Which force weapon?

[Vomikron Noxis]

Hail brothers!

 

Just a quickie really: which force weapon would you arm a terminator sorcerer with? I contemplated an axe, but even with TDA I'm not sure he'd last long enough to swing it! Maybe a sword instead?

[Redtoof]

I take an axe even on a power armourer sorcerer. Partially because it looks cool but mostly because my regular opponent has taken to putting all his characters in terminator armour. I figure if he's got a chance at instant killing a character it is worth the gamble of having him strike last. Then again I usually run him quite cheap as a second HQ, so I'm not giving away slay the warlord.

 

As a second choice I would pick the maul since you have a good chance of wounding anything, especially monstrous creatures! However if you still face plenty of power armour HQ then the sword is the safest option.

[Iron Father Ferrum]

What kind of I save does he have?  5+?  4+?  3+?  And what powers do you take?

 

I ask because if you're going Biomancy, then a sword should be fine -- Iron Arm, Warp Speed, and Endurance all give him a buff that makes the sword a good weapon.  Anything else, the staff might be better because you'll need the Strength buff to be effective in combat.  I'm always wary of the axe, and that's why I want to know about your I-save.  If it's a 4+ or better, then the axe might be worth it; there's not a lot of at-I AP2 out there, but it does exist, and I'd be worry about surviving long enough to hit back.  If he's rocking his TDA's standard 5+, I think I'd turn around and default back to the staff.  You lose out on AP2, but S6 is enough to wound any MEQ on a 2+ and threaten MCs.

[Vomikron Noxis]

Good points there brothers. I'm going to be running him almost exclusively with Biomancy, so perhaps a sword would be the best choice... The rest of his gear is just a spell familiar and TDA (to keep him cheap!).

[chillin]

In termi armor i would give him an axe. In reg armor it would be a sword

[Lysere]

The questions you should ask yourself on whether you want an axe, mace, or sword should always go as follows.

 

Do I want to swing at I?

 

Do I have a way to boost my strength?

 

Does AP 2 matter? Does AP 3 matter?

 

Can I have more than one power/force weapon?

 

I'm sure you can figure out which ones you want based on the questions.

 

While i know little about the chaos characters I can say from what I can see a sword would be your best bet, just avoid other terminators whenever possible.

[Dam13n]

As Sorcerers IMHO shouldn't see combat, ever... It's a moot point as far as I'm concerned - I just go with rule-of-cool and give him a staff.

 

If you are going for a buffed combat beast then you should ideally be striking before AP2 as much as possible.  Especially when dealing with challenges, as most enemies will be better than your sorcerer in combat.

 

One option might be:

 - TA, MoT, ML:3, Force Axe, Murder Sword, SoC, Spell Familiar.

 - You'll want Boon as one of the powers to buff the Sorcerer on the way in.

    - If there are points left at the end, a Gift of Mutation may help here too.

 - Ideally the 2nd Tzeentch Power should be Doombolt, but Breath of Chaos may work too.

 - The 3rd Power should be Biomancy, you'll be hoping for a Blessing/Malediction to boost the Sorcerer / nerf the Enemy.

 - you have a 2+/3++ save and a Familiar (to stop Perils) to keep him alive.

 - in Combat you have a choice:

    - Force Axe for +1S, AP2 with Instant Death @ I1 for killing non-Warlord characters with a 2+ save.

    - Murder Sword - Targetted for x2S, AP1 with Instant Death for killing the Enemy Warlord (ideally)

                              - Untargetted for S:user, AP3 for taking on MEQ or worse.

 - Regardless, you'll get +1A for 2CCWs - which you'll need given that a Sorcerer only has 2A base.

 - Of course, VotLW is mandatory if you spend most of your time facing Marine armies.  Hatred will be a valuable boost to make sure your few attacks hit home.

 

The big negative to all this is that you are reliant on getting useful powers to ensure his effectiveness.  Thus making this type of character unreliable - there will be games where he ends up pretty useless, but that's the risk you take with Psykers in 6th Edition.

 

Laterz...

[Iron Father Ferrum]

In that set-up, I'd only take the one required Tzeentch power, and put the other two rolls in Biomancy.  Iron Arm or Warp Speed are overall much better to have for a CC character than Doombolt.  Even hoping for Gift of Mutation is iffy -- you can hurt yourself with it on bad dice, and even Spawn yourself.

[Sception]

In termi armor i would give him an axe. In reg armor it would be a sword

 

This is my default as well, though I might also consider the axe on a bike sorcerer with a sigil and a mark of nurgle or tzeentch.  T5 or 6 with a 3++ or 4++ save respectively could also be tough enough to warrant the risk of striking last to pick up the AP2 and Str boost.

[Dam13n]

DEF - true enough - but breath of chaos can thin the herd before you charge in and Doombolt gives you anti-vehicle firepower, plus a S8 AP1 beam is useful against infantry as well. Especially as the above character has no other ranged attack.

 

2 rolls on the Tzeentch table makes getting boon much more likely, and the chances of turning into a spawn are pretty small. I've had good luck with it in the past, and permanent buffs aren't to be sniffed at.

 

If you're lucky and get Exalted Champion as your warlord trait, it becomes even better - re-rolls on those Boons should further reduce the chance of Spawndom.

 

It's not like they're fixed choices, so swapping from game to game is an option.

[chillin]

13 I dont think he's trying to make his sorc a combat beast , just wanted to know what weapon to give his sorc. Giving a sorc a muder sword is a waste. Cant always keep sorc out of hth .

[Dam13n]

I know that, I was outlining an example character that would specialise in HTH.

 

That's why I stated at the start of my 1st post that, if you aren't specialising, it doesn't matter as you should be aiming to stay away from HTH.

 

If that's unlikely (you're playing a close range army for example) then an axe is probably the best option (a Sorcerer is only I4, so will strike last vs many HQs that are fighting at initiative anyway and the AP2 may well be needed to allow the sorcerer to cope with 2+ armoured enemies).

 

Of course other people had already stated this, so I didn't see the need to restate it... Hence why I focused on other things in my 1st post.

[Hellios]

I like axes on Aspiring Sorcerers, but that is another story.

[Tenebris]

Mine is:

 

Sorcerer

MoS

Spell Familiar

Terminator Armor

Mastery 2

 

I use the sword since it is always great to use in combination with MoS. Should my Sorcerer be with MoT or MoN than the axe is perhaps the best option, even in power armor. Not that you will swing much with it for you will certainly loose the fight with a melee focused character but should the Dark Gods favor you and you make your saves and hits right everything dies to it. As for the psyker lore I favor Slaanesh due to its boosts and combos with my noise marines but Nurgle lore looks fun to,...don't let me start on Tzeentch. Why GW, why?

[Iron Father Ferrum]

Well, coming from a C:SM Libby mindset -- where we don't get an option for I-saves in power armor -- I can see that my preference for the sword/staff over axe isn't a golden rule here.  I'd be still be leery about it though, since 5+ isn't exactly great odds, but if you're swinging against a squad sergeant instead of an HQ it might work out. 

[Fibonacci]

4++ with the sigil of corruption.  3++ with sigil and mark of Tzeentch :)

[Iron Father Ferrum]

4++ with the sigil of corruption. 3++ with sigil and mark of Tzeentch

Yes, I'm aware. The problem with the Sigil/MoT combo is that the the Tzeentch lore is soooooo poop.