Attack Bike Squadron Loadouts
I've been toying with adding an squadron of Attack Bikes into my army to see how they do in 6th and I'm trying to work out how to arm them. My numbers all assume that this is a squadron of three identically armed attack bikes all firing only their heavy weapon (because the twin linked bolters will be the same for all configurations).
I've done some math, possibly even correctly and it appears to me that the Heavy Bolter bikes are vastly better against enemies with 4+ or worse armor at all toughnesses from 3 to 6. In that case, the HB squadron kills from 5-2 enemies while the multi-melta kills 1 & 2/3 enemies at 12" shorter range.
However against anything with an armor save of 3+ or better, in all toughness ranges, the multi-melta outperforms the heavy bolter. The multi-melta continues to turn in a solid 1 & 2/3 (1.66) kills while the heavy bolter ranges from 1.65 to 0.34 kills (1.65 is against a T3 enemy with a 3+ armor save).
Against TEQ, the multi-melta kills 1.10 baddies while the heavy bolter kills 0.85 to 0.34 enemies, making the multi-meltas better.
If you assume cover, then the heavy bolter is best against targets who would rely on the cover save against it as well as against T3 and T4 opponents with a 3+ armor save. Otherwise the multi-meltas produce a better result.
Against AV10 targets, the heavy bolter will cause on average two results, one glance and one penetration. Against the same target, the multi-melta will glance 0.34 and penetrate 1.32 for an average result of 1 & 2/3 hits in a turn of shooting. Thus the multi-melta has a better chance of penetrating, but the heavy bolter has better odds of doing something. Since most AV10 targets have 2HP this means the heavy bolter will likely kill an AV 10 target UNLESS this is a rear armor shot, something bikes can do reasonably well. This does not include a jink save which would reduce the result by something like 1/3 in most cases (but would still not change which result is better because the reduction would be uniformly proportional). If you assume that the multi-melta is within 12" of the target, then the multi-melta will get much better, causing a glance 1/36th of the time and penetrating in ALL other cases.
Against AV 11 targets however, the multi-melta out performs the heavy bolter in all aspects, and against anything with better armor than Av11, only the multi-melta has a chance of doing anything.
Based on the above, it seems that the ONLY time I would ever want to run heavy bolters is against things with no save against it or who are relying on cover to save against it. Against MEQ, it is rather iffy since the heavy bolter is only better against them if they are in cover and even then, not by a lot (a heavy bolter squardon will kill 1.32 MEQ in cover while a multi-melta squadron will kill only 1.1 MEQ). Thus, it seems that against orks, guard, nyds, the heavy bolter squadron is good, but against the MEQ that is half the game, the multi-melta is better.
Presently I field a thunderfire cannon and am about to finish painting my second which I will also field. I usually field a land speeder typhoon as well. They work pretty well against things like orks, guard, and nyds, but are less effective against MEQ. Multi-melta attack bike squadrons fill in a weakness in my army while heavy bolter squadrons give me more of the same as far as I can tell. Given that, does anyone see a reason why I would want to field the attack bikes with heavy bolters?
(As another aside, I recently switched my Typhoon to a heavy bolter. I did this because I only have one to field and thus, usually kept it in my backfield firing missiles. That meant the multi-melta on it was often out of range of the things I was shooting missiles at. I didn't want to suicide it (save that for the non-typhoon versions). So I added a heavy bolter there because it gets to shoot more. Assuming that was the right choice, this seems another argument for me to bring in the attack bikes with multi-meltas, isn't it?)
Thanks for your thoughts!
My tables, if they produce in html, are below:
I've done some math, possibly even correctly and it appears to me that the Heavy Bolter bikes are vastly better against enemies with 4+ or worse armor at all toughnesses from 3 to 6. In that case, the HB squadron kills from 5-2 enemies while the multi-melta kills 1 & 2/3 enemies at 12" shorter range.
However against anything with an armor save of 3+ or better, in all toughness ranges, the multi-melta outperforms the heavy bolter. The multi-melta continues to turn in a solid 1 & 2/3 (1.66) kills while the heavy bolter ranges from 1.65 to 0.34 kills (1.65 is against a T3 enemy with a 3+ armor save).
Against TEQ, the multi-melta kills 1.10 baddies while the heavy bolter kills 0.85 to 0.34 enemies, making the multi-meltas better.
If you assume cover, then the heavy bolter is best against targets who would rely on the cover save against it as well as against T3 and T4 opponents with a 3+ armor save. Otherwise the multi-meltas produce a better result.
Against AV10 targets, the heavy bolter will cause on average two results, one glance and one penetration. Against the same target, the multi-melta will glance 0.34 and penetrate 1.32 for an average result of 1 & 2/3 hits in a turn of shooting. Thus the multi-melta has a better chance of penetrating, but the heavy bolter has better odds of doing something. Since most AV10 targets have 2HP this means the heavy bolter will likely kill an AV 10 target UNLESS this is a rear armor shot, something bikes can do reasonably well. This does not include a jink save which would reduce the result by something like 1/3 in most cases (but would still not change which result is better because the reduction would be uniformly proportional). If you assume that the multi-melta is within 12" of the target, then the multi-melta will get much better, causing a glance 1/36th of the time and penetrating in ALL other cases.
Against AV 11 targets however, the multi-melta out performs the heavy bolter in all aspects, and against anything with better armor than Av11, only the multi-melta has a chance of doing anything.
Based on the above, it seems that the ONLY time I would ever want to run heavy bolters is against things with no save against it or who are relying on cover to save against it. Against MEQ, it is rather iffy since the heavy bolter is only better against them if they are in cover and even then, not by a lot (a heavy bolter squardon will kill 1.32 MEQ in cover while a multi-melta squadron will kill only 1.1 MEQ). Thus, it seems that against orks, guard, nyds, the heavy bolter squadron is good, but against the MEQ that is half the game, the multi-melta is better.
Presently I field a thunderfire cannon and am about to finish painting my second which I will also field. I usually field a land speeder typhoon as well. They work pretty well against things like orks, guard, and nyds, but are less effective against MEQ. Multi-melta attack bike squadrons fill in a weakness in my army while heavy bolter squadrons give me more of the same as far as I can tell. Given that, does anyone see a reason why I would want to field the attack bikes with heavy bolters?
(As another aside, I recently switched my Typhoon to a heavy bolter. I did this because I only have one to field and thus, usually kept it in my backfield firing missiles. That meant the multi-melta on it was often out of range of the things I was shooting missiles at. I didn't want to suicide it (save that for the non-typhoon versions). So I added a heavy bolter there because it gets to shoot more. Assuming that was the right choice, this seems another argument for me to bring in the attack bikes with multi-meltas, isn't it?)
Thanks for your thoughts!
My tables, if they produce in html, are below:
|
MM Attack Bike |
2+/5++ |
2+ |
3+ |
4+ |
5+ cover |
|
T3 |
1.10 |
1.66 |
1.66 |
1.66 |
1.10 |
|
T4 |
1.10 |
1.66 |
1.66 |
1.66 |
1.10 |
|
T5 |
1.10 |
1.66 |
1.66 |
1.66 |
1.10 |
|
T6 |
1.10 |
1.66 |
1.66 |
1.66 |
1.10 |
|
HB Attack Bike |
2+/5++ |
2+ |
3+ |
4+ |
5+ cover |
|
T3 |
.85 |
.85 |
1.65 |
5 |
3.3 |
|
T4 |
.68 |
.68 |
1.32 |
4 |
2.64 |
|
T5 |
.51 |
.51 |
1 |
3 |
2 |
|
T6 |
.34 |
.34 |
.66 |
2 |
1.32 |
|
|
AV10 |
AV11 |
|
MM Bike Squadron |
.34G/1.32P = 1.66 result |
.34G/1.0P = 1.33 results |
|
HB Bike Squadron |
1G/1P = 2.0 result |
1.0G = 1.0 results |
The above tables figured per a squadron of 3 bikes.
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