The "Pure Bike" Army Tactica...

[greatcrusade08]

hi mate, love the work thus far, if you dont mind id love to add to the scout part...

 

Scout Bike Squadrons

Combi-bolter: The flamer won't miss, but the melta sure can. Have a backup plan, like a powerfist or meltabombs.

the sergeant can only take one of either a combi or a fist, he cant have both.. since the fist is the more efficient (you can re-use it).. it gets the thumbs up but combi-melta and meltabombs is a reliable second choice

 

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.

ill not get into the rules debate, its good to mention it, personally i think people should stick with it being squad members only, it saves having to ask permission (and i just said i wouldnt get into it :D )

The AGL on paper seems great at tank busting.. its worked wonders on rear dread armour for me before.. you have to have 3 at rapid fire range to get a good chance of hurting AV10 vehicles.. but by far the best usage is as S3 templates agaisnt infantry.. sure it doesnt sound like much but 6 templates at rapid fire range can cause alot of wounds even to T4 opponents, combined with the bolter shots its a tasty prospect.. against T3 opponents these things will mow down your enemies like wheat.. plus templates dont miss, they scatter but even that helps, and if they come back at you youve got T5 and a 4+ save to shrug them off.

 

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.

pure gold here mate, if you read the wording of the mines they only work when entering the terrain, so you could deploy a squad in that same terrain and use them as bait.. when the enemy charges them the mines go off and its a few less enemies to worry about ;)

it works best on lightly armoured opponents, i figured dark eldar would be brilliance especially wyches with thier inv, combat only saves and low toughness

 

Summary and Usage:

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

given the introduction of pure LOS its hard to stay hidden, id say nigh impossible.. youd only need half to be in cover to get a cover save.

the turbo-boost is actually a decent tactic assuming the enemy doesnt have heavy flamers on hand (or markerlights).. its another tool in the arsenal should it be required and 3+ cover is better than 4+ save

i use ten and although high in points (270 kitted out) youd be shocked at thier shooting damage potential.. generally a round of shooting followed by assault can see of most opponents.. including terminators.

theres strenght in numbers, but as you rightly said you have to be sneaky to make sure numbers are still with you to make sure they count.

first turn antics and outflank are the most viable methods of use, leaving them on the table when you dont have to invites pain

[Tech Brother Torgo]

Very interesting points about the scout bikers. I've never given them much thought, but it might be worth running a squad to try them out. I'll be particularly interested to hear your thoughts about their potential in hybrid lists later on. In the pure biker format the competition for FA slots is a bit less fierce, but between Typhoons, AB squads, and other speeders up for consideration I'm having trouble seeing their place within a hybrid model.

[DarkGuard]

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

 

In the first post ShinyRhino has said he will do another section on hybrid lists, detailing the sort of units that best work with them. So yes, there will be a next part.

[ShinyRhino]

hi mate, love the work thus far, if you dont mind id love to add to the scout part...

 

Thanks for the suggestions, and the correction! I even flat out stated that they all trade for the pistol, and then went and contradicted myself. Edits noted, and to be made in the future.

 

I do have two more sections to work on. One is the "general usage of the army" writeup, covering common tactics, problems, etc. Two is the "suggested hybrid builds" section. More general, with much less detail than the unit breakdowns here.

[rat of vengence]

Loving the work you are doing here ShinyRhino, it is fantastic. I am unlikely to ever run pure bikes, but I am learning heaps about different ways to use the bikes I have, and have yet to run in my army.

 

Big thumbs up!

 

RoV

[nurglephill]

Superb stuff!

 

Many many thanks :tu:

[ShinyRhino]

Glad everyone is enjoying the unit writeups thus far. Work has gotten busy, so I haven't had the free time to continue with the "Putting It All Together" sections yet. I'm drafting, but the section is still a ways off.

[awfulawful]

Shiny, this is great stuff. Thanks for all your work on this. If I ever make it up to Saco, I'll buy you a BEvERage.

[ShinyRhino]

Now that we've got a solid grasp of what different units in the Pure Bike build can do, we need to talk about how you put all of the pieces together. The best way to examine that is to examine a single game turn, and how your Biker army navigates through everything.

 

Step One: Arriving at the Table

 

The first things to do after arriving at your game are to look at the table, and ask for your opponent's army list. The order in which you do these is irrelevant, as they hinge upon one another, and should be considered a singlular step on the path to victory.

Read through your opponent's army list, and try to be familiar with what the various units do individually, and as a cohesive force. A unit of ten Hormagaunts with Toxin Sacs might look harmless in a Tyranid list, until you notice that the Hive Tyrant allows them to Outflank, or the Mawloc allows them to pop out of a tunnel. If you don't know what a unit, ability, or piece of wargear does, ASK. You absolutely must know generally what your opponent's army does in order to defeat it. You don't need to know every stat and points cost off the top of your head, but you do need to know general details like "Dark Eldar are fast, and carry a lot of poison, so my T5 won't help me a ton in this game."

Also take a look at the table, and how the terrain is set up. Determine which terrain features will provide you with cover, which are classified as Difficult or Dangerous (though that's the same thing for your army), and which are able to block Line of Sight to and from your enemy's units. Picture clear avenues of approach to various landmarks, and escape routes. If the board is heavy in terrain, you may find that you won't be able to relyon your Turbo Boost moves to get you into or out of a fight. Adjust accordingly in later steps so that you don't get caught hanging in the wind. Make sure you and your opponent have a consensus on what the various terrain features do, to avoid nasty surprises or arguments during the game.

Briefly consider how your opponent might use certain terrain features to their own benefit.

Don't spend more than a minute or two surveying the table. Too much analysis can muddle your decision-making, and cause you to second-guess yourself.

 

Step Two: Placement of Objectives

 

This step is skipped in Annihilation-based games, obviously.

Placement of objectives will depend on the deployment type (Pitched Battle, Dawn of War, Spearhead), but there are a few general rules you should follow.

Keep in mind how far your bikes can move in a given turn. The maximum is 24" in clear terrain. If your table is cluttered with terrain, with limited avenues of approach, take that into account when placing your objectives. It is possible, though unlikely, that a single bike squad can hold two objectives at the same time. Those nice, long bases can be set end-to-end to cover some serious real estate. Of course, every casualty you take will drastically reduce the length of your objective-grabbing chain. Unless you've somehow managed to end up on a table where two objectives are 100% obscured from LOS, don't rely on the double-up tactic. You just don't have the numbers like Ork Mobs possess to grab multiple objectives. In fact, if you end up on a table where a full bike squad can be fully hidden from LOS while chaining out to grab two objectives...slap your TO for me. That's just poor table design.

If you have an army that is largely arriving from your board edge, or will be deployed at the outset, consider placing your objectives close to your own edge, about 12-18" in. This allows you to arrive from reserve and capture/contest objectives right away, and also forces the enemy to move forward into your guns to break any sort of stalemate.

If your army relies on Outflanking maneuvers, place in the same range band from the sides of the board for the same reasons. You can split your objectives between both sides, or concentrate them fully on one side. Concentrating them will force your opponent's army in one direction, making outflank rolls more useful.

You might also consider placing objectives in area terrain. This might seem counterintuitive, but it actually has its uses. When facing armies with high Initiative stats, and lacking in assault-grenades, this tactic pays off in spades. The assault force is now relegated to striking at I1, allowing you to get all of your strikes in first. Not hugely valuable, until you add in your volume of bolter and special weapon fire that has whittled down the enemy on their way in. You can deploy in area terrain safely, and not trigger Dangerous Terrain tests until you actually move. Properly executed, the enemy may never arrive at the objective with anything resembling overwhelming strength of numbers.

If you're facing an army that has plenty of assault grenades, or that can ignore cover consistently, there's no real reason to hide the objectives in area terrain. You won't gain the benefit of cover for being in area terrain, nor the reduction of the enemy's initiative value, so don't risk your neck unnecessarily.

Finally, react to where the enemy is placing their objectives. No objective can be placed closer than 12" from another objective. If the bad guys are setting up a small castle in their corner of the baord with an objective placed there, slap one down about 18-21" away from theirs, preventing them from completing a castle with two objectives placed 12" apart. That second enemy objective will have to go someplace else, as it can't be placed legally anywhere between the two that are already down. You've gained 6-9" of the board that won't be as densely packed with enemies.

Finally, remember that your bikes cannot climb ruins, or reach the roofs of buildings. A savvy opponent with the right army build willplace his objectives high up, where you cannot reach them. If this is the case, be 100% sure you place yours someplace you CAN reach, and that you dedicate enough firepower to knocking the defending units out of that elevated position. Also remember that you measure for objectives using TLOS. Objectives on the second floor of a ruin can still be claimed or contested by your bikers, due to measuring from the bottom of the objective marker to the top of your models' heads.

 

Step Three: Determining Deployment Zones, and First or Second Turn

 

The choice of first or second turn isn't always yours to make. The opponent and the dice may conspire against you, so be ready.

In objective games, it's almost always best to go second. You'll have the opportunity to make the last move, often turbo boosting onto objectives in the final half of the final game turn. People hate it when you do this, so aggravate away! The fruity Eldar do it too, but with tanks! It's not cheating, so DO IT.

Of course, in order to pull this off, you have to have surviving Troops. If the table and terrain would allow the enemy a full turn of alpha-strike shooting at you on Turn One, take first turn and fight your way to victory.

Annihilation games are more of a toss-up, and will depend more heavily on your army composition, and your enemy. Going second can be great for dramatically making up the killpoint gap in the final turn, but don't attempt it at the cost of weathering a brutal alpha strike. Going first allows you to get in a bit of an alpha strike of your own (honestly, you don't have the guns for a real alpha strike), or play killpoint denial games in the final turns by zooming badly-depleted units out of range or LOS after your opponent has expended his shooting at them.

The determination of first or second turn can also depend on the table setup. If you're facing a force with a major shooting element, and there's a definite strongpoint on the board (a hill, bunker, wall, etc), it can be smart to go first, claim the deployment zone that contains the strongpoint feature, and deny its use to the enemy. That large unit of Lootaz will be hell to crack out of a bunker, so keep them away from it. Even if you don't deploy anywhere near it, denying its use is still invaluable.

Always keep in mind that there is a 17% chance that your initial plan to go first will fail due to the enemy Seizing the Initiative. It's not a huge percentage, but one that can devastate your chances if it occurs. Your bikers have mobility on their side, and are Relentless. There is almost zero reason to park your units in places where they can be shot to hell, or charged in the first turn.

[Paulochromis]

Wow, 3 days, no comments.

 

I actually like the idea of explaining how the pure biker general 'sets up'.

May be pictures (Vassal or Batrep photo) might help.

 

Placement of objectives will depend on the deployment type (Pitched Battle, Dawn of War, Spearhead), but there are a few general rules you should follow.

This isn't right, though. In Seize Ground you place multiple objectives BEFORE deciding deployment type and then picking sides. So, ...

f you have an army that is largely arriving from your board edge, or will be deployed at the outset, consider placing your objectives close to your own edge, about 12-18" in. This allows you to arrive from reserve and capture/contest objectives right away, and also forces the enemy to move forward into your guns to break any sort of stalemate.

you don't get to do this.

 

Cheers, Paul.

[DarkGuard]

Wow, 3 days, no comments.

 

I actually like the idea of explaining how the pure biker general 'sets up'.

May be pictures (Vassal or Batrep photo) might help.

 

Placement of objectives will depend on the deployment type (Pitched Battle, Dawn of War, Spearhead), but there are a few general rules you should follow.

This isn't right, though. In Seize Ground you place multiple objectives BEFORE deciding deployment type and then picking sides. So, ...

f you have an army that is largely arriving from your board edge, or will be deployed at the outset, consider placing your objectives close to your own edge, about 12-18" in. This allows you to arrive from reserve and capture/contest objectives right away, and also forces the enemy to move forward into your guns to break any sort of stalemate.

you don't get to do this.

 

Cheers, Paul.

 

I've been very busy, only recently had time to read, sorry Shiny.

 

I don't quite understand the second quote, it seems perfectly fine to me.

 

I think the good thing about this post is that it can apply for many armies as well, with a little modification. Eldar, Dark Eldar, even mech Marines can benefit from reading this. All in all, a good post.

[ShinyRhino]

Wow, 3 days, no comments.

 

I actually like the idea of explaining how the pure biker general 'sets up'.

May be pictures (Vassal or Batrep photo) might help.

 

Placement of objectives will depend on the deployment type (Pitched Battle, Dawn of War, Spearhead), but there are a few general rules you should follow.

This isn't right, though. In Seize Ground you place multiple objectives BEFORE deciding deployment type and then picking sides. So, ...

f you have an army that is largely arriving from your board edge, or will be deployed at the outset, consider placing your objectives close to your own edge, about 12-18" in. This allows you to arrive from reserve and capture/contest objectives right away, and also forces the enemy to move forward into your guns to break any sort of stalemate.

you don't get to do this.

 

Cheers, Paul.

 

Really? I'll have to go back through the scenario rules. I've never played a game where we didn't roll for the scenario, and then immediately roll for the deployment method. Craziness!

[ShinyRhino]

I actually like the idea of explaining how the pure biker general 'sets up'.

May be pictures (Vassal or Batrep photo) might help.

 

This is actually in the cards for the final product. Either download Vassal and make screenshots, or go to my FLGS and lay models out on the table.

[Ookami_81]

Hello everybody, it's quite some time I haven't post here, but seeing a bike topic I couldn't resist longer. ^^

First of all, it's an amazing job you've done, Shiny Rhino. And one full of merit and glory: a pure bike army tactica, that is a tactica for one of the toughest kind of PA army to master, IMHO.

I never used this kind of list for reasons you talked about in detail in this tactica, mainly:

- bikes are costly, so you're even more outnumbered than with regular/other PA armies.

- bikes are not really good vs hordes or vs light transports in number.

- bikes are not meant to fight in close combat, but it will happen regularly, because the most potent weapons on bikes are close range firing ones, so you put your bikes in danger of being assaulted. (the exact same problem than with tacticals, but worsened by higher cost lower number units)

 

So my point of view on this is: it's very very very difficult to fight with only bikes.

In other terms: you need something in your army that can compensate the lacks of bikes in general, if you want a balanced and efficient list.

 

At the very least, you need ONE thing: a tool able to kill efficiently and in relative safety mass troops and lots of light transports, and, to get along with bikes, a mobile one. There is (sadly perhaps) a single answer in our beloved codex: Landspeeder Typhoon squadrons.

 

I noticed you consider assault bikes squadrons in your fast attack slot, and I agree that's the only firebase you will have with only bikes. HB ones can be good against hordes, but MM ones will not give you what you need in terms of rhino-class mass killing. MM is good to destroy heavies, but not really transports because of short range: with bad luck your assault bikes can be assaulted from 24" after popping a truk full of nasty fast and furious fungus bearing klaws. Speeders will not from 48". My opinion here is when choosing bike lists you choose range over everything, because you absolutely want to avoid at all cost to enter assault, except with death stars command squads. So if you want to keep with bikes only you'll always have a subpar army because the choices are too few and not balanced: missile launcher assault bikes do not exist, just because there's already something named a Typhoon Landspeeder in the codex niche for fast transport killers.

 

Other thing: you complain with assault bike weapons range when including them in regular bike squadrons. I agree, but I think you take the problem backwards: assault bikes are great for giving you a free HP per squad, additional firepower and two CC attack in case of a big problem. For their point cost that's already enough: the weapon on them is bonus. So consider that your range issues are that heavy weapon range is... too big ! That's the same problem with missile launchers on tacticals. Peoples are complaining: at 48" I fire only one shot so my tac squad is 250 pts wasted a turn. That's because extreme range is not always the answer. If your guys are at 48" of any action there is something wrong: they should leave the missile launcher on the backpack and walk to the fight. Once they are there, shooting at a maximum of 24", if they are steady they can also fire missiles. That's why the launcher is free. That's the same with assault bikes in bike squads: you shouldn't fire at 36" with your HB, but in 24" range, which is optimal for twin linked bolters afraid of being assaulted. The same goes with MM. You will not fire at 24", but in 12" or even 6": this way you will benefit of the melta rule for one weapon at the least. Think of the MM as a powerful meltagun, not a long range one.

 

Then there is the problem of the AV14 rolling bunker full of hammernators: Typhoons are powerless in front of him (if you have them in the first place!), so you need you melta bikes to close in and shoot at very close range. Then, they will face really angry termies. Keep the things as simple as possible: they are dead, period. Melta squads are suicide ones, and that's because you have to make them cheap (minimum size and armament, that is one MM AB, one regular biker, one naked sarge and two melta bikers), and not rely on them as troops: in your "bikes only" policy consider them fast attack, or replace them by MM assault bikes squadron. Of course, you trade one unit for one transport, but hey, it's a LandRaider ! I agree it's a lot less worth it when it's a rhino or even a battlewagon... but that's why I personaly think you cannot use bikes without Typhoons.

 

So, what are troops in bike armies ? Simple: no melta big(ger) bike squads. I agree with you, it's not a good idea to put melta everywhere in a bike army, for the reason we agree on: they tend to die an ugly death after their first use.

My answer is flamer squads. Basic unit of the kind is one optional combi-flamer sarge, two flamer bikers, one HB AB, two or three vanilla bikers. You think they're also suicide, I think not, and that's because we disagree on the flamer and combi-flamer use... Mainly because, without the required support of a proper firebase, your bikers have to fight against complete and fresh enemy units they will not be able to chew in one turn of close fire and eventually (if required at all) assault.

 

It's not an insult to their bravery and efficiency, but, IMHO, bikers are like hyenas, or vultures. If you consider them as tigers, they will die and you will be disappointed by them. A good ruleset for their use is:

- attack boldly and rapidly the isolated, the weak and the wounded.

- circle around others till something (your beloved firebase for example) weaken and wound them enough. Eventually if they're not fast you can harass them with bolter and HB fire from afar (24"). In some battles my real troop bikers didn't fight at all, turboboosting every turn to a safe place just to contest or take an objective on the last turn. My firebase did almost all the job!

 

That's the beauty of bikers: their specials do not replace their basic armament, it's an addition: so instead of thinking "flamers, forwaaaaaaard!" think like a coward (I know how tough it is for a space marine ^^): shoot, shoot, shoot from afar, and when the enemy is weak, and only then, close in, and burn it to ashes, and if required assault the lumping and crying survivors. Flamers and close combats are just for a finishing close in, plus a good deterrent against fleeting charging enemies like orks: if the enemy have to pay three flamer templates in the face for a bad roll for his waaagh, maybe he will hesitate to launch it (thus he is a bad ork, but hey, that happens ^^), or simply will prevent him from running instead of shooting.

 

In conclusion, I'll will say that "bikes only" armies are not for sissies, because using them you go to war with a voluntarily unbalanced army.

Noble, but not really my taste: space marines HAVE TO win, and because of that I don't care being a low, mean dirty badass commander and use everything, including army list doctrine, as a tool rather than a rule. I think the use of Typhoons is a necessary bend of the bikes only rule, in order to give your army a much required conforting firepower.

The more I play with bikes, the more I bend their use: they are IMHO the very best troops a marine commander can have, but that's all they are: troops.

You cannot win with troops only, you need more firepower than that. You also need to be able to attack the top of a ruin, you need to hold terrain, and bikes ar not for that, you need to counter assault or even assault some units, and bikes are poor at that. That's why, even as someone who defines himself as a biker commander, I use also Typhoons (always), Vindicators (often), Predators (sometimes), Rhinos and tacticals (scarcely), even a full squad assault marines with chaplain (on some occasions)!

[Koremu]

One thing you haven't mentioned, and is important, is using Attack Bikes with Khan.

 

Because ABs have Combat Tactics, Khan makes them outflank. Because they can move 12" and shoot 24", that means there nowhere on a 6' table they can't hit, and 2/3rds of the table is within Melta range when they arive.

 

In a hybrid list, you then roll 2 Vindis up the middle of the table. Your opponent either backs off and gets into range of your flanking MMABs, or... Veni, Vedi, Vindi

[DarkGuard]

The thing I didn't quite understand Ookami_81 is the idea that attack bikes will get assaulted by the contents of a vehicle from 24" away. Not many units can assault something from 24" away, and those that can tend to be beasts or jump infantry, and so cannot be in a vehicle anyway. Of course, if there's a unit I've missed, please point it out to me.

 

Otherwise, your post was fantastic, and a very good read in conjunction with ShinyRhino's.

[Koremu]

The thing I didn't quite understand Ookami_81 is the idea that attack bikes will get assaulted by the contents of a vehicle from 24" away. Not many units can assault something from 24" away, and those that can tend to be beasts or jump infantry, and so cannot be in a vehicle anyway. Of course, if there's a unit I've missed, please point it out to me.

 

Otherwise, your post was fantastic, and a very good read in conjunction with ShinyRhino's.

Melta range of a MMAB is 12" because melta rule only works in the first 50% of the weapons max range.

 

You're not reliably popping Land Raiders without that additional D6, thus you are 12" from a squad of angry terminators.

 

 

 

The solution to that, FWIW, is to position your attack bikes in the opposite direction from where your opponent wants to be going. That way, your opponent has the option of crushing your 150 point MMAB squadron with his 200 points of Assault Termis, but in doing so will leave himself 2 turns from assaulting anything else.

[DarkGuard]

The thing I didn't quite understand Ookami_81 is the idea that attack bikes will get assaulted by the contents of a vehicle from 24" away. Not many units can assault something from 24" away, and those that can tend to be beasts or jump infantry, and so cannot be in a vehicle anyway. Of course, if there's a unit I've missed, please point it out to me.

 

Otherwise, your post was fantastic, and a very good read in conjunction with ShinyRhino's.

Melta range of a MMAB is 12" because melta rule only works in the first 50% of the weapons max range.

 

You're not reliably popping Land Raiders without that additional D6, thus you are 12" from a squad of angry terminators.

 

 

 

The solution to that, FWIW, is to position your attack bikes in the opposite direction from where your opponent wants to be going. That way, your opponent has the option of crushing your 150 point MMAB squadron with his 200 points of Assault Termis, but in doing so will leave himself 2 turns from assaulting anything else.

 

Oh I know that, but at that time he was talking about Typhoons vs MM ABs for taking out transports. Against a Rhino you don't need melta, you just want to be in range and let your AP1 do the job.

[Marshal Wilhelm]

Nice Tactica :pinch:

 

So here are so thoughts, sorry if I have repeated any already mentioned:

Khan and outflank. You know how when other people [not Bike generals] are fighting Wolves, and the Wolf players has Scouts, how this makes them deploy >12" from their rear table edge?

Why is that? Wolf Scouts are actually not that great on table, and are inferior to Grey Hunters. But it is the threat/fear that the Scouts bring to the enemies mind - "Ooh, he *could* MELTA my Manticore, etc." that obliges a change in deployment.

This is very handy when the Wolf player has assault units or Melta Greys in Rhinos - it forces the enemy 12" closer to the short reached Wolves [discounting the Missile Fangs]

 

Khan offering outflanking bikes with Melta guns will oblige to foe to deploy away from the side edges. Why is that important to a Bikes army?

The enemy clumped in the middle makes for more space, for the Bikes to work in. Bikes need space, otherwise movement is 'useless'. Outflank gives movement, above and beyond whatever might be achieved with the outflanking unit itself.

Much like Wolf Scouts.

 

Secondly, MM are a valid weapon from more than 12" away. If people are happy to pewpew away with Missiles and Las cannons, the MM loses nothing to them, and has synergy with Pg.

Las cannon at bs4 against AV 11

4/6 to hit 4/6 to pen 2/6 to destroy = 32/216 or 14.8%

MM

4/6 x 1/6 to glance 1/6 to destroy

4/6 x 3/6 to pen 3/6 to destroy

[4+36 = 40]/216 or 18.5%

 

Is it AMAZING? No, but it is just as solid as any other option.

 

Thirdly, Move-blocking with vehicles.

Link: Blocking from 3++ and Blocking follow up and Advanced blocking

By moving a vehicle in front of another, such as a Rhino in from of a Battlewagon, the foe has to go around the Rhino, or try to ram it and destroy it to go through it.

By using something like a Speeder [or Piranha, for Tau] you can flat-out 1" away from the Battlewagon. The Speeder gets a 4+ cover save from shooting, can only be hit on 6s in combat, and has a 3+ save against being rammed by non-skimmers.

This tactic is golden against Land raiders, etc.

Then if the move-blocker has, say, a MM, if the enemy hasn't dealt with it, it gets the most ferocious gun in the game fired at it. The primary objective of the move-blocker is not to kill the Battlewagon/Land Raider. It is just to delay it, by a turn. When you think that is perhaps 500 pts of the enemy doing nothing, that 70ish point investment is a good thing.

 

Again, this tactic takes movement away from the non-Bike player, allowing the Bike player to have free reign over the table, allowing him to fall back and/or combat tactics away at leisure.

 

Fourthly, own cover.

A Speeder is exposed even if it is next to a Rhino, assuming the foe is shooting from a distance. If you are taking Typhoons, you don't always get to lurk beyond range of the foes guns whilst you carve up his transports. Life isn't always ideal, right?

By taking a Predator, the turret is actually tall enough to Obscure a Typhoon behind it, whilst its missile launchers shoot unrestricted. AV13 is actually pretty good when being shot at by Auto cannons, etc. This gives the Typhoon a 4+ cover save. Not brilliant, sure. But infinitely better than no save.

If you take two Typhoons in a squadron, only one has to be behind the Pred for them both to get cover. :D

 

This adds a useful and needed shooty element to a Bike general's army.

[ShinyRhino]

All great points, everyone, but remember that this project of mine is a pure bike tactica. It's my opinion that you start with mastering your bikers, and THEN hybridize. Tossing in hybrid build ideas before I'm done with the core of the project is cart-bef0re-horse stuff.

I am planning to cover the hybrid options, but have run into a major log of work these past few weeks, leaving my free time for tactica-writing a little sparse.

[Koremu]

All great points, everyone, but remember that this project of mine is a pure bike tactica. It's my opinion that you start with mastering your bikers, and THEN hybridize. Tossing in hybrid build ideas before I'm done with the core of the project is cart-bef0re-horse stuff.

I am planning to cover the hybrid options, but have run into a major log of work these past few weeks, leaving my free time for tactica-writing a little sparse.

The Attack Bikes plus Khan technique works with a pure Biker Army too; it's just highly effective with a Vindicator.

[ShinyRhino]

All great points, everyone, but remember that this project of mine is a pure bike tactica. It's my opinion that you start with mastering your bikers, and THEN hybridize. Tossing in hybrid build ideas before I'm done with the core of the project is cart-bef0re-horse stuff.

I am planning to cover the hybrid options, but have run into a major log of work these past few weeks, leaving my free time for tactica-writing a little sparse.

 

The Attack Bikes plus Khan technique works with a pure Biker Army too; it's just highly effective with a Vindicator.

 

Undoubtedly.

[Ookami_81]

The thing I didn't quite understand Ookami_81 is the idea that attack bikes will get assaulted by the contents of a vehicle from 24" away. Not many units can assault something from 24" away, and those that can tend to be beasts or jump infantry, and so cannot be in a vehicle anyway. Of course, if there's a unit I've missed, please point it out to me.

 

Otherwise, your post was fantastic, and a very good read in conjunction with ShinyRhino's.

 

Orks in an unmoved truk: when the vehicle is shot and destroyed, with the special rule "light construction" or something alike, the vehicle go forward 3D6 " with luck on the scattering, that is 9 ". Passengers disembark 2" in front of the truk (open vehicle). We're at 11". Then they walk 6", run 3" average and assault 6". That is a staggering total of 26", and your AB are screwed.

 

To Shiny Rhino: I apologize for the "not pure bike" comments but you covered the original subject so well I didn't even thought that the subject was anything but closed <_< ... Of course Koremu found something, but hey, I'm not him ! ;)

[Marshal Wilhelm]

The thing I didn't quite understand Ookami_81 is the idea that attack bikes will get assaulted by the contents of a vehicle from 24" away. Not many units can assault something from 24" away, and those that can tend to be beasts or jump infantry, and so cannot be in a vehicle anyway. Of course, if there's a unit I've missed, please point it out to me.

 

Otherwise, your post was fantastic, and a very good read in conjunction with ShinyRhino's.

 

Orks in an unmoved truk: when the vehicle is shot and destroyed, with the special rule "light construction" or something alike, the vehicle go forward 3D6 " with luck on the scattering, that is 9 ". Passengers disembark 2" in front of the truk (open vehicle). We're at 11". Then they walk 6", run 3" average and assault 6". That is a staggering total of 26", and your AB are screwed.

 

To Shiny Rhino: I apologize for the "not pure bike" comments but you covered the original subject so well I didn't even thought that the subject was anything but closed ^_^ ... Of course Koremu found something, but hey, I'm not him ! ;)

 

That is pretty rare though. You made it sound like getting assaulted from 24" was not uncommon....

When you've blown up etc. a vehicle, usually a 2+1" deploy, then 6" move, 6" assault is what will happen = 15" threat range.

Even with Deldar and Orks WAAAGHing, using Fleet, that is 21" 1/6 of the time.

[DarkGuard]

The thing I didn't quite understand Ookami_81 is the idea that attack bikes will get assaulted by the contents of a vehicle from 24" away. Not many units can assault something from 24" away, and those that can tend to be beasts or jump infantry, and so cannot be in a vehicle anyway. Of course, if there's a unit I've missed, please point it out to me.

 

Otherwise, your post was fantastic, and a very good read in conjunction with ShinyRhino's.

 

Orks in an unmoved truk: when the vehicle is shot and destroyed, with the special rule "light construction" or something alike, the vehicle go forward 3D6 " with luck on the scattering, that is 9 ". Passengers disembark 2" in front of the truk (open vehicle). We're at 11". Then they walk 6", run 3" average and assault 6". That is a staggering total of 26", and your AB are screwed.

 

To Shiny Rhino: I apologize for the "not pure bike" comments but you covered the original subject so well I didn't even thought that the subject was anything but closed :D ... Of course Koremu found something, but hey, I'm not him ! :)

 

Ah, well you pointed out the unit I've missed, though to be fair, I had no idea that that could happen. Of course, as Marshal Wilhelm said that is uncommon, unless you play against a lot of mech Orks I suppose.