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I'm just getting back into 40k after a long hiatus and haven't even bought any of the new codex but I thought I'd ask Dakka who does full SM chapter makes the best use of a LS heavy list.

I'm feeling like dark angels (I really like Sammael on the land speeder too) is like the defacto choice here but I want some opinions on the matter.

You're probably right in Dark Angels, as they have access to the specialty speeders but Sammael is considerably better on his jetbike than the speeder.

The Land Speeder isn't emphasized by most armies, the one exception I can think of if is the Astral Claws. Their chapter tactics gives their fast skimmers (i.e. speeders) Scout, so you can move hella-fast in the first turn or outflank with them, as well as gives their bikes skilled rider and all their forces are stubborn.

If you want to speeder it up, Huron and company are probably your best bet. Also Huron has an awesome model, and awesome rules too, and the chapter has a few other special characters of varying utility out of Forgeworld.

@majorStoffer

What codex is Huron in?
Scout for all land speeders would certainly justify using them in large numbers.

From a codex marine POV, not a lot separates the different chapters when it comes to vehicles. Iron Hands get IWND, for when one gets winged, but not shot down (it can happen).

If you move beyond stock speeders, You have the DA special ones, as well as the C:SM Scout’s Land Speeder Storm. Imp. Fist scouts in LSSs can do some nice bolter drive-bys, while being objective secured. Plus they let you get troops in speeders, so you can get 100% battle forged speeder armies.

My vote is for Dark angels. Speeders become ObjSec when added to ravenwing squads. using combat squads you can get 4 different ObjSec units from a single troops choice. I can't think of any other army that can pull off those kind of shenanigans. also Dark angels have the ability to take 5 instead of 3 speeders as a single fast attack choice. 5 speeders mitigates the inherent weediness of AV10 and even if you are jinking every turn, the possibility of having 10 heavy bolters shooting! Even snap shooting, that's a lot of dakka.

Well if dark angels can take 5 LS per squad thats another pretty huge advantage - when looking where to dump an extra 50 points in a list adding a 50 point meat shield with an additional heavy bolter is a pretty fair deal.

Astral Claws (FW chapter) gives LS scout
IH gives LS IWND
DA can use the biggest number of LS (1 HQ with Sammael, 6 Troops with RWAS option, up to 15 Fast Attack and 3 Heavy Support). Sadly, no Elite LS option for the Darkies

 Vector Strike wrote:
Astral Claws (FW chapter) gives LS scout
IH gives LS IWND
DA can use the biggest number of LS (1 HQ with Sammael, 6 Troops with RWAS option, up to 15 Fast Attack and 3 Heavy Support). Sadly, no Elite LS option for the Darkies

The advantage with using Astral Claws or Iron Hands over Dark Angels is that they don't have to use Codex Dark Angels.

Speeders are fun, but I'd imagine you want something to back them up, and Dark Angels are just sort of, well, bad, Ravenwing in particular. Massively overcosted units and all that.

With the Claws in particular, you can back up your outflanking or scouting speeders with skilled rider bikes for significantly less than DA, while also getting access to the rather lethal Grav Gun on a relentless platform, and everything's stubborn just like DA too. You'll have more viable options to work with those speeders out of the basic Marine codex than DA.

 Xenomancers wrote:
Well if dark angels can take 5 LS per squad thats another pretty huge advantage - when looking where to dump an extra 50 points in a list adding a 50 point meat shield with an additional heavy bolter is a pretty fair deal.

One problem with the larger squads is that they can get in each other’s way and overkill. Frankly, I prefer pairs, and think a squadron of 3 might be the tipping point where you start to have problems. So while you can go to 5, I don’t think it’s a good idea.

One good question to ask yourself is what you want the non-speeder side of your army to look like? With codex marines, you can probably do around 1,300 points of pure speeders (6 LSS w/ 5 scouts ea, and 3x3 speeder squadrons w/weapons) Add a tricked out character on a bike and you could have a functional 1,500 point list. Better vs. some lists then others, and with a few big drawbacks, but playable. I think a more viable build would be to form your list around a core of 2 LSSs and 4 speeders (either 2x2, or 2x1x1) which would make a fun, solid little 500 point chunk or your army.

If you are not picky about the type of land speeders used then I would recommend land speeder storms to carry units of scouts in an iron hand list. They can then load up on a lot of good punishing units to complement the list.

In terms of the basic speeder the dark angels and astral claws do it best. Dark angels have dark shrouds and ObjSec land speeders. Astral claws can scout (or outflank) the landspeeder up with multi meltas or heavy flamers and do some serious damage. You will seriously struggle either way though if you just take land speeders.

Dark Angels have the most support for lots of Land Speeders with the Darkshroud, other Space Marines use Land Speeders to plug holes, not as a core.