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Recently I have been looking at what weaponry I should add to my bikes and I was wondering on what people found effective in this edition. Currently, I am leaning towards Melta Guns for my regular Bike Squads, as S8 AP1 is good vs everything, while my Command Squad would be given Grav Guns. Would that work or is Grav Guns the way to go for all Bike Squads in particular? Pretty new to this list and will be asking a lot of questions so I really would appreciate the help.

I run Grav guns on my Ravenwing. Bikes are relentless and very fast, making them a good platform for grav. That said, meltas can also be useful from bikes, as the increased movement makes it easier to reach targets. I don't think one is better than the other universally; it probably depends on your list. Gravs on a bike Command Squad sounds good; I only wish Ravenwing command squads could take gravs (of course, Ravenwing have their own neat tricks ).

It is safe to have a couple of Melta for the occasional thing you can't kill with Grav, but generally you want more Grav than Melta.

I just don't bother with melta at all.

I personalyl run 1 melta squad and the rest grav in my Ravenwing army.

grav is better but melta isn't useless by any means. rolling a 1 really blows though on that one shot.

Grav goes on relentless units. Period. Melta can go on non-relentless units.

I would say probably Grav, that relentless platform really helps to make sure you get the most shots on target.

You make a great point about the Relentless Rule, as I can see why that would be more of an advantage to field Grav Guns over Melta. Right now, I at least plan to field the following:

* Command Bike Squad w/Chapter Master and Khan, 3x Vets w/Grav Guns, PW's & Storm Shields, Apothecary, Champion.

* 2x Bike Squads with Grav Guns, Sgt. w/PW, Melta Bombs

* 2x Bike Squads with Melta Guns, Sgt. w/PW, Melta Bombs

That is the current plan I was going with at the moment, and as you can see I was trying to balance things out but I appreciate the feedback. Only other thing I can think on for advice is if I should put Attack Bikes in the Regular Bike Squads and what is a good size for the Bike Squads in general.

 Ironwolf45 wrote:
You make a great point about the Relentless Rule, as I can see why that would be more of an advantage to field Grav Guns over Melta. Right now, I at least plan to field the following:

* Command Bike Squad w/Chapter Master and Khan, 3x Vets w/Grav Guns, PW's & Storm Shields, Apothecary, Champion.

* 2x Bike Squads with Grav Guns, Sgt. w/PW, Melta Bombs

* 2x Bike Squads with Melta Guns, Sgt. w/PW, Melta Bombs

That is the current plan I was going with at the moment, and as you can see I was trying to balance things out but I appreciate the feedback. Only other thing I can think on for advice is if I should put Attack Bikes in the Regular Bike Squads and what is a good size for the Bike Squads in general.

If you take power weapons it might be a good idea to also make them Veteran Sgts. as the extra attack makes a power weapon more worth it. I play Ravenwing, so I usually take a full-strength bike squad with an attack bike, but Ravenwing can do combat squads (not sure vanilla marines can), so it ends up being broken up into two 3-bike units and the attack bike separate.

 ZergSmasher wrote:

 Ironwolf45 wrote:
You make a great point about the Relentless Rule, as I can see why that would be more of an advantage to field Grav Guns over Melta. Right now, I at least plan to field the following:

* Command Bike Squad w/Chapter Master and Khan, 3x Vets w/Grav Guns, PW's & Storm Shields, Apothecary, Champion.

* 2x Bike Squads with Grav Guns, Sgt. w/PW, Melta Bombs

* 2x Bike Squads with Melta Guns, Sgt. w/PW, Melta Bombs

That is the current plan I was going with at the moment, and as you can see I was trying to balance things out but I appreciate the feedback. Only other thing I can think on for advice is if I should put Attack Bikes in the Regular Bike Squads and what is a good size for the Bike Squads in general.

If you take power weapons it might be a good idea to also make them Veteran Sgts. as the extra attack makes a power weapon more worth it. I play Ravenwing, so I usually take a full-strength bike squad with an attack bike, but Ravenwing can do combat squads (not sure vanilla marines can), so it ends up being broken up into two 3-bike units and the attack bike separate.

Don't think they can, however I was considering doing a Ravenwing list as well possibly. Can I see your list or a link to it mate?

I don't run full Ravenwing, I guess I should have made that clear. I wish I could, but I don't have enough bikes. One thing I have run in a tournament was the following:
Detachment 1: Ravenwing Strike Force
HQ:
Sammael on Sableclaw (warlord)
Elites:
Ravenwing Command Squad w/3 extra men, Apothecary, Champion, Ravenwing Banner, and 1 Ravenwing Grenade Launcher
Fast Attack:
Ravenwing Darkshroud
Ravenwing Land Speeder w/Assault Cannon and Multi-melta
Detachment 2: Ravenwing Attack Squadron Formation
Ravenwing Bike Squad w/3 extra men, 2 Grav Guns, Melta bombs, and an Attack Bike w/Multi-melta
Ravenwing Land Speeder w/Typhoon Missile Launcher
Detachment 3: Deathwing Strike Force
HQ:
Belial w/Storm Bolter and Sword of Silence
Elites:
Deathwing Knights
Deathwing Terminator Squad w/Assault Cannon and Chainfist
Deathwing Terminator Squad w/Cyclone Missile Launcher and Chainfist
In the tournament I went 1-2, but that is due more to my inexperience than any weakness of Dark Angels or Ravenwing in particular. Ravenwing and Deathwing make a decent combo, as the bikes have Teleport Homers that give you a no-scatter deep strike if you drop in close to them. Here's a link to a batrep I wrote after that tournament (the report is not particularly well-written, but...eh): http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/656019.page