After having built the core of any good Black Templar army, I was ready to begin adding to the Marshal's household. The new rules of 5th edition proved to be a massive advantage to the Templar, with the addition of running for any infantry model and the new preferred enemy. Suddenly, the more bodies I could pack into an army, the more guys I'd have running around the board with a permanent re-roll to hit. Already having a solid troop base, I decided to add to the horde with something a little... faster.
Assault Squad 1 - Death to the Alien
These guys were built to take down hordes before they could become a problem. Another beneficial rule in 5th edition was the new way that template weapons were resolved. A double flamer attack could now cause upward of 20 wounds! A power weapon on the head marine ensured they would have a little something to deal with tougher customers. But the toughest customers would have to wait for the next squad...
Having picked up several copies of the Templar upgrade box, I found myself with a lot of extra bits and crosses. I put these to good use by gluing a cross to the top of each marine's jump pack. This made it much easier to tell two squads apart if they found themselves in close proximity, and also helped to organize them for packing/unpacking. It's a nice little trick that I highly recommend to anyone who isn't packing completely iterative squads. Even if there's only 1 model difference, it can be frustrating in the middle of a game to realize that your squads are packing the wrong items. This is a stylish and subtle way to keep yourself and your opponent straight on who goes where.
Assault Squad 2: Death to the Machine, Death to the Monster
Just as the previous squad was intended to deal with Orks, IG, Tau, and the like; these guys are the ones to call on for the heavy hitters. Double plasma pistols, five storm shields, a power fist, and meltabombs all around for good measure. These guys have killed terminators, great demons, and most major pieces of armor that you see on a given game of 40k. Ever since the rise of the new IG, they have become especially invaluable in the good fight.
Just as the other squad has a cross on top of their jump packs, these guys have a shield, pulled from the heraldic shield included with assault terminators. The two plasma pistol wielding marines are metal marines from the Veterans Mk I and Veterans Mk II boxes. Several other bits were pulled from the dark angels veterans boxes. Since the Black Templar pull a lot of iconography from the medieval look, the monastic items from the dark angels suit them well.
One important note for would be Templar modelers. Assault marine legs and tabards do NOT work well together. It's a cool thought, and trust me I had the same idea, but getting the flow of the tabard to go correctly with the direction of the running legs is a pain in the ass. Half the time it doesn't work at all because the pieces are at conflicting angles. It can be done, but as a word of warning, prefit EVERYTHING before you even start painting, or it will end in tears.
Drop Pod 1 - Venerable Dreadnought
Dreadnoughts are cool, but getting them in your opponents face can be a bit a trick sometimes. So, why bother i say? Just slap em in a rocket and drop them exactly where you want them to go. No worries, no mess, except what's left of the enemy. Dreadnoughts also benefit from the preferred enemy rule, meaning you get some extra smack for your points in close combat, which ultimately is where you want a dreadnought.
This is an Assault on Blackreach Dreadnought that has been heavily pimped out. There are bits here from the terminator librarian, fantasy chaos warriors, Templar upgrade sprue, and fantasy vampire counts. This is also where I first tested out the quartered armor scheme to see how it would look for veterans. It would eventually become the de facto standard for Templar vets and leaders.
The drop pod itself was painted to match it's occupant. I left the seating out of this one to account for the extra room needed, though if I ever do special drop pods for dreadnoughts again, I might consider putting in a techmarine or some servitors or at least a few servo-arms to give it the right look for the dead guy in a box in another box. The fins were freehanded with a mini story of the life and death of the man who became enshrined within the dreadnought to serve on after death.
Drop Pod 2 - Shooty Templar
With the importance of troops as objective claimers in 5th, I knew I would need a way to get people places in a hurry, and what better way than in a drop pod? I also knew that the moment they hit the dirt, they would have to come out swinging, so I left the chainswords at home in exchange for something with a bit more kick. The photo above shows all my ranged fighters, not just the ones that would land in a drop pod. I later decided that each crusader squad could benefit from bringing a meltagunner along in case a wall of armor decided to show up.
I think one of the most overlooked elements of any marine force in the humble marine with bolter. There's a million of them being mass processed to get to the more "interesting" models, interesting being a relative term. It's these poor unfortunate overlooked models that draw my attention more than the flashy HQ. Anyone can paint a good looking Chapter Master, but a good measure of an armies' craftsmanship lies in it's basic troops.
The drop pod was complete one piece at a time and then glued together, which I still believe is the only way to viably do it, but my god this model in a pain to assemble. I'm not going to dwell on the point, as there are plenty of internet bloggers who have already destroyed the kit for it's almost impossible build complexity. But for what it is, it's an amazing model to look at when it's finished. Too bad it takes so much to get to that point.
So that's the speedy boys. I had my troops, and now a pretty fast way to bring the fight to my opponents front door, but sometimes there was just too much to deal with even for such a mighty force. Sometimes it would take a little extra persuasion. Sometimes it would take something a little... heavier, a little more...elite.
