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So I bought a sternguard box and I have a sarge with a power fist, I was wondering if a power fist on the sarge is actually a good idea?

Does anybody have any experience with this, and if so how has it performed/not performed?

What are you planning on using them for? That's a lot of points for a shooty unit. It could buy you another heavy weapon for the unit instead.

Its more of a 'I have the model now I might as well try it out.' deal...

If I had a pwerfist on the sarge I would probably give the squad some combimelta's/meltas and tank hunt?

But I would like to know if anyone has any experience with this, and if so any advice on the matter.

IF you can afford it, sure. Instead of asking "Should I put a powerfist on a sergeant," you need to ask yourself "can my list reliably take down a walker, up to Dreadnought, in close combat?"

Captain Idaeus wrote:Its more of a 'I have the model now I might as well try it out.' deal...

I think that is what defines most of my list. Model looks cool, now, where do I use it?

I've only put powerfists on assault squads, stuck with power swords/axes elsewhere. If you can give the unit some decent mobility though there is nothing wrong with using them for some tank hunting.

Citizensmith wrote:What are you planning on using them for? That's a lot of points for a shooty unit. It could buy you another heavy weapon for the unit instead.

I think a better use of your points would be more combi-weapons. Extra dakka and can still fire special ammo.

i put powerfists in everything, i love powerfists, i go powerfist crazy, nothing is better than the feeling of: "my broadsides just missile podded 6 of your marines, ha ha ha ha ha... oh wait are you charging ? oh NO oh NO NO NO NO, boom revenge killing in the house. powerfists are kinda expensive but they are far worth the points to equip everything in my opinion

I use the sarge with the power fist keeping these thoughts in mind:

You cannot get an extra attack with a power fist without getting two of them so only put them on a character that has a base A=2 at the very least so they are a good candidate.

Keep in mind the above statement and ALWAYS choose the bolter rather than bolt pistol so you can shoot like the rest of the squad.

The entire squad have a base A=2 stat so you will always give charging into melee serious thought so having a power fist tends to make it a reasonably safe thing to do.

I tend to drop them in a pod and like to be in close with flamers (they get heavy flamers!!) so melee is looking like a possibility if there is anyone left.

I agree a power fist is expensive but I think of it as insurance in case you planned poorly and get jumped by a vehicle stat/high toughness opponent.

Any errors to this train of thought?

I advocate the use of power fists. There are those that feel they are not worth the points if you plan to embrace combat tactics. I feel that combat tactics are a risky proposition since you may not fallback far enough to regroup the next turn. On the other hand the power fist is always there.

Sternguard are expensive. Power fists are expensive. You don't necessarily need the power fist but it's an equalizer capable of killing many things. Basically it boils down to your list & what you feel is needed based upon how you want to play your army. Sternguard are a close range unit. They will be assaulted & die bravely. It's all about getting your points back. If you plan to run Pedro then you'll do well to take some power fists due to the +1 attack bubble.

G

Funny that this should come up.

Not 2 hours ago I finished building a Sternguard unit for drop pod assault and made sure to include a Power Fist. Nothing like making that MEQ character think twice about charging than the possibility of Instant Kill and as noted above makes walkers easier to take down if you plan on being up-close with your Vets.

I am a big fan of Combat Tactics because I am okay with sacrificing my units. That said, high-value units like Sternguard aren't as easy to sacrifice. If I were using Sternguard, I would probably go with the power fist, and that goes double if you are using Kantor or Lysander.

Sternguard is more a shooty support unit with their special ammunition and the possibility to give them combi-meltas.
Therefore, I'd equip the Sergeant as the rest of the squad,
eventually I'd give him melta bombs, that's it.

Very good in a sternguard unit, i myself have had the most epic game ever with him.

So i was in a 1000 point game and the Dark Angel Grand Librarian (forgot name) had assualted my sternguard (3 left) and killed 2. I had only my power fist guy left who hit with 1 of his 2 attacks, wounded with it and the Grand Librarian failed his invun save and got instant deathed with 3 wounds left.

From then on i always put him in my army list, killing a 200 something point character with a 50 point sergent.

That was my favourite game of my 2 and a half years in warhammer.

Personally, I'd skip the powerfist in a Sternguard unit. Sternguard are for shooting things with special ammo. While they may have 2A base, you really shouldn't be charging them at anything you'd need a powerfist to kill.

If some meatstick charges a squad armed with a hidden powerfist with a lone IC, you've won already.

personally, I'd paint the model up as a standard squad sergeant with powerfist, and shove him into my tactical squad instead.

one point you've neglected to mention is what point level are you playing at? if you are playing smaller game where points come at a premium with fewer targers no a powerfist on the sarge is probably not worth it, now in larger games where you may be fighting 6 + dreads MCs 100000000 ig tanks, then a first is worth it as it will get more use. Personally I like pods with beacon, sternguard + gating libby.

TheRhino wrote:Personally, I'd skip the powerfist in a Sternguard unit. Sternguard are for shooting things with special ammo. While they may have 2A base, you really shouldn't be charging them at anything you'd need a powerfist to kill.

If some meatstick charges a squad armed with a hidden powerfist with a lone IC, you've won already.

personally, I'd paint the model up as a standard squad sergeant with powerfist, and shove him into my tactical squad instead.

Lol he was quite a meatstick - who uses Dark Angels Unique Characters - i mean they have T4 and no enternal warrior.

i love sternguard and frankly they're quite expensive, but i ALWAYS put the powerfist on them to protect them from a walker charging up or some termies charging them because nothing is worse than losing your sternguard because a dreadnought got them in melee

One day I was playing a friend, and he said to me "I hate hidden powerfists in marine armies."
Since that day I put them in every squad that I use.

A fist has a 1/9 chance of wrecking a walker. Id rather loose combat by one and then leave and blow the thing up

tedurur wrote:A fist has a 1/9 chance of wrecking a walker. Id rather loose combat by one and then leave and blow the thing up

SimHammer even gives it a smaller chance, about 5.5% of destroying. To mimic the results, test a Missle Launcher (STR 8) with BS of 3 (50% chance of hitting).
http://www.uma-musado.com/cgi-bin/mathHammer.cgi

That being said, I put the powerfists in squads to deal with independent characters, vehicles, and sweepers.

I take as many power fists as i possible can.

Then again i'm raven guard so I'm charging pretty much everything. Shooting's for tau and wimps!

I like powerfists, but I play Demonhunters sometimes when I feel like pain and suffering is a good idea. I realize that Sternguard are space marines, not Grey Knights, but bear with me. Now, grey knights are these dudes who get two attacks and EVERY single one of them has a S6 weapon that hits on I4. They're also armed with storm bolters, which as I'm sure you know, are assault weapons. You'd think with the combination of these two things, they would be amazing assault units, but they're not. Now here is the reason why. They're 3+ armor and cost 25 pts a piece. You just can't have enough of them to reliably be awesome at close combat. It's a war of attrition, and they're too expensive to win it. My figuring is that they have those awesome weapons and extra attacks to either cope with being charged or to clean up the one or two guys left that they couldn't completely wipe out with shooting. Now, here's my question. If guys who are awesome at melee should avoid it, why should you encourage guys who are the exact same cost per model, worse at melee, and carrying rapid fire weapons to do it?

I am admittingly new to the game, but I hopped in this thread and read every post because I too had the same thought as the topic starter when I saw it already attached when I opened the box.

Is the Powerfist worth it?

I thought about the fact that I was planning to use them in a shooting role do to the special ammo, but then I started thinking about how to Devastators and Tact Marines and Sniper Scouts were going to sit back and blast things and hold objectives.

Then I went back and looked at the Special Issue Ammo. Out of the four different types, the ranges are 18, 24, 24, and 30. The Devs and Tacts are using 36-48 weapons like Lascannons, Missile Launchers, etc.

So these guys were going to be the Midfield.

Between the assault and the long range support, they are next in line should either side of the fight go bad. So if I am going to run these guys, they have to be ready to charge, to shoot, and to defend. So isn't 25 points worth adding in?

I will find out saturday.

Personally, I hate getting tarpitted by walkers. I would never say someone was dumb for putting a powerfist in a sternguard squad. The whole point of a sternguard unit is to mow down enemies with guns. And, they are expensive as hell. However, you can't shoot with this expensive, shooty unit while you're fighting a dreadnought or an freaking IG sentinal. I hate those chicken walkers...

I frequently drop pod my sternguard in... taking advantage of the special ammo & rapid fire to do damage that first round. If you do this however, you're likely to get charged in the opposition's next turn (they can't just leave you sitting there, blasting them), so a power fist can help in dealing with the inevitable charge. I know it's kind of strange using the STERNguard in a forward/aggressive capacity... but 20 special ammo shots from a drop podded unit... or a bunch of combi-melta shots into rearward deployed armor can really cause some havoc, especially if you can back them up with a drop podded dread or something similar to make people think twice about closing with them.

In any case, it's an expensive enough unit that giving them a little extra kick in hand-to-hand seems to me to be worth the points.

if your using your special ammo chances are your at 12" or less.

at 12" expect your going to get assaulted next round.

can you get out of the assault when anything assaults you or is your 250 point unit going to be a tarpit for a wraithlord/dread/ctan?

Exactly, the power fist increases the odds of your unit getting out of the assault and back to it's main mission... shooting. If I deploy them rearward and intend to use them for long/mid range shooting... maybe the PF isn't worth the points... but if I'm going to put them in harms way, I'd better give them some options for dealing with the inevitable assault that will follow. I also usually have a IC that's set up for HtH with them, that can help a great deal too. It's a gamble though... bad dice in that first shooting phase out of the pod can doom you.

Gitsplitta, I just wanted to say I absolutely love the idea of a unit or Sternguard dropping in on one side of the enemy formation and a Death Company Dread or any other dread dropping in on the other side.

It's a fun way to play, if a bit risky... and doesn't work against armies that don't deploy normally, ether by choice or by rules (demons). I typically run a couple of scout squads in LS Storms that (if I'm going first) can be brought to the party as well via infiltrate & scout moves)... that beefs up the insertion considerably and adds scoring units & a couple of multi-meltas to the mix, as well as potentially screening your sternguard from assault for a turn. Anyway, I'm still experimenting... Fun factor is high though, even if it doesn't always work out tactically.

I now return you to your regularly scheduled thread... Sorry for the digression into larger issues...

apologies for my ignorance . . . But hidden powerfist? ? ? Aren't you supposed to play open? wouldn't not telling him constitute cheating?