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Hi,

Currently Im playing pure bikers SM.

So far I have built list for 1750 consisting of:

- 2 x bike captain with relic blade and storm shield
- 2 x command squad of death (3 x LC, 1 x TH, 4 x meltagun, 4 x meltabomb, 4 x storm shields, apothecary)
- 3 x bike troops (2 x melta, 1 x mmelta att bike)

I wold like to upgreade army to 2000 points.

What do you thing would be worth adding considering this point limits?

Options I have considered:

1. 2 x Vindicators (to draw some attention from command squads) and additional bodies to bikers
2. 3 x mm/hflamer land speeders (separate slots for deepstriking)
3. 3 x dakka pred
4. 10 body scout squad with snipers and cammo cloaks (to sit on my objective) + more bodies
5. another bike squad ? (flamers + hb instead of meltas)

What would you advise?

Thanks...

m

Please explain how you can have two LC and a melta gun? Is it actually allowed to have lightning claws on both hands and still hold a meltagun?

As for your options, I would consider a vindicator, but possibly only one. Then a small scout squad with cloaks, snipers and a heavy weapon if you have enough points

Thanks for advice Lord R. I think one vindicator may represent a bit to little threat to concentrate your fire on, therefore I thought about 2.

Answering your question: according to SM codex each mmeber of command squad (except aptohecary) may exchange his ccw weapon for lightning claw + his another ccw weapon for meltagun. Additionaly you can buy each of them strom shield which according to the codex doesn't need free hand .

Edit. I see you changed it so that your command squad includes SShields...Still think its alot of pts to have two units of them.

I would change one bike unit into a flamer and HB squad to get some horde control.
Are those bike units full units?

In fact I forgot to write about SS but CSs do get them (as well as captains). Sry.

Bike squads are very small... I would call them bike mini-max - 5-6 models each.

From my experience meltabombs are sometimes must have, especially making multicharge against guard (If you manage to get through kill zone ) and still they are rather cheap.

Thanks to relentless and twin linked bikes have pretty good small arms shoting capabilities.

So Tedurur you advise another mini-max bike squad with flamers and Hb... So maybe combiflamer on sarge?

yeah in addition to changing one of the 3 current units into a flamer Hb squad.

I seldom play against horde type armies, therefore used lot of melta against hard targets, but you are right I should switch one bikers to flamer/hb.

I also like the idea of adding another bike squad, that would adress better theme of my army than slower vindicators.

I’m generally meh about command squads on bikes. Just don’t overestimate their durability.

Captains look ok.
Command squads: no need for 4 melta bombs if they have melta guns.
The powered weapons look ok.
My issue with them is that they don’t need to be ultra killy.
2 Round Initial Assaults are king in 5th ed…the command squad does not do this.
For counter attacking roles, 2 round assaults are still better.

3 Bike troops are decent, but what numbers? Small squads, something I do not suggest, larger squads if you go higher points...do not overestimate their durability.

As for the options, the beauty of a Biker list is that anything can support it well enough.
I’ve liked the inclusion of the vindi’s but they’ve been underwhelming.
I don’t’ personally like the speeder options, I prefer attack bikes, can’t call yourself pure if you don’t use ‘all bikers’
Dakka preds is always a decent buy and I’ve heard good things about it, but it’s been meh for me.
Scouts are decent in adding more scoring bodies, but don’t offer a lot to the army in terms of utility when they are sniper scouts.
Another bike squad could do, but then there’s the issue of board congestion.

As I see it, anything can do, but nothing will be idea past the 1500ish sweet spot for a biker list, but since you said low squad numbers in the troop bikes, I suggest more of them.

Personally, I don't think flamer/HB bikers are a particularly strong option. What sorts of targets are you having troubles dealing with at present?

I've had some experience with flamer/HB.
It's awesome against hordes.
If they are up against anything else, their best role is support.

Their load out does maximize the rate of fire so can go up against MEQ's.

But yes, they are an acquired taste if you don't really make an all-comers list.

Thanks for advice,

My list for 1750 pts is already assambled and painted therefore I want it to be rather all-comer one.

I know it is rather fragile and bit to expensive, still i like the idea of 30 elite models on board. Moreover the game is bit more tactical compared to some other more powerfull builts. It gives lot of fun.

It works very good while playing KP games, bit more difficult to play scoring objectives

The plan for most games is to use command squads to make enemy split forces into two (therefore CS must be a unit to be affraid of), than utilizing speed of army finish one of the pieces. In fact against horde army it is not so bad to make multicharge with command squads instead of using flamers and hb.

The biggest problem for my army so far was combination of vindicators and dual lash :(.

Taking into consideration all of your remarks I built list for 2000:

- 2 x bike captain with relic blade and storm shield
- 2 x command squad of death (3 x LC, 1 x TH, 4 x meltagun, 2 x meltabomb, 4 x storm shields, apothecary)
- 3 x bike troops (2 x melta, 1 x mmelta att bike) (6 bikes + ab each)
- 1 x bike troops (2 x flamer, 1 x hb attack bike) (5 bikes + ab)

What do you think about this one?

Looks like you're over by 35pts. Keep the HQ like it is and take three full bike squads with 2 meltas and MM attack bike (285pts). Should put you at 1995.

Combat squad the troops for 6 scoring units. It works good with the turbo boosting first turn. Turbo the 5 man units with meltaguns and move the AB squads forward 12" and fire. This will give you some fire support first turn.

I run my army with just one command squad so I can take a librarian on a bike and lots of speeders. I've heard the dual CS list is more powerful though.

Well on the flip side, there are reasons not to combat squad in objective games.
It's not always the 'best' choice. I'm fond of keeping at least one full strength biker squad.

But your suggestion is moot ryan3740, he has no squads that qualify to combat squad. He has purchased his squads in low numbers to maximize special/hvy weapons. Pros and cons there as well.

Sanctjud, I realize he does not have full bike squads. That was my suggestion for getting to 2,000 points instead of taking a 4th bike squad.

ryan3740 wrote:Keep the HQ like it is and take three full bike squads with 2 meltas and MM attack bike (285pts). Should put you at 1995.