# Lootas Tactica



## A1i3nz (Apr 1, 2009)

Although i severely hate :angry:the lootas (for multiple reasons) they still have their uses in Ork ranged combat. Being able to shoot 48 inches and with up to 3 shots they can lay down a pretty impressive amount of fire. They can be used for whittling down enemy lines or important characters. With the ability to instant kill most units they would be a good choice for a more Dakka driven army. 
But there are some problems with Lootas. Since they play the orks main weakness, they aren't very accurate. In fact they only hit every one out of three times. Also their inconsistent fire rates is both a blessing and a curse. while one round you have three shots the next you could have one making them rely heavily on rolling. And when firing your own boyz can get in the way making your target out of sight. Finally Lootas can barely benefit from the Mob check rule making them a very squeamish unit with only a leader ship of 7 at least (under11 boyz) the unit tends to be pinned a lot. 

But again this is just my opinion about lootas and if have anything to add or change feel free to do so as long as your not rude or constantly get at me for hating the lootas. so with that said Bye:victory:


----------



## morfangdakka (Dec 31, 2006)

Well looking at one unit on its own in an ork army really leaves the whole synergy of the ork army out. I think every unit on its own sucks for an ork army. Its not until you add Nobs and upgrades or painboyz that the unit becomes a good army. 

Lootas are no exception to this rule. I have found the best tactic with them is place in cover and let them shoot at things. If I can place them in or on a building then they can shoot over the entire ork army. The lootas are mostly a scare tactic unit since they can wipe entire units off the board with one good round of shooting opponents want to concentrate on them. I let them if my opponent wants to go after 10-15 orks as opposed to the 90 running full speed at him by all means go ahead. 

Some tactics that are commonly used with orks. Place a big mek in the unit with a bosspole this will boost the units leadership value give the mek a SAG and it becomes the "hand of god" unit that can destroy whatever it shoots at. The draw backs both lootas and mek must shoot at the same thing. Also the mek could misfire killing himself and the lootas.

Next put the lootas in a open topped battlewagon with a big mek that has a kustom force field. You now have a mobile firing plateform you can drive 6 inches (7 with red paint job) and still fire the lootas. Since they are on the high ground they can shoot over the rest of the army infront of it. The AV 14 is hard for most units to crack and the kustom force field also adds protection. The mek can also fix the battle wagon if it is damaged. This will make your opponent react to you by either trying to fire at the battlewagon or avoid the battlewagon all together. The draw backs are it is a huge points investment. One crew shaken result and the lootas can't fire. This trick only works once or twice against the same opponent before they figure out a quick way to eliminate the battlewagon.

So while ork shooting is a viable option, I run dakka ork armies all the time. I think the right combination of dakka and face punching ability are what an ork army needs.


----------



## A1i3nz (Apr 1, 2009)

Very, very excellent point


----------



## A1i3nz (Apr 1, 2009)

Since people have been saying i was wrong about the Lootas to test the efficiency of the lootas shooting at a single unit of fire warriors and space marines. Since i only played with them once and hated them i haven't really used them in a while. Each army receives a 4+ cover save. The Lootas shoot first while the remainder of the unit fires back. Showing both the ability they have of killing and surviving. REMEMBER IT'S HYPOTHETICAL. 
5 LOOTAS VS. FIRE WARRIORS 
5 Lootas Trial 1 
2 shots, 5 hits, 1 kill 
Trial 2 
1 shot, missed all 
Trial 3 
3 shots, 6 hits, 3 kills 
Trial 4 
1 shot, 3 hits, 1 kill 
Trial 5 
1 shot, 1 hit, 1 kill 

Fire warriors Trial 1 
8 hits, 7 wounds, overkill by 1 
Trial 2 
9 hits, 6 wounds, 3 kills, failed morale
Trial 3 
8 hits, 7 wounds, 4 kills, passed morale
Trial 4 
6 hits, 4 wounds, 2 kills, failed morale 
Trial 5 
6 hits, 4 wounds, 3 kills 
10 LOOTAS VS. FIRE WARRIORS TEAM 
10 Lootas Trial 1 
2 shots, 7 hits, 3 kills 
Trial 2 
3 shots, 5 hits, 2 kills 
Trial 3 
1 shot, 3 hits, no kills 

Fire Warriors Trial1 
9 hits, 5 wounds, 4 kills, Morale failed 
Trial 2 
8 hits, 6 wounds, 3 kills, Morale passed
Trial 3 
7 hits, 5 wounds, 3 kills , Morale passed 

15 LOOTAS VS. SPACE MARINE TAC SQUAD WITHOUT SERGANT 

15 Lootas Turn 1 
1 shot, 5 hits, 0 kills 
Turn 2 
3 shots, 13 hits, 2 kills, Morale passed 
Space Marines Turn 1 
7 hits, 7 wounds, 10 kills, Morale failed 
Turn 2 
5 hits, 2 wounds, 3 kills 

This does not mean i hate the Lootas. They have their purposes and are a very well liked unit (as i have experienced) but they hold no place in my Waaaaaaagh!!! If you wish to do your own trial and post it be my guest. But please don't call me out just because i don't share your opinion.


----------



## FuzzyRabbit (Mar 12, 2009)

I think you are missing the critical stat, that is lootas shoot 48 inches. Unless there are some crazy situations they should never be trading fire with other troop choices. They shoot 12 inches more than heavy bolters and no one will use long range anti tank against them. Put them in a table corner in elevated cover and you can cover most of the table. If your opponent tried to close to shoot them with a troops choice, your mobs of boys will be in the way. Also, always take in squads of 15. Even if your opponent uses long range templates against your lootas, they would get a save if in cover, which is more than the advancing boys would get. In closing lootas are a great addition to an Orc army because of their range and distraction factor.


----------



## orky1 (Oct 16, 2008)

morfangdakka;354900
Next put the lootas in a open topped battlewagon with a big mek that has a kustom force field. You now have a mobile firing plateform you can drive 6 inches (7 with red paint job) and still fire the lootas.
[/QUOTE said:


> Actually you can't move a vehicle and shoot lootas as they're a heavy weapon. I'm not sure what page in the BRB, but the unit counts as moving when the battlewagon moves. So since you can't fire and move a unit with heavy weapons it negates this tactic.
> 
> Although you could just put them in the wagon and sit back and fire giving them some decent protection.


----------



## A1i3nz (Apr 1, 2009)

Excellent point fuzzy rabbit but as the data shows up it really wouldn't have made a major difference as i still only would have caused two or three casualties.


----------



## Mek Ryder (Jun 6, 2009)

another point is you are testing them against very resilient units. i use my lootas to take out units such as space marine scouts as they recieve no armour save meaning that on a good role i can take out nearly all of a squad of scouts.


----------



## englanda (Dec 2, 2008)

Lootas are hardly anti-infantry. Cover saves see to that. What they are EXCELLENT against is a mech army. AV12 gets shot to pieces, I consistently take down even wave serpents. If you need anti infantry take shoota boyz. An army of shootas and lootas can handle just about anything apart from AV14. Killa Kans see to those. Lootas are one of the only things in the Ork army that can handle an Eldar Flying Circus. I haven't tested against new guard yet but they may also be our saving grace against their flyers.

I love dakka orks and laugh whenever I hear someone say Orks can't shoot or think they'll get an easy win against me because they think Orks are CC only.


----------



## Pauly55 (Sep 16, 2008)

Englanda has it exactly right. Orks need a unit that can reliably bust transports at range, and lootas are the key. Anything AV12 or less will generally go down in one round of shooting. 

Don't bother shooting infantry with these guys, Your boyz should be doing the anti infantry work.


----------



## Culler (Dec 27, 2007)

I really like Lootas, but only in cover and preferably in groups of 15 (max squad size.) The max squad size prevents them from taking as many morale checks, which they're terrible at, and gives them enough shots to reliably do something even if they roll poorly.

What lootas do well: kill light/medium vehicles and MCs at long range, which Orks pretty much are terrible at otherwise. In a horde army they're fantastic for letting the Orks deal with the mobile elements of opposing armies (tranports, land speeders, jetbikes, etc.)

What lootas don't do well: kill light infantry hordes. The enemy is typically getting a 4+ cover save from shooting through your own troops, so even a max size mob is only going to take out 4 or so on average. 3 or 4 space marine devastators isn't shabby. 4 guardsmen out of a unit of 30 just isn't worth it. Luckily lootas can typically range those special units like command squads, heavy weapons teams, and devastators, so at least that's something.

Mainly I like lootas because they do something other Orks don't do well: long ranged combat with the potential to kill vehicles and MCs. Also, sometimes they get to roll lots of dice, which is awesome. To really enjoy Orks you have to enjoy the randomness.


----------



## Sebi (Mar 3, 2009)

pros:

long range (for orks? ENOURMOUS  )
high S .... dedicated to those AV (like said before) and "Strong things"
AP4 ... lets get it on... lets kill Nid Warrior... Scouts.... IG stuff

Cons:
Heavy... the only one(forget the SAg ... its out of the balance  )
as I was told not unreliable but unpredictable, that for sure (every roled 1s and 2s for the firing Roll ... a whole game? .... I have! and It hurts!)

My oppinions:
never ever use less than 12! anything loweriswaste of a unit as they go down too fast or start running too quickly
SAG in the middle... testet it... didn't like it....
I set up my SAG in front with a bunch of Gretching or shootaboys as "spare LP" ... so what the enemy gets a 4+? he will get that anyway... vehicles and MC don't ... so I rather take the 4+ cover for my lootas and still can shoot a different target with my SAG

Tactic?
simple:
Set them up in cover and let em take down those weak armoured vehicles or unfriendly far away units that cannot shoot them unless movin into range   
I shot down a Boomfex that way... ok the SAG helped... but nevertheless... it went down

there isn't much to do with them apart from that... just set em nice and save and let em do their work. 
And don't expect them to shoot always 3 times... maybe expect them to shoot in average 2x ... but also 1x is possible...
Man I would be so thankfull if they would always shoot 2x ... but thats Orks... never predictable ... often funny... but also often ... annoying ...


----------

