Firing splinter rifles from moving Raider

Hi guys, I was having a discussion with a mate of mine regarding firing splinter rifles from a moving Raider. Consider the following:

I have 10 Kabalite Warriors in a Raider with Splinter Racks. I move the Raider no more than 6" towards my opponent's troops. Now as per the rules, all 10 Warriors can fire their Splinter rifles (Open-topped transport/Fire points), using snapshots (moved at combat speed). I can either choose to shoot twice at half range, or once at full range (Rapid fire weapons). I can reroll both of these shots (Splinter Racks) resulting in a maximum of 20 total hits from my squad.

As far as we can see, this is correct. Are we missing anything or should I just continue the onslaught? Thanks!

The only thing you're missing is that it's not snap shots, they use their normal BS unless the Raider moves over 6".

Oops you're right. Cruising Speed fires shots at WS1. Thanks!

chrisheid wrote:

Oops you're right. Cruising Speed fires shots at WS1. Thanks!

There's a reason we call them Gunboats

You could chuck in a Splinter Cannon for an extra couple of shots but that is only 18" range if the Raider moves.

Count Adhemar wrote:

There's a reason we call them Gunboats

You could chuck in a Splinter Cannon for an extra couple of shots but that is only 18" range if the Raider moves.

Wonderful things, gunboats.

Ironically, although theoretically it increases the potential damage of the unit, the splinter cannon actually decreases the points efficiency of the unit - you pay over the odds for that extra potential, which as the Count noted, is more limited in range if the vehicle moves than the normal splinter rifles.

My advice - if you want splinter cannons, put them on venoms. If you're taking gunboats (I like them, Thor doesn't...) then don't bother upgrading the weapons.

We've been playing 500pnt battles to get into the game (just started playing 40k) and my opponent (IG) was having a hard time dealing with my gunboats. Seeing their reputation for being made of paper I was wondering if we we're doing something wrong because I was getting so much firepower and value from them! Maybe low point battles aren't balanced that well for some armies.

It's very dependent on what your opponent is using to shoot at them. They are made of paper, but if you're putting night shields on them to give them a 3+ jink save and you're rolling well then they can be pretty robust.

I've weathered a veritable storm of fire with them before now (80+ bolter shots with sprinklings of krak missiles and plasma). On other occasions I've lost them to the first three shots to hit them, the low Armour makes them very dependent on the randomness of your dice, whereas an Armour 12 transport is more robust because of a smaller volume of fire targetting it.

I'd say if your opponent starts brings autocannon teams and multilaser chimeras etc then you might start to struggle a bit more