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Shep was kind enough to host a late night game after the grot had gone to sleep. I have a bike based list that I am tweaking for the Wild West Shootout. I thought about taking pictures but it was getting late and that would have just made it later. Without further ado, here are the lists.

Crimson Fists Harrier Force
Captain Cruz-Martin (bike, relic blade)
Command Squad (bikes, champion, standard, power fist, lightning claw)

2x8 Bikes (2x melta guns, power fist, multimelta attack bike)
8 Bikes (2x plasma guns, power fist, multimelta attack bike)
5 Scouts (power fist, cloaks, missile launcher)
5 Scouts (power fist, cloaks, heavy bolter)

2x Land Speeder Storms (heavy flamer)

Shep is also tweaking his compy tourney list and this is what he brought (from memory) - hopefully he will be along shortly to correct what I have wrong about it:

143rd Vostroyan Domination Force
CCS (Col Rufus "Roofie" Valyonev, 4 melta guns, Chimera)

PCS (3 plasma guns, autocannon, Chimera)
3 Infantry Squads (lascannon, 1 commissar)
5 Veterans (4 melta guns)

8 Battle Psykers (Chimera)

Vendetta

2x1 Medusas (bastion breechers)
Leman Russ Executioner (plasma cannon sponsons)

Pregame and Turn 1
We rolled up a Dawn of War Capture and Control. I won the roll and after thinking about it for way too long (as I did many things - it is a funny thing to slow-play with a bike list - I blame the late hour) I chose to go second then tried and failed to sieze the initiative.

Shep blobbed up his infantry squads and deployed the near his home objective with a pocket in the middle of it which happened to be just the right size to fit a Leman Russ Executioner and Psyker Chimera.

I outflanked with the scout-laden Storms and kept everything else off the table.

The rest of Shep's army came on and stayed in the center 2 feet in order to keep out of the scout's assault range. One of his Medusas immobilized itself entering difficult terrain that was right on the edge. We ruled that it would still get on the table before the immobilized took effect.

My army turbo-boosted onto the table pretty much bisecting the table the whole length of it. It was here that we noticed that bikes at max coherenecy (for fear of templates) take up a LOT of space. The command squad was in the center of the line and everything was combat-squadded with a the third multimelta lined up against the Executioner.

Turns 2-4
Shep shot his entire army at the command squad and I made 14 out of 16 armor/cover saves and made the feel no pain roll for one of those failed saves, losing only the champion.

I had a big sigh of relief here - my entire army was about to enter its sweet spot and had really suffered no losses. The scouts held back off the field of battle, waiting to see where they were needed (failed both reserve rolls on turn 2).

I moved all of my melta weaponry into range and missed with almost every single shot - the only effect was to shake the psyker's chimera. I guess that the devil was due after all those saves, but it was still quite annoying. The

command squad with captain charged the blob and killed several but the stern discipline of the commissar (and the grey matter of a sergeant) held them firm. The scouts arrived both coming in on the right side at full speed.

I believe at this point it looked like the writing was on the wall for the bikes - it was only a matter of time until I was destroyed. I spent a few minutes studying the table, looking for that one vital combination that would get me back into it. Shep asked me what I was planning on doing. I said "tabling you" - which was more bravado than anything else.

Shep's shooting went MUCH better over the next couple of turns basically cutting my army in half. Though, critically, the psykers had to debark in order to use their witchery as they forced the remnants of a multimelta attack bike squad to make for their lines. The Captain also ended up breaking following the destruction of his command squad through witchery on the following turn. He would be escorted off the table by the Vendetta over the course of the next couple of turns.

One of the Storms continued its full speed assault by veering off and taking up position above my objective. The other one moved 12" and offloaded the scouts who charged, and broke, the platoon command squad. The storm itself bathed the psykers in heavy flamer death killing almost all of them. At this point the storm started to break for the bikers.

Turns 4-7
I lost yet more models to dangerous terrain checks - every single time I was called upon to make them it seemed like I would fail 1. Nevertheless, a depleted melta combat squad destroyed the Executioner and and another squad destroyed the psykers chimera. My bikes were in the IG line and basically went from vehicle to vehicle destroying them - it wasn't long before the only IG vehicle which remained was the Vendetta - I managed to immobilize and destroy one of its weapons, but it endured.

A resounding victory for the Crimson Fists Assault Company but one based on crazy swingy dice rolls on both sides of the table.

Whew.

After Action Review
Wow, I think both Ryan and I considered openly weeping at some point during the battle. I know that I damn sure that on one turn I would be gilding my models with gold leaf and then the following turn was ready to put my dice in a garbage disposal. It had some of the craziest rolling I have ever seen which makes it a bit difficult to judge my list. Aside from the command squad. They are out. They let me down every game and are just too freaking expensive to justify. Their only moment of glory in this game was an insane streak of rolling good on cover saves after turbo boosting and any unit of bikes could have done the same thing.

Hall of Heroes
I will have to induct the scouts into the Hall for this game. Their arrival literally turned the game around for me.

Wall of Shame
The Command Squad had been inscribed upon the Wall.

Honored Foes
I have to give it up for both the large blob unit and the psyker battle squad. The Vendetta also did very well. I have to say, the new Guard codex is both tough and fun to play against.

Cool story bro.

I thought that the Executioner would be a lot of trouble for you though.

Thanks, I have some fluff I am working on for it too. Yeah, there was one turn where shep got 4 "hits" out of 5 shots. It was painful. I hate that tank.

Hahahaha...

The openly weeping comment was priceless.

That first shooting phase of mine had the veins in my neck popping out. I was almost shaking with anger. And then when you crapped the multi-melta bed for 3 straight turns I felt sad for you.

The best lesson to take from this batrep is to keep your 'bad luck' whining silent. Were we playing each other in a tournament, having a turn of stationary plasma executioner, 6 twin linked lascannons, 2 medusas, 2 heavy bolters, 2 autocannons, 3 long range plasma guns, 3 multi-lasers and an ap3 soulstorm kill a single model, I would have probably said something about your mother, flipped the table over and walked out of the hall. But at the end of the game, I would say luck had very little impact on the result.

My blob just completely shut down your command squad, it didn't matter that it didn't get spooked, and your multi-meltas were so bad, that I might as well have blown one of them off of the table on turn 2. Had I just been able to calmly say "ok, your turn" after you made all of those saves, you would have probably thought I was ghandi, maxed my sports score and bought me lunch afterwards.

You also had some 'woe is me' moments that certainly weren't necessary, considering I basically didn't have a turn 1 or 2, and you ultimately missed tabling me by one weapon destroyed result.

Now onto the game comments.

I'm wondering how the game would have played out with the changes we discussed to your list. My infantry platoon was the perfect neutralizer to your command squad, and many other armies can just feed it junk or kill it off piecemeal while it charges fast moving vehicles. If you had those typhoons instead things may have ended up much worse for me earlier. Although it would have given me something to shoot autocannons at. Getting last turn on dawn of war was a major mission advantage for you. I get no shooting phase on turn 1, I get to shoot at 3+ cover on turn 2, and you are shooting close range multi-melta and planting krak grenades on three. I feel like I played pretty well, I never play perfectly, but once we discovered the direction the game was going, it was pretty obvious. You didn't even tackle a section of my army, you just took on the whole enchilada, flush against my battle lines, for an outnumbered and faster army, that is a pretty impressive disregard for SOP.

I'm definitely considering adding some large blast into my army. i need to be able to hurt tough units up close. I think I have overcompensated for heavy tank kill. Expect a decent sized overhaul on the IG list. Executioner, psyker battle squads, vendetta, blob, vets and CCS are staying, medusas might become demolishers. You know how i hate one shot tanks... but i have to try it out, the small blasts of the medusas were falling through the gaps in your units.

Yeah, the reason I did straight across the whole table was to close as quickly as possible and to hopefully reduce the effectiveness of all your blasts - besides, I only expected half of my army at the end of your shooting and figured I would take it all against one side.

A pox on double posts.

Love biker armies/fights.

I've always been 'against' command squad on bikes. The low model count is a huge turn off even with the denensive abilities.

Yes, it's wonderful to have options with a list.
Either he could have focused on a flank and crush it, or do a bum rush to the lines and hopefully shock and awe his way to victory.

Thank you for the bat rep, pics would be better or vassal mock ups.

I find vs. Guard it's win big/lose big. Depending on how efficiently you can get the squishies out of the metal boxes.

As for the hilarity of missing everything......that's why some people have been pushing Vulkan at higher points to a bike list... I'm not too keen on that mix up in terms of fluff and working in a squad to escort Vulkan around, but it is highly desirable to have the TL weaponry.

As for the command squad:
Was the standard useful?
I've always like the squad for the standard more than the beat stick qualities.

My 7 Cents.

Sanctjud wrote:Love biker armies/fights.

I've always been 'against' command squad on bikes. The low model count is a huge turn off even with the denensive abilities.

Yes, it's wonderful to have options with a list.
Either he could have focused on a flank and crush it, or do a bum rush to the lines and hopefully shock and awe his way to victory.

Thank you for the bat rep, pics would be better or vassal mock ups.

I find vs. Guard it's win big/lose big. Depending on how efficiently you can get the squishies out of the metal boxes.

As for the hilarity of missing everything......that's why some people have been pushing Vulkan at higher points to a bike list... I'm not too keen on that mix up in terms of fluff and working in a squad to escort Vulkan around, but it is highly desirable to have the TL weaponry.

As for the command squad:
Was the standard useful?
I've always like the squad for the standard more than the beat stick qualities.

My 7 Cents.

Great thoughts...

The command squad should probably not be considered until 2k. If I had actually known how efficiently my blob would have eaten them, I would have straight up ignored them and gone for the throat on multi-meltas. At 2k points, you can still keep the same number of anti-tank weapons, and win local firefights with those shots, while adding a scary close combat unit that isn't 15-20% of your list.

By the same token, I don't think vulkan belongs in a 1750 bike list. I noted that you mentioned higher points, so I'm guessing you agree. he is a great 1750 character when he is solo. But if you are buying a relic blade biker captain, I think you have to wait until at least 2000 to call him up. Not only does his chapter tactics only get really good with saturated multi-meltas, but his chapter tactics dimishes in value very rapidly when you start losing those weapons. Also, taking vulkan and having no terminators really hurts. he gets no land raider to ride in, and a big part of his chapter tactics doesn't get used.

Ultimately, for vulkan, he would have had 0 re-rolls on 1, 3 re-rolls on 2, 2 re-rolls on 3, 0 re-rolls on 4, 0 re-rolls on 5, 0 re-rolls on 6 and 0 re-rolls on 7 for multi-melta shots. I think 2 of the 3 re-rolls on turn 2 would have been long range multi-melta. So for 190 points in this game you would have gotten 3 multi-melta close range shots, and 2 long range shots. A unit of 2 typhoons that goes untouched (outranges most scary firepower) would get 28 strength 8 shots over the course of a game. Not to mention needing a place for vulkan to hang out. I think Somnicide probably hit 67% with his MMs. It is just hard to see that because he didn't hit with 2 out of 3 every turn. In the second half of the game, the part where i got tabled, we weren't really tracking hits. I think once he saw my army fall apart it became mush less of a point of interest.

Ultimately, i think that vulkan needs a land raider full of terminators, and any time you take one land raider, you better take two or three, bike troops are perfect for land raider based lists, but once you add in 1200 points for vulkan, LRs and termies and 150 for a bike captain. and at least 600-800 points in troops, you are already at 2k, with zero long range fire support. The bike/vulkan combo in my mind falls into a sweet spot at ard boyz size.

Somnicide can answer the standard question better than I could but it seems to me that an additional attack on the fist and relic blade for charging vehicles would be important, and he would have been in a lot more trouble from a tarpit without those extra 6 attacks. I had him locked in combat for 5 close combats and after the first, he was doing around 8 wounds per round, without the standard, he'd have been shorted 30 CC attacks over the course of the combat. Thats around 14 casualties, on a good day that would mean that i could have tarpitted him for another whole game turn.

Som asked me to whip out my camera, but since he got there SO LATE (ahem!) i wasn't really trying to slow the game down anymore. Had he known his intention was to do a batrep, i would have charged my batteries.

He may not have intended to batrep it until after he tabled me

He may not have intended to batrep it until after he tabled me

Now that's something to sig about.
________

I agree on the vulkan topic, better written than I could ever dream. heh.

Um:
About the standard. What?
I think there has been a mix up. It only does 2 things...the morale booster and a combat result booster....the company standard right?

The honor guard have the Chapter Banner, that's the +1A banner.

Could be a bit off though...but this might change things ....."ooops" I guess.

My 7 Cents.

I always intend to write a battle report - I just forgot my camera and I was really late.

Ugh, you are totally right about the standard. That makes it even worse and definitely out. I think what threw me off is that Pedro doesn't stack with the similar bonus from the chapter banner and I just had that in my head that it was the standard. Sorry shep, you definitely get to wear the black armband in protest of my cheating irish ways.

Devastating cheat devastates you!!!

Not like I'll ever see that company command squad again to "put things right".

Yeah you 'count as scoring one more' and re-roll morale tests. Warhammer fantasy battle standard bearer. Not worth it.

Great batrep! Thanks for posting it!
It's always good to hear how bike armies do.

Don't you need the bike Command Squad, or at least the Captain to field the Bikes as Troops? Maybe if you gave them Flamers, Meltas, and Auxiliary Grenade Launchers instead of fancy close combat weapons. So you could zoom up, crisp most of a unit, and then assault the remnants.

I love your reports and their even better with pics
hint hint

Yeah I will be bringing camera from now on, or at least take crappy cell pictures.

You just need a bike captain to take them as troops - you can gear them to be sort of shooty, but still there are still only 5 of them and all of their weapons are basically short ranged - plus you are paying points for the extra attack (2 extra attacks, actually, since they can be choppy)

Nice batrep. I've seen on YTTH and elsewhere biker command squads sporting storm shields. Wouldn't have helped much here probably but that seems to be the way to go with such a squad. Also much like any list using a cornerstone stompy unit, 1 is probably not enough to see good returns. But taking two is kinda tough at 1750 though.

I agree with ditching the command squad! not that you really need agreement.

That way you could add in an attack bike squad, and/or another storm and more scouts.

Are you trying to stick to all non-vehicles?

I think a master of the forge on a bike with a conversion beamer would fit in perfectly, thematically, and give you a long range anti-tank weapon (someone has to fix the bikes when they break).

Command squad need to be tooled out properly to work.

I think biker armies have come a long way since when I used to play Ravenwing back in 3rd edition. This was an extremely exciting batrep as the game swung back and forth dramatically. I like your list but would make some changes:

Drop the scouts and LST so you can field normal speeders armed appropriately.
Take Khan and beef up the command squad a tad, you need some storm shields and another power fist or thunder hammer.

I know we aren't critiquing army lists in this particular forum but I just had to put in my 2€.

I think biker armies are viable now and am interested to hear how serious you are about this army. A biker army took best general at the Big Waaagh this year... It was vicous.

G

@Winterman - I had stormshields on 3 of them originally and, as in this game, it is not armor ignoring stuff that kills them, it is weight of fire so the 3+I doesn't really matter. Now, against some armies and if I charge them in the shields are good.

@Warmaster - I have to have the captain on bike to make the bikes a troop choice. I only have 1 free fast slot which is being filled by the typhoons.

@GBF - what list was that, do you know? The reason I have the scouts in there is to prevent people from putting the objective up at the top of a building free and safe. They have worked out pretty well and look pretty good. - plus, we noticed that there almost wasn't enough space for all those bikes.

I considered Khan, but I don't like giving up Combat Tactics - plus he is 70 points more expensive. I will probably be revisiting him soon.