There are three things Warhammer 40k Black Templars love above all: excessive heraldry, ultra-strict religious dogma, and extreme righteous violence. So it figures that, in the runup to the army's new rulebook release, GW revealed first a sick new banner bearer, and now a remarkably rage filled Black Templars-only Chaplain model: the Execrator!
Unveiled on Monday via GW's Warhammer Community site, the Execrator is a fitting demonstration of the fact that, of all the Space Marine chapters, the Black Templars are where Chaplains truly shine.
Not only do they fit right in with their traditional black armor, but the Chaplain's battlefield role - charging into the thick of the fighting while yelling out psalms and prayers about how the Emperor of Mankind is brilliant and the enemy is evil personified - matches the Templars' style to a T.
This new Execrator model is undoubtedly a truly Templar-ish sculpt - kitted out for melee, running into the fray, and emblazoned with lots of medieval drip. But, in the grand scheme of new mini releases for all the Warhammer 40k factions these days, he's nothing to write home about. Let's not even talk about how the name 'Execrator' is dangerously close to 'Excreter'; especially if he's in vox range to hear us.
As an avowed (if cognitively dissonant) Black Templars collector myself, I'm absolutely getting one - but despite my complete ambivalence towards the sons of Leman Russ, I'll be the first to admit the new Space Wolves blow this skullboy out of the water.
His rules, however, are very exciting, and we learn two of them in GW's Monday reveal. First, he can (and let's be honest, will) be equipped with a power sword along with the Chaplain's compulsory Crozius Arcanum mace - and GW confirms this will give him eight attacks at two damage each turn. That's a spicy meatball of a combat character already, and dual wielding melee weapons is a delicious rarity in itself!
Second, the Execrator's Remorseless Persecution rule lets him and the unit he leads Advance and Charge in the same turn. This is huge for the Templars, who really want to get into a fist fight as soon as possible, and need all the help they can get to reach charging range before being shot off the board.
GW's example has the Execrator leading your elite Sword Brethren melee fighters, which would certainly be dangerous, but I'm wondering if he can also lead Primaris Crusader Squads - because that would really help a blob of 20 angry zealots bring their swords and axes to bear, without the current need to split into smaller squads and get in transports to stay alive.
To find out, we'll have to wait for the upcoming Black Templars codex - with its customary coyness, GW says the Execrator and his pal the Crusade Ancient will be released alongside the new rulebook "later this year". To make sure you're alerted when we have a confirmed time, bookmark our full guide to Warhammer 40k codex release dates.
And in the meantime, why not join the Wargamer Discord community to hype with us about all the new hotness coming for Rogal Dorn's weirdest, most self flagellating gene-sons? Just go easy on the Litanies of Hate, please, we're a friendly server.