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I love the command squad it has pretty much some of the best options in the game; its cheap in points when considering that it is 115 points for 4 veterans and a Apothecary that gives the unit Feel No Pain. Other than Jumppacks Space marines can get almost every mobile option, Drop Pod, Rhino , Razorback.

The only downside is that you will have to purchase a Captain in order to get this squad; which really in its own right isnt a terrible thing.

One of the least used though options seems to be the drop pod; tsk tsk tsk.

Here are some interesting Ideas

Space Marine Captain w/ Terminator Armour powerfist, combimelta 155


Command Squad 115 w/ Drop Pod 35

Meltagun, stormshield, meltabomb 30
Meltagun, stormshield, meltabomb 30
Meltagun, stormshield, powerfist50
Meltagun, stormshield, thunderhammer 55

305

You can save points by going with 2 meltaguns and 2 flamers etc... Dropping the Stormshields whatever

All told it comes to 460 points very close to the cost of Terms in Redeemer ; but its worth it to see your opponents face when a squad w/ 3+ invulnerable drops in on him w/ 5 melta shots.

Here is a "cheaper" version

Space Marine Captain w/ Relic Blade meltabombs ; combimelta 145

Command Squad w/ Razorback
Meltagun
Meltagun
Meltagun
Meltagun

A nasty little bastard of a unit


Anyway what are your opinions on CommandSquads? Best to run them on Bikes' Drop them in and let them toast a target?

SM command squads are certainly fun to fiddle with, but their biggest drawbacks are the fact that you have to take a captain and the fact that they are very CC focused.

The best way to run them would be on bikes. That toughness bonus marries very well with FNP. Then the storm shield counters the FNP ignoring stuff. I love this rig.

captain - bike, relic blade, storm shield
apothecary - bike
company champion - bike
veteran - bike, relic blade, storm shield
veteran - bike, power fist, storm shield
veteran - bike, power fist, storm shield

I might have just made an illegal unit here, don't rip my head off if I did so . I don't have my dex handy and I haven't really built a ton of command squads. I forget if the apothecary can buy a shield and/or a special CC weapon. If so, buy em if not that unit is quick, choppy and hard.

I don't think I'd run them on foot unless it was a story driven moment. On foot with the same equipment its more efficient just to buy an assault terminator unit and join it with your choice of HQ. Either deep striking or riding in a land raider.

SM command squads on bikes are amazing but very expensive. My current favourite setup is:

Captain relic blade, bike
Apoth-Bike
Champion-stormshield, thunder hammer (to deal with mcs/dreads), melta
Vet-stormshield. lightning claws, melta gun
Vet-stormshield. lightning claws, melta gun
Vet-stormshield. lightning claws, melta gun

Gives you 4 meltas to blow transports away and assault the contents, decent firepower vs anything hard, is brutal in close combat and also very tough with FNP + stormshields

Remember to equip all them members differently; adding meltabombs here and there; along with some other equipment to take advantage of the new wound allocation rules!

The melta-guns are an easy drop, especially if this is a bike-heavy army; you will have plenty of melta otherwise. I find it best to fit in at least one fist/Thammer, just so you have something to counter MCs and dreds with. If you are short on points, you can also drop off a SS or 2. 1-2 is most you really need much of the time, unless you are hiting something like terminators or other nasty units with lots of powerattacks at the same initiative (I dont usually count rending here, because you can always wrap wounds around to minimize powerattacks).

I've got Khan's Command squad equipped with the following:

Bikes
Apothecary
Standard Bearer w/ TH/SS/Meltagun
Biker w/ TH/SS/Meltagun
2x Biker w/ LC/SS/Meltagun

The reason I take Hammers instead of Fists is because I field Vulkan as my main HQ.

Ciaphas-Cain wrote:Remember to equip all them members differently; adding meltabombs here and there; along with some other equipment to take advantage of the new wound allocation rules!

I've seen this a few times about the SM Command Squad, and it really doesn't make that much sense. It seems people hear about Nob Bikerz using the Wound Allocation rules and just apply that blindly to every bike hammer squad, however the difference is that Nobs have 2 wounds each, while SM Command Squads and Seer Councils only have 1. Wound Allocation doesn't really give you that much of an edge (and it really tends to slow the game down) when all your guys have 1 wound each. 1 Failed save = dead guy. With Nobz you can fail a save, then just never allocate a wound on that guy again and keep going like that, which lets you keep a lot more guys alive by spreading the wounds around.

I've thought of the 4 melta or flamer command squad in my salamanders army, even 2 of each which might be the better way to go.

The thought of having to take another HQ to get it is what stops me. Although I have been toying with an assault heavy list with both vulkan and lysander that could potentially use it.