Codex: Black Templars

Warhammer 40,000 4th Edition

by Games Workshop

The Space Marines of the Adeptus Astartes are Humanity's ultimate warriors, dedicated to the defence of the Emperor and the Imperium of Man. They are barely human at all, but superhuman, having been made superior, in all respects, to a normal man by a harsh regime of genetic modification, psycho-conditioning and rigorous training. Organised into small independent armies called Chapters, their unswerving loyalty is to the Emperor of Mankind and no other. The Black Templars are one of these Chapters, eschewing the idea of a home world they have taken to the star in might crusade fleets, actively seeking out the enemies of Mankind.

This 64-page Warhammer 40,000 Codex contains all the rules you'll need to field a Black Templar army, as well as detailed background information, bestiary, accompanying artwork and 'Eavy Metal showcase.

You must possess a copy of Warhammer 40,000 in order to use the contents of this book.

Genres: Science Fiction, 40k

64 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Games Workshop Group PLC (often abbreviated as GW) is a British miniature wargaming manufacturing company. Games Workshop is best known as developer and publisher of the tabletop wargames Warhammer, Warhammer 40,000 and The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game.

Reviews

[Taddow · Rating 3 out of 5]

I hate this codex and I’m going to share a story about why that is. Long ago, in my heyday of playing Warhammer 40,000, I played in a tournament where I faced off against a Black Templar army where my opponent had spent a significant amount of points into a Terminator squad with additional independent characters attached to it all embarked in a Land Raider Crusader with a Blessed Hull (whose rules would be the precursor to Ablative Armor, which is another bane of mine).

At the time I played Dark Eldar. It’s my favorite army, even to this day, and one thing I have plenty of is Dark Lances. As some of you 40K veterans know, lance weapons reduced armor values above 12 to 12 and so the Land Raider’s 14 armor was of little concern. A Land Raider Crusader with Blessed Hull was a little more concerning. This was the first codex that had a rule that reduced the effectiveness of lance weapons and as I mentioned, more rules doing so will follow). Still with the amount of Dark Lances I had in my army, surely the amount of glancing hits would be enough to immobilize and or neutralize the Crusader before it made it to the objective and deployed its cargo, and then I could pick apart its occupants as they slogged across the battlefield. This ended up not being the case.

I didn’t stop the Crusader. I think I destroyed every weapon on the thing, got numerous Stunned and Shaken results (which the Machine Spirit makes moot), or flat out missed. That tank did what it was supposed to do and made it to the objective and deployed its heavily armored, fearless, and deadly cargo. As deadly as Dark Eldar can be in close combat, they are still a glass cannon and the odds of me being able to uproot that enemy force from the objective in time was not in my favor.

I lost that game and I hate this codex.

[Common Sense · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perfect balance between lore, art, and game data. Well written.

[Mikael · Rating 4 out of 5]

When it became evident that my beloved Iron Hands wasn't going to get an update even less a codex of their own I took my black painted spacemarines and turned them into Black Templars. This way they also fitted nicely with the inquisitors and their war bands.
Nothing like having an army of genetically engineered supersoldiers that are also religious fanatics really.
This strategy payed off immediately as their much sturdier vehicles (Due to Holy Hull) delivered my delirious zelots directly into close combat.