Monday, October 21, 2013

Retooling the Jetbike Army

Well, I got another game in with my Jetbike army. SeerK was kind enough to take a five Wave Serpent list against me at my request. I eventually conceded around Turn 4. I learned a ton about my list in the course of the slaughter. There's no way I can make the Jetbike list competitive in its current form, not tournament competitive anyway. Since getting a list that is capable of winning at least at the RTT level is the goal, I must take my lessons and return to the drawing board.
I've got some things cooking in my mind. The big thing that I feel like I was lacking was staying power with my Jetbikes. Thirty bikes spread across five units just doesn't work. The scoring elements are just too fragile when I roll a solid string of 2's for armor saves. The bikes are ok. But they suffer the same way that any elite, low-model count list does when the dice turn slightly sour.
Fundamental lesson learned. Check.
Now to retool, rework, and relaunch the army. I WILL make Jetbikes work in some fashion, but unsurprisingly, the first draft wasn't a keeper. No problem, this is a fun challenge.
Anyone have any suggestions? I'm back to the brainstorming phase.

6 comments:

  1. I think you should look at dropping some Vypers, and some jetbikes to pick up some form of hammer.
    At the moment you can outshoot anything slower than yourself, but I think the armies you will struggle most against are lots of flying MCs and mech tau and flyer heavy armies.

    My first thought is dark angels. Libby, squad of marines with missle + combi melta in drop pod, squad of terminators w cyclone missle launcher. The terminators can drop turn on, and force players to either exposing their rear or ignoring your jetbikes for a turn. They also really threaten weak troops that plan to go into reserve and come onto an objective.

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    1. Yeah, the Vypers are probably on the way out. Dark Angel allies would be interesting, unfortunately I am one of those players that is highly resistant to allies in nearly all forms. I like the concept of having to work with your main codex's shortfalls and overcome them with skilled play.
      Do people play mech-Tau? All I ever see is buff commanders and Riptides. :P

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    2. Another option then is to drop a fire prism + the vypers and add in a wraithknight. It's mobile, big and scary.

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  2. When you say you will make jetbikes work what do mean? Is there a minimum number of jetbikes you want in a list, a certain roll you want them to play? Do they need to be the lynchpin of the list or just a key element?

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    1. I don't exactly know what I mean by that actually. I guess at this point I will lean towards a key element. I would like maybe twenty of them I think at least.
      Basically, I want to get a list that could possibly be described as a "Jetbike list" that wrecks face.

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  3. So if you're gong back to basics, fundamentally what are you trying to achieve using a jetbike army? What are the inherent strengths and weaknesses in using jetbikes?

    Perhaps there is a concept army based on a swarm of small mobile scoring or contesting units. Maybe start with 6x 3 jetbikes and 3x swooping hawks and go from there? Using that as a base what is the core lacking and what could carry on the theme of hard to catch mobile units?

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