Deathwing: Squad Sergeants
The DW sarge doesn't get many of the gifts of wargear in the 4th Edition Codex so this isn't going to be a long article... So lets look at what useful wargear they can have to improve their squad.
Often maligned as being weak link (and many DW players upgrade their Sarges to use a chainfist or an assault weapon) versus the power fist and of course in many ways that is justified. However the thing that swings in it's favor is the fact that unlike fists it strikes at higher initiative while still having firepower potential. This has two main benfits:
- At init 4 in cc you might get to kill off a few models before they get the chance to hit back,
- When you take the enevitable return casualties yourself, the sarge becomes the ideal model to remove first as he has already struck. Thus when calculating wound allocation, try to allocate any power weapon/fist attacks on the sarge whilst distributing the 'lesser' strikes upon the rest of the squad.
I. Weapons
Deathwing sgts do have access to the weapons section and so as long as they don't exceed the weapon limits (two one-handed or a one-handed and a two-handed) they can have cool extra weapons! Also they get the "1 wound discount". Terminator squad Sgts can benefit from this by having a little extra firepower.
'Tactical' Deathwing squad sergeant
Of the squad attached to Belial (or other attached IC) than the situation is a bit different. The sarge in this squad can really earn his corn if he works in conjunction with the character. The deal here is that enevitably the character will have both better Init, BS and WS, and might well be armed with a death-dealing force weapon, or master-crafted power weapon. Here the sarge's own initiative isn't so crucial (as he'll strikes after the IC anyway). But, you can take advantage of that somewhat. Arm the sarge with a thunder hammer and stormshield, in this manner Belial can strike at initiative 5 to hopefully knock a few models out or put a wound or two on something nasty. If the power fists don't finish the job then the sarge wades in with his thunder hammer to hit and stun, enabling Belial to strike first next time to kill it off – if he survived the first round that is.
Personally I have assault squad Sgts with thunder hammer and power sword and squads with assault cannon deep striking with combi-plasmas. I'm about to convert my first combi-melta Sgt to see how much use they are.
