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Hi,

Been toying with the idea of having a Bike heavy army.

With the ammount of MM i will have on the attack bikes plus some plasma guns on the bikes,
Adding to that my 2 speeders and rifleman dread, do i really need tanks like predators and whirlwinds?

I know that it will be a downside with Big Guns never tire matches but i think i should be able to get by without them.

What are your thoughts???????

No, but the point efficiency of the thunderfire cannon in 6th edition is very tempting. I'm getting SM allies for my BA and my heavy support from them will be the thunderfire. It's "ignore cover saves" mode is invaluable. But sure, I can see a marine army with no heavy support. That's not truly where our strength lies.

As a side note, auto/las predators are very nice for disabling vindicators from a safe distance. They don't work so well on demolisher LR, but vindicators seem more common.

You'll be fine. If anything, taking 1 or 2 vehicles will just allow your enemy to focus fire the armor to death with anti-tank fire. Taking only bikes effectively nerfs your opponent's anti-tank that they took.

Because attack bikes don't practically require anti-tank guns? It does grant a jink save, but they don't mount the long range guns like autocannon or lascannon. All 24" all the time sounds great until you meet the DE. Of course, he can always bring multiple riflemen dreads too.

36" threat range isn't anything to scoff at!

I don't like "threat range" because you might not want to move closer for whatever reason. I try to look at true ranges.

If you're spamming nothing but bikes and you really need a vehicle kill, a sacrifice bunt isn't really going to kill you. Having 1 dakkapred to get railroaded apart turn 1 is far more risky.

Maybe. I know I'm just as happy to fire my anti tank guns at bikes. It's not like a bike heavy army will have a killer model count.

I get where you're coming from, especially with the improved toughness, the anti-tank is generally not wasted on bikes. It's pretty swell to take a free cover save against those armor piercing shots, though!

I agree. In fact, my BA lists are using a bike squad now as well as attack bikes to get the FNP love on top of the jink save. It's one of the few good tricks left in the BA codex.

With MM attack bikes and plasma bikes I feel like 2 dakka preds would be great thrown in. If that doesn't float your boat, throw in some Vindicators to charge your enemy with your bikes.

As for no heavy support at all, you can absolutely get away with it. However, your dreads and speeders will be soaking all the anti-tank fire which should kill them quickly.

Target priority is key with bike lists. If you fail to kill your highest threats fast you will get beat fast. Think precision rather than blunt force.

I have almost always found that an auto/las pred is more useful than a dakka pred. Of course, I play BA and if I want dakka preds, I take Baals. But I still prefer the auto/las to the Baal for all comers. Sometimes killing a vindicator at range is worth all the dakka in the world. The lascannon makes this happen, and not much else. (Railguns, but we are talking marines) Okay, there's the conversion beamer.

Martel732 wrote:
I have almost always found that an auto/las pred is more useful than a dakka pred. Of course, I play BA and if I want dakka preds, I take Baals. But I still prefer the auto/las to the Baal for all comers. Sometimes killing a vindicator at range is worth all the dakka in the world. The lascannon makes this happen, and not much else. (Railguns, but we are talking marines) Okay, there's the conversion beamer.

The only reason I didn't suggest auto/las pred is because he most likely has anti-tank covered with meltas on bikes/attack bikes. That being said, I would definitely try both to figure out which works better with your particular list. They are both are incredibly effective against a LOT of targets. That is, if you still want to take heavy support.

Been running a bike list with success lately. I've been suing stormtalons instead of speeders and incorporating TFC for the sheer flexablity they bring. Got hordes throw down 4 strength 6 templates. Got armour make them take dangerous terrain tests then. Units sitting behind an aegis camping an objective hit em with the airburst. Might not win you the game like vindacators but will cause your opponent some grief for a few rounds.

Melta is tricky to get close to some targets. There is no shame in having overlapping anti tank. Remember that anti-tank is also anti-MC and anti-teq.