Angry marines Email Response for Rawrtime

Rawrtime sent me an email with 3 Biker based lists for his Angry Marines army he is building and looking for feedback. Due to the fact my computer still hates me, I cannot quote the email directly so will summarise it and respond accordingly. The first list was Dual-Command Squad typical froggage style biker list as seen over on ytth when the marine codex was first released, Second was single command with a Librarian for psychic protection and null zone use, and the third was dual command packing plasmaguns. It should be noted that all the lists were strong lists, and whilst I do not play full biker marines, played well they can do quite alot of damage, so the list response below is based on things I've read, witnessed and had told to me. Out of all the lists sent to me by rawrtime, the Librarian List is the one I think has the most potential. It was:



Captain, Bike, Artificer armour, Relic Blade, Stormshield - 195
Command Squad, Bikes, 3xLightning Claws, 3 Storm Shields, Thunderhammer, 4 Plasmaguns - 385

Librarian, Bike, Null Zone, Avenger - 135

8 Space Marine Bikers, 2 MG's, PF, MM Attack Bike - 310
8 Space Marine Bikers, 2 MG's, PF, MM Attack Bike - 310
8 Space Marine Bikers, 2 MG's, PF, MM Attack Bike - 310

2 Attack Bikes with MM's - 100

Total = 1745pts.

So, a few things that stood out to me was a lack of Melta-bombs on the Captain. Sure, str 6 power weapons are fun but you want that tiny bit of extra flexibility always so as you can take on anything with your expensive character of doom. Otherwise, the list, along with the other two, just feels limited in how much suppression fire it can drop down and how many targets it can reliably engage each turn. Moreover, the Command Squad, whilst 4 Plasmaguns is awesome for MC's, Terminators and MEQ in general, won't cut it against the heaviest armour, so we need to fix that too. Finally, Avenger...why? I've never really understood why people will run Avenger on a Librarian Biker when then are far better powers and the army packs solid and reliable anti-infantry in the twin-linked relentless boltguns...surely throwing down awesome anti-tank firepower in the form of Vortex of Doom and it's str 10 AP 1 blast is the better option seeing as you can move and fire it on the bike. So, i came up with the list below as a suggested improvement:


1750pts Angry Marines for Rawrtime by Taak:

HQ 1) Captain: Bike, Iron Halo, Artificer Armour, Meltabombs, Relic Blade, Combi-melta - 195
Command Squad: Bikes, 1 MG+SS+LC, 1 MG+SS+TH, 1 PG+SS+LC, 1 PG+SS+TH - 405

HQ 2) Librarian: Bike, Null Zone, Vortex of Doom - 135

Troops 1) 8 Bikers: 2 MG's, 1 Combi-melta, incl. 1 Attack Bike with MM - 295
Troops 2) 8 Bikers: 2 MG's, 1 Combi-melta, incl. 1 Attack Bike with MM - 295
Troops 3) 3 Bikers: 2 MG's, 1 Combi-melta - 125

Fast Attack 1) 2 Attack Bikes with Multi-Meltas - 100
Fast Attack 2) 2 Attack Bikes with Multi-Meltas - 100
Fast Attack 3) 2 Attack Bikes with Multi-Meltas - 100

Total = 1750pts

So, what do we have? We have alot of double melta options with a few tri-melta or more options. We have a hammer unit in the form of the Command Squad, but primarily we have a more finesse style mobile shooting force. The lack of PF's on the Bikers is mitigated by the increased ability of popping armour at range as well as the fact that when combat squadding you have the option to run 2 Melta weapons in each combat squad giving you even more flexibility in the anti-armour. The Command Squad can still deal with MC's solidly, but can also deal with heavy armour both art range and in Close Combat more reliably. The fact we have 3 units of 2 attack bikes with multi-meltas is a real improvement to the force because we have much more solid suppression fire from the get go. It's not as solid as autocannon spam or massed missile spam, but moving 12" and unleashing a 24" ranged str 8 AP 1 melta shot is actually quite nice and can reach a massive distance on turn one. It also gives the list a bit more target saturation. The combi-melta on the Captain is BS 5 so that one shot shouldn't miss most of the time, but even so he has the ability to deal with heavy armour in combat as well.

Another option is to ditch the Artificer Armour and Combi-melta on the Captain to free up 25pts and to drop the 3 man melta bikers unit in favour of 3 More Attack Bikes, each filling out the Fast Attack units to 3 giving that magical triple melta will blow up any vehicle effect (whereas double melta is no where near reliable) at the expense of a small troop unit.

The army is 9-11 Kill Points at 1750pts as well which is a huge bonus and combat squadding allows for more troop options as well. At 32 models, it isn't huge, but still quite solid for a biker list in terms of the numbers. In any case, attaching the Librarian and Captain to each of the Troops choices makes each main block of bikers dangerous in combat as well as opposed to just resilient.

Hopefully it'll work out,

All the Best,

Auretious Taak.