# Meltabombs & Powerweapons - How do they work?



## The Sullen One (Nov 9, 2008)

I'm looking to use powerweapons in a competitve way, simply because I'm fed up with giving my champions Powerfists. Consequently I'm wondering if they can be used in conjunction with meltabombs against tanks or walkers?


----------



## Flakey (Sep 24, 2008)

Power weapons have no use against vehicles. You just use the straight offensive grenade rules in that instant


----------



## Wolf_Lord_Skoll (Jun 9, 2008)

If armed with a Power Weapon and Meltabombs, you can use the Power Weapon against non-vehicle models, and against vehicles either roll the normal D6+S for penetration or use the Meltabombs.

So basically, yes you can use both


----------



## The Sullen One (Nov 9, 2008)

What I actually wanted to know, not that you'd guess it from the title, was how they work in concert with one another.


----------



## clever handle (Dec 14, 2009)

No they don't.

With the power weapon you would roll to hit as normal & then roll to wound / penetrate armour (in this case SX + D6 - assuming these are on marines you're able to GLANCE armor 10...).

Meltabombs on the otherhand are attached like grenades, so to hit as normal except against walkers, and then its 8+2D6 for armor pen. Meltabombs are useless against anything that doesn't have an AV.

Neither give you the +1 on the vehicle damage chart for being AP1


----------



## maddermax (May 12, 2008)

Considering it's in the tactics forum, I'm pretty sure what he's asking is "is it a good idea to use melta-bombs and a power-weapon on my champions, rather than a power fist?".

As to that question, I'd say it depends what unit you put it on. I would usually suggest the fist as the best option for most units, however having the occasional unit of 'zerkers or Noise marines with power weapons can really work well, as it allows you to take advantage of their higher inititive, while melta-bombs usually work well against vehicles. The part where that idea falls down, however, is when you go up against monsterous creatures, where you can't wound them (or are wounding on 6's). Even against dreadnoughts, you're only hitting on 6's with a single meltabomb attack, which means you need a hell of a lot of luck to take one out. In both of these situations, the fist is hugely more beneficial.

So, considering all of that, I'd say it's a good idea to take a PW/MB combo on at most one in two units of 'zerkers or Noise marines, and leave the rest of your champions with fists. Never bother with PWs on plague marines though, trust me.


----------



## NagashKhemmler (Apr 28, 2009)

Here's my summary:

Sergeants/Squad Leaders I roll with:
Power Fist + MB
Reason: generally they gotta do about 8-10 wounds on a squad to get to the fist guy, he can take out walkers, monstrous creatures and a whole range of stuff you'd otherwise be powerless against.

MB:
High armour targets MB are a must, PF is only S8 after all so you kinda need the 8+2d6 versus raiders and the like.

HQ level heroes:
Here you want the power weapon/normal initiative order because:
Many of the characters are Initiative 5, power fists make em I1, it's a big cut, on top of this the enemy can single characters out, so you want to try and wipe out the models in base contact to stop yourself from getting fisted in a similar fashion (often insta death). I usually pair a HQ with a Squad leader to ensure they complement one another, in case of for example dreadnaughts.

You didn't mention force weapons, for many factions they're useless (1-2 attacks) but for me as chaos, I get a 3 attack base, 5 on the charge model, which can instakill a MC with only a single wound, quite likely...Of course force weapons count as normal power weapons.

In Summary:
Always take MB, usually only a few points, so it's 'chump change', power weapons on HQ characters and powerfists on squad leaders, this is the most efficient manner to do things.


----------



## The Sullen One (Nov 9, 2008)

maddermax said:


> Considering it's in the tactics forum, I'm pretty sure what he's asking is "is it a good idea to use melta-bombs and a power-weapon on my champions, rather than a power fist?".
> 
> As to that question, I'd say it depends what unit you put it on. I would usually suggest the fist as the best option for most units, however having the occasional unit of 'zerkers or Noise marines with power weapons can really work well, as it allows you to take advantage of their higher inititive, while melta-bombs usually work well against vehicles. The part where that idea falls down, however, is when you go up against monsterous creatures, where you can't wound them (or are wounding on 6's). Even against dreadnoughts, you're only hitting on 6's with a single meltabomb attack, which means you need a hell of a lot of luck to take one out. In both of these situations, the fist is hugely more beneficial.
> 
> So, considering all of that, I'd say it's a good idea to take a PW/MB combo on at most one in two units of 'zerkers or Noise marines, and leave the rest of your champions with fists. Never bother with PWs on plague marines though, trust me.


That's exactly it maddermax. What I'm thinking is using say a Noise Marine unit where in order to make space for a Blastmaster I'd be taking a stripped down champion with nought but a power weapon. Additionally having bought the Tyranid codex this morning, where even the humble hormagaunt is I5, I can see the value of having a whole unit of high initative troops.


----------

