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IMHO, Scatter Lasers are a better vehicle weapon choice for dealing with Infantry, hands down. For those who don't know, a Cannon is S6 AP5 Assault 3, and a Laser is S6 AP6 Heavy 4.

Most armies use 3+ or 4+ saves, which means the AP of either weapon makes no difference. In most horde armies, the saves are 6+, with the exception of certain tyranid units. Squad of Boyz? 6+. Squad of Gaunts? 6+. This means that the laser gets an extra shot S6 while still being able to ignore most saves, and against lower saves it still gets an extra S6 shot that might cause a wound. The only time I might see a Shuriken Cannon used is if you were short on points and needed something on the cheap. For most vehicles the Cannon is 5 pts, as opposed to the 15 pt Laser.

What do you guys think?

With guardains - run them into range then move them (whereever-back, forwards) while firing. Use shruiken cannons. Too cheap. Scatter lasers either stick on wraithlords as a compliement to a heavy weapon (rather than 2xheavy weps..i like my lords versitile) or go for warp spyders for massed str 6 firepower.

But I voted for the SAG

It really depends on your style/tactics/etc.

i have seen 3 outflanking war walkers with 2 cannons on each eat through SM's and nids alike. You really have to play the cannon smarter, not harder, the lack of range put people off, but they are cheap and can hurt people.

If you are talking about vechiles, then there are better options, eg. startcannon, EML, etc. but most have the choice to upgrade the TL catapults for the cannon, which can help.

Squig_herder wrote:It really depends on your style/tactics/etc.

i have seen 3 outflanking war walkers with 2 cannons on each eat through SM's and nids alike. You really have to play the cannon smarter, not harder, the lack of range put people off, but they are cheap and can hurt people.

If you are talking about vehicles, then there are better options, eg. startcannon, EML, etc. but most have the choice to upgrade the TL catapults for the cannon, which can help.

Well the starcannon is mainly anti-Heavy Infantry, I was thinking of anti-Basic Infantry. Whenever I look at the two it always seems like the laser does the cannon's job, except better, but I guess it's all about individual play styles. Plus giving everything lasers could get expensive pretty quickly (3 cannons for every 1 laser).

Is the EML really that good? The good blast attack intrigued me, and it gives a lot of tactical flexibility with the choice of anti-vehicle or anti-infantry.

PestilenceBlossom wrote:

Is the EML really that good? The good blast attack intrigued me, and it gives a lot of tactical flexibility with the choice of anti-vehicle or anti-infantry.

Its not that its the best of the best and all that, but it has a good flexability.

They really complement a tanks weapons, eg falcon, the falcon has a S8 AP2 gun on it, that can be used for both troops and tanks, the EML complements this with tanks S8 AP1, or troops S4 AP4, blast, pinning. The EML allows you to take on most units/tanks with the knowledge that you have a high chance of doing something

Shuriken Cannons on Wave Serpents, Jetbikes and the odd Vyper (which should be taking EML). Scatterlasers have range, put them on everything else.

if 3 war walkers have 6 shuriken cannons and outflank, they kill hordes very fast and are dirt cheap. although you lose 6 shots you save 60 points or more. the AP5 can really help against extended carapace on nids that think it helps or stealers without it [they have a base 5+] i personally love the shuriken cannon and its cousin the starcannon over the scatter. but thats just my style, i will take the scatter to tornis but im toying with the idea of taking something different

Squig_herder wrote:

PestilenceBlossom wrote:

Is the EML really that good? The good blast attack intrigued me, and it gives a lot of tactical flexibility with the choice of anti-vehicle or anti-infantry.

Its not that its the best of the best and all that, but it has a good flexability.

They really complement a tanks weapons, eg falcon, the falcon has a S8 AP2 gun on it, that can be used for both troops and tanks, the EML complements this with tanks S8 AP1, or troops S4 AP4, blast, pinning. The EML allows you to take on most units/tanks with the knowledge that you have a high chance of doing something

Krak EML = Str8 ap 3. Its superiour than other missile launchers out there for the plasma/frag varient being AP4 not 6. Its not str 8 ap 1 though

In terms of STR6 hits in general, contenders we have

-Warp spyders
-Shrui cats
-Scatter lasers
-Star cannon
-Shadow weavers.

1 weaver with 2 prisms for dedicated anti-tank & anti TEQ.. Spyders for a distracting fast attack with an annoying JSJ ability.. mobile shrui cats on scoring jetbikes and scatter lasers.. Maybe some TL jobbies on transports for your elites OR some scatter lasers & shrui cats on vypers... Tis my thinkings..

PestilenceBlossom wrote:Whenever I look at the two it always seems like the laser does the cannon's job, except better, but I guess it's all about individual play styles. Plus giving everything lasers could get expensive pretty quickly (3 cannons for every 1 laser).

When you are looking at weapons like this, you can't make comparisons like that (3 cannons for ever 1 laser). The reason is that you can't just buy cannons (or lasers) by themselves; you have to buy a unit to put them on. If you are putting them in guardian squads, it may be 90 points for a squad with a cannon and 100 for a squad with a scatter laser (don't have the point costs memorized so they may be a bit off, but follow the logic here). If you want 3 cannons you have to buy 3 guardian squads which ends up being 270 points or you can spend 300 for scatter lasers. Same thing happens if you look at something like vypers or anything else that has heavy weapons. You have to pay the base cost for the unit and then you can pay the incremental price increase to upgrade the cannon to a scatter laser if you think its worth it. So what you have to ask yourself is "Is it worth 5 (or 10 or however many it is) points to get an extra shot and up the range of all the shots by 12 inches?”

In basically every case I've ever used, the scatter laser was well worth the price paid for it over a shuriken cannon. The extra range really helps keep the units with them alive if they sit back (or move back) to make use of the range.

The EML also has range. 48".