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Hi!

I am trying to put together a fun list of space marines for some games and the first unit that jumped out at me in the whole codex was the chaplain. Now I really like their models and their lore, but they dont seem all that great of models as far as being competitive goes which makes them perfect for a fun list. I am curious though as to how they are ran. I only ever used one of my 3 chaplains twice and it was as part of a gladius where he didnt even do anything either game.

I was thinking of doing Black Templars and running 3 of the Reclusiom commands with meele focused command squads for funzies, but I dont want them to be used in a horrible way ya know? What ways would you suggest taking chaplains? How do you use them? And for the sake of conversation how and where do they find themselves in more competitive space marine lists? What are they really good for?

I'm a Black Templar player and I usually run at least one chaplain. Basic load out. You want him for what he does for a unit, which is re rolls in first phase of combat and fearless. I'm not a particularly competitive player, so I usually just drop him in either a large Crusader Squad or a Vanguard Vet squad and let them have fun. Taking one alongside an EC in either of those squads is pretty fun although could be seen as redundant rules because both have fearless. I haven't ran any kind of formation yet ( don't have the required elements) so I can't really help there. I always have a lot of fun with them and would definitely recommend trying one out.

They don’t need a lot of gear to get the job done. Just give them a mode of transport to match the squad, and go chop things up.

Stick them with an assault squad, vanguard vets, assault terminators, or other choppy unit. Blend things.

When I know he’s going to be joining my assault squad, I’ll often swap out the sarge’s power sword for an axe. The chaplain is going to take any challenges, so the sarge is less likely to be singled out.

I’ll use Cassius in a drop pod with a double flamer assault squad. With his combi, that’s 3 templates, and he’s a tough nutter to put down. Makes for a fun pod to drop.

CC, while frowned upon competitively might have a use. You get to ignore cover shenanigans when stabbing things. And a lot of powerful shooting units dislike mixing it up. At the worst, you could make a fearless tarpit to lock something up for a while.

Sometimes you can surprise people with an assault squad and a jet pack chappy. Or a chappy terminator with some TH/SS termies.

Really though the only "good" chaplain is a DA interrogator chaplain on a bike.

I like Cassius every now and them to lead my demi company since he can fight and shoot but the stock one is hard to use unless your going to pump points into a dedicated assault unit. Most space marine units don't want to be in combat and Fearless is at best a side grade due to ATSKNF and in many cases a downgrade.

Hmmmm, one of the ideas I heard about from someone else is to give the chaplain a jump pack and maybe one melta bomb and that is it, his major job is stay at the centre of army, when some valuable unit ( like Devastators) is being shot at by something AP3/2 and NOT ignore cover, they just don't hesitate and go to ground, then come my turn just jump the Chaplain across to join them in the movement phase, that make them immediately get back up and firing normal.

Neophyte2012 wrote:
Hmmmm, one of the ideas I heard about from someone else is to give the chaplain a jump pack and maybe one melta bomb and that is it, his major job is stay at the centre of army, when some valuable unit ( like Devastators) is being shot at by something AP3/2 and NOT ignore cover, they just don't hesitate and go to ground, then come my turn just jump the Chaplain across to join them in the movement phase, that make them immediately get back up and firing normal.

Nice trick

buried in terminators or crusader squads because they have lots of bodies or a big strong sergeant to hide behind.

Sunstripe wrote:
Really though the only "good" chaplain is a DA interrogator chaplain on a bike.

Pretty much this. Give him the Mace of Redemption and he will absolutely wreck face.

Cassius is significantly under-costed, and is virtually an auto-include over a normal Chaplain in an Ultramarines detachment unless you absolutely have to have a bike or jump pack. Having said that, Chaplains aren't generally regarded as great choices given the paucity of really good SM assault choices and the meta domination of shooting armies.

If you're playing Templars, a Chaplain attached to a large Crusader squad in a Land Raider Crusader may be useful if they don't get into a car crash on the way in. However, I'd steer clear of Grimaldus,; he's over-costed and requires his own ride if he's taking Cenobytes, and is pretty much a waste of 60 points over a normal if he's not.

Cassius is definitely not under costed. He won't usually use his T6 thanks to majority toughness, comes with the worst Warlord trait, and pays for a bloody Combi-Flamer with ammunition he will hardly use.

Slayer-Fan123 wrote:
Cassius is definitely not under costed. He won't usually use his T6 thanks to majority toughness, comes with the worst Warlord trait, and pays for a bloody Combi-Flamer with ammunition he will hardly use.

Those 40 points buy you T6, FNP, PE: 'Nids, and an MC combi-flamer with hellfire rounds. If Cassius is taking wounds outside of a challenge while his squad's still alive, something's gone terribly wrong, and it isn't his fault. Likewise if he somehow never ends up within 24" of something to shoot, and also never gets charged, it's a problem with deployment or tactics. Granted Angel of Death is a generally useless warlord trait, but this is easily resolved by simply making someone else your warlord.

Cassius's great strength is his versatility; he can anchor a gunline, lead an assault squad, rescue a pinned/gone-to-ground unit, hang tough in a challenge, or act as a tarpit for a short time. He's obviously not the best unit for any one of these tasks, but among all the SM HQs he is uniquely capable of doing almost anything in a pinch. That's more than worth his points premium, especially if you have to take a Chaplain anyway for a Gladius formation.

 ZergSmasher wrote:

Sunstripe wrote:
Really though the only "good" chaplain is a DA interrogator chaplain on a bike.

Pretty much this. Give him the Mace of Redemption and he will absolutely wreck face.

I ride this bus. it's too fun. He rolls with a RW command squad, ofc.

I run my interrogator on a bike too but he's got a power first and the unseen eye. The mace is great too since he strikes at initiative.

 UnadoptedPuppy wrote:

 ZergSmasher wrote:

Sunstripe wrote:
Really though the only "good" chaplain is a DA interrogator chaplain on a bike.

Pretty much this. Give him the Mace of Redemption and he will absolutely wreck face.

I ride this bus. it's too fun. He rolls with a RW command squad, ofc.

Yesterday I set up a nice trap for my opponent, luring is mostly infiltrating Raptor army to spread out and deploy even on MY deployment zone while hiding several low-value targets (all infiltrating too) all over the table. Turn two all my bikes come in outflanking near his deployment zone and start tearing everyone to bits. Got a charge off every turn from 3rd to 6th and you should be able to guess what an IC with the Mace does to power armor by now.

The minimum points you can spend in a Demi company, out of line of sight camping an objective.

Creeperman wrote:

Slayer-Fan123 wrote:
Cassius is definitely not under costed. He won't usually use his T6 thanks to majority toughness, comes with the worst Warlord trait, and pays for a bloody Combi-Flamer with ammunition he will hardly use.

Those 40 points buy you T6, FNP, PE: 'Nids, and an MC combi-flamer with hellfire rounds. If Cassius is taking wounds outside of a challenge while his squad's still alive, something's gone terribly wrong, and it isn't his fault. Likewise if he somehow never ends up within 24" of something to shoot, and also never gets charged, it's a problem with deployment or tactics. Granted Angel of Death is a generally useless warlord trait, but this is easily resolved by simply making someone else your warlord.

Cassius's great strength is his versatility; he can anchor a gunline, lead an assault squad, rescue a pinned/gone-to-ground unit, hang tough in a challenge, or act as a tarpit for a short time. He's obviously not the best unit for any one of these tasks, but among all the SM HQs he is uniquely capable of doing almost anything in a pinch. That's more than worth his points premium, especially if you have to take a Chaplain anyway for a Gladius formation.

He also gets to keep his BP for the extra attack, even with the combi weapon. I like him with either sternguard or assault marines in a drop pod. I run my AMs with a pair of flamers, so he fits right in, and he adds some extra zing to the SG and can fire along with their special ammo.

He's costed appropriately given the state of footslogging assault at this point in the game. He's slow and he's shooting is nothing special. His toughness is only going to come up in a challange and any tooled up HQ will eat him alive, his weapon can even punch through PA and his warlord trait is horrible.

I like him more than a regular chaplain but lets not get carried with how good he is.

Why is the Interrogator Chaplain better than a regular one? You are paying 20 pts for +1 BS, +1 Wound, +1 Attack, and a few bonuses against CSM (an army hardly seen on the table). Am I missing something or do you only like him because you throw additional upgrades onto it like Power Fists and relics to your taste?

The extra wound and attack goes a LONG way into them being more useful. Especially the extra wound.

If I had the option to take the Interrogator, I wouldn't ever take a regular Chaplain.

Gotcha. I had to make a decision on Interrogator upgrade or giving my 10 scouts camocloaks. I picked more durable troops over that 1 attack and 1 wound. That's the reason I was asking if I was missing something besides those mentioned above.

Saythings wrote:
Gotcha. I had to make a decision on Interrogator upgrade or giving my 10 scouts camocloaks. I picked more durable troops over that 1 attack and 1 wound. That's the reason I was asking if I was missing something besides those mentioned above.

The regular Chappy can't take relics either. The IC is a close combat monster when kitted right and in CC the extra wound and attack really do matter quite a lot. Fear is a bit meh as a special rule but Preferred Enemy: CSM can really come in handy. CSM are quite popular with the people I regularly play so it might not be that awesome for you.

 Lammikkovalas wrote:

Saythings wrote:
Gotcha. I had to make a decision on Interrogator upgrade or giving my 10 scouts camocloaks. I picked more durable troops over that 1 attack and 1 wound. That's the reason I was asking if I was missing something besides those mentioned above.

The regular Chappy can't take relics either. The IC is a close combat monster when kitted right and in CC the extra wound and attack really do matter quite a lot. Fear is a bit meh as a special rule but Preferred Enemy: CSM can really come in handy. CSM are quite popular with the people I regularly play so it might not be that awesome for you.

Noted. I don't have that many points to play around with so with the 20 points I do have to fudge around with, it was Chaplain to Interrogator or 10 Camo cloaks. The Preferred Enemy relic for 40 pts would have been a nice touch but then I'd have to find 60 pts to mess with instead of the original 20.

Saythings wrote:

 Lammikkovalas wrote:

Saythings wrote:
Gotcha. I had to make a decision on Interrogator upgrade or giving my 10 scouts camocloaks. I picked more durable troops over that 1 attack and 1 wound. That's the reason I was asking if I was missing something besides those mentioned above.

The regular Chappy can't take relics either. The IC is a close combat monster when kitted right and in CC the extra wound and attack really do matter quite a lot. Fear is a bit meh as a special rule but Preferred Enemy: CSM can really come in handy. CSM are quite popular with the people I regularly play so it might not be that awesome for you.

Noted. I don't have that many points to play around with so with the 20 points I do have to fudge around with, it was Chaplain to Interrogator or 10 Camo cloaks. The Preferred Enemy relic for 40 pts would have been a nice touch but then I'd have to find 60 pts to mess with instead of the original 20.

I don't think that The Eye is really worth the points invested. The best unit in the codex already has twin-linked guns and with an IC granting them Zealot they get to reroll hits in CC anyway. Plasma Talons wound most things on 2s anyway so unless your dice run exceptionally cold you won't be really needing to reroll ones there. Rerolling wounds on your Corvus Hammers would certainly be nice but not worth 40 points imo, especially when you can get the Mace for 30.

Mace of Redemption is the best Dark Angels relic by far, and on an IC it just slaughters everything.

Best use I have found for the Chaplain is to stick him in a drop pod with a 5 man Tactical Squad.
Give him a Combi-Melta or Combi-Plasma
Give the Tactical Sergeant Combi-Melta/Plasma
Give a Marine a Plasma/Melta gun
Put them in a pod.

This works incredibly well with the Red Scorpions Chapter Tactics. It allows your Tactical Sergeants
to take Nartheciums like Apothecaries, granting the squad FNP. A FNP Chaplain in a Drop Pod
that delivers 3 Melta or 6 Plasma shots

However I only run a Chaplain in a Gladius Strike Force as it is a mandatory unit, I would much rather take
a Librarian who would do the same thing plus get 2 Biomancy Powers so...not really sure if this makes him
good or is the equivalent to polishing a turd lol

On the topic of Cassius: I've never tried it, but one way to use his T6 would be for him to form a mini-unit with another IC; that way you get majority toughness on his T6. Perhaps a CM with artificer armour, a SS and the Teeth of Terra or maybe with Captain Sicarius in a Gladius. It's not the bee's knees, but since you need a captain and a chaplain anyways...

Deschenus Maximus wrote:
On the topic of Cassius: I've never tried it, but one way to use his T6 would be for him to form a mini-unit with another IC; that way you get majority toughness on his T6. Perhaps a CM with artificer armour, a SS and the Teeth of Terra or maybe with Captain Sicarius in a Gladius. It's not the bee's knees, but since you need a captain and a chaplain anyways...

I’ve never done it, but the concept calls to me. I first considered it a few codexes ago. Like a buddy-comedy film: Lysander and Cassius, fighting their way across the table, tossing quips and insults back and forth. These days with the Shield Eternal, you don’t need Lysander for the 2+, 3++ EW brick wall, backed up with Cassius for the average toughness of 6.

I think it’s a great idea, and sounds like a lot of fun. You should totally do it and report back to us!

The T6 is useful for challenges and splitting him off as a road bump. I've havd games won because I had him leave the squad and charge something while the tacticals stayed behind on an objective. At T6 4++ and FNP he's surprisingly durable

It's been said before, but I'll cover it again.

If you can put him on a bike, it's a great way to increase his toughness and speed in addition to giving a number of special rules (Jink, HoW)
It's a fairly cheap and effective upgrade.

The biggest drawback is that you can't stick it in a razorback, but you could always hide behind the razorback until your squad deploys.