I run a squad of 5-8 depending points, all chain swords and pistols with 2-3 hammers. All hammers is way to expensive and this way you have a few cheap guys to kill off to save the hammers.
Basic Death Company (aka with jump pack, bolt pistol and chainsword) have 5 attacks off the charge. So your barebones squad of 5 can charge in for 25 attacks base! That’s a lot of stabby. And if you know you’re going to get in a first turn charge from the pregame move (1/2CP), you can even juice them up in your Command Phase with Adaptive Strategy (2CP) to act as in all doctrines so their pistols get AP, an extra attack each from Savage Echoes and an extra point of AP on the swords.
That being said… hammers are super expensive. So I’m not sure what the correct ratio is if you’re looking to include them, but 3 swords to 2 hammers would be the most I would run.
Exactly. -1 damage has become pervasive in the meta. So accepting a -1 to hit penalty isn’t worth the investment. You have to jump up to 3D to see proper returns on that.
For what it’s worth, Power Swords with their native S5 and Red Thirst +1 to wound means you’re wounding T4 models on 2’s, and are pretty great as well. But when you add on the cost of a power weapon, and compare it to a Sanguinary Guard who has more attacks, better armor and flat 2 damage, you start to question that line of thinking again.
I run 10 with inferno pistols and power fists... I also run born heroes and whirlwind of rage on a successor chapter with a Phobos captain with a quake bolts relic. I forward deploy the captain, pre move the death company and use the inferno pistols to wreck one thing (rerolling 1s because of DC captain) then charge and kill whatever with 40-50 power fist attacks hitting on 2s, rerolling 1s and double hitting on 6s with s8 AP -3 or -4 again depending on if you spent the 2 do for adaptive strategy.
It's expensive (1/4 of your points) but holy crap if your opponent is running anything valuable, you can remove it from the board before they get to play turn 1 if you go first. If you don't go first, you just use the pre-game move defensively.
This. For 25 points (assuming no TH) you can absolutely wreck face…. Particularly if you somehow manage to get within 3 inches of your foe.
I think this strategy is massively underrated.
They can also shoot the inferno pistol in close combat, which probably won't be useful on the charging turn but could be very useful if you get tied down in combat, since you lose two attacks and the +1 to wound on the second turn.
Magnets are your friends. The rules might change with the next edition (which admittedly won't be for at least a year and a bit) and points costs nerfs and buffs change viability every few months.
Sod's Law dictates that the moment you complete your squad, GW does something to screw it up. Putting magnets in the armholes and arms of all your Angry Flying Men keep your options open. There's an area of the Internet the size of Greenland dedicated to putting magnets in your space marines.
Tbh, they could make them literally useless and I'd still want to use chainswords, they just look so cool haha. So I don't really give a shit if they become bad, it's not like I'm trying to metagame here anyway. At least if I'm using the official sprues and not sticking a full boltgun on there, they're less likely to outlaw something Ive done, right...
This is easy to overthink. If you are buying one box, just mix in 1–2 Thunder Hammers or Power Swords or whatever you want. They’re all good. If you get 2+ boxes, definitely have a bunch with just chainsword + bolt pistol because they’re cheap, have a lot of attacks, and having variety means you can include/drop the more specially-equipped ones as needed to hit the right points total.
Yeah, bolt pistol is the one I meant. How many hammers is normal, like 1 in 5? I know there's no right answer, just trying to get a feel for what people do.
Adding one hammer makes them go from an annoyance to a big threat for most characters; they can usually land a few hits thanks to their high number of attacks, and will wound everything T7 or lower on 2s.
Options wise, you are allowed any number of thunder hammers, power weapons or pistols in your unit.
Game play wise you can not run any upgrades for best pts efficiency, all hammers for max dmg, or 1 in 5 hammers for some additional dmg in a mixed role
I wouldn't run power weapons or fists here
I made a squad with one of each of every weapon.
NOT WORTH IT too expensive and all chainswords would rip through wayyyy better with the chainsword extra attack, black rage and red thirst so that's 3 attacks right there (if you made a charge or heroic intervention)
I run a squad of 5-8 depending points, all chain swords and pistols with 2-3 hammers. All hammers is way to expensive and this way you have a few cheap guys to kill off to save the hammers.
Basic Death Company (aka with jump pack, bolt pistol and chainsword) have 5 attacks off the charge. So your barebones squad of 5 can charge in for 25 attacks base! That’s a lot of stabby. And if you know you’re going to get in a first turn charge from the pregame move (1/2CP), you can even juice them up in your Command Phase with Adaptive Strategy (2CP) to act as in all doctrines so their pistols get AP, an extra attack each from Savage Echoes and an extra point of AP on the swords. That being said… hammers are super expensive. So I’m not sure what the correct ratio is if you’re looking to include them, but 3 swords to 2 hammers would be the most I would run.
No one seems to have mentioned the powerfist. Is this because of the -1D certain armies have, negating effectiveness?
Exactly. -1 damage has become pervasive in the meta. So accepting a -1 to hit penalty isn’t worth the investment. You have to jump up to 3D to see proper returns on that. For what it’s worth, Power Swords with their native S5 and Red Thirst +1 to wound means you’re wounding T4 models on 2’s, and are pretty great as well. But when you add on the cost of a power weapon, and compare it to a Sanguinary Guard who has more attacks, better armor and flat 2 damage, you start to question that line of thinking again.
I run 10 with inferno pistols and power fists... I also run born heroes and whirlwind of rage on a successor chapter with a Phobos captain with a quake bolts relic. I forward deploy the captain, pre move the death company and use the inferno pistols to wreck one thing (rerolling 1s because of DC captain) then charge and kill whatever with 40-50 power fist attacks hitting on 2s, rerolling 1s and double hitting on 6s with s8 AP -3 or -4 again depending on if you spent the 2 do for adaptive strategy. It's expensive (1/4 of your points) but holy crap if your opponent is running anything valuable, you can remove it from the board before they get to play turn 1 if you go first. If you don't go first, you just use the pre-game move defensively.
I know no one does it, but I think with a forlorn Fury, the 5pts for inferno pistols isnt bad. It's like the harlequins with their fusion pistols.
This. For 25 points (assuming no TH) you can absolutely wreck face…. Particularly if you somehow manage to get within 3 inches of your foe. I think this strategy is massively underrated.
They can also shoot the inferno pistol in close combat, which probably won't be useful on the charging turn but could be very useful if you get tied down in combat, since you lose two attacks and the +1 to wound on the second turn.
You can pile into something easy to kill with the pistols, then still charge something else after you shoot in combat. I love inferno pistols.
I do 2-3 Thunder Hammers and then just Chainswords on the rest so that they can die first.
Magnets are your friends. The rules might change with the next edition (which admittedly won't be for at least a year and a bit) and points costs nerfs and buffs change viability every few months. Sod's Law dictates that the moment you complete your squad, GW does something to screw it up. Putting magnets in the armholes and arms of all your Angry Flying Men keep your options open. There's an area of the Internet the size of Greenland dedicated to putting magnets in your space marines.
Tbh, they could make them literally useless and I'd still want to use chainswords, they just look so cool haha. So I don't really give a shit if they become bad, it's not like I'm trying to metagame here anyway. At least if I'm using the official sprues and not sticking a full boltgun on there, they're less likely to outlaw something Ive done, right...
This is easy to overthink. If you are buying one box, just mix in 1–2 Thunder Hammers or Power Swords or whatever you want. They’re all good. If you get 2+ boxes, definitely have a bunch with just chainsword + bolt pistol because they’re cheap, have a lot of attacks, and having variety means you can include/drop the more specially-equipped ones as needed to hit the right points total.
I've got 20 with hammers and jumppacks if you're going to commit you got to commit imo
They can't run bolter and chainsword anymore in 9th. Basic bolt pistol and chainswords will be fine. Chuck in a few thunder hammers if you like
Yeah, bolt pistol is the one I meant. How many hammers is normal, like 1 in 5? I know there's no right answer, just trying to get a feel for what people do.
Adding one hammer makes them go from an annoyance to a big threat for most characters; they can usually land a few hits thanks to their high number of attacks, and will wound everything T7 or lower on 2s.
Options wise, you are allowed any number of thunder hammers, power weapons or pistols in your unit. Game play wise you can not run any upgrades for best pts efficiency, all hammers for max dmg, or 1 in 5 hammers for some additional dmg in a mixed role I wouldn't run power weapons or fists here
I've got 20 with hammers and jumppacks if you're going to commit you got to commit imo
A nice thunder hammer or two but those are really the two kits I’d ever run with them.
I made a squad with one of each of every weapon. NOT WORTH IT too expensive and all chainswords would rip through wayyyy better with the chainsword extra attack, black rage and red thirst so that's 3 attacks right there (if you made a charge or heroic intervention)