Black Templars vs Thousand Sons – Warhammer 40k 8th Edition BatRep

Today I picked up Josh’s Thousand Sons and brought them to war against his Black Templars. The snow-covered fields were certainly run red as the bitter struggle of the Long War continues. Let’s take a look at the army lists:

The Armies

The Last Crusade

Space Marines – 2,000

Battalion Detachment

Black Templars

HQ

Captain: WARLORD (Rites of War); Teeth of Terra

The Emperor’s Champion

TROOPS

10 Crusaders: 8 Boltguns, Multi-Melta, Meltagun, Power Sword

9 Crusaders: 2 Power Swords, Meltagun

9 Crusaders: 2 Power Swords, Meltagun

ELITES

8 Reivers

3 Aggressors: Flamestorm Gauntlets

FAST ATTACK

3 Inceptors: Assault Bolters

10 Assault Marines: 3 Plasma Pistols, Power Sword

HEAVY SUPPORT

10 Devastators: 4 Missile Launchers, Armorium Cherub

Vindicator

DEDICATED TRANSPORT

Repulsor: The Works

Rhino: Storm Bolter

Divina Colubrum

Thousand Sons – 2,000

Battalion Detachment

HQ

Exalted Sorcerer: WARLORD (High Magister); Helm of the Third Eye

Exalted Sorcerer

TROOPS

10 Rubrics

10 Rubrics

10 Rubrics

10 Rubrics

11 Cultists: Autoguns

10 Cultists: Autoguns

ELITES

6 Scarab Occult Terminators: Helfyre Missile Rack

FAST ATTACK

3 Spawn

3 Spawn

HEAVY SUPPORT

Chaos Predator: Twin Lascannons, Lascannon Sponsons

Chaos Predator: Twin Lascannons, Lascannon Sponsons

After Action Review

Ouch. I’ve watched the Thousand Sons fire, and I’ve felt serious panic at the amount of damage that would be coming my way. That did little to prepare me for what they were capable of doing to basic Space Marine bodies.

The early game damage was just so overwhelming. Where the Templars were built more to reach close combat, it never really felt like they were making headway in grabbing up objectives. The additional range on their psychic powers was also nice, especially when it came to Warptime and Smite. These powers did a lot to increase the ragged holes I was tearing in the Black Templars infantry, and their charge never had time to build any impetus at all.

The Predators also proved worth their weight, quickly dispatching with the enemy armor and giving me a dominance in the field that was difficult to match. With the infantry already losing ground, it was little time before the sons of Dorn were being routed.

We’re already working on some updates to the Templars to protect them from this insane anti-infantry fire. Stay tuned, as the Long War is far from finished!