White Scars Scout Bikers and Skilled Rider

[L30n1d4s]

Scout Bikers were one of the better units already in 7th and 8th edition and I think the new Codex just made them even more effective at multiple roles, on top of their "traditional" jobs as fast Objective Grabbers and mobile screening units for the rest of your army:

 

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1) Tying up Gun Lines -- With the ability to move 16" and automatically advance another 6" natively, and then use a nearby JP Librarian/Stormseer to grant them an additional 2" to their Advance and Charge distances via "Ride the Winds" power, that means that White Scar Scout Bikers can move/advance 24" and then still charge per the Chapter Tactics. Adding the extra +2" from "Ride the Winds" and the ability roll 3D6 for the charge, thanks to the new White Scars exclusive stratagem, that means on average rolling you are making the maximum 12" charge distance, for a total threat range of 36" on turn 1. If there is a big danger of Overwatch with the unit they are charging/trying to tie up (like a Helbaster squad or a big Mob of Lootaz or a squad of AdMech Plasma Destroyers), then you can use a squad of Suppressors to inflict a single casualty and shut the Overwatch down entirely.

 

So, basically, that means you should be able to cross the board entirely and get stuck in with the enemy frontline units turn 1 in almost any deployment scenario! On top of this, with the new "Skilled Rider" Space Marine Stratagem, the WS Scout Bikers get a 3++ against shooting if the advance, meaning that, combined with their native T5 and 2W, they can survive quite handily even out of combat and potentially tie up enemy shooty units for multiple turns (or just duck out of combat and charge again, if required). I think this tactic is particularly noteworthy when dealing with heavy firepower focused armies, as it allows your Scout Bikers to "tag" critical shooting units right away and keep them from shooting, in turn protecting the rest of your army while it maneuvers, seizes objectives, shoots, sets up assaults, etc. etc.

 

 

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2) Killing Horde Screens -- With the ability to have up to nine models, all with TLed Bolters on their Bikes and Astartes Shotguns (plus the Sergeant can take an additional Storm Bolter), if a squad of 9 White Scar Scout Bikers gets within 12" (which is easy to do with their native 22" move/advance and the use of the Stratagem "Born in the Saddle") of an enemy screening unit (i.e. massed Gaunts, Chaos Cultists, AM Conscripts, Tau Fire Warriors, Genestealer Cult Neophyte blobs, 30 man Ork Boy Mobz, etc.), then they can hit them with 58 x S4 AP0 shots in a single shooting phase! Even without any supporting from buffing characters, against a T3 enemy that averages 25-26 wounds which, depending on the opponent's armor save, can wipe out most squads quite handily, especially after they have to take a Morale test following massed casualties.

 

If you add in a nearby Kahn on Bike and a JP Chaplain to cast Litanies on them for +1 to Wound, then the WS Scout Bikes put out 37-38 wounds against T3 hordes. If you have the Tactical Doctrine active (i.e. Turn 2+), then their shooting goes up to AP-1, making them even more deadly against all kinds of infantry. Finally, with all the buffs of AP-1 from tactical Doctrine and +1 to Wound from a nearby Chaplain, WS Scout Bikers can threaten even light vehicles, with a 9 man squad doing an average of 11-12 wounds against a standard T7 3+ save rhino equivalent vehicle.

 

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3) Shock Assault Cavalry -- I have already mentioned their ability to efficiently cross the entire board and charge into combat as early as turn 1, but if you keep a WS Scout Bike squad alive until turn 3 ("Skilled Rider" helps with this again), activate the Assault Doctrine, and support them with buffing characters, then they become not just a threat for tying up enemy fire bases, but a legitimately dangerous close combat unit to enemy infantry of all types.

 

Without any support from nearby characters, a 9 man squad of WS Scout Bikers with Assault Doctrine active does 28 x S4 AP-1 D2 attacks on the charge. If you add in a nearby Banner of the Eagle relic for +1S on the charge, along with a Khan on Bike and JP Lieutenant for re-roll auras, then against a squad of enemy Primaris they average 21-22 hits, 16-17 wounds, 8-9 failed armor saves, and 8-9 dead Primaris Space Marines. Alternately, if you charged a squad of Tau Broadsides, you would cause about 12-13 unsaved wounds, killing an average of 4 battle suits. Finally, if these WS Scout Bikers charged a squad of massed Orks (pretty common in competitive scenes these days), they would an average of 16-17 casualties, not counting anything they had already done with all their shooting.

 

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As you can see, I think that White Scar Scout Bikers are exceptionally versatile with the recent Codex and Supplement releases and I am looking to find a role for them in most of my competitive armies.

[Rommel44]

^ Agreed. Scout Bikers are a great choice still and I plan to get some as well going forward. Unlike Land Speeders, at least we know where they stand and how effective they can be whereas Land Speeders are a bit of an unknown atm.