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Silentway wrote:I've never had much use for them.

Initiative 1?

They are great on vehicles but I haven't found an advantage to them over regular power weapons.

Most things you fight will swing before your initiative 3 anyway so it's not that big of deal to swing last. I think the issue is that most units that can take the power fist are not located anywhere where they could be useful. If your CCS is in close combat, you're probably in trouble. If you could put power fists on sergeants and commissars in infantry squads, the power fists would become much more useful. Now instead of wounding a marine on 5s you'd be wounding on 2s. Since that's not possible, getting more special weapons or heavy weapons is probably more useful.

A powerfist doesnt make a lion out of a lamb in close combat...

It is just an option you buy for 15 points. If you have a meltagun-ccs anyways (assault weapon) sometimes it is not bad to shoot at a little combat squad with fire on my target and then assault and kill the rest with you pfist officer. Sometimes you dont need it, but it is always nice to have it. It doesnt remove you a weapon slot (as standards and medics and especially heavy weapons do although I consider a standard mandatory for every ccs...) and it doubles up the strength of the officer and gives him powerweapon at no disadvantage. (ini 3 isnt particularly better as it only allows you to strike before tau, orks and necrons do, which is only advantageous if you are dead after the assault phase, which isnt a good situation anyways...)

Personally I love my powerfist officer. A Lord Commissar without powerfist would be wasted WS5.

My Company Commander is the Vostroyan officer model, the one with the trechcoat the little peg leg and the hidden powerfist. My coomand squad is the rest of the vostroyan command squad minus the medic with a lascannon. So Reg. banner, Vox, LC and the officer with the hidden powerfist. I pay for it because it's on the model and because it has saved the officers bacon several times. My CCS usually stays back and screams orders but sometimes something will reach him and then it's nice to have something to shave of that last wound of the DP or the marine captain.