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Now that the rules allow it, does anyone ever Move-n-Shoot with their Heavy Weapons?


It just seems so cool, the thought of a squad of Devastators hip-firing Heavy Bolters.

I do it when necessary. Primarily with my Rapier Artilleries. If I lose all the dudes manning them they go berserk. So I usually start the game witb them hiding just around a corner, since they only move 4". Pop out my turn one and fire away.

I haven't used my Havocs yet and my preds don't usually move often.

Absolutely. There are just times when you want to move a unit (especially a tac sqd) and the hvy weapon being able to fire is just a bonus.

Yep. Do it all the time with CSMs & lascannons.

Standing within Abaddon's reroll bubble, it's like they never moved.

 chimeara wrote:
I do it when necessary. Primarily with my Rapier Artilleries. If I lose all the dudes manning them they go berserk. So I usually start the game witb them hiding just around a corner, since they only move 4". Pop out my turn one and fire away.

I haven't used my Havocs yet and my preds don't usually move often.

Havocs don't count because they can take four Assault weapons, and a Sgt with a Combi.

Cheese Louise!

About same as in 7th ed. If need to get LOS yes, if not stand still and shoot.

DG doesn't care if I move, so I move
Dreads are our only source of heavy weapons, though...

Yes, especially with Heavy Bolters as the ROF in part mitigates the drop in accuracy. I have a little Tac Squad with Heavy Bolter and Storm Bolter that just wades forward dishing out Bolter shots, and it’s been surprisingly effective in every game!

Try not to with my Guard though, as redeploying Guard means accuracy down the toilet.

Always move and shoot with heavy flamers. Id be happy to take -6 to hit if i could advance and shoot with them.

phydaux wrote:

 chimeara wrote:
I do it when necessary. Primarily with my Rapier Artilleries. If I lose all the dudes manning them they go berserk. So I usually start the game witb them hiding just around a corner, since they only move 4". Pop out my turn one and fire away.

I haven't used my Havocs yet and my preds don't usually move often.

Havocs don't count because they can take four Assault weapons, and a Sgt with a Combi.

Cheese Louise!

Fair enough lol. To clarify, I've got one squad with autocannons and one with heavy bolter.

Unfortunately no, as orks have 5+ to hit normally and moving means I'm literally cutting my shooting in half.

not that there's any reason to take lootas anyway, so it's a moot point

If there is some LoS blocking terrain inside my deployment zone, I place my artillery behind it, so it's safe if I don't get the first turn. Hitting on 4+ instead of 3+ is better than not shooting at all.

More than I did in previous editions but I try to maximise my firepower where possible.

 Giantwalkingchair wrote:
Always move and shoot with heavy flamers. Id be happy to take -6 to hit if i could advance and shoot with them.

Cheeky little bugger.

With sisters yes, usually with heavy bolters (if I have to), but if I've taken a MMelta squad, they usually move the first turn to get into best shooting range.

IG, less so then sisters (by %), but with so many heavy weapons availible, I'll still fire from squads that are advancing. I mean why not? I'm just not counting on them actually killing anything that turn.

With my Necrons, My Monolith and Destroyers are constantly moving. As is my Sautekh Doomsday Ark.

Generally if I move them within the first three turns I consider that a failing on my part due to bad set up. Saying that, if they need to move out of necessity e.g. responding to multiple deepstriking units then so be it really - you can't account for every eventuality.

To give a bit more context I use havocs with four heavy weapons.

All the time.

With my Shadowsword and Tallarn-doctrine vehicles.

I shoot n scoot with my infernus pred and helios land raider (power of mach spirit) .

same with razorbacks.

Very often, multiple times a game at least. Often multiple units a turn. Vehicles, infantry, etc.

Racerguy180 wrote:
I shoot n scoot with my infernus pred and helios land raider (power of mach spirit) .

same with razorbacks.

I don't know if I was unclear in my OP, but I was talking about infantry equipped with heavy weapons.

I guess it really has to do with what unit we are talking and if that is the job of said unit.

A normal guardsmen squad with a HWT does normally not have an incentive to move, mainly because 4+ -> 5+ can be a huge deal on some HW's, however if you need to intercept something then move.

A CSM /SM tactical squad with one high ROF HW can move and be efficent, aswell as potentially preparing a charge.

2 rules apply in my mind:
1. Good BS = not beeing particulary affected.
(CSM, Havocs, Tac Squads, Devastors, etc.)

2. HW's with high RoF = not beeing affected to much.
(Heavy Stubbers, Heavy Bolters, Autocannons, Rocketlauncher with frag, Mortars thechnically however since they do not require LoS that won't happen except if you hightail a unit out of a dangerzone, etc.)

Also there are armies or army builds that are advantagous for units which you normally would not move with that equippment.
There are those that don't get affected and there are those that want to go close for shooting and later for a charge. (Khornebased traitor guard comes to mind) but they are rare and generally behave like a slower CQC/ shooty hybrid.


In regards to Tanks, IG Leman Russes compensate with grinding advance. Spacemarine Tanks have high enough BS to ignore the hit. (Mostly if you should move to get line of sight it is better then not beeing able to shoot at all.)

I scoot and shoot heavy weapons a lot with both of my armies. If you are playing with proper line of sight blocking terrain, you may need to move into a firing lane. Its also possible to hide your own unit, then move into a firing position on your next turn.

-1 to hit isn't that bad of a penalty compared to getting the first shot in an engagement. Especially since there are a lot of ways to mitigate the movement penalty.

1) keeping a Lord equivalent nearby. Re-rolling 1s to hit does help a bit.
2) psychic powers, an Eldar Guide, Chaos Prescience, These can go a long ways to mitigating the pain of moving and shooting.
3) some units have wargear that lets em do it with no penalty, Dark Reapers, Land Raiders, Eldar Targeting Matrix.
4) Sometimes it doesn't even matter because moving in to charge after shooting is the superior option- like on a Dreadnaught or other Monster.

lots of reasons to move a unit around and still take shots whenever you get a chance. Who knows, you might even get lucky!

Since vehicles also get the penalty, and flyers don't (usually) get an exemption, they've got no choice but to take the hit. I recently used a Eldar Crimson Hunter, which starts with a BS 2+ (I know, boo hoo...), but a minimum of 20" movement. The Exarch gets re-rolls on a 1, but the -1 to hit messes that up a fair bit.
Keeping the re-roll choices (Guide power) means the fliers want a Farseer escort.
And that's sneaky tricksy Eldar. Everyone else must really be hurting from that -1 to hit.

This is one of my favorite changes in 8th. I have near liked having to sit still with ANY unit. The vast majority of armies I have played consisted of units that had 12" movement in prior editions.

Being able to shoot with Heavy weapons after moving has opened up so many weapon choices for me that I wouldn't have been happy with before.

I find my CSM squad with 2 embedded heavy bolters often ends up moving to claim new objectives (we play Maelstrom of War a lot). It's not too bad hitting on 4+ instead of 3+ and they are only cheap.

(wrong thread)