Black Templar Warlord Traits and Relic:
Our Warlord Traits: We have 7 chapter specific warlord traits, mostly all usable. The big ones are Master Swordsman (From Vigilus), Epitome of Piety, Master of Arms, and Frontline Commander.
Master Swordsman: Swordsman is +1 Attack and unmodified sixes to hit give another automatic hit. This trait is key to most of our smash Marshal builds. Is essentially a must take for our Templars. It’s only “downside” is being forced to spend 1CP (for specialist detachment) to unlock it.
Paragon of Piety: Piety gives an additional deny and the warlord adds +1 to any deny test they take. Grimaldus required trait, it’s another solid trait. It’s a question of being situational enough if it’s worthwhile or not. And almost always cost you 1CP in some form or another (either directly or via using field commander to use Master Swordsman).
Master of Arms: It’s an always fight first trait. In combination with fight first litany you can have 2 or even 3 units fight first every combat round. Making this an overall solid if situational build trait.
Frontline Commander: Helbrecht required trait, it is add +1 to any advance rolls and charge rolls for Black Templar Units in 6”. In combination with with advance and charge (and lesser extent canticle of hate) is another very noteworthy trait.
(Marshal Laeroth -- Master Swordsman is super, super good. You get another attack and you generate additional hits on 6's. Combine it with Teeth of Terra and you have a wrecking ball of a character. Paragon of Piety gives us yet another deny, which is deceivingly good. We already are good against psykers, but this helps push us over the top if chosen. Frontline Commander is another almost must take trait for us. Getting that additional +1 advance/charge rolls is super important for our units. It lets us concentrate on litanies that up our offensive prowess. Finally, Master of Arms is a whole load of junk in comparison to the other traits. We'll be charging when it matters.)
Vanilla Codex Traits:
The most relevant regular marine and Phobos traits, are Imperium Sword, Champion of Humanity, Rites of War, and Master of Vangaurd.
Imperium's Sword is if you charge or heroically intervene, you get +1 attack/strength and get reroll charges. The relevancy comes from the additional attack.
Champion of Humanity grants +1 attack if within 1" of an enemy character, and when striking a character add 1 to wound and hit roll. The relevant aspect here is once again the situational +1 attack. But the +1 to and wound is nice given either offer Thunder Hammer -1 to hit or our relic weapons strength 5.
Rites of War grants Objective Secured to the warlord and 6” battle shock immunity. Given the value of our tide squads that goes without saying.
Master of Vangaurd is frontline commander but only affects Phobos units but always grants additional movement. For those playing Phobos heavy builds it’s a trait worth considering.
(Marshal Laeroth -- This trait is close in usefulness to "Master Swordsmen", with the caviat that Imperium does not work unless you charge/HI. However, on a smash captain, you can reach strength 10 on your attacks...reaching the promised land of wounding most things on 2's. Definitely useful there. But if you want a more well rounded trait that works anytime, "Swordsmen" is where its at. But its a nice 2nd trait to have.
Champion of Humanity is useful if you are looking to stack it onto the Emperor's Champion, but not much else. Rites of War is definitely a good spot, but in an offensive list, there are better places to look.)
The Templar Relics;
We have gotten several good relics the most notable three for me personally are Crusaders Helm, Sword of Judgement, and Witchseeker Bolt.
Crusader’s Helm, is the reason we mono build. Normally Assault Doctrine essentially pointless turn 3, is like what turn 3? (through in fairness turn 3 most competitive (as in games between two equal players and armies) is not over just end is nigh).
Crusader’s Helm allows you to turn 1 to let a unit be in assault doctrine. Which given plethora of other single target buffs we have, one unit is all you need anyways.
Sword of Judgement: Replace a Power Sword, it’s a three damage weapon and +1 strength. It’s a solid weapon about as good as a Teeth of Terra, and on par with Thunder Hammers sense no -1 to hit. I am trying to over traditional teeth builds at the moment.
Witchseeker Bolts: One of the options for our squad leaders. Essentially turns any character or squad leader using it into a sniper weapon. But that sniper always does d3 mortal wounds. The main question as with the anti-Pysker trait is it worth the CP for somewhat specific opponent.
(Marshal Laeroth -- This list has one relic that is above and beyond the rest: Crusader's Helm. This relic is what makes our alpha strike run. Getting to use our Super Doctrine early, while potentially buffed with litanies/stratagems is huge. By far the best relic we got.)
Honorable Mention: Litany Relic, roll 2 dice and discard one for litany chanting. Makes it almost impossible to fail, but given its 3+ anyways, it’s not something I am worried really about.
Notable Generic Marine Relics:
Teeth of Terra, Emperor’s Wrath, Benediction of Fury, and Burning Blade, all four just basic/weapon damage relics. But that alone is amazing. And often used most of those pre-supplement and post one maybe even two.
The other notables one are honor vehement, which is more attacks but no shock assault.
The armor indomonitus is note worthy for granting a 2+ save and only way to give our Castellans an invulnerable.
Conclusion: We got a solid set of Relics and Warlord Traits. And in combination with everything else our chapter is competitive, no asterisk, no “but worse....”. We are competitive, got solid rules, solid set of unique units, and really solid everything.
So good job Games Workshop.
~Schlitzaf~
Our Warlord Traits: We have 7 chapter specific warlord traits, mostly all usable. The big ones are Master Swordsman (From Vigilus), Epitome of Piety, Master of Arms, and Frontline Commander.
Master Swordsman: Swordsman is +1 Attack and unmodified sixes to hit give another automatic hit. This trait is key to most of our smash Marshal builds. Is essentially a must take for our Templars. It’s only “downside” is being forced to spend 1CP (for specialist detachment) to unlock it.
Paragon of Piety: Piety gives an additional deny and the warlord adds +1 to any deny test they take. Grimaldus required trait, it’s another solid trait. It’s a question of being situational enough if it’s worthwhile or not. And almost always cost you 1CP in some form or another (either directly or via using field commander to use Master Swordsman).
Master of Arms: It’s an always fight first trait. In combination with fight first litany you can have 2 or even 3 units fight first every combat round. Making this an overall solid if situational build trait.
Frontline Commander: Helbrecht required trait, it is add +1 to any advance rolls and charge rolls for Black Templar Units in 6”. In combination with with advance and charge (and lesser extent canticle of hate) is another very noteworthy trait.
(Marshal Laeroth -- Master Swordsman is super, super good. You get another attack and you generate additional hits on 6's. Combine it with Teeth of Terra and you have a wrecking ball of a character. Paragon of Piety gives us yet another deny, which is deceivingly good. We already are good against psykers, but this helps push us over the top if chosen. Frontline Commander is another almost must take trait for us. Getting that additional +1 advance/charge rolls is super important for our units. It lets us concentrate on litanies that up our offensive prowess. Finally, Master of Arms is a whole load of junk in comparison to the other traits. We'll be charging when it matters.)
Vanilla Codex Traits:
The most relevant regular marine and Phobos traits, are Imperium Sword, Champion of Humanity, Rites of War, and Master of Vangaurd.
Imperium's Sword is if you charge or heroically intervene, you get +1 attack/strength and get reroll charges. The relevancy comes from the additional attack.
Champion of Humanity grants +1 attack if within 1" of an enemy character, and when striking a character add 1 to wound and hit roll. The relevant aspect here is once again the situational +1 attack. But the +1 to and wound is nice given either offer Thunder Hammer -1 to hit or our relic weapons strength 5.
Rites of War grants Objective Secured to the warlord and 6” battle shock immunity. Given the value of our tide squads that goes without saying.
Master of Vangaurd is frontline commander but only affects Phobos units but always grants additional movement. For those playing Phobos heavy builds it’s a trait worth considering.
(Marshal Laeroth -- This trait is close in usefulness to "Master Swordsmen", with the caviat that Imperium does not work unless you charge/HI. However, on a smash captain, you can reach strength 10 on your attacks...reaching the promised land of wounding most things on 2's. Definitely useful there. But if you want a more well rounded trait that works anytime, "Swordsmen" is where its at. But its a nice 2nd trait to have.
Champion of Humanity is useful if you are looking to stack it onto the Emperor's Champion, but not much else. Rites of War is definitely a good spot, but in an offensive list, there are better places to look.)
The Templar Relics;
We have gotten several good relics the most notable three for me personally are Crusaders Helm, Sword of Judgement, and Witchseeker Bolt.
Crusader’s Helm, is the reason we mono build. Normally Assault Doctrine essentially pointless turn 3, is like what turn 3? (through in fairness turn 3 most competitive (as in games between two equal players and armies) is not over just end is nigh).
Crusader’s Helm allows you to turn 1 to let a unit be in assault doctrine. Which given plethora of other single target buffs we have, one unit is all you need anyways.
Sword of Judgement: Replace a Power Sword, it’s a three damage weapon and +1 strength. It’s a solid weapon about as good as a Teeth of Terra, and on par with Thunder Hammers sense no -1 to hit. I am trying to over traditional teeth builds at the moment.
Witchseeker Bolts: One of the options for our squad leaders. Essentially turns any character or squad leader using it into a sniper weapon. But that sniper always does d3 mortal wounds. The main question as with the anti-Pysker trait is it worth the CP for somewhat specific opponent.
(Marshal Laeroth -- This list has one relic that is above and beyond the rest: Crusader's Helm. This relic is what makes our alpha strike run. Getting to use our Super Doctrine early, while potentially buffed with litanies/stratagems is huge. By far the best relic we got.)
Honorable Mention: Litany Relic, roll 2 dice and discard one for litany chanting. Makes it almost impossible to fail, but given its 3+ anyways, it’s not something I am worried really about.
Notable Generic Marine Relics:
Teeth of Terra, Emperor’s Wrath, Benediction of Fury, and Burning Blade, all four just basic/weapon damage relics. But that alone is amazing. And often used most of those pre-supplement and post one maybe even two.
The other notables one are honor vehement, which is more attacks but no shock assault.
The armor indomonitus is note worthy for granting a 2+ save and only way to give our Castellans an invulnerable.
Conclusion: We got a solid set of Relics and Warlord Traits. And in combination with everything else our chapter is competitive, no asterisk, no “but worse....”. We are competitive, got solid rules, solid set of unique units, and really solid everything.
So good job Games Workshop.
~Schlitzaf~
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