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There's talk of Eldar Bikes in another thread and I was wondering what everyone's view of them is. I see bikes being useful 3 different ways.

The "Spearlock" objective grabber/compulsory troop squad. Three bikes w/ a Shuricannon and a Spear/Destructor.
The six strong squad with two cannons, presumably comparable to a 3 bike + 1 Heavy Bolter attack bike Space Marine squad of about the same price.
And the one I've been considering is 9 strong w/ three cannons (altho I don't know if they really need the cannons but you may as well), and a Warlock with Enhance and a Witchblade.

The third squad is a "shock troops" squad, serving the same purpose that Assault Marines serve in a Space Marine army. I would probably skip the cannons and turbo first turn to get those guys stuck in. A 5 man squad + Witchblade might be effective as well.

Basically I'm using them the same way I use Guardians, taking advantage of the assault on the shuriken catapults (which are of course bike mounted anyway). Move forward, and if your opponent decided to charge or rapid fire, soak it up, they were going to attack something else. Meanwhile they have increased durability (practically a Space Marine statline, WS4, TL BS3, S3, T4, I5, 3+) and can hold up units just fine in close combat. A lack of wargear (cannons and spear) make them suited for one thing, and one thing only, assaulting infantry. Which they seem to do remarkably well.

I was also considering the viability of a 10 man Warlock squad + Farseer all on bikes. Re-rollable 3+ and 4++ all at TL BS4 (+ Doom), T4, WS5 and I5. I was thinking I could use those plastic Wood Elves for robes. Hey, it's only 500 points XD.

You could compare the 10 man squad at about 250 points to both a squad of Shining Spears with or without Autarch or a squad of Harlies in a Falcon (hand-waving, 250 vs 350, call it equal if the Falcon is a late game objective grabber). Not bad, for a Troop choice. Sleek looking minis too.

Besides I sold most of my Aspect Warriors I need something new and cool to play with . I guess what I'm trying to do is convince myself that bikes are a perfectly viable selection, and not just for their mobility and "objective grabbing". Their leadership is an issue, as is always true with Guardians, and the other squads' access to Hit&Run probably tilts the scales in their favour.

I don't use this in 'friendly' games, but I do use it in tournaments.

3 bikes, Shuricannon.

Treat it like a Tau Battlesuit. Move up, fire, hide.

You can't hide more than 3 bikes too easily.

In my Eldar army the only targets you get to shoot at are Falcons.

Most people hate playing it, thus the tournament-only part of it.

The army ended up killing 10x it's numbers twice at the LV GT, and it wasn't what I'd call optimized for tournament play.

Sure the anti-tank warlock is fine, but anything beyond 3+Cannon isn't the same army.

I don't get seen, I don't get shot. It's an entirely different flavor from what the other units provide an Eldar army.

The seer council on bikes does wonders. Don't worry about Doom, nothing stands up to it.

Currently I have a unit of six jetbikes, 2 with cannon and am working on #'s 7, 8, and 9.

Without a warlock, they are a great troops selection, and it is worth the points (and money spent) to watch an oppnents face as you keep pulling more of them out of your case......

Add a warlock and you have a fierce unit that can take on most foes, and the Eldar jetbike rule that always lets them move in the assault phase can take them out of harms way.

In all, a unit that epitomizes the Eldar combat philosophy of hit hard, hit fast.

3x Bikes with shuri-cannon
1x Spearlock with Destructor

Is a very popular, expensive, and effective unit.

I use bikes in squadrons of four, for morale purposes. Normally the fourth bike is a warlock. One always has the shuricannon.

My army has 20 jetbikes inclusding old school models and Shining Spears, many were mothballed since 2nd edition.

How useful is a 3 man squad? I'm currently building bikes and keep thinking 3 bikes with 1 Spearlock seems more useful. I haven't played with bikes yet, so am still trying to figure out what will work better.

Is Destructor with the Warlock making the unit too expensive? It seems to complement will with the Shuriken Catapults, but seems like will only be a one shot deal.

Sarigar wrote:How useful is a 3 man squad? I'm currently building bikes and keep thinking 3 bikes with 1 Spearlock seems more useful. I haven't played with bikes yet, so am still trying to figure out what will work better.

Is Destructor with the Warlock making the unit too expensive? It seems to complement will with the Shuriken Catapults, but seems like will only be a one shot deal.

3-man squads suffer because of the current rules for scoring units, which give a definite edge to even-manned squads. The spearlock adds value in his S9 threat to armor. And yes, Destructor complements the unit nicely. But it can be a bit pricey.

I've started experimenting a little with a copule 4-man units, backed by a 6-man jetbike squad (no warlock). The larger unit offers a pair of shuricannon, and better morale-resiliency. No conclusions yet, though.

For scoring purposes units of 3 arent bad. The opponent has to kill 66,6% of the unit to make it nonscoring and the remaining jetbike with Shuricannon cant be ignored.

Raider wrote:For scoring purposes units of 3 arent bad. The opponent has to kill 66,6% of the unit to make it nonscoring and the remaining jetbike with Shuricannon cant be ignored.

Yes, but he's making "Last man standing" checks at Guardian leadership for the rest of the game.

The advantage a 4 man squad has, is that the enemy must kill 3 out of the 4 bikes both to prevent scoring and to prevent rallying. So if you're fielding several such units, you can have 4 3-mans (kill 8 models, 2 from each, to prevent any from scoring), or 3 4-mans (kill 9 models, 3 from each, to prevent scoring). Even-numbered squads have a definite edge.

(If you could get 2 man jetbike squads, that'd be awesome.)

I'll probably compromise and run one squad with a Destructor/Warlock/Spear and 2 squads as just 3 strong for a few games to see how it fares. Should be interesting. I've got one model nearly completed as a Warlock on Jetbike; might as well not let it sit gathering dust.

Janthkin:

So if you're fielding several such units, you can have 4 3-mans (kill 8 models, 2 from each, to prevent any from scoring), or 3 4-mans (kill 9 models, 3 from each, to prevent scoring)

So, would you rather make your enemy kill one more jetbike, or would you rather have one more shuricannon? I don't know, both have their upsides. I don't think it's as clear-cut as you make it seem.

tegeus-Cromis wrote:Janthkin:

So if you're fielding several such units, you can have 4 3-mans (kill 8 models, 2 from each, to prevent any from scoring), or 3 4-mans (kill 9 models, 3 from each, to prevent scoring)

So, would you rather make your enemy kill one more jetbike, or would you rather have one more shuricannon? I don't know, both have their upsides. I don't think it's as clear-cut as you make it seem.

3-mans: Cheaper, extra Shuricannon
4-mans: You get Warlocks, arguably better morale. Those Last Man Standings on ld7 will send that Shuricannon running, and it's no longer scoring anyway.

Personally I like Warlocks and if I really wanted some shooting I'd rather have a Vyper rather than three bikes.

It's a pity Warlocks don't come with Embolden standard, or the option of two powers. Boo.

Tacobake, the argument changes if we're talking about adding Warlocks. I was referring to 3-man Guardian bikes vs 4-man Guardian bikes, not 3-man Guardian bikes + Warlock. I agree that the Guardian-plus unit is great, and use it myself.

tegeus-Cromis wrote:Tacobake, the argument changes if we're talking about adding Warlocks. I was referring to 3-man Guardian bikes vs 4-man Guardian bikes, not 3-man Guardian bikes + Warlock. I agree that the Guardian-plus unit is great, and use it myself.

Ah, oke. I honestly don't know what I would do in that case. I hate to say it but I would probably increase the squad size to six. I would probably use 3-man squads over 4-man figuring 20-some points were better spent elsewhere.

My reasoning with 3-bike squads is that with a unit that small, either they're JSJing or they're dead. Not always the case, I know, but often enough that I wouldn't pay another 20-odd points trying to make them just that little bit more durable.

I actually favour 2x3 over 1x6, too, unless the plan is to Fortune them. You definitely take a morale hit with the 2x3, and you'll lose one cannon earlier, but the smaller footprint and the fact that you now have two scoring units seems worthwhile to me. That and the fact that quite often, the squads best suited to killing MEqs, which jetbikes are, are able to take out a 6-model squad as easily as a 3-model squad, so why make things easy for them? The only exception is if I plan on Fortuning them.

tegeus-Cromis wrote:My reasoning with 3-bike squads is that with a unit that small, either they're JSJing or they're dead. Not always the case, I know, but often enough that I wouldn't pay another 20-odd points trying to make them just that little bit more durable.

I actually favour 2x3 over 1x6, too, unless the plan is to Fortune them. You definitely take a morale hit with the 2x3, and you'll lose one cannon earlier, but the smaller footprint and the fact that you now have two scoring units seems worthwhile to me. That and the fact that quite often, the squads best suited to killing MEqs, which jetbikes are, are able to take out a 6-model squad as easily as a 3-model squad, so why make things easy for them? The only exception is if I plan on Fortuning them.

Makes sense. My own playstyle is more direct/attrition based, I figure my opponent gets a shooting phase too and casualties are part of the game hense the importance of leadership. You're probably right that in a 'combined arms' approach Jetbikes are most useful when kept alive until the end of the game, and bonus they can still be useful while hiding in the assault phase.

When I field my jetbikes they are allways 3 to a squad including 1 shuriken cannon.

Most times I field as many as 4 squads. The high number of squads allso gives a small edge in the deployment fase. If I can deploy my last units knowing where the opponent will stand it will always be helpfull.

tegeus-Cromis wrote:Janthkin:

So if you're fielding several such units, you can have 4 3-mans (kill 8 models, 2 from each, to prevent any from scoring), or 3 4-mans (kill 9 models, 3 from each, to prevent scoring)

So, would you rather make your enemy kill one more jetbike, or would you rather have one more shuricannon? I don't know, both have their upsides. I don't think it's as clear-cut as you make it seem.

It's a question influenced mostly by the remainder of the army (e.g., how many other scoring units do you have, or how much do you need that 1 extra shuricannon). *shrug* If you can afford to use the jetbikes in a "fire and forget" manner, where either they're intact or they're dead, 3 man squads are a bit better. If you anticipate the odd bike being exposed to fire at times, you may want the scoring (and morale) resilience of 4 man units.

I just wanted to say I found this very helpful, thanks for the posts.