Unit Focus: Outriders

[Khornestar]

Moving on to another seemingly rare unit on the tabletop, the fast-moving, chunky primaris outriders.

 

Disclaimer: Other units overshadowing the unit focus are perhaps relevant, but the topic is the outriders data sheet itself.

 

Do you use them? How? Have they been used against you? How?

 

In your experience what are they good at? Bad at?

 

What buffs best leverage them for use by your chapter, or any chapter?

 

I am excited to try them with my Black Templars army. Champion of the Feast could give the mounted sword brother 8 chainsword attacks on the charge hitting on 2+, along with 5 wounds to tank a bit. Crux Obsidian for reducing damage. Master crafting for damage 2. Bones of Mordred for mortals on 6’s to wound.

 

Power rating: for funsies, and glory to the god emperor.

 

Thoughts?

Edited May 4, 2022 by Khornestar

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

Can a model take two relics?

 

I hope the minimum unit size increases with the upcoming codex.

[Khornestar]

No, just various options for different builds. I also forgot the regular outriders can take relics, too.

[Brother Kraskor]

Handy with BT making them obsec, but with only three models they need to be sure to kill off enemy obsec to actually flip ab objective. 

[phandaal]

Do not play them myself, but have played against them. They have never felt like much of a threat. Since they are stuck on a single loadout they are going to be good at one thing, which apparently is not killing Space Marines.

[Khornestar]

Can a model take two relics?

 

I hope the minimum unit size increases with the upcoming codex.

Yeah, not having it be 3-6 feels wrong for every reason. That would be an absurd # of attacks, but also not realistic to maneuver them easily with that base footprint.

[TheNewman]

 

Can a model take two relics?

 

I hope the minimum unit size increases with the upcoming codex.

Yeah, not having it be 3-6 feels wrong for every reason. That would be an absurd # of attacks, but also not realistic to maneuver them easily with that base footprint.

DW can take them in squads of five, they're not that hard to maneuver. They're not particularly good either though.

[Khornestar]

That's good, then! I'm sure someone who puts more thought into these things could give a comparison of different base sizes and the pros/cons for how they function in the game. I feel like there's gotta be something to a chaff-clearing squad of biker tanks, at least against some armies.

[Cpt_Reaper]

Ravenwing grants them Jink, which can be a pretty decent boost. A 5++ if they move, or 4++ if they advance. Plus they gain ObSec.

 

I am not familiar with White Scars but being bikes I imagine they'd get a decent buff.

[CCE1981]

White Scars “only” grants them Advance and Charge. So you can catch an opponent off guard by advancing them turn 1 and performing a 4” charge.

[phandaal]

Ravenwing grants them Jink, which can be a pretty decent boost. A 5++ if they move, or 4++ if they advance. Plus they gain ObSec.

 

I am not familiar with White Scars but being bikes I imagine they'd get a decent buff.

Jink is nice for stopping bikes from getting shot off the board, but once they get into close combat that benefit goes away. That will be more noticable on Outriders whose main function is close combat.

 

Obsec is nice for sniping objectives off of non-Obsec units. Vanilla Ravenwing bikers will do that as well for a bargain points cost.

[Lord Nord in Gravis Armour]

 

Can a model take two relics?

 

I hope the minimum unit size increases with the upcoming codex.

Yeah, not having it be 3-6 feels wrong for every reason. That would be an absurd # of attacks, but also not realistic to maneuver them easily with that base footprint.

 

 

They aren't 3-6 for the simple reason that the only squad available now has one unchangeable Sergeant model and GW's not about to allow that guy to "count as" a Battle Brother nor would they require players to buy another three-man squad just to be able to use two of them to fill out a five-man squad.

 

(Or for that matter, to have to buy TWO additional monopose squads just to get enough non-Sergeant models to properly fill out a six-man squad).

 

When we get a proper multipose squad where one model doesn't have a Sergeant helm surgically attached to his hip, I fully expect a unit size increase to 6.

Edited May 5, 2022 by Lord Nord

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

Seems silly enough but we are talking about geedub.

[TheNewman]

They aren't 3-6 for the simple reason that the only squad available now has one unchangeable Sergeant model and GW's not about to allow that guy to "count as" a Battle Brother nor would they require players to buy another three-man squad just to be able to use two of them to fill out a five-man squad.

 

(Or for that matter, to have to buy TWO additional monopose squads just to get enough non-Sergeant models to properly fill out a six-man squad).

I was going to say "Incursors, Aggressors, and Eradicators say hi" but I honestly don't know if Incursors and Aggressors started off as fixed three-man units or not.

[Karhedron]

I was going to say "Incursors, Aggressors, and Eradicators say hi" but I honestly don't know if Incursors and Aggressors started off as fixed three-man units or not.

Are you thinking of Suppressors rather than Incursors? Either way, my recollection is that Aggressors were 3-6 in the original 8th edition codex.

[TheNewman]

Actually I was thinking of Inceptors. Too many "In___ors" in the roster.

[Medjugorje]

Its a cool looking unit. Its a unit I really like. But its so overcosted. I mean compare a Bladeguard with a Bike (without their role in the army) and a BGV is stronger but only costs 35 in comparison. 

 

I would play at least 2x3 if they would be priced well. 

[Lord Nord in Gravis Armour]

 

They aren't 3-6 for the simple reason that the only squad available now has one unchangeable Sergeant model and GW's not about to allow that guy to "count as" a Battle Brother nor would they require players to buy another three-man squad just to be able to use two of them to fill out a five-man squad.

 

(Or for that matter, to have to buy TWO additional monopose squads just to get enough non-Sergeant models to properly fill out a six-man squad).

I was going to say "Incursors, Aggressors, and Eradicators say hi" but I honestly don't know if Incursors and Aggressors started off as fixed three-man units or not.

 

Inceptors (I assume that's what you meant rather than "Incursors") - started as a fixed three-man unit. Couldn't be taken as six until the codex was released concurrent with the multipose squad.

 

Aggressors - multipose from the jump. The ETB squad wasn't released until five months AFTER the multipose kit.

 

Eliminators - have been limited to a three-man squad since day one.

 

So... three and out on that one.

Edited May 5, 2022 by Lord Nord

[Jorin Helm-splitter]

I really wish they were a conditional troop. They feel like their meant too be a bully unit but their attacks just don't accomplish much, which would be fine if they troops.

[TheNewman]

White Scars “only” grants them Advance and Charge. So you can catch an opponent off guard by advancing them turn 1 and performing a 4” charge.

It's surprising how few bike-specific strats WS actually have.

[TheNewman]

Inceptors (I assume that's what you meant rather than "Incursors") - started as a fixed three-man unit. Couldn't be taken as six until the codex was released concurrent with the multipose squad.

 

Aggressors - multipose from the jump. The ETB squad wasn't released until five months AFTER the multipose kit.

 

Eliminators - have been limited to a three-man squad since day one.

 

So... three and out on that one.

Eradicators, not Eliminators. Although they were also a fixed three-man unit on their inclusion in the Indominus box.

 

Still, this is GW we're talking about. Hormagaunts and Termagaunts come in boxes of 12, Carnifexes come in boxes of two, and iirc the original plastic Ork Boys came in boxes of eight. You had to buy a lot of those to make it come out even.

[Medjugorje]

 

White Scars “only” grants them Advance and Charge. So you can catch an opponent off guard by advancing them turn 1 and performing a 4” charge.

It's surprising how few bike-specific strats WS actually have.

 

yes. This is why I dont like this supplement. It takes away a lot of opportunities for chapters which normally used to be "close combat chapters" like SW, BA and BT. 

But WS outshine them in too many ways while we never see any bikes in games.

[TheNewman]

 

 

 

White Scars “only” grants them Advance and Charge. So you can catch an opponent off guard by advancing them turn 1 and performing a 4” charge.

It's surprising how few bike-specific strats WS actually have.

yes. This is why I dont like this supplement. It takes away a lot of opportunities for chapters which normally used to be "close combat chapters" like SW, BA and BT.

But WS outshine them in too many ways while we never see any bikes in games.

Invader ATVs are bikes...

 

I do use bikes a lot even in my successor chapter lists, but it's because it gives me another unit that can advance and fire at no penalty if I need it.

[XeonDragon]

Love, the model, but prefer firstborn bikers. Auspex tactics did a great video comparing damage output and survivability, TL;DR, they are very similar. What hold me back from taking outriders over firstborn bikers is the fixed squad size of 3. If you could go up to 5 or 6, I'd probably take them.

 

Instead, as fast attack slots are tight, I find more value in taking (for example), a squad of 5 bikes and 1 attack bike. I give 2 bikes melta guns or plasma guns to go with the MM on the attack bike, give 2 chainswords and the sergeant a melee weapon (usually LC), then combat squad. I get a squad of melee bikes and a squad of gun bikes, which in my experience then operate as a OK alternative to plasma inceptors.

 

I have also tried going 7 bikes and 1 attack bike, and going 4 with chainswords and the sergeant and 2 others melta/plasma guns, the sergeant a combi-whatever and combat squad them with the attack bike for 4 melee bikes and 4 gun bikes from 1 fast attack squad.  

 

I think if outriders offered squads of up to 6, this would be less attractive and I'd probably use them more. That said, when I have played outriders with BH/WWOR as RG successors, they can do some great work on the charge when they are hitting on 2s with exploding 6s from all those attacks :)

[CCE1981]

You can only Combat Squad full sized squads. You would need the Sergeant, 7x bikes, and the Attack bike to Combat Squad.