bocatt wrote:I personally would probably never pay for the boarding shotgun option on the Domaru Butai. If it were the same cost as the chain rifle maybe, but he's got berserk,
MA L3 and frenzy and a good
ccw so he can't really sit back and hide in cover and really get his points worth out of the shotgun. And he has an okay
BS of 12 so instead of risking not hitting and having your hits cancelled, just use the chain rifle and slap them with that nasty direct template.
That's not how you use a shotgun? You don't sit in cover with a shotgun, you use it aggressively to get into the 8" band for that awesome +6. Then you don't need to worry about cover, since you're firing at BS18, not 12. At worst (as long as they're not a camo unit or something similar, which you should be tackling with another unit anyway) they're in cover and you're firing at BS15. This should be winning you face to face rolls which means you don't eat incoming shots that the Chain Rifle lets through.
Boarding Shotguns tend to get a really bum rap, mostly because people try to use them like rifles. I've had a Kum rifle/light shotgun (granted, much greater mobility, but much less survivability) obliterate half an enemy force without ever firing his rifle. As soon as you get into that +6 band, shotguns become amazing. The Kum had mobility to get there, Domaru have two wounds and good armour.
But then, this is the great thing about Infinity. The advice about the chain rifle isn't wrong either, both work great. Just use the weapons properly and you'll see good results from both.