I know that this entry isn't going to contain a whole lot of information, but I have a couple things I'm going to be talking about in the next couple days.  First and foremost, is my Battle report with Brandon from last week.  I want to try and get that up by this Monday night, as I have a game with Jeremy that I'll write about.

In addition, I'll be talking about army burnout, including loss of interest due to poor win/loss records.  I'll talk about some of the causes of this and a few ways to regain interest in your army.   :)

As we all know, the Blood Angels were released on April 3rd (Saturday) of this past week.  Other than providing the 40k community with a fast version of the Black Templars, it really is just another Space Marine army.  So do not despair fellow Black Templars players!  I played a game against the Blood Angels last night, and my opponent barely squeaked out a draw in an objective game.  I just didn't have quite the firepower needed to table him at 1750 points, but I was darn near close to it.  Lets just say that I lost 2 Land Speeders and 2 Neophytes the entire game (and two Predators had some damage).  So again, do not despair.  We still can compete.  At least, until BA players learn their codex and pull out the crazy builds.  The one I've worked out I definitely wouldn't like to face, but I'm not going to voluntarily produce that list to my BA opponents just yet.  I should also have a codex review done by the beginning of May.  :)

Another exciting thing about the Blood Angels release was the Death Company models that came out!  I took several nights to very carefully modify, clean, and kit bash the new DC models with BT bits to fit my crusades fluff.  And, while they are not painted yet, they look darn good and are exactly what I needed to give my army some character.  When they are painted, they'll look damn sexy (hopefully)!

That's it for now, I'll try to get a Battle Report of this weeks game with Brandon up in the next few days.  Tonight if ya'll are lucky.  I'll also try and get pics up of the unpainted, but assembled Death Company Black Templars tomorrow.  :D

Over here at YTTH, Stelek made a Black Templars gunline list for 'Ard Boys.  At first glance, it looks terrible.  But after I took some time thinking about it, I think the list has it's merits.  It definitely only works at the 2500 point format, as the BT Razorback spam is too expensive at anything less than that.  I tried to trim it down to 2000 points, but you really do lose way too much to make it viable.  The list contains 10 TL Lascannons (one tank hunter), 6 normal Lascannons, 6 Heavy Bolters, 6 Heavy Flamers, a tank hunter missile launcher, and 6 Multi-meltas.  Can you say "Yikes!" on the alpha strike capabilities?  That isn't even counting the 6 heavy flamers, 6 regular flamers, and 2 assault cannons!  The two combat dreadnoughts act as close combat support, as well as the Emperor's Champion.  While all this is going on, 'Abhor the Witch' gives a 33% chance at canceling psychic powers cast on your units and will allow your army to move D6" forward if your enemy has a psyker (which is pretty much everyone nowadays); our Land Speeders love this.  The list definitely has its possibilities and I'll be attempting to put it through the ringer over the next few weeks.  Here is the list in it's entirety:

HQ
Emperor's Champion:  Abhor the Witch [110]
ELITE
Ven Dreadnought: TL LC, ML, Tank Hunters, EA, Smoke [173]
Dreadnought: AC, EA, Smoke [113]
Dreadnought: AC, EA, Smoke [113]
TROOPS
Crusader Squad (5 Init): LC, Flamer.  Razorback w/ TL LC [191]
Crusader Squad (5 Init): LC, Flamer.  Razorback w/ TL LC [191]
Crusader Squad (5 Init): LC, Flamer.  Razorback w/ TL LC [191]
Crusader Squad (5 Init): LC, Flamer.  Razorback w/ TL LC [191]
Crusader Squad (5 Init): LC, Flamer.  Razorback w/ TL LC [191]
Crusader Squad (5 Init): LC, Flamer.  Razorback w/ TL LC [191]
FAST ATTACK
Land Speeder Squadron (x2): MM, HF [150]
Land Speeder Squadron (x2): MM, HF [150]
Land Speeder Squadron (x2): MM, HF [150]
HEAVY SUPPORT
Predator Annihilator: TL LC, HB sponsons [130]
Predator Annihilator: TL LC, HB sponsons [130]
Predator Annihilator: TL LC, HB sponsons [130]
TOTAL: [2495]

So what does everyone think?  At the very least, the list deserves to be play-tested.  I think it'll be nice to have something that is a bit different to play with for a bit.  Only real issues that I can see is lack of CC ability and ability to deal with mass mob armies.  Hopefully the 6 HF, 6 Flamers, 2 AC, and 6 HB will be enough to combat that a bit.  We shall see.  :)