Toban wrote:
HQ - Korsarro Khan - Moondrakkan. 205
.....- CMD sq. - Apothecary - 4x Vet. w/ LC/Plasmaguns/SS - 5x bikes. 385
HQ - Librarian - Null zone & The Avenger - bike. 135
EL - Dreadnought - Plasmacannon - HF on DCCW. 125
TR - 5x Bikers - Combi-Melta - 2x Meltaguns - MM Attackbike. 220
TR - 5x Bikers - Combi-Melta - 2x Meltaguns - MM Attackbike. 220
TR - 4x Bikers - Combi-Flamer - 2x Flamers - HB Attackbike. 180
TR - 5x Scouts - 5x Camo Cloacks - 4x Rifles - 1x ML. 100
FA - Land Speeder - HB - TML. 90
FA - Land Speeder - HB - TML. 90
HV - Vindicator - Siege Shield. 125
HV - Vindicator - Siege Shield. 125
Tot. 2000
Here are my thoughts. Ive been running a C:
SM bike army for nearly 2 years now and have really good success with it.
* Why use the
PC dread over a dakka dread? Dakkas are great at taking down
AV 10 and 11 at long range, something that your army is short on (your only long range
AT is the typhoons)
* I use plasma guns and
MM on all my bike squads. The chances of you losing a marine are 1/18, and they will kill much more with those points.
PG also ignore
FNP, which is the new 'catch all' for
GW
* Melta guns have a range of 12" and are not good for trasnport popping. You will move up, destroy the razorback, then watch as the 5 assault marines pour out of it and assault your bikes. Melta squads are great for insta-deathing T4 targets and hitting back line tanks.
* This is the best format for my bike squads Ive found.
1
PF
2 Special Weapons (
MG,
PG)
2 Bullet Catchers
1
MM attack Bike
The attack bike allows you to take an extra wound before you start losing combat strength. The 2 bullet catchers give me some room to absorb hits before I start losing valuable models.
As I mentioned, in today's meta I use 3
PG squads and 1
MG squad. In my
FLGS I'm seeing a ton more units with
FNP, and the
PG are solving the problems.
* I dig the scouts. Good objective holders.
* Good call with the librarian. In today's meta you need that pyschic hood to cut down on the psyker phase. That will become even more important when the
GK codex is released. Since the libby will be with Kahn and getting into assault, you might want to consider using the power that gives him
STR 6 -- which makes him very effective in killing. If you use avenger you might kill to many models and not be able to assault with your death star. That power also lets you assault vehicles and tear them up with your libby -- with each hit glancing
AV 13 on average.
* I find that
PF on my bike squads are really the best bet. In the above example where the 5 assault marines assault the bikes, if you have a
PF, you have a chance of beating them back. If you assault 1 squad with 3
PF, you have a decent chance of winning.
* With your
HQ squad, its highly expensive. Nearly 400 points for 5 models, putting them at ~50 points each. For models with only 1 wound, thats just a high price to pay. One bad roll from an demolisher cannon and you can lose a huge portion quickly and unlike nob bikers or thunderpuppies, they only have 1 wound each which makes them very vulnerable. With a command squad, I find its better just to give them
PG and skip the shields and
LC. Make em cheep. Their goal is the move up and plasma the hell out of a squad. If you have your heart set on an assault command squad, then at least give them all different equipment so you can use wound allocation magic on them.
* In a 2k point game, I run with 4 squads of 6 bikes each as troops. (24 models total) I stick my captain and libby with one of the bikes and find that it performs very well, and makes the doom squad scoring. One
PF, Kahn, and the Libby can deliver some serious hurt. The extra attacks from the command squad in those cases are usually not needed. I rarely assault something with my
HQ that I cannot defeat in 1 round, as a captain and libby can deliver a lot of pain
As a side note, your scouts can work as your 4th squad perfectly in a 2k game. There are many games where they will be useful
* When putting down objectives as a bike army, drop them out in the middle of the open, away from cover. Your bikes bring cover with them when turbo-boosting, so dont put them in cover. If your opponent is trying to grab that objective, they wont have cover
* Speaking of tactics -- congo-lining bikes works amazingly well. Congo-lining means that a large template blast will only hit 3 of your bikes, and if your turbo-boosting they really lose effect.
* Ive won many objective games just turbo-boosting along the table edge until turn 5 when I boosted to the objectives. This works very well with leafblower lists. It would work ever better with kahn as they can just boost along the board edges until its time to start grabbing objectives. Just move them back and forth.
* That same trick also works when coming from reserves. If you only have 2 squads come in from reserves on turn 2, then just have the ones that arrives boost around on the edge. This helps to ensure that the incoming fire wont wipe them. Being on the board edge means that even a 1" scatter in the wrong direction of template weapons means they are off the board -- as the center of the bast will be off the board.
* I know you will hear this a lot -- but a regular captain on a bike with a relic blade is cheaper and delivers a great punch. It also lets you use chapter tactics which blends very well with bike armies. Kahn lets you outflank which is pretty awesome too. I would suggest trying both and see how they work for you.
* Bikes are an "in-your-face" army. I've always been worried about vindicators scattering on my bikes so I've used preads. Have you ever had vindicators scatter on your own troops?
* As I mentioned, your army is lacking in long range anti-transport. It will have really hard problems with
BA razorback spam, or mech eldar. The prior will overwhelm you when you melta them, the latter will scatter laser your bikes down before you can bring your meltas to bear. I speak from experience in this case, trust me. Doom + 2 serpents with
SL and
SC will tear apart bike squads.
* This is my 1750 Bike List. I've found great effect with this list. Use this list as a source of ideas. I've won 'best general' at a few tourneys with this list, and it performs very well. It has a few weakensses (Dark Eldar come to mind), but its very strong against other lists (I usually rip up
IG)
HQ
Captain on Bike w/Relic Blade --165
Librarian on Bike w/Null zone and Might of Ancients -- 135
Elites
TL AC Dread --125
TL AC Dread --125
Troops
6 Bikes :
PF, 2
PG,
MM attack bike -- 245
6 Bikes :
PF, 2
PG,
MM attack bike --245
5 Bikes :
PF, 2
PG,
HB attack bike (2
HQs join this squad) --190
Fast Attack
2
MM attack bikes --100
Typhoon Land Speeder --90
Typhoon Land Speeder --90
Heavy Support
AC/
LC Predator --120
AC/
LC Predator --120
6000+ pts NIDS
(
) 2000 pts growing to 4000... 
Blood Angels - 2000 
Iron Warriors - 2000 
Orks -2000 
Imperial Guard - 2000
Eldar - 2000 
Dark Eldar - 2000 
Necrons - 2000 
Grey Knights - 2000 
Daemons - 2000 
Ravenwing - 2000