Power Fists on SM Captains

[This Dave]

I'm generally not a fan of putting Power Fists (or other Unwieldy weapons for that matter) on Space Marine Captains or Chapter Masters. Sure they have high WS, multiple wounds, and a built in Invulnerable save to keep them alive long enough to use the thing. But the Unwieldy rule nullifies their Initiative of 5, which is a nice advantage to have when facing other Marinelike things. I prefer taking things like Relic Blades for them as they have high Strength, good AP, and they still get to strike at I 5. But the new web only Captain and the double secret web Captain both come with Power Fists. I like the looks of them but am not too keen on the PFs.

Is there some advantage to taking PFs on the characters I've overlooked? Or are these new models just made more for looks than game effectiveness?

[ElectricPaladin]

I run my Blood Angels captain with a power fist and a lightning claw. Both have the Specialist Weapon USR, which means that they give each other a bonus attack, and I can choose whether I want to strike 5/3 at I 5 with Shred (Blood Angels codex + list building = army-wide Furious Charge) or 9/2 at I 1.

Admittedly, usually it's 5/3 at I 5 with Shred, since I'm dealing armor piercing wounds on a 2+ or 3+ with a to-wound reroll, which means a lot of dead opponents, but since he runs with hammernators, and every once in a while they end up charging out to hammer a tank to death (surrounding my captain with T4 2+/3++/5+ FNP bodies is a good way to weather a round of shooting, even if I'm caught in the open after punching a tank to death), it's worth it.

[Charon]

I guess ist mostly 2nd edition nostalgia (no drawbacks on e-fist) and back then nearly every captain was modelled with one.

ElectricPaladin got it right, I also run my Nurgle Biker Lord with Fist and Claw. Same procedure... choose weapon on occasion.

[ElectricPaladin]

ElectricPaladin got it right, I also run my Nurgle Biker Lord with Fist and Claw.

We should have a fight! Probably you'd win, though. Bike > on foot. Also, my luck you're in the middle of nowhere relevant to me, like Saskatchewan or England or something...

[Captain Bubonicus]

The PF's give "Instant Death" to anything T4 or lower, which is nice. I put 'em on all my Plague Marine sgts., but with their lower Initiative, it's not such an issue as it is with the I5 SM Captains.

[ElectricPaladin]

The other thing I almost did, back when I was briefly considering turning my Exorcists into Sons of Medusa, before I decided Blood Angels and codex marines of any kind are insufficiently distinct for me to bother having both armies - for more or less the same reason as how I kitted my Blood Angels captain - was pair the Teeth of Terra with a power fist. It's more or less the same combo, only more expensive, but also more badass. One high-Strength, low AP, low I weapon for punching tanks, another normal-Strength, mediocre AP, at I weapon for almost everything else.

[Charon]

We should have a fight! Probably you'd win, though. Bike > on foot. Also, my luck you're in the middle of nowhere relevant to me, like Saskatchewan or England or something...

Even worse... Vienna, Austria.

[Tyrendian]

that's at least a very pretty city to visit!

another thing would be to convert the captain to have a Storm Shield (Shield Eternal) - even without the advantages of a bike beneath you that thing means there's basically nuffin that will kill you in one round of CC, and your return punches hurt sufficiently for that to actually be good... Maybe you could even have the shield strapped to his back to save you some modelling work with the other hand/arm? By the way, what bits do you people use for their Storm Shields for power-armoured Captains, whether on bike or not?

[This Dave]

The other thing I almost did, back when I was briefly considering turning my Exorcists into Sons of Medusa, before I decided Blood Angels and codex marines of any kind are insufficiently distinct for me to bother having both armies - for more or less the same reason as how I kitted my Blood Angels captain - was pair the Teeth of Terra with a power fist. It's more or less the same combo, only more expensive, but also more badass. One high-Strength, low AP, low I weapon for punching tanks, another normal-Strength, mediocre AP, at I weapon for almost everything else.

The Teeth of Terra is the same as a Relic Blade but with a couple extra rules so it'll do for most things. That's what I have my Deathwatch Captain armed with as well as a Combi-weapon so he can shoot as well. I actually considered the PF/LC combo but I didn't want to miss out on his BS 5 shooting. I guess he could just throw Krak Grenades at stuff if they get close, though I'm not really sure how he would pull the pin and throw one with those huge gloves on.

[Houghten]

Shoulder-mounted auxiliary grenade launcher.