Space Marine Assault Squad Sergeant

[Blackcloud6]

What is the best way to equip a Space Marine Assault Squad Sergeant? Is the Power Fist a good thing? Or is there a better weapon/combo of weapons? His squad will have jump packs.

[Charistoph]

To many factors to be sure. Personally, I don't care for anything that could be in a Challenge to be fighting at Initiative 1 if I can help it.

[Djbz]

Depends on what You want him to kill, which chapter you use, and if there will be a character joining the unit.
A powerfist/thunderhammer/eviserator will be good for killing monstrous creatures and/or vehicles (mainly walkers as most others will be easily killed in combat with the squad).
But will leave him vunrable to challengers without unwieldy weapons (However remember that you can opt to pistol whip the enemy with a bolt pistol, or accept with an independant character that joined the unit)
Power Axes have most of the same upsides and downsides but exchange strength for an additional attack.
Power lances can be good for Blood Angel, Black Templars or White Scars characters. (The former for furious charge combining with the lance's +1 strength on the charge, the latter for hit and run allowing you to charge multiple times to get the best of it)
Power mauls are great for fighting most Xenos (Str6 ap 4 is deadly to a lot of them)
Powerswords are Ok but not amazing unless your hitting 3+ save units.
Lightning claws are similar to the powersword but exchange an attack for rerolls to wound (unless you combine it with another specialist weapon but then your paying 50+ points for a one wound model

[Blackcloud6]

Personally, I don't care for anything that could be in a Challenge to be fighting at Initiative 1 if I can help it.

That was my concern with the powerfist.

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Depends on what You want him to kill, which chapter you use,

Well, I'm building this small squad to go against Tau this Friday. My SMs are Crimson Fists which use Imperial Fists Chapter Tactics.

[Mr Mystery]

Very situational.

Assault Marines are alright at tackling non-assault specialist units. They hit reasonably hard with a reasonable number of attacks. This is essentially their base usage - stick them in against big hitty stuff, and they'll likely get stomped.

So for that use, I'd stick with either just a Power Sword to help inflict additional casualties, or a Lightning Claw if you've got points to spare.

If you want them to dabble in Tank Hunting, Meltabombs are possibly your better option - they can crack open more stuff, and don't slow you down against other targets.

I'd say Powerfist and similar are, perhaps perversely to some, best kept for smaller games, where a good powerfist chinning can turn the tide - for instance knocking the block off a Tau Commander (who typically struggle to fight back effectively), or even to take out multiple T4 stuff in a single hit (Battlesuits again, Tyranid Warriors (small units only!). In small points the Powerfist's slowness matters less, as you're not as likely to run into stuff that can give Assault Marines a hard enough time for it to really count.

[Blackcloud6]

Assault Marines are alright at tackling non-assault specialist units. They hit reasonably hard with a reasonable number of attacks. This is essentially their base usage - stick them in against big hitty stuff, and they'll likely get stomped.

So for that use, I'd stick with either just a Power Sword to help inflict additional casualties, or a Lightning Claw if you've got points to spare.


This is good advice. Thanks.

[Cactus]

I find I never have the right weapon. Mostly, my assault marine sgts just have a melta bomb. The other two special weapons are flamers so I tend not to assault with them but hop around and roast things or just attack the occasional vehicle with the melta bomb and grenades.

[Hendrik Booraem VI]

Well, I'm building this small squad to go against Tau this Friday. My SMs are Crimson Fists which use Imperial Fists Chapter Tactics.

If you're facing the Tau, then Power Mauls are really great. Str 6, AP4, strike at init. As long as you use the assault marines against the squishier Tau (firewarriors, Kroot) the power maul will be a no-armor-save instant death wound. Against Crisis or Stealth suits the power sword would be more likely to cause a wound, since it would obviate the armor save, but how many power swords are you going to want to spring for? I figure just one on the sergeant, and so the whole unit is much more likely to be effective at chopping up the firewarriors or kroot.

[Defenestratus]

I always give my assault marine sargs thunderhammers because it looks badass to have a dude flying through the air swingin a yuge hammer.

[Path Walker]

Powerfists look cool and giving someone the old Power Uppercut is great fun. I like them. I put them on too many guys, but its always paid off. (Hell, I can't think of a Devastator Squad as being complete without one, I blame the two 2nd Edition Metal Devastator Boxes where both the Sergeants had them)

[Blackcloud6]

Hell, I can't think of a Devastator Squad as being complete without one...

I bought a used Devastator Squad and the sergeant came with a Power Fist. I've always through that was a waste of points as the Devastator Squad is always hooting long range. Today I was thinking of cutting it off and putting something else on. Why should a Devastator Sergeant have a Power Fist?

[Charistoph]

I always give my assault marine sargs thunderhammers because it looks badass to have a dude flying through the air swingin a yuge hammer.

That's what Vanguard are for. Give their Sergeant a Relic Blade and Storm Shield, and go Assault Terminator with the rest. Especially effective if your chapter's fluff doesn't have a lot of Terminators and your Tactics would make Terminators less useful (Terminators don't get much Sweeping advantage from Crusader).


I bought a used Devastator Squad and the sergeant came with a Power Fist. I've always through that was a waste of points as the Devastator Squad is always hooting long range. Today I was thinking of cutting it off and putting something else on. Why should a Devastator Sergeant have a Power Fist?

Indeed. I put a Lightning Claw on mine, but that was because I was already giving him a Storm Bolter and I wanted something for Challenges. Claw and Power Weapon were the same cost at the time, and a Claw is better than a Sword.

[Mr Mystery]

I really think a Powerfist is advisable against Tau, provided of course you're using Jump Packs on them.

Broadly speaking, there's not much Tau can field which would overly worry an Assault Marine in HTH - your opponent will struggle to hit, struggle to wound, and unless they're O'Shovah, will struggle to get through your armour. I know it's situational, but let's do a very quick, very rough Mathhammer for that...

Working backwards, you'll fail 1 in 3 saves - so your opponent needs to land 3 wounds. As they're mostly S3 for Infantry, it's 1 in 3 to wound. Looking at both together, that's 9 hits to drop 1 Marine....and on a 4+ to hit, they kinda need 18 attacks. Unless it's Firewarriors charging, that's attacks they just don't have.

So here, striking last with the Powerfist doesn't make a particularly big difference.

Now, lets consider Battlesuits, with their far more impressive S5, they'd need about half the attacks of Fire Warriors....that's still an uncommonly high number for them to get - and they'd need someway to ensure it's the Sarge taking all those hits.

But....that Powerfist? The things it can do to Battlesuits. One good round of combat and you can clean the clock of three without needing incredible luck, and you can reliably knacker two a turn with completely average rolling - and that's before his Brother Astartes have had any say in the matter.

Now, I mentioned Jump Packs....there's a reason for that - they're your best bet to counter Jet Pack manoeuvres, meaning Assault Marines have an easier time actually getting to grips with Battlesuits. The Powerfist then lets your maximise the damage there and then.

But hey, this is just my rough opinion, and should never be mistaken for gospel, or even competence at the end of the day!

[Path Walker]

I bought a used Devastator Squad and the sergeant came with a Power Fist. I've always through that was a waste of points as the Devastator Squad is always hooting long range. Today I was thinking of cutting it off and putting something else on. Why should a Devastator Sergeant have a Power Fist?

When your Devastators get charged by a Dark Eldar Archaon and his buddies and your wee dude punches the leaders head clean off then crushes another Incubus, you'll think it was worth the points.

But mainly, for me, its a nostalgia thing, 2nd Ed Devastator Sarges had power fists, I like power fists, so I'm going to use them. Getting told its a "suboptimal choice" just makes me dig my heels in all the more. See also: Plasma Pistols, Heavy Bolters etc etc. I like my armies how I imagine them fighting in my head, how they perform on the table top is of little import.

[Deacon Ix]

I always go for cheap, so my assault marines are always completely vanilla, same with my Death Company, I have just found that weight of dice does more than fancy weapons, throw enough dice and 2+ saves will fail, my DC is amazingly effective against vehicles, 5 of them will take out a Leman Russ a turn.

[Mike X]

My Assault Sergeant just has a power sword.