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So I'm getting ready to do up a pretty sizable Ravenwing army. This has been something I've wanted to do for years and am finally in a position to start doing so. I'm ordering slowly over the next few weeks and hope to start hammering it out the second week of April, when I've taken some vacation time. I have two questions though that I can't answer myself....I keep flip flopping.

1) A good number of the bikes I'm picking up are the dark vengeance ravenwing bikes. They're just cheaper for a large army, and I'm fairly confident in my ability to convert them as far as weapons loadouts for table top use. I'll also be including the ravenwing command squad of course for banner duty. Now the front fairings on these bikes all match, and they're different from the ravenwing accessory fairings. As far as the attack bikes go, as long as they're painted the same, do you think it will ruin the continuity of the army using the upgrade fairings? I've been told that the fairings in the command squad box wont accept the bolters for a standard bike without converting, and that I'm not sure on.

2) I've seen pictures of attack bikes mounted to bases. Now, I don't think this is required...but again, for the sake of continuity I think I'd like to do this. What size base should I use? Terminator base seems a little small and dread base seems a bit large? Further...is this allowed? I wont be breaking any rules will I? Ok, so that was technically an extra question, but its more like....a subquestion, since it's related to the original question....bah!

Anyway....help me out here!

1.) The command squad box has tons of bitz in it but it is true that conversions would need to be made to put the bolters on it, not much work thought. I personally think that the ravenwing boxed set would be the cheapest option for you, plus the fact that it hooks you up with attack bike stuff and land speeder too. Just my opinion.

2.) I don't think this would break any rules, if somebody complained about it I probably wouldn't play a game with them. Dreadnought base is probably the safest bet. I am going to put my attack bikes on bases so I can "base" them and they fit in with the rest of my force. Not required to put them on bases though.

Lucazi wrote:
1.) The command squad box has tons of bitz in it but it is true that conversions would need to be made to put the bolters on it, not much work thought. I personally think that the ravenwing boxed set would be the cheapest option for you, plus the fact that it hooks you up with attack bike stuff and land speeder too. Just my opinion.

2.) I don't think this would break any rules, if somebody complained about it I probably wouldn't play a game with them. Dreadnought base is probably the safest bet. I am going to put my attack bikes on bases so I can "base" them and they fit in with the rest of my force. Not required to put them on bases though.

The RW box is a pretty good value, but I'm scoring stuff pretty cheap on Ebay at the moment, but the fairings from the accessory sprue are the same as the RW box, and I already have the RW sprue. Depending on how one of the auctions I'm bidding on turns out, I may pick up that box anyways though. Thank for the input!

There's a line in the BRB about mounting models that do not have bases on them, and to use "similarly sized models" as a guide. Attack bikes fit swimmingly onto 60mm bases, and are too large for 40mm bases. TL;DR dreadnought sized bases are great and there is a rules basis to mount your guys that don't require them.

If you run into someone claiming MFA, just ignore him because that's pedantic. It's actually a detriment gameplay-wise to mount an attack bike because it increases the area it can be charged. Not much of one and not enough to warrant not doing it for the purpose of having a cooler looking model, but it's worth noting.

As for the RW bikes, converting the TW-boltguns into the RW Command fronts is really hard and a pain. I highly recommend NOT doing that, and just using the winged fronts found on this sprue. You get 3 of them I think with the Ravenwing Battleforce Box which is still the best dollar-for-dollar way to build up a biker force at MSRP. 6 bikers + an attack bike is already the cost of the box and you get a land speeder with 3 ravenwing upgrade sprues on top of it.

Alright, well....my wife has been told how vital it is that we budget in for a couple ravenwing battleforce boxes, as well as additional black knights...or my vacation will be wasted and I may have to seek clinical help for the vast depression I will surely enter!