Jump to content

Best Sergeant Loadout for Tactical Squads


ChainMachete

Recommended Posts

Just got my first set of 20 Word Bearers in mkIII armour and want to build & paint my first tactical squad. Haven't played 30k yet and probably won't until I've got ~1000 points. Haven't even played 40k marines yet (just IG & Daemons). So I'm not too sure what to build and don't want to make any mistakes since Forge World models are too expensive to go to waste.

 

I will be building one marine with a Vexilla. I've done the stats and think its worthwhile even for Word Bearers. Not going to bother with the Nuncio Vox though.

 

Very confused about the Sergeant though. I think Artificer armour is probably worth while, but how on earth do you model it? Mostly going for the pre-heresy grey armour, so perhaps gold rather than gunmetal armour trims.

 

Also not sure about close combat weapons. I'm thinking either just a power fist; or power axe and melta bombs. Both cost the same, but which one is generally the most effective?

 

What about guns? If I take the axe, it's probably worthwhile keeping the pistol so I get the extra melee attack, but with the fist I'm thinking bolter or one of the combi-variants, but which one and is it worth the extra points?

 

Thanks for any help you can offer.

My preference so far has been artificer armor/bolter/powerfist.  AA lets you take an AP2 Unwieldy weapon pretty safely.  Powerfist will probably let you pulp any sergeants/Centurions in melee, though it may end up being mutual annihilation.  Bad armor save rolls (or fight vs a Night Lord with a chainglaive/rending or charging EC's with Phoenix Lance) could see you dead before you strike, but that's just life.  I also bring my Crusade list against 40k codexes, so fighting monstrous creatures in melee is something that happens.  In that case, the powerfist excels.  And I can still add meltabombs on if I want.

 

The axe/pistol/meltabombs loadout is still a good loadout, and would be my second choice.  I got a lot of good use out of combimelta wolfguard + meltagun grey hunter in 5th ed, but combiweapons on 30k sergeants just doesn't speak to me for some reason.

Yup, expensive, as well as adding the bits to model the vox and such.

 

May I recommend magnetising the arms if nothing else?  Always very handy, and made easier if you end up purchasing spare shoulder pads with symbols on them (swapping arms requires extra shoulder pads, short of magnetising them too).

My preference so far has been artificer armor/bolter/powerfist.  AA lets you take an AP2 Unwieldy weapon pretty safely.  Powerfist will probably let you pulp any sergeants/Centurions in melee, though it may end up being mutual annihilation.  Bad armor save rolls (or fight vs a Night Lord with a chainglaive/rending or charging EC's with Phoenix Lance) could see you dead before you strike, but that's just life.  I also bring my Crusade list against 40k codexes, so fighting monstrous creatures in melee is something that happens.  In that case, the powerfist excels.  And I can still add meltabombs on if I want.

 

The axe/pistol/meltabombs loadout is still a good loadout, and would be my second choice.  I got a lot of good use out of combimelta wolfguard + meltagun grey hunter in 5th ed, but combiweapons on 30k sergeants just doesn't speak to me for some reason.

Yes, expect I'll end up playing a lot of 40k codexs as well. Can't see the monstrous creature thing going very well in a challenge either way though. Multiple I>1 AP2 hits will make short work of any sergeant. But agreed if he doesn't challenge the power fist will be better, but then I'm probably going to loose a load of other models, so the challenge might be better anyway.

I would say to go the whole hog and give him artificer armor, power fist, and combi flamer.

 

The combi flamer is a great idea and lots of modeling opportunities but also useful against charging units for that one time benefit you need it for, or for when you are charging another blob of guys :)

Only about half of MCs are characters, and almost no walkers are.  The only 40k walker that is a Character is Bjorn the Fell-Handed, IIRC.

 

Character MCs:

Avatar of Khaine

Wraithlords

Dreadknights

Hive Tyrants

Old One Eye

Swarmlord

Daemon Prince/Greater Daemons

C'tan Shard

 

Non-Character MCs:

Wraithknights

Riptides

Carnifexes

Trygons/Mawlocs/Trygon Prime

Exocrine

Tyrannofex

Tervigon

Canoptek Spyder

Talos

 

So, that's not all of them, I'm sure there are others that I've missed.  No matter what weapon you're wielding on the sergeant (axe or fist), if he gets challenged by a big mean nasty MC (or a Praetor with a Paragon Blade), he's pretty much dead anyway.  If it's my squad of Tac Marines vs a Wraithlord in melee, I'll just refuse the challenge, accept that I'm losing a couple marines, and then toss 20 krak grenades back at the Xenos filth.  if it's against any of the non-character MCs, the S8 AP2 will help a lot with making sure I'm getting wounds through.

 

ETA: In 30k, an important note is that Contemptors are not characters and are immune to krak grenades.

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.