[Old Man78]

Dear Heretics, I am painting up some devs as a dedicated anti armor unit, and would like some advice, I am torn between all las cannon (more pricey but bumped being ap2) or all missile launcher (cheaper but more versatile if I get in a jam) the plan would not be to combat squad them but keep them together and volley fire each target, advice, critisism and abject humiliation always welcome xoxox Oldman

 

[fatmantis]

its a little hard to give and exact x over y because we dont know what else you will be taking...
if you need dedicated anti armour then las..but if you need anti light/horde then the missiles..
but like i said what else are you taking

 

[Old Man78]

Well I do not have an exact list but would be looking to include rifle dreads or dakka preds as light A.T and anti infantry, I probably wont leave home without x2 dreads as I just love the models

 

[SwedeMarine]

spamming the missle launchers against anything that is AV 13 or higher probably wouldn't be worth it as you wouldn't be able to blow things up right away anyways. but it would also solve your problem with having anti air. (flak missiles for the lot would only be 40pts.)if you can manage to have something (like a dread that can deal with the higher AV's then is say spam the missile launchers and let the dreads deal with the bigger targets. even though in theory you could knock out a land raider in one volley with the missile launchers. If your comfortable with it definitely take the missiles but bring something else to deal with the heavy armor.

 

[fatmantis]

seeing as how you like dreds you could do something fun..
2 x ironclad twin flamers... dev squad 4 x missle
2 x ironclad melta spam....dev squad 4 x las

that way you would have anti infantry and armour covered in both senarios

 

[Old Man78]

Well, taking the two is the ideal, but at the moment I am working off only having the one dev squad, as I am a 40k dabbler, I like to get experienced battle commanders opinions

 

[Creon]

I tend to support mixed Las/Missile, 2x las, 2x missile, but that's often frowned upon as 2 of the weapons are not firing at their best envelope. Either you're snapping 2 las at aircraft or firing poor AP value krak at tanks. But, as a "all comers" set with one dev squad, that's my choice. It's probably better to take a 10 man squad, and Combat squad it 3/2 las, 3/2 missile if you do it that way, tho.

 

[iamtheeviltwin]

I prefer the missile spam. Overall the missile launcher is the more versatile of the two weapon loadouts. With the new 7ed rules drop you will be less likely to explode vehicles and have to rely on Hulling them out, but I still think it is the best loadout. Also with the missile spam the 40pts for Flakk is worthwhile as additional anti-air.

 

[Khorne's Fist]

If it's dedicated anti armour, las cannons all the way. Pretty expensive unit though. MLs are probably the best all rounder in your choices.

I do love me a bit of plasma cannon action though. Can't touch heavy armour, but just having it on the board makes those termie units tremble.

 

[maximus2467]

Missiles all the way, far better all rounder

 

[Mossy Toes]

If it's dedicated anti armour, las cannons all the way. Pretty expensive unit though.

This. Not only is it the only way you have a shot at exploding an enemy vehicle, now, for the AP2, but it's also a more efficient loadout against, say, Riptides and Dreadknights, against whom missiles will be ineffective.

If you want a more flexible all-rounder, missile are great for that, but if you want a "dedicated anti-armor unit," lascannons all the way.

 

[Old Man78]

thank you folks, looks like the las cannons will win through, lots of big scary things on the table now and of course an excuse to get the forgeworld legion las cannon set, @Khorne's Fist, I know what you mean about the plasma cannons when funds allow i'd like to pick up the legion plasma cannon set purely for the rule of cool!

 

[The Son of Horus]

These days lascannons are the only turn 1 reliable anti-tank weapon Space Marines have. Meltas (of both the standard and multi-melta persuasion) are great but often don't have the 2d6 armor penetration the first turn, and S8 just doesn't cut it anymore when it comes to anti-tank duty. I still love meltas, don't get me wrong-- but the Devastators are going to perform best with lascannons since they give you a reliable means to destroy critical armored targets on turn 1.