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The sarge IS armed with a power weapon, probably so he can hit first and defend his squad while they warm up the fists.

Short answer: Because power fists are awesome! Yes, they strike last, but when your wearing 2+ armor you don't care too much.

I'd rather punch your face in than slice you open honestly, thus is why they made power fists... to punch face. And face punching is good >.>

Don't complain.
A sergeant with power fist will be atleast 50 points (+- 15 marine add +- 10 for sarge add 25 for fist)
A termie is only 40 points - and he has better save, invul save, storm bolter and can deepstrike.
So you save points by having fists on your termies

Why do those loyalist yuppie scum have power fists?

Because they're not chaos, that's why.

I think the idea is for a Terminator to be able to destroy anything they might come in contact with. With the fist you can kill a monstrous creature, monolith, or anything else you might come across. A powersword deprives you of your tactical flexibility. You become an anti-armored infantry trooper, unable to even damage a killa kan.

You can still cut through killa kan power field tears through anything.Am I right?Terminators in some situation should be armed with something faster like when fighting a genestealer.Genestealer has super speed so something faster comes handy.

Those are called Lighting Claws or Space Wolves

Spess pupies.They have some awesome things like over 1000 marines,13th company which Failabbadon didn't wipe out after 10000 years or some 100 years(less or more due the warp) and 2 things before which ultrasmurfs hate with passion.

When all your opponents are I6 or better, why not?

Terminators IMHO are quite underpowered: You pay almost 3 times the cost of a Marine, for a model with the exact same stats except that he has +1A and and a slightly better save. For 40 points each I'd expect a boost to at least one of the following: WS, BS, T, W.

Valkyrie wrote:Terminators IMHO are quite underpowered: You pay almost 3 times the cost of a Marine, for a model with the exact same stats except that he has +1A and and a slightly better save. For 40 points each I'd expect a boost to at least one of the following: WS, BS, T, W.

Really? They get terminator armour, a storm bolter and a power fist. How is that not worth 40 points? The fact that there relentless and can carry an assault cannon as well as being able to get chainfists make them worth there weight in gold. And who would win in a fight, 1 terminator or 3 marines?

Valkyrie wrote:Terminators IMHO are quite underpowered: You pay almost 3 times the cost of a Marine, for a model with the exact same stats except that he has +1A and and a slightly better save. For 40 points each I'd expect a boost to at least one of the following: WS, BS, T, W.

I wouldn't call a 2+ / 3++ save and a thunderhammer or a pair of power weapons that rerolls wounds underpowered. I don't know too many serious competitive players who still run non-Assault Terminators.


Even *if* you aren't instakilled by the TH, it's coloring books for Christmas. Striking at I1 now, how's that feel, Mr. Avatar? And 3 attacks base with a power weapon AND rerolling wounds (lightning claws) is also pretty ugly.

Terminators have had Power Fists longer than Power Fists have struck last.

They're for ripping bulkheads and power based close combat.

Originally, they were a close combat weapon that had high power but didn't have the defensive ability of a Sword (no parry).

Because terminator suits are bulky, probably it would be harder to have a style of combat involving parrying, and the type of work they do would need the powerful attacks from a Power Fist.

The Sergeant, on the otherhand, needs more defence as he is a command head - he needs to stay alive to lead rather than do more killing; he takes a Power Sword instead which allows him to parry and is fine for fast enemies who get to him. He'll leave the smashing to his squadmates.

Daba wrote:Terminators have had Power Fists longer than Power Fists have struck last.

They're for ripping bulkheads and power based close combat.

Originally, they were a close combat weapon that had high power but didn't have the defensive ability of a Sword (no parry).

Because terminator suits are bulky, probably it would be harder to have a style of combat involving parrying, and the type of work they do would need the powerful attacks from a Power Fist.

The Sergeant, on the otherhand, needs more defence as he is a command head - he needs to stay alive to lead rather than do more killing; he takes a Power Sword instead which allows him to parry and is fine for fast enemies who get to him. He'll leave the smashing to his squadmates.

This. The original Terminator armor was equipped with a powerfist and stormbolter as standard gear for sorties in hives and hulks. Their armor was significantly stronger in early editions than it is now (2+ on 2d6, with armor modifiers from weapons applied normally) and getting them up-close and personal was pretty easy. The original powerfist was a S10 weapon - it did not double strength and close combat was ordered a little differently than it is now, IIRC. The sarge was equipped with a p-sword, so he did get parries to keep him alive.

Also, I remember Termies having WS5/BS5 back in 2nd ed, but I could be wrong.

Gavin Thorne wrote:
This. The original Terminator armor was equipped with a powerfist and stormbolter as standard gear for sorties in hives and hulks. Their armor was significantly stronger in early editions than it is now (2+ on 2d6, with armor modifiers from weapons applied normally) and getting them up-close and personal was pretty easy. The original powerfist was a S10 weapon - it did not double strength and close combat was ordered a little differently than it is now, IIRC. The sarge was equipped with a p-sword, so he did get parries to keep him alive.

Also, I remember Termies having WS5/BS5 back in 2nd ed, but I could be wrong.

Yes, they did though it was the same as all Veterans (all WS/BS5, only 1 attack though).

Power Fists were all S8 still, but wasn't to do with your natural strength; IG and Eldar power fists also hit at S8. Terminators were 3+ on 2D6 in 2nd (Mark of Khorn ones were 2+ on 2D6!) but in 1st edition it was only a plain 2+ save (6+ unmodifiable).

Lightning Claws were Power Fists that could parry and do D3 wounds, Thunder Hammers wounded automatically.

IvanTih wrote:Why they arm them with that it boost your strength but it's slow and you will get some damage before you strike back?Can they arm them with another power weapon like power sword,axe etc.

To question and modify the Standard Template Construct is Heresy. Though back in the time of the Great Crusade newly developed suits for non Ship boarding actions were developed but ten thousand years later things have definitely changed. The Sergeants use Power Weapons while the rest of the revered suits of Terminator armor would of course remain unchanged. Would also explain how the Chaos Space Marines shifted to Power Weapons as standard, The Dark Mechanicum has no qualms about messing with a suit of armor even one as ancient and revered as Terminator armor.