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Is nob bikers still good? Will someone give me an example of a typical nob biker squad?

Nob Bikers aren't considered particularly good anymore, no.

Can you give me an example of the squad? What are they equipt with and how many do you take?

Generally, just like a normal Nob squad. 2-3 with Powerklaws, most of the rest with Big Choppas, a Painboy. give them all Cybork, give half 'eavy Armour, give about half Kombi-rokkits/Skorchas, and give some of the Rokkit ones Ammo grots. Mix it all up so they all have different gear, and give them Bikes. Stick a Waaagh!! banner and a bosspole or two in there as well.

Toughness 4(5), FnP, 4+/5++ or 6+/5++ with a 4+ cover save is rather tough to kill for most things. The problem you run into is that it's also extremely expensive, and you're going to have a lot of heavy tank-killing weapons and templates coming at you, most with better than AP4 and Str.8 or higher, meaning you're relying on a 5++ and the occasional 4+ FnP to keep them alive, since a single shot will gib them.

Most of the reason they're not taken anymore is simply because they're huge point sinks.

Nob bikers are still good, they're just not the focus of rage they once were.

You don't actually need Cybork bodies, since the Cover save does much better against shooting, and Waaagh! banner is a better determent of power weapons. The painboy and the usual kitting out is still recommended though (although you don't have to go as crazy with it).

Anvildude wrote:Generally, just like a normal Nob squad. 2-3 with Powerklaws, most of the rest with Big Choppas, a Painboy. give them all Cybork, give half 'eavy Armour, give about half Kombi-rokkits/Skorchas, and give some of the Rokkit ones Ammo grots. Mix it all up so they all have different gear, and give them Bikes. Stick a Waaagh!! banner and a bosspole or two in there as well.

Toughness 4(5), FnP, 4+/5++ or 6+/5++ with a 4+ cover save is rather tough to kill for most things. The problem you run into is that it's also extremely expensive, and you're going to have a lot of heavy tank-killing weapons and templates coming at you, most with better than AP4 and Str.8 or higher, meaning you're relying on a 5++ and the occasional 4+ FnP to keep them alive, since a single shot will gib them.

Most of the reason they're not taken anymore is simply because they're huge point sinks.

Basically this, except for two little things: No 'eavy armor, they already have 4+ armor from their bikes, and anti-tank still needs to get past 4+ cover.

I usually field a unit of 5 with a warboss attached, so the warboss takes two S8/9 shots before some of them start dying. You definitely need cybork against heavy flamers and power weapons.

Right! Knew I was forgetting something the Bikes gave them...

But yeah, they still find a home with a lot of Speed Freeks lists, or even slower Slogging lists, as a sort of rapid-responce outlying punch.

To OP:

It really depends on your local meta and they're really not great in an "all comers list", but...

If you run large man Nob bikers... best tactic really is to point it at the bad guys and try to get into an assault by no later that 2 turn. The amount of firepower this unit can soak up is unreal. I've hauled ass to the standard IG Gunline list's (manticores, plasma vomitting tanks, basilisk) backline with a 9-man nob squad and they destroyed easily half the tanks by the end of the game.

Nob bikers are possibly the biggest fire magnet an ork can field... and they can almost take anything! What this does is that this allows your other unit move up the table virtually unmolested (at least, it does for me... my flg abhor nob bikers ).

Here's a 2000pt list I'm rather fond of:
HQ:
Wazdakka
Warboss on Warbike, PK, Cyborked

Troops:
4x Warbikers + 1 Nob biker w/ BP, PK
4x Warbikers + 1 Nob biker w/ BP, PK
4x Warbikers + 1 Nob biker w/ BP, PK
4x Warbikers + 1 Nob biker w/ BP, PK
8x Diversified Nobs w/ Painboy, 3x PK, 4x BC, 3xBP, Banner, Cyborked, etc...

Fast Attack:
1x TL Rokkit Deffkopta + Buzzsaw
1x TL Rokkit Deffkopta + Buzzsaw
1x TL Rokkit Deffkopta + Buzzsaw

Elites:
5 x Kommandos + 1 Snikrot
5 x Lootas
5 x Lootas

Tactic:
Constant 4+ coversaves for bikers... 4+ armour save... 3+ cover save it you turbo boost.

Total of 84 TL Bigshootas shots per turn in the troop slot! (3 shots per at STR5 / AP5). I've taken down Big Tyranid bugs, terminator squads with just the bikers.

The Nob squads are just mean... I've had a Chaos deathstar assault my Nobs... this consisted of 3 Terminators, 1 Chaos Lord in Termie + ID demon weapon, AND Typhus... The Nob squad wiped out that unit in 2 turns (opponent even assaulted the nob squad with his beserkers after the 1st combat round and the Nob squad feasted on them).

Wazzy just turbo-boost every turn for the 3+ coversave and still shoots 4 STR8 shorts for good 'ol tank hunting !

Deffkoptas are great for first turn assault (they can turbo scout!) or, if you go second... outflank with 'em. Great harassment unit.

Lootas are there to pop light transport (so that bikers/nob can charge!) or knock off wounds on monsterous creatures... even if they can shake/stun vehicle, that's golden as they're not shooting at your bikers.

This is kinda controversial... Snikrot's unit is there to mind-feth your oponent. He can crack vehicles... get to well hidden units... contest... he always does something good for me. Other Ork generals don't think he's worth is points or is better spent elsewhere so YMMV.

However, there are flaws to this army... they're susceptable to anything that forces leadership tests (tankshock, pinning, PBS, etc) that can run the bikers off the board. The trick with this army to is get the nobs in CC asap. The other 4 warbikers FOCUSes their DAKKA power to one or two targets.

Another thing I like to do is to give the nob biker unit at least 3 Bosspoles... this is so that I'd always have a BP if some of the BP bikers dies... those rerolls are golden.

Also another problem is that during objective games, opponents would put the objective markers in terrain (where bikers take dangerous terrain) or put 'em on second/third floor where bikers can't even get them. My solution is to have the kommandos or deffkoptas contest those...

Another good tackit for the warbikers themselves is to ALWAYS try to put the first non-ID would on your nob... that way, you warbikers stays alive longer and it may not force leadership test that turn.

All in all... they're tough, pack a CC punch (nob squad) and can outshoot most armies (moar DAKKA!).

I would play this in friendly games, but not at tournaments.

@Whembly

That was a really good post. not only did you give a good example list you explained its strengths, weaknesses, and how to play it. It was even good advice on orks (all of it even the 15 points in bosspoles that save your 500-700 point unit). Good show and I agree. Whaaagh!!!

Thanks everyone

Nob Bikers are still good. It depends a bit on the environment you're playing.
GK are a real contender in cc when they active their force weapons.
I won an RTT with them around Christmas and my Orks ruled wiping out a Nids army within 5 rounds (final).

Fetterkey wrote:Nob Bikers aren't considered particularly good anymore, no.

Why? what has changed since they were so good?

One guy here at my club runs them and they are still monsters...

They get owned by manticores pretty badly...

Nob bikers are still good , though it seriously depends on what you are facing each time




Ignorance is Bliss

Chaos Space Marines 7000 pts.
Tau 3500 pts.
Wood elves 3000 pts.

SonsofVulkan wrote:They get owned by manticores pretty badly...

Just like any other unit in the game, one more reason to keep the unit small. At least they still have a 4+ cover save against it. A manticore should also never get to fire more than once if you know what you're doing.

Agreed, I get annoyed with answers like that. Oh X unit isnt good anymore because Y unit can blow them away. And? So 1 unit is a good counter to it, so they shouldnt be used ever again? Who came up with that logic?

Personally, I dont run nob bikers. Is it because they suck? God no, they far from suck. I just dont use them because they cost too much IMO and they dont really mesh with how I play. Also, like most groups, we have alot of SM players, and free missile launchers really piss ya off when they down nob bikers

I always got the feeling that Nob Bikers were "good" because people were able to make an entire army that was 2 Warbosses, 2 Nob Biker squads, and one or two other things and they became "bad" once people learned how to deal with a small, critical unit with less then fearless morale that every netlister on the planet was dropping on the table.

Give it a few years and we'll probably be saying the same kind of thing about Leafblower.

Cough. Cough. Longfangspam. Cough. Was that obvious enough?

See when people discovered the holy hell-ness of the nob biker, it was early in 5th edition. And yea, they were the cheese of all cheese. But since GW apparently doesnt codex creep (yea right, this thread is a perfect example of their creep) they should still be the top dogs, but they arnt. Long fang spam is even more effective against these guys, because with all those damn krak missiles, they are going down, then the rest of whats left will take krak missiles.

But they still dont suck. And a nob biker army is still a hard hitting build, its small, and if you can keep them in CC where they friggin shine, then you dont worry to much about being shot to hell and back. I mean, 2 biker bosses, and a bunch of nob bikers, thats a 10 ton hammer right there.

Nob Bikers are still tough as nails and can bring the hurt to any enemy unit in the game.

The drawback of them is that they're expensive.

They do require some finesse to keep them alive compared to Nobz in a BW, but with turbo-boosting and reserves you can easily use them to maximum effect.

I agree it's stupid to say that a unit isn't good because it can be killed by another unit. By the same logic there are units that nothing can kill? Wrong.

Well, a correctly built Ork army with Nob Bikers should contain elements that provide cover fire while the Bikers advance.
This would silence guns and help to keep the Bikers alive.

I really run nob bikers more often than not(and I'm almost done painting them, woohoo!), and they can really break my neck if I lose them in a stupid error or by bad dice luck early. However, if I don't, they wreck havoc across the board, with the last one always contesting or even holding an objective he turbo-boosted to.

I usually run a small 5 man unit of Nob Bikers, along with a biker boss, in my BW list.

They are there to distract AT fire from my BWs, forcing my opponent to either concentrate fire on my BWs or my Nob Bikers. One way or the other, I will be getting into CC turn 2 with some heavy hitters. Combine those Nobs and BWs with my 3 suicide Koptas, and it makes for a very fast and hard hitting army.

Yep, doing the exact same thing, except for me using two units of three koptas with just one buzzsaw each. Another unit weak against rokkits, for more target saturation. Works for me, probably not for anyone else.

In answer to the manticore guy the entire point of 40 k is to adapt to your opponents list for example my mate plays DE and i.constantly get faceraped by incubi with his archon in so instead of throwing my boyz at him hoping to drown him in attacks i used my kanz it tarpitted the unit for 4 turns after which i fired 16 lootas at them and finished them off its all about adapting your tactics

Old thread is old.

Thread is being locked due to thread necromancy.