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.

Right now I have a squad of 5 Nurgle bikers with 2 melta guns and champ with LC and Combi-Melta

I have 2 more bikers to add. Now I am not sure if I should do squad of 7x, or two separate squads of 4 and 3, both with Melta guns and Nurgle?

If it matters, rest of my army is:

Ahriman
Abaddon

Maulerfiend
Defiler
Land Raider
2x Rhinos

7x Plague marines with 2x plasma
3x Terminators with 3 combi-melta
35x Cultists w/ MoS
35x Cultists w/ autoguns 3x Heavy Stubbers and Shotgun
6x Chosen with 5 Flamers

Depends what you are using them for. If you want to use heldrakes then they are competing for the fast attack slots so that may limit options. If they are not competing for fast attack slots then it depends if you want them to be suicide anti-tank units or an uber assaulty go take on the biggest thing you can find unit.

If you are adding bikes to a basic unit of 3 then it is criminal to just add one bike (seriously I'll send the police around) and have to take a moral check after one casualty. Five or six including a lord work okay for me. Keeps the overall cost of the unit down and lets me pack two assault weapons, and two combi weapons with a couple of extra bodies to soak up a turn of firing (if I don't keep out of LoS). Personally if I didn't have the lord I would just go large with the unit and use them to take on other units in assaults. I've also got a heldrake to squeeze in so the competition for a places is a problem.

Looking at your list you have a termicide squad for taking on armour. You don't have anything quick to advance with the rhinos and assault the turn the people in the rhinos jump out and shoot. For that reaspn I would make the bike unit as big as possible and use it in conjunction with the rhinos and landraider.

I havent run them yet with my CSM but i do run units with my Vanilla Marines. They work great with either paired flamers or paired melta guns in units of three. THis allows you to either attack hordes or go after vehicles. With my CSM I have been building up two units of three with the same build as I mentioned above. If you magnetize the guns on the bikes, you can always swap them out for regular guns, thus having the option of running two squads or one big one.

Using them as a delivery system for a lord with the Black Mace is what i am currently working towards.

I've found bikes are a go big or go home unit. I've been running Marine Bikes with a Captain and need every single body for my special weapons to survive the weight of fire generally directed towards them. 4 bikes are an annoyance, 8 bikes are a problem. The same principle applies to the Chaos bikers. Resiliency is achieved by high toughness AND numbers.

It really depends on list. I run a unit of 5 unmarked CSM bikes with 2 melta in my list. They rarely get shot at simply because they are a low priority in my list given the rest of the units, and how I play them.

If you want them to be a front line unit you probably need more, but if they are a support unit, 5 is plenty. 3 I think is only really good for suicide.

The other issue is that in a land of heldrakes it is too easy for large squads to lose 25%, break and run off the table. IF this happens to a small squad it is no big deal.

I would prefer my bikes not to be suicide squads, thats what my termies are for. My thought is hopefully get up quickly, pop a land raider or some other heavy vehicle/walker, then charge a squad. I have only used them in one battle so far, so I really can't tell anything yet. I'll see what 2 more to the squad will do. I have a 3rd bike, but I think I want to use that bike for a Nurgle Lvl 3 Sorceror with BBoS to ride along with them.

if you are going to put weapons on the champion, i would say 6-7 bikes is a good number. I like plasma over melta. VotLW is required.

Suicide melta squad can be 3 men, but temicide usually does about as well in a less important slot.

If you are going for nurgle you can play around, slanesh, go big or go home.