Templar's 5th fighting company & champion

[A.T.]

Appointed Marshal of the 5th fighting company in M39, following the Vinculus crusade, Marius Reinhart implemented a number of changes to his ward, directing that one half of the Marshal's household guard - the sword brethren - be assigned to guide their brothers along the line of duty to the chapter and to the imperium.

Entombed in the body of a dreadnought, the day to day enforcement of the Marshal's orders fall to the company's champion and Castellans.


Masovian Grale - Champion of the 5th fighting company.
Pts WS BS S T W I A Ld Sv
175_ 6 _4 4 4 2 5 2 10 2+
Equipment - The Black Sword, Armour of Faith, Crusader Seals, Holy Orb of Antioch, frag grenades, terminator honours (bonuses included in statline).
The Vow 'Accept any Challenge, no matter the odds' is included in his cost and cannot be changed.
Grale has the USRs Furious charge and Counter-attack and follows all of the normal rules for an Emperor's Champion except as listed below.

Unmatched zeal (as chaplain) - Grale and any squad he joins are fearless.
Blow for blow - When fighting an independent character or monstrous creature you may use either Grale's attack statistic or that of his target. Bonuses due to charging, multiple weapons, etc are not included.
My craft is death - Masovian wields the Black Blade in two hands; it is rending but cannot be combined with a second close combat weapon.
To the darkness I bring fire - Should he fall in combat Grale may release the holy orb (if he still carries it). The orb's effects centered on Grale's body and are resolved after all other attacks, counting towards combat resolution.
Champion of the 5th company - A Black Templar force led by Grale follow the special rules for the templar's 5th company (see below)


Marius Reinhart - Marshal of the 5th fighting company.
TBD, dreadnought.
Marshal of the 5th company - A Black Templar force led by Reinhart follow the special rules for the templar's 5th company (see below)


5th company special rules:
"Honour and Obey" - A single initiate in each crusader, assault, and bike squad may be upgraded to a sword brethren for +13 points. The sword brethren comes equipped with terminator honours and must choose one of the following skills: Furious Charge; Counter Attack; Tank Hunters.
The sword brethren may take any equipment allowed by the sword brethren codex entry; they may not choose equipment from the armoury.

"No mercy, no respite" - Any squad led by a sword brethren or Black Templar character (including all sword brethren squads) may move into base to base contact with enemy units while executing their Righteous Zeal action; they count as having charged in the subsequent Assault phase.
This has no effect on assault consolidation moves.

"Faithful unto death" - Command squads function as a retinue in all ways, characters leading them are not considered independent characters for the purposes of close combat and may not leave their command squad until it is destroyed.




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Dev notes
All 5th company perks are paid for by the model (in the case of the sword brethrens) and the cost of the compulsory HQ(s) - the exact cost of which is open to change.

'No mercy, no respite' and 'faithful unto death' are intended to resolve unintended changes to the zeal and retinue rules in the change from 4th to 5th edition.

'Honour and Obey' is currently listed at flat cost, though the secondary benefit of testing for target priority at Ld8 rather than Ld7 can't be ignored.


Thoughts welcome - this is very much a work in progress.

[jy2]

So what is this mysterious equipment known as the Holy Orb of Antioch?

[realitycheque]

It's a item in the BT codex isn't it?

[Broadsword]

It's a item in the BT codex isn't it?

Yes, It's a piece of wargear that can be tossed by the bearer during the shooting phase instead of firing a weapon upto 12" away. You roll to hit as normal and if you hit, you can place a small blast template on a model in the targetted unit. I can't remember the strength specifics of the weapon at the moment though.

and yes, BT are the only army to actually have a hand grenade that can be tossed at your enemy.

[A.T.]

So what is this mysterious equipment known as the Holy Orb of Antioch?

Just a normal piece of wargear - a one use AP3 blast weapon available to anyone with armoury access.

It's actually something carried over from fluff - Reinhart wound up in a dreadnought after he blew himself up with grenades ('And they shall know no fear' - Darren Cox) at the start of the Vinculus crusade, and the last action of the crusade was High Marshal Ludoldus blowing up a bloodthirster with one of the orbs.

The actual in-game value of the special rule is questionable against the plethora of 2+ armour ICs, but I can't resist a good Montey Python reference.

You roll to hit as normal and if you hit, you can place a small blast template on a model in the targetted unit.

It was gimped in the FAQ - it's just a normal blast weapon now.