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Hello all,

I've just come into possession of a number of nicely painted bike models for my army, and I've got 6 or 7 plasmaguners and an Apothecary I thought would be great to throw together a command squad.

I figured that at T5 with relentless and FNP, they should be getting off 8 plasma shots a round zooming round the board targeting TEQ, Tanks, and MCs

I'm new to bikes, but this looked like fun and its not ridiculously expensive, especially in comparison to my normal sternguard squads.

Has anyone used this or a similar squad, and if so how effective are they?

Are they a complete waste of points or worth it?

Any feedback is welcome

No; plasma is never a complete waste. The real question is whether you'd rather have grav. Of course, the real danger is that these guys are a huge target and every failed 3+/5++ costs you a lot of points.

Plasma in a command squad is good, as it's quite a versatile weapon. FNP for the gets hot is also never a bad thing. It's only 195 points as well, so not even that expensive. As to whether the unit is better with gravguns depends on the loadout of the other bike units, which you need to take so the bikes don't stand out as an obvious target. Those 8 S7 shots when you get into 12" range can put the hurt on almost anything and you've a good chance of killing an MC a turn with this unit.

The unit is also a good place to attach your bike captain too, as the main problem with the command squad is it has no ablative wounds - first wound and you're taking a special weapon off the board. A 2+/4++ captain with a bunch of wounds can always tank a few while you get into range.

If only Plasma Cannons could be taken on Centurions :(

Plasma bikers are my bane these days.
Bikes are fast and hit hard, if using certain combat tactics.

Immobilising a tank before it gets into position is gold.
But, killing it is better.

Martel732 wrote:
No; plasma is never a complete waste. The real question is whether you'd rather have grav. Of course, the real danger is that these guys are a huge target and every failed 3+/5++ costs you a lot of points.

I was going to run at least 3 other bike squads with a captain, two loaded out with grav, and one with melta

I was also considering giving them 1-2 storm shields, just to add some upgraded invuln saves, though it would cost me an extra 20pts



Automatically Appended Next Post:

 ruminator wrote:


The unit is also a good place to attach your bike captain too, as the main problem with the command squad is it has no ablative wounds - first wound and you're taking a special weapon off the board. A 2+/4++ captain with a bunch of wounds can always tank a few while you get into range.

Yeah, I think I'm going to run my Captain as a cc / tank with the Shield Eternal, a TH, and Artificer armor on the bike. If he's out in the front of the squad he should tank quite a bit of firepower for them.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Skinnereal wrote:
If only Plasma Cannons could be taken on Centurions :(

But, killing it is better.

I wish

Sounds good OP. Of course, there will be games where you wished you had mono-grav bikers, but in general, 2 grav, 1 melta and one plasma sounds like a good mix.

I like Grav more on bikes, and Plasma more if the Command Squad is on foot. I feel that the additional bonus that Grav gets on bikers is better, and in the rare occasion where one of your dudes blows himself up with a Plasma Gun (it will happen from time to time) the additional points spent on the bike hurts.

Martel732 wrote:
Sounds good OP. Of course, there will be games where you wished you had mono-grav bikers, but in general, 2 grav, 1 melta and one plasma sounds like a good mix.

That was my thought, gives a bit of versatility

 wtwlf123 wrote:
I like Grav more on bikes, and Plasma more if the Command Squad is on foot. I feel that the additional bonus that Grav gets on bikers is better, and in the rare occasion where one of your dudes blows himself up with a Plasma Gun (it will happen from time to time) the additional points spent on the bike hurts.

I would agree that the grav is way safer, but since it already has a higher rate of fire I figured the 2 + combi in the normal bike squads will be good

4 Gravs on the Command squad would just be crazy amounts of firepower, and might be bit of overkill for what I'm likely to send them against

Additionally on foot I'd most likely be moving the Command Squad around at some point to line up a shot, reducing both their range and ROF w/ out the bike's relentless rule

Plus, the command squad is the only place you can put 4x full plasma guns that I know of, could go 5x if I ditched the apothecary

Realistically death by plasma is a fairly low probability with the FNP from the Apothecary (1/6 * 1/3 * 2/3 = 1/27 shots or a 3.7% chance per shot )

With that said, I'm absolutely positive it will happen given my luck. But hell, you can't win it unless your in it eh?

Would a command squad on bikes with plasma be appropriate in a 750-1000pt list?

trephines wrote:
Would a command squad on bikes with plasma be appropriate in a 750-1000pt list?

Depends on the rest of your list.

but iv worked them into sub 1k games with good results.

My lists are as follows, using Iron Hands Chapter Tactics. I'm thinking about swapping the MOTF for a captain and adding in the command squad but don't know what to take out and if it would work.

750pts1
Master of the Forge; auspex and meltabombs 100
Devastator squad; 5 additional marines, 4 missile launchers 200
Tactical squad; 5 additional marines, plasmagun, plasmacannon, TWLC Razorback 245
Tactical squad; 5 additional marines, plasmagun, plasmacannon, Rhino 205

750pts 2
Master of the Forge; meltabombs 95
Tactical squad; 5 additional marines, plasmagun, plasmacannon, TWLC Razorback 245
Tactical squad; 5 additional marines, plasmagun, plasmacannon, Rhino 205
Predator; lasconnon turret, lascannon sponsons 140
Whirlwind 65

1000
Master of the Forge 90
Dreadnought; assault cannon 120
Devastator squad; 5 additional marines, 4 missile launchers 200
Tactical squad; 5 additional marines, plasmagun, plasmacannon, TWLC Razorback 245
Tactical squad; 5 additional marines, plasmagun, plasmacannon, Rhino 205
Predator; lasconnon turret, lascannon sponsons 140

1000 2
Master of the Forge 90
Terminator squad; cyclone missile launcher 225
Tactical squad; 5 additional marines, plasmagun, plasmacannon, TWLC Razorback 245
Tactical squad; 5 additional marines, plasmagun, plasmacannon, TWLC Razorback 245
Whirlwind 65
Whirlwind 65
Whirlwind 65

1000 3
Master of the Forge 90
Tactical squad; 5 additional marines, plasmagun, plasmacannon, TWLC Razorback 245
Tactical squad; 5 additional marines, plasmagun, plasmacannon, TWLC Razorback 245
Predator; lasconnon turret, lascannon sponsons 140
Predator; lasconnon turret, lascannon sponsons 140
Predator; lasconnon turret, lascannon sponsons 140

trephines wrote:
My lists are as follows, using Iron Hands Chapter Tactics. I'm thinking about swapping the MOTF for a captain and adding in the command squad but don't know what to take out and if it would work.

750pts1
Master of the Forge; auspex and meltabombs 100
Devastator squad; 5 additional marines, 4 missile launchers 200
Tactical squad; 5 additional marines, plasmagun, plasmacannon, TWLC Razorback 245
Tactical squad; 5 additional marines, plasmagun, plasmacannon, Rhino 205

750pts 2
Master of the Forge; meltabombs 95
Tactical squad; 5 additional marines, plasmagun, plasmacannon, TWLC Razorback 245
Tactical squad; 5 additional marines, plasmagun, plasmacannon, Rhino 205
Predator; lasconnon turret, lascannon sponsons 140
Whirlwind 65

1000
Master of the Forge 90
Dreadnought; assault cannon 120
Devastator squad; 5 additional marines, 4 missile launchers 200
Tactical squad; 5 additional marines, plasmagun, plasmacannon, TWLC Razorback 245
Tactical squad; 5 additional marines, plasmagun, plasmacannon, Rhino 205
Predator; lasconnon turret, lascannon sponsons 140

1000 2
Master of the Forge 90
Terminator squad; cyclone missile launcher 225
Tactical squad; 5 additional marines, plasmagun, plasmacannon, TWLC Razorback 245
Tactical squad; 5 additional marines, plasmagun, plasmacannon, TWLC Razorback 245
Whirlwind 65
Whirlwind 65
Whirlwind 65

1000 3
Master of the Forge 90
Tactical squad; 5 additional marines, plasmagun, plasmacannon, TWLC Razorback 245
Tactical squad; 5 additional marines, plasmagun, plasmacannon, TWLC Razorback 245
Predator; lasconnon turret, lascannon sponsons 140
Predator; lasconnon turret, lascannon sponsons 140
Predator; lasconnon turret, lascannon sponsons 140

Honestly at these point levels I'd stick to regular bike squads, they should be more than enough and you'll need them for scoring.

If you really want lists analyzed in detail though, I'd suggest opening a thread in the Army List frorum

Already tried that to minimal response :(