Bikes "may be taken..."

[gwensdad]

One of my "win the lotto" dreams is to make a marine company that's mostly bikes-namely the White Scars 8th as 6 bikes squads, then 3 assault squads. But then I got thinking, could you do an all bike army per Codex: Space Marine? My hang up comes with the rule for marine captain on bike, namely "bike squads with 5 or more models may be taken as troops." Does this mean:

1) I can take 9 squads of 5+ bikes, but only 6 count as scoring units (i.e. troops)

or

2) I can only take 6 bike squads because when I add the captain, bike squads become troops

or

3) Something I haven't thought of.

[Nabterayl]

I read it as #1: up to 6 bike squads of 5+ marines as Troops, and up to 3 bike squads with no special restrictions as Fast Attack.

[Valdore]

Wrong forum, you want rules for this

However, I would take it to be the first. It only mentions that they can be taken as troops, it says nothing about fast attack options, so I would say the fast attack unit entries still stand.

[gwensdad]

Wrong forum, you want rules for this

CRAP! I thought I clicked on rules. Oh great and all powerful mods-please be merciful on this poster and moveth the thread....

However, I would take it to be the first. It only mentions that they can be taken as troops, it says nothing about fast attack options, so I would say the fast attack unit entries still stand.

If that's the case, I'd need a way to tell the "scorers" and the "Fast attack" apart. (hey, that's a modeling question! yeah!)

[gilbert93dt]

Simply add a flag onto a few bikes in each of the scoring units.

[catalyst2]

My club plays it as #3. The first six 5-man bike squads count as troops and the next three 5-man bike squads in the Fast Attack Slot also count as troops.

You know, now that I write that, it doesn't sound very logical .....

[patzgcrux]

I'd just go and field a Ravenwing all bike army, worked for me when I was playing.

[Lerra]

Locally, we play it that you can buy the bikes as either troops or as FA. Troops are scoring, FA are not. So for example, you could take 3 squads of scoring bikes, 3 tactical squads, and 3 squads of FA bikes.

If you're looking to run an all-bike army, the Ravenwing box is the best price. The Ravenwing bits are all extras that you leave off the model if you want to run white scars.

[Valdore]

Simple way to mark them out:

Marines tend to have their troop type displayed on a shoulder pad, paint 6 squads up with the troops logo, and 3 with fast attack. Sorted And looks good as well, plus your opponent can't complain about it not being clear which were scoring, and you wouldn't even have to explain it much, just say that it is a standard way of designating them, which it is

[Duke Rich]

I don't know if it's worded differently in the Vanilla Marine book, but in the Space Wolves book (the FAQ actually) they talk about taking Wolf Guard as Troops (because of Logan Gimnar), because they count as Troops, you can't choose to take them as Elites.