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What are peoples opinions of space marine scout bikes, the come in 5 points cheap starting off at 70 points for the squad. 2 members can get Astartes grenade launchers with frag and krak. The Sergeant can get a powerfist or combi weapon. They can have a locator beacon, they can have cluster mines ( mine a piece of terrain for when the first enemy sets up to do 2d6 str 4 hits).

They have infiltrate , scout. They get a scout move and with the new rules and faq stating you can turboboost they can have a 3+ invulnerable, their scout move can move them 24 inches.

It's completely possible to get a first turn charge.

Here is my squad composition.

Space Marine Scout bike Squad (70)
+3 Additional @ 20; 3 astartes @ 10, Locator Beacon @ 25, combi melta @ 10, Melta Bombs @ 5 , Cluster Mines 10

210 points

Really like the locator beacon with the infiltrate & scout. However, for the 210 points I can get a lot more for the points IMO.

1. The scout bikes are not scoring
2. In dawn of war set up they will be off the field until turn 1 meaning they lose the before game infiltrate & scout moves (though they still can outflank if placed in reserves)
3. For 10 more points their grenade launchers aren’t all that powerful. Plus remember that the scouts (excluding the SGT.) have a lower BS then the regular marines.
4. That turbo boosting save is a cover saves, and there are a few weapons in a game that ignore cover saves. Just think of a heavy flamer template that ignores the cover save & the armor save.
5. If they want to fire weapons then no cover save for you, meaning in a Kill points game I think I'd be targeting most of my weapons on the scout bikes the turn after they fire.

With all of the other fun things in the codex I’ll spend the points elsewhere.

I would not use a squad of scouts in anything bigger then 1500 and heres why.
1) in 1500 tellion and snipe out nobs and sgts and really ruin squads and actually make a difference in the overall course of the battle.
2) less fire coming at the scouts
The unit of scouts I plan on running is 7 snipers 1 missile launcher (so telion can give it bs 6 and pop a tank with a good side shot first turn) and telion which comes out to about 160 points which is a good deal for what it can do.

With scout bikes you can use them 2 ways imo
1) a mobile beacon which got alot better since they can use their scout move to turbo boost (thanks faq) for 85 points
2) outflank tank hunters with 2 nade launchers and a combi melta/ melta bombs (which is even better if your army has vulkin) for 105 points. They can kill pretty much any tank in the game.

They have toughness 5 which comes in pretty handy ; I actually really like them as they have a mobile Locator Beacon.

Overall for the points 5 points less than a space marine bike they get lots of interesting options like clustermines.

I dont know if I would take a ten man squad but 5 to 6 seems a pretty good sweet spot.


Edit:

As far as the astartes grenade launcher, I think its fantastic. Str 6 AP4 Rapid Fire or Str 4 Blast Rapid Fire. How can you not love that. Add to the outflank and the ability to get behind vehicles either is viable, Frag is great as it is a blast and you get 6 templates so their ballistic doesnt really matter in terms of getting a hit.

Theyre shooting is also pretty decent for gobs, twinlinked boltguns that's pretty good.

Hollismason wrote: 2 members can get Astartes grenade launchers with frag and krak.

Three can upgrade. Even better

Krootman wrote:1) a mobile beacon which got alot better since they can use their scout move to turbo boost (thanks faq) for 85 points

It would be 95 points. Still worth it though - as long as you get the first turn. They'll be a tempting target if you've turbo-boosted and you're not behind cover/out of TLOS - everyone will be fearing the locator beacon and gunning for it.

Hollismason wrote:Str 6 AP4 Rapid Fire or Str 4 Blast Rapid Fire. How can you not love that. Add to the outflank and the ability to get behind vehicles either is viable, Frag is great as it is a blast and you get 6 templates so their ballistic doesnt really matter in terms of getting a hit.

Theyre shooting is also pretty decent for gobs, twinlinked boltguns that's pretty good.

Frag is only S3 - still, the rapid fire blasts are cool anyway.

I'm gonna start by running three (when I get the marines finished). Three is probably not enough but I'll be loading up with goodies (cluster mines/ locator beacon/ sgt. with atartes gl)
and trying to keep them in cover.

Ah at school don't have codex, thought it was STR4 ;

Also, their relatively cheap and can have a multifunction role.

I am going to play with some I think theyll be fun.

I would use a 5 model unit with Beacon, Mines, and a Sgt Fist to call down Pods + Possible Vanguard/Terminators.

I watched 3 Scout bikes and 3 chaos bikes bounce off each other for an entire 6 turn game.

Imo the cheaper the scout bikes are the better, I would not spend more then 105 points on them.