40k: Bikes – The ONLY Way to Run Space Marines?
“Get your motor runnin’ – Head out on the highway – Looking for adventure – In whatever comes our way”
Since playing xeno forces I have found Imperial forces to be restrictive. I had actually noticed this a long time ago with Space Marines, when back in 5th ed if you moved you could only fire 12″ with the bolters. This is part the reason why I dropped them. Now I think that the best way to run Space Marines is in a bike force.
The Old Ways
Space Marines are just normal infantry and need some kind of a transport. This can be a trusty Rhino or Razorback or something more heavy duty down low like a Land Raider or something up in the air like a Stormraven.
As Space Marines are a shooting force it means out of all the latter vehicles you will have to get out in order to unleash bolter death, though a Rhino allows two models to shoot out the top – usually this is a pair of special weapons. Of course once outside a vehicle it means those Space Marines are going to be shot to pieces and as Marines are an elite army they do not have large numbers.
When you start factoring in vehicles you need to consider the effects vehicles can have on passengers such as crew shaken and stunned, the latter stopping passengers from firing altogether while the latter only allows snap shots. Then there’s vehicle explosion results which can cause a few wounds and bring about pinning tests.
Space Marines aren’t too bad in close combat; they aren’t the best but not the worst. Like any other unit they are better when they charge. There’s two things stopping Marines from charging; using vehicles as transports and using rapid fire weapons.
There’s also the addition of heavy weapons, which if a model moves then it can only snap fire. It seems a waste to use a heavy weapon if moving, though luckily these types of weapon have long range. Using a heavy weapon also stops Space Marines from charging.
Hmmm, Space Marines seem very restrictive and they only have limited choices and that is use special weaponry against armoured targets, bolter salvo with special weapons against infantry or fire bolt pistols with assault weaponry and charge, though this is situational.
Here Come the Bikes
Bikes however get rid of all the annoying problems you have with Space Marines and just make Space Marines work better.
Mobility: Bikes bring speed, they can move 12″ a turn and can turbo boost 12″ – this gives them a nice 24″ total movement. If you are in need to get somewhere or get something then bikes can do this. Space Marines on foot can only dream of moving this quick.
Another bonus to bikes is they cannot be pinned, so you do not need to worry about a Marine taking a nap on the dirt using his bike for a pillow.
Firepower: Bikes have superior shooting as well. As standard they come with twin-linked bolters and if they decide to take a special weapon then that isn’t switched, it is taken as an extra. If a bike has a side car then it can fire two weapons – Attack Bike. When moving 12″ they do not have to snap fire like normal Space Marines if they were inside a vehicle.
As bikes are relentless this means they can move and shoot with heavy weaponry, salvo and ordnance. They can even charge after firing this type of weaponry and charge after firing rapid fire weapons – this is extremely important as the bikes can deliver a bolter salvo into a foe and then follow up with a charge instead of just standing there waiting to be shot back.
Resilience: Bikes beat Space Marines in the survivability department too; they have jink and have T5. They really aren’t that fussed about small arms fire and those low AP wounds they have some form of save against even if out in the open.
Assault: Space Marines fall second to bikes in the assault too, bikes are just as good as Space Marines in combat though they also have hammer of wrath – this is another attack at I10 and there’s isn’t a lot which strikes at I10. In fact the only thing I can think of is the Keeper of Secrets. It isn’t just the extra attack which is a bonus, bikes roll normally for assault distances when assaulting through terrain, so they assault 2D6 as normal instead of 3D6 pick the two lowest.
Biker Cons…
It isn’t all gravy for bikes, they do have a few bad points:
* Bikes fall back 3D6″, however this will only come into play if close to a table edge as Space Marines auto regroup thanks to And They Shall Know No Fear.
* Bikes cannot go to ground, this can be a slight issue if you want your unit to stick around and get bonus cover saves. I guess you take the rough with the smooth.
* Terrain always counts as dangerous for bikes, this isn’t too much of a problem as it is 1/6 chance to fail and a failure can get an armour save.
* As it is written in the rulebook, bikes cannot go up ruins and the rules say you should agree with an opponent first whether bikes can go up ruins. If you are using objectives then this can be a pain in the arse, just try and put your share where you can reach them.
Bikes – Making Them Better!
Now we know how bikes can be better than the bog standard Marine and they have little negatives to compare to the positives. How about making them bikes better?
Black bikes – The Raven Wing
Starting with my boys in black, the Ravenwing. These guys cost 27 points each, which are first glance seems pretty expensive, though they do come with a few extras; ALL bikers get a teleporter homer (works great with Deathwing) and special rule wise they get grim resolve (stubborn), hit and run, ability to split into units of three and scout.
You’ve probably come to the conclusion that bike fire power is short ranged and you maybe wondering why I haven’t listed it as a negative. Personally I do not think the short ranged fire power is a negative as bikes can move 12″, with a 12″ range weapon that’s a 24″ total threat range. Ravenwing boost that threat range as the entire Ravenwing army has scout. As bikes can move 12″ that’s another 12″ on top of that threat range and now you are looking at 36″ – depending on deployment, you can be dropping the hurt on the opponent straight away!
If that wasn’t cool enough Ravenwing Attack Bikes are deployed separately from the unit and giving additional threats to the force instead of having a big bundled up unit. Ravenwing can also bring Speeders too in a unit, though are deployed separately, this allows more room for fast attack units.
Ravenwing get their own cool wargear:
* The Standard of Devastation allows units within 12″ to re-roll failed morale tests, factor in stubborn and your units won’t be failing much. Not only that, the banner gives salvo 2/4 to all units within 6″ so now all bikes are firing 4 bolter shots each and charging after; a minimum unit of three Ravenwing bikes can bring more bolter fire power than a full Tactical Squad. As you can see this standard was made for Ravenwing!
* Ravenwing Black Knights are the Ravenwing elite on bikes. Instead of using the twin-linked bolter assigned to the standard grunts they brandish the plasma talon; think of a 18″ plasma gun and you can’t go wrong. These guys are elite and monstrous creatures with their heavy duty fire power.
* The corvus hammer isn’t exactly a hammer and looks more like a pick axe. This funky little close combat weapon gives +1 strength and has the rending rule. It is also just a normal melee weapon too, so any model with a bolt pistol will get +1 attack. Guess who has this? Yes, you got right! The Black Knights and surprise surprise they have a pistol too.
White Bikes – The Boys from Chogoris
If the black bikers aren’t your thing then there are the white bikers, Genghis’ boys, the White Scars.
White Scars are the new flavour of the month biker army and will give Ravenwing a run for their money. White Scars abilities come from their chapter tactics which gives a wannabe skilled rider (auto passes terrain tests and +1 to jink saves), +1 to hammer of wrath and the entire force has hit and run, though this doesn’t apply to certain models, but who cares!? We are talking about bikes 🙂
Just like Ravenwing, the White Scars need a special character to make bikes troops. In the Scars’ case it is Ko’Sarro Khan while it is Sammael who makes Ravenwing troops. Khan brings a slight limitation though and that only bike units numbering 5 can be taken as troops, but really this isn’t a huge issue. Not only does Khan make bikes troops but also gives the entire army scout!
For terms of hitting strength and survivability the White Scars have it over the Ravenwing. The Ravenwing however are more flexible and bring other units into the mix such as Ravenwing Black Knights and have much more funky wargear. The cool and unique thing White Scars can bring is grav guns (salvo 2/3) which are extremely dangerous mounted on bikes, however all Space Marines can take grav guns so this isn’t anything to write home about.
Final Thoughts
Are bikes the best way to run Space Marines? I think so. The problems I tend to find with Space Marines are completely removed when using bikes. The bikes give a much more better free flowing and none restrictive army. I find using an all bike army I do not have to worry about certain things and have second thoughts. Ok there are some negatives into the mix, but they really aren’t too much of a problem.
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| There can be only one! |
Bikes, do you think they are the only way to run a Space Marine army or do other ways still work?
