All The Better To Purge You With: A Look At The New Black Templar Pyreblaster and Primaris Initiate

 I'll try and contain my excitement so I'm not squealing like a little girl, but it really seems like Games Workshop are going balls-deep with the Black Templars right now. A couple of days ago over on the Warhammer Community, Games Workshop showed off the new model for a 'Primaris Initiate with Pyreblaster', along with the stats! 

Just in case you weren't already convinced they were coming, here he is! The Primaris Initiate heavily implies the existence of Primaris Crusader Squads and, to top it off, the chains that bind this goofy weapon to this brother's wrist, along with the signature Maltese Cross on his helm and pauldrons, gives us our first look at what could be included within the Primaris Black Templar Upgrade Sprue. 

Obviously we could have guessed the contents but it's nice to see it in the...flesh? On the flipside, the crest on the armour is not the standard imperial Aquilla, implying a dedicated kit. After all; they do not wear his symbol. They are his symbol.

A lot of people have complained (shocker) that the marine's hand is too close to the vents of the flamer. Now I'm not a techpriest, but don't those vent holes look like they spew horizontally out the sides? I'm sure our brother will be fine. Don't worry yourselves. 

In signature Black Templar fashion, our boys in black have broke the knob off their wargear with the new 'Pyreblaster' flamer sporting a 15" range! Now while there was a little confusion in the beginning, since GW accidentally uploaded the wrong weapon stats, giving it D2 instead of D1, we do have the stats for this new Tyranid-griller:

The real question in my mind is; will this new weapon be equip-able by the every [Initiate] model in a unit, or will it just be a '1 per X models' type deal? I would love to see a 10-man blob of these chaps spewing out potentially more shots than Primaris Intercessors with Auto Bolt Rifle, with a crazy -2 AP in the tactical doctrine (assuming we keep access to doctrines).

I'd also love to see a themed stratagem based around Flamers that would accompany this weapon nicely. Perhaps extra damage or a minimum number of shots? We will have to see, going forward. 

I'll try to keep you posted on any and all new releases the Black Templars receive in the lead up to their codex release in November. Stay tuned!

Ryan