AP 350N BLACK TEMPLAR EDITION – HEMA gear from the Warhammer 40,000 universe

We are sure that you’ve at least heard of Warhammer 40,000. The popularity of this game, as well as its universe, continues unabated. The best evidence of this is the fact that in our social media posts about this jacket quickly became some of the most likeable. What is more, this custom project has even defeated the Wolverine AP!

Maybe it’s a bit unexpected, but on the other hand this jacket really kicks ass. We’ll reveal the process of making it in a second, but first…

For the Emperor! Who are the Black Templars?

The plot of Warhammer 40,000 takes place in the far future – after the year from the title. The world in this strategy is set in the spiral galaxy, so we are back on the Milky Way – as you may remember, lately we have presented the material about the AP N7 jacket! In the universe of Warhammer, the game focuses on a conflict between humanity and alien species.

We found inspiration for this gear in the Black Templars, one of the units available in the game. Templars are Second Founding Space Marine Chapter loyalists who have been fighting enemies of the Empire for thousands of years.

Armor of the Black Templars has been changing over the years. However, the characteristic elements remain the same: massiveness, bulky pauldrons, steel black on the base, details in black and white. You can notice graphic elements in the form of skulls and crosses. How to re-create this in our HEMA jacket?

It’s not our first approach towards the Warhammer universe. Do you remember the Landsknecht set in two versions – for HEMA and for LARP?

Symbolism of a winged skull

Even if you don’t know the Warhammer 40k universe, you probably recognize the symbol on the front of the jacket. It turns out it has been used in various ways for at least nine centuries. One of the oldest known examples can be found over the doorway of the Durham Cathedral, UK, which was built between 1093-1133.

Similar symbols were used by the American army in the 1940s. Some time ago the Harley Davidson company used a winged skull in their logo, and today the Hells Angels motorcycle club often uses this symbol on the back of their jackets.

Grab your chainswords – the Black Templars are entering HEMA!

Of course, steel black (which is the basic color of the armor) is impossible to completely recreate with fabric. If you know how to do this, please let us know! But for now the best solution seems to be dark grey from our color palette, used lately in the N7 HEMA jacket. Now, on the “steel” we place applications – this time on the chest section and shoulders. We’ll decorate them with a winged skull embroidery and white “pauldrons” with black borders and black crosses inside, referring to elements from the armor.

Again, we’ll modify the AP 350N model for our needs. The jacket is fastened on the front, and we want to place the biggest possible embroidery, so we’ll extend this section. In this way we have made an impressive application of 28 cm width.

The “armor effect” is achieved by visually “dividing” particular areas of the jacket with black thread quilting. Among visual aspects, these have an additional role: enhancing the figure. Upper part is divided and widened thanks to the horizontal lines, and everything visually narrows to the hips.

Anyway, we did our best and it’s a pleasure to see you appreciate our work. Again, your ideas were a mine of inspiration. If there’s anything we miss in this project, it would be a Seal of the Emperor, which would be impolite to recreate, and a chainsword, which definitely is an arm against the regulations.