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Its tough getting air-time when you compete with the likes of Killa Kans and Deff Rollin Battle Wagon's. I recently made some Lobba's/Kannon's out of some left over trukk bits and want to make these things work.

Targets the Lobba's can effect include side armor 10 chasis's and troops. LOS is not needed and they can fire over my own troops without giving cover saves to my opponent (direction of fire is from the center of the template). Plus, they're a pinning weapon.

A short run down of some typical High Value Targets include:

Any chimera-based chasis, Manticores and Hydra's come to mind
HW teams of any flavor
Venoms, Raiders, Ravagers - again, no LOS is needed, 48" range
Long Fangs/Devastators
Speeders
Trukks
Boyz hiding behind Kan Walls

Against Grey Knights - I wish they were Kannons but oh well. Ill use Rokkit Buggies and rokkit Boyz to make up the difference.

The list Im considering would use Lobba's with Runtherds and Ammo Grots - 3 units of 3 Lobbas and 3 units of 9 Lootas. These six units would provide immediate and long range fire support for the army. Lots of S7 shots and S5 templates to disrupt enemy transports and fire support units.

These units would support 3 units of 3 Rokkit Buggies and 3 big mobs of Boyz with 3 rokkits each. The rokkits would add insurance to disabling enemy transports and dreadnaught-type units.

So basically - its a Kan Wall without Kans - Buggies are included in order for Lobbas to make it into the list. Are Lobbas good enough to prevent Kans from making into the list? Are those S10 Kan attacks more important than early-game fire power?

It's good that Lobbas are getting some love and that you're using them.

For me, Lobbas are another one of those weapons like Zzap Guns that SOUND like they're better, are more expensive, but aren't worth the increased points.

Kannon: 36" Frag S4 AP5 Blast. Krak S8 AP3

Lobba: 48" Barrage S5 AP5 Blast

A Lobba is 5 points more than a Kannon. For those 5 points you get Barrage, an extra point of S, and another 12" of range. It sounds like a pretty good deal, until you realize what you lose, which is the ability to fire those awesome Krak shells 36" with Gretchin BS3.

For me, if the Lobba was increased to S6 and was a Large Blast, it'd be worth it, and it'd see play. As it is, it's only a moderate increase in power over the Frag munitions from the Kannon, and the Kannon's ability to switch between Krak and Frag makes up for it.

One thing that should definitely be done with any unit of Big Guns is attaching a Big Mek with a SAG to the unit.

Your SAG Mek can fire at a different target than the Big Guns, and he can use their Ammo Runtz as well. They have great synergy together.

Depending on a S5 small blast to take out any armor, even AV10, is a bad idea and a waste of a slot. Most things that are AV10 are small or at least thin, and most scatters will result in a miss or the vehicle not being under the hole. Granted, you aren't paying much points for these, but saying that Lobbas can effect AV10 vehicles is misleading.

The chance of doing anything to an AV10 vehicle with a Lobba is very slim. 1/3 chance to get a direct hit with scatter die, and then 1/6 chance to glance and 1/6 chance to pen. Assuming that any scatters miss (as they almost all will), a full battery of 9 lobbas (3 heavy support choices) will get 0.5 glances and 0.5 pens on an AV10 vehicle.

Murrdox wrote:One thing that should definitely be done with any unit of Big Guns is attaching a Big Mek with a SAG to the unit.

Your SAG Mek can fire at a different target than the Big Guns, and he can use their Ammo Runtz as well. They have great synergy together.

The problem i see with that is that you're passing up a KFF to take that SAG which makes the SAG mek an awfully hard sell. I find it hard to imagine a list where I wouldn't want that extra KFF - what kind of setup are you using your SAG with?

Currently I run a Dakka Ork list with a battery of 3 Kannons and a SAG.

The list at a glance consists of:

SAG Mek
KFF Mek

3 x 20 Shoota Boyz
20 Gretchin

2 x Looted Wagons w/ Boomgun
Kannon Battery (3 Guns)

3 x 5 Lootas

2 x 2 Rokkit Buggies.

It's not an ultra-competitive list, but it definitely wins games and I play it maybe 1/3 of the time I play, and it probably needs some tweaking. I'm considering ditching one or both Looted Wagon and putting in more Boyz.

However, it is ridiculously fun to play. Basically the Big Mek escorts the Shoota Boyz and Gretchin across the field, with the Looted Wagons bringing up the rear. One Big Mek is really all you need to cover everything. From the beginning of Turn 1, you're unleashing quite a lot of dice at the enemy. The SAG Mek and the Kannon Battery usually do really well. My opponents would rather target the Looted Wagons or the Lootas. My losses with this list usually result from bad luck with the Lootas or Looted Wagons.

A Kvlt Ghost wrote:

Murrdox wrote:One thing that should definitely be done with any unit of Big Guns is attaching a Big Mek with a SAG to the unit.

Your SAG Mek can fire at a different target than the Big Guns, and he can use their Ammo Runtz as well. They have great synergy together.

The problem i see with that is that you're passing up a KFF to take that SAG which makes the SAG mek an awfully hard sell. I find it hard to imagine a list where I wouldn't want that extra KFF - what kind of setup are you using your SAG with?

It is quite easy to find cover with all the crew models.

I like catapults which is the only reason I use lobbas. They are ok on the battlefield, they are not completely useless.

Murrdox wrote:Your SAG Mek can fire at a different target than the Big Guns, and he can use their Ammo Runtz as well. They have great synergy together.

As I have never heard this, I am quite intrigued. The entry does say "a model model with an ammo runt". I am a little leery of this Ammo Runt sharing. Whenever I play my Nobz, any Ammo Runt I buy is for a particular Nob, "Any Nob may take". I have always been under the impression that the wargear purchased for a model or a unit can only be used by the unit/model it has been bought for in the FOC. Other than Murrdox's endorsement, does any body else out here have any cause to support or refute this?

As has been explained to me by other Ork players before I used this strategy... a Unit of Big Gunz buys Ammo Runts for the entire unit. Therefore any model in the unit may use them. Other units such as the Big Mek and the Nobs buy ammo runts on a per-model basis, so no sharing allowed.

Yep, Murrdox is correct on this. Big gunz buy their runts for the unit, and as long as an independent character is part of the unit, he can use them. Nobz and Flash gits, however, buy their runts on a per-model-basis, so no sharing from them.

Lobbas themself aren't that bad, especially as you can hide them out of sight and still shoot. I prefer kannons though, as they provide more versatility and even cost less points while doing so.

Jidmah wrote:Nobz and Flash gits, however, buy their runts on a per-model-basis, so no sharing from them.

Flash Gitz do buy up to 3 Ammo Runts for unit. Although I think it would be a bad idea to attach a SAG to them, because, unlike Artillery, they would have to fire at the same target as the Big Mek.

When I take big gunz, its mostly just to spam STR8. Ill use the Krak cannons on damn near everything, and with BS3, they actually hit stuff. Its the cheapest, and most versatile loadout for the BigGunz. I dont waste my time on any of the others

Im considering fielding 3 batteries of 3 Big Gunz with my Speed Freak Army of 7 trucks. The issue I think Ill have is LOS, the trucks blocking LOS for the Kannons. Thats why Im looking at Lobbas.

Why not Rokkit Bugies or even Deffkoptas for their Twin Linked S8 shots? They don't run out of Ammo Runts.