I've been working on these guys on and off for the past few months now...and the Black Templars have been of great interest to me prior to even jumping into the hobby. I do love the fact that they come with a plethora of bitz to further enhance their armor, and the Forgeworld and GW conversion bitz make them all the better. And since I've hit a small roadblock in the workings of my Ar'ka warriors and the influx of Imperial items this holiday, I figured I'd start this little log. So without further ado, I present to my Black Templar force of the Geonide Crusade.

Geonide Crusade Background:
During the Geonide Crusade, the Black Templars were called upon to help the Inquisition retrieve vital information and artifacts from Geonide.

The planet housed an Imperial research facility where members of the Adeptus Mechanicus worked on projects for the Imperial Navy, such as new propulsion drives and laser technologies. Their research involved classified artifacts and relics; there was a risk of researching heretical subjects. Then, without warning, Geonide faced open rebellion in its cities, taking a heavy toll on the population and the research facilities.

It was discovered that a group of latent psykers were tainted by the lies of Chaos. They opened a rift in reality by using the energies of the Warp. Within a year, 75% of Geonide's population had fallen to Chaos and formed an army, supplemented by daemons and other warp-spawned creatures.

Normal methods for reclaiming the planet failed and the Inquisition called for an Exterminatus. However, before the world was annihilated, the Black Templars were dispatched to retrieve valuable artifacts, research documents and Imperial personnel that were not tainted by Chaos.

Army Premise:
Just a showcase of my Black Templar force that was dropped onto the planet's surface to recover the artifacts prior to the Inquisitions Exterminatus. Based on what I've found on GW's site, I've added the appropriate decals and painting to signify exactly what crusade the Templars are taking part in. One thing you'll notice is the complete painting of the bolters in gold. According to GW's site, this was done to better reflect the Emperor's light.

You'll need to excuse some inconsistencies with my force. I am in no way a fan of the look of SM Scouts, nor Marines w/o a helmet, so my Neophytes will be standard looking SMs without all the purity seals. But seeing as this was a Daemonic invasion, I can't imagine too many Neophytes were running around.

List:
-HQ-
Mashal Lucius
- Storm Shield & Power Axe

Grey Knights Brother-Captain Zeruel (Marneus Calgar stand in)
- Powerfists & Storm Bolters

-Elites-
1x Dreadnought (Venerable Brother Basiliscus)
- Storm bolter
- Chainfist

1x Ironclad Dreadnought (Venerable Brother Titus)
- Hurricane Pattern Bolters
- Pneumatic Clamp

12x Grey Knight Terminators
- Loadout in planning

1x Grey Knight Venerable Dreadnought
- Psycannon
- Nemesis Force Blade

2x Black Templar Honor Guard
- 2 Crusading Spears (integrated bolters)

-Troops-
6x Assault Squad
- 6 Initiates

8x Black Templars
- 3 Neophytes
- 5 Initiates
1x Emperor's Champion (Tiberius)

-Transports
1x Landraider Crusader??


Goal of the Project:
The goal of this Project Log is for me to improve my painting and conversion skills, as well as come up with a good sense of fluff for the army. I'll also look into suggestions into what should be added to the force; though I'll admit, there could be some resistance as I don't play the game and I'm a little irked by the lack of scale between infantry and vehicle. And when making suggestions or looking at my army list, please bear in mind that I DO NOT play the game, so lots of these things will most likely not work in a game scenario.

I've already got a pre-established background crusade, so I'll just need to come up with the force that takes part in it.


**I'll also be including various other aspects of my Space Marine Army...likely a throwback to the Templars aiding the Crimson Fists during the Declates Crusade and of course there's a possibility of my Templars joining up with the Red Scorpions as well.**


To whet your appetite, here are Venerable Brothers Titus & Basiliscus:
During the cleansing of Hive Thetus, when the Broodlord and his kin had retreated to the deepest depths of the inner city, the Black Templars were forced into tightly cramped spaces and slowly began to cleanse the world of the Tyranid plague. Inch by bloody inch, the Templars would destroy any Tyranid that came before them, but not without great cost.

As the Black Templars pushed their way to the surface, the Broodlord's kin began to push back harder, in which a large wave of Genestealers ravaged a smaller group of Initiates. Fighting with hot lead and spinning metal teeth, the Black Templars valiantly fought the superior numbers of their foe. In the end, only two Initiates remained in what could hardly considered alive. For their valiant efforts in cleansing the tunnel system leading deeper into the inner city, the Marshal and his Techmarine saw fit to entomb the valiant warriors into dreadnaughts, to show their sacrifice had not been in vain, and so that righteous ferocity could be used to further the Emperor's will.

Venerable Brother Basiliscus


Venerable Brother Titus

I like the concept, and your painting is quite good as well. I also like that you took a GKBC as your HQ, since I am a GK player, and think it will add a good flair to your army. Two things, though.

It's been a while since I pulled out the ol DaemonHunter codex, so don't quote me, but I think you might have to take a compulsary HQ from your own codex as well. Fluff wise it would be odd for a lone Brother-captain to be running around leading DT troops but none of his own. Also, it would be odd for multiple dreadnoughts and a tac squad to be deployed with no DT captain around.

On a second, more viable note, unless your taking the BC for points reasons, I would personally recommend switching him to either a Grand Master, OR taking an Inquisitor/Lord and suiting him up to mimic your brother captain. The BC is simply tooo many points when you look at what you get for his base cost, and the one wound he brings is just... mediocre. The only time I ran BC's was in my elite terminator squads, since they don't fill up HQ slots. Which is wierd... it's like taking a sergeant from a SM Tac squad and saying "HQ choice!"

That said, I'm assuming your not entirely familiar with the DHs, at least not as your primary race, so here's what I would kit your BC with if you keep him(or switch him out).

1 Brother Captain
-Nemesis Force Weapon
-Psycannon
-Bionics

Anything more just makes him a huge point sink, and if he dies, you've lost far too many points. The NFW is free, but the psycannon, while costly-ish, will allow your BC to walk the field throwing Str6 shots that punch through most armour and outright ignores invulnerable saves(which makes sense since your army is themed against daemons who only have invuln saves). Meanwhile, if he gets taken down, you at least have a very cheap upgrade(Bionics) which allows you a chance to get him back up.

If your planning on expanding to higher points, it may look cool to add GK space marines using mostly Black Templar parts. There are whispers that the Grey Knights and Black Templar are more connected than any know.

Well, as I stated, I don't play the game, this is strictly for the hobby's sake. I do have some more GK Terminators that I neglected to include...which may have been from haste in getting it posted. I will amend that quite soon.

Since I don't play the game and I'm not familiar with the various codexes...getting most of my information from the Lexicanum, I'm curious as to who would lead the roving BT squads. I would assume that during the operation, there would most likely be a Justicar advisor leading them.

I'm well aware my force is currently small...and it may remain that way...focusing on a DT instead of a grand army. Any thoughts on how many GKs would be attached to said squad? Or if it won't seem out of place for their being a GK Terminator working with the DT.



If and when GW released PLASTIC GK Terminators, I will gladly jump down this alley. I literally love their look...knightly, which seems perfectly up the alley of the Black Templars Sword Brethren.

As for these whispers...it would be interesting to see the outcome, since this Chapter just openly defies so many things...but time will tell.

=========================================================================
A small update:
Marshal Lucius

Ascended to Marshal status for his actions during the Hive Thetus Crusade. During the final push in cleansing the planet of the Tyranid Plague, Marshal Draconis was killed during a chaotic fight with some of the more human mutants that had made up the Genestealer cult. Regardless of their fortitude, the Sword Brethren were unable to prevent the enemy from reaching their Marshal.

What ensued afterwards catapulted Lucius up to Marshal status; the very moment they realized Draconis was dead, Lucius let out a bellowing battle cry of anguish, lifted his power axe and stormed into the nearest cluster of mutants and genestealers hovering over his fallen Marshal. His zeal spurred the other Sword Brethren into their righteous fury, enabling them to destroy the remaining forces. It was while we knelt next to his fallen Marshal that the others inquired what their orders were…Marshal Lucius.

Brother-Captain Zeruel

Little is known about Brother-Captain Zeruel. What is know however, is that his squad of Terminators are more than willing to face beings that would during even the hardiest of Imperial Guardsmen to a weeping mess. It’s unknown if he’s worked with other Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes, but he finds confidence in the Black Templars unerring desire to destroy the mutant. This doctrine, combined with their fighting spirit and his knowledge will no doubt ensure the success of their already damned mission.

Your models are very well done , you honor our Primarch. Only thing I would suggest os a black wash on the silver guy.

Ah, excuse my habit of speed reading, I missed your part about not playing.

To your other points, I may be able to help a little. For fluff purposes, realize that GK space marines are few in number, and rarely operate in numbers larger than a small squad, often a single team of three to four space marines in an entire warzone. The reason for this is many, but the most pertinent is that GK's do not openly engage in open warfare unless absolutely needed. Typically, they go in to find the source of corruption, eliminate it and then get out, allowing the Inquisition to determine whether exterminatus should be enacted.

They have a single purpose, which is the destruction of the daemon and corruption. They take little interest in other aspects of war, and for the most part are totally unknown to other chapters or mankind, if not because of their secrecy than because of their very "unflashy" fighting style. In fact, in some instances where daemonic corruption was so great that no man, space marine or not, could emerge unaffected by it, the Grey Knights have been known to wipe out entire companies of Space Marines simply to avoid future corruption.

As for the Black Templar, the many little things they ignore would probably be written off by most Grey Knights, simply because for one, they themselves are almost entirely non-codex in all things and two, if there is no corruption, they really don't care. Unless you have a Black Templar burst with tentacles or someone blasphemes the Emperor, nothing is going to happen.

If you want to theme your forces around fluff rather than gameplay, this makes including GK's much much simpler. GK's do not follow standard squad organizations, and in fact often mix GK space marines, GK terminators in the same squad. If your keeping the BT's the focus, simply add three, maybe four GK space marines or two GK terminators to your brother captain. Fluff wise this should be enough to halt/eradicate an entire daemonic invasion with your BT's help of any size, barring the emergence of a greater daemon or Chosen with an entire army behind it. Remember, the GK's are so holy that the mere sound of one praying is enough to cause a lesser daemon to dematerialize and cause a greater daemon to lose it's grip on reality.

I've been debating that. I've seen the effects of badab black on my Cmdr Culln, so there is a good chance I'll more than likely be ink washing my GKs in the near future...especially for the effects it has on my shining gold.



Yeah, one of the first books I read was the Grey Knights Omnibus...and I am fully aware of the power of Holocaust on ANY heretical lifeform that dare oppose the Imperium. I'm surprised the Brother-Captain wouldn't still have a full GK Terminator squad at his disposal. But I don't think there would be much harm in reducing the number down to two, giving him a small retinue in his duties.

And I only say this because Geonide is really a lost cause, its on the verge of destruction and the Inquisition wants the data and materials collected...meaning they are quite valuable. So I'm taken back that more GKs wouldn't be necessary...but you are a Daemonhunter expert, so I will yield to your wisdom in that matter.

Update for today...probably the last one for a little bit. I've got several other BTs to pump out, as well as figuring out the exact number of forces I want to include in this - at least for the Geonide aspect...I do have plans for other crusades

Emperor's Champion Tiberius

Brother Tiberius is the newly anointed Emperor’s Champion. It was his vision, presented to him by the Emperor, which allowed their Chaplain to give him the Armor of Faith and the Black Sword. Following the spirit of their first High Marshal Sigismund, Tiberius will set forth in his holy crusade and slain any heretic or lesser daemon that stands before him and his duties.

Brother Trajan

Brother Trajan has honed his skills as a Templar many times over, fighting bravely alongside their brethren the Crimson Fists on Declates to stop the Ork invasion. Wielding a lightweight storm shield against his shackled bolter, he tears through his enemies with power sword, shield and bolter; never relenting, his skill in combat is too fluid to try and counter. Like Brother Hadrian, it is duty to ensure the safety of their Champion, all the while knowing his Marshal is carefully watching him during this crucial time.

Brother Hadrian

Brother Hadrian is an expert in a craft usually not seen amongst the Chapters Astartes; but with the close quarters fighting of the Black Templars, his skills are a thing of beauty. Currently, he is the only individual to have mastered the technique of dual wielding chainswords, doubling his lethality the moment he steps into horde of enemies. His skill is so great; he had even removed the safety casing along the rear of one of his chainswords, doubling its own lethality. His current task, with that of Brother Trajan, is to ensure the safety of their Champion during their crusade amongst the traitorous denizens of Geonide. The Marshal’s eyes are upon him, weighing his skill & fortitude.

I love the bits of fluff for each marine, it really adds to their character. Can I give you a little critique on the white? It appears a bit thick, flat and contaminated by other colors, to keep the white clean I would suggest using a clean cup of water just for the white paint. As far as improving the painting technique, as with all paints start with a base then work up to the brightest color. I would suggest using astromnomicon grey 50/50 water paint, then skull white/astronomicon w/ 50% water then pure skull white with 50% water. This ensures a smooth clean white that is a bit deeper.The most important tip I can give you is to maintain a ratio of 50% paint to 50% water so you don't get globs of thick paint that could obscure details, trust me in my early days I hated thinning my paints but now I realize that doing so is incredibly important. Other than that I like Brother Hadrian he reminds me of my first templar (now I only do Imperial fists (supplement/display squads) and Crimson Guardians (DIY/ main army). Keep up the good work

If you wouldn't mind...walk me through the concept of thinning my paints with water. The only time I've added water to any of my paint is to ensure they don't dry out. Do you have another container standing by or do you dab the paint and then dip it into water before painting?

Yeah, I've got to clean up my white...these are actually my first Marines...so when I initially did them, I based ALL of the sprue with Black primer....that was definitely a mistake. I've since taken up using the white primer and I've been satisfied with the results. But it seems I'll need to make a trip to my comic store and grab myself some Astronomican grey for altering my Templars.

Thanks for the tip, and the info on thinning the paint is greatly appreciated.

Alright
So what you do is get something like a pallet, I use an old CD, take on brushful of your paint and dab it on there, then clean the brush, pick up some water with the same brush and mix it into the paint, the ideal consistency is like whole milk.

As far as for priming white, maybe not the best idea since your primary color is.. well it's black, use black primer and try to layer your colors up gradually.

Alright, as I work on the white tabards of my "Venerable" Black Templar warriors (Damn you white!), I present to you two more Grey Knight Terminators. They will serve as a personal retinue to Zeruel on the recommendation of Shas'O J'Kaara Nan. Though I suppose if I make the force larger, I may up the number of Grey Knights for their experience on the battlefield when dealing with any daemons.

And of course thank you Terminatorinhell for the brief PMing back and forth on thinning the paints; though the outcome is far from perfect, its a start on getting some depth on the tabards.

Here I present Brother Uriel:


And Brother Michael:


Brothers Uriel & Michael accompany Brother-Captain Zeruel on the Inquistions quest to reclaim any artifacts of value on the lost world of Geonide. Using the thrice blessed oils container within his incinerator, Brother Uriel will purge the stain of chaos from any tainted being that dare oppose the Inquistion. Knowing full well the effects of their prayers and psychic energy, Zeruel has also recruited Brother Michael and his psycannon to ensure whatever foothold daemonic spawn have on this world is quickly brought to an end. Together, these two will aide their Brother-Captain is anyway, performing rites of exorcism or even calling forth the Holocaust. There is no doubt the unswerving faith of these two Grey Knights will compliment this small band of the faithful in their crusade.

**Also, I've updated the picture of Zeruel with an ink wash, and the images of Tiberius & Hadrian with the latest look on their tabard. Not pristine white with the 50/50 look of Astronomican Grey & Skull White, but the macro just makes it look SOO bad. At normal gaze, I'm pleased with the current results, but will probably continue to tweak scheme.**

I response to your earlier query in watering down paints, and adding to what was said about paints being the consistency of milk, I find that using a wet pallet can be incredibly helpful in not only maintaining this consistency, but also prolonging the working life of any paints you would use on such a pallet.

I am loving the Grey Knights. They are my first love in the 40k Universe.

Yeah...its definitely a bit of a pain in the ass getting that color to blend well.

And aside from the Black Templars being my first foray into the Imperium, the look of the GK has kept me within the Imperium. Their look is just to perfect for their name, and something I wish I could replicate with my Black Templars in Terminator form. Which is funny, because at first I was turned off by the Terminator helmet and all about going through the conversion process of cutting it down to mimic the GKs, but it's since grown on me.

And I'll have to suffice in giving my BTs Mark II, Mark IV and Mark V helmets...at least the veterans...the Neophytes still get the newest issue for the moment.

I also wanna know why the BTs haven't coped the integrated Storm Bolter. Sure it's done on Marneus' Fists of Ultramar and Pedro Kantor has it... but having the firearm and the use of your other hand is right up their alley. But I guess you'd need to get rid of the chains....

G'day Ar'ka,

The Black Templars are the Emperor's favourite Chapter and he is well pleased that you have joined his Eternal Crusaders.

In my signature is a few pictures of my BT Terms. Perhaps the look will help you? I don't know
Either way, keep up the good work

Very impressive work! I'm glad to see that I'm in similar company when it comes to modeling the BTs with a more knightly and archaic look. I like the look of the Chaos helmets, but would defer to the Steam Knight helms from maximini. But I think my wallet will keep me deferred to the FW Mark Vs and BT bitz kit.

I also loved how you converted the Space Hulk Terminators into REAL Terminators. I love the conversion work and wish I had some to work with; their level of detail is amazing, especially when it doesn't look like your weighing your own mini down with all the extras you need to glue on. But I digress...

I've done up 4 BT Terminators as of this moment using a mixture of the 2 GW kits & FW Storm shields. I'm pleased with their outcome so far and am deciding whether or not to load up a few with multiple purity seals or other items. Especially since I plan on 2 of them being the elevated Brothers Hadrian and Trajan for their efforts during this crusade.

Keep up the good work and get some painted pictures up on B&CS

Alright then...it's update time for the Geonide Crusade!!

Here we've got Brother Septimus w/Flamer

Brother Septimus is renowned amongst his brothers for his zeal in purging the Emperor's enemies of their stained existence. So fanatic is his belief in the power of fire, that during the Purging of Centrati's Eye, he was awarded the Dagger Protectiva, not only honoring him for his ferocious fighting, but also granting him a minor refractor field; protecting him from the backlash of his cleansing flame during this harshest of Crusades.

Brother Gaius w/Meltagun

**The jetpack was a leftover from attemping a Tael XV-8. However, I now see the actual kit and feel I must make a few more and create a small assault squad for this Crusade. Gaius was a first, and now certainly not a last.


The Neophytes - I've given them the standard looking Mark VII helmets and armor. While superior in some ways to those of the Mark II and Mark V, their is an mark of pride in donning traditional crusader armor when one is granted total acceptance in the order.
Neophyte Justinian


Neophyte Otho


Neophyte Licinius

Neophytes Justinian, Otho & Licinius have only just begun their great Crusade in the name of the Emperor, and typical of the Black Templars, they are deployed amongst Battle Brothers to fight the way a true Black Templar fights. They are not held in reserve, but pushed forward to fight amongst their full fledged brethren. The success of their mission on Geonide, and their survival, will guarantee them a place amongst the Initiates, making them full fledged chapter members.


That's the current production of models as I continue to play around with my tabard BTs. There's at least two more on the horizon; Brothers Marius & Constans, while I clean up Brother Trajan.

Still not sure about the inclusion of Sword Brethren Terminators, but I will need to get my hands on the Assault Squad, the Vet. Sgt. w/shield looks pretty awesome.

Yes, these new dudes look great, though I would suggest investing in a micron pen to write the parchment scripts, I have one and it's my favorite tool! I even use it to blackline my Tau suits!

That's probably sound advice as marking the purity seals can be a bit challenging. I'll definitely keep it in mind, but then I wouldn't get enough practice between "writing" the black and white prayers; so for the time being, I'll keep working the amount of paint on my brush so I can ensure the white doesn't get sloppy.

EDIT: On second thought, I may look into it at the very least for detail work and if I'm feeling lazy

Where are micron pens available from ~ arts and crafts stores?

I wonder if they have white ones....

Micron pens can be found at any arts and crafts store...i.e. Michael's or A.C. Moore.

There are various sizes, and I would imagine Terminatorinhell is referring to perhaps a .01mm or a .005mm micron pen for the TINIEST of details.

Its definitely something to consider...of which I am for lining between my whites!