Why so many power fist wielding models?

[MaleOpener]

Good morning,


Being interested in starting an IG force, I was wondering why GW is pushing models with power fists.

Do power fists, have a place, in the IG?

I don't see why, a squishy HQ, would carry one.

Thought I ask now, before making a purchasing error.


Thanks in advance.

:beer:

[stayscrunchyinmilk]

They are good. They are cheap, and let you hit armoured opponents / vehicles in combat.
You are going last in combat anyway - see initiative. A power fist ignores armour saves (and feel no pain etc) It means you wound marines / T4 models on a 2+, instead of a 5+.
They are good. Use the command squad ones, don't buy the metal, they're too expensive.

[Fremen]

Powerfist/powerklaw is the quintessence of the 40K universe!

[realitycheque]

I'd have said that was the chainsword myself - utterly impractical but awesomely cool :D

As for powerfists on IG, I'd have thought when you're a weak S3 as standard you'd want as many S boosters as you can get!

[Lord Borak]

The thing is with Guard HQ's is that they are Initiative 3.

This means they're striking last against most opponents so the mian disadvantage of the Fist (being Init 1) doesn't mean alot. With that in mind paying 5 points to go from str 3 to str 6 seems like a no brainer to me. On top of that you get the ability to damage vehicles.


However, Close combat is not a place Guard HQ's should be looking at getting into. Those points might be better spent getting more guns. Having said that Guard Characters sporting a Power Sword or Fist do look rather cool and i think everyone has a story to tell about their Company Commander slicing up a Chaos Terminator squad or Chaos Lord

[realitycheque]

The thing is with Guard HQ's is that they are Initiative 3.

This means they're striking last against most opponents so the mian disadvantage of the Fist (being Init 1) doesn't mean alot. With that in mind paying 5 points to go from str 3 to str 6 seems like a no brainer to me. On top of that you get the ability to damage vehicles
In fact in that situation (going last anyway) that's another advantage a powerfist has over a power weapon - wounds from a power weapon could be stacked on one model if there was other models hitting that unit at the same initiative, whereas each wound from a powerfist is usually one dead model (assuming 1 wound or T<4)

[Intrepid]

Bear in mind as well that most of the models that can take powerfists are no longer independent characters, so the enemy will have some trouble picking them out. But not too much trouble--most of those same models come only in units of 5 GEQs. I still don't bother with any power weapons at all, however; it isn't worth it to me for my CCS to kill one thing on his way out from a situation he shouldn't be in.

[kroxigor01]

I'm going to disagree with everyone and say that if, as Imperial Guard, you have a unit in combat then it is receiving a charge and you want it to die as quickly as possible (so the enemy is not safely engaged in combat during our next shooting phase).

A powerfist is only going to make you last a little longer (your still no going to win), maybe letting the enemy assualt a new unit without letting you shoot them.

The only possible exception to this is if you plan to have a commisar. Then I could see the argument for PFs (though I would always take nothing, or PWs over them).

[Intrepid]

if, as Imperial Guard, you have a unit in combat then it is receiving a charge and you want it to die as quickly as possible
That is one school of thought, and a valid one. Another is to tarpit the enemy with blob squads & commissars, minimizing the damage they can do and (with powerfists) doing a useful amount of attrition in the process. A third is that ordnance is good for cutting an enemy down to just a couple models and a powerfist squad makes for an effective cleanup unit. A fourth school of thought is that a powerfist need only kill one Marine to pay for itself and is therefore a good buy, statistically speaking.

[kroxigor01]

Another is to tarpit the enemy with blob squads & commissars, minimizing the damage they can do and (with powerfists) doing a useful amount of attrition in the process. No one in a blob can take a powerfist.


A third is that ordnance is good for cutting an enemy down to just a couple models and a powerfist squad makes for an effective cleanup unit.
I'd preffer meltaguns or flamers over powerfists as clean up (or better yet, a weaken resolve from a PBS). These weapons also have the plus of being longer ranged and having something else other then wiping out cripped enemies to do.


A fourth school of thought is that a powerfist need only kill one Marine to pay for itself and is therefore a good buy, statistically speaking.

The game is not about points anymore, its about objectives. A powerfist is not going to win you an objective very often. An extra flamer (frying an objective in cover) or meltagun (remove the enemies ability to reach the objective) might.