The most common refrain from the GW apologists for the massive changes apparently coming to the Black Templar is the title along with "... because all Marines lost that since 4th Edition." Let me blunt, they are stupid, morons, idiots & arseholes with the addition of various Anglo-Saxon derogatory four letter words added for additional emphasis..
True, 40k Radio may be not have the final print copy they claim and GW might have removed its collective head from its rear, but these are the issues being justified by that false to fact excuse.
True, 40k Radio may be not have the final print copy they claim and GW might have removed its collective head from its rear, but these are the issues being justified by that false to fact excuse.
I'll make a list: Blood Claws, Grey Hunters, Long Fangs, Wolf Guard, non-psyker psykers ("Rune"), "Sanguine" or "Blood" stuff, Ba'al, Deathwing, Ravenwing, etc. We aren't talking about minor little changes or alteration units like Pedro makes Sternguard scoring or a Captain on a bike making Bikers troops, we are talking about major divergences from Codex Marines ("Smurfs"). Nobody using that excuse are calling for those changes because "... all Marines lost (don't have) that."
Being forced into compliance kills the entire concept of Black Templar other than bits of fluff that don't translate onto the table. Lots of things could have kept the different "flavor" of BT, but it appears none of them have been taken. Of course, IMO, the BT players who are only into the "Black Tide" concept are incorrect and not true to the full fluff. Most Black Templars use bolters, even in fluff. They do have a tendency to prefer cold steel, which in game terms would be solved by giving them all bolter, bolt pistol and CCW for wargear. Other things that aren't addressed directly are that BT have their own independent support ships, including forge ships to make gear and Techmarines who seem to have a less Mars oriented view of the Emperor as Omnissiah, which means that they subordinate victory for the Emperor over more "pure" Mechanicum quirks about technology and its distribution.
How could this translate? Well, the wargear change above, a 1/3 ratio for Initiates to gain a PW/Shield (4++) for, say, 10 points each. That would give a potential for 4 (with Sword Brother as Vet Sgt) power weapons (or PF for SB at + cost) and both options would be covered. LRCs could be cheaper (IMO, they should be anyway, I've seen way too many end up Stunned, Immob, Exploded out of 24" range in both 5th & 6th, both playing them and against them), but a lot cheaper for a full Crusader Squad to buy, at 125-175 points. Assault orientation could be covered by having all BT squads consider any vehicle to be an assault vehicle, perhaps even gaining the Heroic Intervention rule for Drop Pods. Lots and lots of ways to do that without going with the logic that "well, at least you get to use all the units like the rest of the Smurfs.".
Yes, I know I'm being more anal than many players, but having just spent time watching multiple new codices with AP3 ignore cover weapons shred everything in sight not inside a vehicle, there has to be something there, even for the Smurfs to override that..
So, while I'll argue with anyone who denies that BT have been taking the FAQ bat up the rear for the entire life of 6th Edition, I'll concede that the new codex may make things "better" for BT. I cannot argue that my Marines in black & white are getting nerfed by the new codex, but by everything I can see, they are getting smurfed. If I wanted Smurfs, I could have played Codex Marines. I chose not to when I went looking for a Marine group. So why would I want to choose variant Smurf now?
EDIT: Note that I've been a gamer for 40 years now and I've even had a hand in doing game design. What rocks about 40k has been the fluff and the translation of it onto the tabletop. As a game system, it really is subpar and 6th edition made more negative than positive changes to it. GW itself admits the degradation of the game by insisting on the "cinematic" and "telling a story". "Cinematic" means ignore the fluff and play the rules that are getting more and more loosely based on the "story" that the fluff has been telling. Cut the rules off from the fluff and all that remains...a shoddy game system.
Being forced into compliance kills the entire concept of Black Templar other than bits of fluff that don't translate onto the table. Lots of things could have kept the different "flavor" of BT, but it appears none of them have been taken. Of course, IMO, the BT players who are only into the "Black Tide" concept are incorrect and not true to the full fluff. Most Black Templars use bolters, even in fluff. They do have a tendency to prefer cold steel, which in game terms would be solved by giving them all bolter, bolt pistol and CCW for wargear. Other things that aren't addressed directly are that BT have their own independent support ships, including forge ships to make gear and Techmarines who seem to have a less Mars oriented view of the Emperor as Omnissiah, which means that they subordinate victory for the Emperor over more "pure" Mechanicum quirks about technology and its distribution.
How could this translate? Well, the wargear change above, a 1/3 ratio for Initiates to gain a PW/Shield (4++) for, say, 10 points each. That would give a potential for 4 (with Sword Brother as Vet Sgt) power weapons (or PF for SB at + cost) and both options would be covered. LRCs could be cheaper (IMO, they should be anyway, I've seen way too many end up Stunned, Immob, Exploded out of 24" range in both 5th & 6th, both playing them and against them), but a lot cheaper for a full Crusader Squad to buy, at 125-175 points. Assault orientation could be covered by having all BT squads consider any vehicle to be an assault vehicle, perhaps even gaining the Heroic Intervention rule for Drop Pods. Lots and lots of ways to do that without going with the logic that "well, at least you get to use all the units like the rest of the Smurfs.".
Yes, I know I'm being more anal than many players, but having just spent time watching multiple new codices with AP3 ignore cover weapons shred everything in sight not inside a vehicle, there has to be something there, even for the Smurfs to override that..
So, while I'll argue with anyone who denies that BT have been taking the FAQ bat up the rear for the entire life of 6th Edition, I'll concede that the new codex may make things "better" for BT. I cannot argue that my Marines in black & white are getting nerfed by the new codex, but by everything I can see, they are getting smurfed. If I wanted Smurfs, I could have played Codex Marines. I chose not to when I went looking for a Marine group. So why would I want to choose variant Smurf now?
EDIT: Note that I've been a gamer for 40 years now and I've even had a hand in doing game design. What rocks about 40k has been the fluff and the translation of it onto the tabletop. As a game system, it really is subpar and 6th edition made more negative than positive changes to it. GW itself admits the degradation of the game by insisting on the "cinematic" and "telling a story". "Cinematic" means ignore the fluff and play the rules that are getting more and more loosely based on the "story" that the fluff has been telling. Cut the rules off from the fluff and all that remains...a shoddy game system.
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