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Having put in a dozen or so games with the new codex, I gotta say that lootas have been pulling more than their weight for the points. I've only had a couple of rounds of shooting where they fired 15 shots, usually its 30 and rarely 45. so far they've managed to glance a couple of basilisks to death through sheer numbers, wipe out whole squads of tau, eldar, ork, even marine guys from sheer amounts of shooting.

I don't know if it is just good positioning on my part, but they have yet to take enough casualties (I field 15) to where they need to take morale and risk running off the board.

yes this probably should be in the ork tactica, but I didn't want it to be buried.

I wanted to find out how they're fairing with other ork players, or if you've been on the receiving end how they did.

NaZ

They have been fantastic for me so far, any vehicle under av 13 dies almost every time, im 4 for 5 out of falcons, of course those 4 times i did manage 8 or more glances. They regularly target and destroy dakkafexes. Ironically the things that do best against them are either hordes like gaunts who dont take enough wounds to really affect, or things like full squads of marines. Luckily everyone around here is a power gamer, and that falls right into the lootas sweet zone. I do frown when more than 1 av 14 vehicle makes the scene however.

I've been on the recieving end of things but here is what I've noticed.
Regardless of army I have to tip toe around them and try to try them up/ destroy them before I can really get anyhting done.
They're deadly, but they can be dealt with.

I faced a large squad of them today, and they didn't do terribly much. I believe the managed to kill about 3 Dev Marines and a Terminator, then got wiped. Certainly not their points value.

Their problem is that they're a very shooty unit that dies pretty easily and runs pretty easily. It makes taking them out too attractive. There's a lot to recommend them, and I think I'll be including a few in my list, but I'm not sure they're all that critical.

but they might be just the right unit to put a KF Mek behind.

I've been running a battle wagon, mek with SAG, and 15 lootas parked in cover and its been great success. just a TON of firepower coming down. but to deal with their fragility I have to put them at distance and accept that things will be out of range just to keep them safe.

NaZ

The biggest effect of my lootas has been psychological. They keep my opponent on the defensive and stop him from moving boldly out into the best lanes of fire to pop my trukks. They've been very useful in all the games I've had them in, except on Vs. Nidzilla where they got blown off the table very early.

plyaed alot of games with them, and they are well worth it. stick them in some 4+ cover, and i pack a SAG mek with them for statying power.

They're just like regular Orks, except they cost about 2.5 more points and they come in small and vulnerable mobs. A Land Speeder with a Heavy Flamer, or a Terminator Squad with a Heavy Flamer (my favourite), or a Haemonculi on a Jetbike with a squirt gun (dang name escapes my mind), or Crisis Suits with Twin-linked Flamers and a Shield Generator, or a Hellhound, or Chosen with Flamers, or Stormboyz led by Zagstrukk, or Scuttlers, or Raveners, or basically anything that can get close and messy with them.

Basically they'll shock for the first few games until your regular opponents start to plan around killing them first.

Nurglitch wrote:They're just like regular Orks, except they cost about 2.5 more points and they come in small and vulnerable mobs. A Land Speeder with a Heavy Flamer, or a Terminator Squad with a Heavy Flamer (my favourite), or a Haemonculi on a Jetbike with a squirt gun (dang name escapes my mind), or Crisis Suits with Twin-linked Flamers and a Shield Generator, or a Hellhound, or Chosen with Flamers, or Stormboyz led by Zagstrukk, or Scuttlers, or Raveners, or basically anything that can get close and messy with them.

Basically they'll shock for the first few games until your regular opponents start to plan around killing them first.

This is why you take things like a ton of footslogging troops which deploy in front of the Lootas, which make deepstriking near them suicide.

They're effectively "Screened" from assaults or fast template weapons by the mass of Boyz around them. All you need for them to do is neutralize opponents tanks/skimmers for a few turns before you get within assault or just general shooty range, which is about the first 2-3 turns.

Yeah, people tried that at first. Heck, I tried that when I first took Lootas because they are obviously a priority target. What it means is that your army splits itself in two and both halves get picked off piecemeal. Against armies that pick other armies apart piecemeal, like my Dark Eldar, it's basically helping out your opponent. Against armies with AV14 vehicles they're a waste of points. Against a Deep Striking Monolith they are meat.

Of course the natural learning course of strategem and response meant that people went back to hanging back with their Orks, which doesn't really work anymore now that Shootas have a range of 18". That just meant that instead of assassinating the Lootas, you could outshoot them with the heavy weapons in your army. Barrage weapons in particular really benefit from having small groups of expensive models to hammer when faced with Orks.

Don't get me wrong, they're a nice novelty act, but they're just another live option in a Elites section stocked with live options, and the fact that they're just Orks with Heavy Weapons really evens out the ludicrous power those weapons can kick out.

Nurglitch wrote:Yeah, people tried that at first. Heck, I tried that when I first took Lootas because they are obviously a priority target. What it means is that your army splits itself in two and both halves get picked off piecemeal. Against armies that pick other armies apart piecemeal, like my Dark Eldar, it's basically helping out your opponent. Against armies with AV14 vehicles they're a waste of points. Against a Deep Striking Monolith they are meat.

Of course the natural learning course of strategem and response meant that people went back to hanging back with their Orks, which doesn't really work anymore now that Shootas have a range of 18". That just meant that instead of assassinating the Lootas, you could outshoot them with the heavy weapons in your army. Barrage weapons in particular really benefit from having small groups of expensive models to hammer when faced with Orks.

Don't get me wrong, they're a nice novelty act, but they're just another live option in a Elites section stocked with live options, and the fact that they're just Orks with Heavy Weapons really evens out the ludicrous power those weapons can kick out.

I don't quite follow. I don't "hang back with my Orks". They advance as a horde, but by their nature, and the KFF that protects them, they get deployed centrally in a large mass. The guys in the back, even after moving forward, are still far enough back that going after the Lootas with deepstrikers is risky.

Also because of the cover, they're pretty good if you deploy them right.

Yes, against liths' they're food, everything in the Ork army is almost except the Boss. But generally I can find a good use for them for the first few turns in the games I've used them.

They also perform exceptionally vs. Godzilla Nids and Mech Eldar for when you go play in tournaments.

Whatever you do is irrelevant to what people in my gaming group tried. They tried hanging back with their armies to give the mobs of Loota Boyz the benefit of a full army backing them up and it just mean that the Orks got stuck in a firefight they'd only win if lucky.

Now, if you, Voodoo Boyz, decide to advance in a large mob centered on a Kustom Force Field so that the troops bringing up the rear can make things risky for Deep Striking troops to assassinate the Lootas, well, that's true. But my experience and that of my gaming group is that while those in the rear of the advance can turn around and make life risky for the Deep Striking troops disposing of the Lootas, that splits up the Ork army by dividing its firepower. And that's, of course, supposing that the Deep Strike unit doesn't land anywhere the rearguard Orks can't shoot, such as out of range or behind anything blocking the line of sight. It doesn't always happen, but it does and it prevents the utility of the strategy in question.

Of course I won't deny the utility of Lootas against one-trick rending ponies like so-called "Godzilla" Tyranid armies and Eldar with a high proportion of vehicles, but even these armies have ways 'around' Lootas. Eldar Missile Launchers, for example, and Raveners, and Spore Mines, and so on. It's definitely worth taking a unit of Lootas if you know these armies are going to be around, as in tournament situations, but that's only so your opponent has the opportunity to fixate on them to the detriment of winning the game.

Lootas are pretty damned good at killing destroyers as far as I can tell. About the only thing Orks have that can deal with them from range.

I don't actually think Lootas are that good against Godzilla, because I don't think trading your lootas for a dakkafex is a good trade. They're alright, but nothing to write home about. Against any zilla list you'd be better off with more shootaboyz.

Depends on terrain. If you can get in good terrain with LOS on where the Dakka Fex's are or will have to go, then they're golden.

Just from what I've seen from playing Godzillas is that if you can kill the Dakka Fex's, especially before they really start to unload their shots for a few turns, then the army really starts to fall apart.

I disagree with nurglitch. they aren't as paper thin as you're making them out to be. and unanswered they are devestating to atleast a good chunk of an army.

I've had people try to deepstrike against them. they had better make sure the mek and the battlewagon cant see them or they get to eat 2 pie plates. combined with the ability to move a trukk 13-25 (I keep one midfield for either wave 2 attacks or counter charges) and I've so far been able to deal with deepstrikers quite adequately.

NaZ

I don't think they're "paper thin", whatever that means. I think they have the same resistance to damage as ordinary Ork boyz but at 2.5 times the cost. Combined with their dangerous natures, this fragility makes them a priority threat.

Yup, they are a priority threat. But I think used in combination with the rest of your army they are a useful unit. the high volume of fire cancels out crappy ork BS.
They may be a priority target for my opponent, but that's good, because I don't plan my battles around them. They sit at the back, and if my opponent doesn't do something, will kill something at least every other turn. If he tries to do something he will often leave himself vunerable to my other units.
So they're useful, but not an I win button. I certainly think they're the strongest option in the Elites section.

Well, that's the thing. They're the best option in the Elites section under specific conditions and for a specific strategy. I've found that in most arguments about which Army List Entry is the best option for a Force Organization Chart slot tend to be false dilemmas. Rather than maxing out on any particular choice, choices in a particular section seem complementary such that the decision is not whether to choose one over the other, but about how to balance them so that you get the best of each. In codicies like Codex Orks this is done best because there are more options than there are slots to be filled so some roles will need to be filled in with other slots in the army.

I don't advocate maxing on lootas unless you're trying for a very shooty or deathskull themed list. One mob is plenty. Elites does have some other good stuff, but I think lootas stand out because they do things that the rest of the orks don't do very well.

I agree with daboss. I doubt I'll even take a 2nd squad unless I'm playing at more than 2000 pts.

they're a great distraction when there are 4 truks and 20 stormboyz that WILL assault on the 2nd turn more often than not.

same reason I take a battlewagon. every shot at that AV14 front is one less at a poorly armored trukk filled with boyz.

and yet unanswered, they cause tremendous havoc.

I dunno my success might be due to the fact that our local GW likes to set the terrain up and leave tons of 4+ cover area terrain on both sides of the board. its much tougher to kill them when they're parked in area terrain in a back corner with a good firing lane on 1/2 the board.

NaZ

Yes, I'm taking a squad of ten to a tournement next weekend and I'm curious to see how they'll manage in the different terrain set ups I'll be playing in.
For that matter, my trukks will be pretty screwed if they don't have a lot of size 3 around to lurk behind.

I just played a 1000 point game with my Ig against Orks with a 15 man loota squad. They didn't wreck me, but they did keep my russ pretty much facing their direction.

Other than that, with pretty subpar rolls, they didn't threaten much except sitting in a snipe war with two squads of guard.

They are quite good, but because they seemed to rely on hiding in cover, so they are pretty limited by what the terrain is like and what they can see.

daboss.. take 15 if at ALL possible!!!!

being able to take 5 casualties before rolling below ld 10 is HUGE for them!

NaZ

Lootas are a fantastic option, but I wouldn't consider maxing my army on them for just that reason; they're going to attract a lot of attention, and they're awfully fragile. I'd never consider not taking them, though; the range on them and the firepower is too good to pass up, and when you back them up with some other shooting (SAG mek, killkannon wagon) they can provide some fierce fire support for the boys moving down the board.

I also find they excel in smaller games; 500-1000 Pts, these guys are a force to be reckoned with.

heh that is VERY true jumbley.. i PWND a combat patrol tournament with this 401 pt list

15 lootas
26 shoota boyz, 2 rokkits

was great fun

in the 1000 pt games I've played they are just devestating.. you don't see much av 14 at those point levels and they eat up squads pretty good.

NaZ