I'm going to move swiftly on with breaking down the rules of the new flyers as it is now a week since their release, and I don't really want to give this segment a short break like has happened with the Arena (still searching around my place for missing codecies). Next up, the Burna-Bommer.
This is one of those units that may become more effective with the release of 6th edition, this is if the rumours that you will be able to set fire to terrain. If this is the case, I may be tempted to give it the upgrades for Skorcha Missiles at 10pts a pop. But as it stands. No. I'll come on to this a bit later.
It's an odd unit this. I kind of like it (probably because of my soft spot for Orks), but I would never take one. From a straight up perspective it's a skimmer on a flyer base, with the standard Ork ballistic skill and 10 armour all round. Comparing it to the Dakkajet which costs 5pts less (as I can't see you not taking the additional supa-shoota), it loses 2 Twin-Linked Supa-Shootas, but gains a Twin-Linked Big Shoota with +1 BS (grot gunner) and 2 Burna Bombs. It can then take up to 6 Skorcha Missiles for 10pts each and Red Paint Job for 5pts. Compared to the Dakkajet, it has also taken a bit of a change in special rules. It still keeps Supersonic, Waaagh!plane and Aerial Assault, but it loses Strafing run, getting Grot Gunner instead.
Losing Strafing run isn't really a big deal for the Burna-Bommer, as the only reason that you would take it over a Dakkajet is for the Burna-Bombs, which are essentially Heavy Flamer large blast templates.
Now, talking about how this would work on the tabletop, a Burna Bommer can't move flat out and drop a bomb in the same turn, restricting it to 12” movement. The issue here is that in dropping the bomb you're seriously reducing the survivability of the Burna Bommer. Yes, that is slow enough to allow the Battlewagon to keep up but surely if you're doing that you would just run the target unit over with a deffrolla, which should do the job of reducing them to paste. If that doesn't work, yes, you could drop a burna bomb onto the unit provided the Bommer has gone over it, but then you're paying a decent number of points for something that is just going to clean up after the Battlewagon.
I can see a secondary use for this though, and as I previously alluded to it may be more viable in 6th edition. But, here we go. Take a Burna Bommer and strap a few Skorcha missiles to it. Then, use these missiles to clear opposing scoring units off objectives, as they don't allow for cover saves. What they essentially are are small blast heavy flamers with the range of a Rokkit Launcher, so you can move forward at cruising speed and unleash your missiles.
There is a pretty big risk of this thing being shot down but it depends how high up it comes on your opponents target priority. If you say that you have used all of the missiles from it (which you will have) your opponent may not see it as as much of a threat as it was at the beginning of the game, and thus dedicated his or her firepower to other units such as Battlewagons or in the general direction of a Big Mek with Kustom Forcefield.
I'd probably use it like this though if I'm honest, it's a little risky but can be very useful in all of the book missions. Releasing a load of skorcha missiles in one go will get its kill points back in most situations and the ability to easily clear most non-marine equivilant units from an objective is great, even marines might struggle against all of those S5 hits.
On a final note. Don't like Scarabs? I'd probably say that this is a better choice for getting rid of them than the Dakkajet. Yes you're not doubling them out, but they're vulnerable to blast weapons so you're coming close, and they don't get a cover save. Perfect.
To conclude, overall, do I think that I would take this over a Dakkajet in an all comers army? I think that it's difficult, they certainly both have their merits, but due to its lower points cost, I think that the Dakkajet is probably the better option. Just the Blitza-Bommer left to go.
On a side note that hasn't in any way got anything to do with the new flyer rules, I've finished painting my first squad of marines after 9 years in the hobby. I've also managed to finish their transport to go with them. So, as an excuse to get a picture into this blog – it's been far too long – here they are.
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