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I'm toying between the following:
Rifleman Dreadnought
Land Speeder Typhoon
Storm Talon w/ Skyhammer

Price tags are all very similar once they are normalized (2 Dreads vs 2 Talons vs 3 Speeders)

Do one of these choices stand out from the others in an all comers list?

The talons provide air superiority. The other two can toss a lot of shots into the air and hope to get lucky, but that’s not the best idea.

How crowded are your FOC slots? Two elite slots for the dreads might be rough.

Storm Talons get you a lot of bang for your buck, and can reliably enter from reserves due to the rule that links them to other units for the purposes of doing so. As Nevelon said, they're capable of also shooting at air targets.

You're giving up the possibility of turn 1 shooting, and have to hope it arrives from reserves when you need it, but those are small prices to pay.

Stormtalons are pretty good. Very popular choice and with being a flyer they are relatively durable. Te big negative being that they come on turn 2 at earliest. Overall of the options listed they tend to be the best.

Sentinels of Terra lets you take dev centurion suits in the elites slot. If you wanted to field a bunch of these this is the way to go. It actually isn't a bad list if done correctly but it costs a lot and isn't very dynamic.

I imagine for heavy support fire you want long range firepower? SM have their most brutal shooting in the below 24" range.

Some of the fortifications can give you a lot of bang for your buck but they are not strictly speaking SM units. However an honorable mention should be given to vengeance batteries.

Attack bikes can get HB onto the field for some pretty decent prices. The MM is also not a bad option.

If you use forgeworld then your options expand drastically with relic speeder, contemptor dreads, etc. They really open up a possible ranged engagement type SM lists.

Typhoons if you're shooting down, Stormtalons if you're shooting up.

I'm less worried about strict AA as I'll likely have a pair of stalkers or hunters.
More worried about suppressing fast moving assault elements or speedy short range massed firepower.

 minigun762 wrote:
I'm less worried about strict AA as I'll likely have a pair of stalkers or hunters.
More worried about suppressing fast moving assault elements or speedy short range massed firepower.

Typhoons then. If you are worried about fast things, they may be able to avoid the dreads. Speeders can be where they need to be, and project fire across the table.

Good thinking with the added mobility of the speeders. That's a distinct advantage over the slower but still mobile Dreadnought.

You also make a very valid point about using more potential FOC slots with them compared to a single slot with speeders.

I like rifledreads, but you need to take at least two to make them worth it.

Im acctually a big fan of Speeders (owning about 14-15), hull points did weaken them but they got cheaper and their firepower is still impressive.

The stormtalon is also quite nice as it can get where it needs to be and has no LOS issues with its turret.

Eihnlazer wrote:
Im acctually a big fan of Speeders (owning about 14-15), hull points did weaken them but they got cheaper and their firepower is still impressive.

The stormtalon is also quite nice as it can get where it needs to be and has no LOS issues with its turret.

I think speeders actually got tougher in 6th. Sure, they have hull points, but how many shots did they take before exploding back in 5th? More then two? They have always fared poorly once someone payed attention to them. But the jink save will (sometimes) let you shurg off that one odd shot that someone decides to send their way.

Land Speeders have always been a collection of shrapnel that only maintains a vehicular shape due to the diligence to the chapter’s techmarines. It does not take much for them to return to their natural state.

If you have access to Imperial Armour 2 (the latest SM vehicle book) they have a Mortis Rifledread for 125 pts that has Skyfire and Interceptor, you can only take one per detachment unless you're Dark Angel, but great unit.

Typhoon speeders are by far the best speeders if you are going that route. The games you can play with 48" weapons on a fast platform are impressive. Unfortunately, serpent shields outrange you, but most Tau weapons don't. But AP 3 doesn't crack what we really care about. Frustrating, to say the least.

If not worried about AA just a few points more (30 more over dual skyhammer talons) you can get:

Landspeeder
2 mulitmelta

Landspeeder
2 multimelta

2 Landspeeders
2 heavy flamers

Deepstrike the melta speeders for easy tank killing. Opponents often ignore flamer speeders, especially if you hug high cover or use LoS blocking cover - until they decimate a unit.

But aren't you running into the same issue with deep striking where you can't insure they are on the table from turn one?

I have found most lists play better the less you non-pod deepstrike. Fliers are stuck with this, but other units aren't.

Poly Ranger wrote:
Deepstrike the melta speeders for easy tank killing. Opponents often ignore flamer speeders, especially if you hug high cover or use LoS blocking cover - until they decimate a unit.

minigun762 wrote:But aren't you running into the same issue with deep striking where you can't insure they are on the table from turn one?

You can start the melta on the table and treat it the same as he uses the HF ones. Stay out of LOS until you are close, then spring out and melt something. As a bonus, they also work like dangerous terrain: If you come within 24” of this speeder, your tank is going poof.

The nice thing about deep strike is you don’t have to use it. You can start on the table. But there will be games where it is to your advantage, and options are good.