# Powerfist on Scout Sgt. ?



## Sarcastro (Jan 14, 2009)

I am seeing more and more people put a Power Fist on scout Sergeant if they are going to go into combat. I prefer putting a power sword on my Sergeants because they don't last long in the combat and i would prefer to get all of their attacks before the other guys starts to swing at me. I am wondering why people would put a fist on the sergeant?


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## Creon (Mar 5, 2009)

I usually use the Sword, but I have a Fist Sgt. 

1: Anti-Vehicle. Fists are great against vehicles
2: Instant death. kills irritating ICs


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## Vaz (Mar 19, 2008)

Should always have a Hidden Powerfist IMO in Marine armies, leave ICs and LC Terms to Power Weapons, where their sheer number of attacks, armour, wounds, or high initiative makes the most use of Power Weapons/Equivalents.

I prefer normal marines, but if using scouts, I've had slight successes using 2 of them with Shotguns, 2 with BP CCW and Sergeant with Combi-Melta and Powerfist in a Land Speeder Storm.


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## Tim/Steve (Jan 25, 2009)

Having a PW means you are slightly more powerful in combat (but lets face it.. your going to lose).
Having a PF means you have the potential to really damage tanks, take a few wounds off a MC (you'll never get trapped into a combat where you just cant hurt the enemy- like a missile launcher dreadnaught- no-ones going to win) or just have a chance to instant kill most of the ICs in the game

PW is slightly better for random fights but PF has the chance to actually do something nasty... since you should never really be getting scouts into the standard sort of fights that your tacs might look for the PW really should never see much work.


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## Sqwerlpunk (Mar 1, 2009)

I run Scouts in a Storm, and I run them with a Fist and Combi-Flamer. Their role is to find vehicles or really shooty squads and make their life hell, not actually engage someone half decent in assault. So the Fist is there to pick something off before they die, because it's a hell of a hit he's swinging still.


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## Someguy (Nov 19, 2007)

I generally run my scouts with the fist but no combi-wep, in a storm.

I don't know about the combi-wep. Combi-melta is an odd combo with a fist, in that if you blow up the tank with the melta you can't charge it. Nice if the target is moving though, particularly if you immobilise it.

Combi-flamer is quite a strong option because it lets you attack bigger units than you otherwise could. Maybe a unit of lootas or something. Same problem may come up though, if the target breaks or casualties are removed to prevent a charge.

On the whole I think it's probably points best spent elsewhere, so my sergeant runs with a fist and shotgun. That seems a reasonable combo.


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## Sqwerlpunk (Mar 1, 2009)

Fist and Shotgun is good. I run it because it makes certain situations I find likely to occur much easier, such as a moving vehicle. I run Vulkan, so that Melta shot IS going to hit, as far as I'm concerned, and against the omni-present transport it makes life easier.


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## Winterous (Mar 30, 2009)

I like to take a storm with Heavy flamer.
Mount in it a squad of:

1 or 2 Shotguns (helps against higher Initiative guys, and looks awesome)
Rest BP/CCW
Sarge with Plasma pistol (for some serious damage potential) and a Power weapon.
Ultimately I use it to attack and severely injure MEQs or anything less than that in melee, softening them up a little before the fight so I don't get hurt.
Using the Cerberus launchers, they usually break if I win the combat at all.


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## maniclurker (Jun 12, 2008)

I have personally had a ridiculous amount of success with a power weapon/shotgun scout squad in a storm. The storm blew up a LR crusader, and the scouts destroyed a squad of long fangs all in one turn. I've seen a lot of people online praise scouts squads with fists, but I just can't bring myself to give a 5 man squad with a 4+ save a fist. Maybe a little play testing will convince me. I can definitely see the potential, but the surviveability of such a unit worries me.


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## mrrshann618 (Jun 6, 2008)

I've been running a PF in my scout squad since 3rd. They are great. In larger games whre you are(were) allowed to take a teleport beacon having 5+ termi centered on the advanced scouts who also had a PF just made that flank really nasty against alot of things. Add in that unit of jump troops that have the ability to make it to that point at roughly the same time then you have a really nasty flank all of a sudden develop.

Then again when I started this tactic for my marines there was no such thing as the storm I had to rely entirely on infiltration.


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## primeministersinsiter (May 31, 2009)

I run scout bikes with a PF. Out flanking power fist? They've cut a swath through enemy tanks before. Of course, they're usually gunned down soon after.


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## Vrykolas2k (Jun 10, 2008)

They're good for close encounters.


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## 40rending (Jan 3, 2008)

i personally run 6 scout bikers with 3 grenade launchers and power fist on the sarge and use their scout move for first turn tank hunting and general schenanigans


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## MJayC50 (Oct 30, 2007)

as a rule i always take a power fist in my squads - always. its the swiss army knife of 40k. in such a small squad of scouts tho im not sure. I still would but id try to combine multi assaults with them and A.Nother unit to make the most of the -2 ld test if you win (with prolly 2 or more pf in a combat you might have a chance...) basically, it cant hurt. im torn on the old combi melt/plas/flamer one tho. like flames. plasma is good for monstrous creatures and as some1 said earlier- having another melta weapon with all the transports around at the moment is never a bad thing. pick one and stick with it!


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## The Son of Horus (Dec 30, 2006)

My experience has always been that if a model can have a power fist, they should probably take it, with the exception of independent characters with an Initiative 5 or better (read: Space Marine HQ models). As MjayC50 said, it's the Swiss army knife of the game. You can punch a tank with it, and you can punch a trooper with it, and you get pretty similar results in both cases. I don't know if I'd bother with the combi-weapon, just because it's a ten point, one shot thing-- I'd put it on Tactical Squad sergeants, but not Scouts, as it doesn't really significantly improve their ability to do their job on the table-- not so much so that it's worth nearly a whole additional Scout, at any rate. 

With a squad of five Scouts, the power fist is iffy as far as delivering it. Five Scouts are absurdly easy to kill, and because there are only five models in the unit, the Sergeant may not be the last to go due to how wound allocation works. You can get almost two Scouts for the price of that power fist, so you want to make sure that you do use it at some point if you bring it, and that it doesn't just get shot away in a volley of basic infantry weapon fire. I'd bump the squad up to ten-strong in any case, just because it's an exponentially more effective squad size than five-- and that's the case for any Space Marine squad, Terminators and bikers excepted.


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## Lash Machine (Nov 28, 2008)

If you are running them in a storm, a fist is a must. gives you decent anti tank against static shooting tanks and a nice punch against heavey support squads. I stick the combi flamer on mine just to help with wittling down the numbers before asaulting. You have to pick your target carefully otherwise it can easily go tits up.

Averagely a power fist is better than a power weapon against infantry (just), and it opens up more options against everything else.


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## Widowmaker666 (Jul 30, 2008)

I always run my scouts with shotguns and a fist unless they are sniper scouts. I also only run them in squads of 10 (I wont field any unit that can have 10 models with any less except for honour guard which i field 5) Scouts arent a dedicated CC squad so using them in combination with an assault squad can be deadly. I play tested with the fist and the first game i played it was against chaos and by himself killed a daemonprince and instant killed a lord before dying from the tzeentch daemon weapons ranged attack. Every tactical and scout sergeant i have has a powerfist. my only assault squad has a power weapon adn melta bombs but the next one i buy will have the fist.


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## Winterous (Mar 30, 2009)

Widowmaker666 said:


> I play tested with the fist and the first game i played it was against chaos and by himself killed a daemonprince and instant killed a lord before dying from the tzeentch daemon weapons ranged attack.


Well right there they have 3 HQ slots.
2 Lords, and a Daemon Prince.

How the hell did that happen?


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## Widowmaker666 (Jul 30, 2008)

Winterous said:


> Well right there they have 3 HQ slots.
> 2 Lords, and a Daemon Prince.
> 
> How the hell did that happen?


It was a three way game. My Blood ravens versus 2 chaos players who decided to team up on me. The Daemonprince was wounded though so i only did 2 wounds to him and he took down 3 or 4 of my scouts before i punched him dead (failed all his invul saves) the lord then finished off my scouts except for 2 and my sergeant who instant killed him. it was a fun game, 1500 points of marines beat down 3000 points of chaos, the emporer was watching me :victory:


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