Here's my approach:
when the opponent has something really nasty on the table, like a Riptide, Tyranid
MC, Wraithknight or Centurions, I deepstrike the Hammernators, wither one round of enemy shooting, and then assault the scary thing and hopefully take it out.
when the opponent has no such thing on the table, but plenty of "lesser" units, then I start my Hammernators on the table and march them up toward the enemy. I am a Black Templar player, so marching stuff up (preferably in transports) and re-rolling the run dice to get an average move distance of 10 inches during turn 1 and turn 2 is my default method of warfare. I usually take the fight to the enemy rather than the other way round. And if I can use my Hammernators as a fire magnet, it means my more fragile stuff isn't being targeted - stuff like Vanguard vets, scoring Initiates, etc. Yes, a 225 point squad doesnt really sound like a good bait or firemagnet, but the psychology factor is that he will end up pouring more firepower into the Hammernators than is necessary to take them out, and at 5 wounds and 2+/3++, they can still hold out a lot of my dice hold out. And even a single remaining model is still a threat, so he'll concentrate till the squad is wiped out (also to get that victory point), and a lone 2+/3++ model can still soak an irrational amount of fire.
I am not a fan of using a
LRC to transport the Hammernators into
CC. First off, the frag launchers are only useful for
LC termies, which are rendered redundant in 6th anyway, but even taking that into consideration, spending 500 points on such a unit isnt very effective,
IMO. That
LRC could be used to transport a big
cc-weapon crusader squad into combat with it sustaining minimal losses on the way. The Hammernators can still deep strike, and honestly if you are scared of taking 1 round of enemy fire, even on a 2+/3++ unit, you shouldnt be playing an assaulty army anways