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So iv'e been away recently. Well not away as such, more like lost under a mountain of plastic. Included in this mountain, were 5 ravenwing batallions. I spent a few hours clipping out all those parts and organising them all the while trying to decide what i was going to build with them. I want a pure bike (and speeder) army. A while ago i posted an idea to make a raptor legion army. Well, now its pure bikes and its white scars or ravenwing, and i really can't choose between them. Here's why:

Ravenwing list

H.Q
Master of ravenwing on landspeeder

Troops

Attack squadron(6), 2 flamers, attack bike (MM or HB), Speeder (HB,AC)

Attack Squadron(6), Apothecary, Plasma gun, Attack bike, Speeder

Attack squadron(6), 2 flamers, attack bike, speeder

Fast attack

Support squadron (2 speeders w/ MM)

1490 pts


----------------------------@1750pts:
add Attack squadron(6), 2 x melta, meltabombs (troops)

1735
----------------------------@2000pts
add Speeder & attack bike to attack squadron (troops)

support squadron(2) (speeder w/ MM, Speeder w/ MM & AC)

2000 pts

11/12/15 killpoints
9/10/12 scoring units

Notes
Good points of this list are the 14/14/10 armour landspeeder that the master has. Twinlink HB & AC @ BS 5, the master on landspeeder looks like a pretty lethal unit and also presents me with a fun modelling and painting project. In fact the thought of building and painting 9 landspeeders (4 scoring speeders!) is Probably swinging me towards this list. Scoring landspeeders, an interesting prospect, and i do enjoy painting them. The black and white of the ravenwing will enable some interestinbg designs on those speeders. Another point worth metioning is the deployment, and how the combat squads work. Look at the diagram below:

Ok, this is not a strategic diagram, i just mean to illustrate the difference in the numbers on the board, and how the combat squads break down.
In the ravenwing, the attack bikes operate independantly of the bike squads and landspeeders that make up the 10-man troops choice.
In one respect, this is very useful. You can drop the heavy bolter or multimelta on the attack bike (they are the same points in codex DA) and give it a dedicated role. The white scars must break down into 2, 5-man teams (attack bikes count as 2 men) while this gives you 2 nice fire teams, (flamers in 1 squad, HB in the other) it makes less sense to take the multimelta on the attack bike. In the ravenwing, the scoring landspeeders make up the last 2 men in the squad. also operating independantly, they fulfill the role that the heavy bolter attack bike team has in the white scars, raising the question of whether the ravenwing attack bikes get the melta instead (they also get the scouts rule).
The bikers themselves differ. The white scars have more numbers on the board and have the outflank rule.
The ravenwing bikers are significantly more expensive, but get the scouts rule for a free 12" move before the start of the game (as well as the option to outflank) a frightening prospect indeed! Also, these guys are fearless which is certainly useful to keep the small squads from taking LD tests from suffering casualties, but a disadvantage if caught in close combat. Something i obviously want to try and avoid with the ravenwing list.

So, is all the white scars have going for them an advantage in numbers?

White scars list

H.Q

Khan, Moondrakkan

Command squad, bikes, champion, power weapons(4)

Troops

Bike squad(8), attack bike, 2 flamers
Bike squad(8), attack bike, 2 flamers
Bike squad(8), attack bike, 2 flamers

Fast attack

Landspeeder squadron(3) 3 x multimelta, typhoon launcher

1500 pts

----------------------------@1750pts
add attack bike squadron (2)
Landspeeder squadron (2) (2xMM & 1 AC)

1750 pts

----------------------------@2000pts

add 1 attack bike to squadron
Bike squad (5) 2 flamers
1 landspeeder to squadron w/ multimelta

2000 pts


9/11/12 killpoints
6/6/7 scoring units

So thats the white scars list. No scoring landspeeders here. They do have the command squad though..... with khan they get furious charge and hit & run, Feel no pain from the medic, as oppposed to the ravenwing aptohecary which allows you to ignore 1 failed save per turn ( hence why i put a plasma gun in the squad!).
So a powerful close combat unit the like of which the ravenwing could only dream of. How i wish you could give veterans or command squads bikes in codex DA :(
Apart from cheaper bikes, the white scars have a small points saving on landspeeders and can take attack bike squadrons.

What i need to know is:
What are peoples opinions on which is the better list, if either, AND.....
Mongol hunter theme with dusty white bikes and red tribal markings. Khan conversion (which i've already done - I'll post it later!), Space wolf parts to make them look a bit more feral. OR Sleek black bikes, jungle ruins theme, gothic style black and white freehand on all those landspeeders (raven silhouettes or something...) and all those wonderful accessories from the ravenwing boxes.


Help,

Help!

I can't choose.....

Alaitoc eldar 2000pts
This army is basically finished, got some finishing touches on the transports and hawks to go.

HQ

Farseer, Spirit stones, doom & guide
Consistently useful, the farseer accompanies the dire avengers to guide their critical bladestorm and doom anything dangerous.



Autarch, wings, deathspinner, mandiblasters, power weapon
She flies with the hawks, and compliments them well. To be honest, i just wouldn't field her without the hawks (or vice versa).
Good little unit and fairly cheap this autarch has led a charmed life. Really in every game she always does something despite my often lazy deep striking placement (or unlucky scatter).

Elites:

Howling banshees (6), exarch, executioner, acrobatic, warshout.
I wrote in detail about how these get used here.
Simply put: they and the dragons (mounted in falcons) are elite seeking missiles, both will probably only do 1 turn of actual killing in the course of a game, but you can bet it will be decisive.


Fire dragons (5) (picture shows them with exarch, which i don't always use)
Simple little fire dragons, they know their place and are prepared to die for the cause.

Sorry about the bad photo, couldn't seem to get a good one of these guys.

Troops:

Pathfinders (6)
Great little unit for harassing and pinning the enemy. Also can sit on or near objectives. Have a look at my pathfinder Tactica, or painting guide to see more detail on this unit.


Dire avengers (10), exarch, bladestorm.
Mounted in a serpent, these guys will do most of the hard work clearing enemies off objectives with a guided bladestorm.


Wave serpent, Missile launcher, shuriken cannon, spirit stones
Wave serpent picture coming soon

Wraithguard (10), warlock, singing spear, conceal, spiritseer
I have been using this unit @2000 pts for a while now. They probably cost too many points for what they do, but if you have a unit fully painted, well.... its hard not to use them. :)

Picture coming soon!

Jetbikes(4) shuriken cannon.
I had these at first because i found 4 for very cheap on ebay (bnib). i dont like the models much, but with some new guardian heads and falcon pilot bodies they look ok. They mostly hide until they are needed to plug a gap or make a dash for an objective, but with the shuriken cannon they can do a bit of shooting now and then :)

Picture coming soon

Fast attack:

Swooping hawks (5), exarch, hawks talon, skyleap, intercept
Often critcised unit, but one that has earnt its place in my army. Their weapons are effective enough against massed infantry, and not many units are as effective as these guys against against AV14 and particularly monoliths. The 'never worse than 4+ to hit a vehicle in close combat' rule (intercept) is well worth the points if you plan on using their haywire grenades.

Picture coming soon

Heavy support:

Wraithlord, eml, shuriken cannon
A versitile and reasonably cheap wraithlord loadout. Built to support the wraithguard advance. More detail here.



Falcon, holofield, scatter laser, spirit stones
Banshee transport. I like falcons, they look cool, move fast, carry aspect warriors, are hard to kill and pop tanks and infantry. Also they are a powerful ramming vehicle when all else is lost. If you can get a 24" move its strength 10.

Picture coming soon

Falcon, holofield, scatter laser, spirit stones
Dragon transport. Second favorite weapon is the starcannon if you can spare the points. 4 ap2 shots a turn from this tank tends to scare meq players.

Picture coming soon

1995 points