Space marine bike questions

[derek]

So big question for me is this when you guys build bike armies and have grav guns on stuff how did you get said grav guns if the bikes don't come with the spur option?

 

And are the space marine bike armies still viable outside of white scars

[pretre]

You bits buy them or get a lot of tactical boxes.

[derek]

Ah. So then another question do the bikes have alot of other weapon options for them. And can attack bikes have any other weapons besides the multi melta and the heavy bolter

[pretre]

Bikes can take specials: melta, flamer, grav.

 

Attack bikes are hb or mm, iirc.

[AbusePuppy]

So big question for me is this when you guys build bike armies and have grav guns on stuff how did you get said grav guns if the bikes don't come with the spur option?

 

And are the space marine bike armies still viable outside of white scars

 

There are a couple decent guides to converting Grav Guns on the cheap that are pretty easily found; many third-party manufacturers also make some sort of Grav replacement weapon. Buying them off Ebay is a rather pricey prospect, but possible- if you're in a larger city it's entirely possible you can beg, borrow, or steal some off other people at the game store during a bitz trade. Or you can just make your own out of whatever parts you got, because as long as you make a reasonable effort most people won't care.

 

White Scars are easily the best bike army, and unsurprisingly so, but Iron Hands (and/or Clan Raukaan) do pretty decently as well. Raven Guard are a bit meh, but could be alright I suppose. Ultramarines work pretty well for just about anything, even if they lack a particularly focused bonus.

 

 

Ah. So then another question do the bikes have alot of other weapon options for them. And can attack bikes have any other weapons besides the multi melta and the heavy bolter

 

As pretre notes, Bikes have access to all of the usual special weapons; Attack Bikes, however, only get the HB and MM (and only the MM is really worth taking.)

[derek]

Ah well I do have ultra marine stuff kinda all I got. I do live in the Vancouver area and I would hope people around here and in the Portland would potentially have a bunch of them that I could acquire from them. I know white scars are awesome I'll just go with ultra marines for now I hate painting white

[Guest]

Also plasma for the bikes.

 

Notable the special weapon bikers don't replace the TL bolter, they get both. Makes for an extremely simple conversion, as you just take the torso on up from an PA marine and add it to the biker legs.

 

Attack bikes retain 1 TL bolter, too.

 

Scout bikers also have those rapid fire grenade launchers (which replace the TL bolter).

 

DA black knight bikers have the TL plasma guns in place of the bolters (called plasma talons)

 

Anyway, as mentioned, you can get all the bits from other sets.

[Guest]

Ah well I do have ultra marine stuff kinda all I got. I do live in the Vancouver area and I would hope people around here and in the Portland would potentially have a bunch of them that I could acquire from them. I know white scars are awesome I'll just go with ultra marines for now I hate painting white

If color is the only reason you don't want to play a chapter, consider fielding a successor chapter.

 

Just going off lexicanium, list of WS successors:

 

Destroyers (Yellow and black)

Mantis Warriors (Green)

Rampagers (Red)

Iron Talons (unknown)

Dark Hunters (dark blue)

Marauders (Yellow)

Sons of Jaghatai (Dark purple)

Storm Lords (white and red)

Solar Hawks (Unknown)

 

Unknown paint themes mean you can adopt the "official" stance, but still pick your own paint theme....

[WestRider]

I've also seen some people use third-party stuff, or things like the Forge World Volkite Calivers, as their Grav Guns. As long as you're consistent with a Counts As like that, most people are cool with it.

 

I could also see a substantial Biker component working in a Salamanders list with Vulkan, but you'd need somewhere for Vulkan himself to go as well. That would obviously focus more on Meltas and Flamers than Grav, too.

[Guest]

I've also seen some people use third-party stuff, or things like the Forge World Volkite Calivers, as their Grav Guns. As long as you're consistent with a Counts As like that, most people are cool with it.

 

I could also see a substantial Biker component working in a Salamanders list with Vulkan, but you'd need somewhere for Vulkan himself to go as well. That would obviously focus more on Meltas and Flamers than Grav, too.

I'm using Shuriken Catapults, though to be fair, I only intend to field 4 grav guns and 2 of those are metal RT models with shuriken catapults built into them.

 

I'm not really a huge fan of the grav weapons.