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It is time for me to start building up my shoota boyz. Explanations for your preferences are appreciated.

Thanks for the votes!

I'm still very undecided. People often mention that they like to "spam rokkits" but do they really mean that they include them in their boyz mobs? I fully understand and support rokkit spam from kans (better BS) , buggies and koptas (TL), but I'm not so sure about in shoota boyz mobs. Rokkit launchas are S8 Assault 1, where as big shootas and shootas are S5 Assault 3 and S4 Assault 2 respectively. That makes me feel that low BS boyz shooting Assault 1 Rokkits are extremely unreliable, and on top of that, they are best shot at a different target from the rest of the unit! And the Rokkit costs twice as much as a Big Shoota to take.

Obviously I feel like I'm leaning towards big shootas, but I often hear veterans talking about "rokkit spam" that I'm left wondering... Are they talking about Rokkits in their Boyz Mobs too?

I run my Shoota Boyz in Battlewagons, mostly; that being so, the use their guns get most often is to light up a unit on the turn that I charge it, or to help clear out nearby enemy survivors after the Waaagh is over. For that purpose, it's best to keep them as cheap as possible; 20 Boyz, a PK/BP Nob, no special weapons, 165 points.

If you run big footslogging mobs, though, big shootas might be a solid choice to extend the range of your mob and let you concentrate a little more fire on those targets that need it. Using rokkits on boyz is very situational; basically the only situation in which they might plausibly be better than big shootas is if you're trying to blow up a transport so you can charge what falls out. But in general, you just don't want boyz shooting at vehicles, even lightly armored ones. Take the big shootas or nothing, is my vote.

More rokkits are never a bad thing in an ork army, but the problem with putting them in a shoota mob is that you'll be tempted to fire the rokkits at vehicles, thus wasting the shoota shots. On the other hand, if you do have the self-control to not waste shots like that, rokkits are a nice threat against enemy units who might otherwise think it safe to get close to your shoota mobs.

I'm pretty much of the opinion of Berzerker. The lack of cohesion of rokkits in a boyz mob is a turn off for me.

So Clang, are you saying that rokkits in a boyz mob could work as a bit of a bluff in a sense? You wouldn't waste your boyz mob w/ rokkits firing at light armor, since the shootas are basically useless, but you would like having rokkits just as an intimidation factor not for a tangible destructive force since you wouldn't waste the boyz shooting at light armor? Do I have that right? If so, that theory does make sense, but I'm not sure if I would want to include rokkits for that reason myself.

While the poll doesn't have many votes, I'm still surprised that rokkits are getting the support that they are. I would love to hear more reasoning behind it from people voting for rokkits!

Thanks for the comments everyone.

The popping transports thing is a powerful argument for taking rokkits. I was just in a game with chaos marines and they stayed hidden in their rhinos the whole time (weedy gits) and while my nobz would rip them open easily enough in assault, they were then wide open to getting blasted apart in the next shooting phase.

Big shootas, however, just make more sense for shoota mobz simply because the boyz are already tooled up for anti-infantry, so they can really only help in that regard, but just make sure to take things that can pop those accursed transports from range elsewhere in your army.

Now taking rokkits in a big slugga boyz mob...that could have potential

marauder6272 wrote:Now taking rokkits in a big slugga boyz mob...that could have potential

This is where I am undecided. Yes, moar Rokkits iz gud. 24" with Str 8 and can assault is great. I REALLY want to take them in my Slugga Boyz squads. The problem I have is that I don't know when I would use them. Slugga Boyz need to assault in order to be put to their best use. If I'm not within assault range, sure I can fire up to three rokkits at a transport. However, then I have 26 other Boyz and Nob just sitting there. They should be running as fast as their stumpy green legs can carry them into combat instead of shooting so that maybe they can assault next round. If I am in assault range, I can shoot the rokkits and then assault, but how often will that be to something that I need Str 8 to hit? I'll have Str 9 PK attacks instead from the Nob and a MUCH better chance of actually hitting than with the BS we get. Do you guys corner that many transports with footsloggers? I admit right now I am a noob and have not wielded by Boyz in actual combat enough. It seems a waste of points to me.

Rokkits in Slugga Boyz makes more sense, but I think it depends on who you are fighting. If you think your opponent will throw in some MC, yeah, go rokkits. Tons of infantry, like other Orks? Big Shoota to help whittle them down.

20 shoota boys with 2 big shootas, nob to suit, 150ish pts.

I love my shoota boys over the years theyve killed everything damn near. Rokkits in here are a total waste.

I agree with the above comment about slugga boys. Dont bother with guns at all in here. Keep em runnin. (or trukkin)

I'll at least take one on the Nob. If am foot slogging a thirty man mob I take two more in with the boyz.

I like the big shootas, mostly because if I'm taking shoota boyz I want them to shoot at non-vehicles, weight of fire is more important than AP3 or S8, IMO.

Oh, I always take the PK-Nob with Bosspole, because not losing combat is good.

Big shootas make the unit slightly better at what it's already good at. Rokkits allow the unit to handle a much broader range of targets that it would otherwise be useless against.

Think of it another way. Will you ever be in a position where you say to yourself "If only I had a shoota!"? How about "if only these boyz had some rokkits!"?

I can definitely state that I have never been in a situation where I wished a mob of shoota boyz had rokkits.

You can pay 15 points to give a big mob of shootas some longer-ranged options and a bit heavier firepower, or you can spend 30 points to make their shooting merely rubbish against vehicles, rather than worthless against vehicles. Or you could do neither, and spend the points you save from not giving rokkits to, say, 3 mobs on a couple of Warbuggies or Deff Koptas instead, or maybe another Killa Kan, or a battery of Big Gunz. . . all of those are better options. Rokkit on boyz are practically always a waste, and they're too expensive to take as a matter of course.

haendas wrote:So Clang, are you saying that rokkits in a boyz mob could work as a bit of a bluff in a sense? You wouldn't waste your boyz mob w/ rokkits firing at light armor, since the shootas are basically useless, but you would like having rokkits just as an intimidation factor not for a tangible destructive force since you wouldn't waste the boyz shooting at light armor? Do I have that right? If so, that theory does make sense, but I'm not sure if I would want to include rokkits for that reason myself.

Yeah, if I'm in a big tank, i can safely ignore an enemy shoota mob. But if that mob has rokkits, I can't completely ignore it - some lucky rolls by my opponent and my tank is dead. Some people put a power klaw on a shoota mob's Nob for the same reason.

But the traditional logic is to give them big shootas - that way they can _all_ always shoot at any infantry in range without wasting any shots.

For me, Big shootas.

They will be shooting infantry, and big shootas extend that dakka a bit (plus i just like orks with big machine guns )

Sluggamobs will sometimes carry rokkits in my mobs, so that they can crack a transport, with luck, then assault the gooey insides