White Scars 2000 Points

[FlangeNabber]

Hi all,
I'm currently putting together a White Scars all biker/speeder list for an upcoming tournament. I got completely blown away by my opponents in the last tournament so any advise would be welcomed so long as its relevant to the theme I'm trying to keep (the tournament is only about 60% battle points btw)

HQ
Korsarro Kahn on Moondrakken
Command Squad
Apothecary, Champion, Vet with Thunder Hammer, Flamer & Banner, 2 x Vets with LC/SS & Flamers

Troops
2 x 5 Bikes + MM Attack Bike, 2 Melta Guns, Combi Melta
2 x 8 Bikes + MM Attack Bike, 2 Flamers, Power Fist

Fast
Land Speeder Squadron -2 x Typoons/Heavy Bolters
Land Speeder Squadron -2 x Typoons/Heavy Bolters
2 x MM Attack Bikes

By my count that comes in at 2005 points.
I'm not sure about the 2 full size bike squads but found the short squads were too easily dealt with at a rate of a squad a turn by most opponents last time. Ive tried to keep a balance of anti tank and anti horde but might be best just focusing on one or the other with the Scars due to the low model count. Your thoughts???

[Son_of_Osiris]

I like it. I've been using my scars off and on for the last couple months. A few things I've learned:

Big bike squads (attack bike plus 7 or 8 bikes) is just too big a foot print on the table top. bikes benefit the most from manuverability and its gets really difficult to move mulitiple bike units around the board.

I tend to go with 6 bikes plus the attack bike for a total of 8 wounds... just my opinion, but I find that they're big enough to threaten targets and not small enough to get wiped easily.

When I take the command squad. I go with apothocary, 3 power weapon/stormshield guys, 1 thunderhammer/stromshield. Its a bit more costly, but the army really loses it's teeth if this unit gets killed early. With korsarro's furious charge, i've found that taking power weapons for the 4 attacks on the charge is better than the re-roll to wound with 3 attacks on the charge. Just a preference.

Though I do like speeders. I'd go with one speeder unit and two attack bike squads. People thumb their noses at the ol' heavy bolter attack bikes, but I'll tell ya, they come in pretty handy.

Good luck! it's always nice to see other scar players about

[FlangeNabber]

Thanks for the advise.
I hear what you mean about the large foot print of the bigger squads. I had thought about the option of combat squading the full size squads depending on the situation with the possibility of using the attack bike portion as a suicide anti tank unit or even as bubble wrap if the situation called for it.
Is that just a complete waste of time/points?
Next question is at what squad size does the power fist become a waste of points in bike squads? If the squad is dead before it swings the points would have been better elsewhere.

[Son_of_Osiris]

I was actually gonna say something about the fists earlier and forgot. I usually take fists in as many of my bike units as points permit. I found out the hard way how 5 freaking tactical marines can lock up a even a large bike squad in assault for turns on end. Plus the fist sure does come in handy when assaulting vehicles... which seems to happen more often than not.

To answer your combat squad question. I experimented a few times with splitting full units... but I discovered that no matter how you split them, the unit just loses something important. Thats why I'm hooked on 6 bikers plus attack bike... sometimes 5 and attack bike

The thing I like the most about the scars is how in every game I learn something cool about the army. Lately, I realized how awesome the oblong bike bases are for multi-charging. I've also had great fun with scout bikers... man, people do some crazy stuff to avoid 130pts of scout bikers... lol

Good luck!

[Splug]

I go with apothocary, 3 power weapon/stormshield guys, 1 thunderhammer/stromshield. Its a bit more costly, but the army really loses it's teeth if this unit gets killed early. With korsarro's furious charge, i've found that taking power weapons for the 4 attacks on the charge is better than the re-roll to wound with 3 attacks on the charge. Just a preference

While the rest of your advice is sound, I have to question this. The storm shield rules forbid a model from claiming the two single-handed weapon bonus. As lightning claws have the same cost as a power weapon, there is no reason to use power weapon / storm shield - you still only have three attacks on the charge, you just lose the reroll to wound with no benefit.

I've read a few posts about white scars / marine biker armies, and most of them point to not using Khan as your captain. Due to the bikers' mobility, you don't gain much by outflanking. If you wanted to full-reserve, you are still able to fly halfway across the table from your own board edge in one turn of movement. By contrast, Combat Tactics is excellent for bikers - the 3d6 fallback move is more reliable for getting out to ATSKNF distance, and one of your greatest offenses with a biker army is the swarm of relentless, twin-linked boltguns. That does come down to personal preference though - either you go for a more assaulty biker army with the expensive command squad and khan, then power fists on the sergeants, or go full shooting with combat tactics as a weaker hit-and-run rule for the whole army with all your points spent on special weapons upgrades.

[Son_of_Osiris]

[QUOTEWhile the rest of your advice is sound, I have to question this. The storm shield rules forbid a model from claiming the two single-handed weapon bonus. As lightning claws have the same cost as a power weapon, there is no reason to use power weapon / storm shield - you still only have three attacks on the charge, you just lose the reroll to wound with no benefit.
][/QUOTE]

Alas sir, you are correct. I guess I was used to the old stormshields. Either way, I stand by arming the entire command with storm shields. This is a real shame, because I think single lightning clawed models on bikes look silly. Thanks for the point out.