So back in 2004 I had a dream one night about starting my own Space Marine Chapter. I wanted to base them on King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table of the Knights Templar order from the crusades. I’d been out of the hobby since 1996/7 at this point and had no idea what so ever that 3rd Ed. 40K had been and gone bringing the Black Templars with it; so of course I went with the Knights Templar.
I lived in Nottingham at the time but it was an age before I discovered that Warhammer World was nearby, so a trip to the in town store and I enthusiastically began with my ‘Battle for Macragge’ a starter set of paints and the Space Marine codex. This was the time of Traits for Marines and the Knights Templar quickly became an Imperial Fist successor chapter devoted to protecting Imperial citizens on pilgrimages to Terra.
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You see the black helmets for the assault marines and the yellow for the devastators. This is because the background included a story of Imperial Fists defending pilgrims against overwhelming Chaos forces and being rescued by Black Templers. Leading to the forming of the chapter formed from the survivors of the encounter.
| I used a lot of parts from a Bretonian knights kit to try and capture the classic Knights Templar feel. |  Librarian |  Company Champion | |
| I also used a half green half black colour for my Chaplin after reading somewhere that the colour was used that way in the real life order. |  Terminator Sargent |  Chaplin (‘Jean-Luc’) |
The paint scheme was (very) simple, I undercoated in white and then base coated half-heartedly with more white. A liberal wash with a heavily watered down Codex Grey and a dry brush of white over and I was done. The result was average at best, but with some bold colours besides it and a high tempo meaning I actually got things completed I still feel that as an army they look alright.
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My favourite two units are my Veterans, a metal Black Templers unit that had all of their Bolt Pistols replaced with Bolt Guns to represent the ‘True Grit’ trait I used.
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And my Venerable Dreadnought, the Chaplin that led the Black Templers when they rescued the Imperial Fists and whose religious zeal has led the chapter in to actual worship of the Emperor as a god. A Penitent Engine with a sarcophagus built from parts of a Land Raider Crusader and the tanks guns modified to finish the piece. The traitor guard’s greenstuff’d spinal cord is a treat.
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The Knights Templar battled a great deal against CSM and Ultramarines during 4th Edition in Warhammer World, and a variety of different one off opponents in Nottingham’s GW store. My battles against other loyalist Marines were based on the premise that a corrupt radical Ordo Malleus Inquisitor had tricked the Knights Templar chapter master and led one of the chapters Brotherhoods unknowingly to Chaos. Somewhere in a box is a Daemon Prince waiting to be ‘Knighted’.
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In total they come to a bit over 2,000 points and apart from needing to finish the bases (I painted them Goblin Green and called it done to start with, after my 90’s roots), I think I’m pretty much done with the army. Certainly should I want to do more Marines now they would be another chapter, but never say never I guess.
My battles against friends in Warhammer World were known for some pretty appalling bad luck with dice rolls on my part, and that leads to the final images of this retrospective.
 | This figure was given to me when I moved away from Nottingham to Norway in 2007. ”Lady Luck Kiss My Ass!” by Simon Rippin |  |
Well I’d love to hear some comments on this post, was it at all interesting? was the layout format OK? Is there something I could have done to improve it?
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