Black Templar Tournament Army, In Review

I participated in my first Warhammer 40k tournament in years this August and had a great time. However, i was effectively destroyed in all three rounds. I will say this was the first competitive setting I have played in since third edition but I have played enough since then to get an idea of what to expect from 5th edition (so i thought). I am writing a bit after the fact, but I stumbled on my notes from the tournament and had to kick this blog off some how. The list I ran is as follows:

HQ

Emperor’s Champion

Accept Any Challenge

Marshal

Bolt pistol

Power Fist

Teleport Homer

Terminator Honors

Elite

Terminators x5

Assault Cannon

Heavy Flamer

Sword Brethren Veterans x5

Infiltrate

3x bolt pistol/CCW/Combat Shield

1x bolt pistol/Power Weapon/Combat Shield

1x Lightning Claw pair

Techmarine

Bolt Pistol

Power Weapon

2x Tech Servitors

Troops

Black Templars x10 (w/ BP/CCW)

Power Fist

Meltagun

Black Templars x10 (w/ BP/CCW)

Power Fist

Meltagun

Black Templars x10 (w/ Bolters)

Meltagun

Neophytes w/ Shotguns x 10

Heavy

Predator Annihilator

Lascannon Sponsons

Searchlight

Smoke Launchers

Predator Annihilator

Heavy Bolter Sponsons

Pintle Mounted Storm Bolter

Searchlight

Smoke Launchers

Vindicator

Pintle Mounted Storm Bolter

Searchlight

Smoke Launchers

My initial reaction for the day is that this army is S-L-O-W. I could not seize objectives or avoid dangerous enemies at all. I played against Tau, Tyranids, and CSM and was out maneuvered by every army. The Tau were Suit and infantry heavy, very little mech, and i still was outflanked on the urban board the game was on. The Tyranid army was well balanced two carnifex, a tyrant, warriors, and lots of gaunts and stealers. I have never faced a tyranid army and had no idea how to combat them effectively, I feel I did fairly well and could have managed a draw if i sandbagged my last turn and did not let my opponent claim an objective (neither of us had one). My opponent was a nice guy and in the points lead for the tournament in its entirety. I ended my turn to allow his victory. He did, in fact, end up winning the whole thing. My large squad did very little, it was a huge mass of bodies that very little effect in the game at all, i will definitely rethink use of neophytes in the future. The star of the day were my Sword Brethren Veterans. These models were the best recieved unit; they looked good and faired surprisingly well on the table. The infiltrate ability allowed them to go deep into the enemy lines. However, their fragility and high points cost were an undoing. It was beneficial that no one in the tournament had seen a sword brethren unit in action so they were a nice surprise. I will look into mechanizing them in the future to gain added protection and mobility as they approach the enemy.

The Emperor's champion's vow was a mistake for me, yes the effect is great (conveying preffered enemy to entire army), I just could not, for the life of me, remember to re-roll anything. I will rethink my vow of choice for future lists.

Since the tournament I have played with variations of the tournament list to find were strengths and weaknesses lie with units on an independent basis and I feel I am getting a feel for the roles of each unit. Surprisingly, I have found techmarines to be a combat monster! A Power Weapon and Bolt pistol with Terminator Honors and a charge into combat gives a lot of attacks. plus an additional Power Fist attack!

Thoughts For new lists:

Rhinos, no templar squads without heavy weapons need to walk.

Terminators are a huge point sink and not as effective as I would like
Sword Brethren are great but need to be mounted in a rhino or razorback

The marshal with a power fist needs something bigger than a bolt pistol now that it doesnt confer an extra attack in 5th edition