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I've been toying with the idea of taking Shrike as an HQ in some larger point games, but I'm torn on the best assault unit to complement him. The reason is torn is ecause I'm not sure about the cost/benefit of each unit. 40K isn't a game where performance reflects cost. Here are my options:

1. Vanguard vets, 10 man, jump packs (325 points)
2. Assault Squad, 10 man (280 points)
3. Assault Termies, 5 man, either LC or TH/SS, (200 points)

The vanguard are so expensive that I don't want to do any other upgrades because I can't bring myself to sink that many points into a single unit. Pretty much the same with the Assault Squad, but I may stick a meltabomb or some plasma pistols on them. The Termies are cheaper and have better armor, but their 6" move limits mobility and I don't have plans to buy them a LR to cart them about. There's my dilemma, any thoughts on which would be best?

10x Terminators, TH/SS: 400pts.

Seriously. Outflank this, Fleet it, and you've got one hell of a threat.

I personally wouldn't put a walking unit of that cost in reserve.. What is they arrive in turn 4-5? You practically fought the battle with a 400 pts handicap.. Plus, the enemy can easily stay away from the flanks of the table, as you only have a threat range of 13-18 inches. I'd go for a Assault Squad, keeps the cost relatively low, you can add some Melta bombs/ Pistols etc, and with a power fist and Shrike this unit can take on a lot of close-combat orientated enemy units.

Feluca

I used Shrike + assault marines in the era before the release of the GK codex. They were mostly competitive then, although your assault marines had to outnumber grey hunters or BA tac squads by a factor of 2 or 3 to have any chance of winning in assault.

Since the GK codex came out, I don't see how a vanilla assault marine + shrike unit can have any chance of doing anything useful against a GK army. With all the power weapons--many going at I6 and str5--regular assault marines would just charge and die.

I'm currently retooling my Shrike army to include a unit of 10 TH/SS terminators and a second unit of terminators in a land raider.

Instead of one unit, why not the whole army?

Take 6 units of 10 CCW pistol scouts with a sarge with a combi melta and powerfist, infiltrate them just over 18 inches, scout move foward, get a first turn assault with all your dudes. Laugh.

Thanks for the input, I feel closer to a decision than before!

I may not be a tactical genius but I know a false dilemma when I see one. Why take one? Take two, three or however many you feel like cramming into the list. Personally, I'd use 10 assult marines and some TH/SS termies. That odda pack a whallop.

I agree with the 10 assault terminators. Infiltrate them with Shrike attached.

Even if you don't go with six squads of assaulting scouts (which is certainly overboard), a couple of units can give a nice alpha-strike component.

Vanguard vets: No. Attaching Shrike removes their Heroic Intervention ability.

Assault squad: No. I have to agree with Ragnar and Tom: assault space marines are just not hitty-killy enough to take on top-tier threats.

So the default option is assault terminators. More often than not, I'd start them on the table, infiltrating. And infiltrating to hold central/strategic ground. Once the game starts, this unit will be somewhat slow, even with fleet. You'll need other parts of the army (first-strike infiltrating/fleeting scouts, assault marine squads, etc.) to herd the enemy toward the terminators; or at least, to discourage them from simply moving out of their threat range.

Hmmm, I'm realizing that the infiltrating assault terminators could be the deploying part of a null deployment model army.

http://saimhann.blogspot.com/2010/03/null-deployment-army-model.html

In fact, I'm thinking this might be more interesting to try than the land raider version. Lots of infiltrating outflanking scouts (though not six units), some drop pods, deepstriking speeders--could make for a very interesting army to play.