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This is a little loose, in that I'm not really expecting the answer to be strictly all the time or anything.

This is more to see what people typically tend to prefer in a semi-competitive environment for 30K, with narrative elements. Both of these squads can quickly fill out, but start to get expensive fast with upgrades, still are only in power armor, and typically aren't as powerful as many other choices with most forces.

I play Salamanders, so I do love basic Heavy Flamer Heavy Support, and Flamer Tactical Support Squads due to their relative cheapness. I get that the various Legions have different advantages, but I'm more interested in your experiences with the Legions you guys play, and which weapons yield the best results for you.

Looking at the 10xlascannon and 10xautocannon squads on my painting table I hope they aren't comple crap!

Though then again I doubt our games are ever going to be particularly competive. 40k isn't, FB wasn't, epic wasn't. Nothing is really. We are more into fluffy lists and narrative campaigns so even point values aren't neccessarily even. Doubtful that's going to change with 30k.

But if I get to go to tournament maybe like once a year would be nice to be able to field them.

It's totally worth taking bigger squads. You're dealing with bigger/tougher targets than you are in 40k (Spartans, Knights, twenty-man World Eaters squads with FNP4+), so you don't run into the waste-of-firepower issues you would taking ten heavy weapons in 40k.

That said I do recommend avoiding full ten-man squads of guys with expensive weapons (plasmaguns, lascannons) since they're actually really expensive, where a ten-man squad with autocannons or heavy flamers isn't quite as much of an issue. Plasma in particular you can probably get away with 7-8, since you can move out of a vehicle and fire at full BS.

It depends. I like running 10 man support squads with Volkite, but tend to run 5 man ones so I can stick Maun or a chaplain with them and get them all in a drop pod. So yes, 10-man squads are good, but so are 5-man ones.

It will largely depend on what they're armed with. Expensive guns? Probably a smaller unit is better. Plan to jump out of a Rhino or droppod to light something up? A small squad could work there, too. Plan to sit back and let loose with the CHOOM? Then go for the full ten-man CHOOM-train!

The problem with heavy and support squads, is that they can get really expensive, and can be easy to kill (they're still just the same dudes as the rest of your army). So, you'll really feel the pain every time that lascannon or plasmagun dies. But if you can deploy them for a quick attack (jumping out of a transport to basically be a one-shot wonder), or hide them in some good cover, with maybe even an apothecary to boost them, they can be good.

Things I'd take regardless of Legion/Rite:
10 Man Tactical Support Squad with Plasma or Melta with transport (Rhino, Landraider, Flyer, Drop Pod, whatever) - They will kill anything that gets into range, so they're dead killy and I'd argue one of the best DISTRACTION CARNIFEXES in the game.
5 Man Heavy Support Squad with Missiles. Good defensive unit that finds a place in any TAC list due to it's decent damage output, fairly low cost and they fit in cover.

Things I'd only take because of certain Legions/Rites:
Imperial Fists 10 man Heavy Support Squad with Lascannons. Very expensive, but it's 10 Lascannons with Tank Hunters! Need I explain myself?

 TheManWithNoPlan wrote:
Things I'd take regardless of Legion/Rite:
10 Man Tactical Support Squad with Plasma or Melta with transport (Rhino, Landraider, Flyer, Drop Pod, whatever) - They will kill anything that gets into range, so they're dead killy and I'd argue one of the best DISTRACTION CARNIFEXES in the game.
5 Man Heavy Support Squad with Missiles. Good defensive unit that finds a place in any TAC list due to it's decent damage output, fairly low cost and they fit in cover.

Things I'd only take because of certain Legions/Rites:
Imperial Fists 10 man Heavy Support Squad with Lascannons. Very expensive, but it's 10 Lascannons with Tank Hunters! Need I explain myself?

What Chapter are you playing? My worry with plasma would be Gets Hot if you don't have something to compensate for it, but it would be massively powerful if it got to wipe a couple squads.

I run the Support Squads with my Blood Angels and attach Apothecaries. They're not the ideal, but the FnP helps them live with Gets Hot! I'll generally only lose two to four marines to it per game.
Friendly losses: ~3 marines
Enemy losses: ~ 8 Terminators (If you make it into Rapid Fire range)
I find that to be good trade, and attaching an Apothecary makes it better, but many more competitive players prefer to avoid Plasma entirely.

My problem with putting lots of points into HS squads are the prevelance of things like Typhons and quad mortars w/phospex. They erase infantry units with frightening ease.