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I have recently come into possession of 10 Predator tanks in plastic (well technically 5, the others are on preorder for this weekend). As I've been reducing my stock of games, I found a Baneblade still in Box behind some blankets in my closet (when did I buy this??) and I started thinking, Armored Spearhead is a thing. The question is, which Chapter would have benefits for vehicles? I am assuming Iron Hands for Loyalists, but what about Traitors? I was playing around with the list in battlescribe, and it says I can nominate one of my Predators to be a tank commander, but then won't give me the option to do so...is there a better list builder app out there?

Iron Warriors gain buffs to weapon strength against Vehicles, Dreadnoughts, Fortifications, and Automata.
The rest of the Traitor Legions are pretty "meh" when it comes to buffing vehicles, however. At best there would be Night Lords with their bonus against Pinned or Falling Back units or the Death Guard with their lack of Movement penalties.
As for a list builder, honestly, the books themselves are the best option. Battlescribe is essentially abandonware with only the efforts of community members volunteering their time to keep anything updated. Their work is always appreciated but it takes a long time for errors to get fixed.

 Gert wrote:
Iron Warriors gain buffs to weapon strength against Vehicles, Dreadnoughts, Fortifications, and Automata.
The rest of the Traitor Legions are pretty "meh" when it comes to buffing vehicles, however. At best there would be Night Lords with their bonus against Pinned or Falling Back units or the Death Guard with their lack of Movement penalties.
As for a list builder, honestly, the books themselves are the best option. Battlescribe is essentially abandonware with only the efforts of community members volunteering their time to keep anything updated. Their work is always appreciated but it takes a long time for errors to get fixed.

I thought as much with the BS issue. Thanks! I had considered Iron Warriors, but so many people play them in my area that I wanted to find a legion that was less common.

Hmm, I could do Dark Angels then. I think they have some vehicle rules that are pretty decent. Strictly speaking this for "fun pick up games" and not competitive, but I'm thinking about putting a Praetor and some Terminators (I love terminators) in a Stormlord and then having the armor for theme.

Honestly? Pick the Legion you like the look of the most or one you like the background of. There's no point in picking a Legion if you end up hating the paint scheme.

 Gert wrote:
Honestly? Pick the Legion you like the look of the most or one you like the background of. There's no point in picking a Legion if you end up hating the paint scheme.

This is what I was thinking and was also advice I just got from a local player. I'm inclined to just do this up as Loyalist EC, because I love the flavor and background of their legion along with how awesome that purple color is. Phoenix Guard terminators and that stunning new Tartaros Praetor.

The list I am thinking is pretty simple.

Armored company

1 Predator Commander
1 Praetor, Tartaros
1 Squad of PG Termies w/Landraider Proteus

4 Predators
1 Legion Stormblade

Adjust points as needed.

With just base equipment (i.e. no turret upgrades or weapon swaps) you're looking at 1880. If you want to include the Stormblade you have to be playing at least 3k points, however. Personally, I would lean more heavily into the smaller tanks and maybe sprinkle some Tacticals in Rhinos or Proteus Carriers to give you some board control. A LoW can be good but IMO they tend to attract too much fire and you might get a turn or two at best, especially if your opponent has a lot of AT.

I'm still getting a feel for my group, in discussing it further this afternoon, most games here are played at 2500 points, with some going as high as 3,000 and a few running around 1850. I had a chance to see some of the armies that get played around here and with a few exceptions, most seem to be thematic, rather than rules streamlined for competition. If I crank this up to 2500 points, I might add in a few more things. I was considering grabbing some breachers as I adore them and they would look sick advancing alongside the tanks. I will also probably just not run Armored Spearhead when I do that so as to not have to buy rhinos.

Another thing I need to find out is that this group apparently has some custom rules for dealing with LoW models, so I need to get ahold of them and find out what they are. From the discussion I had a little while ago, it seems they buff them somehow, but the player wasn't sure how since she didn't run any LoW in her armies.

I do enjoy 2k games currently. 3k is what our group used to play but when the rules changed we decided to drop the points to learn the game and it has stayed as our new regular level of points.
It's nice to hear you have a group focused on themes rather than competitive style lists. IMO that's what HH should be about. TBH the only real recommendation I can give is to get a hand on the Liber book and spend some time leafing through it. You'll eventually find something you like in the rules to represent your force.

 Gert wrote:
Battlescribe is essentially abandonware with only the efforts of community members volunteering their time to keep anything updated. Their work is always appreciated but it takes a long time for errors to get fixed.

Well, kind of. The data authors are basically doing the same job they've always been doing, abandonment or no abandonment. Sometimes life gets in the way but they're generally pretty responsive to bug reports (and if you find a bug, you should definitely report it in the discord; that's the only way it'll get fixed).

That's going to be the case with any community-sourced data project, and afaict the books are usually much more out of date than BS, considering the levels of errata and nerfing that go on.

Sons of Horus get a bonus for ramming people with their vehicles, which is perhaps the best use of such assets.

In the 1 in 6 games any of your tanks make it across the field, at least.

A swarm of tanks ramming into the enemy lines would be rather fun, but at times a risky prospect. Especially if they have some melta support squads lurking around.