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I am thinking about a SM captain, bike, relic blade and hellfire rounds. Pricey but fun and a danger to just about everything. He rides withan 8 man bike squad with meltas and PF.

Any experience with this kind of load out? Suggestions ofr tactics and uses or is it utterly useless?

ender502

mental picture of Captain trying to steer the bike and swing his two-handed sword at the same time...

Pretty good but that's one expensive unit and you can bet your opponent isn't going to let it drive around unopposed...

Lm137 wrote: mental picture of Captain trying to steer the bike and swing his two-handed sword at the same time...

Pretty good but that's one expensive unit and you can bet your opponent isn't going to let it drive around unopposed...

I see him using his knees to steer....

Yeah, it's pretty expensive. Depending on how I feel I can combat squad it as well. I hope they oppose it... Turn 1 is combat boost and a 3+ invulnerable save. Turn 2 is the charge.

ender502

Actually, the best thing to do is to take a Command squad and put them on bikes. Give a few storm shields and LC's to some of the models, join it with an IC (preferably Kor'Sarro for Hit and Run and Furious Charge). You now have a unit that is T5 vs shooting with a 3+/4+ and when it's not turbo boosting, you can allocate low AP shots to the storm shield guys. It's basically a Marine version of nob bikers.

Capt K

CaptKaruthors wrote:Actually, the best thing to do is to take a Command squad and put them on bikes. Give a few storm shields and LC's to some of the models, join it with an IC (preferably Kor'Sarro for Hit and Run and Furious Charge). You now have a unit that is T5 vs shooting with a 3+/4+ and when it's not turbo boosting, you can allocate low AP shots to the storm shield guys. It's basically a Marine version of nob bikers.

Capt K

I thought about this option a lot.. It is by far a mor epowerful unit... The only down side I see is the even lower numbers of models and the overall price. With the unit I wa sthinking of I have at least 3 ablatives wounds in CC when I combat squad. If they stay as a single unit I have 5. Using a biker as a na balative wound is kinda silly considering the cost. But once you lose even 1 of the command squad you see a large loss of points and some effectiveness.

Though the T5 3+, 4+ IS really AWESOME.... I expect to see a number of kited out command squads in the near future.

ender502

I couldn't advise you in a tactiacl sense, because I'm a realtive n00b, but bikers are pure awesomeness, so definately do it. Maybe give him a one-handed melee weapon though, just because it would work better. Maybe a power sword, or a power fist or something.

Space Marine bikes have an auto pilot system built into the machine spirit so I need reason why they can't swing a relic blade while mounted on a metal hog. Think Judge Dredd.

G

Actually I imagine those foot pedals under the bike are connected to the handlebars, so pressing the pedals gives it gas or brake, while sliding them forward turns the wheel. Sort of a combination rudder/accelerator.

They can actually use their acid spit to steer the bike.

Motorcycles have this strange habit of staying upright while moving at a high rate of speed. Oh that's right, everyone's favorite physics phenomenon, The Gyroscopic Effect .

Granted, unless you cut your target clean in half on the first swing, you're gonna be picking gravel out of your teeth for a week.

And yes, Command Squad+properly spread wargear+bikes can be as rediculous as Nob bikers and Seer Councils. Granted, they all boast varying degrees of success, but nobody's perfect. Seems to me, wound allocation and storm shields make for some impressive rules abuse (I'm using the term loosely, don't spaz.) This unit is going to cost you your firstborn son, but it'll slap some poor unprepared schlubs around. Problem is, the tactics people already use against nob bikers and seer councils are already tried, tested, and ready for application to your SM bikers. You've been warned.

Do what the orks do, bring some of everything: PF+stormshield, maybe some lightning claws, a relic blade would be mighty nice as well. Kor'sarro would definately make this unit snappy, particularly when you use Hit and Run to pinball through the enemy army and don't get bogged down by the 60 orks that'll rip you to pieces. I promise they will, don't let them try. Any rediculously shooty unit that gets even 1 good clear shot on you is gonna sting. Some serious Lootas will still wound you on 2s, and we all know 3+ armour only saves you so many wounds.

a local player has been talking about building a White Scars biker army with units like this, I hope he fields it. I encourage all left-field strategies, sound or otherwise.

Well, this unit can be a serious threat. But don't leave it unsupported. Bikers in cc have higher toughness but still die from lots of attacks.
I'd consider a MotF with conversion beamer on bike.

The Defenestrator wrote:Motorcycles have this strange habit of staying upright while moving at a high rate of speed. Oh that's right, everyone's favorite physics phenomenon, The Gyroscopic Effect .

It is one of my favourite physics phenomena, but in fact the gyroscopic effect is minimal in keeping a motorbike upright (even less so on a push bike which doesn't have rotating engine components). http://socrates.berkeley.edu/~fajans/pub/pdffiles/SteerBikeAJP.PDF

It is kept upright with steering - Steering a bike can be done with the handlebars but can also be done by pushing the bike with your feet, your butt, or just by leaning. - You've seen those circus performers right? (In fact it's not that hard - if you can ride a bike you already do it intuitively)

I'm sure the highly trained space marine bikers are pretty well practised at going "no handed". (even though it would be hard with their "squared off" wheels).

Also older bikes did use foot pedals as the throttle, like a car - SM bikes seem a bit retro, maybe they do the same.

Back OT - the command squad would be uber - T5, 3+ and Feel No Pain, but I agree the cost would be high for so few models. MotF with conversion beamer on a bike is a MoFo, but at 155 points you're sinking a lot of points, and with the beamer there, it would make that squad target no.1 (if it wasn't already). I'd say stick with the 8man biker squad. Tactics wise its tricky, I would probably keep them as a mobile reserve ( a la assault marines), but you may have better luck getting them out front and popping tanks, with the melta and pf.

Yes, straight ahead is easy, however close combat is a swirling maelstrom where these bikers dodge and weave in an out of range etc :p

As to OT... I've been playing theoryhammer with a Red Shirt for a while now, trying to nail down just how potent to make a Khan + Command Squad on bike so you can take advantage of his Hit And Run without ending up out in the open during the opponent's turn. Its a relatively low threshhold, between Khan's PW attacks, and a company champion... After that you're really likely more interested in storm shields to save your bacon from lascannon/Plasma Cannon fire.