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So when bringing a space marine ally there is approximately 0 reason to not take this cute little boat. I've used it a couple of times now and I just can't believe how effective it is. It's far more tactical than a tactical squad ever could be. All while being cheaper.

In the games I've used it I've run it flanking an imperial knight to give the jamming beacon a job to do and grab some mid field objectives.

Dakka, How are you arming your LSS storm squads? How many do you take? Are they just a cheap tax unit? or would you ever take more than are required because they are good units?

I’ve only had mine on the table once, with the HB. Mostly due to WYSWYG, but I think it’s not a bad weapon choice. You don’t always want to be in HF range, and a BS3 MM is not very reliable.

I like it. It adds a lot of mobility to a list. In maelstrom games, it’s a OS fast skimmer. In any game working with objectives, it’s going to play a role. That said, it’s kinda flimsy, so treat it with care.

I don’t know if I’d take more then one, even if I owned more (which I have no plans for). I like tactical squads. It feels wrong to make a list that doesn’t have at least one squad, two feels better. How many points do I want to sink into troops? How much durability do I want to sacrifice for mobility? Especially when bikes are an option, which provide both.

If I was putting together a niche list, like a 1st & 10th, I’d probably want one or two more. But for my general TAC Ultramarine lists, one is about all I desire.

I use them fairly regularly - a scout squad with camo cloaks and a LS Storm is two highly-mobile units with a bucketload of special rules for only 110pts.

At it's core, the Storm is a cheap, ultra-mobile ObSec unit with AoE Deep Strike disruption capabilities, and an 18" blinding weapon. In practical game terms, what you should be doing with it:
Hiding behind LOS blocking terrain
Hiding in deep strike or outflank reserve
Sitting in a spot on turn 2-4 where you think the enemy will want to deep strike (e.g. next to your vehicles if a bunch of fusion crisis suits are in deep strike reserve)
Flying around scoring maelstrom objectives
Flying around on turn 5-7 claiming eternal war objectives
Throwing sand in the face of scary enemy units with your cerebus launcher
Repositioning a scout squad who is way out of position (you can reposition them 48" over the course of two turns)
Taking pot shots at enemy units with your main weapon
Acting as a drive-by platform for scouts (who can then jump out and assault)

Conventional wisdom is to give the Storm a Heavy Flamer (since it doesn't use the Storm's poor BS), but I think the HB is a superior choice because it doesn't tempt you to dive into the middle of the fray with the fragile little speeder. The MM is also a decent choice, especially if you're using Vulkan (suddenly that BS3 isn't such a handicap). The Assault Cannon is an overpriced choice.

One other little note: I see a lot of people starting the game with scouts loaded into the storm. There's really no reason that the scouts need to start the game inside the storm, just go ahead and treat them as entirely different units with different purposes. That the storm can transport the scouts is a perk. Infiltrate or Outflank the scouts as normal, and just deploy the storm in your deployment zone on it's own. Use its 12" scout move as a pseudo-infiltrate (or outflank it, or put it in deep strike, or put it in regular reserves). Flexibility is the name of the game. It's probably going to die at some point in the game, but you will have scored some points with it or caused the enemy a proportionate amount of grief with it's special abilities. It's not a miracle worker, it's a workhorse.

I recently acquired a 2nd Storm, so I'm going to double up on scout squads and try that out. It's all the mobile obsec you would ever need, and frees up a ton of points for the other slots in my force org chart. For allied marines, having a squad of scouts with a Storm is a good choice for troop tax. I don't think spamming scouts+storms would be very effective - at some point you actually need to kill things, and scouts+storms are very sub-par combat units (5 tac marines in a transport + a special weapon are about the same cost, and are a significantly more effective combat unit who are also ObSec). Probably best to just stick with one squad of 5 scouts and a storm in almost all cases.

If your plan hinges on the Storm living, you knight as well just purchase a regular Land speeder. That's why the Heavy Flamer is the best choice. 5 Scouts with Shotguns and a Melta Bomb + Heavy Flamer Storm is 105 points to handle various tasks.

I use the HF setup and a combi-flamer for the sergeant. This Unit has done 10 times more than a tactical squad could ever hope to do.
It's also good in maelstrom games, were it's essentially an MSU Eldar Jetbike unit equalivent. Really though, the list of its tactical uses is actually quite long and it's also a great looking model IMO. Favourite memories includes, infiltrating near a Necron Warrior blob and make them WS/BS 1 with the blind weapon. Good times.

I was thinking heavy bolter might be more effective as it can be fired from jink...I expect to be jinking and most likely dying but still. If you make it out alive and now can maybe get a hit from a HB to soften a squad you are about to assault is better than nothing.

 Xenomancers wrote:
I was thinking heavy bolter might be more effective as it can be fired from jink...I expect to be jinking and most likely dying but still. If you make it out alive and now can maybe get a hit from a HB to soften a squad you are about to assault is better than nothing.

When did a single Heavy Bolter shot ever soften anything up though?
Heavy Flamer is simply better damage output. The posts in this thread keep treating the Storm as though it is something to survive. It drops cargo, and any damage done afterwards is a bonus. If you want a Heavy Bolter so much, regular Land Speeders firestorm more accurately.

Yeah, the cerberus launcher is not to be underestimated. really choppy armies like space wolves fall down like wet paper when reduced to WS/BS 1. At first, I wasn't sold because its a large blast weapon, so it has a chance to scatter, but I use it all the time now since it gives me a chance to cripple anything I want. That fire warrior squad hiding behind their ADL? Blinded! The big choppy pack of grey hunters that are going to kill you next turn? Blinded!

Slayer-Fan123 wrote:

 Xenomancers wrote:
I was thinking heavy bolter might be more effective as it can be fired from jink...I expect to be jinking and most likely dying but still. If you make it out alive and now can maybe get a hit from a HB to soften a squad you are about to assault is better than nothing.

When did a single Heavy Bolter shot ever soften anything up though?
Heavy Flamer is simply better damage output. The posts in this thread keep treating the Storm as though it is something to survive. It drops cargo, and any damage done afterwards is a bonus. If you want a Heavy Bolter so much, regular Land Speeders firestorm more accurately.

Regular land speeders are objective secured assault vehicles....taken to dismiss useless tactical squads. Sure a heavy flamer is better in terms of damage - no doubt. I doubt you'll ever get to shoot it though.

I don't use it because it is not in the blood angels codex.

 Xenomancers wrote:

Slayer-Fan123 wrote:

 Xenomancers wrote:
I was thinking heavy bolter might be more effective as it can be fired from jink...I expect to be jinking and most likely dying but still. If you make it out alive and now can maybe get a hit from a HB to soften a squad you are about to assault is better than nothing.

When did a single Heavy Bolter shot ever soften anything up though?
Heavy Flamer is simply better damage output. The posts in this thread keep treating the Storm as though it is something to survive. It drops cargo, and any damage done afterwards is a bonus. If you want a Heavy Bolter so much, regular Land Speeders firestorm more accurately.

Regular land speeders are objective secured assault vehicles....taken to dismiss useless tactical squads. Sure a heavy flamer is better in terms of damage - no doubt. I doubt you'll ever get to shoot it though.

Well on the other hand, when you do get the chance to shoot at something, your shot actually matters whereas the heavy bolter never matters, even when you get the chance to actually shoot with it.

 KaptinBadrukk wrote:
I don't use it because it is not in the blood angels codex.

This is probably because blood angels tacticals are probably the best tacticals of all marine armies.

 Xenomancers wrote:

 KaptinBadrukk wrote:
I don't use it because it is not in the blood angels codex.

This is probably because blood angels tacticals are probably the best tacticals of all marine armies.

Why do you say that? :O

Because he hasn't looked at Codex: Space Wolves...

I really like land speeder storms to cart around shotgun (or CC/pistol) scout units with a sarge w/ combi-grav (or melta). The scouts + speeder can either scout/infiltrate (meaning they can start within 12" of a target) or DS. The price of filling out your Troops slots with these units is tiny and with Iron Hands CT they become reasonably durable units. I like the HF on my storms as I like them to be aggressive and I back them up with a bunch of iron hands vehicles; sicaran, scorpius, contemptor mortis in pod, etc. to hit hard even from turn 1 and pop enemy vehicles. A useful addition can be some of the assassins with this kind of list to help put the pressure on immediately and to help with the turn 1 issues. The storms also sync well with some drop pod units to help put the pressure on. The scout sarges usually have melta bombs and a combi grav as they can easily start within 18" of a MC and thus fire the full number of shots. I have been considering giving the sarges meltas if the meta shifts more toward vehicles and knights as that would make outflanking with the units less of a negative. I also prefer the HF on the storms as IME the storm is forced to spend a lot of time jinking to stay alive and is usually only spare this by getting into ruins near the opponent (where the ignore cover HF helps kill stuff) or after the scout unit is dropped off to charge something (where the range no longer matters and the template gives more hits).

Disclaimer: I am talking about score as you go missions (BAO, Maelstorm, etc.) These types of tactically flexible units are far less valuable in score at the end missions.

 Furyou Miko wrote:
Because he hasn't looked at Codex: Space Wolves...

grey hunters aren't called tatical marines!

 Powerfisting wrote:
Yeah, the cerberus launcher is not to be underestimated. really choppy armies like space wolves fall down like wet paper when reduced to WS/BS 1. At first, I wasn't sold because its a large blast weapon, so it has a chance to scatter, but I use it all the time now since it gives me a chance to cripple anything I want. That fire warrior squad hiding behind their ADL? Blinded! The big choppy pack of grey hunters that are going to kill you next turn? Blinded!

Honestly, the blinding as well as the pinning rules are so underestimated its not funny.

Too many people think in just damage/durability concepts, and fail to grasp that disabling an enemy unit is worth nearly as much as killing it in a game this short (turn-wise)

BrianDavion wrote:

 Furyou Miko wrote:
Because he hasn't looked at Codex: Space Wolves...

grey hunters aren't called tatical marines!

Doesn't matter. They still are tactical marines. Just like Rune Priests are still psykers!

 Furyou Miko wrote:

BrianDavion wrote:

 Furyou Miko wrote:
Because he hasn't looked at Codex: Space Wolves...

grey hunters aren't called tatical marines!

Doesn't matter. They still are tactical marines. Just like Rune Priests are still psykers!

You mean just like the SoB?

They're basically WoW paladins!

'Omfg canoness, buff me!'

I'll go whole games forcing several pinning attempts each round, without pinning anything.

Last game, though, my opponent got that one warlord trait and pinned the only unit that could have got in range t1. It was brutal.

My point is pinning is sweet, but unreliable.

 Xenomancers wrote:

 KaptinBadrukk wrote:
I don't use it because it is not in the blood angels codex.

This is probably because blood angels tacticals are probably the best tacticals of all marine armies.

I don't get what that has to do with LS Storms, can't they only carry scouts..?

 ImAGeek wrote:

 Xenomancers wrote:

 KaptinBadrukk wrote:
I don't use it because it is not in the blood angels codex.

This is probably because blood angels tacticals are probably the best tacticals of all marine armies.

I don't get what that has to do with LS Storms, can't they only carry scouts..?

Yes, land speeder storms can only carry scouts.