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I am going to start a Raptors Army (For background, see here: http://warhammer40k.wikia.com/wiki/Raptors )

Anyway, they're sit n' shoot guys but I'm looking for a counter assault force that doesn't need a land raider or has to footslog it's way across the board.

I have thought about Hammernators and they are just not fast enough and Dreads are not as tough as they used to be, So I decided on Vanguard and Heroic Intervention.

I'm going to use some scouts in a LSS with locator beacons to make them accurate enough not to miss the target.

And now to the question:
How many Vanguard should I take and what Should I give them to maake the best Take-All-Comers build for Heroic Intervention Vangurd?

Thanks for your time, Dakka.

They get expensive very quickly so that will affect how you kit them out. For an assault oriented squad I would forego any sort of special guns for more bodies: 10 man squad, bp/ccw, jump-packs, then I would say a couple of storm shield/power-axe dudes and a couple of power weapons dudes.

I was going to try and be sparing on the points, maybe 3/4 PW and SS guys?

 The Crusader wrote:
I was going to try and be sparing on the points, maybe 3/4 PW and SS guys?

No.

VV are a decent unit, they're just very counter intuitive to use. Although I'm talking about BA VV, since without DoA, they're rather useless.

IMO, bring 6-7 guys. Throw a power sword (or even power spear if you're feeling saucy) on the sergeant (so he can survive a challenge) and maybe another one in the squad. The key thing is, you don't want to win combat first round. You want to do enough damage as to where you can finish them off in their turn. Now that's almost impossible if you kit them out with power weapons, but if you keep them cheap, numerous and a sergeant that can handle a challenge, then VV can be great for taking out Long Fangs, Havoks, Lootas and the like.

They are still expensive even with limited gear. It's pretty nuts.

Theyre expensive but amazing if you can lock down some long fangs or other long range shooters and contest objectives in your opponents DZ

"Expensive" and "amazing if" are two words I don't like to see in sentences together. The BA codex is full of units that have this problem. "Amazing always" is the proper term for expensive units.

So should I go for Power Axe on 1/2 of the Vanguard and some kind of high init PW on the sergeant. Is it worth taking any SS at all?

I'm not a fan of stormshields on my regular guys.

Would this work?:

Vanguard Veteran Squad
7 Vanguard, Sgt w/ SS & Lightning Claw. 1 Vanguard w/ PP & Power Maul. 1 Vanguard w/ PP & Power Sword. 4 Vanguard w/ BP & CCW. Squad has Melta Bombs and Jump Packs

Can I ask what codex you are running these from, because BA have the best Vanguards

 The Crusader wrote:
Would this work?:

Vanguard Veteran Squad
7 Vanguard, Sgt w/ SS & Lightning Claw. 1 Vanguard w/ PP & Power Maul. 1 Vanguard w/ PP & Power Sword. 4 Vanguard w/ BP & CCW. Squad has Melta Bombs and Jump Packs

I'd drop the plasma pistols.

I'd go 7, sgt with SS&Lclaw, 1 maul, 1 sword, a few meltabombs and jump packs. The thing is you will *need* to reduce the scatter somehow

 Spyral wrote:

 The Crusader wrote:
Would this work?:

Vanguard Veteran Squad
7 Vanguard, Sgt w/ SS & Lightning Claw. 1 Vanguard w/ PP & Power Maul. 1 Vanguard w/ PP & Power Sword. 4 Vanguard w/ BP & CCW. Squad has Melta Bombs and Jump Packs

I'd drop the plasma pistols.

I'd go 7, sgt with SS&Lclaw, 1 maul, 1 sword, a few meltabombs and jump packs. The thing is you will *need* to reduce the scatter somehow

Three words, Descent of Angels

 Spyral wrote:

 The Crusader wrote:
Would this work?:

Vanguard Veteran Squad
7 Vanguard, Sgt w/ SS & Lightning Claw. 1 Vanguard w/ PP & Power Maul. 1 Vanguard w/ PP & Power Sword. 4 Vanguard w/ BP & CCW. Squad has Melta Bombs and Jump Packs

I'd drop the plasma pistols.

I'd go 7, sgt with SS&Lclaw, 1 maul, 1 sword, a few meltabombs and jump packs. The thing is you will *need* to reduce the scatter somehow

This sounds like a reasonable compromise. You need to keep your points down, while maintaining your impact.

There aren't many things to help with the scatter, but there are two good places for locator beacons. Drop pods and scout bikers. Both of who do useful things. Vanguard are hard to look at in isolation. They need to be integrated into a list carefully..

Would an Axe be better than a sword for some AP 2 ability? Also, I was thinking about replacing the PP with SS for extra suvivability. Reference the scatter issue, My original plan was to use a LSS with some combat scouts but I can't remember if either can take a Locator Beacon. If not I'll just take some Scout Bikers.

Definitely go Blood Angels. Descent of Angels means you'll be able to drop them anywhere you need to, instead of being shackled to the Scouts' location. I run mine with 5 men and a power fist (plus the Sergeant with his free sword) for 190 points.
To fill in the rest of the allied detachment, I'd suggest a Librarian and a 5-man Assault Squad with your choice of flamer or melta and possibly an equivalent pistol on the Sergeant. The Librarian can stick with your Raptors and give them those much-sought Divination powers, and if you roll the Assault Squad to arrive the same turn as the Vanguard (now quite likely given it's a 3+ with DOA's reroll) you can use them to soften the Vanguard's target on their way in, AND provide a speed bump to get in the way of any counter-attacking units that would seek to interrupt.

Altogether this setup should set you back around 400 points... not too bad.