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Thanks to some lowball ebay bids I have ended up with another 5 Terminators, I really bought them so I could put a Cyclone on one and then have the heavy weapon choice for my existing squad (currently running with an Assault Cannon)

I can however forsee using all ten from time to time if I play any big battles (I have 2000 pts including all 10 and won't be buying any more minis for a good long while!)

How do people use them? I have seen some say run as ten, big unit, lots of shots down range and tough whereas others seem to to prefer leaving them in 5's and having more flexibility.

I don't own a land raider or use deep strike normally but thinking about teleporting the whole lot into the middle of a horde and letting rip with the storm bolters is quite appealing...!

If it were me I would convert them into assault termies and buy a Land Raider for them. (Expensive and time-consuming, I know.) I think that will give you far more satisfaction than running them as tactical termies.

If the only real decision you're trying to reach, however, is whether or not to run a group of tactical termies as a 10 man or 2 5 man squads, then my recommendation is for 2 5 man squads. On the off chance that you run into your biggest weakness (massed small arms fire) then you limit the damage big blobs can do to you.

Depends on your other elite slots. If they are cramped (which happens quite often even with the new codex) put them in a single unit and combat-squad them. The additional power sword on the second sergeant is not that great that you would want it no matter what, so combat-squadding leaves you with the most flexibility.

 Jimsolo wrote:
If it were me I would convert them into assault termies and buy a Land Raider for them. (Expensive and time-consuming, I know.) I think that will give you far more satisfaction than running them as tactical termies.

If the only real decision you're trying to reach, however, is whether or not to run a group of tactical termies as a 10 man or 2 5 man squads, then my recommendation is for 2 5 man squads. On the off chance that you run into your biggest weakness (massed small arms fire) then you limit the damage big blobs can do to you.

I'd argue Ion Accelerators and the like are a bigger weakness...

 Jimsolo wrote:
If it were me I would convert them into assault termies and buy a Land Raider for them. (Expensive and time-consuming, I know.) I think that will give you far more satisfaction than running them as tactical termies.

If the only real decision you're trying to reach, however, is whether or not to run a group of tactical termies as a 10 man or 2 5 man squads, then my recommendation is for 2 5 man squads. On the off chance that you run into your biggest weakness (massed small arms fire) then you limit the damage big blobs can do to you.

I have actually also picked up 5 assault Termies as well that will eventually sit in a Land Raider but for now are destined to sit on the shelf till I can convince the wife I need to spend the best part of 40 quid on a plastic tank

I think Combat squading might be the best way, I need to get the power sword off the second sgt but have a bunch of spare fists in my bits box. If I ever do decide to then just teleport the lot into the middle of some insanity I won't need to proxy a fist onto a model who clearly has a sword!

One thing to consider when deepstrikeing a full 10 man squad is the footprint. Particularly you youngns’ with your big bases. Unless you are forward deploying beacons, it can be hard to find a safe LZ big enough for them.

For the most part, I'd prefer 2x5 squads. But I rarely run more then 5 in a list.

I run TDA heavy Grey Knights, and tend to take my Termies intended for CC in full 10man squads, while my shooty Termies are combat squaded into 5man fire bases. That might not be exactly what you were looking for in Marine TDA, you might find it better to MSU your Tac TDA, and max out your CC TDA (cap unit size based on transport).

SJ

3x squads of 10 each. Deep strike them all. Every game.

It will eventually work!

Or, if I'm being honest, knock them into 2x 5-man squads. Put both heavy weapons in once squad and the storm bolters with sergeant in another squad to go monstrous creature hunting with their power fists.

I'd go for a 10 rather than two 5's. With the two squads you're just begging for them not to arrive at the same time, and so get split up, time-wise. It's also much tougher to land two units of 5 in one small spot than a single unit of 10, because the one squad can mishap off the other, which means they're more likely to get split up space-wise as well.

Terminators are about force concentration, which splitting them up is detrimental to. If what you wanted was flexible suicide squads that killed something and then you didn't care what happened to them, just take sternguard in a drop pod.

The only time I'd take termies in a small squad would be due to space constraints in a land raider, but both SM and CSM have a CC option of extra-concentrated terminators that I'd use instead of terminators in that case.

For deepstriking, though, one big splash is better than two small ones.

 Ailaros wrote:
but both SM and CSM have a CC option of extra-concentrated terminators that I'd use instead of terminators in that case.

What do you mean by this, if you don't mind my asking? You mean kit out a different unit of terminators for close combat?

I think it depends on what you're facing. You can opt to combat squad them when it's appropriate to do so.

 throwoff wrote:
Thanks to some lowball ebay bids I have ended up with another 5 Terminators, I really bought them so I could put a Cyclone on one and then have the heavy weapon choice for my existing squad (currently running with an Assault Cannon)

I can however forsee using all ten from time to time if I play any big battles (I have 2000 pts including all 10 and won't be buying any more minis for a good long while!)

How do people use them? I have seen some say run as ten, big unit, lots of shots down range and tough whereas others seem to to prefer leaving them in 5's and having more flexibility.

I don't own a land raider or use deep strike normally but thinking about teleporting the whole lot into the middle of a horde and letting rip with the storm bolters is quite appealing...!

Always build the list with them in 10 and decide if you want to combat squad when they are deployed or deep strike. That decision totally depends on how your opponent is deployed and the needs of the battle.

jasper76 wrote:

 Ailaros wrote:
but both SM and CSM have a CC option of extra-concentrated terminators that I'd use instead of terminators in that case.

What do you mean by this, if you don't mind my asking? You mean kit out a different unit of terminators for close combat?

CSM have mutilators, which are 6 terminators of durability with about 4.5 terminators of choppiness (but are a little better because they can swap weapons to whichever is better), and only take up 3 terminators worth of space in a land raider. This allows you to have, say, 3 mutilators, abaddon, and an AoBF terminator lord in a single land raider, which has way more killing power than 5 terminators alone could ever dream of (it also costs a lot more, but I digress)

Meanwhile, regular SM have assault centurions. Are they regular bulky or very bulky?

Ah, OK. New to CSM, and I haven't looked too closely at any of the units they produce in finecast.

I play DA deathwing, and would certainly run them in a 2x5 set up. DW need more scoring troops, and can't combat squad heavy weapons together.

For normal SM I would still lean towards a 2x5 setup, either combat squading the heavy weapons together or not, because 2 squads offers more flexibility.

2 squads can contest more objectives, and threaten more enemy units per turn.