use.
The Land Raider Crusader is a line-breaking main battle tank, built and armed to plough into the enemy formation and disgorge its larger-than-normal cargo of Astartes directly into close combat. The Crusader is armed with side sponson-mounted Hurricane Bolters as well as a hull-mounted Assault Cannon and a Multi-melta. By replacing the side sponson Lascannon of the original Land Raider design with the Bolters , the Land Raider Crusader has given up some of its anti-armour capability in exchange for a significant increase in its troop-carrying capacity.
It also has Frag Assault Launchers to help pin the enemy unit being attacked. The Emperor leads the galaxy to righteousness, and thus we must petition for His Judgement on the wicked A squad of Black Templars step out of their Drop Pod and march towards battle.
All Space Marines are renowned for their fervent dedication, but the extent of the Black Templars' faith is often described as fanatical. They seek nothing less than to crush every last enemy of Mankind. The Chapter's dogma reserves a special hatred for particular enemies, specifically the mutant , the Heretic , and the witch.
The reason for this is to be found in the Chapter's Founding , springing from the contempt in which Sigismund held those Heretic Astartes who had cast off their oaths and turned against the Imperium during the Horus Heresy.
In assuming the mantle of the Emperor's Champion , Sigismund delivered the ultimate judgement on those who had betrayed the Master of Mankind, executing them by his own hand.
It is the zeal to prosecute such crimes that drives the Black Templars in their crusades across the galaxy and beyond the borders of the Imperium, lending them the strength to face any foe. When a Black Templars battle-brother strikes down a champion of the enemy, he is enacting the judgement of Sigismund and through him the Emperor Himself, and continuing a tradition established at the height of the Imperium's most terrible crisis.
For ten thousand standard years the Black Templars have crusaded to prove their loyalty, and this creed has become so embedded in their doctrines that they are utterly ruthless towards anyone or anything perceived as a threat to the Emperor. Unlike most other Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes , the Black Templars have come to revere the Emperor as the one, true god of Mankind, just as the mortals of the Imperium do, and this belief has driven them to new heights of fanaticism.
However, the Black Templars are first and foremost Space Marines, and so even their faith is superhuman in its focus and dedication. Their gruelling rites are every bit as tasking as their battle drills -- to the Black Templars, ceremonial dedications to the Emperor and their martial drilling are one and the same. The Black Templars have been known to mercilessly wipe out entire planetary populations to expunge the sin of heresy, while the mere presence of a witch on the battlefield drives them into a zealous fury against which few enemies have any hope of standing.
The Black Templars' professed loathing of the witch even extends to those psykers in the employ of the Imperium. As a result, the Black Templars eschew the use of all Librarians in their ranks, unwilling to have any of their brethren touched by the taint of the Warp. When not engaged in battle, the brethren of the Black Templars are invariably to be found preparing for it. They pass their time in prayer and meditation, or engaged in exacting training rituals.
Those Initiates entrusted with the training of a neophyte spend long solar hours passing on their knowledge to their young apprentice and supervising endless drills, practice sessions, and trials. The brethren frequently impose upon themselves many hardships, foregoing all but the bare necessities in order to purify themselves in the eyes of the Emperor and their Primarch , and to emulate the example of their founder Sigismund.
When serving alongside the battle-brothers of other Space Marine Chapters, many Black Templars prepare themselves through long fasts and solar-week-long vigils in order to tolerate the presence of Space Marine Librarians.
For those who serve a Long Vigil in the Deathwatch, fighting alongside a brother Space Marine who wields psychic power is a particular hardship, a trial they must undergo in order to serve the Emperor more fully and to strike down the hated alien. For this reason, great care is undertaken when selecting a Black Templar for secondment to the Deathwatch, for only a brother able to contain his deep-seated intolerance against psykers will be able to fight to his full capacity.
Despite this, even these individuals are likely to pass every hour not spent fighting in deep contemplation and prayer, often cloistering themselves away from their fellow Deathwatch brothers in a personal shrine to the Emperor, Rogal Dorn, and Sigismund. In temperament, the battle-brothers of the Black Templars Chapter are united by the fiery zeal that burns within the heart of each, a fire first sparked by High Marshal Sigismund himself and stoked each day by the oratory of the Chaplains and by the exemplary texts that each brother reads every hour he is not on active duty.
While each Black Templar is inspired by the same crusading drive to utterly crush the enemies of the Emperor, there nonetheless exists a degree of variation within the ranks.
Those brethren only recently initiated into the Chapter as full battle-brothers might be driven to prove themselves in the eyes of their more experienced peers. Only when they have done so will they be granted the right and the responsibility to train a neophyte themselves. Throughout his service as an Initiate, the battle-brother gains experience and wisdom, until he may, if he survives long enough and is judged worthy, enter the ranks of his Marshal's household as a Sword Brother.
These warriors have learned to temper the fires of hatred with the wisdom of their years, and they are an example to the entire Chapter. Grant us the strength to pierce their unclean flesh! To cover their fields with the pale forms of their blasphemous dead! To drown the thunder of guns with the shrieks of their dying! To lay waste to their citadels with hurricanes of fire! To wring the hearts of their kin with unavailing grief! To send them into the wastes of their desolated lands in rags and hunger, broken in spirit, worn with travail and begging for the refuge of the grave.
We ask it, in the spirit of wrath, O Master of Mankind! Outsiders sometimes mistakenly interpret the lack of Librarians within the ranks of the Black Templars Chapter, and the fury with which its battle-brothers slay Chaos Sorcerers , as an intolerance for all forms of psykers. This could hardly be further from the truth, for the Black Templars hold special reverence for astropaths , seeing them as holy disciples who have actually communed with the God-Emperor. Navigators are similarly honoured, for their psychic blessing allows them to see the divine light of the Astronomican and guide the Black Templars through the Warp to deliver righteous retribution against the Emperor's enemies.
Instead, the Black Templars' abhorrence is reserved for deviant alien witches and rogue psykers who embrace the blasphemous Dark Gods in their quest for power. These individuals threaten to drag entire worlds from the Emperor's light and into damnation, for they are conduits through which unholy daemons can cross into the mortal realm. So it is that the Black Templars strengthen their souls with the purity of their faith when facing rogue psykers, as they strive to end with a single sword-stroke the potential of a daemonic assault that could otherwise plunge the Emperor's realm into solar decades of bloodshed and madness.
One of the more unusual aspects of the Black Templars' worship of the Emperor is the Chapter's collection of reliquaries. Being a fleet-based Chapter and lacking a proper homeworld, the High Marshal's Battle Barge and mobile fortress-monastery , the Eternal Crusader , has become the spiritual epicentre of the Chapter.
It has been refitted many times over the millennia, and its massive expanse is filled with sacred relics, chapels, reliquaries and devotional pieces.
All Black Templars return here after a crusade, renewing vows and adding any new-found wonders to their already vast hoard. Some of these pieces date back to the Great Crusade: banners carried before the Emperor Himself, a piece of the First Aquila, a blackened skull reportedly struck by the Emperor's scorching psychic energies, and thousands more.
Aboard the Eternal Crusader lies the Hall of Records, a vast archive where a legion of scribes and servitors toil to record the history and deeds of the Black Templars' far-flung forces.
Such duties of record-keeping would normally fall to a Chapter's Librarians , but the Black Templars Chapter boasts not a single psychic Space Marine amongst their ranks. It is uncertain how, or when, the Black Templars ceased to field Librarians, for with their disappearance, much of the Chapter's history was also lost.
Outsiders suggest that, as the Chapter came to worship the Emperor as a god unlike most of their fellow members of the Adeptus Astartes , they took His decree at the Council of Nikaea to disband the Space Marine Legions' Librarius corps as holy law.
Others whisper that the Black Templars' gene-seed has somehow deteriorated, or that their Librarians were slain during a great war in the Chapter's history. Some scholars point to the Black Templars' final battle to end the Catelexis Heresy in the 34 th Millennium, and the apocalyptic psychic death-scream that tore through the Warp after the slaying of the Cacodominus, as another possible explanation.
Whatever the truth, the Black Templars have come to accept the loss of their Librarians as part of the Emperor's divine plan. If the Emperor decides to once again bless the Black Templars with Librarians, they will embrace it, but until that day, they will wage battle without these powerful warriors at their side. Black Templars Bolter with manacle and Devotion Chain.
High Marshal Helbrecht of the Black Templars. Marshal Marius Amalich of the Black Templars with Power Sword raised , and the other members of the Celestinian Crusade who survived the fall of Cadia on the ice moon of Klaisus after their rescue by the Aeldari Ynnari. Chaplain Merek Grimaldus and an Emperor's Champion. The holds of the Black Templars' crusade fleets are filled with innumerable prized relics and holy artefacts.
Saved from destruction, they are preserved by a multitude of Chapter serfs , who meticulously maintain these sacred heirlooms in preparation for the day when they are ready to be carried to war in the Emperor's name. The Black Templars have no Chapter homeworld , and instead opt to live within their large crusade fleets of strike cruisers , battle barges and escorts. They are ever-vigilant, and are always ready for battle which is why they have chosen to remain a highly mobile, fleet-based Chapter.
This way of life also honours their original Founding Legion , the Imperial Fists , who were a mobile Chapter based upon the great mobile star fortress known as Phalanx. The Black Templars do establish and garrison Chapter keeps on every world they conquer or reclaim, which provide a training base for new recruits for the Chapter and to act as staging points for further crusade fleets.
Each crusade fleet is usually led by a Black Templars officer with the rank of Castellan and is charged with carrying out a specific objective.
Until that objective is achieved, the crusade fleet will not join up with its brethren and its Astartes will not rest. The Black Templars are noted to wrap chains or bindings around their arms to represent the fact that they will not give up their weapons until the battle is done. The power armour of a Black Templar is predominantly black and white. The actual application of the colour scheme varies from Astartes to Astartes, and individual Black Templars usually decorate their armour with devotional imagery, litanies, and Purity and Crusader Seals.
The black colour is a sign that like Sigismund and the black-armoured Chaplains of other Chapters, the Black Templars serve the Emperor directly and with deep faith. Squad specialty symbols are not indicated. Instead, the Astartes' tactical role -- battleline , fire support , Veteran or close support -- is displayed by the colour of the pauldron trim.
The Chapter icon is proudly worn on both shoulder guards. Squad number is stencilled as a white Low Gothic numeral upon the right knee plate.
Unique seals often worn on the left greave show which Crusade the battle-brother belongs to. Black Templars Techmarines and tank crews have a predominantly red colour scheme for their armour the colour favoured by the servants of the Machine God ; however, they still display their Chapter colours so as to not anger the Machine Spirits of their tanks and armour. The shoulder plates of Black Templar Power Armour depict the Chapter badge, with colour dependent on their rank and role within the Chapter.
Another section here with a strong mixture of returning favourites and new toys. Wide-ranging -2 to cast is a massive headache for Grey Knights and even starts to give Thousand Sons some pause, so if those books are terrorising your metagame, this is for you.
Stealing a trick from the Sororitas, this changes the damage of any attack allocated to the bearer to a flat D1. Dark Lance? Reaper Chainsword? Volcano Cannon? Good news Black Templars players — these are priced to move all ranging from pts and absolutely rule. The former is the priciest of the lot but also super powerful, letting you choose an enemy unit at the start of the battle and give the entire unit full hit and wound re-rolls against it in melee.
If you need your Bladeguard to punk a whole entire Knight this is for you. The Fist of Balthus is a more incidental upgrade, but a very strong one — for a mere 10pts, it upgrades a power fist to be D3 with no hit penalty, which is quite the thing to seed into a VanVet unit.
The other option, the Crux Obsidian , is honestly just as exciting when used correctly, providing -1D to the bearer. Obviously the more wounds you have the better, and this is again cool on Bladeguard, and also funny on an Assault Centurion. Like in the Index, the Black Templars get their own suite of litanies for their Chaplains to know. Grimaldus must pick from these ones, but regular Chaplains can pick from either these or the regular Litanies of Battle from Codex: Space Marines. The Litanies in this book mostly have the same names in the same order as the Index, with only the Vow of Retribution disappearing in favour of the new Plea of Deliverance.
The Plea now works like the Chorus of Spiritual Fortitude from the Adepta Sororitas book, cancelling any psychic powers affecting a unit and making them unable to be affected by any further ones until your next Command phase. Divine Protection and Fires of Devotion are unchanged which is great news, as they were heavily used , but the other three have all undergone significant revision. If your goal for your Chaplain is to get him in and start breaking heads, this will give him a big leg up in doing that though that does mean you can no longer hand out Fight First to other units from these, so make sure to bring a Holy Orb for a critical turn.
Something like a big pack of Vanguard Veterans can throw out the weight of attacks to maximise this, allowing them to punch up into targets that would normally be a bit beyond their reach. Because of Uphold , you can probably afford to sneak a few double claw models into your VanVet squads, and this lets them absolutely flatten stuff. In Battlefield Supremacy we have Allow Not the Worship of Unclean Idols , with a juicy 4VP on offer to do what is, basically, Shock Assault from Codex: Space Marines, with the extra rider that you have to have one of your Chaplains in range of the objective you flipped.
Rounding out the selection is Carry Out Your Vows in No Mercy, No Respite, which has an interesting split component — you can earn up to 12VP, at a rate of 4 per battle round, if the number of enemy units destroyed by melee attacks by your Black Templars units is greater than the number of units in your army that were destroyed, by whatever means your opponent manages it.
The other part is an end-game objective worth 3VP, and your objective changes depending on which Vow you chose. These are thematically-linked, so Suffer Not the Unclean gives you 3VP for killing the enemy Warlord in melee with one of your characters, while Abhor the Witch gives you 3VP for killing any enemy psyker character. Auto-plasmas and auto-flamers, incidentally, are exactly what they sound like — combi-weapons that combine an auto bolt rifle with a plasma gun or flamer.
These are just the regular kind, no fancy Primaris versions. Truly fearsome. Also going rules-heavy is the new Chaplain Grimaldus. His stats are pretty ordinary for a Primaris Chaplain, as is his wargear — a regular plasma pistol and an artificer crozius, which is just an extra point of AP.
So why do you take him? There is a tension, however, that the BT litanies are probably less good for supporting a gunline than generic ones, and Grimaldus does now lock you out of having a Bike Master of Sanctity rolling around. He can still amp up some more mobile units and fire them off to do some mischief, and his auras are really good, so overall seems strong, but there are probably other builds you try too.
Two entries here now, because Crusaders come in both small and large varieties. To build a unit of these you have to take at least five Initiates, a Sword Brother and four Neophytes. Sword Brethren are an odd unit. Ironically, the best use for these might be hiding behind a wall back in your deployment zone — they have the special Vow-sword Bladesmen ability, which lets them ignore the Passion of your vows, and come at a minimum unit size of 4 so are 88pts bare bones.
That is narrowly cheaper than taking some Assault Intercessors, and they can still benefit from Cover when Uphold is active, so maaaaybe , but far from mandatory. Otherwise, you can definitely set them up to be pretty effective volume attackers for Psalm of Remorseless Persecution , but there are plenty of other ways to achieve that.
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