SM bikes

[fritzthedwarf]

Anyone have some experience with a SM bike heavy army? I am thinking of building one and am wondering what experiences people have had with SM bikes.

[Jack Shrapnel]

I really like my Ork bikes... and the marine variety come with a 3+ save!!!! sounds like it could be fun!

mobility does count for a lot, and the ability to turbo is quite cool

[fritzthedwarf]

I'm looking at about 27 bikes, Captain on a bike, librarian on a bike, a 10 man tac squad with rhino, 2 landspeeders, a predator and a vindicator at 1850pts.

[Jack Shrapnel]

I think that would look very cool on the table!

[thesanityassassin]

I've playtested a very similar list, though I did a Korsarro list so it was ALL bikes and Assault Marines....such lists are lightning quick, and the bikes are fairly durable. One thing you have to be quite careful with is damage output though. SM bikes will NOT generally do well in assault unless you have massive superiority (or a huge bike command squad)...the trick is getting them to fall on things in organized groups where massed bolter fire tears it up, then quickly re-deploy.

[Admiral Agrippa]

Aug 5, 2010 16:37:56 GMT -5 thesanityassassin said:

SM bikes will NOT generally do well in assault unless you have massive superiority (or a huge bike command squad)...the trick is getting them to fall on things in organized groups where massed bolter fire tears it up, then quickly re-deploy.

That's mainly what I was going to say. I've had friends who've gone the all bike route before (usually Ravenwing) and generally you need to use your speed and range to your advantage by staying out of the charge range of most things. As bikes count as stationary you can do quite well wearing down enemy units that won't be able to charge into retaliation.

Good luck.

[guis]

The best way I've seen this done is with Kosarro and all bikes, outflanking everything, go second and deny your opponent of anything. A fast attack of 3 multi melta bikes that can drive 12" from the edge and shoot their meltas means you can hit anywhere on the board, it's pretty scary. My favourite part about bike lists is that you can then run with no tanks, laugh at the metagame, and with turbo boosting you're not even worried about plasma. A long charge range to control combat and T5 means that your troop squads can take on most foes if the sargeant has a power fist. Although it's hard to make an uber killy death unit on bikes, my friend takes a land raider full of terms which he also outflanks at high point values and protects with a bubble of bikes.

[fritzthedwarf]

I thought about Korsarro but I'd rather just take the Bike Capt with relic blade and storm shield. My first list had a Command squad tooled up for CC but it is points heavy and instead I'm opting for more bikes and other stuff.

The 3 bikes squads will be maxed for combat squad ability when necessary - same with 10 man tac squad. Each sgt will have a power fist.

[trevor]

i like the land raider idea. stick the special caracter dude that gives outflank in a crusader with a chaplain and 7 assault termys, with lightning claws. only 815 points for 28 rearole to hit rearol to wound termys with furiose charge, out flank, and a 21 1/2" charge range. pluse whatever the charaters do.

[fritzthedwarf]

I plan to use a librarian and not a chaplain in the list. I'm curious - Does anyone find SM chaplains useful in the current SM codex/5th edition rules?

[thesanityassassin]

They're useful with TH/SS assault terminators and possibly expensive command squads, and that would be about it. I put one in when I flirted with a Korsarro list, because it made his command squad much more reliable getting in their I5 hits with furious charge.

[Mythweaver]

I play an Eldar bike army, as everyone has said it is fantastic for it's mobility etc... However, as Matt mentioned, the firepower is quite lacking and assaults can be devastating when you are on the receiving end. Include as many power weapons as you can in each squad and do your best to initiate every assault you can't avoid. Your SM bikes aren't quite as mobile as the Eldar jetbikes but you make up for it in durabilty.
Use your speed to keep up the cover saves and to seperate out smaller units from the enemy force. You will find objective games much easier to win than the killier alternative.

Good Luck