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Is a chaplain ever an effective unit for his points...? I only have one with a jump pack, and I do see the advantages of fielding him with maybe a full assault squad, but I feel that his weapon is pretty lackluster and adding a better one gets expensive. How do you outfit your Chaplain?

I run a white scars chaplain as an ally for that sweet hit and run.

With a full assault squad they are very effective force multipliers, and they turn Honour Guard into absolute murder machines. Their weapons are quite good, actually. S6 AP4 makes they good at mulching anything not in PA and a threat to vehicles.

Oh, man. I feel really dumb for not even considering taking him as White Scars...

I generally run mine with a 5 man assault squad. Bare-bones, just a jump pack. Power mauls (like the crozious) are a good TAC weapon. While the sword is the best at killing MEQ, and you want the axe for TEQ, for everything else, the maul is king. It guts anything with a 4+ save. The fact that it’s S6 lets you take swings at MCs and still have a chance to wound. And hits the rear armor of tanks just as well as krack grenades. The concussive is gravy, buy when it comes up can be handy.

But one of the big bonuses of the Chaplain is not what he does, but the fact that he makes his whole squad better. He’s a force multiplier. And none of this roll some dice and hope a demon doesn’t eat your soul a/o some pansy elf shuts you down. Good old fashioned faith and rage, works every time.

While I do own one on a bike and in TDA (both fielded rarely), I also field Chaplain Cassius in a drop pod w/assault marines. If you are playing UMs, he’s a beast, and well worth the points.

Chaplin's are a great support for assult unit.
A honour guard, Chaplin+ chapter master is a brutal concept on the charge, re rolling attacks etc. One was brutal just with a sternguard.
Add fearless and the unit will never fall back in combat :-)

At only 2 wounds, they suck at tanking wounds for assault marines / vanguard vets

At only WS4, they are at a disadvantage when it comes to challenges

They work well for really large squads like Black Templar 10 Initiates and 10 Neophyte blobs - great force multiplier, and zealot means you have to kill every one as they wont break and run

 Sir Arun wrote:
At only 2 wounds, they suck at tanking wounds for assault marines / vanguard vets

At only WS4, they are at a disadvantage when it comes to challenges

They work well for really large squads like Black Templar 10 Initiates and 10 Neophyte blobs - great force multiplier, and zealot means you have to kill every one as they wont break and run

Er...they're WS5. And while they're definitely not a beatstick like the SE Bike Chapter Master they're no push-over in combat, against most sergeant level mooks he'll punk them pretty consistently with zealot. And if you're up against higher-level HQ's then you've done something wrong already.

Interrogator-Chaplains rule!!

 UnadoptedPuppy wrote:
Interrogator-Chaplains rule!!

Or Reclusiarchs! Gotta love a Chaplain with the best part of a Captain statline!