1500 point demi company lists

I'm experimenting with some lists for the club tournament this year. Our club tournament is meant to be social but not narrative. There are separate prizes for best general, best painted and best theme (I won theme last year!). There is also a comp system (point 1-5) and a 'no dick lists' clause where a panel can reject lists outright that they think are not going to be at least a little bit fun to play against. Some examples of how this works in practice. Last year a list with a Greater Brass Scorpion, 2 maulerfiends, 2 defilers and a helbrute was rejected  by 2 of the 5 panelists. It got through but comped 1 which meant that even if it had gone 5-0 it wouldn't have won. Another instructive example is that Chapter Masters on bikes with storm shields are generally considered totally fair play, whereas chapter masters on bikes with the shield eternal are not (because of EW). Lists that don't spam things (including, for example, equipping each of your bike squads with different special weapons) is rewarded. It's little things. Also, we played straight book maelstrom last year and I suspect it will be the same this year. That format requires a lot of tools to play well and with a 1500 point limit all the lists end up having some weaknesses. Overall I think it makes for a nice balance of contest of skill and fun had by all.

Anyway, this year I don't really feel like buying any more models, and the army I was originally going to play was my Ravenguard outriders army, which I've had on here before (Ravenwing command squad, CM on bike, 4 rhinos with tactical squads, scouts in land speeder, thunderfire). Unfortunately, Ravenguard no longer have scout, so that's a no go and I've got to come up with something else. In keeping with the social theme I've been trying to come up with demi-company lists for marines. First I tried to re-create the outriders army using White Scars, Khan and a demi company:

DEMI-COMPANY
Khan on bike
Command Squad on bikes with meltaguns x4, apothecary
Tactical squad with Rhino, flamer, combi-flamer
Tactical squad with Rhino, flamer, combi-flamer
Tactical squad with Rhino, heavy bolter
Bikes (3) with meltagun x2, combi-melta, attack bike with multi-melta
Devastator Centurions with grav-weapons, omniscope
COMMAND DETACHMENT
Chapter master with bike, storm shield, artificer armour, fist

Plenty of variety, lots of Ob-Sec because it's a demi company (everything is ob-sec, including the characters), a pretty nasty death star, scouts, mobility everywhere (White Scars now re-roll when running and everyone has hit and run) and the tools to handle most targets. If my opponent will come to me I can leave the centurions on a backfield objective, otherwise I suspect the heavy bolter squad will have that duty. I will attach Khan to the Centurions to scout them forward turn 1 and hopefully into range for their grav weapons. Not too cheesy, but an effective list. The biggest weaknesses I see are that there isn't much to hold the backfield and I don't have a librarian for harnessing the warp (though neither can my opponent purge the witch).

I also really want to play some Imperial fists. I've been using them in a narrative campaign lately and I absolutely adore tank/monster hunters on the devastator squads. It makes them brutal. They frequently punch straight through serpent shields, lesser vehicles don't stand a chance and they put the hurt on monstrous creatures, even flying ones if you can find a skyfire nexus. They also do a great job holding backfield objectives. Imperial fists also have the best chapter tactic synergy with my favourite space marine unit - Sternguard. So with that I tried to make the following list:

DEMI COMPANY
Lysander
tactical squad with Rhino, flamer, melta bombs
tactical squad with Rhino, flamer, melta bombs
tactical squad with Rhino, flamer, melta bombs
bikes (4) with grav-gun x2
Devastator squad with lascannon x4

ALLY DETACHMENT
Librarian with force axe
Sternguard (7) with drop pod
Scouts (5) with bolters
Devastator Squad with rocket launcher x4

I can't imagine anyone being upset at having to play against this, but it has some effectiveness. The drop pod Sternguard squad is fierce, though note that I would try not to drop them into the think of it, but rather onto an isolated flank or a midfield objective in some ruins from where they can snipe. With Lysander and the librarian in tow (probably rolling on biomancy), they can dust most things in Melee. Both this and the Scars list have a strong Warlord who can tango in challenges and score the blood and guts card.

One last idea I had but that I can't play because I don't own enough pods would be the following archetypal demi-company drop pod assault:

Lysander
Command squad with pod, 5 plasma guns (Lysander has FNP so no apoth)
tactical with pod, multi-melta, combi-melta, meltagun
tactical with pod, multi-melta, combi-melta, meltagun
tactical with pod, plasma cannon
Assault squad with pod, 2 flamers
devastator squad with 4 lascannons
dreadnought with pod, multi-melta, heavy flamer

That would be a lot of fun to play and not cheesy. The command squad can do what grav-equipped units do in other lists, you have lots of special weapons for the tactical doctrine on turn 1 and then in the late game your chapter tactic bolter drill takes over once the transports and such are popped. The devastator squad is a bit out of place without a pod but it can hold a backfield objective and you can't take the company without it, and because you are playing fists they will be strong.

While writing these lists I constantly felt like the demi-company was really quite restrictive. Things just don't synergise well and you are often left with dead or almost dead weight. For example, assault squads don't really work in anything except drop pod lists. Those don't want devastator squads. They do want centurions, but then you need to take an ally detachment to get the pod for them, that blows the cost out unless you remove the tough HQ, which leaves you with some middling captain or chaplain that brings nothing to the list, and then finding a home for them in another squad can difficult points wise. If you take bikes instead of the assault squads they almost always have a use, but they are at peak effectiveness in a bike list. In that case you don't want those tactical squads or the devastators. The best thing about the demi-company is that everything gets objective secured, but it is hard to really capitalise on that. It would be most powerful if you could build death stars that then have ob-sec. I'm trying to do this at the moment - recreating something like the old superfriends list - but it can't be managed at 1500 and would be too powerful for the club format anyway. If I go with a CAD at the club event it will be something like the following Imperial fists list I think:

CAD
Lysander
Scouts (5) combi-grav
Scouts (5) combi-grav
Scouts (10) combi-grav
Sternguard (7) with Pod,
Devastators with lascannons
Devastators with rocket launchers

ALLY
Tigurius
Scouts (5) with combi-grav
Devastator Centurions with grav
drop pod

I need to buy some scouts! If I buy anything in this cycle they will be it. They strike me as being just plain better than tactical marines and I need them to run the full battle company. I also need two more pods. Been holding off buying those for a while. I just don't like where the game is going. Narrative is fine but then I'd rather be playing Malifaux or, heck, D&D!