Horus Heresy Sky-hunter Squadrons (Plastic Jetbikes!)

[Hfran Morkai]

2 minutes ago, Marshal Loss said:

These look absolutely fantastic, and I'm really glad they're in Mark VI - lets me keep my Beakie EC theme intact.

 

Maybe they'll even see fit to bless us with a bolt pistol in the kit.

 

Pfft, the rulebook says you should have Bolt Pistols to hand.

 

I'd never considered Jetbikes before because of their cost but now I'm interested. I do love the little details like the sheathed Swords.

Edited January 19, 2023 by Hfran Morkai

[Sky Potato]

1 hour ago, sarabando said:

separate riders means they can sell other marks as upgrade kits XD

Hopefully this.

 

All my Blood Angels are in MkII, and my Night Lords and EC are in MkIV. All of which would love these bikes, but they’re in the wrong armour mk.
 

My MkVI Alphas are going to love these though.

[Corswain]

I am very happy to see these. Very much looking forward to seeing a whole lotta jetbikes in people's armies.

[01RTB01]

Depending on price I'd like a squad of 6 regulars and to make a command squad out of them too. Speedy EC strikes to go along with the assault marines. I genuinely don't care what the rules are, they look great.

[Halandaar]

Really nicely done update of a design I still think looks as painfully stupid in plastic as it did in resin. Glad for the rest of you that they finally did them!

 

 

[Astartes Consul]

Look great, excited to see the sprues and what extras they come with. Should open up a lot of list possibilities in terms of cost.

[Imren]

6 hours ago, SkimaskMohawk said:

 

? Jetbikes are a great unit in 2nd. You can get a lot of multimeltas on a very very fast chassis, that doesn't eat up a heavy support slot, and can now leave combat. 

 

Their biggest downside is liking a critical mass of models, and that's completely stonewalled by their monetary price for most people. 

 

 

They went from T5 2+ save to T4 3+ but with 2W with not much change in points.  I see that as a nerf. They were quite worth the points in 1st ed.

[MithrilForge]

Cool plastic jet bikes , I may get some and run them as standard bikes for 40K White Scars , my mates will let me play them as bikes  and they’ll look cool as well … 

M. 

[Slave to Darkness]

3 hours ago, Marshal Loss said:

 

 

Maybe they'll even see fit to bless us with a bolt pistol in the kit.

Yeah that would be nice.

[01RTB01]

4 hours ago, Imren said:

 

 

They went from T5 2+ save to T4 3+ but with 2W with not much change in points.  I see that as a nerf. They were quite worth the points in 1st ed.

There's not as much ap2 in 2.0 and the 2nd wound helps mitigate somewhat. Personally I can't wait for plastic fast attacks to drop!

[SkimaskMohawk]

4 hours ago, Imren said:

 

 

They went from T5 2+ save to T4 3+ but with 2W with not much change in points.  I see that as a nerf. They were quite worth the points in 1st ed.

 

And to contrast:

 

You have 4" more movement, hit&run, the bolters gained an extra shot, they can use their pistols in addition, and they get to reroll to wound in melee.

 

For the multi melta, there's no armoured ceramite, and it gained twinlinked. Three with multimelta are 15 cheaper than sky slayers (the heavy support version) and 25 cheaper than sky hunters (the fast attack version) with a similar 1/3. The output in 1st was 0.33 glances per shot; the output in 2nd is 0.72 glances/0.51 pens per shot.

 

The volkite gained an extra shot.  The sky slayers and sky hunters were 195/145 in 1st compared to 120/110 for the same builds. 

 

The plasma cannon got nerfed and is worse. But comparing in the same order again; 210/150 in 1st to 135/115 in 2nd. 

 

They're cheaper and better. That t5 2+ doesn't matter as much in the face of lascannons, multi meltas, sniper rifles, power fists, lightning claws, gravis fists, etc... The good weapons that are kinda skewing the game don't care about one or the other. 

Edited January 20, 2023 by SkimaskMohawk

[Brother_Angelus]

52 minutes ago, SkimaskMohawk said:

They're cheaper and better. That t5 2+ doesn't matter as much in the face of lascannons, multi meltas, sniper rifles, power fists, lightning claws, gravis fists, etc... The good weapons that are kinda skewing the game don't care about one or the other. 

Instant death threshold? S8/9 is a lot more prevalent than S10+.

 

Once we see them a lot more on the table thanks to this plastic kit, it'll be easier to assess how they perform. Definitely don't think they're 'bad' just different.

[SkimaskMohawk]

7 minutes ago, Brother_Angelus said:

Instant death threshold? S8/9 is a lot more prevalent than S10+.

 

Once we see them a lot more on the table thanks to this plastic kit, it'll be easier to assess how they perform. Definitely don't think they're 'bad' just different.

 

They had 1 wound in 1st, so its not like they took that lascannon hit any differently back then compared to now.

[Alby the Slayer]

Awesome. 

 

The temptation to have at least one for some kitbash is great. I wish it was sold separetely.

 

 

So, this is the second mini that we saw in the new year preview, the first be the Alpha legion sniper.

 

Boy, they are running!

[Imren]

8 hours ago, SkimaskMohawk said:

 

And to contrast:

 

You have 4" more movement, hit&run, the bolters gained an extra shot, they can use their pistols in addition, and they get to reroll to wound in melee.

 

For the multi melta, there's no armoured ceramite, and it gained twinlinked. Three with multimelta are 15 cheaper than sky slayers (the heavy support version) and 25 cheaper than sky hunters (the fast attack version) with a similar 1/3. The output in 1st was 0.33 glances per shot; the output in 2nd is 0.72 glances/0.51 pens per shot.

 

The volkite gained an extra shot.  The sky slayers and sky hunters were 195/145 in 1st compared to 120/110 for the same builds. 

 

The plasma cannon got nerfed and is worse. But comparing in the same order again; 210/150 in 1st to 135/115 in 2nd. 

 

They're cheaper and better. That t5 2+ doesn't matter as much in the face of lascannons, multi meltas, sniper rifles, power fists, lightning claws, gravis fists, etc... The good weapons that are kinda skewing the game don't care about one or the other. 

 

Sure, you can argue that the weapons it may carry got better, I agree they did. But the with the nerf to their armour and toughness, they are like a regular marine and can be taken down much easier with standard infantry weapons like bolters.

 

I see this unit as a shooting unit, not to be involved in close combat, so the buffs that are close combat related doesn't really matter since they can move and shoot heavy weapons, which is their job.

 

In the previous edition, opponents would use their precious high strenght low AP weapons to take them down, reducing the amount of units that potentially fire at them, in this edition a basic tactical squad can easily wipe them out, which means pretty much any unit in a legion army has the potential to wipe them out in a single turn of shooting. Which was not the case in the previous edition.

 

I speak out of my experience playing with them regularly since 2018 up until a few games in 2nd ed.

 

Edited January 20, 2023 by Imren

[Dont-Be-Haten]

49 minutes ago, Imren said:

 

Sure, you can argue that the weapons it may carry got better, I agree they did. But the with the nerf to their armour and toughness, they are like a regular marine and can be taken down much easier with standard infantry weapons like bolters.

 

I see this unit as a shooting unit, not to be involved in close combat, so the buffs that are close combat related doesn't really matter since they can move and shoot heavy weapons, which is their job.

 

In the previous edition, opponents would use their precious high strenght low AP weapons to take them down, reducing the amount of units that potentially fire at them, in this edition a basic tactical squad can easily wipe them out, which means pretty much any unit in a legion army has the potential to wipe them out in a single turn of shooting. Which was not the case in the previous edition.

 

I speak out of my experience playing with them regularly since 2018 up until a few games in 2nd ed.

 

I'll say this, in small squads of 3 they are rubbish and easy to deal with. Give them Apothecaries and max the squad and you have a reasonably good opportunityto get your units into melee. World Eaters have free chain axe upgrades, which would give them the desire to want to be melee centric; 16" movement the ability to get into combat turn 1.

 

I think it's a mix of shooting and ability to get into combat.

 

This kit will also allow for a dangerous Retinue Squad & Praetor on jetbike. 

 

Most importantly they can't be pinned and have a native damage mitigation roll when you run them. 

 

I can't wait to get my WE Sky-Hunter Phalanx started now!

Edited January 20, 2023 by Dont-Be-Haten

[sarabando]

i was very surprised that we didnt see the RG heads this week. i wonder if we are going to see the cerb next week. 

[Triszin]

Thinking about how I can take these and makes them count as outriders

[Ahzek451]

Awesome! Glad I held off getting these in resin years ago. It's been great seeing all these kits come to plastic, now...come on flyers! (fire raptors, storm eagles, Xyphon).

[Matcap86]

24 minutes ago, Ahzek451 said:

Awesome! Glad I held off getting these in resin years ago. It's been great seeing all these kits come to plastic, now...come on flyers! (fire raptors, storm eagles, Xyphon).

 

Man... if they make a plastic fire raptor and xyphon... I'mma need 3 of each.

[lhg033]

I'll have to decide when I see these in person from a few different angles. I really want to like them but something is nagging at me about them and I cant quite place it.

 

Not sure they'll be the top of my hobby wish list for some time though in either case

 

 

[SkimaskMohawk]

3 hours ago, Imren said:

But the with the nerf to their armour and toughness, they are like a regular marine and can be taken down much easier with standard infantry weapons like bolters.

 

A full fury averages 2 dead 1st bikes vs 3 dead 2nd bikes. That's really not a big deal, even less so when you realize that you could have taken another bike or two with the saved points. And also, units might not want to shoot chip damage at a large unit as it invites a very serious return fire.

 

3 hours ago, Imren said:

I see this unit as a shooting unit, not to be involved in close combat, so the buffs that are close combat related doesn't really matter since they can move and shoot heavy weapons, which is their job.

 

So...the chainsword? Hit&run is to purely to get you out of combat to return to shooting; movement pairs extremely well with the multi melta and increases the hit and run distance.

 

3 hours ago, Imren said:

In the previous edition, opponents would use their precious high strenght low AP weapons to take them down, reducing the amount of units that potentially fire at them, in this edition a basic tactical squad can easily wipe them out, which means pretty much any unit in a legion army has the potential to wipe them out in a single turn of shooting. Which was not the case in the previous edition.

 

They'd use plasma, because it was everywhere. Or kheres because it was also very common.  A full 20 man tactical squad within 12" can wipe a minimum unit of 3. Which was almost the same case as in the previous edition, as the math above shows. 

 

Here's the main factor: people in 1st took MSU units of sky hunters and had them add the odd plasma cannon/volkite to their output. They then use the exact same unit in 2nd and it feels terrible. Because it is. Presumably players don't have an extra $60+ per additional body to fill out the unit and retrofit them all with multi meltas and volkite. But once you hit critical mass, with the right loadout, they're very good. 

 

EDIT: Ill also mention that sky slayers, the heavy support unit that could all take heavy weapons, was capped at 5. You can take double the amount, in a less contested FoC slot now. 

 

Edited January 20, 2023 by SkimaskMohawk

[Burni]

19 hours ago, matcap86 said:

 

Man... if they make a plastic fire raptor and xyphon... I'mma need 3 of each.

Yeah. I know a plastic Fire Raptor will probably be the most expensive GW plastic kit ever but I really believe it will sell like hot cakes. I’d buy at least two. 

[01RTB01]

10 minutes ago, Burni said:

Yeah. I know a plastic Fire Raptor will probably be the most expensive GW plastic kit ever but I really believe it will sell like hot cakes. I’d buy at least two. 

In fairness the heresy vehicle kits so far have been "reasonably" priced considering the way things are generally going. There's a reason I've got an armoured spearhead on top of everything else. 

 

That all said more core infantry are really needed but I'm very excited for the jetbikes dropping.

 

[RedRowan]

Liking the look of these models a lot.

 

Steve