Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Hi, I'm putting together a big ol' squad of slugga boyz and was wondering if I wanted to whack some big shootas in there for some dakka, or am I better off with more sacks of meat that can run? Thanks.

Shoota boyz yea go ahead, but for a slugga mob you will be running them every turn until you Waagh! and charge so it'll just be a waste of points imo.

I would agree big shootas only with shoota boyz. However I find in competitions the big shootas give flexibility to the squad. So against 'nids and other armies where slugga boyz have no good role they can still be useful.

When i first started playing with the black reach set, they came with 2 big shootas in the 20 boys you get. They did some justice but i perfer them with a shoota boyz squad to use their full potential, probably better off getting a few more whacks in.

kowbasher wrote:Shoota boyz yea go ahead, but for a slugga mob you will be running them every turn until you Waagh! and charge so it'll just be a waste of points imo.

Well that would be true, except you dont always need that WAAGH! to get into assault. Id say give it a few play tests and see how they work for you. At most, its only 15pts per mob, and 9 str5 shots @ 36inches can be pretty nice. Ive found most the times, my running units, end up close enough to just assault and get a free shooting phase (main reason I switched from slugga mobs to shoota boyz, I get ALOT more damage output by shooting the hell out of units first)

So give it a couple 3 or 4 games and see what you think

KingCracker wrote:

kowbasher wrote:Shoota boyz yea go ahead, but for a slugga mob you will be running them every turn until you Waagh! and charge so it'll just be a waste of points imo.

Well that would be true, except you dont always need that WAAGH! to get into assault. Id say give it a few play tests and see how they work for you. At most, its only 15pts per mob, and 9 str5 shots @ 36inches can be pretty nice. Ive found most the times, my running units, end up close enough to just assault and get a free shooting phase (main reason I switched from slugga mobs to shoota boyz, I get ALOT more damage output by shooting the hell out of units first)

So give it a couple 3 or 4 games and see what you think

I promised myself I wouldn't make a comment referring to 9 S5 shots from 36 inches involving my girlfriend. Why must you torment me so? The only reason I'd prefer NOT to test this out is that it will dictate how I model my shoota boyz as I was going to use the AoBR big shootas for them instead, this would mean if I didn't like it I'd end up with 2 Big Shootas that I didn't need.

Another thing to consider about shooting before assaulting is that your opponent might pull the front models to deny you an assault so its purely situational as to when you should shoot before assaulting. Having the big shootas does bring flexibility to the unit IF you have the spare points to do so. They would be great sitting on an objective but the majority of the time your goal should be to get the boyz into hand to hand by running.

ManSandwich wrote:

KingCracker wrote:

kowbasher wrote:Shoota boyz yea go ahead, but for a slugga mob you will be running them every turn until you Waagh! and charge so it'll just be a waste of points imo.

Well that would be true, except you dont always need that WAAGH! to get into assault. Id say give it a few play tests and see how they work for you. At most, its only 15pts per mob, and 9 str5 shots @ 36inches can be pretty nice. Ive found most the times, my running units, end up close enough to just assault and get a free shooting phase (main reason I switched from slugga mobs to shoota boyz, I get ALOT more damage output by shooting the hell out of units first)

So give it a couple 3 or 4 games and see what you think

I promised myself I wouldn't make a comment referring to 9 S5 shots from 36 inches involving my girlfriend. Why must you torment me so? The only reason I'd prefer NOT to test this out is that it will dictate how I model my shoota boyz as I was going to use the AoBR big shootas for them instead, this would mean if I didn't like it I'd end up with 2 Big Shootas that I didn't need.

Oh cmon you can always take them regardless. I didnt actually like boyz w/bigshootas, so I glued some rokkits on the end of the barrel and now have a boat load of rokkitboyz. I do oddly enough, love bigshootas on my Dreads, they seem to always kill things for me, I dunno why, because when I used them in boyz mobs, they were very lackluster

Kindda like many years ago, when I played CSM, I would never use lascannons because I literally couldnt kill ANYTHING with them *shrugs*

Also remember that a nob is an Ork in the boys unit, as such he both counts for the number of Orks in the unit for determining whether or not you can take a big shoota in your mob; and can, himself,take the big Shoota.

Always take the Big shoota on the Nob; then you only lose 1 attack from 1 of your 20 Slugga boyz, but gain 6 Big Shoota shots.

Kommissar Kel wrote:Also remember that a nob is an Ork in the boys unit, as such he both counts for the number of Orks in the unit for determining whether or not you can take a big shoota in your mob; and can, himself,take the big Shoota.

Always take the Big shoota on the Nob; then you only lose 1 attack from 1 of your 20 Slugga boyz, but gain 6 Big Shoota shots.

Oh wow, I never really thought about this. That slugga doesn't confer the extra attack when paired with the Power Klaw so this obviously works great! Now that is some min/maxing!

Actually, most recently I've started buying a single big shoota for my shoota-boyz nobz. Instead of a measly slugga, they get an additional two shots and can plonk away at stuff far in the distance, very much worth 5 points.

Agreed, even with BS2, its one of the best 5pts you can spend in the dex. And if it does kill something, hey 50x better

If you play against a lot of MEq, some people think rokkits are worthwhile in a slugga mob - killing a MEq dead is better than watching him making 3+ armour saves. But depending on how you play your slugga mob (in particular whether they'll be running or in a trukk), you may not get much shooting out of your slugga mob, in which case more boyz is probably a better option.

Agreed there as well, I run rokkits in my shoota boy mobs, because Im not normally running them. But when I used to use slugga boyz, I rarely DIDNT run, be the points are a waste in that sense


Also, rokkits in boyz squads should be used in order of importance against
vehicle/MC
tough guys
troops


Obviously this is going towards what they plan on assaulting that turn, you dont want to try and pop a vehicle, if your really wanting to assault some random unit nearby. But if there is options, it should go like that

I would make the decision based on your personal tastes or tactis. For example...I currently play a Kan Wall or Green Tide and my boyz are ALL shoota boyz. I did that because I intended to shoot the non-sense out of stuff through sheer volume of fire. With that in mind, I took Big Shootas in all my units. However, had I been in battle wagons or trucks I would not have bought the big shootas as my units would have been specifically designed/intended to get stuck in and chop away. So, before making any glue based decisions just scheme out how these guys will fight and then glue away.

That said.....what is better than infantry with a futuristic version of a current day SAW?