Power Spears, Power Swords, Power Axes, Power Mauls, Power whatchamacallit, which one to use, do you spam one time, is it worth it still to take them? Do you really need that guard sergeant with that power axe?
Power
spears, my favorite of the bunch, are tricky things, they really should have
made it +1S and AP3 for first round of combat not just charging. I digress; they are handy little things that
give you the power mauls ability to hurt things better and a power swords
ability to be ap3. People will always
know what your plan is when you field a character with a spear and, they will
try to deny that option the best they can.
Power Swords are the mainstay for most armies I believe, they are universally good at what they do and have always done it good. Most models were already modeled this way prior to the 6th switch, and these weapon, though no longer able to kill the best armoured units in the game, they still can kill the other 90% efficiently.
Power Axes are that grey area that I might stay away from, what they should have done for Axes instead of making them unwieldy, should of just made then Initiative -1. Because seriously, Dante being I6 having to go last because the axe he has fought with for a thousand years is too heavy. Maybe GW will errata the axe to be more like this, +1S and -1I sounds like a fair trade off, and you would see more of them used. They look cool on the modeling standpoint, just terrible on being so slow. It killed a couple nice choices from blood angels HQ and a few other cool units. Lets face it axes look cool, but they aren't worth anything anymore. Lets face it, when a base necron hits faster then your high Initiative HQ, questions need to be asked.
Power Mauls are neat things for those people who play against people who are not normally playing against Power Armoured guys, or playing a weaker Str army. Against marines they are not very good, they wound very nicely, but breaking through the armour is tricky, but at least he grants you as many wounds as possible, and good Tank bashing weapon since AP doesn’t always matter with tanks, a glance is a glance.
Anyone can choose what weapon they use, you have that power to say the least, be creative, or just spam all of one type, that choice is yours. Enjoy those trails and errors, and don’t hurt the space pups too bad because they usually swing last now!
I took a more quantitative approach to answer the same question (I didn't look at the spears though). I found that the axes actually have the best killing potential for the points (as long as they survive until their initiative step). The reason I left spears out is that they jsut seemed to be quite a bit below everything else. I would think that adding a boost to initiative in the first round (not jsut when assaulting as you said) would help bring them up to the level of the others, and would just make sense. That would be awesome actually.
ReplyDeleteAn Initiative Increase would be awesome on spears, given that so little things now can give you that bump in Int. I see how axes are useful, your scout sergeant knocks out a terminator sergeant in close combat, the points difference is wholly felt. Having the axe however leaves you vulnerable to other people who equipped with swords and characters using PS. Also, you could go with a power fist over an axe for the fact that ten points is granting you a 2+ to wound on most models, and you can glance Land Raiders. Thanks for the comment got the brain juices flowing!
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