Interrogator-Chaplain

[Frater Cornelius]

According to IA2 v2 he is our way of unlocking further Relic Vehicles in the army.

 

Should he be regarded as a pure tax or is there an actual way to make him a worthwhile addition? Does he have a purpose? In short, is he any good?

[Chaplain Lucifer]

He is better than the regular chaplain by miles. IC with mace on a bike rolls with black knights or in TDA rolls with DWA. Not a superstar but does his job and gives nice bonuses to HtH units.

[Kabbala]

I would suggest that taking him merely to unlock Relic Vehicle upgrades is the wrong way of using him. I use one consistently with my DW and RW list, as mentioned above, to good results. The vehicle upgrades should be additional to a working list, not the cornerstone.

[Varizel]

He is always a welcome addition to the army i think. Besides using Seraphicus, Interrogator Chaplain is the way to strut out your absolutely awesome kit bashed model. What to hate about using him :D. 

[lost_angel]

Which relic vehicles were you thinking of? In the games I usually play - up to 1500 pts - I don't think it would be worth including an int chappy at the expense of one of the 'go to' hqs such as sammy. Additionally, at this points level, one relic vehicle seems more than enough.

 

In larger games with multiple cads it'd be more viable and I'd love to see some concept lists.

[Frater Cornelius]

We are mainly talking Sicarans and Javelin Speeders ;)

[Loar]

The reason i don't like int-champs is that much of his cost is in the pre-included wargear you have to have for him.  Sure zealot can be nice with black knights but there are plenty of other ways that are less expensive or better to get the same effect.  And if zealot is all you really want, then you might as well keep it cheap and run a normal chap.

 

The +4 invulnerable save is nice, but we have some of the best priced invulnerable wargear out of any codex (one of the often overlooked strong aspects of our book): power fields, displacer fields, conversion fields all well priced with added flair and bonuses.  The crozius is just a slighty better power maul, and its still only ap 4, which is nothing you want on your main IC beatstick, if you pay for the mace of redemption, you are paying a ton of points for essentially 1 more strength and 1 better ap than his default gear.

 

For fluff I like him.  But hes just not efficient or brings anything to the table that is worth it, relic tax aside.  In every other case I would almost always rather take an IC that either unlocks troops of some sort, is a psyker, a special character, or a default character that has no included cost wargear that Im paying for but not using.  I hope he gets a rework in our update should it come, either a new rule that is truely unique to give people a real reason to take him, buffed stats, or at least a decent points reduction if nothing else.

[Isiah]

I would agree Loar. Considering their position and role within DA background Interrogator-Chaplains do seem a bit lacklustre.

 

They need to be either purely cc-situational monsters, or, to create real fear and terror to the enemy's morale somehow, to make them worth taking over the more generally useful Librarian.

 

But that's a discussion for elsewhere -_-

 

Cheers

I

[Frater Cornelius]

The question is whether a second or even third Sicaran is worth a mediocre beatstick + Zealot.

[Chaplain Lucifer]

Depends on how much you need those Sicarans and how you well you good can make that IC work.

A bike IC with mace of redemption is hardly a mediocre beatstick especially when paired with Black Knights. It actually makes a good sinergy with BK that benefi from the Zealot rule, while the IC benefis from the rad/stasis grenades. If you have the points for the IC and you really need the extra Sicaran, then why not?

I think there are more cost efficient options for the points of a Sicaran and an IC but if it works, it works.

[Frater Cornelius]

Sicaran is an awesome tank-hunter, especially those pesky Serpents. I value this baby a lot. I do not own a second one yet, but I am considering it.

[FlamingDeth]

An IC has buffs that can't be dispelled by throwing a handful of dice at them. I generally prefer them to the randomness of librarians in my lists, since our psykers aren't cheap enough to spam, and in the current rules and meta they seen to be an all or nothing deal. My prefered setup for them is just IC and power axe instead of the pistol. Fairly cheap, and greatly increases the blendertude of any squad he's in. Still has a krak grenade for range, two different CC weapons, and he can handle whatever he's up against reasonably.

[Corrupted]

I try and take an interrogator chaplain any time I want to take Deathwing Knights, which isn't always. If I'm taking a unit of knights at this point I always put them in a raider, I try to add a chaplain, and then I try to find the points to give him the mace of redemption (replacing his storm bolter). It all comes down to re-rolling the smite attacks, he also keeps the unit terrifying vs MEQs, if he's sporting the MoR. Is it all worth 650 points, maybe?...

[Loar]

If Im using deathwing knights in a land raider i find giving them an inquisitor buddy works way better and is much cheaper than throwing in an int-champ.  Liber Heresius is cheap and can give them hatred for one turn, as they already have inner circle, this gives you zealot 1 turn for that critical smite attack, which they should have no problem getting on a charge with a land raider (it also lets you scout or outflank the land raider and knights if they took it as a dedicated transport).  I can also throw in psychotroke grenades, rad grenades, make him a psyker, get servo skulls and STILL costs less than an int-champ.  Or take none of those and save points for other units, put an extra lib in the squad or simply take extra knights (if LRR).  I really want to like the int-champ, but having these other options is too tough to pass down at that point :P

[Raztalin]

I have 2 uses for him, both which have been covered.  But the IC on a bike with a RW Command Squad with RW Banner is just brutal, hit something hard and get away again with 3D6 distance is great for harrasement.  And it leaves it mark too!

 

Or i run one in TDA with the MoR and drop the Storm Bolter keep the Crozius,  nets him another Attack for wielding 2 mace style weapons.  And yes if you throw him out of an LRC with an entourage they make a lot of mess too!!!  Again, he aint cheap but he is still a 3W character with bonuses that cant be denied or dispelled, and hold his own against alot of other HQ's out there.

[Gillyfish]

I have always liked Chaplains. Quite apart from the options above, you could try using him in conjunction with assault marines (give him a jump pack) or with cc-focussed company veterans. When you're throwing out that many attacks, the option to re-roll misses can be truly potent. 

 

If you're using him to ulock relic vehicles then I'm guessing you wouldn't be looking to field him in a low-points game, in which case you're probably taking him to use those vehicles (in which case a counter-charge unit like assault marines might well be a good pairing to stop enemy units getting too close).

[Frater Cornelius]

I have always liked Chaplains. Quite apart from the options above, you could try using him in conjunction with assault marines (give him a jump pack) or with cc-focussed company veterans. When you're throwing out that many attacks, the option to re-roll misses can be truly potent. 

 

If you're using him to ulock relic vehicles then I'm guessing you wouldn't be looking to field him in a low-points game, in which case you're probably taking him to use those vehicles (in which case a counter-charge unit like assault marines might well be a good pairing to stop enemy units getting too close).

 

When talking pure Ravenwing, I am looking at the Int-Chap as my second HQ for 1650-2000, so that I can unlock a second RW Command Squad and take multiple relic tanks. At least, that was the original plan.

[Disciple of Caliban Sgt]

I recommend Jump Pack a try as well. I used a regular chaplain with an assault squad and mopped up and entire Nob Squad with Big Mek and Doc attached. Admittedly heavy casualties but ever since a beat stick Chaplain has done wonders attached to an assault squad for me. Pretty low threatening by most standards and I put them on my weak flank and let them race up and then start on the enemies back line and work across the board. Usually does well over its points worth and has become feared in my group (makes it much harder to hide) however enough other distractions and it works really well.

[Frater Cornelius]

Sounds legit ;) Worth a go next time I can borrow jumpers from someone.