“ZOMG, Halberds are so awesome!” The Internet raves. ”It should be like, all Halberds, all the time!” Hokay, now, calm down. Yes, NFW Halberds are good. Going at Initiative 6 puts you before the whole wide world of MEQs (like 60% of 4ok, at least), even before those with furious charge. Since they’re power weapons, that are often at a boosted strength, you are really fairly likely kill a lot of the enemy before they get a chance to swing. But, of course, not everything is a MEQ (just as not every vehicle is a rhino), and even against a MEQ (Marine EQuivalent) there are times when the the +2 initiative isn’t going to be helpful. Perhaps, more importantly, all the other Nemesis Force Weapons can be pretty awesome, though costs and cost effectiveness for all of them vary widely by unit. So let’s talk about when to use NFW halberds, and what the real cost/benefit of them is. First, let’s get two things out of the way.
- Yes, you are pretty much alway going to get them on Purifier Squads. 2 pts (!!!) is stupid cheap, and it’s not just that low cost alone, it’s that it’s augmenting 2 attacks, so you’re really only paying 1pt per attack to make it Init 6.
- No, you should pretty much never get them on Strike Squads. 5pts isn’t so cheap, especially for a unit that only has 1 attack, and wants to fighting in CC as a distant second to using it’s ranged firepower.
