Black Templar are really cool and fun to play. They are devestating in cc due to being able to have army wide prefered enemy. They are also able to still do min-max weapons with with our squads, but we have to pay more for rhinos. There are some good tactical articles on them in the tactics section that would help you a lot on learning their play style.

 

So I've been looking to begin a new army besides my current Nids, and I think I've settled on taking a journey to the past and beginning DA or BT since their new FAQ has brought them into line with 5th Ed.

I wouldn't say the FAQ brought them "into line with 5th ed." They're improved, but it does not replace a new codex release.

Both armies have their cool points, if you're a big fan of CC you go with BT. They aren't as powerful as BA but they're boosted a bit. Plus they actually act like knights, and it lets you get some herohammer style of play in.

If you want to play a Ravenwing army, I would play a normal SM codex. The only difference is you're captain won't have a jet bike, plus it's a better codex (i.e. more balanced)

Deathwing, who doesn't love a bunch of termies marching across the feild to kill everything. :biggrin: Some people are working up new lists with them now to play test them. I think they're just too expensive, meaning less models and less points to play around with.

 

Well having played against a couple of termiewing armies I wouldn't recommend them. I can understand the appeal of a small army, especially if you've been using Tyranids, but Deathwing are too small to make it work.

A couple of guys at my local GW use termiewing armies, one's Deathwing, the other a Loganwing force and having played both I've found they're far too vulnerable to being swamped in close combat to be really effective.

Templars on the other hand are a characterful hard-hitting army who can basically be the Marine equivalent of a horde so I'd go with them over Dark Angels.

 

Fair advice everyone. Although these two armies had somewhat interested me due to their little update, I looked through the two codices last night and saw that they are quite limited as to the builds they can bring. One of the things I'm looking for in my codex is variety, but I don't just want to play a parking lot full of razorbacks: competitive but sooooo boring! I'm thinking of perhaps playing a jumpers BA army. My first hesitation with them was that someone else in our gaming group is playing them but he seems to be going a land raider heavy build so I'm sure I'm in the clear. Thanks again guys.

 

Razorbacks are probably the last thing you want to use in a BT army. They're way too expensive and we only have access to heavy bolters or lazcannons.

Black Templars can be a diversified army. You don't have to go straight up CC with them. They are marines afterall so that can shoot. We have access to interesting little things like 70pt. Typhoon Land Speeders, Machine Spirit on our vehicles (if you pay for it), Terminators that can have Furious Charge or Tank Hunter. Also we don't need min/max squads to get access to special weapons so that's also fun. Our HQ's are highly customizable, even Chaplains can be outfitted with more than just their crozius. Plus with the Marshal you give the entire army a Ld10 which is pretty awesome. BT's are fearless in CC which can suck but stops them from running.

Terminator Command Squads extend their furious charge or TH on to the HQ's leading them. Imagine having a bunch of them with a Marshal and Chaplain, both with Lightning Claws, running out of an LRC. With Preferred Enemy, rerolling hits and wounds is pretty nasty.

There's a lot of other stuff going on with these guys that makes them interesting and fun to play. If I ever get bored with them or debate calling them BA I just alter my list and a bit to make it feel new. Even with the FAQ they're still lacking a bit but it's gotten much easier to win or at least keep up with the other armies.

 

Templars still have strengh, even that they are pretty expensive

DA armies still are too expensive in points to field a good force, and dont count with the right characters to level with the 5th edition.

 

DW (using DA codex) is a good army but you have to be verrrrry clever with your distances.

Keeping the opposing army 13" to 23" away is the key with them. But you can still mash it out in CC if you wish, giving everyone either a pair of LCs or TH/SS'. And seeing as DW termis are cheaper than any other termi (except chaos), you can still get 25-30 terminators in a 2k army list.

 

And with the DA if you really want, you could play them as Vanilla (but applying the whole rule) if you have a big force and dont want to focus on Ravenwing or Deathwing