Tell Me All About......

[Bannus]

Building upon and complimenting the Elemental Styles of armies is the general build of the army. While there are numerous variations to any given theme, I've placed them in some rather simplistic categories as follows:

 

1) The "Gun Line" Army (also known as the "shooty" army)

 

2) The Mechanized Army (also known to as "the Rhino Rush")

 

3) The Biker Army (a favorite of White Scars armies)

 

4) The Drop-pod army (a favorite of Raven Guard armies)

 

5) The "Balanced" Army (most favored by Water players and employs a little of everything)

 

6) The Assault Army (or close combat army)

 

If you wish to discuss a variation that is not specifically mentioned here (or applies as part of the elemental styles), let me know. It may fit as a variation within one of the preexisting topics or I can generate one if it doesn't mesh well with what we already have.

 

 

The threads on the elemental styles focus on how the army army plays (and a bit on builds favored by each style), while these threads will focus on on favored builds and tactics based on the actual build of the army. In the end, I hope we will have a good foundation of raw material to build upon.

 

So while the elemental threads focus on tactics first and then builds, these threads will focus on builds first and then tactics.

 

What we need to know here is what works and what doesn't work for a particular build of army - the genius and folly.

 

This particular thread focuses on the Biker-oriented army.

 

Normally, I would post links to other extant threads that relate to the subject, but time is a bit tight this week, so feel free to post links to related topics within the tread and I'll move them to the first post later.

 

I appreciate all your help!

 

Let the discussions begin.....

[Ookami_81]

Hem, frankly, I read it today, and if I don't agree with 100 % of it, it seems to me it is the single very best of biker army tactica I've ever read. :rolleyes:

 

Biker army tactica

[Koremu]

I usually end up linking or quoting myself when the subject of Biker armies or Biker Command Squads comes up, so I'll quickly do so here to save time;

 

Regardless of who the Captain is, Bike Squads and Bikers Command Squads have very different roles. The Command Squad is a flexible unit that can be equippped into a number of roles, few of which duplicate the standard Bike Squads role.

 

In my opinion, any Biker Command Squad setup that simply mimics the standard Bike Squad role will be found lacking, as at the end of the day the standard biker squad can do it and be scoring.

 

There are two real divisions in how you look to set up a Command Squad - they can be broadly characterised as "Cataphract" and "Heavy Dragoon". The former exploits the Heavy-Cavalry-esque traits of the Command Squad - the availability of Storm Shields, the presence of Feel No Pain, and wielding Power Weapons - to form a hard hitting strike unit to act as a primary strike force on the battlefield. Doing this requires a hefy investment of points.

 

Heavy Dragoon setups meanwhile exploit the ability of the Command Squad to pack multiples of the same special weapon. This is generally the cheaper of the two Biker Command Squad setups, but is not by any means weak, as it is able to apply a devastating amount of firepower onto a wide area of the table at will. However, it does rely on either the Captain or a "Defender" Veteran to provide for and protect against enemy assaults.

 

It is possible to do both of the above in a single unit - there's nothing stopping you from arming all four veterans with Thunder Hammer, Storm Shield and Plasma Gun as well as a bike if you want - but it will generally be prohibitatively expensive (445 points, not including the Captain, for the above mentioned 5 man squad). Once you are at the point where you can buy 5 Assault Terminators *and* a Land Raider for the points cost, you might want to rethink your cunning plan.

[Sanctjud]

The biker army needs no explaining, it just works in the right hands :D

IMO they are kinda rare, so:

 

Information is power, hide it well. The less people know, the more arse-kicking we will keep doing. :D

 

-Sanct.

[Ookami_81]

Information is power, hide it well. The less people know, the more arse-kicking we will keep doing. :P

 

Priceless ! :P

 

Therefore I'm suprised that nobody post other comments on this topic: there seems to be many biker fans on this forum.

Maybe emphasis sould be put on the fact that there are other builds in biker armies than "full biker army".

 

I personaly use a lot of "bikes as troops", wich for me is the fundamental aspect of a biker army, but I never used a full bike army because I think it's too weak in firepower and even more in assault.

[Koremu]

I never used a full bike army because I think it's too weak in firepower and even more in assault.

Kind of, but not that much. It's more accurate to say that a Bike Squad is quite unpleasant on the charge, because of the ability to fire 2 Bolter Shots with re-rolls to hit as an (Initiative Infinity) precursor to the Assault.

 

I wouldn't throw them in against a hardcore top end Assault Specialist Elites (THSS Termis), but against Horde Assault units (Orks & 'nids), they will do just fine on the charge.

 

Where they really fall down is if they get into an extended Assault - without the up-front Bolter shock and with only a single attack base, they really get overwhelmed by attrition.

 

This is why Khan is such an incredible Biker Captain. Furious Charge plus Hit and Run is absolutely tailor-made for their best practice tactic.

[ShinyRhino]

One of the interestign things about Biker armies is that there is no "perfect" build. Due to the various ways of fielding bikers (Khan, no Khan; MSU vs. max squads; attack bikes in squads vs attack bike squadrons; supporting speeders vs supporting attack bikes; etc etc), two Biker generals can show up to a game with the same points level, but vastly different biker armies.

 

Between B&C and DakkaDakka, I've seen about a zillion different takes on biker armies.

[Ookami_81]

Thinking about Khan, I came to one conclusion. Khan itself is not a good captain because it deprives bikers from the ability to auto-fail a command test, which is usefull for them because their retreat move is long enough to properly use ATSKNF. Flank attack is not that useful because bikes can turbo boost nearly everywhere on the board.

BUT, Khan is a much excellent sergeant. He gives excellent bonuses to his squad.

So I think an army with him would look like:

- Several sacrificial little AT biker squads: 4 bikes, 2 MG, 1MM AB.

- One full biker squad with him or a biker command squad tooled up to the teeth, depending on what you want to do and points limits.

- A handful of landspeeder Typhoons.

- Mobile tanks like vindis or preds without sponsons (like the fluff says the White Scars use).

[ShinyRhino]

Yeah, that's about how a Khan list work out. As Sanctjud likes to say, Khan promotes a DeathStar mindset.

To maximize his Hit and Run, and Furious Charge rules, you end up taking either a tooled out Command Squad on bikes with all the trimmings, or an Assault Terminator squad in a Land Raider Crusader for Foot Khan.

 

I just hate that he has a regular power sword, and negates Combat Tactics. So, I remain happy with my basic bike Captain.

[Koremu]

I wouldn't necessarily say he promotes Deathstars; He only does that if you like Deathstars to begin with. Furious Charge is really good when used with a maximum sized regular bike squad, simply because of the volume of attacks.

 

Also, while the loss of ATSKNF hurts the bikers, the ability to Outflank Multi-Melta Attack Bikes is worth it for the 24" 'Dead Zone' it creates on both flanks.

[Ookami_81]

What I find interesting with flanking is the amount of fear you see in your opponent's eyes when you keep on reserve some little AT biker squads while he fields lootas and battlewagons... :)

[Astral Scorpions]

By definition, Bike armies are the prime example of an Air army. Highly mobile, their main asset is the ability to shape the battlefield to their needs. However, it doesn't hurt to have a support squad or two not on bikes.

 

AT bikes with Multimelta and Khan creates dead zones, yes, especially with a light-vehicle centered army like an Ork speed kult. But if you want to take advantage of those grouped together dead zone avoiding masses, using a couple missile-launchers from a support squad or two on foot is priceless. A Typhoon makes it even more so.

 

Do they set up vehicles in the dead zone and get Meltad? Crowd the center for the Kraks and TL Typhoons to kill? Keep in reserve and risk not getting on the field in time to make a difference? Deploy them close and risk the massed fire? Deploy them far and let your own bikes press the attack? This setup is truly a tactical nightmare for light vehicle forces.

 

A similar combination works well against a transport heavy army (I'm looking at you IG), and is further enhanced by Tornadoes armed with rapid fire weaponry. Most transport armies have very squishy troops with thin armor, t-shirts really in the case of Orks, as well as small squad sizes, which once again especially hurts Orks. As such assault cannons can easily tear them to shreds. Heavy flamer Tornadoes, well I wouldn't recommend it as the small squad could spread out to avoid the template, but you're welcome to try if you want, I just wouldn't recommend it.