Bikers

[WickedJester1013]

Are chaos bikers any good? Or what would be the best to represent a fallen white scars chapter?

[Daemon Prince Marbas]

Chaos Bikers are really strong in a Red Corsairs army.

[WickedJester1013]

What makes them a good option?

[MasterDeath]

High mobility, high firepower, ok toughness, not bad in CC. Not even that expensive Point per wound. They are a good support, but cant carry the battle alone. Beware: Theoreticals here.

[WickedJester1013]

What about adding in the daemon machines as support with those lord discordants.

[Doom Herald]

I like bikers, but you have to watch out for D:2 weapons. I load mine out with a chainsword and the bike's combi-bolter since you can't shoot the pistol and the bike's bolter. The Champion can take a second combi-bolter. With bolter discipline rules, they always get 4 shots each, 8 on the Champion. I've found Slaanesh with a Sorcerer giving them the 5+FNP, they last much longer.

 

Red Corsairs get advance and charge, which is decent if you're going to put a power fist or thunderhammer on the Champion. The Purge is nice since you can use the strat to shoot after you're in melee. Alpha Legion gets a -1 to being hit from 12" or more, a lot of strats for redeploying and avoiding being shot.

 

Are you able to use Legends units? Biker Lords are nice, but the Legends thing threw a wrench in it.

Edited February 6, 2020 by Doom Herald

[Guzzlrr]

Ive always liked bikers, but not used them too much this edition

[Snazzy]

They work well in a Black Legion army, too.  Move, advance, use Tip of the Spear to reroll all shots, which includes all your bike Bolters.

[dakkamasta]

I think Bolter Discipline has pushed bikes into a very interesting spot within our codex as they can reliably provide turn 1 screen clearing due to the full range rapid fire combined with their large movement. Shock assault is also a nice bonus but I think throwing them into melee as soon as possible is not always the best option, since I think they are a shooting unit first and foremost.

 

I think Slaanesh is the only way to go though, firstly because of the obvious combo of Endless Cacophony and Veterans of the Long War for 80 shots at +1 to wound on a full size unit. Secondly as mentioned above, casting Delightful Agonies on them will make them much more survivable against D2 weapons which will definitely draw their attention.

[Sonoftherubric21]

I have 3 for my Black Legion, I intend on ending up with 6. 

 

They are overall pretty solid this edition IMHO. At least in the communities I play in they don't just flail and die.  

 

Added to bolter discipline + Triple or Double-Special you could play around with they have some really nice tricks with them. Also a great way to handle early game area-denial units such as the primaris infiltrator zoning squads due to their speed and punch. Good support. 

[McElMcNinja]

I recently ran a group of 6, 2 melta, 1 combi-melta, and chainswords. Against Grey Knight I went first and zoomed them board to grab an objective, they were behind terrain and couldn't be seen from anything on his side. Well until astral aim and some other spell that lets them shoot in the psychic phase. He killed 3 with 10 paladins and then finished the last 3 off in his shorting phase. It did take all 80 of his shots to get them and he was not focused on my DiscoLord, Venom Crawler, or MoP coming up the other side of the board.

Same unit against Orks, I got them up in front of a couple grot screens guarding tank busters(?). Shot the melta at them who passed of two off on grots while the bolters cleared a unit of grots. I then charged the other grots and the Orks. Only took 1 wound to overwatch and cleared out grots, a wound to the Orks. He returned to kill 1 and wound 1. Next turn he teleported then and I got shot off the board.

Maybe I played them to aggressively, but they allowed me to move into some good spots and set up the rest of my army. I haven't gone second with them, so not sure what kind of target priority they might be.

But I enjoyed running them.

Edited March 16, 2020 by McElMcNinja

[Tallarn Commander]

I love Chaos Bikers, I've been using them for 17 years with my Night Lords.

Over the years my Night Lords bikers have generally punched their weight. They are not as effective, point for point, as my Bezerkers, Blood Slaughterers, DPs, or sorcerers. But they are a sold mid-tier unit that is fine for casual games because they can often put a decent amount of hurt on the enemy and/or use their mobility to nab objectives, get linebreaker, etc.

I usually run 4 with 2 meltas and a combi-melta. I keep them on the flanks as harassing units and hope the enemy shoots at my Rhinos and Daemon Engines instead of the bikers.

I used them in 4 games last year with varying degrees of success

-Game 1: put serious hurt on an Armiger and then tied up various Slaaneshi daemons on my right flank for a couple of turns

-Game 2: blown away by IG with Knights on Turn 1 before they could do anything (no cover to hide behind)

-Game 3: stripped wounds off of Morty and other DG units, spent the last half of the game successfully clearing Poxwalkers off an objective

-Game 4: blown away by Orks on Turn 1 before they could do anything (no cover to hide behind)

Hmm, looking over my comments above it seems that Chaos Bikers really like cover so they don't get Alpha Striked (struck?) on Turn 1. So in future games I guess I'll try to ensure more line of sight blocking terrain is scattered throughout the board and maybe my Bikers' performance will improve.

Here are some pics

All of my bikers (except for my Biker Lord Chamorro)

Chaos bikers vs Nausicaa-themed Eldar jetbikes

Chaos bikers would win this match

Chaos Bikers about to get eaten by a Carnifex after they blew away a Hive Tyrant

Melta bikers really like Endless Cacophony

Chaos Bikers about to get swamped by daemons

Uh guys, I think we'ere outnumbered

Someday I'd love to paint up 8 more bikers in World Eaters colors and use them as a large assault unit. It's not really the best use of them, as Dakkamaster notes, they are more a shooty unit than an assault unit. But it would be fun, and they'd get +1 attack on the charge.

Edited February 25, 2020 by Tallarn Commander

[Abaddon303]

I think bikes are great, I use them various ways in my black legion. If my plan is that I want to get Abaddon to the centre of the board as quickly as possibly I will advance him and surround him by bikes. Their latent speed means unlike any other bodyguard they don't need to advance to keep up with him. His full rerolls on a full squad is really something plus I'll normally take three plasma.

If I know I'm up against a gunline I'll often whizz them forward and try to get in melta range. With their auto 6 advance you have a 32" range to stick 3 Meltas into something and tip of the spear gives you full rerolls hitting on 4+. Prime candidate for endless cacophony.

And finally if I'm up against something like melee Tyranids they are really good as a speed bump high up the board. The 20" move means you can really string them out as a roadblock and completely block sections of the board. Clear some chaff with the bolters, then you're putting out a fair amount of overwatch when they charge you.

[Snazzy]

Another cheap-o tactic is 3 Bikes w/Flamers replacing the twin bolters, champion w/Combi-Flamer.  Move, Advance.  Auto hit for 3D6 S4.

[techsoldaten]

Don't run them much, but Bikes are a good way to fill out a list.

 

I would just make sure to bring a Jump Pack lord with them for the rerolls. They are capable of a lot of shooting, rerolling 1s makes a huge difference.

[Hannibal]

I think Bikers are great. The stories written in this thread about how fast they die show you that your opponent counts them as being a threat that has to be removed. That alone shows that Bikes are far away from useless or weak.

 

And no matter what you do, something will die first turn. If it´s not the Bikers, it will be something different. I stopped caring about stuff that dies.

 

If you are worried about Bikers that can´t show their usefulness due to being shot to pieces first turn, just get a second unit. Really, that´s my way of fielding units: if I like to get good results out of a certain unit, I just field two of them.

 

That being said, Bikers are less points per wound than Marines while still offering higher toughness, higher speed and more Dakka. They can bear more special weapons per wound than Marines (which also means more special weapons per points). I absolutely love them!

 

Would I run an army full of Bikers? Certainly not, but just because CSM don´t have the same levels of support for their Bikers than loyal Marines.

[Doom Herald]

It's the attention they get from multiwound weapons that's the problem, that kind of negates the benefit from having 2 wounds. You are right though, they arent useless. If they are going to draw fire, I think I would run maximum Bolters instead of special weapons though. Since they always get double shots on Bolters no matter what and they are cheap, you can throw enough rounds at something to hurt while not putting too many points on models that will die quickly.

[Closet Skeleton]

It's the attention they get from multiwound weapons that's the problem, that kind of negates the benefit from having 2 wounds.

Only if you have nothing else on the board with 2 wounds. If all your other multiwound stuff is too high toughness to be a good target for anti-biker weapons or is in deepstrike then its a waste to have them in enemy line of sight turn 1. You have to get around that by turbo-boosting out of line of sight in the early turns before your hammer comes in and you have 2 wound target saturation.

 

Thankfully flat 2 damage indirect fire doesn't really exist.

Edited April 6, 2020 by Closet Skeleton

[Rune Priest Ridcully]

Any idea on the best loadouts to run them in Emperor's Children?

[Dr_Ruminahui]

I don't see Emperor's Children as using them any differently than other legions, other than they can't do the Renegades advance-and-assault trick. 

 

So, if really depends on what you want to do with them.  Small squads with 3x plasma seem to be popular, but it really depends on your local meta (for myself, none of my regular opponents have many 2 wound models, which is where plasma really achieves).

 

In my own EC I have 3 bike squads painted, each with 6 models (because Slanesh), 1 with 3x plasam, 1 with 3x melta and 1 with 2x flamers and a combi-bolter on the sargeant, as I figured that 4 extra bolter shots every turn was better than 2 extra bolter shots and D6 flamer shots within 8", especially given the price difference.

[Rune Priest Ridcully]

I don't see Emperor's Children as using them any differently than other legions, other than they can't do the Renegades advance-and-assault trick. 

 

So, if really depends on what you want to do with them.  Small squads with 3x plasma seem to be popular, but it really depends on your local meta (for myself, none of my regular opponents have many 2 wound models, which is where plasma really achieves).

 

In my own EC I have 3 bike squads painted, each with 6 models (because Slanesh), 1 with 3x plasam, 1 with 3x melta and 1 with 2x flamers and a combi-bolter on the sargeant, as I figured that 4 extra bolter shots every turn was better than 2 extra bolter shots and D6 flamer shots within 8", especially given the price difference.

I'm torn, as I could have a use for all of them really, or maybe flamers and use their speed to try and mess up the likes of guard/tau ect with them.

[Dr_Ruminahui]

Yeah, they have multiple uses.

 

Keep in mind that with the new rules for bolters they always get 4 shots each a turn anywhere up to 24" even if they've moved.  This makes them ideal for objective grabbing, screen clearing and general harassment.  Since you don't need to get them as close as you used to, you may not want to. 

[dakkamasta]

That's probably the most important point about bikes now. They can now put out their full firepower whilst staying a reasonable distance away, allowing them to stay closer to reroll auras, avoid getting charged, hold objectives and so on.

[Ketzer]

I really like them for what they offer on paper.

For my World Eaters they can delete armour (with melters) or bring back the "burn" in "kill maim burn" (with flamers)

They can even be helpful with an early charge.

Just those models... UGH!

[Schurge]

I use two squads of six with chain swords and combi-bolters in my melee focused World Eaters lists to clear out speed bumps from range. On their worst day they still eat up turn one shooting that would normally take out a Maulerfiend or two.