Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Before I get the 7-8 bikes I have sitting in the "to be built" pile put together, should I even bother? Do bikes have a purpose in the current vanilla marines all-comers lists, or are they under the purview of the biker-only list? I'm playing Crimson Fists and plan to run a gunline-style list led by Pedro with tacs, sternies, devies, and scouts. Would a squad of bikes be effective as a fast-hitting, special weapon delivery device or am I better off finding a white scars player to sell them to? I should note that I only have one attack bike, otherwise I'd run attack bike squads instead. Last thing: I've got an old bike-mounted Chaplain that I was going to refinish to add to the squad. Keep him or convert him for another HQ selection? If so, which one?

If you can take a Captain on a Bike as well, it may make them useful, as they'll become scoring which is, two out of three games, better than the Chaplain's bump. Toughness five Marines that you can keep hidden or in reserve for much of the game and then have them plow in and grab an objective. If the rest of your list is mainly gunline it will come as an unpleasant surprise to have a Biker squad suddenly show up and either steal or contest an objective, and they're relatively tough to get rid of.

This is a quick summary of what I learned playing with bikes thus far.

One of the perks of a bike squad is they can bring 2 special weapons to the party, plus an attack bike. This is my normal configuration.
* Searg with PF
* 2 normal bikes
* 2 bikes with PG or MG
* Attack bike with HB or MM
I use the PG/HB combo if I am going to be using it to hunt infantry. I use the MG / MM combo to hunt tanks. I find 6 bikes (including the heavy bolter) gives enough wounds to make the squad pretty resilient. You can also use some would allocation magic, as there are 4 different types of models in the squad.

Given their speed, one squad could be used for harassment or rear line tank hunting. They could be used to take down lootas, or to shoot down AV 10 skimmers, etc. If I were only to use 1 squad, I would just run them up the side for that purpose.
They can also be used (after a turbo boost to where you want them to be) to assault soft troops, like guard, or tau, etc.

I know a guy who plays a list that is roughly:

Full Bike Squad + Attack Bike + Upgrades + Kahn
Full Bike Squad + Attack Bike + Upgrades

Assault Squad + Upgrades + Shrike
Assault Squad + Upgrades

3x Typhoon Speeders

The list does very well for him. Bikes are tricky... They are VERY hard to kill with lower level stuff, but they die fairly easy to heavy shooting, so it's a mixed bag.

Getting a 3+ invulnerable is very nice. Their speed is very nice. They've got good firepower and can charge fairly well.

They're not GREAT, maybe, but with an HQ to make thems scoring, they're tough.

in a standard vanilla list, i'd say they really have no place. Unless your running them as troops, I would leave them at home.

for 185 points, you get 6 wounds worth of bikers, 2 meltas and a multimelta.

for 150 points, you get 6 wounds and 3 multimeltas, if you take 3 attack bikes.

so, in normal lists, attack bikes > regular bikers.

I'm planning on running bikes... check out the vanilla codex rules for command squads! You can take bikes, and arm each member of the squad, other than the champion and apothecary with Melta guns or plasma guns... it's pretty much take your pick! Combine that with a thunder hammer each and you have an awesome anti - tank and very dangerous, toughness 5, fast space marine unit which also gets Feel No Pain, thanks to mr apothecary!

So without using a fast attack slot or an HQ slot you can field a real fast devastating unit! Which I intend to have a lot of fun with!

Bikes are tricky to use like Vanguard. They are not for every build but have a purpose in someones list. (Not quite as tricky as Vanguard though)

My suggestion is to proxy them and see how they perform in a few games. I have bikes that I never use except as a CMD Squad and they are only for friendly games.

Honersstodnt wrote:in a standard vanilla list, i'd say they really have no place. Unless your running them as troops, I would leave them at home.

for 185 points, you get 6 wounds worth of bikers, 2 meltas and a multimelta.

for 150 points, you get 6 wounds and 3 multimeltas, if you take 3 attack bikes.

so, in normal lists, attack bikes > regular bikers.

Or for 110 you get 3 bikes, and 2 meltas.

Or for 160 you get 3 reg bikes, 1 attack bike a melta, and a MM.

I've had good luck with them, if kept cheap they do well enough. Important enough to draw fire power, resilient enough to require a large volume (or anti tank firepower) to kill. Being able to turbo boost makes it a pain to kill even with AP 3 or better weapons. They are a disposable fire support unit, so as long as you don't expect miracles out of them they can perform admirably.

They take up FA slots, so if you also want to take land speeders, it might be a good idea to take them as troops with a bike captain. Makes them a bit more expensive of course, and they often draw more firepower due to scoring status.

I hear that putting plasma on them isn't a bad idea, but I haven't tried it. In theory they can get side shots on those AV 12/10/10 tanks that people play... and plasma puts out a good volume when you can take 2 in a unit. Personally I don't like the extra cost with plasma, and the higher risk. But it might be worth trying out.

Another option might be to make your bikes into a command squad for a biker captain. With a properly build squad, they are nightmare to face in CC, combining offensive prowess with a tough as nails defensive stat line.

Gavin
my opinion your average marine bikers is pretty useless but his ability to put a melta or flamer weapon practically anywhere on the board by turn 2 is not. Give them all special weapons and 1 or 2 bullet stoppers. Otherwise they're silly.
AF

i've found theyre really good if you want to take a command squad at all in your army, the T5 fnp squad with weapons galore is a real threat, and the only real thunderwolf-esque unit in your army

My current army is a Saim-Hann-style Exodite list chock full of jetbikes. For my second army, I'm trying to move in a different direction, but have the models and wouldn't mind them being supporting unit. I do like the concept of the command squad on bikes, though, and might run them with the melta/plas/TH combo above but that's gonna take some converting. ::sigh::

Thanks for the help guys.

Marine bikers are only good with a captain on a bike to make them scoring. For all other scenarios the attackbikes are just much better.

Command squads quickly grow expensive, don't put melta+plasma+TH on them, that would end up in insane cost-levels.

If you're taking a captain anyways and like bikes, simply put him on a bike too. IMO, bikers are much better than tacticals as far as scoring units are concerned. They pull their weight much better than the tacticals. They aren't THAT much more expensive in pts either (but in money they sure are )

I'm not a big fan of bikes unless used in a whole biker army. Otherwise there are just better fast attack choices. Although, a command squad and captain on bike seem like a hefty unit that could really apply help all over the field!

Bikes, with or without scoring are special weapon/(a) heavy weapon platform delivery stystem first and fore-most.

You will have to live with the fact that... (even with the relative lower cost) that they are not cost effective if used rigidly.

They are not useless, they are far from it, but they do not bend to the player. The player has to bend to them...and that's just not everyone's cup of tea.