Keepers of the Faith - Priests of the Adeptus Astartes.
Hi, today i'll be looking at the PRIEST units of the Space Marines, the warrior priests of the Reclusiam, the Chaplains.
There’s quite a bit to pack in here so expect a couple of posts.
Every Space Marine Chapter maintains the spiritual purity of its warriors through the constant vigilance of the Reclusiam. The Chaplains are the military arm of this function of the Chapter preforming Rites for their brothers and leading them in combat, instilling them to ever greater feats of heroism through their oratory. Various Chapters Chaplains preform varied roles. The Chaplains of the Blood Angels watch for the onset of the flaw, consigning those brothers who succumb to the Death Company, whilst those of the Dark Angels seek to extract information and confessions from the Fallen. As an arm of the Chapters structure, the Chaplains act as command and advisory staff to the Captains and the Chapter Master as well as serving as a contact point for those Battle Brothers who's conviction has waivered.
On the table top these warrior priests lead often from the front and their rules represent this.
There are 4 differant options for your Chaplain on the table, Firstborn, Terminator, Primaris and the new Primaris Bike Chaplain, and depending on your playstyle, you can always find a fit for them.
At their core they have an AURA ability to pass their leadership, a formidable 9, to any Chapter CORE units nearby. Whilst thematic, marines are usually pretty hardy and resilient, you never know though, we could be looking at Leadership tricks as armies come out, and I'm thinking Night Lords and Drukhari here.
All Chaplains sport a 4+ invulnerable save as base and the ability to recite a litany each command phase on a 3+. All your base Chaplains know the Litany of Hate and one additional one from the litanies section of the book, and all are able to upgrade to Master of Sanctity, but more on him later. They all come wielding their weapon of office, the Crozius, which hits at +2 str -1 ap and 2 dmg, not shabby as a base weapon. If you're a Space Wolves player all your Chaplains gain the WOLF PRIEST keyword so maintain your synergies and stratagem usage.
I'll start off as I usually do, looking at the Firstborn options. Your basic Chaplain is as normal, your most customisable. naturally sporting his pistol and Crozius, he can add a jump pack, gaining all the normal benefits such as Death from Above and the FLY keyword. His bolt pistol can be swapped out for a bolter or combi bolter, or replaced with a powerfist. If you want to maintain your pistol then you can swap that for another pistol, including the Blood Angels only options of a hand flamer or inferno pistol. With not being Primaris he can embark on your older transports including a drop pod, but as ill get to in a sec, not being on the board in the Command Phase does limit their potential.
Your second Firstborn option is your Terminator Chaplain. Swapping power armour and bolt pistol for Terminator armour and storm bolter is nice, especially when coupled with the Bolter Discipline part of their Angels of Death rule. Being in terminator armour he can swap the storm bolter for a combi bolter and gains the Teleport Strike ability. If you're a son of Caliban you'll get the DEATHWING keyword as a bonus, though no Inner Circle.
Now back to the Angels of Death, Teleport Strike and Transport options. As you're reciting litanies in the Command Phase and don’t come down until your Reinforcement Step of the Movement Phase or disembark until your Movement Phase, your turn one and 2 utility can be negatively impacted. There is a stratagem to recite one in any phase automatically, but we'll cover that later on.
The Primaris bring their own Chaplains into the battle in two ways. Your foot option is relatively basic, with his fixed loadout, but not shy of threatening. With an extra wound and attack over the basic Firstborn he will take some extra beating down (for the same power level its worth noting), he also carries a pistol with the punch of a heavy bolter round at 18 inch so ignore him at your own risk.
Its the Primaris Chaplain on bike that I am very keen on. Confession time, I like the Bikers of the Adeptus Astartes and have a Ravenwing force. This chap, gains the RAVENWING keyword which fills me with so many exciting possibilities though I'll wait for the Dark Angel book to explore that. Being mounted on a Primaris Bike he gains the BIKER keyword, twin bolt rifles, and extra point of toughness and 2 extra wounds over his foot slogging brother (3 over the basic Firstborn). He's also sporting a 14 inch movement and auto 6 advance. Unlike the Primaris Outriders, he doesnt gain the Devestating Charge rule, but honestly he'd be an absolute monster and an overpowered character does nothing for the enjoyment of the game.
For a little investment, you could upgrade any of these to Master of Sanctity. For what you get its a cheap upgrade. reciting 2 litanies in your command phase, rather than one, and knowing an extra means you could double stack buffs on a unit. I’ll look at the litanies in the next post but they could be really compatable. Litanies inspiring with +1 to the roll, so 2s in most cases for the extra reliability and the stratagem I'll look at only costs one point, really useful. The relic they gain prevents rerolls against them and gives a 2d6 pick highest debuff AURA on leadership of units nearby. With moral changes its pretty nice, you could force a leadership test on a horde unit looking for those ones in combat attrition.
So they are all pretty useful in their own way. My Bike Mounted Chaplain is on my desk surrounded by Outriders and soon to be joined by ATVs.
Next post I'll look at litanies and the important stratagem to give your reinforcing or dismounting Chaplains some extra play tricks.
"If your life is given in service to the Emperor, your death shall not be in vain."