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I've just find a few bikes at home, and i'm wondering, what is the best way to take them? The only unit i'd thought up is 5 bikes with two meltaguns for fast anti-tank duty, although that sets me back 160 points. So are there any other ways to run space marine bikes, also is it worth it taking a captain on a bike so they can count as troops? Any advice is welcome.

Bikes are good for a couple of different roles. Relentless plasma guns are nice for taking down MCs. Fast meltas are good tank hunters, especially with a MM attack bike attached. Twin flamers are good anti-horde, especially if you keep the squad small (3 models, 2 flamers). How effective they are for you depends on how the rest of your army is built and what they complement in it.

Captain on bike is good if you use ALOT of fast attack options, because it will open up the FA slots for Landspeeders, attack bike squadrons, assault squads and other goodies. If you only use one or two FA slots, its really an unnecessary HQ. It can still help if you have a lower number of scoring units because now you have a 24" move scoring troop choice or two to complement the tac squads.

Bikers have a special role in an SM army since they are faster and tougher than other SM units.
First, they can harass the enemy, say by boosting them along a flank threatening a shooty unit.
Second, they can go tank hunting (with meltas) or help hunting down MC's (with plasma guns).

There's alot of advantages of bikes that they have over normal space marine tactical squads.


Let's look at mechanized Tactical with some expensive options;
10 man w/ meltagun, powerfist sgt, rhino , multimelta 235 points

add in 100 for minimum cost of HQ

10 man Bike Squad w/
2 meltaguns, Multimelta attack bike, SGT w/ powerfist 310

Add in Minimum of 135 for Spac Marine Cpt. on Bike



both have their advantages and disadvantages , the tactical is 75 points cheaper ; is mechanized.

The advantages the bike squad have though are pretty obvious.

t5
2 Special Weapons
relentless
H. Weapon that ca move and fire.


every time i keep looking and saying welp bikes are the way to go or a mix

A mix:
Cause the tacticals in a rhino make their way to 3rd floor and higher objectives.

In addition provide a sort of 'second wave' for the bikers and can sort of protect the backs of the bikers to discourage enemy from moving close to try and escort bikers away should they need to use Combat Tactics.

Sadly, I don't follow my own advice as I go pure biker at 1500 just for theme.

Sanctjud wrote:A mix:
Cause the tacticals in a rhino make their way to 3rd floor and higher objectives.

In addition provide a sort of 'second wave' for the bikers and can sort of protect the backs of the bikers to discourage enemy from moving close to try and escort bikers away should they need to use Combat Tactics.

Sadly, I don't follow my own advice as I go pure biker at 1500 just for theme.

I also find a mix to be worthwhile. The Bikes do well to push towards the other objective, while the Tacticals consolidate the gains.

Hollismason wrote:
10 man Bike Squad w/
2 meltaguns, Multimelta attack bike, SGT w/ powerfist 310

There's no such thing as a 10-man Marine Bike Squad. You can get 8, max, and an attached Attack Bike.

Bike Squads are best run at max strength, if you're running them as Troops (via a Bike Captain). Max strength allows you to combat squad, which is invaluable in objective games.
Bikes require ablative wounds when taking special weapons. The two-flamer, three-man unit? Complete garbage. You have one ablative wound before you start losing flamers. Any opponent with half a brain is going to throw a couple S6 shots at you, and knock out a biker. You'll have to roll Morale on Ld8 (your sergeant died, remember?), and if you fail, you fall back 3d6". If you were near the board edge (say, Turn One), you're off the board.
You really want at least a 2:1 ratio of bolter bikes to your special weapons. Fewer than that and you just lose too much before delivering your shots.
Plasmaguns on bikes are indeed nice, but if you fail the armor save after a Gets Hot! roll, you've lost one expensive model.
Bikers are spectacular units from reserve. You can turbo-boost 24" onto the board, or go up to 12" and unleash all your fire. Arriving from reserve allows you to not be taking fire. I've used the 24" turbo boost from reserve to win several objective-based games.
The ability to combat squad your bikes is very very useful. Let's say you have an 8-man squad with a pair of meltaguns and an attached multimelta bike. If you combat squad, you have a variety of options. You can put both meltaguns in one squad, for short-range tank hunting, with the bolter bikes and the attack bike firing the multimelta from 24" (12" for melta bonus). Or you can put one meltagun in a combat squad with a sergeant who's got a powerfist and meltabombs. Sneak that unit into range of the meltagun, and if you fail to destroy your target with the gun, charge in and use fist, meltabomb and krak grenades.
I'm not a fan of flamers on bikes, though other love them. I feel they have to get way too close to the enemy to be useful, leaving you vulnerable to a charge on the next turn (unless you charge first). They'd fit well with a power weapon sergeant. Powerfist is overkill against anything the flamer might be good for.
Bikes can't climb levels in ruins, or get into/onto buildings. You'll find that if you field an all-bike list, that opponents will place their objectives up high when possible, or in difficult terrain to stymie your bikes from getting near the objectives without dangerous terrain tests, or near them at all int he case of elevated ruins/buildings.

Bikes are a ton of fun, but have a bit of a learning curve to them.

8 + Attack Bike = 10.

Just saying...

KaloranSLC wrote:8 + Attack Bike = 10.

Just saying...

The Codex specifically says "One heavy bolter armed Attack Bike, 40 points". If that was meant to read "ONLY one Attack Bike", then it would read "UP TO one heavy bolter armed Attack Bike".

In other words, due to the way the Codex is worded (perhaps this was a mistake), you can take as many Attack Bikes as you want, attached to your biker squad.

NuggzTheNinja wrote:

KaloranSLC wrote:8 + Attack Bike = 10.

Just saying...

The Codex specifically says "One heavy bolter armed Attack Bike, 40 points". If that was meant to read "ONLY one Attack Bike", then it would read "UP TO one heavy bolter armed Attack Bike".

In other words, due to the way the Codex is worded (perhaps this was a mistake), you can take as many Attack Bikes as you want, attached to your biker squad.

8+ Attack bike = 9 models. There is no 10. It counts-as two models for combat squadding, but ONLY when you have 8 bikers. In no other way does it ever count as two models.


Secondly, you cannot EVER buy more than one attack bike for a biker squad. You're out of your gourd if you try it.

TheRhino wrote:

There's no such thing as a 10-man Marine Bike Squad. You can get 8, max, and an attached Attack Bike.

Bike Squads are best run at max strength, if you're running them as Troops (via a Bike Captain). Max strength allows you to combat squad, which is invaluable in objective games.
Bikes require ablative wounds when taking special weapons. The two-flamer, three-man unit? Complete garbage. You have one ablative wound before you start losing flamers. Any opponent with half a brain is going to throw a couple S6 shots at you, and knock out a biker. You'll have to roll Morale on Ld8 (your sergeant died, remember?), and if you fail, you fall back 3d6". If you were near the board edge (say, Turn One), you're off the board.
You really want at least a 2:1 ratio of bolter bikes to your special weapons. Fewer than that and you just lose too much before delivering your shots.
Plasmaguns on bikes are indeed nice, but if you fail the armor save after a Gets Hot! roll, you've lost one expensive model.
Bikers are spectacular units from reserve. You can turbo-boost 24" onto the board, or go up to 12" and unleash all your fire. Arriving from reserve allows you to not be taking fire. I've used the 24" turbo boost from reserve to win several objective-based games.
The ability to combat squad your bikes is very very useful. Let's say you have an 8-man squad with a pair of meltaguns and an attached multimelta bike. If you combat squad, you have a variety of options. You can put both meltaguns in one squad, for short-range tank hunting, with the bolter bikes and the attack bike firing the multimelta from 24" (12" for melta bonus). Or you can put one meltagun in a combat squad with a sergeant who's got a powerfist and meltabombs. Sneak that unit into range of the meltagun, and if you fail to destroy your target with the gun, charge in and use fist, meltabomb and krak grenades.
I'm not a fan of flamers on bikes, though other love them. I feel they have to get way too close to the enemy to be useful, leaving you vulnerable to a charge on the next turn (unless you charge first). They'd fit well with a power weapon sergeant. Powerfist is overkill against anything the flamer might be good for.
Bikes can't climb levels in ruins, or get into/onto buildings. You'll find that if you field an all-bike list, that opponents will place their objectives up high when possible, or in difficult terrain to stymie your bikes from getting near the objectives without dangerous terrain tests, or near them at all int he case of elevated ruins/buildings.

Bikes are a ton of fun, but have a bit of a learning curve to them.

A 3 bike unit is not garbage. It is cheap, easy to hide behind other units in your army and since it has a low threat profile, people tend to ignore it which gives it a chance to complete its mission. Again, if it fits in your army selection it can be a great unit. You certainly don't plan on a late game role with it. But the turn you swing out from behind a Rhino and hose down an orc mob can be pivotal.

PanzerLeader wrote:
A 3 bike unit is not garbage. It is cheap, easy to hide behind other units in your army and since it has a low threat profile, people tend to ignore it which gives it a chance to complete its mission. Again, if it fits in your army selection it can be a great unit. You certainly don't plan on a late game role with it. But the turn you swing out from behind a Rhino and hose down an orc mob can be pivotal.

True. "Garbage" is a bit of an overstatement.
IMO, a lot of effort goes into protecting a three-man unit for the sake of a pair of flamers that may only fire once. it wouldn't work in MY area, nor with my playstyle. YMMV, though.

TheRhino wrote:

PanzerLeader wrote:
A 3 bike unit is not garbage. It is cheap, easy to hide behind other units in your army and since it has a low threat profile, people tend to ignore it which gives it a chance to complete its mission. Again, if it fits in your army selection it can be a great unit. You certainly don't plan on a late game role with it. But the turn you swing out from behind a Rhino and hose down an orc mob can be pivotal.

True. "Garbage" is a bit of an overstatement.
IMO, a lot of effort goes into protecting a three-man unit for the sake of a pair of flamers that may only fire once. it wouldn't work in MY area, nor with my playstyle. YMMV, though.

I'll be honest---I've found it works best when I'm looking to plug in the last 100 odd points or so in a list and I expect to be playing lots of Orcs, Tyranids and Eldar. Normally the bikes get fielded in big units or left at home in favor a typhoon or more attack bikes.