June 29, 2012

Power Fists In 6th: The New Cat's Pajamas?

Tremble Before My MS Paint Skills

I am fully aware how awesome Power Fists are already, no one really needs to point that out. They offer SMs the ability to cause Instant Death and IG the ability to.. umm, wound on 2's I guess. Anywho, before I get too far into the topic at hand I want to make it very clear that I do not have a 6th Edition rulebook in my possession, yet. Hopeully by tomorrow I'll have it in my possession. Until then I have the numerous blogs out there to get little glimpses of information from. IDIC (the lucky bastard) got his copy early and has been posting condensed informationals on the subject of 6th Edition which have helped me wrap my head around some of the changes.

If you take a look at this article, you'll read all about the Assault Phase and how things have changed. One thing that took me by surprise is the Pile-in move which goes in order of initiative, model-by-model rather than just willy-nilly like in 5th Edition. Another key element is when your unit is wounded in melee (just like in shooting) the models up front are the ones that are removed first instead of 5th Edition's bass-ackwards wound allocation rules.

These two changes really got me thinking; if the highest of initiatives go first when piling in, they'll be upfront and statistically be the ones to die first. This will leave your mild-initiative models shuffling forward after the dust and blood has settled in the first round of combat. So next, your mild-initiatives will be the first to die leaving your Power Fists and Thunder Hammers in the back. Essentially, your lowest initiative models will be the ones to survive the longest making them far more valuable than your lightning claws and power swords in terms of longevity.

Just a few thoughts. Obviously this isn't going to pan out as reality or fantasy until the dust settles on 6th's release and we've all had time to absorb all of this new information.

More to come!

3 comments:

  1. Now that you point that out, Your I1 weapons and models are actually going to get to swing, unless a Character model rolls a 6 to hit and the power fist of thunder hammer is still technically engaged in combat. Then the character can cherry pick. also if the power fist is on your sgt they could get caught in a challenge and killed before they can swing. If the challenge is refused he wouldn't get to swing either.

    This is going to be confusing for about the next month lol

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  2. Do you move forward at your base initiative or modified initiative?

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  3. Good point, very few units can bring power fists on guys who aren't characters. We'll have to wait and see.

    That's a major question that I don't have an answer to yet, Mr Lemon. That would make my question a moot one.

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