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Hello there! A brief question for you guys: where abouts in the Codex organisation of a chapter do Bikers and Dev/Assault Centurions fit? For example, are bikes/Assault Centurions purely devoted to 8th Company members, or does the 2nd through 5th Companies have some amount of them? Likewise with Dev Centurions and the 9th Company. I'm trying to collect a complete 5th Company currently, and I'm trying to figure out how many, if any, Marines should be on Bikes or in Centurion armour.

From what I remember from 4th and 5th, Bike marines are drawn either from the 8th company or from a bike companies Assault squads. This would vary from chapter to chapter though as some are very bike heavy.

HoundsofDemos wrote:
From what I remember from 4th and 5th, Bike marines are drawn either from the 8th company or from a bike companies Assault squads. This would vary from chapter to chapter though as some are very bike heavy.

True, different chapters run different amounts. I'm making Blood Ravens, who are almost-entirely Codex Astartes-bound. So I guess asking how the Ultramarines would organise them is a better way to phrase it.

The bikes in a codex chapter would either be mounted assault squads from the same Company as the rest of the force (if your army portrays everyone from just one Company) or with markings from the Chapter's Assault Company (usually 8th, I think? ), if the main force's two assault squads are otherwise occupied on foot, with jump packs or in Land Speeders.

 AegisGrimm wrote:
The bikes in a codex chapter would either be mounted assault squads from the same Company as the rest of the force (if your army portrays everyone from just one Company) or with markings from the Chapter's Assault Company (usually 8th, I think? ), if the main force's two assault squads are otherwise occupied on foot, with jump packs or in Land Speeders.

So the 2nd through 5th Companies get first dibs on bikes, with the 8th Company using them only if those Companies are not? Okie dokie. Is it the same with Centurion Armour?

The reserve companies do have their own supply of bikes and speeders, though if the 3rd edition vanilla codex rings true most are given to the battle companies. Note all Assault marines are expected to pull double duty as bikers, but that doesn't mean all bikers are Assault marines: the 6th (Tactical) company also specializes in bikers (the 7th company does likewise with Speeders).

I don't know if it's actually been written down, but it appears to be the same for Centurions as the studio miniatures all bear battle company markings:
Ultras Devastator Centurion: 2nd Company 10th Squad
Ultras Assault Centurion: 2nd Company 7th Squad
Imperial Fist Assault Centurion: 3rd Company 8th Squad

While the assault marines in the battle companies are the ones on bikes, it's the 6th reserve company that traditionally trains and deploys with them.

The AMs of the 2-5th companies can take the field on foot, JP, bikes, or speeders. And probably assault cents, but I'm less sure about that. New fangled things that they are.

6th is Bikes, 7th is Landspeeders, 8th is Centurions/Assault Marines, 9th is Centurions/Devastator Marines.

Ah, an image I missed in my searches!



So, it seems that the Battle Companies, the 6th AND the 8th train and use bikes. I would assume something similar occurs with the Centurion Armour.

Well, this answers it enough for me. My 5th Company will have some amount of bikers and each type of Centurion. I'm guessing I'll do something like 7 Bikers, 3 Assault Centurions and 10 Assault Marines with jet packs, with 3 Dev Centurions and 17 Dev Marines. That seem reasonable?

No. The Index Astartes Centurions article says that Centurion Warsuits are only used by the respective specialist company - so only 'veterans' of the 8th and 9th (as opposed to newly-inducted former scouts who are 'just passing through' before being rotated into the battle companies) get to use them.

Regular battle companies like the 5th don't use centurion warsuits of either variant.

locarno24 wrote:
No. The Index Astartes Centurions article says that Centurion Warsuits are only used by the respective specialist company - so only 'veterans' of the 8th and 9th (as opposed to newly-inducted former scouts who are 'just passing through' before being rotated into the battle companies) get to use them.

Regular battle companies like the 5th don't use centurion warsuits of either variant.

I imagine they could be loaned out if the reserve company doesn't have a pressing need for it.

Also, which index Astartes is this? Is that the ebook they published about centurions?

The entire 6th Company and all Assault Marines are trained to be bikers. For Organisatioj purposes you simply swap out "Assault Squad" for "Bike Squad" on the Codex Astartes quotas.
Centurions are the best of the Devs/Assaults. So again, any Battle Vompany Squad will be eligible for Centurion duty, as well as the 8th and 9th companies respectively.

6th Company are Reserve Tactical that can all be mounted on bikes.

8th Company are Reserve Assault Marines that can be equipped with Bikes or Jump Packs.

Remember, Tactical are supposed to be drawn from Marines that have completed training as a Devastator, and an Assault marine.

I prefor 8th Company for my Bike list strictly for the Grey Trim rather than Orange.

^^^ Assault Marines can also pilot Landspeeders, as can the 7th company, just for the record.

Also, you're mention of the requirements for Tactical Squad means that they too can do biker duty. However I feel Battle Companies prefer to use Assault Marines to maintain they same edge of a few fast moving units but retain their flexibility with 1-6 tac squads.

Also, which index Astartes is this? Is that the ebook they published about centurions?

Yes.

Given that the Gladius Strike Force is intended to represent a fully deployed Battle Company, I am thinking that the Index Astartes is likely out of date now. Given the options available for the Assault Marines and Devastators, the Assault Marines probably have access to Jump Packs, SM Bikes, Land Speeders, and Centurion war suits, while the Devastator Marines likely have access to Centurion war suits.

From what I read in the Index Astartes on Centurions, it's Marines who can bear the strenuous process of melding with the suit's Machine Spirit. It talks about Devestators and Assault Marines in general, not limiting them to specific companies. Along with the fact that in Codex: Space Marines, Ultramarines have 3rd Company Centurions, I'm fairly satisfied that the Battle Companies field them too.

The Index Astartes article goes to great length to explain that they are never issued to the *FIRST* company. It says nothing about them being restricted to the reserve companies - it includes a timeline of famous battles and in every instance the company involved in a battle company.