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I want to ask everyones thoughts on the viability of nob bikers, as I have grown pretty attached to my Nob biker detachment over the years.

Warboss (Pwklaw, cyborg body, attack squig, boss pole)
Nob biker with cyborg body
Nob biker with cyborg body and ammo runt
Nob biker with cyborg body and big choppa
Nob biker with cyborg body and Pwklaw
Nob biker with cyborg body, Pwklaw and Waaaagh! banner
Painboy biker with cyborg body

The main quires I have are concerning cover saves, FNP, wound allocation, ect.

So basically, have they been nerved or improved?

No idea on ork rules, or anything to do with them for that matter, but Nobs have 2 wounds, right? Remember seeing it from a Youtube bat rep.

But anyway, the new edition makes you use the T in brackets (). So Bikers get +1 toughness and you use that total in everything.
So you can avoid ID with the nobs, and if they have 2 wounds, thats pretty good

Not much help, but just letting you know

4+ cover due to special rule exhaust cloud still holds even though now most cover has changed... wargears says 4+ so its 4+

toughness it now increased by +1 for all purposes so nob bikers only killed to str10 for instant death... warboss is toughness 6 for all purposes so immune to str10 instant death

fnp now nerfed to 5+ but works for anything that doesn't casue instant death ie anything under str 10 you get 5+ cuybork and fnp

overall bikes got a nice buff though wound shenanagins are lessened so i'll be takign 10 nob bikers some that just go up front and in the middle for look out sir rolls

how would the look out sir shenanigans work?

Check your rulebook, but basically they all count as characters.

So I fire 10 bolters at a squad of nob bikers.
You allocate one to the closet guy, he fails his save.
You allocate the next one to him, but I LOS with another nob on a 4+. If I pass, it goes to the other guy. If I don't, the first guy dies.
Rinse repeat.

Not quite as good as Wound allocation in all ways, but in some ways better. (You can force the LOS wounds onto choppa / slugga.)

what if I shove the war boss out front? Then I can wound allocate on a 2+
Granted its more risky, but he can't be ID'd, and hence I can drop him back if he loses a wound.

Correct. It could take a while, but if you have a couple of Nobz with no extra upgrades as dedicated "wound buckets", then that could help speed things up early on.

i am now runnign a screen for my nob bikers. a warboss on a bike out front i have 2 models one with a big choppa one with a pk. he rides out front along with 4 regular nob bikers with only cybork upgrades. the warboss look out sirs anythign under str 10 to them and takes his 5+ inv and 5+ fnp against str 10

Which works great until someone attacks you from behind.

------WB-----
1--2---3----4---
-5--6--7--8--
----9---10----

wb is warboss

1,4,9 and 10 are sacraficial nob bikers with the good stuff in the middle

1 and 4 protect the warboss mostly from up to str 10

str 10 on warboss

9 and 10 take wounds for 5 6 7 8

Okay, great! Glad to know they work!

On top of this, these nob bikers (slightly tweaked) plus some grots are my standard school league list, and in 5th they mullered everything they could lay their hands on, they were nigh unstoppable.
I was wondering whether they still hold the same competitive edge in 6th, or whether I should swap out 1 or 2 bikers for some Lootas.

They look better now than before by quite a bit. I think they will be a dominant force for a while.

okay, great!
one question: what about fliers?

Dakkajets.

Imo you could swap couple of bikers to Lootas, they are always awesome, especially now when they can glance enemy tanks to death.
In the flyer section dakkajet seemed decent, popping 9 TL s6 shots a turn (18 on the Waaaagh!!! - turn). Haven't tried it yet, but it seemed fun atleast

i meant taking out fliers, but i suppose your advice fits in with that.
how many points are the 3 planes btw?

I know. Dakkajets are your answer. Get in those shots in the rear and you can do some damage.

Plus they seem to be the only thing for orks that can hit other fliers on a 4+.
Don't have the WD with me, but if I remember correctly dakkajet is 110pts + extra supashoota 10pts.
Couple of points more (5?) for the fighta ace upgrade so you can shoot other fliers easily.
The other planes cost few points more.

Flyers are not listed on Fighta Ace, last I recall. Just Jetbikes and Skimmers. GW didn't update it, I don't think.

The other option is allied Guard for cheap Hydras or Vendettas (this is what I may be doing).

So any idea on a list? what should I drop for the 120 points?

pretre wrote:Check your rulebook, but basically they all count as characters.

So I fire 10 bolters at a squad of nob bikers.
You allocate one to the closet guy, he fails his save.
You allocate the next one to him, but I LOS with another nob on a 4+. If I pass, it goes to the other guy. If I don't, the first guy dies.
Rinse repeat.

Not quite as good as Wound allocation in all ways, but in some ways better. (You can force the LOS wounds onto choppa / slugga.)

How is it that they are all characters?? The way I see it a painboy is a character in a nobz unit just like a nob is a character in the boyz unit. But nobz cannot be characters in nobz units. I think the way you describe the shooting is correct though. But if they are characters that has implications in challenges.

In the back of the rulebook in the Appendix it has all the lists of units for each army and it lists Nobs as Characters. All the time. No matter what unit they are with. If they are in a unit of nobs then they are all characters, similar to paladins.

I see...

No army list ideas?

Well, I'd be inclined to run a full squad of Nob Bikers led by a Waagh Boss as ally detachment.

What main force would you take using Nob Bikers as allies?

I've been geeking out over 2W T5 Nob bikers lead by a T6 Warboos biker as well!

I'm considering running them as a death star ally with my Crons, night fight to get in to position and pound away.

Orcs:
Warboss + 5 Nobs + Nob Painboy clocks in just over 500

Crons:
2 Chariot Sythe Lords
Pulse Teks
Couple of warrior blobs with Ghost arcs
Handful of scarabs
2-3 annihilation barges

Makes for a pretty nasty 1850 list.

I am thinking at 2k, two max deathstars and a trio of Dakkajets, with a small Grot unit. Its gimmicky, but is fast and highly mobile and killy, it should catch folks off guard.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
HQ:
Warboss
Power Klaw, Warbike, Attack Squig, Cybork, Ammo Runt
[153]

Warboss
Power Klaw, Warbike, Attack Squig, Cybork, Ammo Runt
[153]

Troops:
(10) Nob Bikers
Painboy, Cybork, 2x PKs, Waaagh! Banner, Bosspole
[600]

(10) Nob Bikers
Painboy, Cybork, 2x PKs, Waaagh! Banner, Bosspole
[600]

(19) Grots
Runtherd
[67]

(19) Grots
Runtherd
[67]

Fast Attack:
Dakkajet
Supa Shoota
[120]

Dakkajet
Supa Shoota
[120]

Dakkajet
Supa Shoota
[120]

[2000]

Something like that. Gimmicky, but gruesome. Those two scoring T5 deathstars with LoS!, 4+ Cover, 5+ FNP & Invuln, and 4+ Armor and 2W seem absolutely unstoppable. The old answer was the Thundernator - but not anymore! Yes, S8 will wound easily, but with a 5+/5+, we can actually save ourselves instead of just taking a model off the table for every wound. Just steer clear (lol) of Medusas and things like that.

The trio of Dakkajets are there expressly to Waaagh! and gun down enemy aircraft. Most of them will be at most AV12 and 2-3 HP, meaning enough Supa-Shoota shots can strip their HP with glances.

Obviously, the Gretchin just go into cover on your home objective (put it in ruins!) and hope for the best. Maybe your opponent will be so busy wasting time on your twin deathstars that they forget about the little ones.

Love the 2000 point list.
Allies wise, what can orks ally with?
and what would you the for a 600 point list?

oh, and em-en-oh-pee, your grot tactics aren't perfect. What I do it don't deploy them; sit them in reserve. hold them in reserve as one as you can. In the last few turns run them onto the objectives. they die less often

Nob Bikers certainly gained some strengths in 6th edition-- most notably immunity to Instant Death from strength 8 and 9 weapons-- but they also lost out on some other nice things. In particular, small arms are much stronger against Nob Bikers than they were in 5th edition. Previously, you got a 3+ turbo-boost save followed by a 4+ FNP save; now, you have only a 4+ warbike exhaust save followed by a 5+ FNP save. This means that, in practice, small arms will have double their previous effect against Nob Bikers.

3+ Turbo on turns you don't do anything - so not a constant. I think being able to take that 5+ against any wound that isn't double toughness really helps. A 4+ FNP is nice, but no one shot you with anything that you got any save beyond 5+ Invuln anyhow, because a Lascannon and Melta would do the trick, so small arms weren't wasted. The fact they are T5 with a 4+/5+ will keep them from dropping fast and they hit hard, especially the Boss and the two Klaws.