Unless you can tempt your opponent into targeting some of the other parts of your army 1 podding unit is going to get wiped pretty quickly. That said I do prefer podding in as it makes for fun, fast games. Mr Pickelz units look really solid. I personally prefer the thunder hammer over the power fist as the drop to I1 can be game saving with all the awful stuff running around the table these days.
My Truescale Insanity
http://www.lounge.belloflostsouls.net/showthread.php?48704-Truescale-Space-Wolves
Yeah, I appreciated his input - I was packing too many "gee-whiz" gadgets into the squad, when the truth is that 3 or 4 is plenty for a 10-man squad. This way I can keep the points down!
The cool thing about the Great Company formation (and the other, regular SW formation) is the chance for the many troop units to gain the "outflank" rule before deployment. Hopefully, an outflanking squad or two would tempt my opponent into splitting his fire and not concentrating on the 'podders.
I always count on losing upwards of half a 10 man squad in the drop so keeping some cheap and cheerful models to the front can help you max out the points. One build that works for me with podding
1 x CC Wolf lord (or other IC)
2 x Stormshields and Combimeltas
2 x CombiMeltas
2 x Meltabombs
1 x Wolf Claws
1-2 x Thunderhammer or Powerfist
I use at least 5 pods.
When you pod in place the Wolf Lord to the front with the 4x Combimeltas equidistant and the others bringing up the rear. You use the Wolf Lord to tank wounds and pass things off with Look Out Sir to the 2 x SS or 2 x CM guys. You should be podding in where you use the 4 x Combimeltas the turn you arrive so these become the extra wounds for the Lord while your killy melee guys are ready to pounce next turn. You have to adjust deployment a bit if the enemy has loads of interceptor (Tau) or tons of Barrage templates.
Also if you are giving up the objective secured troops by going with a different FOC the Champions of Fenris FOC gives WG some tasty bonuses.
My Truescale Insanity
http://www.lounge.belloflostsouls.net/showthread.php?48704-Truescale-Space-Wolves
If you took a WG Battle Leader the points you'd save would pay for some empty pods to ensure your full pods can all come in turn one!
I really like the idea of Jump Packs, Storm bolters, Melta bombs and Wolf Claws, a ridiculously expensive unit even in a 5 man squad....
10 WG, 20 str4 shots at 24" with a 36" threat range, plus a 12" charge threat with either WS5 Str5 shred or Str8 Armour bane... Given them a StormWolf for ridiculousness.....
Of course even just a few guys armed like this can really make a difference...
http://bloodshadowsm41.blogspot.co.uk
I appreciate the input - getting the right amount of special equipment (but not too much) is a tricky thing...
I think the main problem I'm running into, though, is that it's almost impossible to shoehorn that "Great Company" formation into 2000 points and have it be anything but masses of vanilla-armed Space Wolves (which maybe ain't too bad, eh?). Maybe I should stop trying and just resign myself to running it at 2500 points...