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Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield
vs.
Lightning Claws

Which would you prefer in a pure assault squad? Would you throw a heavy flamer in there? Just curious...

Thanks in Advance!

Are we talking DWing here? You did mention a heavy weapon, and I'm not aware of any way to get one into a squad of assault Termies otherwise.

Yes, sorry, Deathwing...

i'd do a mix of mostly lightning claws, and then 1-2 thunder hammers, this is because they get that nice ability to make characters and vehicles (if you ever do charge one, but probably not) the shaken stuff. other than that i'd say just leave em' with the lightning claws and 1-2 hammers, no need for shooting with em' too much...they are CC troops

I'd have to say... Neither?

Storm Bolters and Assault Cannons!

More on topic, does anyone ever reliably actually get their Assault Terminator squads into HTH?

My regular gaming buddy has tried many times. I always laughed at him and punished him with DGed flamers or with Fire Dragons, depending on my army. Then he switched to counts-as Lysanderwing and immediately became like three times as deadly.

Really, I find the question difficult to answer, as the whole premise of assault Termie squads is flawed. It doesn't matter what your THammers to LC ratio is when you never get to use them. If I had to choose, though, I'd go for three LCs and one TH. The fifth Termie would have a heavy flamer if being delivered by a Land Raider or DSing on to a homer, or an assault cannon if DSing without a homer or starting on the board. The LCs are to rack up the kills against rank-and-file; one TH and one Fist should be enough to ward off nasty MCs and ICs.

does anyone ever reliably actually get their Assault Terminator squads into HTH

landaider crusader +7 assault termis + chappy in termi armor..... super deadly kills just about anything on the charge

personally killed a hive tyrant and carnifex and a squad of warriors in a second round charge

but @ 670+pts i think you would be putting to many termis in one basket...lol

Assault Terminators are useless. If you don't stow them into a Land Raider Crusader, which can be knocked out by any 10-thumbed Eldar Falcon gunner, they will get nowhere. Deep striking is outa the question. If you want a messy death, go eat a grenade instead!

Flipped through the DA Codex for some painting inspiration and stumbled on a Terminator with Lightning Claws hauling a Cyclone on his back. I'll be tossing one of those on one of the boys as soon as the glue dries, lol. At least they'll be able to soften up whatever they go into combat against and if they never see HtH, at least one of them can shoot.

It looks cool, but what good is it? Why would you ever take a cyclone instead of an AC?

The Cyclone can be added while keeping the HtH weaponry. Thus, he'll have ranged weaponry in addition to either Lightning Claws or the TH/SS combo. The AC would sacrifice the HtH, and leave him with only a PF or CF.

A PF is as good as a TH if you already have a couple of THs in the squad. All you need is 1 successful TH attack to get the shake/I1 effect (depending on if you're attacking a vehicle or not). The rest might as well be PF attacks. As for the -1 Inv. save to that single model, it isn't that big a deal compared to the boost you get from an AC compared to an ML.

A properly timed and placed DS or DP to assult combo could work out pretty well. Personally I go for mostly lc. I like the cyclone idea, I'll have to try that, thx!!

Check your codex first, I know it's in the DA one, but not sure about the generic marines...

I'm not so sure how to field a DW squad, but as a Black Templars player I'm all over the 7-man Assault Terminator Squad + Chaplain + LRC.

The Crusader moves them quickly across the field to get to grips with their foe. Should the LRC get popped, they have a Fearless Reclusiarch leading their RZ rolls. In 5th Edition, couple that with the Run rule and they'll be moving 6"+d6"+d6" each turn, assuming you take a casualty each turn. Assuming you've at least moved 12" in the Crusader, and suddenly you've moved 20-20" in two turns (at the cost of one model). Not bad for a footslogging unit.

As for composition, I'll usually take 3 LC Pairs and 4 Thunder Hammers, while the Reclusiarchs are usually packing a Combi-Melta and a Crozius. Having that backup anti-tank shot is really nice when you need it.

In your situation, I'd recommend the Assault Cannon. It'll give your Assault unit the extra firepower needed to make them threatening. Let's face it - Terminators are not that scary out of CC if all they have are Storm Bolters. I'd then say for the remaining 4 to have 3 LC Pairs and a single Thunder Hammer/Storm Shield Combo. The 4 Str8 attacks will do nicely against big stuff, and the 9 Str4 reroll to wound will dice up gribblies and basic units well enough. Hell, even T7 will have to be weary of that many Lightning Claw Attacks (not to mention the Fist and Hammer, of course).

Hope that helps. I'm thinking of doing a Deathwing Army for 5th Edition (with Run making everything move quickly). Let me know how it working out for you.

CK