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Here is the scenario (basically the ONLY units I have to work with).

Im trying to balance my army out for well rounded, but competitive fun. (don't mistake competitive for tournament competitive )

My army at present has a good range of guns and gun types. (Centurion devastators with Grav-cannons for instance, devastator squads with las cannons, lots of bolters, etc). My point being, Im satisfied with the "shooting gallery."

Outside of the few tactical sergeants that have a sword, I have no real H2H, CC, Rapid assault units.

Attached below Is my thoughts on making 2 units I guess that do just that, and pretty much only that.

By power weapons I mean swords.

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On the command bike squad that should give me the ability to (on one turn).

Move 12"
Shoot Bolters from bikes in shooting phase (relentless), remember the emphasis on these units is NOT shooting.

Assault ~12" or something.
on command, bikes get 2 attacks + 1 for dual weapons + 1 for charging, 4 attacks per bike, 20 total. (hammer of wrath adds + 5 more total?)
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On captains bike, same as above, except thunder hammer, 3 attacks base + 1 for the charge.

Thoughts, advice, or alternate load outs for those units?

How many points to you want to sink into them? Chapter Tactics?

I’m going to toss out the required “If you want to be competitive, forgo the CC and just load up on grav guns” You want a CC unit though, so lets work with that.

First, drop the stormbolter from your captain. it’s not worth the points on a foot captain, and the times it’s better then the TL’d bolters on the relentless bike are miniscule. That said, I’ve paid 5 points for looks before, so if you wan’t to keep it, why not. TH/SS is a solid pick. Powerfist is not bad if you want to shave 5 points. If you have more points to dump in, the Shield Eternal gives some nice perks for a heft pricetag.

The command squads needs the apothecary. With T5, you should be getting that FNP against most everything, and it adds a critical layer of survivability to the squad.

If you are building a CC command squad, the champion is also very good. For the price of a power sword, you get an extra point of WS and a 6++ plus the sword. It’s free upgrades, why not take them?

Power swords are a niche weapon. They kill MEQ. That’s a pretty big niche, but you might want to consider what kind of things worry you that need this sort of troubleshooter unit.

As long as the captain is tanking, you can probably forgo the storm shields on the squad, but after a certain amount of points get sunk into a unit, you might want to go all-in for a little more durability. At least on one or two guys.

 Nevelon wrote:
How many points to you want to sink into them? Chapter Tactics?

I’m going to toss out the required “If you want to be competitive, forgo the CC and just load up on grav guns” You want a CC unit though, so lets work with that.

First, drop the stormbolter from your captain. it’s not worth the points on a foot captain, and the times it’s better then the TL’d bolters on the relentless bike are miniscule. That said, I’ve paid 5 points for looks before, so if you wan’t to keep it, why not. TH/SS is a solid pick. Powerfist is not bad if you want to shave 5 points. If you have more points to dump in, the Shield Eternal gives some nice perks for a heft pricetag.

The command squads needs the apothecary. With T5, you should be getting that FNP against most everything, and it adds a critical layer of survivability to the squad.

If you are building a CC command squad, the champion is also very good. For the price of a power sword, you get an extra point of WS and a 6++ plus the sword. It’s free upgrades, why not take them?

Power swords are a niche weapon. They kill MEQ. That’s a pretty big niche, but you might want to consider what kind of things worry you that need this sort of troubleshooter unit.

As long as the captain is tanking, you can probably forgo the storm shields on the squad, but after a certain amount of points get sunk into a unit, you might want to go all-in for a little more durability. At least on one or two guys.

Thank you for skipping the obligatory "grav guns, grav guns, everything with grav guns" and the "buy this unit instead" since I've already taken care of grav weapons in other units, and cant purchase more units. what i listed is pretty much ALL i have to work with.

Im leaning very heavily towards iron hands, or imperial fists, probably iron hands, though.

I guess the closest to a "specific" target I have, would be counter assault units, with some ability to tie up units in case I cant get my centurion grav squads to the target after deep strike.

The think about your target thing was really a dig at the power swords. I like them, they have a job; and that job is killing MEQ with no invuln save. Against everything else, you are better served with an axe or a maul. So when you look at the battle field, and deciding what demands the attention of your captain and crew, is it going to be a basic MEQ? Probably not. Odds are you are going to have bigger fish to fry. So gear to kill those threats.

Definitely recommend Iron Hands Command Squad on Bikes. The +1 to your FNP is fantastic. Even better in a Fist of Medusa attachment (which would usually give you an additional +1 FNP) occasionally I like to run with special weapons (yes, including fluffy Grav :|) but I have more fun charging in and smashing stuff.

I like to run mine with CC weapons unless I'm facing a star that has better CC than me (Typically a Wolf-star)
2 Veterans with Power Claws
2 Veterans with Power Fist & Storm Shields
Apparently the Apothecary can no longer take upgrades but that is OK.

I recently added St. Celestine to my collection but have yet to play a game with her. Being able to allow the squad to H&R as well as gain Zealot or Furious Charge/Counter Attack for a turn is great. That and she's an additional tank for the unit. Overall fantastic addition. I try to tone this unit down in friendly games (for example changing CTs or running a CAD instead)