Brother Captain Josef

Tack Sgt: I think I agree. The power fist only really gives you the best benefit if you are wanting to take a combi weapon as well so you could think of it as saving 20 points although that 20 points would give you the 'best of both worlds' such as it is. Lets face it he's still only a T4 W1 3+ sv chap. Tac Squads are always going to struggle in combat with monstrous creatures and 'death star' units so it's prob going to be best to just run away and shoot rather than relying on a power fist sergeant to knock it out. Overall i think power sword on general purpose tac squad sgts etc is probably going to be the best all rounder. S6 is nice but if you are going to be relying on that to wound an enemy you should prob be running away any ways. It only instagibs T3 characters whom you would wound on a 3+ with a sword either way so I think that in the greater scheme of things it would be more situational than the AP3 the sword gifts.

Some pretty good musings going on but then I expected nothing less in Tactica :tu: I have to say swords outperform mauls vs MEQ by roughly half a wound and on the charge should cause 1 wound on the opposing power armoured character thus winning the challenge. Darkguard makes an interesting point in only choosing to take a weapon that can ignore your own character's save thus giving you the best chance of actually getting to swing, minimizing your risk and maximising your potential damage output. A power sword armed sgt should kill a power fist / Axe armed MEQ before he gets to swing and will outperform a maul wielding MEQ too against anything other than 4+ saves, multi wound T3 characters or high toughness Sv 3+ creatures. Lets face it though, if you're in combat with a Monstrous Creature you would be best just to Combat Tactics your ass outta there! (As he has already mentioned). The possible exception that jumps out at me though concerns UltraTacSgt and synergy between unit sergeants and any attached Independent Characters. As your Captain is going to be running about with what I'm guessing will be a Relic Blade you should go with something AP2 in case you get challenged by a 2+ sv chap that would gut your captain. A Powerfist slightly outperforms a Power Axe against infantry but at 10 points more it probably should lol. It would also help dispatch multi wound characters and be more useful against vehicles. It also allows you to take a combi weapon (about the only undisputed tactical squad sergeant upgrade) without adversely affecting your combat prowess Thoughts anyone?

Since I have now had the opportunity to have a few solid games of the new edition I would like to bounce the issue of kitting out sergeants and ICs off you fine people. With the introduction of 'challenges' we can no longer rely on the 'hidden Powerfist' to get our units out of tight scrapes. I do not consider any Space Marine turning down a challenge at all fluffy. Lets face it; Tactical Squads rely on their Sergeant to do the heavy lifting in a combat against all but the weakest of combat units. (Please no "Well durr, just stay out of combat then..." comments. They are not helpful.) I'm fairly confident that if you have a 2+ save like with Honour Guard then it's the safest bet to take an AP 2 weapon like a Power Axe or a Thunderhammer on your Champion / Sergeant as you are likely(?! lol) to survive anything attacking before you (monstrous creatures, Dreadnoughts etc excluded of course but then you'll just be being nailed in initiative order anyways). I am also confident that if you are planning on attaching an IC to the unit that either the IC or the Sergeant should have an AP 2 weapon and the other specifically not so as to be able to have a choice as to who declares / accepts a challenge depending on what they might find themselves in combat with. An example would be a Captain on a Bike (S10 to instagib him - T5) with T/Hammer, S/Shield + Artificer Armour (2+ 3++) then you're Bike Sergeant / Company Champion should have some manner of Power Weapon in order to strike in initiative order. But then would you take a Power Maul, lance or Sword? Ok in this instance you might be tempted to take a Power Lance but I would like to keep the discussion more general than this. How do you kit out your Sergeants and why?