Bikes

[El Capitan]

Bikes = overpriced crap.
Many players hold this opinion of space amrine bikes and given some of the commentray elsewhere on this board its time they were reviewed. 5 points for a bike seems a little too cheap, charly will remember the riders of apocalypse with grim disdain ;D
But they still need a price drop so heres a calcualtion....

Space Marine - 30 points
Bike - 20 points
Total = 50 points

so....-3 for loss of bolter
and -10 for loss the use of shaken and rapid fire (10 pts for these abilties is steep i know but 5 pts is the price for shaken when compared to the evry running away chaos marines)

so were lookin at 37 points for a biker marine with a charge of +5 for melta and plasma replaxcements for twin bolters, flamers however must be carried and cannot fire forwards (for obvious reasons). - note that at the moment this only applies to the new chaos bikes, the marine ones are yet to be updated and so carry them seperately, though you can convert! One bolter is replaced with some form of targetting device (has no effect on game) whereas the other is replaced by the actual weapon itself.

chaos bikers get 10 points off as chaois marine do not carry bolters as standard.

Ork bikes are already very effective as are Eldar and Dark Eldar bike so they do not have any reductions. In fact these other bikes further highlight the need for marine cost reductions as they are the same points cost but have better weapons / manoevrability and armour.

[tturen]

Points wise Eldar bikes are broken. Way to cheap. Marine bikes deserve a points break as well. A marine bike cost of 10-15 would be more fitting. The thought of useing bikes never crossed my mind given the expense for my own marines. Consequently I have none.

[Charly]

mike just suggested that they cost 10 points, making it 37 in total.

[Charly]

ahh didnt realise ravenwing bikes cost more! there 55 each, so that mean they wud be 45 in our rules now?

[Charly]

oh and what about points for attack bikes?

[tturen]

"mike just suggested that they cost 10 points, making it 37 in total."

Didn't he just suggest 7 points? Marine 30 + bike 7= 37 total. Think I would round to 10 and then boost the cost of the Eldar bikes as well.

[Charly]

it is +10, marine = 30pts. minus 3 for the bolter going, 10 pts for bike

[tturen]

Funny GW often doesn't consider the value of the trades for weapons. I suppose you could do so of course.

37 points sounds fine although an even 40 might be more fitting for our group who tend to resist such changes.

[LukeG]

I was after bikes for +10 points each (reinforced armour for quad conversions) and I'm not too bothered. Cheaper would be better, but is it too good? Only playtesting will tell.

[Charly]

im planning on taking quite a few bikes in this army im working on at the moment anyway, it doesnt make a massive difference lowering the points by 10 pts in terms of the army list, either one extra bike in a squadron or one extra special weapon etc (keeping to a max pts limit of 200 per squad in my usual vp lowering style)

[James 40K Champ ***]

one problem we have is no1 in OGC has every used marine bikes effectivley, they might work well in the right situation supported by the right troops.

dont have a problem with them being a bit cheaper thou, so long as they dont become powerhouses.

Im more than happy with the necron skimmers, even paying my 75 pts a model, but then it is the only heavy gun i get!

[LukeG]

As a play test, I'll leave the points the same in the codex, using them with a reinforced armour upgrade. I dread to think what will come of the bikes in search of flavour like this

[El Capitan]

A reminder on rules for this:

Bike cost at 10 points

Space Marine bikers at 37 points (-10 from Codex)
Chaos Marine bikers at 35 points (-10 from Codex)
Ravenwing bikers at 45 points (-10 from Codex) ? im not too sure ravenwing should have any discount

Attack bikes would have no points reduction, they are already powerful enough

[bot]

bikes for 5p is what i do.
there's no reason that bike should be more expensive than jump pack.
eldar jetbikes point cost i leave alone. as well as orky twin autocan bikes.

[James 40K Champ ***]

bike shud be more expensive than a jump pack.. it can go faster, gives u extra protection, is more reliable (doesnt scatter)

[bot]

bike has also it's drawbacks. - you cannot hide riding it, it's less manoeuverable (turns, skids), cannot cross obstacles and last but not least turns into flying fireball after getting criticaly hit. the last abilty can also be counted as an advantage
and whan you compare these two technologies: hi tek gear vs greasy chopper? well...

jumpack has one drawback. it uses a wargear card slot.
i don't think it should be more expensive than 5p

[James 40K Champ ***]

5p is defo too cheap, imagine how many you could have all lined up just sitting there blasting bolters every turn... nearly as many as mariens but extra armour.

And what people are saying about the 'loss or shaken and rapid fire' is crap, because you become unbreakale and obviously can fire both bolters even after hurtling right accross the table, so in effect a bike enhances these two abilities

[Charly]

im happy with bikes at 37 points. but for ravenwing it shouldnt just be a straight minus 10 pts, needs a percentage reduction in line with the normal marine one. which gives 43 points for a ravenwing bike.

[James 40K Champ ***]

whats the difference? +1 BS and jink?

[Charly]

nah no increase in bs, just jink and expert riders, thats re-roll of skid turns and also no modifiers to hit when moving at fast speed.