The "Pure Bike" Army Tactica...

[ShinyRhino]

Hey all. I've spent quite a bit of time drafting up a "Pure Biker" tactica, and this is the first section of it, regarding HQ slots. Please give it a read-thru, and make suggestions/corrections. Note that it is based on a PURE BIKE FORCE. Nothing that isn't on a bike.

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter One: Unit Breakdown

 

To start out, it's best to examine Biker units as they apply to an all-Biker list. If you don't know your components in and out, you can't build anything that will function.

 

Section One: Headquarters

 

The Chapter Master

Yes, a Chapter Master can be mounted on a bike. He functions in all ways like a Captain (see below), but will NOT make Bikes scoring, and only gains a single Orbital Bombardment. With all of the other options for a secondary HQ in a Pure Bike list, there is no reason to ever take a Chapter Master on a bike, unless you're playing a storyline or campaign game.

 

The Captain

All standard 40K armies require the selection of a single HQ unit, and two minimum Troops units. The Biker Captain (or Kor'sarro Khan, covered later) is the backbone upon which the entire Pure Biker force is built. He unlocks Bike Squads as Troops selections.

 

Default Loadout: Bike, Power Armor, Iron Halo, Bolt Pistol, Chainsword.

 

The Captain in his default loadout achieves only one thing, the previously-mentioned unlock of Bikers as Troops. He is the keystone of the Pure Bike army. In his default form, he is little better than a basic Marine, if a bit more durable and able to swing his sword a few more times in a round of melee.

The default Captain should be considered 100% expendable in all but the strangest of missions (weighted Killpoints, for example). This build is the "economy" choice, and often only selected for smaller games. A Biker Command Squad is typically not taken at this level, and so the default Captain tends to be attached to standard Biker squads to add additional bolter shots, and take spare wounds.

 

Melee Upgrades:

 

Captains are one of the most versatile units in the Marine Codex, able to take a dizzying array of melee, shooting, and miscellaneous upgrades. Biker Captains are often fitted for close combat to make up for the failings of standard Troops squads, or for attachment to a Command Squad.

 

The Power Weapon: A power weapon is an inexpensive way to make your Captain instantly more threatening. By replacing his chainsword with the power weapon, you allow him to ignore armor saves in melee. This makes units that rely on an armor save (Marines of any flavor) think twice about tying your Bikers up in close combat. Your Captain has three base attacks, as well as an additional attack granted by having a pistol in addition to the power weapon. Four attacks that will hit the majority of Marine units on a 3+, wound on a 4+, and ignore all armor saves. Add an additional attack when charging, and you're looking at plenty of dead enemy Marines. The presence of a power weapon-bearing Captain in a Troops squad allows them to jump out to a nice lead in combat resolution scoring.

 

The Lightning Claw: Lightning claws are available to a Captain singly, or as a pair. Upgrade the chainsword for the first, and the bolt pistol for the second. Lightning claws are power weapons that reroll failed wounds in close combat, which helps against grunt units, but also costs you a single attack unless you take the pair. Taking the matching claw will boost your wound output, but creates a bit of a modeling conundrum. Unless you're a fan of Wolverine, you'll be hard-pressed to construct a twin-claw Captain on a bike that doesn't look...precarious.

 

The Powerfist: The ubiquitous, and mighty powerfist. Smiter of enemies, but slow as molasses. Conventional wisdom tells us that power fists should never be taken by Independent Characters who do not have the Eternal Warrior special rule, a fistful of wounds, and a reliable Invulnerable save. The problem with the powerfist isn't the loss of a single attack in melee, but the reduction to Initiative 1. Your Captain starts at I5, allowing him to get his hits in before many units that are not dedicated to close combat. The powerfist negates that benefit, ensuring he strikes dead last in close combat alongside other I1 models.

Doing so allows your opponent to pour as many attacks into your Captain as possible, hoping to sink wounds past his saves and take him down before he factors into a combat. This is doubly dangerous when facing weapons that can cause Instant Death. If even one Force Weapon or Implant Attack wound gets through, the Captain is dead. This is why most do not select a powerfist, singly or in pairs. Your defenses can be improved with wargear, but then you're gambling a whole heap of points on successful saves.

There is a minor utility in the powerfist if you're dedicating your Captain to an anti-tank role. He and a small squad can sneak up on armor, and punch it in the guts. The utility is just far too niche for use by anyone that isn't building for fluff purposes.

 

The Thunderhammer: The thunder hammer functions identically to a powerfist, but adds extra utility against vehicles, and models with more than a single wound. If you're going for that anti-tank Captain, take the hammer over the powerfist. Any other non-fluff usage, and the hammer is best left at home in the toolchest.

 

The Relic Blade: I've intentionally left my favorite option for last. The relic blade is the middle ground between the powerfist and the power weapon. You gain S6 for your hits, but lose an attack in close combat. The kicker is that you retain your Initiative 5. You'll be chopping down Marines on a 3+ to hit, and a 2+ to wound. T3 models will be suffering Instant Death (though there aren't all that many multiwound T3 models without Eternal Warrior). The relic blade is the ultimate generalist weapon, able to take down infantry reliably, and also slap a spare wound or two on monsters or high Toughness models.

 

Digital Weapons: Digitals allow your Captain to reroll a single failed To-Wound roll per assault phase. Not great, not terrible. This is one of those "I have points to spare, and all of my sergeants already have meltabombs." upgrades.

 

 

Shooting Upgrades

 

The list of available shooting upgrades for a Captain is brief when you weed out all of the redundant choices. I'll examine them all, for the sake of completeness. The Captain possesses a Ballistic Skill of 5, which grants him incredibly accurate fire.

 

Bolter: There is absolutely, positively no reason to swap any of your default weapons for a bolter. You have a set of twin-linked ones on your bike. Next.

 

Storm Bolter: Again, not a smart selection. The only thing you will gain by swapping a default weapon for a stormbolter is one extra non-twin-linked bolt shot at 13-24" range. Inside Rapid Fire range, you're actually hamstringing yourself because you give up the twin-linking to fire the stormbolter.

 

Combi-weapon: Now we get to the actual choices. When you purchase a combi-bolter, you're really only purchasing the one shot from the special weapon, as the bolter part is redundant. So, you have to assess how valuable that single BS5 shot (or two shots with plasma in Rapid Fire range) will be to your game plan. My personal stance on combis is that if you take them, take them in coordination with the special weapons in your squad. If your Captain will be riding with a Bike Squad toting meltaguns, take the combimelta. Plasmaguns? Combiplasma. Like digital weapons, this is one of those "spare points" upgrades. A single shot in a game is just too much of a gamble on which to pin a strategy.

 

Plasma Pistol: Ah, the much derided plasma pistol. The Internet as a whole tells us that this is the worst weapon ever. It costs a goodly number of points, and can kill you when rolling poorly. Personally, I can see the appeal of using one.

First, the improved BS of a Captain means you either hit, or overheat. Kinda neat, in a double-edged sword kinda way. The thing to remember is that a Captain has three wounds, and a 3+ armor save when not taking upgrades. Even if you do take a wound to an overheat, it will not kill your Captain unless he was on his final wound. My recommendation is that you take the pistol if you like it, and never fire it if you have only a single wound remaining.

Another detractor is the 12" range of the pistol shots. If you're firing this at a non-vehicle target, you are almost guaranteed to be inside assault range on the opponent's following turn...unless you charge them first! Captains riding with a Command Squad can be a deadly close combat asset, so you're going to want them close to the enemy anyways. If you're close, the plasma shot is useful, and not a handicap. If you're going up against something with a 2+ armor save and a poor Invulnerable save, like Shooty Terminators, the plasma is essentially an I11 attack before close combat begins.

Plasma has always been a gambler's weapon, and I don't look down on anyone for not taking plasma. It really becomes a personal choice, as you can chase your tail all day agonizing over the math and scenarios.

 

Auxiliary Grenade Launcher: Another one of those points-splurge upgrades. While the Aux Launcher is neat, your Captain is the only model in your army who'll be taking one. It'll fire in addition to all other weapons your Captain has, every turn. An interesting combo would be attaching a Captain to a Scout Bike Squad that has several Astartes Grenade Launchers, but doing so would kneecap the utility of the Scout Bikes.

Fun for a rainy day, definitely not essential.

 

Hellfire Rounds: Hellfire rounds can still be used by Biker Captains, and are fired out of their twin-linked boltguns on the bike itself. It's great to have two shots that will almost always hit and wound in any round of shooting, but you have to temper that against the knowledge that no other model in your entire Pure Bike force will be able to do the same. This relegates Hellfire to yet another "available points" upgrade. They simply don't have the volume of fire needed to be a "must buy."

 

Defensive Upgrades:

 

There are only two available defensive upgrade options for a Biker Captain: artificer armor, and a storm shield. The Internet leans toward the Storm Shield. I prefer the Artificer Armor.

The storm shield matches very well with a relic blade, or a lightning claw. You've already given up the additional attack in melee by taking the relic blade, or the claw, so you don't suffer doubly by taking the shield. The 3+ Invulnerable save can help a lot when your Captain is facing lots of power weapon attacks, or AP1, AP2, or AP3 fire. Your Captain does have an Iron Halo as stock wargear, which grants a 4+ Invulnerable. By purchasing the shield, you boost your Invulnerable save from a 50% chance of successful save, to a 66% chance of successful save. A net gain of 16% survivability, if you'd like to think of it that way.

Artificer armor boosts your Captain's armor save to 2+ from the 3+ granted by your stock power armor. You increase your save from a 66% chance of success, to an 83% chance of success. However, you will not boost your save at all against power weapons, AP1, or AP2. You do get a save against AP3, though. With the prevalence of krak missiles in the game today, artificer armor is worth a look. If you fail that armor save, your Captain dies. However, he'll also die if he fails the 3+ invulnerable granted by a storm shield. Artificer armor also helps when fighting large numbers of infantry with limited power weapon attacks. All Marine players know that the downfall of their units is often torrents of fire or massed melee attacks. The T5 of your bike, combined with the 2+ armor save from artificer armor, makes your Captain much harder to take down in melee. it does not help as much with shooting attacks, since the Captain can't be singled out by the enemy without a special ability (Vindicare, Telion, etc). You will be the one allocating wounds to the Captain, and will have to judge when to risk that 2+ save versus that incoming krak missile.

 

Miscellaneous Upgrade:

There's only one upgrade left that fits this category. Meltabombs. These are the final word in points filler. Not much else in the Marine Codex can be purchased for a Pure Bike force at the same points value.

Besides being a point-cap expenditure, they're wonderful insurance. If that Leman Russ you just fired a hail of melta at somehow manages to avoid being destroyed, follow up with those meltabombs.

Meltabombs are also a great insurance policy against a Tank Shock. They'll automatically hit, and have the Strength potential to stop that tank in its tracks.

 

Summary and Usage

 

After all of that information, you might realize that there are myriad ways in which you can build your Bike Captain. Contrary to popular belief, there is no "best" build. Take a look at your available points, and select a general mission for your Captain. Do you not really care much for Captains, and want to focus more on the other FOC slots available to you? Take a barebones Captain, bury him in a Bike Squad, and use him like any other Biker.

Want a melee powerhouse? Relic blade and a defensive upgrade. Point him at a non-melee unit, and chop away.

If you're a fan of subterfuge and black ops, kit him for tank-hunting with a thunder hammer, combimelta, and meltabombs.

Captains are the spot where you can really personalize your force. The real reason you paid the points for him is because he unlocks bikes as Troops. Otherwise, you'd probably be taking a pair of Librarians instead.

Stay on mission, and you can't go wrong.

In higher-point games, you might also opt to take two Captains, in order to unlock two Command Squads. This will give you a double-dose of captain abilities and wargear, as well as two separate command squads to kit out for whatever your heart desires.

 

The Librarian

Everyone loves Librarians in this age of rampant psychic powers. Luckily for the Pure Bike player, he can be mounted on our trusty two-wheeled conveyance.

 

Default Loadout: Bike, Power Armor, Bolt Pistol, Force Weapon, Psychic Hood, two Psychic Powers

 

A Biker Librarian is a wildly flexible addition to your army. With his array of psychic powers, he can be tooled for several purposes, and fill some gaps in your game plan. With stock wargear, the Librarian is completely defined by the powers you select for him. None of his stock gear adds anything to the abilities of a bike, so any non-psychic work he does is completed with his twin-linked bolters.

 

Shooting Upgrades

 

Librarians on bikes have a very limited selection of shooting upgrades, all of which are of dubious value.

 

Storm Bolter: This weapon falls into the exact same niche for the Librarian as it does for the Captain: wasted points. With a Librarian's lower BS stat, you'll want the twin-linking of your boltguns over the stormbolter in all but the most Hail Mary of situations.

 

Combi-bolter: Combis for Librarians are one-shot backups for when you're facing an opponent with solid anti-psyker abilities. With a Librarian's reduced BS, they're less reliable here than on a Captain. The same rules apply for using them though; match the special weapons of the attached squad.

 

Plasma Pistol: All of the same arguments can be applied for and against the plasma pistol in the hands of the Librarian as can be applied to the Captain. However, your Librarian again has a lower BS, so will hit less. He has no way to boost his saves, and so will take Gets Hot wounds more often. The Librarian also has one fewer wound than a Captain, and so must cease reckless fire with the pistol sooner than the Captain.

The one bonus for the Librarian is that the usage of a plasma pistol frees him up for later applications of psychic powers. Firing that plasma pistol before charging a multi-wound model might free up the Librarian's psychic power for activation of his Force Weapon in melee, or boosting his Initiative with Quickening, or Strength with Might of the Ancients.

 

Psychic Powers

 

This is the meat of the Librarian's abilities, and your choices here will dictate how your Librarian acts on the table.

 

Smite: One of the common complaints about this power is its 12" range. A bike's 12" move helps alleviate the relatively short range of the power. It does not alleviate the low Strength of 4, or the need to roll to successfully activate the power, again to hit, and yet again to wound. Smite is a power with severe diminishing returns on its rolls.

 

Force Dome: A successful use of this power gives your Librarian and his squad a 5+ Invulnerable save for a turn, transforming your unit into a fast, slightly less durable Terminator unit, without the powerfists. The main utility for this power is going to be against armies you know can strip out your cover save from Turbo Boosters, or that have lots of low-AP weapons and solid melee capabilities. You don't see these combined very often, so the allure of Force Dome is lessened by the fact that you have Turbo Boosters for a superior cover save. It'll be most useful against Imperial Guard foes.

 

Machine Curse: I'm make a confession here. I have a soft spot for this power. The thing that really makes this power zoom for me is the fact that it completely ignores the AV of an enemy vehicle, and goes straight to a glancing hit. Those AV14 Battlewagons barreling down at you? Zap them with this, add the +1 for Open Topped, and you have the potential to Wreck the Wagon on a good roll. Basically, you need to pass your psychic test, hit on a 3+, and roll either a 5 or 6 (immobile Battlewagons are as useful as Rending claws on a Carnifex). The 24" range also gives you the chance to fire this at the extreme edge of range without fear of that Battlewagon rolling over your Librarian if you miss.

This power also goes straight to the heart of Russ tanks, Land Raiders, Monoliths, etc. all from extreme range (for reliable anti-tank anyways).

 

Avenger: A popular power for Librarians arriving via Drop Pod, wearing a jump pack, or popping out of a Land Raider. It's a Marine-killer, pure and simple. Activate, place flame template, roll to wound. Bike Librarians have the mobility to apply Avenger exactly where it's needed, making it a solid buy.

 

Quickening: Who doesn't like a Librarian with I10? On paper, it sounds spectacular. In practice, it falls a bit flat. The purpose of getting your attacks in first is to cut down important or threatening models before they can do a number on you. The stumbling blocks are the Librarian's average Strength, and the fact that many high-value targets have more than one wound. The prevalence of Eternal Warrior in various armies makes activation of your force weapon moot.

In order to use this power, you have to decide which is your priority; hitting first, causing wounds, or causing Instant Death. You can make a flexible melee-focused Librarian by combining Quickening with Might of the Ancients, and the Epistolary upgrade. Of course, to do so you're massively inflating the cost of the Librarian, who won't have an Invulnerable save to protect himself in melee.

 

Null Zone: Another popular power for utility Librarians. The area of effect is massive, and forcing rerolls of successful Invulnerable saves can hamstring units like Terminators, Daemons, and commander-type models. The downsides to this power for a Biker Librarian are that to make full use of its area of effect, you have to put him right in the thick of things, and that when bike-mounted, he does not gain the extra measurement and protection of a transport. The bike does allow you to zip him along to move the effect bubble where it'll affect the most models.

 

Might of the Ancients: A melee power for a model that's weak in melee. You'll wound more reliably, and be able to assault vehicles with a better chance of a penetrating hit due to the boosted Strength and bonus AP die. I feel it's an insurance power, for when things go wrong and you're resorting to last-ditch efforts.

 

Gate of Infinity: Gate looks sexy when you read about it. Bikes in trouble? Use gate to pop them out 24" away! There are two wrenches that can be thrown into your gears.

Bikes have large base footprints. Since you must use the Deep Strike rules to place the models, you're going to be taking up some serious real estate. If you've got models in the target area, or any form of Impassable terrain, you're risking a mishap due to the size of your unit footprint.

Also important is the fact that any Bike moving into or out of Difficult terrain treats it as Dangerous. Scatter your squad into a stand of trees, and you're rolling to see if they arrive safely (without materializing inside a tree or something), and then again if you decide to move in your next turn.

I feel the risk far outweighs the reward, since bikes already have Turbo Boosters that allow them to move 24" under their own power.

If you're a fan of Russian Roulette, try attaching a Librarian with Gate to a squad of attack bikes armed with multimeltas, and teleport them near a juicy target. Bikes are Relentless, so can fire those heavy weapons on landing...if they didn't mishap.

 

Vortex of Doom: Vortex of Doom is helped greatly in its utility by the Librarian being mounted on a bike. Relentless allows you to activate and fire this weapon after moving, increasing its threat range from 12" to 24" (12" move, 12" weapon range). The danger comes with a poor scatter, or a Perils of the Warp result. Your Librarian has no way to gain an invulnerable save against self-hits. He and his squad are in real trouble if the power lands on top of them. Of course, that does require a perfect storm of poor rolls, so the ability to apply a nice S10, AP1 blast with the precision only bikes can provide makes it a solid buy.

 

Epistolary Upgrade

 

Upgrading to Epistolary status allows your Librarian to use two powers in a single turn, instead of one. It's a useful upgrade for using a combination of powers (Might+Quickening; Smite+Null Zone), or using a power and then activating your Force Weapon.

The decision is muddied by the huge points cost of the upgrade, and the relative fragility of your Librarian. The upgrade does not boost your statline in any way, so it's all about the powers. If you feel you can personally make a two-power combo work, take the upgrade. If you're even slightly concerned about it, skip the upgrade. it comes down to personal tactics. Just keep in mind that you're already running a low-model-count army by selecting a Pure Biker build, and that Epistolary upgrade will cost you a multimelta attack bike, or a pair of Bikers.

 

Summary and Usage

 

You Librarian is best used as a wildcard support model in a Pure Bike list. He is not essential to success, though his psychic hood alone can make him worth his points.

Power selection determines who you'll attach the Librarian to, and what he does in a given turn. Relying on Avenger? Put him in a flamer squad. Vortex of Doom? Assign him to ride along with some multimelta attack bikes. If you're keeping him as a Hood and Null Zone generator, it might be worth taking a small squad with only bolters as ablative wounds for him.

Keep in mind that a Pure Bike army is not a close-combat army. Your Librarian is not a potent close combat threat. Attempting to charge bike squads into melee because you have a Librarian attached is a recipe for disappointment.

 

The Chaplain

Despite having a ready-built model from Games Workshop, Chaplains are a rarity in bike-based armies. This is mostly because Pure Bike is not a melee build. Your close combat potential is hardly threatening, and Chaplains are built for melee boosts. They're beautiful when charging alongside a squad of Lightning Claw Terminators, or a full Assault Squad. They add very little to a standard Bike Squad with its maximum of one power weapon and two attacks per biker.

That being said, there are niches that a Chaplain can fill in a Pure Bike list.

 

Default Loadout: Bike, Power Armor, Bolt Pistol, Crozius Arcanum, Rosarius

 

Biker Chaplains need very little in the way of upgrades, and are accordingly allowed few. Chaplains are taken more for their ability to grant Fearlessness to a single unit, and for the rerolls to hit when charging into melee.

 

Shooting Upgrades:

 

Storm Bolter: Refer to the entries for the Captain and Librarian. I'll not waste words here.

 

Combi-bolter: The Chaplain follows the same guidelines for purchasing combi-bolters as the Captain and Librarian, with one exception. A Chaplain utilizes a combi-flamer nicely. Since he is best used to assist a charge or make a unit Fearless, the one-shot flamer is almost always usable by the Chaplain. The targets a bike army can safely charge are also the ones vulnerable to flamer templates.

 

Plasma Pistol: Again, I'm treading in broken record territory here. Like the combi-flamer, when a Chaplain is in range to fire a plasma pistol, he's also in range to assault. Plasma pistols are a nice sidearm for a Chaplain. You can even take one without grossly overcosting the Chaplain as a whole.

 

Melee Upgrades

 

Chaplains are melee characters, no doubt about it. The in-built power weapon (Crozius) and rerolls to hit are great assets for face-bashing. There's typically little reason to upgrade a Chaplain's melee abilities, but the opportunity is there.

 

Power Fist: The powerfist is an expensive upgrade, and suffers from all of the same problems as it does for a Captain. There are two positive factors for the Chaplain that can make the powerfist attractive.

First, you retain the Crozius when purchasing the powerfist. This allows you to decide which you will swing in a given combat. You can use the powerfist against tanks and opponents who cannot kill you outright, or the Crozius when you need to retain I4.

Second, the rerolls to hit cut down on the number of failed swings with that whammer. (Yes, a Hellboy reference.) The best place for a Chaplain is alongside a Command Squad, so he may not be the biggest threat in the combat, and actually survive to swing the S8 fist.

 

Digital Weapons: Digital weapons are an attractive option for a Chaplain. Not only will he reroll to hit, but he'll get one reroll of a failed To Wound die. Not essential, but worth the spare points if you're trying to cap off your list.

 

Miscellaneous Upgrades

 

The only miscellaneous upgrade the Chaplain gets are meltabombs. Cheap, and actually very nice to have. They benefit from the Chaplain's rerolls to hit, as the power is no longer simply Preferred Enemy, but a flat reroll. Miss that Rhino that moved 6"? Roll again!

 

Summary and Usage

 

While the statement that Pure Biker is not a melee build is true, there is one unit that a Chaplain boosts beautifully. The Command Squad, which we'll cover later in the tactica. This squad can be kitted with a dizzying array of wargear, and much of it can be melee-oriented. Add a Chaplain to this squad, and you're looking at a monstrous number of hits in combat, Fearlessness, and Feel No Pain. It's smacks of "all your eggs in one basket", but is seductively effective.

 

The Master of the Forge

No other secondary HQ option screams for a bike like the Master of the Forge does. This brick of a Marine is durable, and can bring some very potent wargear to the table. His special rule allowing Dreadnaughts of any type to be taken as both Elite and Heavy Support slots is irrelevant in a Pure Biker list, but can come in handy in a high-points hybrid list.

 

Default Loadout: Bike, Artificer Armor, Servoharness, Bolter or Bolt Pistol

 

In his default gear, the Master is a pure support character. He can bolster a single ruin in your deployment zone to give +1 to cover saves, which is really only useful for the Master and his escort. You don't want biker units inside ruins if you can help it. Dangerous terrain tests are just too...dangerous. The Bolster does make the ruin usable for units sitting behind it, though. So, it'll provide +1 to cover for units that start out behind it, or retreat behind it later in the game. The utility is marginal, and you should beware of the enemy gaining that ruin and using your Bolster against you.

The Servoharness is a great piece of wargear. Two powerfist attacks in addition to your standard attacks in melee, and a twin-linked plasma pistol plus a flamer makes the Master a Swiss Army knife.

He begs for a close-combat unit in this configuration. If he's the only melee-capable model in a squad, it's tempting for the enemy to pour attacks on to him in hopes of defeating his 2+ armor save and 2 wounds.

 

Shooting Upgrades

 

Conversion Beamer: This weapon makes the Master of the Forge on a bike famous. The Beamer is best used from extreme range, and is a Heavy 1 weapon. Putting the Master on a bike allows you to gain 12" of range per turn, and allows you to fire the Beamer despite it being Heavy 1 (Relentless, remember?).

The tricky part is finding him a gang to ride with. The longest range weapon you'll be firing in a Pure Bike list is the heavy bolter, on an attack bike. That's hardly a complimentary weapon for the Beamer.

I feel the best bet for accompanying a Master with Beamer in a Pure Bike list is going to be a stripped-down Troops squad. Either four bikers and an attack bike, or five bikers. No upgrades whatsoever. These guys are pure meatshield for the Beamer-bearer.

 

Combi-bolter: See the remarks about this option in the Captain entry. The Master has a matching BS stat, and so will apply a combi-bolter to good effect, but only the one time.

 

Stormbolter; Plasma Pistol: Again, see the entry for a Captain.

 

Melee Upgrades

 

Power Weapon: Because the Master is a relatively inexpensive HQ selection, you can afford to purchase him some insurance wargear, like the power weapon. If you're running him with a servoharness, he's going to be close to the enemy. The power weapon can punch through some armor saves, but you have to weigh that against the fact that he already has two powerfist attacks from the harness.

If you're toting the Conversion Beamer, the power weapon can help him break out of a melee faster, for example if an Outflanking or Deepstriking unit manages to catch him unawares.

 

Thunder Hammer: The thunder hammer feels redundant for a harnessed Master. It fits the same role as the powerfist attacks you already have. The selection depends if you'd prefer more S8, I1 attacks for thumping high-toughness targets.

The hammer is useful for a Master with Beamer when enemy armor manages to reach him, and needs to be put down, with no other antitank bikers in range. The Beamer is largely useless in close quarters, so the hammer becomes your only option beyond bugging out and boosting away.

 

Digital Weapons: The Master of the Forge has so many tricks packed in his servoharness, or will be in a shooting role with his conversion beamer that digitals are points that could be better spent elsewhere.

 

Summary and Usage

 

You can see by now that a Master of the Forge in a Pure Bike list has two possible roles: backup melee character, or tiny howitzer. You cannot mix or hybridize the two roles.

Shooting the conversion beamer requires a small bodyguard unit, to prevent the Master of the Forge being sniped out by a lascannon shot. Something small, like a 5-man scoring bike unit would do nicely. If you get into serious trouble, or don't have a solid shot with the conversion beamer, don't be afraid to turbo-boost around for a drastically different look. Just watch the enemy proximity, so you don't get caught up in a melee.

If you're running a harness Master, seriously consider attaching him to a Captain and his Command Squad. The extra flamer and plasma shots before a charge can really help whittle things down to manageable levels. The Master of the Forge's 2+ armor, pair of wounds, and T5 can help take some heat off your Captain. Be careful who you put the master into base contact with, as he lacks an invulnerable save, and a single powerfist attack can put him down for the count.

 

Kor'sarro Khan

The only special character in the Marine Codex who can take a bike, let's welcome Kor'sarro Khan to the stage. Since he does not have the array of possible upgrades that non-special HQs get, I'll depart from the standard unit discussion format for Khan.

Khan is a double-edged sword in a Pure Bike army. He grants all of your units (since you won't have anything that doesn't have Combat tactics to trade for his Chapter Tactics) the ability to Outflank. The appeal of this ability depends on several factors: your opponent's army, the table layout, the deployment method (Spearhead, Dawn of War, Pitched Battle), and the mission being played.

Outflanking is obviously random. You do not get to decide in what turn your units arrive, nor are you guaranteed to have them arrive on the desired side of the table. This means your entire force could arrive late, and out of position due to a series of unfortunate dice rolls.

You have no way to mitigate, or alter the rolls for reserves or outflanking table edge, so you have to plan ahead when selecting which units will arrive from reserve. Remember that Outflanking is not compulsory. You can still declare reserve units as arriving from your board edge if it is more advantageous, or not place any units in reserve at all.

One way to mitigate the randomness of Outflank is to only use it for units with long range firepower. All of your units will be able to move 12" onto the table from the board edge, and fire bolter shots an additional 24". That gives you a 36" threat range immediately. That's half of the table. Heavy bolters (the only gun in a Pure Bike force with a greater range than 24") can reach 48" from the table edge on an Outflank move.

With this in mind, take a look at your opponent's army build before deciding which units to outflank, if any. Is the opponent running lots of large vehicles that will congest his deployment and mobility? Consider placing melta-armed units in reserve for outflanking. If the enemy is fielding large numbers of foot troops, outflanking may not be useful to you at all.

If you're playing an objective game, take stock of where objectives are placed, and use your placement of objectives to your own advantage. An objective placed 12-15" from a board edge can be contested or claimed on the final turn of a game with a single move by an outflanking bike unit.

Outflanking is often more useful in Spearhead deployments, as your opponent is often crammed into his table quarter, making space a premium, and allowing a successfully outflanking bike unit to pick their targets.

If you're facing a force that consists of large numbers of infiltrating units, beware the outflank declaration. If you put too much into reserve, the opponent can line the table with infiltrating models, and ensure your units never arrive, and autowin the game. There's a famous photo of this being done to some poor schmoe at a GT, and it makes you feel like you should go feed an orphan or something.

 

It's important to note that Khan's default buildout does not include a bike. You must purchase Moondrakkan for him to activate Bike Squads as Troops selections, making it a mandatory upgrade in a Pure Bike list. The purchase pushes Khan over 200 points, more expensive than most of your Biker Captain builds, though not by a huge margin.

 

Khan grants himself and a unit he has joined the Hit and Run, and Furious Charge USRs. Absolutely golden when Khan is given a Command Squad to ride with. As you'll see in the next segment of this tactica, Command Squads can be your bread and butter units in a Pure Bike army. They can take almost the entire armory of the Space marine Codex, and so perfectly equipped for any role.

Close combat is one of their specialties, though an expensive proposition if you're purchasing both offensive and defensive melee upgrades. Khan helps a little here, making all of your Marines more effective on the charge with the boost to Strength and Initiative with Furious Charge.

You'll also gain a measure of durability by being able to use Hit and Run to get out of a protracted fight and either charge in again, or move on to greener pastures.

 

Moondrakkan grants Khan the ability to Run, and the Fleet USR...but does not extend those abilities to a unit he has joined. You'll rarely find yourself fielding Khan without being attached to a unit, unless they've been shot down around him. These abilities should be non-factors in your decision making process.

 

There is a common misconception that Kor'sarro Khan's sword, Moonfang, is a relic blade. This is incorrect. While it is described as a "relic of the Chapter", that is background information, and never actually states that Moonfang has the S6 attacks of a relic blade. It's a power sword, and should be played as such. S4 hits, S5 on the charge. Should you land an unsaved wound by rolling a 6, the victim suffers Instant Death. Great for trying to chop down big beasties or enemy HQs, and nearly as effective when charging, due to the boost to S5.

 

I feel the replacement of Combat Tactics with Chapter Tactics is a side effect of taking Khan that must be very carefully weighed. The ability to automatically fail a Morale test is very valuable to biker armies. Bikes fold in melee due to lack of attacks and quantity of close combat upgrades. The ability to get out of Dodge during the enemy's Shooting phase, denying charges and auto-rallying in your turn can save entire bike units from annihilation. Outflanking armies must be very carefully built, and rely on a measure of luck. If you're the kind of person who seems to never get a break, you might want to stick to a standard bike build, and leave Khan to someone else :pinch:.

 

The Command Squad

Here, Biker Generals, is the most flexible unit in your entire force. Command squads can be customized to your heart's content, and can accomplish almost any task you set them to. They are veterans, after all. Since you're required to take a Captain on a bike to make the Pure Bike list function at all, the unlocking of the Command Squad is automatic.

 

Default Loadout: Power Armor, Bolter or Bolt Pistol, Chainsword, Bike, Feel No Pain (via Apothecary)

A bike command squad in its initial form is identical to a Troops-slot bike squad, but non-scoring, with an additional attack per-man, and the Feel No Pain USR. When given a pistol instead of the bolter (since you already have a better bolter on the bike), you get one more attack per man.

The default loadout lends itself to melee because of all those attacks. Of course, a squad full of Veterans with nothing but basic attacks isn't scary to much besides Tau and Guard Heavy Weapons or Special Weapons Teams.

Feel No Pain is the most valuable part of the default loadout. You already have the formidable 3+ armor save of a Marine, and T5 from your bikes. The ability to shrug off failed armor saves on a 4+ cuts your casualties in half. Attach a character who can soak up some of those AP3 shots without dying instantly, and you've got a unit that's tough to get rid of.

 

Shooting Upgrades:

 

Command Squads can take a plethora of shooting-based upgrades, but sadly not a plethora of pinatas. (Hooray, a Three Amigos joke!) Only the Apothecary is barred from taking upgrades, due to his separate statline. You can pack four of a given shooting upgrade into a Command Squad, leading to some wonderful redundant firepower.

Remember that when purchasing shooting upgrades that you're trading either your bolt pistol or chainsword for the upgrade, and will cost yourself a single attack in close combat. The only exception is the plasma pistol, which can only replace your bolt pistol, and retains the bonus attack for two close combat weapons.

Due to the costs of shooting upgrades, and the fact that the Command Squad is your only fully-melee-capable unit in a Pure Bike list, you may be better off gearing them for close combat instead of shooting.

 

Storm Bolters: You know, I'm not even going to go here. You know the drill by now.

 

Plasmaguns; Plasma Pistols: The Internet hates plasma on Bikers. They doubly-hate plasma that can rapid fire on bikers. However, the concerns about plasma are mitigated greatly with the presence of the Apothecary. Feel No Pain saves can be made against armor saves failed versus Gets Hot! wounds. You can Rapid Fire that plasmagun with impunity now. Would you like to blast 8 models per turn? I know I would. That's the majority of a tactical squad gone in a flash, if you're lucky. The volume of fire from Relentless plasmaguns and a 12" move can even knock out AV11 or less reliably.

If you select plasma pistols instead of a plasma gun, you halve your maximum range and rate of fire, but retain the extra attack in close combat. This is nice, but unless you're also packing power weapons, the two shots from the plasmagun are superior, as you're Relentless, and can still charge after a Rapid Fire volley.

 

Meltaguns: There exists in the game a thing called "meltaluck." The primary symptom of this horrible affliction is an inability to hit and cause an effect with melta weaponry. Meltaluck can be overcome by simply taking MORE melta weapons. The ability to take four meltaguns in a Command Squad all but ensures at least one enemy tank is destroyed or crippled per turn you are in range.

This sounds wonderful, except for one fact. Meltaguns have a 12" maximum range, and only a 6" melta-effect range. Bikers without numerous melee upgrades are weak against melee combat, lacking the ability to cause large numbers of casualties. This leads to them being bogged down in melee for several turns, each of which is a turn that you are not firing meltaguns. For this reason, I have found meltaguns to be less than optimal for bikers. Yes, you can get to grips with Land Raiders quickly, but once that Land Raider is dead or crippled, what's coming out of it? An assault-oriented unit, nine times out of ten. What is your bikers' bugaboo? Assault-oriented units. See the problem?

This is my biggest point of contention with The Internet, and its bike tacticae (tacticas?). These lists take a force that relies on mobility and flexibility, and turn it into a close-range antitank force, where it's woefully unprepared and easily rolled over. You might blast a unit of Nobz out of a Battlewagon with your meltaguns, but those Nobs eat your bikers for lunch afterward. You end up feeding wave after wave of melta-armed units to the Ork line, and you do not have expendable units to throw away.

Meltaguns on the Command Squad might look sexy, what with four shots per turn. Resist the temptation, however, and have your Command Squad available to charge the occupants of that transport you just annihilated, leaving the Troop squad to move on to another transport target.

 

Flamers: Pure Biker armies struggle with horde-based forces. Twin-linked bolters are great, but cannot rack up enough reliable wounds every turn to take down things like 30-strong Boyz mobs, especially on crowded tables with lots of cover. Flamers can solve that problem. Four flamers can solve that problem for times over.

Like meltaguns, you're going to have to get very close to the enemy to apply those templates, and often spread yourself out in a skirmisher's line to get the maximum number of hits with each template. You're going to want a LOT of hits, as the flamers are only S4.

Once your wounds are applied, you may end up too far from the enemy to charge in, should they take all of the casualties from the side of the unit that is closest to your Command Squad. To prevent this, get as close as possible before firing the flamers. If that means hanging back for one additional turn to let the enemy approach closer, or bunch up some, so be it.

Anything reliably damaged in numbers by your flamers can be knocked down by your S4 (or S5 if running Khan alongside them), so don't be afraid to go light on the melee weapons here. Ork Boyz can be punched to death by charging Bike Veterans, especially once the mob has been thinned by flame.

 

Combi-bolters: Combi-bolters are fun, but since the Command Squad can take many of the special weapon options for a comparable points cost, and already have a twin-linked bolter on their bike, you may find the one-shot status of a combi to be a poor choice when stacked against the standard version of the special weapon.

 

Melee Upgrades

 

It is my opinion that a Command Squad is better equipped for melee than it is for shooting in a Pure Bike army. The Veteran statline lends itself to close combat with the two base attacks, and pistol/chainsword default wargear. You are already taking a Captain, who is very handy in melee. A Command Squad is a natural pack for him to ride alongside.

 

Power Weapon; Lightning Claw: We've already discussed the math on these options earlier in the tactica, so I won't delve too deeply into those waters again.

The Lightning claw becomes more attractive than the power weapon on Veterans, because of their ability to take a special weapon, in addition to the claw. Since each veteran starts with a pistol and a chainsword, and each can be replaced, you can replace the pistol with a special weapon (say, a meltagun), and the chainsword with a lightning claw. You give up the extra attack in close combat because of the claw, so the loss of the pistol attack doesn't hurt if you opt for the meltagun/plasmagun/flamer instead.

 

Powerfist: A powerfist benefits from the same situation as the lightning claw, but strikes at I1. Due to your small, fixed squad size (5 members only!) it is unwise to take too many powerfists in a Command Squad. You'll lack an invulnerable save, and may lose too many models before the fists get a chance to swing. I'd cap yourself at no more than one or two, if any at all.

 

Thunderhammer: Thunderhammers are just like powerfists, and should follow the same rules. Inclusion of one hammer or powerfist does give your Command Squad the chance to fit its way through a walker tarpit, which can be tough without one of these weapons.

 

Miscellaneous Upgrades

 

Company Standard: Not many folks like this upgrade. These people cite Marine Leadership values, and the statistics of failing a Morale test. My bikers tend to fail Morale tests only when very close to my board edge. The 3d6" Fall Back move of a bike unit is death to your plans, every time. Lose two members of a squad, and you're rolling Morale tests. Fail one early in the game, and that squad is almost guaranteed to flee off the board.

The Standard allows a reroll of failed Morale and Pinning (but NOT Leadership) tests for units within 12", which can keep those squads on the board until they can advance to midfield.

A tiny bonus (and one I always forget to apply) is the +1 to combat resolution score. It can be the tie-breaker if you're not packing a large number of power weapons, so remember to use it.

 

Company Champion: If you're planning on taking a basic power weapon anywhere in your Command Squad, start with this upgrade first. The champion is an absolute steal.

For the same points cost as a single power weapon, you get that power weapon, a combat shield, and a boost to WS5. He'll land more hits than his compatriots, which is always nice. The combat shield isn't overly useful, as a 6+ Invulnerable is only for last-ditch efforts.

Now, it should be noted that there is a rules controversy over this guy. Some claim that he can purchase wargear upgrades. Other claim that he cannot, by virtue of his separate statline. I err on the side of caution and never upgrade him. It's a grey area, and one you should address with your local crowd before sinking money into bitz and parts to customize a model for him.

 

Meltabombs: Every member of a command squad can take meltabombs, which gives them that weight of numbers boost. Five meltabombs will cost you the same amount as a single powerfist, and have five chances to hit, compared to the fist's max of three. Lose the powerfist model, you're down to zero. Lose one meltabomb, and you're down to four (or three, two, etc). I like to take one or two meltabombs as a failsafe against walkers, or for finishing off crippled vehicles.

 

Stormshield: Stormshields are sexy. Stormshields are also expensive. Many Biker builds feature a command squad tooled up with close combat upgrades, as well as stormshields. Fail one 3++ save, and you're out a whole heap of points. By my estimation, about 41 points.

The shield does not replace any wargear, being simply a "take" option. This lends itself to a massive Deathstar build, with a shield, close combat upgrade, and a shooting upgrade on every available model. it looks scary, and will draw a mountain of fire. Just remember that the 3+ invulnerable save still fails 33% of the time, and each model you lose will be felt keenly. The argument that "they're not shooting my Troops!" is a fallacy, since the massive points expenditure of the tooled out command squad hurts your numbers on the table, reducing the number of available models with every upgrade you take here.

 

Summary and Usage

 

Command squads can function capably in both a melee, and a shooting role. I personally find them more valuable as the only melee component in a shooting-based army.

Attach your Captain here if you've built for melee, to add that extra bit of punch. If you've taken a Chaplain, absolutely put him here. The rerolls to hit are huge, and will extend to the Captain if he's also attached. If you've taken lightning claws on command squad members, you'll do a whole lot of rerolling.

You cannot play the wound allocation games that Ork Nob bikers can pull off, since you only have one wound per Marine. Unless you're hit by a mix of armor-savable, and non-armor-savable wounds in a volley, you won't typically be able to wrap wounds all that well. Don't let this deter you from taking a variety of wargear selections, though. Having many tools in your kit allows you to tackle a variety of problems.

For this reason, you should be boosting the command squad whenever possible for the 3+ cover saves, and jumping on the enemy only to strike in melee. A well-built bike command squad with attached ICs can roll an enemy flank handily.

Always protect your Apothecary. He is the force multiplier in your command squad. Feel No Pain makes your T5 bikers rock-hard to small-arms fire. Since he is not an Independent Character, only massed wound allocation, or a special rule (Telion, Vindicare, Toxic Miasma, dangerous terrain tests, etc) can kill him before the rest of the squad.

[MagicMan]

Awesome article, ive always wondered about how to use Bikes, and this really clears some things up.

 

 

Tea and medals for you, sir.

[ShinyRhino]

Awesome article, ive always wondered about how to use Bikes, and this really clears some things up.

 

 

Tea and medals for you, sir.

 

It's not even half done yet! that's just the first section. I'm working on sections for Troops, Elites, andFast Attack slots, and then onto a basic "Putting it All Together" section.

[Paulochromis]

I'm surprised you didn't mention the option to take TWO bike-mounted captains (and hence unlock TWO mounted command squads).

I'm aiming to include land speeders in my list so more "pure fast attack" (plus obligatory HQ) than "pure bike", but judging from what you've written so far, there is and will be LOTS of good stuff for biker generals, whether their lists are pure or hybrid.

 

Great start!!

Cheers, Paul.

[somogyi]

I am the only person that runs a pure bike list around where I play. I normally run at 1850: cpt on bike relic blade storm shield, upgraded lib on bike with null zone and avenger, five squads of 9 bikers PF melta flamer multimelta . I also have a Chaplin on bike, motf with conversion beamer on bike, command squads (melee), three tech marines on bike with harness, samiel jet bike and speeder.all of the special weapons are magnetized. I did not start with bikes, I started with dudes in rhinos and thought it was not mobile enough. Take the tact marine squad pf sgt, laz cannon, melta, rhino = 245, bike squad how i run them = 305. for 60 points you get t5, relentless, turbo boost, TL bolters, another special weapon. I think that all that is worth more than 60 points. I plan on running bike for ard boyz.

[Tanhausen]

Long... very long...so very very long...too much information crammed in there!

 

As an idea, I'd do some comparison to other full bike armies... basically White Scars and Ravenwing and point out what they do better and what the do worse.

 

Thanks for taking the time to write it all up B)

[DarkGuard]

Looking really good there ShinyRhino, looking forward to the next instalment. I'm not really a fan of bikes, so to hold my attention throughout the article says a lot I think :).

[ShinyRhino]

I'm surprised you didn't mention the option to take TWO bike-mounted captains (and hence unlock TWO mounted command squads).

I'm aiming to include land speeders in my list so more "pure fast attack" (plus obligatory HQ) than "pure bike", but judging from what you've written so far, there is and will be LOTS of good stuff for biker generals, whether their lists are pure or hybrid.

 

Great start!!

Cheers, Paul.

 

Ah, I'd intended to, but it fell out in my mad ramblings. I'll make some edits and get that info in there.

 

 

Long... very long...so very very long...too much information crammed in there!

 

As an idea, I'd do some comparison to other full bike armies... basically White Scars and Ravenwing and point out what they do better and what the do worse.

 

Thanks for taking the time to write it all up :angry:

 

I agree. Once I'm done, I'm hoping to add a Table of Contents with hyperlink bookmarks to specific sections to make it easier to digest in multiple sittings.

[bystrom]

You can also use the B&C code to add fancy headers and such.

 

I don't know much about marine bikes, having never used them, but wouldn't a storm shield (just a single storm shield) be a good alternative to the 2+ AA against such things as krak missiles. That way, if you fail your save, your captain doesn't die. Just a veteran marine. Its also good against lascannons, though for plasma, I would rather place the wound on the captain. He doesn't care much if he loses one of his 3 wounds, one veteran marine though is going to make a difference. The reason for the comment is that your take on storm shields for command squads seem limited to deathstarring. What about having just one in the squad for soaking up heavy fire?

[ShinyRhino]

You can also use the B&C code to add fancy headers and such.

 

I don't know much about marine bikes, having never used them, but wouldn't a storm shield (just a single storm shield) be a good alternative to the 2+ AA against such things as krak missiles. That way, if you fail your save, your captain doesn't die. Just a veteran marine. Its also good against lascannons, though for plasma, I would rather place the wound on the captain. He doesn't care much if he loses one of his 3 wounds, one veteran marine though is going to make a difference. The reason for the comment is that your take on storm shields for command squads seem limited to deathstarring. What about having just one in the squad for soaking up heavy fire?

 

Solid point. I actually run my command squad in that way for just that occasion. I'll edit in comments about the utility of SS for those one-off shots.

I get a little scattered when I'm on a roll. :D

[Raern]

You mention in the command squad section that they're best for assaulting a transport after something else pops it. But what about adding meltaguns to your deathstar command squad so they can pop the transport themselves? They're one of the few squads in the game that can blow up a land raider and survive assaulting its contents.

 

My command squad just runs meltaguns alongside weapons that deny extra attacks like powerfists and lightning claws. Expensive, but it really can take on anything.

[ShinyRhino]

You mention in the command squad section that they're best for assaulting a transport after something else pops it. But what about adding meltaguns to your deathstar command squad so they can pop the transport themselves? They're one of the few squads in the game that can blow up a land raider and survive assaulting its contents.

 

My command squad just runs meltaguns alongside weapons that deny extra attacks like powerfists and lightning claws. Expensive, but it really can take on anything.

 

That can work for some, but I feel it's just too many eggs in a single basket. Meltaguns, plus fists or claws adds 25-35 points per man, where each man already has an approximate base cost of 41 points. 76-point single-wound models make me extremely nervous, especially when you explode the transport, and have to charge into a crater and take Dangerous Terrain tests.

I will add some additional bits about the combo though.

[ShinyRhino]

Section Two: Troops

Troops are compulsory in all standard games of 40K. All of your troops will be int he form of Bike Squads of 5 models or more. That means 5 bikes, or 4 bikes and an attack bike, minimum.
Every bike squad will contain a sergeant, standard bikers, and possibly the attack bike. Each has its own set of upgrades.
Let's take a look at some of the possible ways to field your bikes as Troops slots.

Sergeant Upgrades

Your sergeant is the only model in a biker squad that can purchase melee upgrades, combi-weapons, and plasma pistols. He grants you Ld9 for the squad, and two base attacks. Keep in mind that he is only armed with a bolt pistol, power armor, and a bike as standard wargear. In order to purchase any upgrade weapon, you must trade in the bolt pistol. This hamstrings your effectiveness in close combat, as you lose out on an attack from the extra close combat weapon.

Plasma Pistol: I'll admit it, I'm a bit of a kook. I field a squad of Bikers whose sergeant carries a plasma pistol. I stick him with a squad armed with plasmaguns, for the matching firepower. This is my "no guts, no glory" squad. Plasma overheats can't be mitigated, since you do not have the Apothecary to grant you Feel No Pain for failed armor saves.
The decision to run a plasma pistol is purely a playstyle choice. Yes, I pay a mint for the plasma pistol, but the ability to knock down a Terminator, put the final wound on a Monstrous Creature, or have a shot at popping a light vehicle makes it worth it to me. The plasma pistol's direct competition is the combi-plasma. For fewer points, you get one shot (two in Rapid Fire range). If you feel you can make it count, go for it.

Combi-bolter: Combi-bolters allow you to match a sergeant's shooting attack to the special weapons carried by his squad...once. Combis should be looked at as an extra rollof the dice, once per game. You'll want to weigh how critical it is that you land that special weapon shot before declaring the use of the combi-weapon. Have a Battlewagon full of Wound Shenanigan Nobz bearing down on you, that if you do not stop, will roll over several of your units? that's probably a great time to burn a combimelta shot. A Rhino filled with Tactical Marines, not so dire a situation. The two standard meltaguns in your squad can likely handle a Rhino without help. Need to clear a mob of 30 Ork Boyz off an objective in the final turn of the game? Might be a good plan to pop that combiflamer alongside your two standard flamers for some roasted fungus, and then charge. Less useful to fire the combiflamer at a unit of Chaos Marines in a ruin with no objective nearby.

Power Weapon: Let's reiterate a hard truth about bike squads: they are not close combat units. S4, with one base attack doesn't do much to anybody. Sure, you can roll small units of Horrors, and Guardsmen, but you won't be battering your way through power armor with a bike squad. You may even find yourself stuck in combat with Tau Fire Warriors for more assault phases than you'd like, due to their 4+ armor saves.Entering into close combat with your bikers means you're not shooting anything, and are essentially bogged down for several turns while you judo-chop your way out.
There are two schools of thought on the addition of a power weapon to a bike sergeant. One believes it's great, and the other a waste.
Those that feel it is a great addition do so because it feels like a security blanket. If you get tarpitted by a Marine combat squad, it'll take you a few turns to punch your way out. With a power weapon, it'll take half the time, since there'll be no armor saves made against your sergeant's wounding strikes. Just remember that the sergeant can't take any other upgrades beyond a meltabomb if he purchaes the power weapon, and he's still only S4.
Players that feel power weapons on a bike sergeant are a waste do so because of the limited attacks it'll get, and the sergeant's S4. These players prefer an all-shooty approach, and willingly retreat or outmaneuver the enemy to avoid melee at all costs. A player who favors this approach will take a combiweapon, or no upgrade at all on their bike sergeants.
I have run power weapon sergeants in my bike squads, and found them to not match my playstyle. Selecting a power weapon is a perfectly viable option, but keep in mind the math behind close combat before you charge in, or allow yourself to be charged. Do not let the power weapon give you a false sense of security.

Powerfist: Powerfists will always have the same number of attacks in the hand (or is that "on the hand"?) of a bike sergeant as a power weapon. Remember, biker sergeants can only trade in their bolt pistol for their upgrade weapon, and have no default chainsword or close combat weapon to help get the second attack. So, the only decision to make when deciding between a power weapon and a powerfist, is if you feel like you can spare those extra points, and the overall mission of the squad.
If the special weapon loadout of the squad is to harass light infantry, you can probably skip the powerfist. If you're packing meltaguns for antiarmor work, the powerfist is a reliable backup option. Powerfists are also a deterrent for enemy swarms, Independent Characters, and multiwound T4 or lower models.
You also have to weigh the survivability of the powerfist. In a minimally-sized squad (sergeant, three bikers, and an attack bike), the sergeant is threatened on the fifth wound the squad suffers. Against a strong or numerous foe, the powerfist may not be around long enough to attack.
Weigh the utility of the powerfist against your ability to keep it alive, and go from there.

Meltabombs: I like taking meltabombs on my Marine sergeants as a "final option" when facing down armor and walkers. Bikers have the movement range to actually apply meltabombs to backfield armor, where foot-borne meltabombs do not. You may pay the points for them, and never use them in ten games, or you may clamp one to a tank-shocking Wave Serpent to win the game on a final dice roll.

Special Weapons

Bike squads' greatest asset is the volume of special weapons they can acquire. No matter how large or small the squad, you can always take two special weapons. The vast majority of players tend to take matching special weapons, for weight of fire advantage. There does exist a small minority of biker generals who prefer to mix their special weapons to create flexible squads that can react to most threats at least passingly well.

Meltagun: Ah, the weapon that sparked this entire tactica. Yes, meltaguns are beautiful weapons when facing anything with an armor value, excepting those with thermal shielding (like the Stormraven). The sheer carnage a barage of melta can inflict on tanks and transports is a thing of beauty, which is why so many players love to arm every squad in their army with them.
I do not subscribe to the all-melta school of thought.
We've already established that bike squads are not melee-oriented units. Getting too close to the enemy results in a severe beating for your bikers, or a long, drawn-out slapfight.
Meltaguns have a 12" maximum range, and a 6" melta range. At 12", you are relying on long odds to break open anything of AV13+. Russ tanks, Land Raiders, Predators, etc. Your odds are better against AV12 and lower, which is typically reserved for transports and gunships.
Let's say you're facing down a list containing a killer melee unit in a Land Raider. Hammernators or something of that sort. Every bike squad in your force is armed with meltaguns. In order to get at the Land Raider, you have to close to within 12", and even then you're going for the lottery win to break that tank. What's inside that tank? A melee-oriented unit. After firing, your bikes are 12" or less from the target. Even if you win that lottery and Wreck the Land Raider with a succession of 6s, the carried unit disembarks wherever they please, unless the exits are blocked. On the enemy turn, your melta squad is squarely in charge range of that now-disembarked, roaring-mad unit. You cannot defeat melee-oriented units on their turn. It simply won't happen.
If you close to within 6" for the magical melta sweet spot, yuor chances of hurting the tank are greatly improved. Of course, you're also now squarely in charge range of the enemy, plus any additional units that were escorting that Land Raider.
This sort of tactic basically trades your Troops choices for the enemy's transports, and typically leaves the passengers unmolested. You only have six Troops slots available. Who runs out of units first?
Meltaguns are useful in a bike list, that cannot be denied. Meltaguns cannot be your only armament. What happens when you run up against a numerous opponent like Orks, Guard, or Tyranids? Orks will gladly trade their trukks and wagons for your Troops, as you cannot kill enough of their troops with basic bolter fire to win the game. Large Guard blobs are almost always Stubborn, and will put weight of numbers against your small squads every time. Tyranids don't even possess transports, and their living tanks (Monstrous Creatures) will require more than one volley of melta from 12" to kill before they reach your bikes.
Vary your weaponry, for goodness sake!

Plasmagun: Plasmaguns on your bike squads function similarly to those available to your Command Squad, but cap out at two instead of four. You will not have the benefit of Feel No Pain to help with failed armor saves against Gets Hot! rolls, and casualties caused by Gets Hot! can force you to roll Morale tests, and possibly flee off the board.
Those detriments aside, plasmaguns can scythe through Marine units, including Terminators. A solid volley of plasma, properly supported, can drop a Carnifex in a turn. Rhinos, Chimeras, and Trukks can all be opened up or damaged with plasmaguns at maximum range, skirting the problem presented above that meltaguns encounter.
Vary your weaponry.

Flamer: Flamers on bikes will feel like suicide units. You must get dangerously close to the enemy to apply them, and will always be within charge range after doing so. There is no better way for bikers to whittle down mobs of the enemy faster. Bolters, meltaguns, and plasmaguns cannot produce as many hits as a flamer template. Point your flamer squads at the soft targets, and maneuver carefully onto the target.
Vary your weaponry.

Attack Bikes

The final "upgrade" for a bike squad is the attack bike. It has two wounds, and the ability to fire both the twin-linked bolter and its chosen heavy weapon after moving. The spare wound on an attack bike should be the first you risk every time you're allocating saving throws, as losing that first wound will not invoke Morale tests for shooting losses. The inclusion of an attack bike seems like a no-brainer choice. Attack bikes have two possible weapon configurations: heavy bolter, or multimelta.
The heavy bolter is adept at landing wounds on most infantry models, and has the AP value to punch right through anything short of power armor. It also has the longest range of any weapon in your arsenal at 36". Sadly, it is a tough weapon with which to synergize your special weapons. Flamers need to be moving quickly every turn until they are delivered, often turbo boosting to safe areas for 3+ cover saves. This keeps the heavy bolter from firing. Meltaguns do not match the preferred targets of the heavy bolter, and certainly not the range. Plasmaguns are a close fit, but the disparity in AP values means if youland too many hits with the heavy bolter on the plasma target, you may be providing the enemy the ability to use wound allocation to their advantage.
The weapon that a heavy bolter matches best with is your basic twin-linked bolter. Both weapons provide a viable threat to infantry, and have similar range bands. Nothing requires you to fire a meltagun, plasmagun, or flamer each turn. Switch to twin-linked bolter shots to match the heavy bolter.
The heavy bolter's one failing is that it is only a Heavy 3 weapon. Three additional non-twinned shots will not sweep away the masses with ease. You will still miss, and still fail to wound. Overall, the lone heavy bolter doesn't put out enough shots per turn to make it essential.
Also available for a meagre points cost is the multimelta. At first blush, it seems like an automatic inclusion in a melta-armed squad. Read the ranges again. 24" maximum range, at which your meltaguns will not be firing. A lone S8, AP1 shot won't scratch your preferred melta targets. Once you close to the 12" melta range of the multimelta, you encounter the exact same problems as the meltaguns alone. Retaliation in melee by the enemy. A single S8 hit from a powerfist or klaw will end the attack bike, even at full wounds, and rack up even more points for combat resolution.
I feel attack bikes belong in their own squadrons, and not attached to Troops slots. The only exception is if you are planning to make use of Combat Squads. You cannot combat squad unless you have added the attack bike. Combat Squadding comes with its own set of issues, which are covered in a moment. When run in squadrons, you have "homogenous firepower." Everything the squadron fires has the same profile and preferred target. A squadron of three heavy bolter attack bikes can put nine S5, AP4 shots downrange every turn. There's no conflict with plasma or melta for wound allocation purposes. A squadron of multimelta attack bikes all have matching range, and the trio of dice allows for a small amount of certainty that you'll hit what you're shooting at (though we all know three dice can all still miss).

Summary and Usage

Troops selections in a Pure Biker list are forced to perform two roles: objective claiming, and enemy killing. Unlike an army that relies on Tactical Squads, you can't hunker down and expect to win a game. You simply do not have the range, or the bodies to weather the storm. Biker armies must be active in every turn of the game, and always be setting up for the next one.
One decision you will be forced to make when fielding a Pure Bike army is how large your Troops squads will be. Your minimum is three bikers and an attack bike, and your maximum 8 bikers and an attack bike. Do you go for the "many small units" (MSU) approach, or the Combat Squaddable (8-man with attack bike) approach.
If you run MSU, you can get caught with your pants down in kill point missions, giving up large numbers of KPs for relatively little work. Five unsaved wounds on a squad, and you've given up a killpoint. However, in weighted killpoint missions (yes, some events use them!) you're at a slight advantage. The majority of your army is worth only a fistful of killpoints, and capable of taking down Heavy Support and Elites slots from the enemy army. Even if you trade your Troops 1:1 for enemy units, you can come out ahead. Of course, that's ONLY in weighted KP missions. Standard Annihilation games are an uphill battle.
The Combat Squaddable bike list focuses on large 8-man squads that either stay whole, or break in half based on the mission or scenario. Objectives? Split! Killpoints? Blob! Like any Marine list, it's flexible and adaptive. There are obstacles for the combat squad, though. The resulting combat squads often lack durability or firepower. There are a myriad of combinations you can make when splitting into combat squads, but no matter how you divide a squad up, the resulting minisquads lack either firepower or durability. If you split the specials off with the attack bike, you've only got one or two ablative wounds before you're risking firepower to wound allocation. One wound on the attack bike, one on the bolter biker, if the shots are S7 or less. If the shots are S8 or higher, you're down to ONE ablative wound, as a failed save against a S8 shot taken on an unwounded attack bike still causes Instant Death. The sergeant in this situation ends up riding alongside a bunch of bolter bikers, and won't be doing a whole lot besides running interference, or lurking about for potshots.
Should you decide to pile the sergeant and the specials into one squad, andleave the attackbike with bolter bikes, the attack bike squad ends up at Ld8, and will test Morale after EVERY casualty taken. You have to take care not to have these squads shot up in the early going, where they're vulnerable to fleeing right off the board.
Should you decide to blob up the large squads, say for a killpoint mission, you run into a lack of real estate and conflicting range bands for your weaponry.
Eight bikes and an attack bike take up a massive amount of board space, even when parked edge to edge. If you spread out in order to avoid template or blast weapons, you take up even more of the board. Maneuvering around terrain, or turbo boosting away from melee threats becomes difficult with so many bodies on such large bases. Remember that bike squads are awful in melee. One mismeasurement on yourpart,or a surprise from your opponent can mean your large squad is caught in close combat and either tarpitted, or whittled down to nothing. Even a 10-man tactical squad with a lone powerfist can put the hurt on your huge biker squad.
I personally run my squads at approximately 5-6 men, which is a nice balance between firepower, footprint, and durability. All three methods are viable, so long as you practice moving the large squads around the table, or keeping the smaller squads hidden.
Never strand your bike squads all alone. It's easy to become excited by the prospect of a juicy target, and send the perfect counter squad at it, looking for the kill. Ork Lootas on a flank beg to be burned by your flamer squad, so you boost them up, hoping to take down those dakka-blasting fools. But how do your flamer-armed bikes deal with the Deffkoptas floating nearby? You might get the Lootas, but those buzzsaws are going to hurt.
The answer is pretty simple. Run mutually supporting squads in close proximity. Your Command Squad with attached Captain can carve their way through a Boyz Mob, but will bog down after the first turn. Try running a flamer squad alongside the command squad. The flamers can open up on the Boyz in the Shooting phase, whittling down the numbers to a manageable level for the command squad to charge and defeat in a single game turn (not player turn, you don't want to be caught out in the Ork turn for a countercharge).
A melta squad can benefit from a flamer or plasma squad riding nearby. Bust open that transport with the melta, and then apply flame templates to the bunched-up former occupants. Charge in with both squads afterward to ensure the enemy goes away, and consolidate to safe areas.
Always gauge how effective the firepower of a given squad will be on an available target. You might have a shot on a Land Raider with your multimelta, but if you're not confident the shot will hit and have a solid effect, it may be more useful to boost to a different part of the table, gaining a 3+ cover save, and time to think or regroup for better odds.

Your Troops slots will be the workhorses of your Pure Biker army. Learn to love using them, and how best to do so. You don't have big guns, tides of bodies, or armored assets to help you win the day. If you can't apply your Troops effectively, you cannot win the day.

[DarkGuard]

Again a fantastic read ShinyRhino, very informative. I have a couple of questions though.

 

First up, although I'm not a fan of biker lists I am intrigued and interested by one idea, one squad combination. In mech Marines, one of the squads I favour tends to be a plasma pattern Tactical squad, basically combi-plasma, plasma gun, multi-melta in a Rhino. It's designed to sit in midfield and keep enemy tanks and troops at bay with their powerful 24" range weapons. The combi-plasma allows it to move and react well to MEQ, while against hordes I can get out and bolter them to death. When I look at bike squads, with their 12" movement, relentlessness and ability to take two specials, a combi and a heavy, I have to ask if a plasma patter bike squad is worth it as a mainstay unit in an all comers army. So you've got about 5/6 bikes, two plasma guns, a multi-melta attack bike, and possibly a combi-plasma. The ranges of these specials all match up, and at 24" they have the same targets, lights vehicles, MCs and MEQ. With your 12" movement, you can stay at 24" and pick your shots, swooping in to deliver final blows with rapid fire. However, I don't see this squad mentioned much, so being a mech general and not a biker general, am I missing something?

 

The second question is unrelated to bikes in general. You mentioned weighted Kill Points missions. Pardon me for asking, but what exactly are they?

 

Thanks for your time, ShinyRhino, and the tactica seems to be coming along well.

[ShinyRhino]

In mech Marines, one of the squads I favour tends to be a plasma pattern Tactical squad, basically combi-plasma, plasma gun, multi-melta in a Rhino. (...) However, I don't see this squad mentioned much, so being a mech general and not a biker general, am I missing something?

 

Perfectly valid combo, actually. The multimelta does match with the plasma nicely. i think I barely touched on that, so I'll have to revisit it.

 

The second question is unrelated to bikes in general. You mentioned weighted Kill Points missions. Pardon me for asking, but what exactly are they?

 

it's a killpoint mission where things like dedicated transports and troops are worth a single point, elite heavy and fast are worth two, and HQs are worth three, or any mutation of such. I think it was first introduced in last year's or the year prior's Ard Boyz tournament. it's got a LOT of holes in it as a scenario (dedicted transport Land Raiders for almost everything in the Blood Angels book...worth 1pt each), but folks still play it in events.

[Marshal Wilhelm]

This is a blog I stumbled upon via 3++

Link: White Scars

 

He [one of a few authors, I get confused....] has done well with a Marine Bike list [though not pure] and even takes a Bike Captain over Khan as he feels combat tactics > outflank. Which is also my opinion.

[DarkGuard]

Perfectly valid combo, actually. The multimelta does match with the plasma nicely. i think I barely touched on that, so I'll have to revisit it.

 

 

it's a killpoint mission where things like dedicated transports and troops are worth a single point, elite heavy and fast are worth two, and HQs are worth three, or any mutation of such. I think it was first introduced in last year's or the year prior's Ard Boyz tournament. it's got a LOT of holes in it as a scenario (dedicted transport Land Raiders for almost everything in the Blood Angels book...worth 1pt each), but folks still play it in events.

 

Thanks for answering. I'm glad to see the plasma/MM works well, if I did a biker list I'd be tempted to run a few of those squads, with a flamer squad and melta squad for variety.

 

And thanks for answering the kill points question, it's interesting and could be worth mentioning to my local gaming group. At the moment in normal KPs my army gives away 15 kill points at 1750pts! With weighted kill points it'd give away, ermmm..... more, because my army isn't full of troops but has about 1:2 ratio with troops and other units. O well scrap that idea :D.

 

Seriously though, thanks for answering, and I'm glad that I'm not insane on my idea of a biker unit.

[ShinyRhino]

This is a blog I stumbled upon via 3++

Link: White Scars

 

He [one of a few authors, I get confused....] has done well with a Marine Bike list [though not pure] and even takes a Bike Captain over Khan as he feels combat tactics > outflank. Which is also my opinion.

 

Alsways interesting to read others' ideas on bikers. I don't agree with his assessment of flamers at all, but to each their own.

[ShinyRhino]

Section Three: Elites

There is actually only one unit in the Codex that can be taken in a Pure Bike army...the Techmarine.

Stop giggling. This is serious.

Yes, the wider Warhammer playerbase is laughing right now, because I included Techmarines on bikes as an option for your army.
Honestly, Techmarines on bikes aren't all that valuable in a Pure Bike army. You suffer when entering ruins, so Bolster Defenses isn't as valuable. You have no vehicles, so Blessing of the Omnissiah is pointless. Of course, that also means you don't need to worry about those crazily-priced gun Servitors.
Techmarines really only come into consideration in a Hybrid Bike list, which will be covered at the very end of the tactica.

Default Loadout: Artificer Armor, Servo Arm, Bolter or Bolt Pistol, Bike

Not a lot to see here, really. You'll get a 2+ armor save, but only one wound. One powerfist attack from the servo arm, in addition to your one attack at S4 and I4. A redundant bolter or bolt pistol due to the armament on the bike.
Techmarines on bikes in their default gear won't accomplish a lot. Soak a single wound off the squad they're attached to per turn, and maybe a powerfist attack to break out of a walker fight. Techmarines don't get interesting until you start buying them upgrades.

Shooting Upgrades:

Stormbolter: Do I really have to say anything?

Combi-bolter: Another platform for a combi-bolter is always nice, but not spectacular. The same applications apply as the rest of your force, unless you also purchase a servo harness.

Plasma Pistol: The standard 2+ armor save the Techmarine carries makes plasma a little less scary here. However, the servo harness upgrade has a twin-linked plasma pistol, as well as other goodies.

Melee Upgrades:

Power Weapon: It should be noted that the power weapon is not a 'replace' option, it's a 'take' option. That means you will be able to combine it with the default bolt pistol for an extra attack. So, you'll have two base, three on the charge. At S4. You already have one S8 powerfist attack, so you have to decide how useful additional power weapon attacks will be.

Thunder Hammer: Expensive. So very expensive. Buying the thunder hammer for a single-wound Independent Character feels wrong, especially when you have a free powerfist attack already. Not an upgrade I'd purchase, personally.

Miscellaneous Upgrades:

Servo Harness: If you want to get really technical (which would be fitting when talking about Techmarines...haha!), the servo harness is both a melee and shooting upgrade. You get an additional powerfist attack (for a total of two), a twinned plasma pistol, and a flamer. Combine this with either a combi-flamer or combi-plasma, and you've got some interesting firepower options. It's a fun build, but one with a steep price tag.

Summary and Usage:

The Techmarine on a bike is a fun build, but one you won't be fielding in a tournament game. You'll be hard-pressed to use up all of your FOC slots with HQ, Troops, and Fast Attack options before you run out of points, even in a 2500 point format. Bike Squads can eat up so many points that there typically isn't room or role left for the Techmarine.
The build does create some very cool modelling options. If you're any good at scratchbuilding, the servo-harness can be a really fun project in itself.
If you do put a biker Techmarine in your list, you'll want to go big. Buy that harness, as otherwise he's just a 2+ armor save and a powerfist attack. You can have him ride alongside a flamer or plasma squad for additional firepower, or add him to your command squad. A melee-geared command squad can benefit from his shooting, as well as his IC status and 2+ armor save.

[Paulochromis]

As I read your statement regarding techmarines being the only bike-ready Elite, I realised that you were confining yourself to Codex: Space Marines.

Not sure whether you stated that anywhere, but your HQ breakdown makes it fairly obvious, I suppose.

However, it is possible to field a pure bike army from Codex: Dark Angels as well (when you take Sammael, Master of the Ravenwing).

I'm not sure whether that codex features any more bike-riding elites (Company Veterans? Scouts?).

But C:DA has some different special rules for their biker squads (Fearless instead of Combat Tactics) which alter the way to play them.

The individual squads don't need to be so large to be scoring either.

 

I think Ravenwing is viable at larger point counts and therefore worthy of inclusion in this tactica, although I am prepared to concede that they are better when land speeders are included (especially if they were positively affected by the FAQ changes to typhoon missile launchers).

 

Cheers, Paul.

 

P.S. Sorry if I seem to be adding to your workload, but I REALLY like bikes and I'd love there to be a good one-stop-shop biker tactica.

[ShinyRhino]

That'll have to be a far-off-future project, as I haven't ever run a DA force. I own the book, but have never played anything out of it. It'll take me a few weeks of study to even begin to crack that nut.

[Paulochromis]

Fair enough, let's stick to C:SM then.

[ShinyRhino]

Section Four: Fast Attack

Fast Attack probably feels redundant to a Pure Bike force, yes? Honestly, it can be, depending on your preferred buildout for Troops squads. Fast Attack is less about fast attack in a Pure Bike army, and more about variation of unit selection and armaments. Your troopers can do all of the things your Fast slots are capable of, and sometimes better. It's the slight differences in capabilities that make your Fast slots worth filling.

Bike Squadrons

Yes, more biker squads are available to you as Fast slots. Obviously, the only difference is that they're not scoring units. All of the same rules and guidelines apply, except that in objective games, these squads can be expendable.
If you're a major fan of the MSU build, you might end up taking additional small units using this FOC slot, but most of the time, you won't bother.
Just do the world one favor if you do decide to take Fast Attack bike squadrons...figure out some way to label them in order to delineate between Troops squads, and Fast Attack squads. Don't be that guy with the ambiguous models and dodgy reputation. "Oh, no, THOSE were the Troops. The ones you killed were Fast Attack. Sorry, bro!"
Some ideas are different shoulder pad rims (to denote a support company, perhaps), unified iconography (all bikes in Troops slots have a squad marking less than 7, 7+ is Fast Attack), or matching bitz (all Troops have grenades on their bikes).

Attack Bike Squadrons

Pure Bike armies cannot take Heavy Support slots. Nothing in that section of the codex is bike-mounted. Attack bike squadrons are your de facto heavy support.
The standard loadout of an attack bike is the heavy bolter and a twinned bolter. Dirt cheap. You can max out your entire FA slot with three squadrons of three attack bikes (that's nine, for you mathematically challenged Ork players ;)) for less than 400 points. If you prefer multimeltas, you can get nine of those for less than 500 points. Sexy!
Heavy bolter attackbikes are often dismissed out of hand by the Internet Pros. Three shots at S5, AP4 is worthless, many will say, and i can get on board with that general assessment. Now, multiply it by three. Nine heavy bolter shots is a threat, especially when applied to smaller or weaker units. Combined with a 12" move, you can apply these shots where you need them, every turn. Heavy bolters are weak on their own, but get better in numbers. They're like Orks.
The multimelta attack bike is famous, where the heavy bolter attack bike is shunned. It's the movie star in the room. 24" range, and 12" melta range that can still fire after a 12" move. Delicious, yes? When in a homogenous squadron withother multimelta attackbikes, you are able to fight against the random chance of 'meltaluck.' Three shots will always be better than one. You're very likely to be able to put wounds on monsters from outside of their range, or slag tanks with certainty. There are no conflicting range bands generated by ride-along meltaguns, or tough decisions regarding ideal targets generated by plasma or flamers.
All that aside, attack bike squadrons still have weaknesses. S8 shots murder them. A volley of missiles can turn them into pink mist in a hurry. The 12" melta range of the multimeltas stillputs you solidly in charge range of the enemy on their next turn, and attackbikes are no better than standard bikes in melee. Worse, probably, as they lack any form of melee upgrade. A single sergeant with a powerfist can take down all of your attack bikes with some solid rolls.

Summary and Usage:
Attack bike squadrons are your heavy gunners in a bike list. They're specialized, and mission capable. Three multimeltas can take down plenty of tanks, half a squad of Terminators, or a squadron of walkers...and they'll do it reliably.
The ability to turbo boost means you'll nearly always have some form of 3+ save, be it armor or cover. This allows the squadron to get where it needs to be, and apply that weaponry.
Always protect your attack bikes from being assaulted. Every turn they're swinging tire irons at the bad guys is a turn they're not applying those heavy guns.
Play one turn ahead with your attack bikes (ideally, with yur whole army). If you don't have a solid shot, maneuver or evade. Your volume of fire makes it worth getting the best shot you can, in order to cause the most damage. Attackbike squadrons are periphery units, hanging in the backfield hammering dakka at infantry (heavy bolter) or slipping aruond the flanks waiting for a tank to present itself (multimelta).

Scout Bike Squadrons

At first blush, Scout Bikers seem like less powerful bike squads. Poorer base stats, no access to traditional special weapons, and a 4+ armor save. Then you look at the special rules they get, and you smile. Scout, and Infiltrate? On a bike unit, that has been FAQ-clarified as being able to Turbo Boost in the Scout move and retain the 3+ cover save into Turn One...excellent.
Scout Bikes are cheaper on your points allotment than standard Bike Squads, and can pack far different options. These neophytes are your instant harassment unit.

Sergeant Upgrades:
The sergeant is the only member of the squad with a standard Marine statline, and the only member who can purchase melee upgrades, much like his standard Bike Squad counterpart. Like most Marine units, he's the glue holding the squad together.

Plasma Pistol: Much riskier on a scout, because of the decreased armor save against overheats. There are also no matching upgrade weapons for the squad, so the oneplasma pistol shot is the only S7, AP2 shot you'll get in a turn.

Combi-bolter: Combimeltas and combiflamers are going to be a favorite here. Your ability to infiltrate, and then use a scout move to get to within 12.01" of the enemy allows for first-turn tank slagging, or infantry burnination (which is not at all like Red Sox Nation). However, it'll be the only shot you'll get. The flamer won't miss, but the melta sure can. Have a backup plan, like a powerfist or meltabombs.

Power Weapon: Outflanking and infiltrating scout bikers tend to end up in close proximity with the enemy. Some form of close combat kick is useful, but not required. The power weapon requires you trade in your default bolt pistol, so you're topping out at three attacks on the charge, and it won't help you at all against armor.

Powerfist: If you're aiming for the first-turn suckerpunch, you need to be wearing a sturdy glove. We already know the one melta shot you're possibly packing can miss, so a powerfist is a reliable backup. The tank you're after won't have moved, so it's three free hits at S8. Should be enough to annoy anything shy of a Land Raider. It also allows you to cause instant death to units caught out by your infiltration.

Meltabombs: The economy powerfist. Better at cracking tanks, worthless aganist infantry. It'll always hit if you pull off the first-turn charge, and auto-glance AV10. You even have nice odds of bothering Land Raiders.

Locator Beacon: Nothing in a pure bike list can deepstrike. Skip this one until you're running a hybrid list.

Squad Upgrades:
The squad as a whole doesn't have access to much for upgrades, but the toys they do get are rather fun.

Astartes Grenade Launcher: Trade the twin-linked bolters of up to three bikers for these puppies. You end up with a 24" range grenade launcher that can Rapid Fire. That'll be up to two shots at S6, AP4 or two blasts at S3, AP6. A very middle-of-the-road weapon, that is not twin-linked, and you're firing it at BS3. You're now in hit-or-miss territory.
The AGL can be nice for causing instant death to units of T3, like IG Heavy Weapons Teams, Scarab Swarms, etc. Combined with your infiltrate, scout move, or outflanking, you can put rounds on these targets without weathering an entire army's worth of fire.
Note that there is a grey area rules debate about the sergeant's ability to take an AGL. Some claim he cannot take the AGL, as he has his own statline and set of upgrade options. It's purely grey area, so check around before you make any decisions.

Cluster Mines: Such a fun toy. Everyone loves some psychological warfare. You can smirk slyly as your opponent puzzles about which piece of terrain you mined. You won't be going into any terrain features if you can help it, so it's a non-factor for you.
The problem occurs when you check the damage stats for the mines. 2d6 hits, at S4 and AP-. Not overwhelming, especially against a tank. Still, fun. Try mining the terrain in which you've placed one of the objectives. So long as the objective is near the edge of the feature, you can claim or contest it without entering, and the enemy likely will have to take the mine hits to move into that feature.
Just remember that it's a toy, and not a game winner.

Summary and Usage:

These guys are all about the scout move after infiltration, or the outflank arrival from reserve. They're not durable enough to start out in the open and weather incoming fire from the enemy. They've got to be sneaky-sneaky to be useful.
That requirement precludes the use of giant squads. You can take up to ten of them, but good luck hiding ten bikers in cover. If you're taking that many, you should consider combat squadding. Five bikes are easier to hide than ten, obviously.
Because of their fragility, the scout bike squad is a "fire and forget" unit. Point them at their mission target, and let them go. If they succeed, awesome. If not, shed no tears. I've never been fond of the sacrificial lamb, especially when fielding Marines. There's only one Marine for every world in the Imperium, and tossing them away seems wrong. Sadly, that's what Scout Bikers are for.
Properly kitted, a scout bike squad can threaten a variety of targets. Light armor, heavy weapons units, vulnerable infantry, etc. The wargear exists to have a go at nearly anything short of a Monolith or monstrous creature.
If your infiltration plan goes all to hell, don't be afraid to use that Scout move to bug out. 24" and a 3+ cover save can make you mighty tough to clean up. If you want to be really crazy, and need time for a full-on army redeployment, boost the scouts across the table in view of the enemy. You can call this your "Look over here!" tactic. A fat, juicy scout bike squad can soak some fire while you redeploy the rest of your army with turbo boosts of their own. If the enemy decides to ignore the scouts, they can try to wreak havoc in ensuing turns, or just keep on moving. It's an act of desperation anyways!

[DarkGuard]

Again, like the previous sections, very good, well written, and comprehensive. Fully looking forward to the next instalment.

[Wildfire]

Nice to see a bike tactica. I skimmed thru it quickly, I'll post some comments when I have time to give it a better going over. But it looks pretty good so far.

 

Fully looking forward to the next instalment.

 

I don't think there will be one, as it's a pure bike tactica