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I rarely see Eldar bike lists, except for the odd mention of a seer council. I'm looking into getting some Eldar and wondered whether bike lists are viable at all? Every time I think I've seen a good option, there's something about it that looks disappointing, like Vypers for example, they look pretty great, then I see they are only BS3. The Guardian jet bikes look OK and they are twin linked but their guns are only 12" range! Shining Spears actually look really good but I'm not sure what role they would fulfill.

Right now, I really like the look of the Shining spears, although the Vypers do look pretty handy, too. My main concern is that if I took too many of these types of units, I wouldn't have enough firepower in my list as many of these options get expensive very quickly so I'm thinking that a list full of bikes may end up being too expensive to be even good, let alone great. So, are Eldar bike lists viable at all or is it a non starter? I'm not looking for a competitive tournament build though - just something interesting for casual play.

Reason bike lists fail...

Vypers - Too squishy
Shining Spears - Too Squishy and ONLY good on the first round if they get the charge (AKA large portion of the time they are even bad at their special role)
Guardian Jetbikes - Great, but too many of them becomes a liability and easy to catch in CC
Seer Council - Great survivability, however their weapons are not power weapons and in a 2+/3+/3++/FNP saturated environment that doesn't bode well. Also, psychic hood will turn a seer council from uber to overpriced with a single roll.

I played this game against a bike eldar list, and he obviously did pretty well. I don't know the specifics of the list, but I seem to recall that he and I tied for second in that league, so it must be possible to do bike eldar competitively.

Ailaros wrote:I played this game against a bike eldar list, and he obviously did pretty well. I don't know the specifics of the list, but I seem to recall that he and I tied for second in that league, so it must be possible to do bike eldar competitively.

When did this take place? It seems the viability of the Seer Council depends heavily on how common Psychic Hoods are. There is a truely massive difference between a re-rollable 3+ and a standard 3+, and a big one between a 4++ and a re-rollable 4++.

I myself wanted to do an entire eldar jetbike list, but as the OP has pointed out, stuffs to expensive for what it does. I'm not saying it cant be done, but there are much more competitive options in the codex for the points.

Im just curious.. how many people know that eldar jetbikes get a 6 inch move in the assault phase? (even if not assaulting)

Meaning that the 12 inch move, plus the 12 inch range of the twin linked shuricats, minus the 6 inch move in the assault phase lets you dart in, fire, and dart out of charge range (unless the enemy are jump troops) and repeat

Agree to the above post, be a tau, but better!! also units that arnt bikes but do fit into the list well, Warp Spiders, fast as jet bikes and also get a 2d6 move in the assault phase if not assaulting. Fire Prisms, fast, long range, good vs light tanks and infantry, and with holofields a pain to get rid of. The majority of your list will be guardian bikes, though also a 5 man warlocks and farseer on bike are awesome and 5 shinning spears with exarch and autarch are amazing.

To answer your question shinning spears rock vs heavy infantry and monsterous creatures, just watch out for grey knight haleberds. Also always get the charge, if they dont break ride out their player turn then hit and run at the end of their assault phase to charge again in your turn with str6 power weapons (also autarch with mandiblasters and powerlance gets 6 attacks on the charge (3+1 for charge, +1 mandiblasters, +1 pistols and close combat weapon) almost doubles the squads attacks.

Dont take vypers, too many points and too squishy. One last thing you will need in your bike list, one squad of fire dragons in a wave serpent. Between them and the warlocks and farseer, autarch shinning spears, and fire prisms anti tank shouldt be a problem.

OK, so if I was going to run a mixed list and only include 1 bike squad, what would be the best bet? I'm guessing a warlock squad on bikes? Only thing is, like BlueDagger said, they don't get power weapons so I'm thinking shining spears might be a better bet. Putting an Eldar list together really isn't straightforward if you're trying to avoid wave serpent spam.

I almost always run in my eldar lists a Jetseer council with FS with doom and Fortune and runes and stones. I think they are very underestimated and I think they do great against IG and they vehicle spam with their S9 shenanigans. I usually run 3 with speers and 3 with witchblades. They are great for shooting then assaulting the scarabs, which are cheep for Crons and deadly to the rest of my 'Mech list. As Vypers, if your heavy weapons slots are full and 3 with shuricannons and underslung shuricannons are can be a good dakka unit but weak due to open top and AV 10... I prefer Hornets from IA, if people you play will allow them. Shining spears - I have only ever found them MEH and for their point costs they need to be so much more. But I think it all depends on your play style. I use my GJBK squads 3-4 man plus warlock with speer and usually destructor or embolden. I do not get them in CC, I use them to shoot or harass weak units or grab objectives in the end. As an assault unit, you can not rely on them. I think it depends on what play style works for you. I personally like shooting and using a couple squads for assault and tarpitting namely Harlequins and Jet Seer Council. I used some DA in falcons, fire dragons in WS, depending on points GJK or more DA in WS.