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Im wanting to field a unit of Nob Warbikers - not an army focused on bikers. Im thinking to replace the BW Nobs with Warbiker Nobs. Does anyone have configuration suggestions for such a unit?

Nob 1 - Pain boy
Nob 2 - Power Klaw
Nob 3 - Power Klaw + Boss pole
Nob 4 - Big choppa
Nob 5 - Big choppa + Waaagh banner
Nob 6 - 2xCCW

Should give you a nice mix of attacks for any occasion.
Also 6 bikers are reletivly easy to hide so you don't get smushed to early on.
I find more bikers can be a little overkill and you'll find the rest of your list lacking.
An option i find usefull however is cybork bodies, it is not neccasary unless you'll be targetting termies and the like (which isnt advisable anyway) but the invun can be nice.
Another option i like to run is giving every nob a kombi-scorcha, its not expected, and a unit trying to hide in cover on the 1st floor of a building might get a nasty surprise.

You want to make their equipment as varied as possible, for horrible wound allocation shenanigans. So every Nob should be equipped differently whenever possible.

Dayve - that looks really nice - thanks. I plan to attach a Biker Warboss with them - kitted out with PK, Attack Squig, Cybork, Kombi-skorcha. He can take the S8 and S9 hits them on the way in.

How about this:

1 with power klaw & slugga +25
1 with power klaw & slugga, ammo runt +28
1 with power klaw + slugga, bosspole +30
1 with big choppa + slugga +5
1 with big choppa + slugga, ammo runt +8
1 with big choppa + slugga, waagh banner +20,
1 with big choppa + slugga, bosspole +10
1 with big choppa + kombi-scorcha +10
1 with big choppa + tl slugga +10
1 painboy +30

Looks great BUT seriously puts the lion's share of my available points in one basket....

I think the biggest thing to consider when deciding on a unit like this is your local gaming area. I quickly discovered once the Space Marine codex that Thunderhammer/Stormshield Terminators were extremely good and very underpointed (compared to Nob Bikers).

Then the IG Codex came out and Vendettas with twin link lascannons emerged (also very underpointed compared to Nob Bikers).

If these kinds of things are prevelant in your gaming area, I'd recommend against taking Nob Bikers. They are just too large of a points sink that can pretty easily be removed from play.

Sarigar wrote:I think the biggest thing to consider when deciding on a unit like this is your local gaming area. I quickly discovered once the Space Marine codex that Thunderhammer/Stormshield Terminators were extremely good and very underpointed (compared to Nob Bikers).

Then the IG Codex came out and Vendettas with twin link lascannons emerged (also very underpointed compared to Nob Bikers).

If these kinds of things are prevelant in your gaming area, I'd recommend against taking Nob Bikers. They are just too large of a points sink that can pretty easily be removed from play.

Yes, Nob bikers cost a lot of points..but the are no point sink and are not easily removed from play. a lot of S8 shots will kill them in the long run but you have to try to survive that long, because when these badboys hit the will hit hard.. even TH/SH terminators take a lot of bikeshoota dakka before the get charged and still got to survive all the normal close combat attacks before the can strike. A lot of vendetta's can do the job but there are also loota's around and once the are in close combat with imperial gaurd the game will be over quickly.

Actually I prefer my Nobs in BW over bikes these days, too many psyker abilities out there that can ruin your day (JotWW and Paroxysm being the two that spring to mind immediatly) in recent codices, and the only defense available to Orks is to be in a vehicle.

Kroot Loops wrote:Actually I prefer my Nobs in BW over bikes these days, too many psyker abilities out there that can ruin your day (JotWW and Paroxysm being the two that spring to mind immediatly) in recent codices, and the only defense available to Orks is to be in a vehicle.

Agreed. Dont get me wrong, nob bikers are pretty badass, but I too would rather shuttle them then take bikes. They cost a fortune and a half, once your opponent knows how to deal with them nicely, they take it pretty bad, and thats never good for you. At least in a wagon, you can shield them better with other vehicles and actually deny shots when positioned correctly. While a biker mob is a bit big to try that on. Not to mention they are almost always ahead of the rest of your force, where as the BW nobs are WITH the force.

Also agreed on the nobs in a battlewagon. The first time you run into an IG list with an Inquisitor and a PBS, they're going to reduce you to LD2 and the inquisitor is going to point his finger at you and make you run away.

My personal preference for a full nob unit:

1. Painboy
2. Bosspole + Ammo Runt
3. Waaaugh! Banner
4. Powerklaw
5. Powerklaw + Kombi-rokkit
6. Powerklaw + Kombi-Rokkit + Ammo Runt
7. Big Choppa
8. Big Choppa + Kombi-Rokkit
9. Big Choppa + Kombi-Rokkit + Ammo Runt
10. Normal Nob
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Notes to make:

1. Three Powerklaws are enough to do whatever you need.
2. Combi-rokkits can either open a transport for you to assault into, or soften up a tough unit; there are four kombi-rokkits and three ammo runts; mathhammer says that you should get one hit, and you've got three re-rolls.
3. The painboy is important for the FNP.
4. Big Choppas are STR7 on the charge - they can *also* open up vehicles. Best of all, they're a higher initiative than a powerklaw, so if you can immobilize a vehicle at I4, you can auto-hit it at I1 with the powerklaws.
5. Presuming you've got a Warboss in there on a bike, rather than attaching him to the unit, I've seen an interesting tactic of attaching a warboss to a deffkopta - they travel the same speed, and effectively makes the Deffkopta T6 and much more capable of shrugging off small arms fire.

I think nob bikers are fine to take but most people go way overboard on them and turn your army into a simple rock army which when you run against scissors will roll over them, however you can incorporate nob bikers in a smart way without dumping too many points.

My current (and favorite) configuration is as follows:

On Bikes (sometimes with cyborks):
Painboy
Nob - Power Klaw
Nob - Boss Pole
Nob - Waaagh Banner
Nob - Naked chump

Attach:
Warboss - bike, Power Klaw, Cybork

Comes to 435 points when you add both together, hardly a lynchpin to your army and still threatening to a great many things through both shooting and assault. I tend to give them all cyborks because I run into SW and I need that 5++ for those annoying rending attacks so I run it at 460 points and fit in a lot more things to help crack transports. However don't run these guys into a really dedicated CC unit unless you are okay with losing them or just hoping to soften them up for the rest of your army. I find that used as a harassment unit along a weak flank or a first turn in your face unit they really shine as it's still a high priority but resilient and if you back them up with some armor (battlewagons or kans or something) they will buy you that extra turn to 2 turns of heavy weapons shooting away from the rest of your army.

Thats a good heads up about the Psyker Battle Squad and JAWWS AND Paroxysm. I dont see much of them but I recognize the threat.

MrDrumMachine - thats exactly how I want to field them - youve got some good insights there. Thanks for sharing.