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So, with 6th Ed. a lot of our old orky strategies took a hit. However, we all know that Nob bikers this edition kick major ass.

My question is, how do regular bikers stack up? they seem like a pretty good deal to me...
they're very mobile, VERY shooty, and the high toughness makes them pretty formidable in CC. not to mention they have a 4+ armor and 4+ cover save.
for 240 points you can get a mob of 8 with a PK/BP nob. that's essentially 24 twin linked big shootas, a way more durable firebase than shootas.

how competitive are they, and by extension, an ork biker army? Wazzdakka and a Biker boss with a unit of nob bikers and a unit or two of ork bikers seems like it could do some major work and would be a pretty good army core, does anyone have experience with them? only thing i can think of that they would really struggle with is flyers, but a unit or 2 of lootas in the back could help with that and with anti tank in general.

an example 1k list:

Biker boss-squig, cybork, PK, kombi skorcha-155

Wazzdakka-180

Nobz x6-painboy, BP, PK x2-385

Bikersx8-nob w/ PK/BP-240

grots x10- 1 runtherder-40

----------1000pt


Also, one of my friends told me that IC's get skilled rider. is that true? it would be really cool to turbo boost ork bikes and get a 3+ cover save. I dont belive that the +1 for turboboosting is added to the 4+ exhaust cloud, but could it be added to the jink as well as the +1 from a skilled rider warboss for a 3+ cover save? any clarification to that would be great, thanks!

the +1 for turboboosting adds to your jinx save. so jinks goes from 5 to 4, which now equals the 4+ you already had from the exhaust cloud.

I'm not sure about the skilled rider

The only main weakness to a biker spam ork list are heavy flamers so pray you arent that one in a million guy who faces SoB

I ran Wazdakka and a 10 boy biker squad at Duel Con and had pretty good success with them. The number of Str 5 twin-linked shots that they can put out and how fast they move make them a really dangerous unit however they do run into problems when your opponent focus fires everything at them. The other problem I do run into is the fact that Wazdakka does not have an invulnerable save which even though he is Toughness 6 he tends to fall pretty quickly to other opponent's HQs so you really have to pick and choose your battles with him.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 A GumyBear wrote:
The only main weakness to a biker spam ork list are heavy flamers so pray you arent that one in a million guy who faces SoB

Or Flamers of Tzeentch because those guys can deepstrike right in front of you and drop the majority of your unit.

Really any ap4 flamers will be the bain of yiur army

that is true, but ork bikers have enough manueverability that flamers shouldn't really be much of a problem (with the exception of dreadknights, heldrakes, etc...)

I was thinking about the wazzdakka thing, it seems like it would be a good idea to attach him to a nob biker squad, and the warboss to a regular bike squad. that way wazzdakka can just LOS any armor penetrating hits to the cybork nobz.

I might have to try running some bike armies, it seems like it would be pretty fun

Skilled Rider i think is the rule that says bikers arent slowed by terrain, they just take a test and you can take your armor against the failed test (4+)

I dont think theyre viable unless youre doing a wazzy build because yea theyre stronger than shootas, but they have the same range and less shots than equal points boyz. 4+ is nice but it doesnt save you as much as you think...the only reason biker nobz are awesome is because of the painboy option.

Vineheart01 wrote:
Skilled Rider i think is the rule that says bikers arent slowed by terrain, they just take a test and you can take your armor against the failed test (4+)

No. The Skilled Rider Special Rule says that you automatically pass dangerous terrain tests. Independent Characters had that SR in 5th Ed, but not in 6th.

I dont think theyre viable unless youre doing a wazzy build because yea theyre stronger than shootas, but they have the same range and less shots than equal points boyz. 4+ is nice but it doesnt save you as much as you think...the only reason biker nobz are awesome is because of the painboy option.

My biggest problem with Warbikers is that they are a 25 point Ork with 1 wound.

Nob bikers have 2. Throw in a painboy for FNP. a kombi skorcha and a PK too and you're sitting pretty at your own orky death star. As for regular bikers, they're pretty reliable str 5 shots, and 4+ armor / cover is rather good.

IC's don't get skilled rider for free in 6th

Skiller Rider adds +1 to jink save and ignores terrian effects on bikes completly

I like to run wazzy with a Squad of Rokkit Koptas. I can use the Koptas to scout Wazzy ahead and get side shots on most armour if needed you can split him off from the koptas to shoot 2 targets

Lootas in a bike list are a must. You will need something to deal with flyers and transports. The bikes can kill tramsports with there guns but its better to shoot the guys inside.

Venom Spam can be tricky to face off against as well

Lootas, dakkajets, and deff koptas all seem to be great supporting units for a biker list everytime I've tried them. They either have the range, speed, or both to keep up with the bikers, and the firepower to be useful.

As for regular bikers, you'll need a lot of them, but then again, this is orks. You already knew that

Just realize that the list is pretty much autoloss to flamers of tzeentch spam right now. Being fast doesn't matter when they'll just deepstrike right next to you and obliterate your unit.

Hybrid Biker/Foot Horde could also work well let the bikes do and koptas do the heavy lifting out the front and keep them in your enemys face and let the boys roll forward shooting stuff

The Bikers and Koptas also make great deial units in late game to keep your opponent from claiming objectives.

Do you guys think that it could be worth it adding Wazdakka to a non-pure biker army, such as a Kult of Speed army with trukks, deffkoptas, buggies, a BW and a dakkajet? I like to have lots of scoring units, and my fast attack slot is maxed out, so If I ever want to add bikers, it will be as troops. I can either take a small nob biker squad as a troop choice, or take one or two regular biker units as troops and wazdakka as the HQ. I like his stats, rules and fluff, I'm just sure if he is worth it over a regular warboss who hits a bit harder, both in a vehicle or on a bike.

Bikes in all forms are really not good enough. I can hear ravenwing players beginging to foam and froth. Ultimately most bikes cost far to much for a single wound and really not a great weapon. Ork bikers are on the upper end of not the best biker in 40k for the points. They have a good TL gun, a built in 4+ cover save and a 2 wound power klaw, plus and ork statline. Even with all that you will almost always find those points do more with another unit. Being the best bike in the game is a bit like being the tallest midget. Sure you are the tallest midget but you still can't climb the stairs to the winners circle with those stubby little legs.

tgf hit the nail on the head I think. They're not bad, just bad for the points. Compare them to the new Chaos bikers who have almost universally better stats for 5 points less per model and you'll see what the difference is.

Really the issue is just the age of the Ork codex. It's still a remarkably versatile book considering it's basically 2 editions old at this point, but unit pricing appears to have changed a lot in the meantime. I'm optimistic they'll get quite a boost whenever the next Ork codex shows up, in the meantime feel free to use them if you like them. They're not terrible, just expensive.

Okay, I'll probably wait with the bikes and instead work on the rest of the units I already have. Then I can always look at bikes later when the new Ork book hits and see if they are a bit cheaper, I guess, the book will probably be released in around a year or so.

yeah, that seems like a pretty fair analysis. my gaming group isn't super competitive, so I think I might give it a try.

I might experiment with just 2 nob bike squads with other stuff giving them backup before i go buy more bikes...

Any thoughts on when the new codex might come out?

Good news is that GW wants to amp up the flow of 40k for the next two years. What the means is lots of new Codex's abd White Dwarf updates. At this stage Orks look to be comming out next year. Don't be sad though guys because orks are getting a wave release in the first half of this year. We should have most our models released or updated by that time.

I heard a rumor the other day at my FLGS that they're in test phase of the Ork Codex, which would probably be accurate with a '14 release.

If you wanna see a video batrep with a Ork biker army try this place http://www.miniwargaming.com/. The guy there is a consummate Ork player and has used an all Ork bike army before. I think it looked pretty good and pretty fun. Also check out his Ork Tactica videos, as they are some of the best I've seen as well.

I didn't click the link but the miniwargaming guy has a good batrep vs a dark eldar play with his bike like and there another good game he plays a wagon/foot horde hybrid against an ork army both are good video's

His biker list looks a lot like mine only I have more lootas

 A GumyBear wrote:
The only main weakness to a biker spam ork list are heavy flamers so pray you arent that one in a million guy who faces SoB

As a Sisters of Battle player, I've lost many games against Nobz Bikers. Even in 5th ed Immolator Spam, I consistently lost against double Nobz Bikers list. I'm not sure how Sisters of Battle fair against Nobz Bikers in 6th ed. I do own both armies, so I could always run test games...

 SabrX wrote:

 A GumyBear wrote:
The only main weakness to a biker spam ork list are heavy flamers so pray you arent that one in a million guy who faces SoB

As a Sisters of Battle player, I've lost many games against Nobz Bikers. Even in 5th ed Immolator Spam, I consistently lost against double Nobz Bikers list. I'm not sure how Sisters of Battle fair against Nobz Bikers in 6th ed. I do own both armies, so I could always run test games...

To be fair, regular warbikers would get butchered by a heavy flamer wielding sisters unit, as they would have no save and only one wound a piece to keep them alive.

ALthough I would agree, Nob bikers would be much more scary with an invuln, FnP, and 2 wounds apiece to suck up those heavy flamer hits.

I just saw something in the BRB i didnt know existed, since it never came up for me.

Pile in moves during an assault trigger dangerous terrain tests.
Does this mean bikers that assaulted through terrain always take that test when they pile in, since they treat all terrain as dangerous?

Vineheart01 wrote:
I just saw something in the BRB i didnt know existed, since it never came up for me.

Pile in moves during an assault trigger dangerous terrain tests.
Does this mean bikers that assaulted through terrain always take that test when they pile in, since they treat all terrain as dangerous?

But how often do you pile inn with bikes? Once their stuck in combat iv'e never had to pile in later.

Initiatives. Thats what im talking about. The BRB still refers to it as piling in so i did too.

After your initial charge you would take the test per model like normal. But since piling in also triggers dangerous terrain tests, technically bikes should be doing it when they move on their initiative as well.

Thats lame lol.

Also, as most people forget, if a combat is tied you still pile in at the end, going on whoevers turn it was first. So if youre bikes are charging a crater-inhabiting unit...thats 3 flippin dangerous terrain tests you could make per model...wow...(provided the combat was tied and forced another pile in, and any pile ins were actually possible since btb doesnt move).

yes but you dont need to pile in when you got your models in base contact allready.

I've started an Ork biker army after 6th came out and so far I am slightly Impressed.

As well as the weakness to heavy flamers as mentioned above I've found the following problems. The obvious one is a bikes inability to go up ruins so if you're playing on a table that has lots of multi level ruins you are going to be in trouble, especially if it is an objective mission. Low leadership is also a huge problem for this army you want to avoid taking tests at any cost, falling back 3d6 is very dangerous. At least they're immune to pinning so that's something

As for it's strengths, toughness 5 is great for ignoring small arms fire, really helps negate the low model count weakness of the army. Night fighting is amazing for this army, if you go second you entire army is almost guaranteed 2+ cover, if you go first some smart placement will still get you that 2+ or 3+ cover for a turn as well as a turn two charge.

The main thing about the bike army is you have to play it a lot differently than you're typical Ork list. Use lots of hit and run tactics staying just inside you're weapon range and not charging enemy units unless you can overwhelm them.

phatonic wrote:
yes but you dont need to pile in when you got your models in base contact allready.

You dont always get every model in base contact, as you usually have a few that dont make it even with an awesome roll if you got some numbers. And if you kill models off and the battle continues on, the final battle pile in will happen for atleast a few bikes because they killed the model they were in contact with, or the bike infront of them got cleared out so he needs to move forward now.

Yea, its not a flat out take 3 dangerous tests per assault, its just an at worst take 3 on average take 1 MAYBE 2.