With the new Black Templars codex release, we’ve got a pair of hot new character models to call our own: the banner-bearing Crusade Ancient, and the slightly regrettably named Execrator. If you’d like to see how they shake out in the rules, check out our codex review, but today we’re reviewing these two models from a hobbyist’s perspective.
We’d like to thank Games Workshop for providing us with preview copies of these models for review purposes.
Construction
Crusade Ancient
The sprue is fortunately small enough that the layout doesn’t much matter – all the pieces are immediately visible and identifiable. The only included option is the banner topper, either going for a hanging shield or an Ork skull/sword combo, but whichever bit you don’t use can be stuck on the side of a tank or Dreadnought for some great Templar flair. You could potentially leave these off for painting – as I very much should have done – but they fit without any issue. You could also leave the tilting plate off if you’re a coward who doesn’t enjoy heraldry, in which case, what are you even doing painting Black Templars? His head and backpack have the same standard fittings you’d find on any Marine model, and you could swap his sword arm with a bit of cutting. As-is, it’s got a strange angled join that doesn’t have the best fit. The actual construction of the model has some slices the likes of which I haven’t seen in a while – those weird joins where disparate pieces connect in unexpected ways. For instance, the hero rock he’s standing on is connected to one foot, and somehow connects to his other ankle. His left greave also has the butt of his bolt pistol, and the banner also attaches to his pauldron. This makes for a somewhat fiddly assembly process, but it does reinforce the model, which I appreciate. To further stabilize mine, I added one of the leftover hero rocks from the Drop Pod kit to the bottom of the banner. Altogether, he took about half an hour to build, with some mold lines that needed a bit of work to trim.
Cronch: There’s not a lot more to say that Campbell hasn’t covered really! I also encountered the slightly confusing sword arm join; it doesn’t really slot in with much positive connection, which in my case meant that it slid around a bit and actually dropped out once before I managed to get it to stick. I ultimately built my model in four subassemblies – the main body with banner, the head, the power pack, and the shield that hangs on the front of the banner. If I’d co-ordinated better with SRM I would have done the Armageddon trophy so that we could show both options, but the big flat shield immediately stood out to me as a great opportunity for some transfers and heraldry. My one wish for the kit would be to have a couple more head options, perhaps a bare one and a more regular Templar helm, plus maybe the option to have him wield a pistol or a maul or something instead of the sword. Still, if you’re that way inclined and have even the most basic of Black Templar bits boxes, you’ll be able to make both of those things happen with hardly any effort.
Execrator
Where the Ancient was locked into a single build, the Execrator’s got a heaping helping of options to play with. There’s a classic skull helm or a scarred as hell bare head, options for Absolvor or Pyre pistols, a sword arm, a pair of Crozius heads, and a backpack with an Iron Halo or Templar cross to go up top. The backpack has the same assembly as the packs from the Sword Brethren kit, so whatever’s left over is gonna be a great addition to your bits box. The head is also a standard connection, so you can use whatever you’d like, and his sword/pistol arm is a flat join, opening up a wealth of conversion opportunities should you want to do something fancier. There isn’t any sort of peg or groove to guide that construction, but if you’ve assembled a Marine model, it shouldn’t be a surprise. He’s got a pistol or book to slap onto his belt, a couple Crusader seals you can stick wherever you’d like, and a tilting plate that slots onto a chest socket, which otherwise has some sort of techy detailing underneath. Putting him together is, in a word, precarious. Until his foot is firmly dry on that hero rock, he’ll sag and fall over. I glued the foot to the rock earlier than instructed, so it wouldn’t have to support as much weight while drying. Much like the Ancient, he took me a smidge under half an hour to build and trim, and it was a far less fiddly experience.
Painting
Crusade Ancient
The biggest challenge with painting the Ancient is just getting around his flag. Reaching his robes behind the pole is tough, and if you’re like me and glued the shield onto the flagpole, you’ve gotta really cram your brush in there to paint everything. Cronch was much smarter than I and left the shield off, painting it separately and attaching it later. Otherwise the details on the Ancient are sharp and easily picked out, and his pose is open enough that the non-banner parts of the model are easily reached. He’s about as detailed as any given Sword Brethren model, fortunately without a cape to make things even trickier. If you want to follow along with how I painted both this fella and the Execrator, then boy howdy do I have the article for you.
Cronch: Having built the model in sub-assemblies, I did actually attach the power pack and head with blu-tack (other reusable tacky putties are available) before priming and airbrushing. I airbrushed the marine with a solid coat of black, adding directional highlights with Corvus Black and Eshin Grey, while the shield was given a smooth airbrush basecoat of Hobgrot Hide. From there it was a case of filling in details and adding transfers before an oil filter, varnish, basing and some final highlights. I did have a bit of a nightmare with transfers, as after spending ages lining up chains and emblems on the banner pieces I held up the shield to discover that all of my hard work was completely covered. If you don’t laugh, you’ll cry. Still, I’m pleased with the rest of them, especially the chain on his big shoulder pad and the illuminated letters on the banner (purloined from a Sororitas transfer sheet).
Rather than go through my scheme in exhaustive detail, I’ll suggest you check out Henry from Cult of Paint’s series of YouTube videos on Black Templars, as barring a couple of additions I’ve mostly followed his schemes for this model. I’m really pleased with how it came out, although I do have a couple of bits of learning – I think there’s too much red in both my oil filter and the pigment powder I washed over the base, so I’ll knock both of those back a bit if I do any more Templars in the future (let’s be real, I’ve got to get my hands on an Execrator).
More important than the scheme is the overall experience, and I can say that I had an absolute blast painting this model! He’s very detailed but has a huge variety of textures and, as long as you don’t glue the banner fully together, a pretty open pose. There’s plenty of opportunity for showing off with transfers and/or freehand, too.
Execrator
Painting the Execrator is a smidge tricky, at least if he has his power sword option. It’s across his body, so you’re constantly trying to work around it, and for that reason I saved painting it for extremely late in the process. It made getting to his tilting plate a challenge, doubly so since I’d chosen bright colors and transfers to work with. I’d also recommend leaving his head off and painting it separately, as his high gorget and the high contrast of bone against black means it’ll be easier to work with if painted as a subassembly. Otherwise I found his details and pose all really easy to work with. There aren’t altogether too many doodads on him, especially compared to somebody like Grimaldus, and most of the detail work is just highlighting straps.
Final Thoughts, Parting Shots, and What Have You
This is an interesting pair of models. They’re some Templar-ass Templars for sure, but the Execrator’s wealth of options compared to the Ancient’s dearth of them is a sharp contrast. While there’s been no small amount of kvetching about a lack of options in modern character models, it was a pleasant surprise to find so many in the Execrator kit. Conversely, I would have loved to see an extra head or tilting plate option on the Ancient, if nothing else to add more bucket helmets to my bits box. Even still, both of these models should be easy to convert if you want to make them your own, and I had a lovely time painting the two of them.
Have any questions or feedback? Drop us a note in the comments below or email us at contact@goonhammer.com. Want articles like this linked in your inbox every Monday morning? Sign up for our newsletter. And don’t forget that you can support us on Patreon for backer rewards like early video content, Administratum access, an ad-free experience on our website and more.
