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OK so I finally got around to putting together my Skyhammer Detachment (from a calth box) and I was looking over the wargear for the two 5 man assault marine squads ill be running to figure out how I want to put them together. So it appears that other than giving them flamers and an Eviscerator (don't plan on taking any of them), it basically comes down to what weapon ill be giving the sergeant. I don't see any real reason to take a power fist or hammer because its expensive, lack swings, I1, and being a 1 wound character challenges hurt. With the likelihood of some rerolls to wound it eliminates the claw entirely so to me it comes down to the following.
Sword - AP3 with base strength but non specialist weapon like the claw so the pistol will add an extra attack. I generally avoid the sword but with it acting like a better lightning claw some of the time it seems like a viable option.
Axe - I want to avoid I1 attacks but AP2 has its utility and higher strength means it can hurt tougher things. Considering they are vanilla assault marines (and not as hardcore as the space wolf equivalent) I don't see them ever charging heavy infantry or MCs unless to join an already engaged unit or to suicide for some purpose.
Maul - +2 strength is always nice and AP4 lays the smackdown on xenos. One of my preferred melee weapons.
Lance - This is the dark horse and appeals to my preference to trying out the underused. I know its considered hot garbage by most but with these chump assault marine squad's job of hitting softer infantry units hard and fast the lance might actually do work here. +1 strength and AP3 means it cracks open most medium infantry and it can hurt (with rerolls its very likely to wound) and its still gets +1 attack from the pistol. Honestly if the assault marines stay in protracted CC then I either charged the wrong target or it was some very bad dice so having the lance fall off in effectiveness is less of a concern.

So its comes back to that whole "which power weapon" to pick but I think the nature of the Skyhammer rules makes this weighted slightly different. Let me know what you think works best for an assault marine sergeant and how skyhammer assault marines tend to work out.

This is one of the only times I hand it to Power Sword or Lance. Grav Cannons and Multi-Meltas can take care of anything else, so after pinning whatever you can, you can charge in with 3-4 AP3 attacks to make things smoother.

Honestly.... I'd go with the points savings and not take one at all just go with plain CCW/pistol. If all the shooting/pinning dosen't do the job then some ap 3/4 shots are not gonna help much.

If I had to take one I'd go for the Axe due to AP 2.

None of them. Melta bombs to threaten a vehicle, but you're not threatening anything with 5 marines. If taking a Min squad, their job is to tie up a shooting unit for a turn while you deal with other targets. About the only thing that you're scaring is a squad of firewarriors, guardians or a small squad of jetbikes.

Besides, in a fight where the opponent can fight back, the sarge is going to get challenged and killed anyway.

You've got an eviscerator allready.

I would go with power sword if you wanted to take anything. Melta bomb power sword and vet sergeant if you want to dumb down the skyhammer cheese. If your going optimized then no upgrades other than maybe a melta bomb.

I think the most interesting thing ive learned from this is that (as of current) there are 350 views and only 14 votes lol.

I think I am actually going to go with the Lance purely because I expect a single charge from this unit and the Lance (or Maul) gives me the most killing power to pick off a character in a challenge. The Axe being I1 means I am more likely to die from the enemy swinging first (or letting something like a PK get to swing into my unit) while the Sword is just weaker than the Lance when I charge in. The weight of value and expectation of the unit is to make 1 charge. Anything after that is a bonus to their value.

Since you are only expecting them to make 1 charge, then why waste 30 points on pointless upgrades?

 Drasius wrote:
Since you are only expecting them to make 1 charge, then why waste 30 points on pointless upgrades?

Because the power weapon gets delivered into close combat where it does damage and helps amplify the assault marine's ability to win combat. If they destroy what they charge then they did their job and if after they get shot to death then they drew fire away from other elements of my army. If they survive then they get to charge again. Without a power weapon they are a much smaller threat which means target priority will probably be turned to my other units. Its hardly pointless as its actually 30 points split between the two squads

You know, I never got the appeal of power axes. Power fists aren't much more expensive, and pack one hell of a bigger punch.

If power axes weren't unwieldy, sure, they'd be decent, but seems like fists are well the worth the ~10 more points.

I would probably go for the maul, if only for the bonus to strength.

 Kap'n Krump wrote:
You know, I never got the appeal of power axes. Power fists aren't much more expensive, and pack one hell of a bigger punch.

If power axes weren't unwieldy, sure, they'd be decent, but seems like fists are well the worth the ~10 more points.

I would probably go for the maul, if only for the bonus to strength.

10 pts is 10 pts. And they aren't specialist. So it's a hedge against tarpit.

5 man squad - Melta bomb
10 man squad - Sword and melta bomb

Lightning Claw & Melta Bomb

You should be running them as UltraMarines anyway, so for a turn you can get re rolls to hit and to wound for the fella.

Also statistically against anything not t3 a LClaw does more wounds than a Power Sword and Pistol.

AlexRae wrote:
Lightning Claw & Melta Bomb

You should be running them as UltraMarines anyway, so for a turn you can get re rolls to hit and to wound for the fella.

Also statistically against anything not t3 a LClaw does more wounds than a Power Sword and Pistol.

At what point of attacks does it overtake the sword? Is it always better even at 1 attack? Also I believe Skyhsmmer gives re rolls to wound for assault if they charge a unit that was firced to go ground by the devs.

At 1 base attack, no charge bonus, PS is better than LC, every time. At 3 attacks vs 2 attacks, it's almost always tied. At 4 attacks vs 3 attacks, LC is always better.

Yep, but don't they get re-rolls to wound from the formation?

Units pinned by the dev shooting makes it so the assault marines get to reroll to hit and wound against them. Lightning claw being a specialist weapon won't get the +1 attack from the pistol and they will probably already have the reroll to wound from the 3d6 pinning check.

Reason for the axe over PF a lot of times is because again the specialist weapon makes it so you don't get the pistol bonus. (I like PFs on blood claws for example because their rage gives them 3 attacks on the charge).

 koooaei wrote:
Yep, but don't they get re-rolls to wound from the formation?

If you're charging what the devs shot at, and they failed a 3d6 LD check forcing them to go to ground.

I've never used the AM to charge what the devs shot at. I use the Devs to open vehicles and try to knock out hard targets. I use the AM to bully weaker squads or tie up units they can grind down.