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While speeders attached to bike units have no options as to their armament, the fast attack ones do.  Considering the abilities of the rest of the army and the high points cost of just about everything, what is the best way to equip the speeders?

Abbreviations: Multi-melta (MM), Assault Cannon (AC), Heavy Bolter (HB), Heavy Flamer (HF)

The options that I'm seeing:

MM: cheap and it covers one of the potential shortcomings of the list (anti-tank) but it just doesn't seem to make the most out of the unit, which is important to do in a list like the RW.
MM/AC: expensive, but it tank hunts with the best of them, along with being a significant threat to big bugs and heavy infantry.  The drawback is the points to durability ratio, it is also a little confused as to its role; is it anti-infantry or anti-tank?

MM/HF:  cheap-ish and it is able to deal with multiple types of threats (infantry and vehicles), along with being able to flame units in cover, which is valuable to the RW because bikes don't like cover.  On the other hand, it has no specific role, and is thus not optimized for anything in particular.

HB: Total waste IMO.  65 points for a HB that can move 12" and shoot?  No thanks.  If I wanted one of those I'd put it on an attack bike and give the speeder a MM.

HB/AC: Favorite of the vanilla list, this is a little expensive for its durability, especially when compared to the 95 point predator.  Still, it can do it all: hunt infantry and tanks with equal ease, though it (like the MM/AC) suffers from an identity crisis.

HB/HF: This is the one that I'm leaning towards.  It's pretty cheap, and it kills medium/light infantry VERY well.  It helps out in the cover department and in groups of 3 speeders (separate squadrons) can wipe out units quickly.  The downside is that it has a hard time wounding high toughness models, models with good armor and small units.  It also doubles the role that basic bikers have, only it works better.  Finally, the HF requires the speeder to get right up in the face of the opponent and if you don't roll well, it's all over and you have 200+ points of speeders biting the dust in one turn (assuming that you run them close to one another for mutual support).

Thoughts ideas?

Its not a loadout I have tried yet. Given the options in our codex you might try typhoons instead. I don't have the codex handy now but, the points should be about right.

really depends on a couple things-is it a speeder or bike heavy army?

i run  2 tornados and a tempest in my army, if i had the money i would tweek the list to make all 3 of them tempests.

 

the AC tornado is hands down the best multi-purpose speeder. if your only taking 3 speeders you might as well take the best.,

 

the MM/HF speeder is good in some cases, but i see it more as a themed unit for armies with the "clense and purfy" trait like salanders.