Black Templars Epic 40k (3rd Edition) Force

 I've been building up my Epic Black Templar force, The Anatolikan Crusade, for the last two months, and have now got them to the point where I feel like they're 'Crusade' strength.

The Anatolikan Crusade

The force now numbers a mighty 60 Black Templar Initiates, 4 Rhinos, 2 Land Raiders, 3 Predators and 2 Vindicators- a huge force for 40k, but in Epic terms, a starter army.

I had initially intended to use the rules for Epic Armageddon, the 'Current' edition- which although very much unsupported by Games Workshop, very much is still supported by the Community. The earlier 'Space Marine' and 'Adeptus Titanicus' games in the First and Second edition seemed a little more 'clunky' from what I read, and I was after something a little more abstract.

In my reading, however, I came across the 3rd Edition of Epic, known as Epic 40k. Released back in 1997 (way before I joined the Hobby in 2010), from what I've read online, it was not very popular, and criticised for taking some of the 'flavour' out of the armies. From my reading though, Epic 40k seems very appealing. The rules are straight forward, and seem to scale well- ideal therefore for various sizes of games. I also liked the army selection- building mixed detachments in their own self contained formations, feeling like each is a 'smaller' 40k army that is now part of the wider force.* With this in mind then, I decided to create a 600 point list- quite small for Epic 40k, but this would give me a starting point to aim for- and could be played on a smaller table size. I also decided to make the possible detachment sizes only 50% of the regular sizes for such a low points level- to avoid creating detachments with too much power.

Detachment 1



Packing some heavy firepower, the first Detachment has the Land Raider Excelsior with the bones of Marshal Osseus in a Sarcophagus to represent the Detachment HQ. Though the Land Raiders aren't transporting any Marines, they pack some good firepower with Anti-Tank shots- and will provide room in the future to hold some Devastators or Terminators when the force expands.

Detachment 2


Led by Castellan Tancred, this is the largest Detachment in the force, representing the bulk of the fighting force. The Space Marines represent very solid troops, and pack quite a punch in an Assault in the Game for 'regular' Tactical Marines. With this in mind, the Rhino's are intended to help speed this Detachment forward to get into the face of the opposing force, and to deliver the Marines to strategic locations. To support the Detachment, 2 Vindicators are attached. Whilst they slow the Detachment down a small amount (5cm slower than the Rhinos), their Fire Power, combined with the special rules 'Close Support' lends the Vindicators to providing very effective support to the units of Marines.

The Rhino Primaris is being represented by a Razorback for the Captain.

Detachment 3


Led by the Sword Brother Amalric, the 3rd Detachment is intended as a Strike Force which can rapidly deploy to anywhere on the battlefield- and so has been kept fairly simple. The Marines carry with them the Crusade Banner, carried into battle by the Sword Brethren, representing the Detachment HQ.

A very small free-handed sword and scroll painted onto the Crusade Banner.

Detachment 4


The final Detachment consists of a Thunderhawk- which pack a huge amount of Fire Power and Transport into a single package. The Thunderhawk can be responsible for deploying the 3rd Detachment, or could be used to supply supporting fire or Anti-air support, and the Marines can be deployed by Drop-Pod. This will be the final piece to the 600 point force, and one which I'm hoping to get soon- and will make a great centrepiece to the force.

The Plastic Thunderhawk will be flying its way over soon!

That's the full force- and after the Thunderhawk, I will be halting the Crusade for now to focus on their opponents- the Orks- which I'm going to be going for a slightly more infantry-focussed force to contrast the armoured feel to the Black Templars!

Thanks for reading!






*The beauty of OOP games is that, I can of course use the same miniatures for any edition if I want to try them out later!




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