Hello Brethren! As you may have seen over here, I am committing to a GT in Grand Forks, ND. This is my stomping grounds, and its filled with insanely competitive players who are part of the gaming club Warhogs. I was able to be a part of the founding of this group when it was still in its infancy and has grown up beyond my wildest dreams. Unfortunately, I was not able to actively be a part of the club due to my lack of time, but its good to play them when I can get to it. Anyway, they are hosting the Slaughter House GT so I know that I'll have a good competitive field against them. We're hoping that other players from the Frozen North gaming group will show up, as there are quite a few other players who are very good in there too. I might have a warm-up tournament June 15th as well, but that one we shall see on. But what this brings me to is...I have been painting models and brainstorming lists for weeks now.
What does that have to do with Company Veterans on bikes Marshal Laeroth? Well, I have dozens of iterations of my tournament list. And that is only for this particular core. I have a ton of other lists that are built to differing specifications. What that means is...I am always considering the different units that we have access to. Always tweaking lists to get better efficiency out of them. More power in the punch. Better ways to defend against other lists. Unfortunately, this causes me to make edits to my lists and doing different things even after I settled on something (yes, my tournament list changed but more on that in another post). That journey brought me to these wonderful squads of bikers. Let me show you what I have found...
Company Veteran Squad on Bikes (1x Sergeant and 2x Veterans) w/ 3 Storm Bolters, 1 Power Sword, and 2 Storm Shields (122 points). A single squad puts out 24 bolter shots a turn. That's 7.11 dead GEQ or 2.67 dead MEQ. Not huge numbers by themselves, but when you combine them with two other squads just like it...you get more staggering results: 21.33 dead GEQ or 8.0 dead MEQ. Let's consider this; compare the three independent squads of Vet bikes (366 points) to a 10-man squad of TH/SS Assault Terminators (410). The terminators kill 8.75 GEQ or 7.29 MEQ. The bikers are eliminating 12.58 GEQ/0.71 MEQ more per turn, for less cost. Obviously, if you bring in a Captain aura to both squads, they will be killing a lot more: 13.13 GEQ/10.94 MEQ (Termies) vs 24.89 GEQ/9.33 MEQ (Vet Bikers). As you can see, the return of investment is much greater for the terminators. However, with the selection of a Bike Captain with the Storm of Fire warlord trait, those numbers go up to 26.44 GEQ/10.89 MEQ for the bikers. Just a marginal difference in killing MEQ between the two squads, but a huge advantage for the bikers against GEQ. What about against vehicles? This is where the terminators really shine, against multi-wound enemies. Against basic vehicles, the termies do 26.25 damage if a Captain is nearby. The Vet bikers do 7.78 damage with a SoF Captain buffing them. Obviously the terminators have the advantage here, but also remember they have to do that damage in close combat which requires successful charges. What happens if you don't make the charge? The bikers are always fully effective at ranges of 24" or less.
Now, you do have to consider the durability of the two different units. Obviously the terminators will last far longer on the board, plus have the ability to deep strike. However, we're not that far off with the Veteran bikers with one less 2W model (9 bikers vs 10 terminators), plus the bikers have 6 storm shields. Sure we're missing the 2+ saves, but we exchange that with the high mobility of bikes. Ideally, you would be running the three Vet biker squads in close proximity to the Captain for buffing, plus to utilize the Vets special rules to tank wounds for him. While the Veteran Bikers are tooled to take advantage of the new Bolter rules (especially good on bikes), they do have their sergeants armed with power swords. Combo those three squads with the Captain and you have a decent mobile assault force as well. If you took a Sword Brethren detachment, you can also utilize Suffer Not the Unclean to Live (2CP) if you have spare CP to go around, though since you would likely be targeting a smaller squad of 3 bikers...you'll have to consider if its really necessary.
Honestly, the bikers are growing on me quickly. I've used them in a couple games now and they are easily the most dangerous units on the board. I run them in a group, surrounding the warlord Captain, and roam around the board with their extreme mobility to take down whatever is necessary for the mission. They do attract a lot of attention so positioning is critically important, but they do have a decent pool of wounds with Storm Shields protecting them. Nevertheless, they potentially could go poof quickly and then 366 points are gone. You really do need something in your list that throws out more threat or have the ability to silence your opponents guns. Apothecaries on bikes are an option to mitigate wounds, but I am not sure the 82 points is worth it. But perhaps a Storm Bolter armed Ancient isn't a bad idea?
What do you all think?
~Marshal Laeroth~
Company Veteran Squad on Bikes (1x Sergeant and 2x Veterans) w/ 3 Storm Bolters, 1 Power Sword, and 2 Storm Shields (122 points). A single squad puts out 24 bolter shots a turn. That's 7.11 dead GEQ or 2.67 dead MEQ. Not huge numbers by themselves, but when you combine them with two other squads just like it...you get more staggering results: 21.33 dead GEQ or 8.0 dead MEQ. Let's consider this; compare the three independent squads of Vet bikes (366 points) to a 10-man squad of TH/SS Assault Terminators (410). The terminators kill 8.75 GEQ or 7.29 MEQ. The bikers are eliminating 12.58 GEQ/0.71 MEQ more per turn, for less cost. Obviously, if you bring in a Captain aura to both squads, they will be killing a lot more: 13.13 GEQ/10.94 MEQ (Termies) vs 24.89 GEQ/9.33 MEQ (Vet Bikers). As you can see, the return of investment is much greater for the terminators. However, with the selection of a Bike Captain with the Storm of Fire warlord trait, those numbers go up to 26.44 GEQ/10.89 MEQ for the bikers. Just a marginal difference in killing MEQ between the two squads, but a huge advantage for the bikers against GEQ. What about against vehicles? This is where the terminators really shine, against multi-wound enemies. Against basic vehicles, the termies do 26.25 damage if a Captain is nearby. The Vet bikers do 7.78 damage with a SoF Captain buffing them. Obviously the terminators have the advantage here, but also remember they have to do that damage in close combat which requires successful charges. What happens if you don't make the charge? The bikers are always fully effective at ranges of 24" or less.
Now, you do have to consider the durability of the two different units. Obviously the terminators will last far longer on the board, plus have the ability to deep strike. However, we're not that far off with the Veteran bikers with one less 2W model (9 bikers vs 10 terminators), plus the bikers have 6 storm shields. Sure we're missing the 2+ saves, but we exchange that with the high mobility of bikes. Ideally, you would be running the three Vet biker squads in close proximity to the Captain for buffing, plus to utilize the Vets special rules to tank wounds for him. While the Veteran Bikers are tooled to take advantage of the new Bolter rules (especially good on bikes), they do have their sergeants armed with power swords. Combo those three squads with the Captain and you have a decent mobile assault force as well. If you took a Sword Brethren detachment, you can also utilize Suffer Not the Unclean to Live (2CP) if you have spare CP to go around, though since you would likely be targeting a smaller squad of 3 bikers...you'll have to consider if its really necessary.
Honestly, the bikers are growing on me quickly. I've used them in a couple games now and they are easily the most dangerous units on the board. I run them in a group, surrounding the warlord Captain, and roam around the board with their extreme mobility to take down whatever is necessary for the mission. They do attract a lot of attention so positioning is critically important, but they do have a decent pool of wounds with Storm Shields protecting them. Nevertheless, they potentially could go poof quickly and then 366 points are gone. You really do need something in your list that throws out more threat or have the ability to silence your opponents guns. Apothecaries on bikes are an option to mitigate wounds, but I am not sure the 82 points is worth it. But perhaps a Storm Bolter armed Ancient isn't a bad idea?
What do you all think?
~Marshal Laeroth~
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