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To fill in a bit over lunch hour...
THTs can't transport a lot of units, as anything that doesn't fit into a Rhino or LR is out. No bikes, assault marines or dreads. It's also inefficient at transporting non-transport armor as you lose the "russian doll" transport capacity. The only things they will normally be good for is a mix of infantry and transports. Add to that the point value issue with a formation of 3 THTs where the LC is superior for the points. 3 THTs could technically transport a larger formation with mixed LRs and Rhino chassis, but I'd rather tweak the formations to fit the LC.
Basically, you get to a fairly limited set of requirements that allow THTs to possibly be better:
1) Transported formation is infantry with Rhinos/Razorbacks/LRs for ground transport.
2) Transported formation has no more than 4 Rhino chassis, 2 LR or some combination of those.
So... what does that leave?
From Scions:
Tactical formation w/o vehicle upgrades
Heavy Tacticals w/o vehicle upgrades
Terminators in LRCs
From Templars:
Crusaders or Bretheren w/ 1 Razorback or Hunter upgrade
Crusaders or Bretheren w/ 1-2 LR
Terminators in LRCs
To be sure, those formations are good. They could do some nice fire-oriented maneuvers rather than just the standard air assault (e.g. end of turn land and fire, beginning of turn Sustained Fire). However, it still seems like a pretty narrow niche.
From Pulsar's post on the BT thread:
Sword Brethren (normal or terminator both work) with a chaplain and the EC and two land raider crusaders = 625 (or 650 for termies)
and then put them in two T-hawk transporters
You're right. I looked at that. It's nasty, but it's also 875 or 900 points.
To give an idea of another option that I looked at in a similar point range, for 925 points, you could take 8 bikes, 4 assault, and 2 Chaplains in a Landing Craft. Total average hits are comparable in mostly CC and better in FF (in which the LC can also lead with its 4+RA armor), comparable armor values, better deployment options for air assault (jump packs), more units, 2 fast ground formations once they split up after the initial assault instead of 1 ground formation that's dependent on its transport, and better post-assault strafing out of the LC and a better capability for an aircraft-only air assault if that's necessary. As icing on the cake, the LC will probably be a better option for picking up wounded formations later in the game for the patented Biggles Turn 3 air assault because it can carry more diverse units and the chances of a formation still having both LRs and Rhinos in it (the only LC restriction) would be reduced.
The Bretheren would have a token ranged fire ability. Comparing to termie Bretheren might be better or worse than the Tacs, depending on the situation.
For a few more points, I'll take the LC load. The advantages are more than worth it, imho.
The point is not to hash out Black Templar options, though. I was just illustrating that there are options for loading the LC that are cheaper than options for the THT, which eventually leads to better overall value.
In the Scions list, the options for loading air assaults are notably fewer and one of them, the bikes, are increased in point cost on a per-unit basis. In addition, the Scions are more focused on ranged fire and land-and-fire options for ground attack should be more common. It's the list that makes the THT viable because it excludes a lot of things that would make Thawks or LCs better.
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Since I never came to a point in that long ramble...
It seems to me THT have no unique tactical niche. The gap between what a normal Thawk and a LC can do is too narrow. They primarily fill a stylistic role. Even if they are balanced, their use is going to depend heavily on the army list they are in.
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Neal
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And the chance that critical hits will wipe out the whole Detachment they are carrying is very low 
