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I know they must be situational, but what situations would shootas be preferable to sluggas?
Thanks.

I would personally take Shootas if you will be taking a high amount of boyz in the unit, and Sluggas if I will be taking a low amount of boyz in a unit (usually in a trukk). The logic behind this is you have pretty much the same amount of shots/attacks with each type if you're within 12", however I think Shootas in higher numbers are much more advantageous as they can most of the time be in a better position to shoot 2 str 4 shots per model, then assault for 3 attacks per model. Compared to having to be within 12" to get one shot off per model. You usually make up for it in having the 4 attacks on the assault, and this outcome of having the slugga shot plus the assault comes in much more frequently when you have a means to get the boyz close enough to pull it off, whereas the shoota boyz can pull off the shoot + assault on foot or in a larger transport like a battlewagon.

So basically the factors are volume (shootas), mobility (sluggas), in my opinion.

Erudog wrote:I would personally take Shootas if you will be taking a high amount of boyz in the unit, and Sluggas if I will be taking a low amount of boyz in a unit (usually in a trukk). The logic behind this is you have pretty much the same amount of shots/attacks with each type if you're within 12", however I think Shootas in higher numbers are much more advantageous as they can most of the time be in a better position to shoot 2 str 4 shots per model, then assault for 3 attacks per model. Compared to having to be within 12" to get one shot off per model. You usually make up for it in having the 4 attacks on the assault, and this outcome of having the slugga shot plus the assault comes in much more frequently when you have a means to get the boyz close enough to pull it off, whereas the shoota boyz can pull off the shoot + assault on foot or in a larger transport like a battlewagon.

So basically the factors are volume (shootas), mobility (sluggas), in my opinion.

Erudog has basically summed it in a nutshell.

Shootas also help offset the boyz pitifully low Initiative in a way, by allowing them to unload a wall of dakka into the faces of whoever is in their way. Even with the one less Attack that Shoota boyz have over Slugga boyz, you'll find they will still drown their opponents in a torrent of attacks anyways. But sometimes theres a unit you just dont want your boyz to assault, cause you know that (through a number of factors) that the scary CC unit will carve up your boyz in combat. That is until you unleashed a wall of dakka into their faces...
After that you can finish them off with the charge.

Perfect example is boyz vs. hormagaunts. Sluga boyz against them, and they just get butchered. The gaunts go first, have just as many attacks and rip the hell out of boyz. So what ever is left goes last, and will probably lose the CC.

Against shootas however, you can shoot the hell out of the gaunts, and its real easy to wound them. T3 sv6 versus a str4 ap6 weapon? Yes please. If the unit doesnt flee from getting shot to pieces, then you assault, the low numbers wont hurt the boyz that badly in this situation.

I think it is also a matter of what your opponent is.
If you think you might get 2 rounds of shooting, I would go for the shootas every time. But against BA assault marines you are probably only going to get 1 round of shooting before you are locked in CC anyway. Then sluggas make more sense.

Both are cheap, it is rarely a bad choice to have more boys. Take units of both!

Because 'eavy armor makes them more survivable in CC, I think Ard Boys should be slugga armed always.

+1 to shootas always...unless in a trukk but i never use trukks as its 30$ each trukk and you need at least 4 to work. Shootas

A good rule of thumb is that shootas are better if on foot and sluggas are better if in a transport.

skycapt44 wrote:+1 to shootas always...unless in a trukk but i never use trukks as its 30$ each trukk and you need at least 4 to work. Shootas

One of the best things of Orks is how you can convert. Its much cheaper to find nephew/friends child who has outgrown all his toy trucks. I know my son has at least 4 that are just begging to be converted to ork battlewagons/truuks.

Buy some bits off ebay from the big bits suppliers -- such as horde o' bits. Do some cutting and hacking and then you can turn the toy truuk into an ork truuk that will look awesome for a fraction of the cost.

labmouse42 wrote:

skycapt44 wrote:+1 to shootas always...unless in a trukk but i never use trukks as its 30$ each trukk and you need at least 4 to work. Shootas

One of the best things of Orks is how you can convert. Its much cheaper to find nephew/friends child who has outgrown all his toy trucks. I know my son has at least 4 that are just begging to be converted to ork battlewagons/truuks.

Buy some bits off ebay from the big bits suppliers -- such as horde o' bits. Do some cutting and hacking and then you can turn the toy truuk into an ork truuk that will look awesome for a fraction of the cost.

He could always build lego ones

To OP: Sluggas for trukks, shootas for hordes. BRING ON THE DAKKA

Slugga = trukk
Shoota = foot slog

You know were the hard choice comes? Battle wagons. I have tried both and it is still a hard choice. Shoota boys get the advantage of being able to sit in their battle wagon and still do damage, but when you take them out to assault, sometimes that missing attack makes all the difference in combat resolution and you can loose the squad.

I have been leaning towards sluggas in my battle wagons cause I like to assault and hate loosing a bunch of boys to a sweeping advance but I'm still trying the shootas.

Thoughts?

I personally prefer to go with 1 squad of slugga boyz for every 2 squads of shoota boyz. Against assault oriented armies, I try to send in the slugga boyz for the initial assault with plenty of supporting fire from the slugga boyz. There are too many squads that are better in assaults than my boyz, and even when charging they will not win the combat without some help. The slugga boyz will likely be countercharged, in which case my shoota boyz are in position to assault that unit.

Remember, many opponents will have a higher initiative and strike first, even if you assault them. If you reduce their numbers (even just by 2 or 3), they'll have fewer attacks with which to kill your boyz, and you'll end up with more boyz assaulting back. Your opponents losses during the shooting phase will not factor into the combat resolution, but the losses inflicted by the "extra" boyz will.

In cases when your opponent has a low initiative (and is therefor likely to be a shooty army), it's better to assault with shoota boyz to reduce the likelyhood of your squad wiping them out and being left in the open for your opponents next shooting phase. It is better to finish the assault during their assault phase and be free to do what you want during your turn. However, the best option in this case is to multi-assault as many enemy units at the same time as you can.

Orks are more assault oriented than shooting oriented, but they are not as good as the top tier assault armies. You'll need flexibility in your list and tactics more than most other armies.

I take sluggas in transports, and then 2/3 of my footslogging boyz will be shootas, most of the time.

Jacacoo : I agree, I like to run a full sized slugga mob when I'm foot slogging and use the same idea, shoota boyz just seem to be a general consensus based on the extra flexibility they give to your horde, which is good.

yournamehere wrote:Jacacoo : I agree, I like to run a full sized slugga mob when I'm foot slogging and use the same idea, shoota boyz just seem to be a general consensus based on the extra flexibility they give to your horde, which is good.

whew thought i was an orky outlier 0_0

i love having my slugga 30 man squads, it's too much fun to pass up when i tell my opponent that they're about to get run over by 120 attack rolls (which is a lie of course, cuz a lot will die) psychological warfare at its finest. turns my 215 point troop into the highest target priority. AND THEN THERE'S 5 MOAR!!!!!!

but in all seriousness, i actually enjoy having (10 shootas + 1 big shoota + 1 nob pk + trukk w/ big shoota) and run 3 or 4 of these squads. GREAT for gunboating around against enemy troops, GREAT for keeping enemies away from key tactical points on the board, GREAT for securing objectives, AMAZING for demoralizing enemies. Shoota trukks are like bee stings, they won't kill you but you can't ignore em.

but yeah, hard to run a combo of shoota trukks and footsloggers. Personally i need to be either full speedfreaks or full green tide.