Space Marine Assault Squad Sergeant

[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.