Which codex puts down the best bike army on the table?
Well, lets just say it is a lot more complicated then it used to be. There are many variables which need to be considered during the course of this analysis.
Therefore, over the next few posts, lets break it down by selection and see who is ultimately the victor.
Army Wide Special Rules:
SM: Combat Tactics vs DA: Grim Resolve, Hit and Run, and Scout.
You are probably thinking... WOW! Dark Angel received ALL OF THE NEW RULES!?!?!
Well realistically, Dark Angels all ready had Fearless (better then grim resolve) and scout before hand. So the only new addition is Hit and Run.
As we all know, Combat Tactics allows bike armies to effectively redeploy and gain more movement by choosing to fail a leadership test and regroup automatically. This stops this unit from getting into assaults at the wrong time and from being overwhelmed. It has been equated to hit and run, but the key differences is when it happens. Combat tactics occurs at any any time a leadership test is needed while hit and run occurs at the end of the assault phase. Why is this a big deal? Well if you are taking a shooting oriented army why are you going to be in assault? For units like black knights, its a big deal, but for your average biker, hit and run is an ability which is deceiving in my opinion.
What about scout? This can go both way and really depends on play style. Personally I prefer a more defensively oriented build, therefore zooming forward isn't my usual go to. Especially since you can not charge first turn if you go first with scout. However, being able to re-deploy and get cover saves is pretty awesome. The added flexibility of having the option to outflank is also handy.
Stubborn is an interesting rule. It makes it so that the unit's leadership can no be modify during the shooting and assault phase. In the shooting phase there are only a handful of abilities which lower leadership. In the assault phase, your army should generally not be involved in assault. Even if one of your units is in assault, they do not have enough bodies to sustain the prolonged conflicts. Therefore, I am not sure how many times it is going to come into play. In addition, with leadership 8 (unless you pay for the sergeant) is not all that impressive. In tandem with hit and run, it is useful, but in my mind it shouldn't be a tactic which is relied on outside dedicated assault units.
Conclusion? Round one goes to Space Marines.
The ability to fallback and auto regroup is amazing. That ability makes shooting oriented bike lists tick.
What are your thoughts on this analysis?