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Now I know first hand that a battlewagon as a transport with a deff rolla works very very well. But I am wondering how well a shotty battlewagon would work. The battlewagon has a good amount of options for being shooty and I was wondering how well these options work. Really I only see 3 diffrent options.

Option 1

Battlewagon with a kill kannon. A fairly decent weapon. One str to low to insta kill Meqs but being ap 3 and a big blast it is decent and taking out large groups of infantry.

Option 2

Battlewagon with X4 big shootas and lobba/Kannon (small blast) Severes the same roll as the kill kannon. Anti infantry. With 12 str5 shots as well as a str4 small blast its sure to put the hurt on whatever it shoots at right?

Option 3

Battlewagon with X4 rokkit launchers and kannon. 5 str 8 shots is pretty decent. But with its bs of 2 is that enuff shots to make up for it and make it an effective anti tank unit?? There is also the option for the zappgun but is a bit random.

Anyone tried out any of thes options? How did they work out? Is this idea worth investing into?

Option 1: Always an adequate choice to make. S7 can harm both light armour and MEQ due to Ap3. However, the Ordinance weapon restricts how far it can move and fire, and also what other weapons can be fired as well.

Option 2: 12 Shots at BS2 isn't going to do much, not even against GEQ

12 BS2 shots = 4 hits
4 S5 hits = about 3 wounds
3 wounds with 5+ save = 2 wounds

The Kannon makes up for this, and the Big Shoota loadout seems to be ok for a support unit for whatever it's transporting.

Option 3: Same justification as before, BS2 means that 1/3 of the shots will be hitting on average. The Zzap Gun is near useless: If you roll a high enough strength level, you still have to roll to hit. You could have rolled S10, but you still only have a 1/3 chance to hit the target. Don't rely solely on the Battlewagon to take out the enemy armour.

If you want a shooty Battlewagon put Lootas in it (or Burnas, but they play more like an assault transport) but don't expect miracles. Basically no matter which option you go for here you don't end up with enough firepower for the actual Battlewagon itself to be a major shooting threat.

I tried this once. I had a Battlewagon with 4x big shootas, and a lobba with Lootas and a Shock attack gun mech riding in it. The game was Dawn of war and the battle wagon failed a terrain test coming on the board and was immobilized. The second turn I go to fire and roll for the shock attack gun. VOIP the whole thing vanished.

You're going about it wrong. Instead of maximizing your firepower, you need to maximize your mobile firepower. Stuff 20 shoota boyz w/ 2 big shootas and a PK in there. Use one Kannon and one Big Shoota on the battlewagon - You can move 6" (or 7 with RPJ) and fire both the S5 big shoota and the S4 small blast. 20 shoota boyz will put lots of wounds on just about anything that's not in a transport through sheer volume of fire, and you've still got a pretty hefty punch in close combat.

Shooty battlewagons are a waste of points. They are NOT a battle tank. If you're going to use them offensively, good options are:

-Deffrolla (don't worry what's inside, make it a cheap wrecking ball)
-Burnas (tankshock + template of doom)
-Tankbustas (15 rokkit launchas out the back)
-Shoota boyz w/ 2 Big Shootas (36 S4 shots, 6 S5 shots to lay a hurt on light infantry)

The best use remains as an assault vehicle.

I have tried many a time to make a truly effective shooty wagon as I LOVE the idea...

The most success I have had was when it was loaded up w 10 (you can use more if you want) lootas, kannon, and 4x Big shootas...and my assault wagons still performed better and for fewer points...

Im tempted to try the same set up w 20 shoota boys and big shoota boys and have them camp an objective...though that would be alot of points to simply hold an objective.

Like has been said shooty wagons really arent worth it as fluffily awesome as they are, an assault wagon costs less and will kill more, further more where there is one wagon there should usually be 1 or 2 more (1 w a KFF), meaning this shooty wagon will get left behind (and out of KFF range) making it a very VERY vulnerable target to all those nasty tank killers that like to come in from the sides of the board. And if your wagon does move to keep up well then its not using all its potential as there are a good number of weapons going to waste.

In a fun game hellz yeah take one I do as often as I can! But if you are looking for best bang for point there are far better options out there than a shooty wagon.