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So what are yalls thoughts on hardboys? I've had great success with eavy armor and painboy on/in my slugga boys. They shrug off absurd amounts of bolter fire and the things I've come up against that deny both save's haven't had enough shot's to really trouble me. But I could almost afford another boy for each set of heavy armor, so I'm not quite sure if it's worth it.

Technically speaking, it's not going to be worth it. At least not for the 'eavy armor. Painboyz are great (it's less than 2 points per boy in a 30 strong unit - and much harder to mitigate). When it comes to armor though, 4+ just tends to be overcosted. You'd be better off pooring the 120 points you spend giving a 30 man squad 'eavy armor on just getting 20 more boyz.

I would consider it's uses in tiny assault units from vehicles. It really helps the odds of winning a combat if you can save some of the boyz for when you get to swing back.

Problem I have with 'ard is if they are in a trukk and it explodes the +4 won't statistically save enough boyz to prevent a LD check with your pinning test. More eggs in one basket.

If you know your trukk isn't a priority target then you might consider it especially if you have 48 points that can't be spent anywhere else. Some would consider our troops a tax now, perhaps 'ard is ideal if you don't like the idea of filling out another troops slot.

I use 'eavy armored boyz in a truck. They're absolutely worth it.

On a maxed squad its nice (especialy with a Painboy), but expensive. If your boyz are in Trucks or Battlewagons they could benefit from a 4+ once they get into combat, but thats also arguable.

In a Trukk for sure. On foot, Painboy in a maxed 30 man squad is more points efficient and you'll probably give them a 30 point Grot Save anyway.

I tried Hardboyz with a Painboy last Sunday and they were really shining. On their flank they were wrecking havoc.
If we could take more Painboys, I would run plenty of such squads.

Seems like the consensus is smaller units of 'ard boyz and that was one of the first hidden gems in this codex. There was almost no point taking them in the last codex b/c you could only upgrade one unit per army for some reason. Now that you can spread your 'eavy armor around in assault vehilcles, I count it as half a win just getting at least one of them to make it to cc.
I like the Painboss in the same unit as a Warboss, so if that 30+ man unit of 'ardboyz is the anchor of your infantry, then by all means go for it. I have also fielded this unit and it works pretty well at drawing more fire than it has any right surviving. But its not going to win the game by itself. I find myself looking for a way to mitigate having most of my HQs in there, like needing my lootas or Dakkajets to outperform themselves. So if you know your opponent well enough and can play against their psychology, I like the big unit. But in a vacuum, I like the 'ard slugga boyz in vehicles.

Actually i like Ardboyz better than normal boyz.

The current meta is a lot of assault, bikes and template weapons that have to choose between big template or good AP, Ardboyz have a much better staying power.
If the opponent does not have too many power weapons they do very well against anything in assault, especially if combined with a painboy or a bit of help from a weirdboy or allied psyker.

I think making trukk boyz ard boyz is decent. It works out best on smaller units as the extra cost is not as large as for a large unit of boyz.

The other issue is explosions, normally if a trukk explodes your probably losing half the boyz in side to wounds and the 6+ armor save isn't doing much, resulting in a morale check which could result in more losses, this leaves you few to attempt to assault with next turn. If we change that 6+ to a 4+ we lose less boyz, and may not be taking a morale check.

Its also decent overwatch protection for smaller units, many infantry pack things with -, 6, or 5 AP which will mostly ignore boyz armor, a 4+ armor save will protect the boyz from bolters, flamers, splinter rifles, non bladestorming shuriken catapults, etc.

 SkrawnyNob wrote:
Seems like the consensus is smaller units of 'ard boyz and that was one of the first hidden gems in this codex. There was almost no point taking them in the last codex b/c you could only upgrade one unit per army for some reason.

Actually, there was no point in them cause trucks exploded at str3, mob rule didn't inflict d6 s4 hits and wagonz were cheaper, so it was easier to get the extra wagon full of boyz with this 70-80 pt saved on 'eavy armor. It was really not a bad choice but usually you had better ways to spend the points. In all fairness, it'd be fine on truckboyz but in 6 ed truckboyz were a subpar option compared to cheap wagonz.

I'm not telling that 'eavy armor is a must have now. It just has it's uses and can be effective and has more utility than before cause of the changes brought with other stuff in the codex.

I wouldn't put 'eavy armor on battlewagon boyz as some people are suggesting. Usually, wagons with boyz in them see the least shots coming their way, and explosions are pretty rare to begin with. An intact unit of 18-20 boyz with pain boy doesn't really need 'eavy armor to beat the tar out of something and whatever is standing close to that.

In addition, you are usually starved for points in wagon lists, so rather than spending 80 points on often-ignored armor, I'd rather upgrade a unit to shoota boyz, get planks on my wagons or get a couple of koptas, lobbas or traktor kannons.

I do have unit of 'ard trukk boyz though that sees play sometimes, but the armor rarely makes a huge difference.

I've noticed that due to lower numbers and squisher transport, truckboyz tend to end up on a flank vs stuff that doesn't ignore their armor. It also helps out vs explosions you get not only from your own truck but also enemy vehicles.

I agree with Jidmah on wagonboyz and 'eavy armor for the most part. But don't forget that there's usually only 1 painboss. And if you have points to spare, 'eavy armor on the ones without a painboss or DLS warboss is a worthy investment. But unlike truckboyz, wagonboyz have 4+ ignored much more often.

I've been running a 30 man unit of Ardboys with Grotznik since last codex... and from my experience it makes a crazy tough anvil that most opponents will need to allocate far to many resources towards to remove it, while all your other stuff is coming up on them. And if they ignore it, its still a load of PK attacks and shooting (always run Shoota Boys)