Eagle Knights Command squads

So, next on display are the remnants of what was the command squads in 7th. With the changes in 8th the squads have been some what splintered. There were two command squads, known  a within the Eagle Knights as the Serpent Squads and more precisely within the 3rd as squads Asturinus and Sipora.

First up are squad asturinus, which has suffered the most from the changes. The squad originally consider of a champion, Sanguinary Novitiate, and three vets, on of which had a standard. Now the squad only consists of two vets, both of which are now armed completely wrong. In 7th, you could take a storm shield as an extra, keeping your combat weapon and pistol, now however you have to choose 2 out of the three. My guys are models with shields and pistols drawn and power weapons slung by their packs. The ancient, named Nias, is also now armed wrong, as he has should and power maul, when he can't take a shield or even a second weapon. 

ancient Nias from squad Asturinus

So the solution? With Nias, nothing, I'll just play him as having a maul and leave the shield just to look cool, as his banner is on his pack and not in his hand like the official model. Personally i like the look of the model, so don't want to change it and i cant see any of my opponents having an issue with it either. The other two members are a little more difficult to decide. I could leave them as they are, using them as bolt pistols and storm shields, but they are not very effective that way. Pistols are not very scary and shield are generally best when used in combat. I could rip of the shield and replace it with a power weapon, but i have loads of units armed like that, and a unit of 2 won't add much. The third option is to rip off the pistols and stick a power weapon on, making them dedicated combat units, with a good attack and good defense and use them as support and counter charge units. 

The problematic storm shields.

It is the presence of the second command squad where the answer to my problems my lie. This squad, squad Sipora, are a unit of 3, having lost there Novitiate and champion, and are armed with power weapons and pistols, along with the jump packs. These guys are still very much codex compliant and could be left as they are, however, i am very tempted to strip off the three storm shield from the above models and put them on to these models, arming them with a power weapon and a storm shield, keeping with the combat focus of the jump pack units.

If i went down this route i would have to think about the other units and i think i would look at running the vets with combi weapons, probably flamers and run them in close support of my captain and lieutenant. The ancient would get a posed are from somewhere, and just have his maul. It's not a perfect solution as i quite like the way they are now and i don't really fancy messing around with all the models, plus this isn't really a competitive army. This is probably the most annoying thing about a new edition, the changes that occur to a unit warhead options.