Blood Rodeo?

[Wildfire]

I'm considering coming back to 40k, and would like to finish the bike army I'd started before I left.  I haven't played since 4th edition, so I have no idea what codexes can do bike armies these days.  I asked around, and someone said BA can do a bike/assualt squad army referred to as Blood Rodeo.  Can someone detail to me what it is, and give me the pros and cons vs. a codex bike army/DA bike army?

[Red-beard]

Yes, BA can run bikes. But if you want to run bikes, White Scars do it best.

[Charlo]

I would disagree, they do it differently, but not necessarily better. Our bikers are very strong with the added strength and initiative on the charge and as such are a bit more of an overall threat.

 

But unless you take multiple detachments you are locked to three fast attack. The other option is to take a Flesh Tearers Strike Force for 8 fast attack slots, but you give up the extra initiative on the charge.

[Red-beard]

BA bikes: +1S, +1init  on the charge

 

White Scar Bikes: +1S on HoW attacks, +1 to jink saves, hit & run. Also, if you take Khan as your warlord, then your bike units of five or more become OS.

 

It's not really even close. If you want to run the strongest marine bike army, play White Scars. If you want to play BA and run bikes as an option, you can do that. But White Scar lists have the 3+ jink and hit & run, which makes all the difference. Being OS doesn't hurt either. 

[Shaezus]

It's ultimately all about that sacred BA trinity of bikes, pods and jump squads. The synergy and flexibility of combining any of these is part of a very unique BA flavour. Personally I love the idea of sanguinary guard and jump DC alongside bikes and pod meltacide squads and tac squads.

[Nicodemus Doloroso]

You might find this thread interesting and helpful: http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/305290-blood-rodeo-in-7th/

[Golden Aegis]

Blood Angel bikes are good.

White Scars bikes are AMAZING.

 

Red-beard explains this very well already.

[Charlo]

Honestly didn't think they had THAT many buffs, wow.

[Deschenus Maximus]

WS bikes are awesome for realsies. If all you care about is competitiveness, you can't go wrong with Scars.

 

BA bikes are still amazing, though.

[Wildfire]

BA bikes: +1S, +1init  on the charge

 

White Scar Bikes: +1S on HoW attacks, +1 to jink saves, hit & run. Also, if you take Khan as your warlord, then your bike units of five or more become OS.

 

It's not really even close. If you want to run the strongest marine bike army, play White Scars. If you want to play BA and run bikes as an option, you can do that. But White Scar lists have the 3+ jink and hit & run, which makes all the difference. Being OS doesn't hurt either. 

 

Thanks for the reply, but please remember that I haven't played in 3 editions.  Some of these things I have no idea what they mean.  What's HoW?  What's a jink save?  What's OS mean?

 

I'm moderately concerned about competativeness, but not overly so.  Back in 4th edition when I started picking up bikes for an army, bikes were considered very lacklustre.

 

I tend to prefer assault to shooting, which I think is why BA were suggested.  Assault marines and bikes actually sounds like a lot of fun to me.

[Red-beard]

If you aren't concerned with making your bikes as strong as possible and enjoy assault-themed marine lists, then BA are probably a good army for you.

If you haven't played in 3 editions, your first step should be to pick up a copy of the new rules and go through them. Aferwards, you'll need to watch a few games to get the hang of things. I'm not trying to come off as short, but a lot has changed and you won't gain a full appreciation for it any other way. Many people struggled moving from 6E to 7E, so going from 4E to 7E will be quite a jump!

HoW = hammer of wrath

jink = cover save that bikes/skimmers/flyers can take...normally a 4+, but white scar bikes make it at 3+

OS = objective secured (a new concept to 7E...part of the bonus from certain detachments...another new concept in 7E...detachments and formations replace the old force org chart)

Welcome back

[Wildfire]

Thanks for your explanations.  I do have a copy of the mini-rulebook on it's way, but I'm hoping to only purchase one codex (at least to start), since they're so insanely expensive now.

 

I wouldn't say that I don't want to a strong army list, but I do enjoy taking lists that aren't optimal and making them strong.  Case in point, I was trying to make a strong bike list in 4th.

 

I have watched a couple of batreps on youtube, but they rarely explain much about the mechanics so it's of minimal value.  If anyone knows of a good teaching batrep for 7th, I'd love a link to it.

[Vel'Cona]

One thing I didn't see mentioned here, is the BA support choices for a bike list.  While White Scars boast a ton of buffs from their Chapter Traits stuff, BA can take their various characters on Bikes.  While both sides share Chaplains (which are nice), BA also have access to Sanguinary Priests for Feel No Pain and Blood Chalice buffs, as well as Librarians with access to the nifty Sanguinary Discipline.

 

I'm not saying this makes up the difference entirely, but with a bit of number crunching I think Blood Rodeo does hold up reasonably well compared to White Scars, especially if you're blending the BA special units like Death Company and our Fast vehicle support tanks (Baal Predators, anyone?).

[jeremy1391]

To run a true blood rodeo use the flesh tearers strike force found in the shield of Baal book. It gives you six (SIX!!!) fast attack slots.

 

You can do a modified blood rodeo using the Baal strike force with 2-3 full bike squads backed by things like DC and sanguinary guard.

 

The key to the army is speed!

And for added survivability add two sanguinary priests to your bike squads (or jump squads) so you get FEEL NO PAIN (which only we can do!)

 

White scars do it well, we do it differently but we still do it well.

[Jolemai]

Similar thread which may offer some food for thought.