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I've found that a 5 man squad of bikes lacks the punch I need. With bigger squads they have better staying power and are much less likely to turn tail and run. Also a base 3 man squad of bikes is 30pts a model, whereas each bike afterwards is only 25pts. It's only 15pts but can still make the difference of having other models or important upgrades. If those 6 x 5 man squads are turned into 3 x 8 squads and a 3 x 6 man squad you will save 30pts there. though you lose the ability to field that 12 meltas, but do you really need 12 meltas? I guess you could also take a few plasmas. They are excellent marine killers though Gets Hot is a risk. I generally roll one a game with the one plasma I have in my army. Still that 30 pts is almost enough to field a landspeeder which I find incredibly valuable to my army. Though they loose their value with out at least a MM or Typoon.

For the bike-only army, I think you have a point, I should consider fatting the squad to reduce the 40pts sergent cost.

For a more balance army, I have my 4 Typhoon around .

Yea I have a bike focused army but still take 2-4 land speeders and usually a couple squads of tac marines in rhinos. My new plan will be to incorporate a vindicator and a predator into the army to makeup for my lack of high strength firepower.

Orks may definitely be the best, simply because the average Ork Bike unit contains the ability to do everything. Powerklaws for opening tanks, great assault, rolling cover saves, pretty good (for Orks) shooting... And something to remember is that Ork Bikers come with Slugga and Choppa as well- doesn't add any shooting, but gives an extra attack in CC, meaning 5 attacks on the charge.

Ok, I just wanna be THAT guy, because I find it amusing.

Space Wolves can have a 99% biker army. XD Logan Grimnar (the only non biker as a Termie) unlocks Wolf Guard, who can all take bikes!

Ok, so it isn't a GREAT plan, as a naked Wolf Guard on a bike costs 53 points (!) but each biker can pick from a large list of close combat weapons and Combis! Ok, so that would make for VERY expensive bikers, but the concept is AVAILABLE! (And you'd have to figure out what to do with Logan. Put him in a Land Raider with Wolf Guard termies? I mean, you ARE trying a Space Wolf biker list, so why not go full crazy. XD

Space Wolves also have 25-pts bikes that have +1 for two close combat weapons. They have furious charge that add +2 for attack (no shooting in that preceding shooting phase). I think they seem to be a very good bike army list as well.

Weird that noone has mentioned a Space Wolves bike army so far.

UPDATE: flamingwalnut made that post at the same time as me.

It seems SW doesn't have a way to make bike troops. Thus making bike-heavy list not feasible.

I really dont get this fixation with bikes needing to be good in CC, they dont. You want your bikes shooting not getting one attack of in CC even if you can have 2 str 8 attacks from the overly expensive PF.

Full bikesquads are not a good thing. You will be wasting firepower that way. Less special weapons and when you get to use your special weapons you will be wasting more bolter shots. If you want a full bike squad then one full squad with flamers can do but otherwise dont bother.

If you run a mixed list then a Command Squad can be used to get that CC punch but without any armour on the table they will most likely die quite fast to a barrage of MLs ect. And while Lash isnt AS common anymore bike lists will still struggle without a Libby, for that reason I find it better to forgoe the CMD squad for a Libby on bike and 2 Typhoons/Dreads ect Especially seeing how bike lists rely on demeching the opponent to further limit the mobility

For CC goodness I have a captain with relic blade, chaplain, and techmarine with servo-harness attached to a command squad all on bikes. This is a serious amount of predominantly power weapon attacks. Key is that from captain, chaplain and a PF guy with a storm shield you have 3 units here with a decent invul save which allows the unit to get into combat. It is extreme and I only run this occassionally, but when it works it works well.

ruminator wrote:For CC goodness I have a captain with relic blade, chaplain, and techmarine with servo-harness attached to a command squad all on bikes. This is a serious amount of predominantly power weapon attacks. Key is that from captain, chaplain and a PF guy with a storm shield you have 3 units here with a decent invul save which allows the unit to get into combat. It is extreme and I only run this occassionally, but when it works it works well.

Even with only those two upgrades to the command squad and minimal upgrades on the captain you will be looking at ~650 pts so I would wager that the cost in reality is above 700pts for that one unit. For that price it better work extremely well...

sennacherib wrote:I play nilla marines Bike army and i have to say that i love it. Dont bother maxing out your points on just bikes as i feel that a combined arms bike list is the best way to go. Take one or two squads of bikes and then a bunch of speeders, maybe a couple of las/ac pred. and a pair of dreadnoughts. I realise that the prevailing wisdom has it that you should only do something if you overload on it but with bikes, i think a little of the aformentioned units really helps you out.

and yeah.... take the bike captain that way your bikes COUNT AS TROOPS so that they are SCORING>

+1 to this. I also run a bike army and its highly effective with the fore mentioned support units. Without those support units you have to get to close to pop the transports, which causes problems as the troops inside pour out onto your bikes. Having the tools (typhoons, riflemen dreads, preadators) to take out the long range threats early , like rhinos or war walkers, allows your bikes to be used where they are most effective.

You should know that in today's meta, the bike army has slipped in power. You will have a hard time vs. dark eldar who bring a ton of poisoned weapons to the battle. You will also have a hard time vs grey knights who can outshoot and outassault you. Given the popularity of grey knights, that makes for a painful matchup.

In 6th edition, however, bikes are rumored to get a number of very nice upgrades.
* Rapid fire weapons are rumored to fire twice at max distance if you stand still, so you can match bolter to bolter at 24" vs GK
* Bikes have relentless, so can move 12" and fire those bolters.
* Plasma gun bikers will also increase in value by the same rule above.
* Bikes are rumored to be harder to hit with shooting, making your army more resilient to firepower
* Bikes are rumored to have a special go-to-ground save of a 3+
* Cover saves will be dropped to a 5+, making those plasma guns and MM in your squad much more deadly at 24" (Thats 5 AP2 or AP1 shots per squad at 24")
So overall, in the next 6 months or so, bikes will be getting an increase in ranged firepower, increased durability, and increased versatility.


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dmthomas7 wrote:I've found that a 5 man squad of bikes lacks the punch I need. With bigger squads they have better staying power and are much less likely to turn tail and run....
.... though you lose the ability to field that 12 meltas, but do you really need 12 meltas? I guess you could also take a few plasmas. They are excellent marine killers though Gets Hot is a risk. I generally roll one a game with the one plasma I have in my army. .

There are a few points that I want to bring up.

* Your special/heavy weapons are the bulk of your firepower. A single TL bolter wont do crap, and for 25 points, their overrated. So fattening up your squads to 8 is not something I would advise.
* You will need some ablative wounds, so you do need to add some models. I normally run 6 models per squad, including the attack bike, for a total of 7 wounds. Vs small arms fire its just as resilient as 10 marines on foot due to T5(4).
* No, you do not need 12 meltas. Meltas are generally best for cracking AV 13-14 armor. This means necrons or raiders usually. A single MM per squad should do the trick, and maybe 1 squad with MGs. The rest should carry plasma.
* Sure, a PG biker will die once in a while. There is a 1/18 chance every time you shoot you will lose a 40 point model. That 40 point model will wound MEQ 10 times on average before dying. That's a great return on your point investment, and is always worthwhile. If your shooting at grots, use the bolter and not the PG. You can also use the PG to tear up AV 10 and 11 vehicles.

Now its all about style, and how you want to play. If you find that bulking up your squads of 8 bikes large is good in your local meta, then do it. I've giving advise I've seen from playing my bike army in competitive play. So long as your having fun, thats all that counts!

I got best general in a GT running a bike army with 10 scouts, 5 speeders 3x5 Bikes, And a crazy deathstar with Khan, Chaplain and Command Squad

Anvildude wrote:Orks may definitely be the best, simply because the average Ork Bike unit contains the ability to do everything. Powerklaws for opening tanks, great assault, rolling cover saves, pretty good (for Orks) shooting... And something to remember is that Ork Bikers come with Slugga and Choppa as well- doesn't add any shooting, but gives an extra attack in CC, meaning 5 attacks on the charge.

Nope, only 4 attacks on the charge. 2 attacks base, +1 for two weapons, +1 for charging. Same CC capacity as Slugga Boyz, which means they're pretty good, but it's not their strong suit really.

You want them shooting. 3 shots, TL so they have the same accuracy as CC attacks, and S5 so they do more damage. Basically, Warbikers thrive by dumping two rounds of shooting into a unit, then charging on the second turn. They never come into rapid-fire range except when they're charging.

@labmouse42: Thank you for the rumour tip. I shall take it with a grain of salt while savoring the awesomeness that it might bring should it become true.
@ChocolateGork: Good for you. Thank you for confirming that there is a still some punch in bikes.

leohart wrote:@labmouse42: Thank you for the rumour tip. I shall take it with a grain of salt while savoring the awesomeness that it might bring should it become true..

Do not let my portents of difficulty dissuade you from starting the army. Just because they are not the 'power army' does not mean they are not fun and still effective! I enjoy my bikes quite a bit and find them highly effective. In fact, they still have a nice edge vs guard players who have a hard time with a shooty, tough army that is in their face on turn 2.

As an added bonus, they also look awesome on the table.

Beautiful bike army you have there.

Those rumored changes sound nice.

My bike squads usually run around 7 or 6 with an attack bike. I have found them extremely effective recently with only one special weapon to a squad. Only reason I've been running them with only one is me lacking the models with the weapons. I agree you need support units and can't focus entirely on bikes. Though I'm running a fluffy White Scars list so I use no Dreadnaughts. This puts me at a slight disadvantage but I enjoy the ideals behind it so Im not complaining.

Beautiful bike army labmouse42. I am building mine up as well. Here is my shameless plug: http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/0/415989.page#3761183

DA would be it as far as I'm aware.

Fearless bikers with Teleport Homers which can take objectives FTW! Plus the only HQ you can get on a Jetbike in all of the SM Codi.

leohart wrote:Beautiful bike army labmouse42. I am building mine up as well. Here is my shameless plug: http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/0/415989.page#3761183

Good looking bikes.
As a heads up, I used a lot of the CCW's my friends gave me for assault marines, which is why so many of my guys have chainswords and the like. I think it adds a nice level of modeling.

Also bit stores like hoard o bits will sell ravenwing bike bodies for dirt cheap if you wanted to give some of your guys robes.

Yes I have the robes stuff in place already. I hope that the project page will show some finished product soon. Bikes are super cheap since most people don't play them :-)

rapidgamers is selling 6 bikes for $25 on ebay right now. Cannot beat that, ravenwing body or not.

yea I believe I've bought from them before as well. They were a reliable seller so anyone needing bikes this is a great deal

I've got a friend that runs full Ravenwing. Literally...all bikes. HQ, Troops, and Fast Attack all filled.

It's gross. He assaults/meltas me turn 1 or 2 every game.

And I'm TAU! I get tabled a lot.

@Mar'tacus: against weak cc units like Tau => awesome. But against BA, my bikes are wiped in a single turn if I ever get stuck in CC.

TheNewMexicanGeneral wrote:Ok well Im going to go against the grain and say Orks.

Wazdakka Gutsmek is the number one reason for this. He is a 160 point HQ that allows you to take warbiker mobs as troops.
Then toss in the Warboss which allows for nobz to be troops and can himself have a bike.

That sets you up for 2 HQ 6 Troop 3 Elite and 3 FA worth of bikes. Also Im not sure about others but every ork bike is twin linked which ive found helpful.


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At 1760 points your laying down 62 twin linked bikers.


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Heres a Real quick biker list.

HQ Wazdakka Gutsmeck- 160
Warboss with bike- 100

Troops
x10 Warbikers - 250
Nob with PK and BP- 40

x10 Warbikers-250
Nob with PK and BP- 40

x10 Warbikers- 250
Nob with PK and BP- 40

x10 Warbikers- 250
Nob with PK and BP- 40

x10 Warbikers- 250
Nob with PK and BP- 40

x10 Warbikers- 250
Nob with PK and BP- 40

2000 points on the nose.

Wazdakka Gutsmek is actually 180 points, which puts your 2K list 20 points over. IMO the list would be legit and a lot better if 2 Warbikes are dropped using the remaining points for the 20 points difference and 30 points to give the Warboss a PK and BP.

While that is indeed a ridiculous amount of bikes, I still think Nobz Bikers is still superior. Prior to the release of IG and Nids, Nobz Bikers used to dominate the tournament scene. Now they can be tar-pit easily, insta-gib by Str8 spam, sent running away from IG Battle Psykers, or force weapon to death by GK.