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I have 2 10 man terminator squads, currently equipped with 1 heavy weapon and a cyclone launcher in each.
I am debating on if I should make 5 men from each unit close combat, or if I should make 1 10 man unit all shooty and the other 10 man unit close combat.
And for the close combat, should it be lightning claw pairs or thunder hammer/storm shields?


Same question goes for my 2 squads of 3 TWC which are currently equipped with pistols and CCWs (should I leave 1 somewhat shooty with the pistols or both CC?)

I don't use termies so no opinion on them. I run my thunderwolves with stormshield/chainsword. Six attacks per model is alright. And they have decent survivability.

TWC equipment is simple. Everyone take a storm shield, pack leader take the Thurnder Hammer, if you concern fronting troublesome MC or vehicles, then another guy may take a hammer / powerfist as well. The rest guys all taking chainswords.

If your terminators are WG Terminators, their equipment maybe a bit more interesting. I armed my as below:
Pack Leader: TH/SS
One guy w Assault Cannon and Powerfist
rest 3 guys all take Stormshield and combi plasma.

They are mainly used to deepstrike and shoot things up, then if possible, charge into another units to kill as many as possible, and survive quite OK against non Mortal Wound attacks. Not competitive for sure, no Marine armies are competitive in the late 2018, but these two units are ok-ish to use.

Hope that help.

I've magnetized them all but this is what I'm usually giving to them:

- WG termies: a 5 man squad with 2 or 3 dudes with TH/SS and the other guys with stormbolter and frost sword. Cheap enough but decent with wulfen/wulfen stone, wolf pries and Arjac buffs. I wouldn't consider any other loadout. The assault cannon is too expensive IMHO, it shoots one turn on 4s and then you must be into combat or the unit is gone and wasted. At the moment it's really really hard to fit more than 5 in a 2000 points list so you can assemble your models like you prefer, since you have a lot of them. Otherwise magnetized, always the optimal solution.

- TWC: squads of 5 or 6 dudes, always 3 storm shields, I don't bring more because in my lists everything is armored stuff and they attract a lot of anti infantry shots and mortal wounds hits. Then usually full wolf claws, with a stock dude to soak tha AP- hits and mortal wounds. Otherwise full frost swords, eventually with the stock dude as well.

- Characters on TWC: it's usually a wolf lord with thunder hammer and bolter. No shield because it's already god a 4++. Otherwise a Battle priest with thunder hammer and shield.

Thank you all this helps a lot
basically I should bypass the claws and go with TH/SS CS/SS options for the close combat

Thunder Hammers are generally a trap option in my opinion.

16 points per weapon is insane. You can be functional without the absolute best weapon in the squad.

Here's a sample loadout:

Thunderwolf Cavalry #1: Storm Shield, Chain Sword
Thunderwolf Cavalry #2: Storm Shield, Chain Sword
Thunderwolf Cavalry #3: Storm Shield, Frost Sword
Thunderwolf Cavalry #4: Storm Shield, Frost Sword
Thunderwolf Cavalry Leader: Wolf Claws

While this doesn't have the punch of a thunder hammer, there are numerous units you will fight with these guys that are not multi-wound. You want two cheap guys to soak wounds. That's the job of the chainswords.

Remember, what you are paying for with Thunderwolf Cavalry, over any other choice - such as bikers, Wulfen, etc - is the 3 attacks from the wolf itself. Those attacks in and of themselves are anti-infantry. Strength 5, -1, is anti-infantry. Additionally, they are fast. They are faster than Boyz, Genestealers, or any other assault infantry, not assuming buffs or other stuff that can benefit either boyz or genestealers, or warlord traits that can benefit TWC (like advance and charge, although they should have got this as a stratagem). Unlike Wulfen, their T5 insulates them somewhat from counter-punches that come from these units.

What the game design is telling you is that these guys are designed to kill infantry.

Here's the good news, though:

You really can't build these guys wrong. They're not a competitive choice, and, if you're really collecting wolves, you're going to end up with at least 10 of these guys, which means you can have a lot of variety in how you build them.

If you've found yourself with a pack of 3, and you just want to see them on the table, they look absolutely killer with Axes, Swords, and Shields. It's Viking-esque. And if you're not playing competitively, just play counts-as. It's more important when getting started to have something you really want to paint as opposed to chasing the meta. The meta will always change and unless you're prepared to magnetize (ugh) or buy new kits to chase the meta, just ride it out with badass looking models.

Cheers, awoo

I can't remember exactly what my 6 TWC are equipped with at the moment, but I'm pretty sure most of them were chainswords and pistols. A few with SS
I was thinking of just leaving them like that, then when I get some more I can equip them with TH/SS

I think I'm going to take my 10 man squad of termies and equip them with TH/SS one has a heavy flamer which should be good close up so I can leave him, 1 has the cyclone for some long range support as they move around.