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I was wondering which special weapon to use on my Kommando squad. I was thinking Big Shootas would do well for Kommandos, because of the positioning most Kommandos have, using infiltrate. Big Shootas have better damage stats against AV 10 then rokkits, they are better for shooting any infantry that doesn't have 3+ armor, and they are much cheaper than burnas on Kommandos. Big Shootas are also similar enough to Sluggas, so they don't alienate the rest of the squad's firepower if you shoot at AV 10. I am happy to prove any of my thoughts using Mathhammer. What do you think Dakka?

When I used them I use Snikrot and two burnas. When they come in from reserve I usually go around with the Template and pre-measure hits before I deploy the unit itself. I have killed large groups of kroot, guardians, guardsmen, pink horrors and pathfinders using this technique.

Hopefully I can bring them in amongst ruins or some sort of cover so that they can absorb some return fire.

I'm planning on running Snikrot Kommandoes soon. So far, i've been running just 5 with rokkits and they've been doing fine - infiltrating on objectives and annoying my opponent with rokkit potshots.

Now with Snikrot the guyz will act differently as they'll have to be aggressive to pay off. I like the idea of burnas but...30 pts for 2 flamers or a bunch of ap3 attacks seems like too much. Besides, i'm allready fielding lobbas and they tend to get rid of lighter infantry - even in good cover - pretty damn effective. I think i'll still go for burnas for the first game and see how it goes. Than i'll probably take bigshootas or rokkits. I often prefer rokkits on everything but having read your take on bigshootas against back armor, i think i might give it a try after burnas. Furthermore, BS might be more effective than rokkits against infantry in cover. Besides, i have a few bigshoota models that haven't seen play since the last dex.

I'm torn between Big Shoota and Rokkits myself.
I mainly use Kommandoes to block Scout moves and other Infiltrators. Failing that, they sit on an Objective. I keep the squad pretty cheap, so Burnas are a bit of a waste.

There seems to be overwhelming support for running burnas. Why do people like doing that?

I think burnas are simply the most reliable option. Since they can infiltrate/outflank you have a good chance of getting them close enough to use them, and the Orky BS2 doesn't matter. I'm sure there are other strategies to use with kommandos, but I usually see them run as an outflanking harassment unit - come in from the sides into cover, hose down a nearby unit, and maybe steal an objective or something. If they survive to another turn, using flamers to soften up a unit before you charge is a great way to mitigate the smaller mob size (or put them into ap3 mode to punk some MEQs).

If you want a unit with rokkits to threaten MEQs/armour, you're betting off spending the points on Tankbustas for sure. Big shootas are a dime a dozen in this Codex, so I don't feel like they're a useful spend, especially on a unit that can take burnas - something most of our infantry units can't do at all, let alone take 2.

I only wish you could run Kommandos with shootas...

Burnas because you can get Rokkits and BS's everywhere else.

Also, as for as the price for Kommandoes goes, subtract the cost of a Trukk that can't be destroyed. They can be effective and for the opponent to deploy differently.

Burnas pose a lot of difficult problems. Against MEQ, do you flame them, or wait for the charge? When you come in from reserves you flame them because you can't charge, but after that what do you do? What squad size do you put Burna Kommandos in? How are you using your Kommandos? I just eliminated Burnas from experience, they always die and give up a massive number of points in my games. Also, if you're infiltrating them, do you still prefer Burnas?

I'd say most of the time you'll get more casualties by using the burnas for shooting instead of assault. Against a small or well spread unit where you won't get many hits, however, I'd opt for the cutting torch.

I think that, most of the time, the unit is going to get one turn of shooting before it gets cleared off the board: they lack a very effective way to make them more durable, and their higher points cost and lower unit size compared to regular Boyz means you'll have less bodies to work with. With that in mind, you have to make sure they can either put enough hurt into that initial round of shooting to have an effect on the game, or provide a suitable enough distraction in the enemy's zone of control to warrant dealing with them instead of other more valuable units.

Let's face it, they're not a truly competitive option - they're bloody expensive for a relatively small body count, lightly-armored infiltrating unit, and despite being kitted for close combat, seldom get the chance to make it happen because of the limiting aspects of infiltrate/outflank. You'll get your points back more consistently with other elite choices. But, if you are taking kommandos, you may as well play to their advantages versus those other elite units, one of those being the ability to take multiple burnas. They synergise with outflank, work in the ideal range the kommandos should be engaging at, and are beneficial for giving and receiving assaults. I can't see how the other weapon options would be more reliable. If the unit is going to die anyways, and losing those points is your concern, I wouldn't take any special weapons at all. Keep the cost down and just use them to sit on objectives in cover and hope for the best.

I take a unit of 10 with a nob and two burnas. It's still arguably too many points for what it does, but a smaller unit won't do enough damage and a larger unit is too expensive, IMO. I use them as I described in my previous post, bringing them on later via outflank to torch something sitting on an objective, or threaten a heavier unit in the backline.

Well, currently i'm happy with how min kommandoes perform. They're worth the points. We'll see about Snikrot and 15 guyz.

ive run the ghazkull snikrots komandos formation ounce before. i did the 4 min groups of komandos with nob and big choppa each and that was it. they came on when they were supposed to and hit the vehicle line in the enemies backfield after soaking up a turn of fire. the stealth and shrouded are good for this formation, but the "reroll cover save bonus" if you dont fire when they come on was what kept them alive for a turn. they then munched a whole guardsman tankline and mork was pleased that day.

if your running this formation then i suggest not giving them any ranged (probably wont need any). for normal komando squads i cant tell, haven't used them that much.