Wednesday 11 December 2013

Bike Marines

A bit of a break from Tau ramblings, and a few thoughts on bikes.

Long term readers of this blog (!) will know I have an SM biker army. It was built to take to Throne of Skulls last year, so it runs at 1500pts. I haven’t played it since the new Codex came out, and haven’t really thought about it much either. But I have a 4 man team tourney at the beginning of January, and my brother will be playing my Tau…… so time to bring on the bikes.


The list I ran at TofS was

Captain, Bike, Artificer armour, Power Fist, Lightening Claw

Bike Squad, 4 guys, 2 with Plasma, MM Attack Bike with Combi Plasma and Melta bombs on the Sergeant
Bike Squad, 4 guys, 2 with Plasma, MM Attack Bike with Combi Plasma and Melta bombs on the Sergeant
Bike Squad, 4 guys, 2 with Melta, MM Attack Bike with Combi Melta and Melta bombs on the Sergeant

10 Scouts with Sniper Rifles

2 Storm Talons with Skyhammer missiles

2 Thunder Fire Cannons

Still a pretty competitive list IMHO, but with an extra 250pts to play with, and a drop in points generally as a result of the new codex,  I can get a lot more in.

First question (and an easy one) Chapter Tactics – has to be White Scars. Hit and run for a bike army is so just too good to pass up, and the +1 to the jink save and ignore terrain are just gravy. The big question is whether I take the Khan, for scout. Need to think about that. The army is painted as Rampagers, a WS successor chapter so that fits.

So onto the “guts” of the list.

For HQ’s I can take either a Chapter Master or a Captain (for the “bikes as troops” unlock). Lots of people are talking about the Chapter Master of Doom – Master on a bike, with Artificer Armour, Shield Eternal and a Thunder Hammer/Power fist. No doubt it’s a powerful build, able to go up against anything toe to toe … but it’s a lot of points – 245pts with a power fist. I can get a decked out command squad for that!

And to be honest, I think that’s the question you need to ask yourself – do you want a Biker Command Squad? If you do, take a captain, if not, take a Chapter Master. You could of course take both, but I think that’s a little excessive! However, if you did you might want to think about taking a Clan Raukhan (the Iron Hands supplement) one, with the Gorgons Chain. What makes this good is that the Gorgon’s Chain is cheaper than the Shield Eternal, gives him eternal warrior, and a 3++ without  taking up a weapons slot, so you can give him a lightening claw and a power fist for +1 attack, and the +1 to his FNP stacks with the Command Squads Apothecary for a 4+ FNP. Makes him even harder, at no additional cost. The downside of course is that he loses some of the benefits of the Gorgon’s Chain he takes wounds, but he also has “It will not die” and can get them back.

An alternative, if you want to take a Chapter Master, and still have a “sort of” command squad would be to ally in some Ravenwing Black Knights. That would also give you access to a Divination Librarian for prescience, and the Power Field Generator for a 4++……!

Or of course you could just go with 2 Chapter Masters!

Choices, choices!

At the moment I’m tempted to go with Ravenwing allies and a divination Librarian.

Next are the Bike Squads. When I played this list before I tried having separate Attack Bikes, and I tried full squads that I could combat squad, but in the end I came back to the “mini” squads  in the above list. They were just more flexible. I think I’ll stay with them for now.

The Storm Talons will also stay. I need something to kill Helldrakes!

The scouts are there for additional scoring, and for some bubble wrap against podding lists. The only thing I’m wondering about is whether I should use 90 points to give them a Land Speeder Storm. A friend has been having great success with assault scouts in Storms, and it fits the speed and dynamic nature of the army.

The Thunder Fire Cannons will stay, no question. They were fantastic before the new codex and now they are barrage they’re even better. But I have a “twist” – Im going to take an inquisitor from the Inquisitor Codex, upgrade him to psykers so I can take prescience, and give him the thing that makes him and his unit BS10 against psykers. That should make Demons and Eldar sweat! Oh, and of course Servo Skulls!

So maybe something like this

Captain, Bike, Artificer Armour, Power Fist, Lightening Claw (could upgrade to a Chapter Master by dropping a Black Knight or 2)

Bike Squad, 4 guys, 2 with Grav Guns, MM Attack Bike with Combi Grav and Melta bombs on the Sergeant
Bike Squad, 4 guys, 2 with Grav Guns, MM Attack Bike with Combi Grav and Melta bombs on the Sergeant
Bike Squad, 4 guys, 2 with Grav Guns, MM Attack Bike with Combi Grav and Melta bombs on the Sergeant

2 Storm Talons with Skyhammer missiles

2 Thunder Fire Cannons

Dark Angles Librarian

10 Scouts

6 Black Knights, Rad launcher

Inquisitor, Psyloccum, Psyker, 3 Servo Skulls

At higher points levels I could upgrade the captain to a Chapter Master, give the Libby a bike, and maybe add a 2nd Inquisitor.

Thoughts?

EYIG

2 comments:

  1. If you take Khan, you will want a Command Squad to ride with him. His personal abilities like bonus Hammer of Wrath attacks, his Warlord trait, and Furious Charge are melee-based, and you probably already know bikes aren't geared for melee. Even a nearly-naked Command Squad on bikes is a better escort for Khan than a regular bike squad of any flavor.
    If you take Khan without a Command Squad, you're really only taking him for the initial Scout move, which may or may not even be useful in a given game after Seize rolls, and the fact that Scout redeployments don't qualify as movement for turn one Jink saves.

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  2. I guess that's the question - how important is "scout" for a bike army? I never had it in the past …. anybody played a lot of Ravenwing, or scouting bikes since the new 'dex?

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