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I run either the steel host or the emperors fist tank company. I can't decide which one I like more. Steel host has preferred enemy and has a hydra. The tank company has +1 ballistic skill and an engine seer, they also have some rules saying if they have 2-3 russes in a squad ram/tank shock they get some other bonus but honestly I've never used it. I know neither of these are really competitive as russes are pretty poor but which formations seems to be better?

I usually range with these formations from the bare 5 russes to pulling the full 12 russes to fill all slots.

I feel more solid shot russes are better for the fist tank company where more blast russes are better for the steel host.

IMO BS4 Russes are probably better than Preferred Enemy, expect perhaps if you were solely using Blast Weapon Russ' (especially Executioners, since you'll get to Re-Roll the Gets Hot). There are other ways to get Preferred Enemy anyway, if you really want it.

The Enginseer is probably more useful than the Hydra as well, mainly because you can get some added protection against Vehicle Damage table due to the Battlefield Doctrines rule the Emperor's Fist formation gets.

See that's what i figured. Was the tank company was better. But I recently played a game and it seemed like preferred enemy was needed as there were those occasional 1's to wound that could have been rerolled. Then again with the ballistic skill 3 I wouldn't hit as much.

Pretty much my go to russes is a vanquisher with pasks the tank commander. Then he's got a battle tank buddy or an executioner(depending on if I want fluffy game or not). But for the base the rest of the formation is another battle tank and 2 Eradicators with heavy bolters all around for the 3 squads.

The tech priest honestly doesn't do much. Mainly because at a distance nothing hurts my russes armor 14. But up close melta, guass and assault all usually bring enough fire power that my russes are destroyed in 1 go pretty much meaning the enginseer did nothing lol

Same goes for the hydra. It doesn't have interceptor so enemy fliers get the chance to shoot it before it shoots them. It's also easily destroyed being a bigger vehicle, open topped on a chimera hull.

I'm honestly not sure. The aquila makes some push for the tank company, especially if you are already running a command section for an artillery company.

On math, the BS 4 version is a flat 16% increase in damage for BS based tanks (slightly more for the TL lads). The PE is more situational, and probably better for blast tanks. Consider 1" less scatter will not make a consistently massive difference (i.e. less than 16%).

For the PE, you get 1/2*1/6 increased chance to hit, or 8% (you have a 1/6 chance to roll a 1, then need to roll a 4+). Then when wounding, you have an increased chance to wound. Now, how significant this is depends on the enemy. If you are firing a vanquisher cannon at a marine, it's 1/6*5/6, but if you're firing a punisher cannon at a wraith knight, it's 1/6*1/6. In the one case, you get a nearly 16% increase, which when combined with the 8% increase from the chance to hit is a 24% increase in damage output. In the other, you're stuck at a 2.7% increase, netting a total 10.7% benefit over the stock version, which is less than what you get when running BS 4 on the BS shooting tank. Now, the blast tank just doesn't care, as stated, I think the 1" is insignificant when you're dealing with a 3 or 5" radius blast with an average scatter of 7. Going to a 3" scatter from 4 will still leave both templates pretty well off target. However, the PE benefit is still there and can be significant due to the higher strength of the blast guns, getting you between 3 and 16% benefit for no loss in the "to hit" part of the benefit equation.

I think the tech priest is huge; forcing rerolls on lucky 6s is great, and allowing the big guns to fire when shaken is also pretty sexy. It also gives you a cheap option for PE through the trojan support vehicle and you can even repair the odd hullpoint.

Re: the hydra: I think that it's purpose in the Steel Host Is to draw the fire of incoming aircraft away from your Russes. The aircraft will "waste" 1 round's shooting at your 75 point Hydra instead of a 190 point Russ becase it fears that if it is left alone it will suffer through a lot of flak.