{"id":512,"date":"2009-02-05T08:26:00","date_gmt":"2009-02-05T08:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bluetablepainting.com\/blog\/?p=512"},"modified":"2009-02-05T08:26:00","modified_gmt":"2009-02-05T08:26:00","slug":"eldar-jetbike-advice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.bluetablepainting.com\/blog\/2009\/02\/eldar-jetbike-advice\/","title":{"rendered":"Eldar Jetbike Advice"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Shawn, <\/em><\/div>\n
As you know, I am a fan of the Eldar as well. And I have to say
that Jetbikes are a viable troops choice to be certain. In fact, I
rarely ever play a game that doesn’t have some element of a “Speed is
Life” style (Dire Avengers in Serpents, or Jetbike squadrons).<\/p>\n

As to whether or not they will fit in your army…that depends. I
will try to offer my insights and then, coupled with your own
experiences, you can make an informed decision.<\/p>\n

In my experience, jetbikes cannot go racing up the middle of the
board. EVER. Just because they have better toughness and armor than a
regular guardian does not mean you should use them as shock troops. Be
prepared t osacrifice a turn (or two) of fire to maneuver into position.
This was a lesson that took me a while to really use. And I still fall
into the “Shoot Every Turn” trap.<\/p>\n

At the very minimum, I take 4 Jetbikes in a squadron: 2 ‘regular’
bikers, a shuriken cannon biker, and a warlock. With the new edition,
conceal is a waste (your armor is better, and there’s turbo boosting if
you really need it). I tend to go with Embolden. This means you are
more likely to pass morale checks for casualties, and will make taking a
wound less catastrophic (You are taking a test every time someone
crashes).<\/p>\n

As you go up in numbers, you can substitute powers for the warlock
(though Embolden is always a good default). Destructor can be a big
surprise for your opponent when you drop a heavy flamer equivalent in
their laps. And enhance can really turn the tide if you decide to
assault (Not recommended, but has been useful for me in the past. I
still think conceal is bogus on jetbikes.<\/p>\n

I tend to go with 6 jetbikes + warlock, or 9 jetbikes + warlock,
depending on the rest of my force. I tend to bring a jetbike farseer
and either another farseer on jetbike, or an autarch on jetbike. The
Farseer allowing re-roll saves, and dooming a target squad is brutal
(could you imagine if Guide increased BS instead of re-rolls?. OUCH!).<\/p>\n

Based on the list you have in your blog, I would keep the night
spinners hidden (obviously) Put the dire avengers in wave serpents, get
a jetbike farseer, and fill up your troops slots with jetbikes. I would
kit out my war walkers with multi-shot weapons (Scatter lasers are a
favorite, but I tend to equip mine with Scatter laser\/Starcannon) and
have them outflank your opponent. (And get juicy side armor) Vypers
should have long range weapons or high rate of fire weapons (the dual
shuri-cannon load isn’t as effective anymore) So I would go with
missile launchers for range (and the blast not almost guaranteed to hit
SOMETHING) or shuriken cannon to keep em cheap. (Speaking of: I had an
idea for a vyper with an underslung turret. Take the Shuri-cannon
turret from a wave serpent\/falcon and mounting it underneath the vyper
(where the normal turret goes. Would it fit?)<\/p>\n

I hope this helped a little bit, and that I didn’t tell you
something you already know. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

Very Respectfully,
–Josh<\/em><\/div>\n

<\/em> <\/div>\n
Here’s a follow up:<\/strong><\/div>\n
The 60mm base only becomes a problem in urban fights. I tend to have the bikes at various altitudes to allow them to bunch up (Thanks for the doweling btw) and it allows for a much larger spread when your opponent is ‘shooting through’ your unit. (though I’m not sure how reliable that might be with “True Line of Sight” and its interpretations). Deployment can be a problem, but after you get to move, you should be ok. Plus, under the new 5th ed rules, you can choose which units are in reserve (re-read the missions and the reserve rules and you’ll see it) So coming in from the table sides can be a devastating tactic (especially shuriken cannons into tasty side armor)<\/p>\n

From my understanding, in 5th ed, turbo-boosting bikes give a cover save instead of invulnerable. So if you are turbo boosting, your cover save is better than conceal, if you are not your armor save is better than conceal. And if you are trying to avoid lascannons, plasma guns, and other high AP weapons, using ‘real’ cover will likely be more readily available and offer a better save than conceal. I would spend my points elsewhere. <\/p>\n

Jetbikes in 5th edition are great for the last minute objective snatching. They are more maneuverable in avoiding assaults and putting fire on specific targets (Isolate and destroy). With outflank and their outright speed they can be pretty good at getting to softer targets. A lot of my opinions are based on theoryhammer because I have only played a small number of games since 5th ed. <\/p>\n

Let me know what you find out. <\/p>\n

Respectfully,
–Josh<\/em><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Shawn, As you know, I am a fan of the Eldar as well. And I have to saythat Jetbikes are a viable troops choice to be certain. In fact, Irarely ever play a game that doesn’t have some element of a “Speed isLife” style (Dire Avengers in Serpents, or Jetbike squadrons). As to whether or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-512","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.bluetablepainting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.bluetablepainting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.bluetablepainting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.bluetablepainting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.bluetablepainting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=512"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.bluetablepainting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.bluetablepainting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.bluetablepainting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.bluetablepainting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}