Lootas or Burnas?

[KnightShift]

I'm trying to get a 1,000 point army ready for our league day on Tuesday. Am almost there...

And now I'm trying to figure out whether I should take this new box of Ork Lootas & Burnas and make, well, Lootas or Burnas.

The pyromaniac in me wants to go with Burnas. But I'm thinking that Lootas *might* have more tactical advantage.

So... how should I spend my day tomorrow with this box?

[entendre_entendre]

what is the rest of your build like? may help in your choice. think about what the rest of your army will be doing. will they need some (somewhat inaccurate) cover fire? or will you need to flush troops out of cover? that brings me to this:
what are your opponents playing? burnas in a trukk or BW are good as you 'can't' miss with a flame template, & the PWs are a bonus as well - downside: you have to get close, but w/ orks that's what you want to do anyways... upside: flame spam = lots of wounds even vs MEQ, can assault afterwards

[KnightShift]

That's what I was thinking: that the flame template is apt to do more damage than the guns would. I'm still fairly new at this but this past week I learned (sorta the hard way) that Orks LOVE to be pushed out to the fore as fast as possible

Think I'll go with Burnas then. And BTW, love your screenname!

[Mike Dunford]

I think you're making the right choice. Flame templates are fun, but there's also a great deal of fun to be had in watching your opponents discover just how many Str 4 power weapon attacks can come from the 75-point unit that just charged them.

And I love the smell of promethium in the morning.

I usually mount mine in a 45-50 point looted wagon. (Red paint and 1-2 big shootas). Not much more expensive than a truck, slightly more survivable, and, most importantly, the burnas can start the game mounted in the looted wagon; they have to climb into some other squad's truck.

[Exitus Acta Probat]

I get the appeal of Burnas, I really do...and they have a use.
Mostly hand in hand with Snikrot in a unit of Kommandos.

One of the weaknesses of the Ork 'dex is the need to crack units OUT of their 'ports. This is not accomplished with burnas. You can kill a unit of tacs with boyz OR burnas. You CANNOT kill a unit of tacs inside a rhino with either. You MIGHT get em out with the boyz power klaw.

You NEED the lootas/equivalents to bust open as many armour 11/12 'ports as possible, so the boyz CAN swamp them. Won't help you against Land Raiders, but neither will the burnas.

It's not really a question of what'll do you the most good up close, that is not your issue against most armies ('nids and khorne zerkers being the few exceptions), it's getting them OUT so you can really take advantage of that 'up close and personal' kinda feel.

Lootas will do that for you. It's a context thing. Use the Lootas, and you won't need the burnas...your boyz will do the rest. And while they are, your lootas can start shooting down speeders/killing vendettas/krunking war walkers etc etc etc...

[KnightShift]

I may just get another box and have both Burnas and Lootas. If nothing else than to break more stuff and kill more 'umies

[Vince]

If your running stinkrot then (1) squad burnas have a place. Even saying this though Exitos is right. One of your biggest weakness is poping open transports. Lootas are the best answer. If the choice was 1 burna squad with stinkrot vs 1 unit of lootas (really you should cut something else and take both most likely) then the choice is lootas.

[icecube]

First of all: buy 2 sets of lootas/ burnas and a set of boyz so you can make nice sized units of both. I play orks in our league and i field lootas to crack all those rhinos and chimeras speeding around the place. I could have used burnas in one game though when the opponent had 45 guadsmen in a large ruin. So i say lootas.

[Old_Paladin]

Everyone is saying to get lootas to pop light vehicles.
If that's the case, make your boys into burnas and buy a box (or convert up a squad) of Tank Bustas.
Why Bustas? Three words, rokkits (better strength then deffguns), bombsquigs (Str:8 hit on a 2+), Tankhammer (2-4 Str: 10 melee attaks).
That or rokkit-buggies; either are better at taking down transports then lootas [unless you roll well a lot] (and 3 buggies will live longer then 5-6 lootas) You need large squads of lootas for them to work well.

[Mike Dunford]

Lootas are an outrageously good defensive unit. As such, their role in an ork army is extremely limited.

Lootas lack sufficient range to command the entire board, so they need to be placed carefully at the start. If you place first, your opponent can easily negate them for a turn or two simply through good deployment. You can't shoot with them from moving vehicles, and they can't reposition and shoot in the same turn.

They can threaten enemy front armor 12 light vehicles, but they're not substantially more dangerous than a similarly sized unit of tankbustas. A unit of 6 lootas can't be expected to inflict more than two hits on a vehicle in a turn (12 shots, 4 hits, 1.3 5+s, .6 6+s). A unit of 6 tankbustas will have slightly less chance of scoring a hit overall, but the same chance of scoring a penetrating hit (6 shots, 2 hits, 1 4+s, .6 5+s). And the tankbustas can do that while moving either on foot or in a vehicle of their own.

If I want to dismount enemy units, I use either tankbustas or something with 2L rokkits. If I want an unit that can cut through enemies that are out, I want burnas. I don't see lootas as being better at either option.