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Just wondering on how you guys use your jetbikes.

As a 3 man cannon squad jumping in and out of cover or do you add more jetbikes to a point where they are quite resilient and have more cannons? Maybe just a squad of 3 without upgrades to contest/claim on turn 5?

Also do you guys think a warlock is worth it? If so... what power?

The major problem with guardian jetbikes is that they're only Ld8 and have few models, so they tend to break and zoom off the table when shot at. Units of 3-4 models only need to lose 1 guy to have to test. So people tend to deal with this problem either by taking bigger units (6 is a popular number for the second cannon) or by adding a warlock with embolden.

It used to be common (and a good strat) to take a unit of 3 jetbikes + warlock as a harassment unit to zoom to the far side of the table and kill stationary tanks and such with rear shots and witchblade. I haven't tried the unit in this edition, but it seems like it ought to still work okay.

You don't want to actually move into cover, though, because of the dangerous terrain tests and the fact that losing a bike or two can, again, cause you to break and zoom off the table. It's rare that you're lucky enough to find a piece of terrain that lets you jump-shoot-jump and still get cover without having to enter the terrain.

I have used minsized jetbike units as objective-claimers--start in reserve. But it's a lot of points for something that a troop unit in a wave serpent can do better.

Flavius Infernus wrote:The major problem with guardian jetbikes is that they're only Ld8 and have few models, so they tend to break and zoom off the table when shot at. Units of 3-4 models only need to lose 1 guy to have to test. So people tend to deal with this problem either by taking bigger units (6 is a popular number for the second cannon) or by adding a warlock with embolden.

It used to be common (and a good strat) to take a unit of 3 jetbikes + warlock as a harassment unit to zoom to the far side of the table and kill stationary tanks and such with rear shots and witchblade. I haven't tried the unit in this edition, but it seems like it ought to still work okay.

You don't want to actually move into cover, though, because of the dangerous terrain tests and the fact that losing a bike or two can, again, cause you to break and zoom off the table. It's rare that you're lucky enough to find a piece of terrain that lets you jump-shoot-jump and still get cover without having to enter the terrain.

I have used minsized jetbike units as objective-claimers--start in reserve. But it's a lot of points for something that a troop unit in a wave serpent can do better.

The cover part was ment to be using LOS blocking terrain, which there is plenty of on my gaming table^^ One of the advantages if you´re the one with the taable, is that you have the terrain you want.

As FI said, take then is groups of 3 GBJ w/ 1 Cannon + Warlock w/ Spear, Embolden. This gives you a 4 man team which is relatively easy to hide and has a small footprint to avoid getting shot up. Use them as a distraction force, last minute objective grab, and to exploit side armor at unexpected locations. If you try to use them offensively to try to shoot things up it'll usually result in their demise.

129pts nets you a small footprint unit typically will have a 3+ cover save, doesn't get stunned or wreck/explode, and thanks to the warlock's embolden combined with wound allocation will stick around.

For troops I typically take 1-2 packs of them in conjunction with 3-4 serpents with DA or Guardians.


For shats and giggles I have a jetbike army that takes 6 units of that setup and 2 seer councils lol. Never did get around to fielding it yet... hmmm

BlueDagger said everything that I was thinking. He's spot on with both the unit composition and the tactics.

Hm, good idea with the 3+1 Warlock... I have just converted one warlock to jetbike and still 4 unassembled jetbikes. So guess I will try this in a game.

Btw, where do I get a shuriken cannon for replacing the 2 catapults? Do GW offer an official conversion piece?

It's the shrieker Jetbike. For a cheap conversion lop off the catapult pieces then find the end of a wave serpent extra antenna bit and a shuriken cannon and cut/sculpt then so they fit and look good on either side.

Murenius wrote:Hm, good idea with the 3+1 Warlock... I have just converted one warlock to jetbike and still 4 unassembled jetbikes. So guess I will try this in a game.

Btw, where do I get a shuriken cannon for replacing the 2 catapults? Do GW offer an official conversion piece?

Gw sells one, but it´s significantly more expensive than the regular ones. I´m sure the conversion wouldn´t be that hard

The cannon part is metal, so unless your store has some in stock I think you have to order the kit from GW because of the current weirdness with the transition to Finecast.

They used to be only a few bucks more, so it was always worthwhile to buy the shrieker kit instead of normal jetbikes. But they boosted the price a couple dollars more, so not so much anymore. You could probably do a conversion with a leftover plastic part.

Good I have some green stuff around then, thanks for the hints