These are all rumors, so please take with a the standard salt. This set of rumors is really a mix of a lot of different sources, so repeats a little with a few conflicts here and there.
compilation put together by th!rdeye
via ghost21
due to them sitting done for nearly 8 months?... n honestly sword brethren are nice
kits for sword brethren n nophytes(sp) as ive said im more of a xenos guy but ill provide what i know, vows are less restrictive
i also saw things for something called knights of the inner circle (or something along those lines).. they were named each came from a successor chapter, n the guy who lead them was a bt... it was interesting but as usual salt applies
relic dreadnaughts, like a mobile requiary bearer... is what i had heard
via Mirbeau In response to someone saying our "big thing" might be a Thunderhawk...
Not as big! But more bizarre! (unless you play fantasy...). That's most of what I know about it. Speculating from that - big buffing thing with a howdah ?!
A bit more for now - in regards to the 'neophytes' (if they continue with that name), I heard they were finecast. Whilst it would leave room for another plastic kit, I hope this isn't true.
Dark Angels are not at all on my radar, doesn't mean they aren't happening anytime soon, but I haven't heard a thing, if ghost's heard anything it is likely to do with black templars.
From Warseer, in regards to someone hearing about a "giant tracked siege weapon" (Related to above quote?)
I mentioned it recently but it was a rumor posted some time ago from stickmonkey if i remember correctly although i could be wrong. It was in response to some comments about the dreadknight before the actual release of the GK codex and it mentions a dreadnought variant on tracks designed for siege purposes.
via Jared van Kell
Phill kelly is going to write the Bt codex, so that should be great oh and new units added for bt as well
- Phil Kelly is writing the Codex.
- More emphasis on the horde aspect of the army with lots of large units of Initiates and Neophytes.
- Emperors Champion is more in line with the company champion of the Grey Knights but is still 2 wounds. Gains preferred enemy against independent characters and monstrous creatures.
- I forgot to mention the Rightous Zeal rule could be changing to be more along the lines of the Rage USR. Something along the lines of if they fail a Ld test then they are subject to Rage and must advance towards the nearest enemy unit. As yet the details are sketchy.
- All the current special characters (ie: Helbrect and Grimaldius) will remain. Also I had heard of an mention of a special character who is like the greatest of all of the Emperor's Champions and the greatest warrior in the Black Templars. I had heard mention of a bike mounted special character with a lance like weapon but I cannot confirm this yet.
Source lostCertain units to get Rage USR is one I've heard repeatedly.
Sword Brethren are to get a special rule where when they are assaulted the enemy unit has to re-roll all* successful hits, at the expense of 1 attack. It's called "parry".
Land Raiders, when suffering a 5 or 6 on the damage chart* (so "wrecked" or "destroyed") gets one more turn where it rampage, think along the lines of the machine spirit going bezerk.
No horses as far as I am aware, bikes would be the direction (if any at all) for riding knights.
There is a named Emperor's Champion, he's meant to be the longest living EC in the Black Templars history, or somesuch.
*I'll seek clarification as it doesn't quite seem right in my head.
via JvK
The Tau codex belongs to Cruddace, lets get that fact straight. That is all I am going to say on that issue.
Black Templars on the other hand was always going to be Phil Kelly's pet project. The only way Ward or Cruddace would ever get the Black Templars codex off him would be to prise the rough drafts out from his cold...dead...hands.
But later on Nov 28th in response to being asked who is writing
Mr Phil Kelly last time I heard. Though there was talk of moving it over to Mr Cruddace so Mr Kelly can work on something else.
via Marshal Laeroth
I cannot find the rumor threads stating it (there were several, but I don't have the time to search too deeply). HOWEVER, I do have a friend in the UK that actually met Phil and talked to him about that particular rumor. To which Phil confirmed. I was told that he sounded very enthusiastic about the project, but wouldn't go into details or timelines. Just that he was writing the book and the BT were coming (that could mean 2 years though).
Even without my friend giving me this information, there were those rumor threads (from reliable sources) around someplace. Just have to find them. :/
Rumours that conflict with stuff said about from Warseer
Tau and BT will get a release soon after CSM; other races updated in 5th will not be updated in 6th as their rules (at least from Guard onwards) are allready suited for 6th. Ward will probably do the BT and might do Tau as well. DA will probably not be updated anytime soon, because its not a popular army and GW does not want to waste money updating one or more armieS that almost no one plays with a separate dex.
via Warseer
i was down the local GW today, and found some interesting stuff on black templars. so far as the internet says, they're before/after chaos space marines (or legions), before or very shortly after 6th, given that they're current incarnation won't be suitable for 6th. Anyways, what i found out was the following:
there's going to be a named emperors champion, who's old by BT standards, and has been EC for a while. long enough to be better than the standard one.
initiates will be cheaper, around 11 points, and neotyphes around 6pts. still, expect some drawbacks to this.
there'll be a new named character on a bike with eternal warrior, and also eternal warrior killer.
and possibly some dreadnought/knight style thing that fits with the rest of the army, in line with the big stuff from GK and BA.
oh, last thing, possibly some upgrade that lets land raiders be destroyed by the enemy, but still 'live' for a turn. final shoot and move, the explode in a last ditch suicide run or someut.
I got most of this from a staff member, so take it with a pinch of salt, but this guy's usually pretty accurate with stuff like this....
still, something to think about, isn't it?
via Bloodcrusade
From the rumors I've been hearing it's more of something along the lines of:
1)Helbrecht(Cheaper with rules to make Sword Brethren either Scoring or Troops)
2)Grimaldus(Rules update)
3)Special Champion
4)Draco(Will be making the transfer from White Dwarf to Codex with rule amendments)
These are the *guaranteed* Special Characters with rumors of:
1) Marshal/Castellan for drop pod armies(Reminiscent of one of our own's Custom Codex, believe it was Sigismund Himself?)
2)Terminator HQ(Allows for termies as scoring or as Troops for 'BlackWing')
Haven't heard anything of being allowed to bring Bikes as Troops if your 'Captain' rides one, which I'm thankful for. There's a Chapter for that and it's White Scars.
Special Units being brought to the Codex:
1)Chaplain Dreadnought(Same reroll hits on charge, probably fealess to all units with-in 6" like Grimaldus)
2)Durandal Dreadnought(Being brought from White Dwarf into the Codex, haven't heard the rules will change- maybe one more base attack?)
3)Assault Rhino Chassis(Been rumored/hoped for a long time, whether from the Rhino or a new vehicle on it's chassis)
Haven't heard about any special Bikes or Cavalry unit, which is unfortunate as I'm looking forward to a Cav unit myself. Allowing Luduldos to become a bring-able Special Character would be quite interesting as he would be taken in more of my lists than Helbrecht as he is a much more likely Character to allow Sword Brethren as Troops than Helbrecht.
via Jared van Kell
Possible release date of March 3rd if the source holds true
via ghost21
expect bt to be the landraider spam army
via Commissar Davis
This is as much supposition as rumour. But from what I have gathered from dark places, the Black Templars as going to be very close to how they are in the FFG books. The Caestus will have an entry and there is the possibility that troops will be able to take bikes (and attack bikes) and jump packs if they don't take Neophytes.
Assault Marines and bikers get a few extra options that make them nasty.
Elites are points sinks, but very nice point sinks... lots of toys and adaptability.
Emperors Champion gets some buffs, but is not much more than he is now except he can target unit leaders, like good ol' Sarge.
*Another user notes how that would leave the FA slots bare... to which Davis replied..*
From what I was able to take way from a few different dark corners, they wouldn't get all the upgrades. This could also be tosh.
Add salt... The guys are usually, mostly, on the ball (once they point out what they meant). Its generally in the guise of pointers and no straight answers, thus a fair bit of supposition on my part, and includes some guess work of their own.
via Mirbeau
No Caestus coming. Doesn't mean you can't use the forge world miniature/rules though. Little to no empthasis on jump packs either afaik.
*then in another post commenting that Tau are the last 5th ed codex..*
Templars first! I do believe Tau to be the last, or one of the first books though. On my radar Templars, Tau, Chaos.
Eldar I'm not expecting (in book form) till 2013. I have no idea as to the contents of the september starter box, so I suppose there is a chance they could be in that, mind.
Summary as of 12/5/11
•Phil Kelly as the author, only minor reports of Ward/Cruddace being it instead
•Sword Brethren and Neophytes kits or at least new models for them
•Possible new "siege" weapon. ala Dreadknight level of gimmickness
•Possbile new unit/vehicle that relates to "Fantasy" stuff..... (this is very vague, could allude to above rumour)
•Possible new Dreadnought, be it Chappy, Durandal, or Relic
•Cheaper points cost rumours and others lead to Horde focus of sorts
•Very likely it will be the next codex to be released, Rumored March-May
•Rage USR (or something similar) seems to make its way in with/for RZ
•Current characters will return, with new ones (pretty much a given nowadays)
•Special EC, greatest swordsman ever/oldest serving EC
•Possible new abilties for Land Raiders and Sword Brethren