Attack Bikes or Land Speeders?

[Vishnoff]

Title says it all. I have mulling over the decision between fielding attack bikes or land speeders (they have have the same base cost) They both have their pros and cons, so I figured I may ned a second opinion (and a third and a fourth and a...). So here is my basic understanding of the two units. Attack bikes have toughness values, 2 wounds and can still turbo boost which equals an inv. save. While Land Speeders are skimmers, can deep strike, have armor values and cannot be locked in hth. Tell me what you think, which do you prefer and why?

[r4wr89]

personally i like the land speeder. 2 wounds is a great incentive [as well as a high toughness] for the attack bikes, but i would really prefer to go with a deep striking, well timed assault cannon/heavy bolter wave sweeping out 7 shots i think, a bit more expensive than the fully tooled attack bike but great against anything from gribblies to medium tanks :]

that's just me though, of course :]

[Ikarus]

What role are you going to be using these for?

Hm.. these two units are simliar.. i'd go bikes. thats me though.

[God_Grinder]

yeah definatly a tuff one. both are good. it realy just depends on the role you want them to play. speeders are more a surgical strike force, and bikes are a lil more cc oriented. i think the LS have a thumb up in my book.

[infiniti]

i prefer to take the land speeder with multi melta and heavy flamer as it is only 10pts bigger then a fully equiped attack bike and can take on any thing from guants to lee man russ battle tanks.

[Lord Commander Erus]

Originally Posted by infiniti

i prefer to take the land speeder with multi melta and heavy flamer as it is only 10pts bigger then a fully equiped attack bike and can take on any thing from guants to lee man russ battle tanks.

And it can deep strike, and it is a skimmer. So it is fairly durable, if used right.

[Four20edLogan]

I think their both awesome, so hard to say.

[experiment 626]

Originally Posted by r4wr89

personally i like the land speeder. 2 wounds is a great incentive [as well as a high toughness] for the attack bikes, but i would really prefer to go with a deep striking, well timed assault cannon/heavy bolter wave sweeping out 7 shots i think, a bit more expensive than the fully tooled attack bike but great against anything from gribblies to medium tanks :]

that's just me though, of course :]

the FAQ put an end to this though! if you deep strike a speeder, you can no longer shoot... (all deep striking vehicles now count as having moved over 12".)

as pointed out though, it depends on what you're wanting to do tactically... for anti-armour, i'd go with an attack bike w/multi-melta. sure you can take a land speeder w/multi-melta and heavy flamer for just a few pts more, but i don't like having an anti-tank unit which can have it's gun blown off!
in this regard, the attack bike wins out as you must kill it! also, you can safely 'hide' the attack bike within a normal bike squad too. give the bike squad a pair of meltaguns and now you've got a real quick-response anti-armour unit!

cheers!

[hairyyahoo]

land speeder...LANDSPEEDER!!!

kick in the afterburners and load the asscan! i just love the idea of speeders zipping accross the battlefield spitting bullets at all and sundry!

medication time i believe!

[DeAd_cOmMaNdO]

landspeeders

sexier

assault cannon

case closed

[experiment 626]

Originally Posted by DeAd_cOmMaNdO

landspeeders

sexier

assault cannon

case closed

... weapon destroyed result: cry!

cheers!

[hairyyahoo]

oh for the days when you could shout "ramming speed" and crash a weaponless vehicle into the enemies lines

[Ikarus]

Bikes

Turbo 24''


Next turn shoot then assault.


I see more damage there, unless you assault something... bad.

2 wounds and 3+ saves.

toughness 5. Its durable.

Yes a missile will instant kill, but a missile will blow up a land speeder too eh?

[DeAd_cOmMaNdO]

details details... if youre gonna crash and burn, do it in a good looking vehicle, is what i say

[Vishnoff]

Wow, I like all the responses. I was planning to use them for anti armor. So multimeltas would be the weapon of choice. I would like to thank Stitch for pointing out that speeders can "lose" their weapon if shot and not killed, while the bikes keep going till their dead. This has given me something to think about.

[Torquemada Coteaz]

Personally I'd say Land Speeders because, as said before, they do look better. (Unless you were to convert some sick-ass looking bikes, then kudos to you!)

Also, the Land Speeders can mount TWO weapons!

That said, who's your opponent (army) anyway?

[Cirative]

I field a squadron of Land Speeders, personally. They just seem tougher (and better armed) than bikes.

[Baron Spikey]

for my Blood Angels I fielded Bikes and an Attack Bike together to generally positive results. Used a heavy bolter fit and used them as a strong flanking punch against infantry- with BA rules they rocked in CC as well if they got the charge against smallish units.

With the Knights im going to try 2 Tornados instead, just like the idea of assault cannon armed 'aircraft' strafing the enemy- plus the Knights wont be focusing on close combat and flanking movements so any bike would be pretty unsupported.

[Krom_stormbrow]

Do you already have the models?

If you do, take them both out in battle and try them out for size.

Then I'd go with preference. Everyone will normally say LS. Well I like both. I find speeders pretty weak when it comes down to the nitty gritty. With the Ass cannon all your doing is rolling dice and hoping for a 6. So you throw them intoi somewhere they shouldn't with the hope the get rending. With the attack bike you have to think more clearly. It'll never have rending, so you start to think tactically. Where will it be most effective and how can I cause most pain... and fast.

So depends on your tactics. If your running bikes already, go AB... If not consider LST

[experiment 626]

the other big factor to consider; bikes make more durable scoring units.

so for example;
- 3 attack bikes w/heavy bolters = 6 wounds
cost: 150pts

- land speeders w/heavy bolters = 3 av10 skimmers
cost: 150pts

to kill a speeder all you need is a 5 or 6 result which even bolters can achive. those attack bikes however shrug off bolter shots fairly well thanks to their T5 & 3+ save + 2 wounds!

doing the math fairly quickly mind:

- 10 bolter shots vs land speeder w/BS4 unit; 7 shots hit, 1 glance w/33% chance of destroying the speeder.
- 10 bolter shots vs attack bike w/BS4 unit; 7 shots hit, 2 wound w/33% of suffering 1 wound.

the bikes also can't be prevented from shooting for a turn by a jammy shaken or stunned result either! so overall, i find that if you want a tougher and more durable, if slightly more predictable unit, take the bikes!

cheers!

[Lord Commander Erus]

Stitch.. What games are you watching to get so many hits? Surely not your games or mine!

If you have to break it down to pure math, then yes, bikes are more durable. But bikes are also static. The land speeder can deep strike, and with that land in a VERY opportune place and wreak a hell of a lot of havoc easily.

[experiment 626]

Originally Posted by Lord Commander Erus

Stitch.. What games are you watching to get so many hits? Surely not your games or mine!

If you have to break it down to pure math, then yes, bikes are more durable. But bikes are also static. The land speeder can deep strike, and with that land in a VERY opportune place and wreak a hell of a lot of havoc easily.

okay, so my dice rolling proved that math really isn't the exact science 99.9% of the planet's population belives it is! stitch runs off to cry now that all hope has been extinguished...


and you can't shoot the turn you deep strike with a speeder! you count as having moved over 12"!

cheers!

[Lord Commander Erus]

Originally Posted by experiment 626

okay, so my dice rolling proved that math really isn't the exact science 99.9% of the planet's population belives it is! stitch runs off to cry now that all hope has been extinguished...


and you can't shoot the turn you deep strike with a speeder! you count as having moved over 12"!

cheers!

Still. It scares the **** out of people.

Deep strikign land speeders.. they turn around to kill off the ass-can/melta/whatever

Meanwhile, you roll up in transports or what have you, pile out with bolters/pistols and double tap the bolt guns to make a niiiiice lawn fertilizer from enemy corpses.

*hugs Stitch* And no worries1 My dice rolls suck too! 3 years of EC and not a single kill or wound or scratch on enemy armor. and I used to run double digits of them!