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I've been wondering why you rarely see these in army lists. I've only just cottoned on to the idea after a very long time, as tbf it is staring you in the face when you look at the dex. Before now I'd primarily used dual flamer speeders as nasty surprise units in mech lists, starting on the board (deepstriking flamer templates is not reliable).
In units of 1 deep striking they have plenty of advantages:
Smallish footprint for deepstike,
2 multimeltas with a 12" melta range, even the 24" non melta range is still dangerous against rear armour,
Can only be countered with interceptor,
Only cost 80pts, far less points than a podding melta dread, stern or melta hg unit,
Take up a fa slot, a slot which is usually the least used,
If taken down after they have arrived, not a huge loss of points,
Can often position themselves to negate the targets cover save,
Fast and skimmer, so has a 5+ jink.

The disadvantages:
No turn 1 arrival unlike half your pods,
Armour 10 all round and only 2 hps so will rarely survive past their arrival,
If taken in units of more than 1, a whole squadron can go down to 1 units fire,
Easy killpoint (if killpoint game).

So... why don't we see more of them? Am I missing something? Surely 2 or 3 solo units would be good AT cover for 160/240pts respectively, if not using fa slots?

Well you have pretty much said everything yourself there. Not much for me to do but comment that you have everything you need to come to your own conclusion and say that there is nothing for me to do but write this comment.
I wouldn't take it.

Haha fair enough. I don't think 1 would be reliable enough, but 2 or 3 should be. Just wondering why I rarely see them on the table or even on this site.

They are fast but bearing in mind it would take about a turn of shooting from a TAC squad with the regular melta (or grav now?) and missile launcher/MM to take it down.

Yeh but with deepstrike that tac squad wont be able to shoot it before it meltas something. Then it distracts a units firepower for a turn, then dies. Not too shabby for 80pts when the cheapest podding dread that plays a similar role costs 140pts, and thats with only 1 mm. That is also a suicide unit usually. And would take up a coveted hs slot or elite slot.

Hmm, I agree that it will be usefull as a distraction unit but for something like, purge+scouring sub mission it is giving away 2VP's and maybe even 1st blood. Although I am not really a fan of suicide units.

Oh it would be terribad for missions which focus on killing fast attack!

The best distractions are used in gunline armies where you zip around them with a fast unit (preferably with jet packs) to force them to divert their forces to deal with you, giving you more time to take down their attack before they get to you.

This is more of a suicide stike than distraction unit. It does distract the turn after it has arrived but its main role is to destroy dangerous mech before it can even be shot at.


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If I wanted to play ot as a distraction unit to help my other units close early game it would start on the board.

Poly Ranger wrote:
Haha fair enough. I don't think 1 would be reliable enough, but 2 or 3 should be. Just wondering why I rarely see them on the table or even on this site.

The problem generally is Fast Attack (and Heavy Support) tend to be rather heavily contested in most SM lists. Fast Attack you have to deal with Storm Talons (which generally work best in pairs) and Bikes (in non-WS armies anyway). Storm Talons are big because of the anti-air angle they can provide, and Bikes for the grav weapons.

You did mention Interceptor being the "only counter" but keep in mind, Tau are pretty big in the meta right now and they love bringing Riptides with Heavy Burst Cannons and EWO, which will evaporate that speeder when it comes in (actually, likely a whole unit). The kill points issue is also rather big, depending on the mission.

On the other hand, vehicles aren't as big in the meta and those that are usually have some kind of defense, especially the other big boy in the meta right now: Eldar and their Wave Serpents.

Good points. Although bikes tend to be taken as troops since the new dex hit. Barring talons, fa is rarely used. Talons are indeed likely going to be first choice if you take them. But if not it leaves the slots open for these cheap 80pt units.
The more I think about it and after what both you and Chaos Rising have said, easy kill ponts do seem to be the main drawback of this unit, as no-one (was going to say nobody :-p) would be silly enough to take two or three in one squadron and lose 160/240pts to a rapid firing tac squad.
The meta as you say is another big factor if vehicles arent prevalent (they are in mine).

Where did you get 80 points for 2 speeders? They are 50 points base, and another 10 per melta. You must have subtracted the cost of the melta instead of adding it. 2 Speeders barebones with 2 multimelta will run you 120 points, a substantial points swing...

80pts for 1 speeder with 2 multimeltas. Ive been talking all along of them flying solo. Ive mentioned about having more than one in a squadron being silly. Ive mentioned two speeders cost 160 and three cost 240 respectively. I dont know where you got the idea that I was talking about two speeders from.


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Im pretty good with my maths - dont you worry.

The LS w/ Dual MM used to be good in 5th edition but really, they are lackluster against most lists in the current meta. Eldar and Tau tank will use cover saves to get away. Most SM lists either use Rhinos which aren't worth the speeder's time or Drop Pod which aren't optimal targets for optimal reasons. The only thing that a Dual MM Speeder would be good against is a Land Raider where for very little loss yourself, you can take out quite a few points. I view that it's nice to use one of two here in most cases they won't be the best, however in maybe 25% of games they will be exceptional.