Today I am here to talk to you about my favorite adrenalin junkie, faster than a speeding bullet bikers in the whole game! Reaver Jetbikes and how I find them useful. I am going to break it down into a few sections; Movement, Shooting, Assaults and what/how to take them. So pretty much a nice Reaver Jetbike tactic section if you will!
Movement:
These guys are fast, I mean what else in the current codices can move 36"! That is great to put them into instant threat range. Deploy them up 12" and they are at the enemies board edge turn one with a 3+ cover save none the less! Also with the ability to still damage infantry is amazing, you can start the pain before you even shoot! This will make your opponent think twice about that plan that he had to come after the rest of your army. They get a 12" movement and get to fire all their weapons, so think of all your weapons as an additional 12". Also don't forget about the Jetbike rule, they get a 6" movement in the assault phase. You only get this if you didn't do anything in movement that would prohibit movement (i.e. move flat out). Lastly what brings home the cabbage is the skilled rider rule, I can't tell you how many times I have weaved in and out of terrain saving these guy's hides and only lost a couple! So use this tactic to your advantage!
Shooting:
As I stated previously they pretty much add 12" to whatever they are shooting, so that means that they can pump out some damage! With splinter rifles built into the jetbike it's self, you either get 1 shot at 36" inches (12" move and 24" range) or 2 shots at 24" (do you need a reminder Bueller?). Jetbikes are relentless don't let anyone try to convince you other wise. Just take a squad of 6 right there and you have pretty much made an extra venom so to say. Now for the meat and potatoes of these guys, the Heat Lance. Str 6 Ap 1 Melta Lance 18". Are you serious! This is one of the best forms of melta out there! Yeah you can't really instant kill a whole lot out there, well there are other Archons out there... But hey it will blow up a land raider and a chimera all the same. You can also take a blaster for more points and less reliabilty for vehicles, hut you can get that support from the rest of your list!
Assault:
I personally have never gotten these guys into assault, but they have a good stat line to throw some punches. Factor in on the charge 3 attacks at str 3/4 depending on how well they have done in said game, your looking at some pretty scary numbers for your opponents to deal with. Toughness 4 will make them a bit more resilient but they are Dark Eldar, and we don't like boo boos. I usually just move them back 6" into terrain or out of assault or double tap range if I didn't pin the squad after they we ejected out of their vehicle.
Squad Layout:
I have seen all over the internets, so many at 3 bikes with a Heat Lance, that's good but it will be gone sooner or later. (I'm sure after people read this they will make your Reavers target priority one!) I usually take a squad of 6 with two heat lances it comes into a little bit more than 3 Blasterborn and a Venom. It gives me 2, 3 wound Heat Lances if you play your wound allocation right! And if the meta has taught us anything its that the more the merrier! Blasters are good for scouting out and killing tough units, but you should already have plenty of Dark Lances and Blasters in your list after all, you really need that AP1 in your list.
Well that is just my two cents on what I think is the best unit in the Dark Eldar Codex, by the way great looking models too!
-Deryk
