Plague_00 said:
"PS - Don't hate on the Templars. Their ability to get a few extra inches of movement towards you when they take casualties is more than offset by their lack of dev squads and whirlwinds."
pshh yeh of course you know cus a mainly assault army wants to stick back and fire
Mainly, not solely.
Now, I realize it is pointless to take the bait on this, but I've got some time to kill. Black Templars are not monsters in close combat. They're not much better than a Take the Fight to Them army, really. Pit them against World Eaters or Tyranids, and I don't think it'll go very well if all you focus on is assault.
Black Templars need some shooting power. Devastator squads are great for that. Five or six man heavy weapon teams are nice as well. Black Templars can't take Devastator squads, and Righteous Zeal can screw up a heavy weapons team if you're trying to keep it in position. As such, we have to rely largely on tanks (as well as Dreadnoughts and bikes) for fire support. Space Marine tanks are, sadly, not the best of units.
Even if you believe our tanks are the best thing since sliced bread, Righteous Zeal (and the BT special rules) restrict options. This is a fact. It is never better to have fewer options than more, assuming that you are able to choose freely from all options. On top of this penalty, we pay an additional point for our Marines. On top of these two penalties, we are fearless in close combat. This is, with the No Retreat! and And They Shall Know No Fear rules, is quite possibly worse than not being fearless.
The best thing I've ever really seen about Righteous Zeal is that, if your opponent wants to charge you, they need to decide if they want to get off the charge or get in a round of shooting. If they're reasonably close and shoot, the Templars will quite possibly Zeal into the opposing unit and deny them a charge.