Hello all! Sorry I didn't get this out sooner, but I had a trip to go on. Just wanted to let ya'll know that I was up and about again. No more of that, though. This is a post about how I feel 8th Edition is going and where we need to go from here. :)
My experience in 8th ediiton has been largely positive. More wins than losses, certainly. However, with that being said, I have not spent most of my time playing what most would call "traditional" Black Templars lists. I have tried to play against the meta lists whenever I could, because there is no sense doing anything else, if I am attempting to be competitive in any fashion. So here is what I have noticed thus far.
As much as 8th Edition was supposed to end the psychic phase nonsense of 7th Edition, it has remained in the form of Smite-spam. Which is an entirely different experience than it was with Invisibility. These lists are all over the place. So prevalent are these lists, that you need to build in defense against them. I have found that our strategem is not enough to save us against all of those mortal wounds. The other thing is that our lists cannot be totally elite, like we often like to do. We need to utilize MSU or be number-heavy. MSU is usually a safe bet, but in today's metagame, footslogging isn't a half-bad idea. Perhaps. Moral of the story, elite lists close into range of smite and get wrecked. Those lists are going to be advancing, so you also cannot sit back and hope to take it late game either. I have found that deep striking assault units can be very effective in disrupting this opponent. Which is a strength of the Black Templars, seeing that we can re-roll failed charges. A BT player can expect to see this type of opponent often, so one of the best counters is taking your normal BT list...but taking an Imperial detachment with Culexus Assassins. These can form your front line and won't be a liability against other lists. There has been some players who prefer Grey Knights, but I am of the opinion that assassins are more bang for your buck.
The second big list that is insanely popular is the conscript-spam army. It has changed a bit with the new codex, but it remains mostly intact. This list is even more of a problem for our Black Templars, because of the insane amount of firepower that these guys can put out. What puts them over the top is the fact that they can receive orders from cheap HQ's like Commissars. They take up a lot of space and with enough flashlights, they can take down anything. Combine them with some of the new AM strategems and we are definitely going to be hit by a lot of stuff. Mobility, lots of units, and excellent target selection wins this matchup. Another option is to snipe your opponent's characters, as they control how well the AM army does. Without leadership modifiers, these units will crumble. However, this is a very difficult encounter for any list other than an AM mirror.
One thing that I really want to mention is that I've noticed that points plays a huge factor in our lists. I feel like I am always at a disadvantage playing space marines. A lot of lists feature extremely cheap, but effective units that can be a part of a force multiplier to make them better. We have to build our lists minimally, without a lot of fluff. High efficiency units, like Venerable Dreadnoughts with Twin-Autocannons. Crusader squads are highly adaptable. Assassins are high efficiency. Anything that we can put on the table that throws out a lot of shots or attacks in combat. Otherwise, we're toast. I will be honest, its pretty tough with our codex since our units cost quite a bit.
So that's some preliminary thoughts for you. Expect to see some lists here going forward. Have a great day everyone!
As much as 8th Edition was supposed to end the psychic phase nonsense of 7th Edition, it has remained in the form of Smite-spam. Which is an entirely different experience than it was with Invisibility. These lists are all over the place. So prevalent are these lists, that you need to build in defense against them. I have found that our strategem is not enough to save us against all of those mortal wounds. The other thing is that our lists cannot be totally elite, like we often like to do. We need to utilize MSU or be number-heavy. MSU is usually a safe bet, but in today's metagame, footslogging isn't a half-bad idea. Perhaps. Moral of the story, elite lists close into range of smite and get wrecked. Those lists are going to be advancing, so you also cannot sit back and hope to take it late game either. I have found that deep striking assault units can be very effective in disrupting this opponent. Which is a strength of the Black Templars, seeing that we can re-roll failed charges. A BT player can expect to see this type of opponent often, so one of the best counters is taking your normal BT list...but taking an Imperial detachment with Culexus Assassins. These can form your front line and won't be a liability against other lists. There has been some players who prefer Grey Knights, but I am of the opinion that assassins are more bang for your buck.
The second big list that is insanely popular is the conscript-spam army. It has changed a bit with the new codex, but it remains mostly intact. This list is even more of a problem for our Black Templars, because of the insane amount of firepower that these guys can put out. What puts them over the top is the fact that they can receive orders from cheap HQ's like Commissars. They take up a lot of space and with enough flashlights, they can take down anything. Combine them with some of the new AM strategems and we are definitely going to be hit by a lot of stuff. Mobility, lots of units, and excellent target selection wins this matchup. Another option is to snipe your opponent's characters, as they control how well the AM army does. Without leadership modifiers, these units will crumble. However, this is a very difficult encounter for any list other than an AM mirror.
One thing that I really want to mention is that I've noticed that points plays a huge factor in our lists. I feel like I am always at a disadvantage playing space marines. A lot of lists feature extremely cheap, but effective units that can be a part of a force multiplier to make them better. We have to build our lists minimally, without a lot of fluff. High efficiency units, like Venerable Dreadnoughts with Twin-Autocannons. Crusader squads are highly adaptable. Assassins are high efficiency. Anything that we can put on the table that throws out a lot of shots or attacks in combat. Otherwise, we're toast. I will be honest, its pretty tough with our codex since our units cost quite a bit.
So that's some preliminary thoughts for you. Expect to see some lists here going forward. Have a great day everyone!
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