Equipping Tactical Sergeants

[Urauloth]

I have a couple of tac squads to build now that my Saturnine box is here (and a Mk III squad on the desk as well) so I'm wondering what the best way to kit them out is. I'm not really optimising my army, I'll build something inefficient if I like the vibes, but if I do get around to playing any games with these guys I'd like to know what the general good and bad ideas are.

 

I like the look of power swords, but I can't imagine they're a very good idea in tactical squads. I'll probably save these to stack them on assault veterans. Similarly, a chainsword looks good, but ideally a tac sarge isn't going to be doing much with it, right?

 

Is the best idea just to keep his boltgun? If so, maybe I can get a basic close combat weapon from somewhere. I swear there used to be knife arms all over the place, but I don't have any in my bitz box.

 

Anyway, what are the rest of you doing with your squad leaders and why?

[lokkorex]

I'll kep 'em simple, the loss of artificier armour and extra attacks compared to the ordinar legionnaire means I won't bother with melee weapons, so bolters and combi-bolters is what I'll arm them with, depending on if Iron Warriors get their shrapnel munitions back with the Legacies pdf.

[Jarl of Wulfen]

I build all my sarges for rule of cool and point them as needed for the game.  Having the melee weapon present also helps pick them out from the rest of the boys when playing the game.

[N1SB]

I agree.  It used to be Artificer Armour with a Power Weapon, but in 3rd ed...I still want a Melta Bomb.  But that's like a Security Blanket thing with me.  A Combi-Bolter might be a better bet like Brother Lokkorex said.  I just feel less safe without a Melta Bomb on all my Sarnts after my HH 1.0 game vs. an All-Pred list.

[Agramar_The_Luna_Wolf]

In my opinion, assemble the sarges as you like more.

Just, at least, make sure one of the arms is interchangeable using Blu-Tac or magnets, instead of sticking them on with superglue. Especially if you go to tournaments a lot or tend to play outside your immediate circle.I have quite a few of these, and the truth is, my "hobby headaches" have significantly reduced.

[Khulu]

I agree with keeping them simple. 

[Brother Kraskor]

I think there is something quite cool about Tac Sergeants just sticking with bolters. In the books we often seem to find (in my reading anyway) that specialised equipment was rare. Power swords were serious honours, and even some of our main characters (Loken) are slugging chainswords. 
 

Definitely find a way to make them stand out models-wise, but that doesn't have to be a power fist imo. 

[lokkorex]

Strongly agree, keeping the wargear simple could also add a bit more challenge when modeling a character, putting more emphasis on the posing for example to make it stand out, something I think Apologist have turned into a fine art with Ultramarines and Iron Warriors, IMHO.

 

Does anybody know of any examples of an Umbra Combi-Bolter? The Cataphractii Terminators got the Phobos variant, Tartaros Terminators got the Tigrus, but does anyone know of an Umbra variant?

[Agramar_The_Luna_Wolf]

On 7/29/2025 at 5:23 PM, lokkorex said:

Strongly agree, keeping the wargear simple could also add a bit more challenge when modeling a character, putting more emphasis on the posing for example to make it stand out, something I think Apologist have turned into a fine art with Ultramarines and Iron Warriors, IMHO.

 

Does anybody know of any examples of an Umbra Combi-Bolter? The Cataphractii Terminators got the Phobos variant, Tartaros Terminators got the Tigrus, but does anyone know of an Umbra variant?

Official you mean? I don't remember any, yet.

In the other hand, you can have this:

https://cults3d.com/en/3d-model/game/rg-neo-umbra-combi-weapons?srsltid=AfmBOor5NH5epEigTrdDB8bVaTz9w86QXigmuAUEESAA_r5VUEyt0884

 

[OttoVonAwesome]

In 3.0 I'm leaning to just a combi weapon unless you upgrade to Master Sargeant then it's power fist maybe a handflamer or volkite serpenta. They only have 1 attack now standard so it's hard to justify a melee upgrade maybe even just stick to standard boltgun and chain bayonet.

[Urauloth]

Magnets are a good idea, it's pretty easy to mag the various tactical kits at the shoulder. I'll fix up a chainsword that way for aesthetics and swap it out if I ever find myself terminally short on points.

I can see a combi-weapon being fun, makes him stand out and gives him a little extra something to do. I wasn't actually sure if you could still take them - I don't have my Liber yet, and they're not in the tac squad box, so I didn't know if they'd been cut. I suppose there's one in the old Mk IV kit though.

 

There's a boltgun slung on a strap in the melee weapon kit, but I can't think of anywhere to get one being held one-handed. If I find one I'll make a classic shouty pointing guy sergeant.

[sonsoftaurus]

34 minutes ago, Urauloth said:

Magnets are a good idea, it's pretty easy to mag the various tactical kits at the shoulder. I'll fix up a chainsword that way for aesthetics and swap it out if I ever find myself terminally short on points.

I can see a combi-weapon being fun, makes him stand out and gives him a little extra something to do. I wasn't actually sure if you could still take them - I don't have my Liber yet, and they're not in the tac squad box, so I didn't know if they'd been cut. I suppose there's one in the old Mk IV kit though.

 

There's a boltgun slung on a strap in the melee weapon kit, but I can't think of anywhere to get one being held one-handed. If I find one I'll make a classic shouty pointing guy sergeant.

Mk IV also can get you one-handed bolters, as that was back when you rested bolter in left hand vs hand sculpted to the bolter.

Edited Wednesday at 11:15 PM by sonsoftaurus

[Diabolist Jonathan]

Tactical Sergeants in my legion force enter battle with just their bolt gun and their faith in the primordial truth. In this, 3rd edition of 30k, I dont see much merit in equiping them with any melee weapons besides maybe melta bombs.

[SvenIronhand]

I personally go by the philosophy in both 30k and 40K that melee weapons on a shooting unit’s sergeant are to protect the unit, in case they get charged. Otherwise, go for a boltgun.

[Deus_Ex_Machina]

IH army:

I have two Tac squads so far. The #20 Tac squad received a power fist and plasma pistol on the Sarge because when you go big you give the best stuff to the Sarge to give them an edge in most situations. They are "Stubborn" in their own deployment zone (HH 2.0; Head of the Gorgon) which makes them even tougher to remove. The #10 Tac squad only has a scanner as a troop option (built from vintage 40K marines) and the Sgt. received only a chainsword. The smaller squad functions as a road block and is transported in a rhino. Blocking a passage on the battlefield for a short period of time is their purpose and they don´t have any staying power versus a serious threat.

[W.A.Rorie]

In my Raven guard, I have a Tactical Sgt built in 2.0 with Power sword and Plasma and another tactical sgt with a Bolter. Melta bombs if I can afford them. My Raven Guard has a ton of Fast melee (3 Assault squads, Destroyer Assault squad, and 2 Dark Fury squads plus a lot of jump characters), so the Tac Sgts are a just in case. 

 

For my Death Guard, I think I am going to go with 1 Sgt with Powerfist and bolter, rest with chain sword. I am struggling to justify the points for melee weapons when I want lots of shooting.