Picking Those Last Few Units

I'm drafting up an army list for the monthly tourney at the FLGS. It's a 1600 point format, and we'll be using the Maelstrom of War missions.
I've decided to go back to my bike army for a while, so will be running a list that uses White Scars Chapter tactics.
I have the core of the army lined out:

Captain on bike, artificer armor, power sword
Command Squad on bikes, various upgrades and weapons
Four 5-man Bike Squads (one melta, one plasma, one flamer, one naked) with a couple of attack bikes sprinkled in
One full squadron of multimelta Attack Bikes
One squadron of two Landspeeder Typhoons

Once I hit this core, I have about 245 points left. I can't decide exactly what to take to close out the list.
I have some options I've put together:
  • Techmarine on bike (servo arm, signum) and a Tri-las Predator.
  • ML2 Librarian with Jump Pack and a 5-man Assault Marine squad with two flamers and a powerfist
  • 10-man Assault Squad with vet sergeant and powerfist, and two flamers plus upgrade the power sword on the Captain to The Burning Blade.
The Techmarine would add another 2+ save to go in a bike squad and the ability to bolster a terrain piece. I could also probably find the points to give him a power axe. But that's a lot of points for a single wound character. The Predator would provide the only shooting higher than S8, as well as the long ranged AP2, but would be the only vehicle without a Jink save and the only unit that wouldn't be able to move 12" and be fully effective.

The Librarian would add some psychic powers, probably Telepathy. The 5-man ASM squad would be his escort. But that's two fragile units combined into one equally fragile unit.

The full ASM squad is large enough to be durable and can be split into combat squads if necessary. The Burning Blade isn't necessary, but would be very impressive in chopping up damned near anything I run into with my Captain. I'm not overly worried about the single S4, AP2 hit he could take at the end of an assault phase. He'll be T5 and have a 4++ from his Iron Halo.

Right now, I'm leaning toward the 10-man ASM and the Blade, because we're playing Maelstrom missions with Tactical Objectives. The 12" move is very valuable for shifting around and maneuvering for objectives and also for keeping up with the bikes.


  1. I'd go 10-man ASM. Techmarine is neat but what do you really need bolstered when you're whole army is about maneuvering and not parking in a piece of terrain? Libby with 5 ASM is fragile like you said.

    1. The Techmarine was more for the 2+ save. He can soak a lot of krak missiles that would otherwise remove a bike apiece. Of course, that assumes that people tend to still use krak missiles. If I put him in the Command Squad, he can even FNP against the failed armor saves against krak missiles. Of course, it's a little redundant with the Captain and his 2+ armor, 4++ halo, and FNP to back those up.
      I guess I could take the Techmarine and a 7-man ASM squad, but would lose out on the ability to combat squad.
      I know people generally frown on ASM, but I love the little bastards!

  2. If your librarian should get invisibility, you would a very effective assault force and the small numbers wouldn't be as much of an issue. Plus the move would help secure objectives if need be

    1. Yeah, Telepathy is a great discipline for a jump pack Librarian, or any Librarian escorting a punchy squad. The trick is rolling the right powers, and then reliably activating them with an ML2 psyker. Against some armies, they can simply throw every die they have at your single casting of Invisibility. All the other powers in the discipline are minor compared to Invisibility.

  3. SpectreForeman7/18/2014 8:56 AM

    I would say the 10 man Assault Squad as well. They have the mobility to really help with the objectives. The Burning Blade is neat to see out there as well.

    1. I'm really interested to see how the Blade does. It's crazy expensive (55 points!), but S7 and AP2 at full attacks makes him into a pseudo-MC in melee.