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I'm completely willing to see why other people dislike Looted Wagons so much, but right now I just don't get it. Basically, for 7 points more than a Trukk, you get +1 side armor, +1 front armor, and Don't Press Dat. It seems like a VERY good trade, because lots of the time, you'll want to be flatting out anyway, so Don't Press Dat isn't that big of a problem. Also, it can purchase 3 Skorchas for 5 points each, which seems very nice. 'Ard Case can make it less likely to explode, and even Killkannon's aren't bad. I just don't see why people dislike them so much.


Why Killkannons aren't that bad (feel free to correct my math)
1/3 of the time it gets a direct hit
5/6 times it hits infantry, it wounds
Any infantry you're targeting with it should be 3+ saves or worse so auto kills

Assuming you hit 4 marines with a direct hit (and adding 1 for hits you cause even with scatter) the math goes as follows.

5 hits x 1/3 of the time x 5/6 wounds = 1.38 and if you multiply it by a space marine's cost (12), you see that every round you shoot it at marines, you deal 16.66 points of damage. So after 2 rounds of shooting it has justified its cost. Please tell me if you I did my math wrong

I personally love LWs. Unfortunately they occupy a hotly contested slot so when most places are enforcing a 2 source limit they don't make the cut.

Around here we allow 2 full detachments so theres room for up to 6 HS and thus I tend to see more looted wagons. I think they're great armed with a KK and the option to ferry around gretchin for bubble wrap etc.

Doing the math for blasts is always sketchy work at best. For example, if I see that you have a large blast I'm going to keep my marines in combat squads (so you'll never hit more than 5) and I'll keep them spread out to max so you might hit 3 if you get a direct hit. Not saying against certain armies/opponents you won't rack up as many kills, I'm just saying I've never lost more than 3 models to large blast.

Aside from that though, they're not half bad. More effective in smaller games as you're less likely to run against heavy anti-tank weaponry. The fact that it can't be gunned down by bolters is also a plus.

Personally I prefer the mekboy Junka. I've often thought it's what the looted wagon should always have been.

Saying that, the wagon isn't terrible either. Most people just seem to prefer powerlisting, and so go for either the cheapest option (trukk) or the expensive AV14 (battlewagon).

For me, Junkas and BigTrakks a nice middle grounds with plenty of options. The looted wagon has its place, but takes up a heavy slot which is already heavily contested.

If you could take LWs instead of trukks, then yes, they'd be well worth considering.

But when a LW takes up a Heavy slot...nah, there are usually other better choices. Unless you're playing Unbound or similar, where you don't care about using up slots, of course.

The heavy support slot does seem to be the biggest cost. That's an important slot for orks. I wouldn't be surprised if most of the people that dislike it play with limited detachments. It really doesn't seem like GW is balancing things for that so much any more. I mean, it feels like Orks really benefit from more than 2 HQs, for example.

It's easy to forget about the option of unlimited detachments though after so long. We don't play with any limits and even so I keep catching myself wishing I had more than 2 HQs or 3 heavy support. I do! Just as long as I have 4 troops. And what ork doesn't?

Don't Press Dat automatically makes the unit inside even less reliable. Besides, Heavy support.

If looted wagons were a second DT option without Don't Press Dat or with a reworked version of it, they'd be great. Right now i just find trucks superior. Free rokkit, Fast, Ramshackle.

The only real reason to consider Looted Wagons is for the Kill Kannon, but it is still a semi mediocre weapon at best. You get a large blast, but you only get BS2 to reduce the scatter. So unless enemies are clustered, you likely miss far more often than not.

They are cheap enough point wise, so you'd think taking them wouldn't be too hard. I mean, 60ish points for a Rhino with a S7 turret isn't too bad, can hold 10 models...not too bad. Except...it's a Heavy Support option. Which is why it isn't so much hated as it is just...over looked for the far better options we have available.

Why take a Looted Wagon for the Kill Kannon when you can get Kustom Mega Kannons for only 25 points instead? You get a small blast instead of large, but you get a S8 AP2 blast, fired at BS3 instead of 2, and it's HARDER to kill. T7 grots is silly, and you can take quite a few extra per gun if you really want too for extra wounds. The Kannons also can't explode to one shot...nor suffer from pretty weak armor.

I think just the Mek Gunz alone make LWs the lesser option. Each battery can take up to 5 guns. 5! Looted wagons only let you take 1 per slot...sooo....do you take 3 Wagons for 3 S7 large blasts and 30 boyz? Or do you take 15 Mek Gunz for 15 S8 AP2 small blasts for far fewer points and have an extra foot of range?