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So I have finally gotten the money to replace my old crappy termie models for the new awesome ones and I just can't decide between hammernators or lightning claw guys. I usually run them in a squad of 5 with a termie chaplain in a land raider crusader. With the lightning claw guys they really benefit from the furious charge and can reroll hits and wounds which just sounds awesome and will blend up enemies real nicely . The thunderhammer termies seem really good as well with their 3+ invul they have. The chaplain would still be good for the hit rerolls and the extra strength could be used to crush tanks but it might be better to run a librarian with them instead. So what is the better way to run these guys now in 5th? I'm leaning towards claws but I figured I would ask for the public opinion.

Basically TH/SS is overwhelmingly the best way. You want to be able to count on them against dedicated assault units and LC termies are just not reliable against monsters, higher-initiative dudes with power weapons like characters, or high power shooting.

Furious charge is pretty nice on claw termies but that's sort of beside the point when hammertermies don't even need it. Chaplain is probably not worth it for you unless he's your only HQ and you don't want to switch him for a libarian. He gives them fearless too, so they can't disengage.

Hmm that is true I didn't think about the monstrous creatures. I am willing to replace the chaplain with the librarian that has a storm shield. What powers are best used with the termies? I assume the one that makes people reroll invul saves would be handy to get that extra chance to instant kill people but what else?

If you like LCs I think the sweet spot is going to be 2 or 3 SS/TH and then the rest with 2x LC.

So either 6 I1 S8 attacks and 12 I4 S4 rerolling wounds or
9 I1 S8 and 8 I4 S4 attacks. The only no-no in 5th is probably taking a unit full of LCs. You need the 3++ SS saves for ideally two people in the unit or you are going to watch the squad get lit up by the AP2 and AP1 stuff out there. So the question is do you need 3 guys because you roll a lot of 1s and 2s or do you feel lucky and want to go with just two.

I have a simple rule with ATs:

If you can get furious charge, 2 or 3 lightning claws per five men is a good idea.
If you can't, TH/SS wall to wall.

I5 lets you start hitting a good portion of things first, rather than simul.

Also, either take the assault terminator box, fit them as TH/SS and buy 5 AoBR and convert the lightning claws onto them, or magnetize. Because i'm sure that sooner or later lightning claws with the vanilla codex will be useful again.

I figure I can get the charge if they are in the land raider charging out and then wipe out the unit and hopefully consolidate back in to avoid getting shot. I used to run them as 3 lightning claws and 2 thunder hammer back in 4th with a chaplain so I get all those rerolls at higher initiative and strength and if anything survived that then the hammers could mop up what was left or deal with monstrous creatures and tanks.

To which crappy terminator models are you referring? Like old metal ones? If you are truly ditching them, send me a P.M.

yeah the old metal ones but if you are interested in them sorry one of my friends already called dibs on them for his army and traded me some extra razorbacks he had that I desparately needed for my army.

Depends on the army. Both are great in their own way depends on what you want. Actually I think mass LC is what marine lists need.

If you're playing out of the Vanilla codex, how are you giving Assault Terminators Furious Charge?

If you're playing out of the Blood Angels codex, you should probably take Unleash Rage as one of your powers. It gives you Preferred Enemy when it goes off, so you get your re-rolls to hit just like you would with a Chaplain. Shield is the other power you want if you take a Land Raider.

Hasn't the GK codex significantly hurt the desirability of Lightning Claws as compared to TH/SS? Even with FC, you're going second to I6.

Yeah I'm playing out of the vanilla codex it's just been a long time since I have used termies with chaplains. If I remember right they used to give the unit they were with furious charge or there was something I used to do that gave them that and now I just realized they don't have that anymore. Well at least I realized that before I played a game and accidently cheated someone. Well thunderhammers just got a lot better . As far as grey knights I haven't played them that much. I actually played them for the first time a few days ago with my orks and man was that an eye opener(damn you cleansing flame!) So high initiative has never really been an issue.

Chaplains don't give furious charge anymore. They only give re-rolls to hit if you are the one assaulting. The only way to get furious charge in the vanilla codex is to take Khan as a special character.

While not the most competative option, the lightning claws plus chaplain is extreme fun. Re-roll to hit, re-roll to wound, with a ton of attacks tends to mean an entire unit is dead when you charge. Nothing like rolling piles of dice over and over again. Yeah, once you obliterate the enemy unit you tend to be standing around for a turn of shooting... but for sheer fun it is hard to beat it.

-Myst