Marshal
SWORD: what Marshal kills
Damage for its points
per 100 pts spent
Its 80 pts kill ~57 pts in one activation.Typical melee unit: 55 per 100
Best against light vehicles and monsters, weakest against hordes
Into each enemy type
Units near it by SWORD
In Black Templars
Across the game· melee units
SHIELD: how hard Marshal is to kill for its points
Toughness for its points
per 100 pts spent
Its 80 pts take ~214 pts of enemy units to kill.Typical melee unit: 307 per 100
Units near it by SHIELD
Across the game· melee units
What reviewers say
7 reviewers- Decent with Crusaders or Assault Intercessors 2 of 7
- Still a big beat stick 1 of 7
- Hit bonus useless to units that hit well 6 of 7
- The old combo is gone 3 of 7
- Few good units for him to lead 1 of 7
- Not taken in the winning list 1 of 7
Compare
| Unit | Letter | SWORD | SHIELD | Lists |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marshal80 pts | C | Top 24% | Bottom 30% | 16of 50 |
| Castellan75 pts | A | Top 19% | Bottom 5% | 25of 50 |
| Execrator65 pts | C | Top 33% | Bottom 22% | 10of 50 |
Leading a squad
| Solo | Leading | |
|---|---|---|
| SWORD | 71 | 64 |
| SHIELD | 268 | 265 |
| Solo | Leading | |
|---|---|---|
| SWORD | 71 | 66 |
| SHIELD | 268 | 256 |
Per 100 pts: on its own, then for it and the squad together.
How we got these numbers
What we ran
Marshal, 80 pts, with 1 Master-crafted Power Weapon, 1 Combi-weapon - Damnatus, 1 Combi-weapon - Infernus, 1 Combi-weapon - Purgatus, in Vow-Sworn Crusaders (Templar Vows: Accept Any Challenge, No Matter the Odds). On its own: no leader, no stratagems, no other units' auras. Counted as dice: its own abilities and the detachment's rule.
SWORD
Enemy points it kills in one activation, per 100 pts of its own, against a mix of targets weighted like top tournament lists.
80 pts → kills ~57 pts → 71 per 100SHIELD
Enemy points it takes to kill it, per 100 pts of its own: the points of the cheapest units from top lists that kill it 80% of the time. It's per point, so a costly unit has to be much tougher to score the same.
~214 pts → 268 per 100Top and bottom %
Where each number ranks among the game's 566 melee units. How we score.
The letter
The average of 8 reviewers' newest Black Templars tier lists: Implausible Nature (Black Templar channel: three detachment deep dives and the rules preview) (13 Oct), Auspex Tactics (every BT datasheet with the dataslate's points; codex unit tier list for the generic units) (16 Oct), TacticalRock40K (character board and vehicle board, after the codex) (21 Oct), Art of War 40k (BT supplement review before points; generic units from its 20 Oct datasheet ranking) (20 Oct), Vanguard Tactics (BT index review from the preview copy, before points) (24 Sep), Griffin's Crusade (casual BT channel: post-codex options and three theory lists) (24 Oct), Goonhammer / Tabletop Battles (Competitive Innovations: four post-codex BT lists, one in full) (23 Oct), TacticalTortoise 40k (The Best Armies in 40k: one undefeated BT list) (12 Oct). A reviewer who would rather not be counted: tell us.
Lists
50 public Black Templars tournament lists, September – November 2026, from grimstat-corpus (CC BY 4.0). Also from Listhammer. Organisers and players: ask us and we'll take a list or an event down. Numbers run 6 Nov.