Plasmafang vs Annihilator

[Karhedron]

I was intrigued by the idea of a squad of Long Fangs, all with plasma cannons using their "Fire Discipline" rule to reroll 1s to Hit and thus making it relatively safe to overcharge every turn. 6 Long Fangs with 5 Plasma Cannons comes to 195 points (you can give the pack leader a combi weapon if you want but I have left him as a simple ablative wound for this analysis).
 
A Predator with 4 Lascannons comes to 200 points so I wanted to see how they stacked up against a variety of targets. For the purpose of the analysis, I am assuming that the Fangs are overcharging every turn and both units are stationary.
 
Vs a Land Raider
A T8 target with a 2+ save is a tough nut to crack. The Predator will hit on 3s, wound on 3s. The target saves on a 5+ and each failed save does D6 wounds. This gives an average of 4 wounds. The Long Fangs get D3 shots, each of which will hit on 3s, wound on 4s. The target saves on a 5+ and each failed save does 2 wounds. This also does an average of 4 wounds. The 5 plasma cannons vs 4 lascannons is enough to even the damage compared to the slightly lower strength.
 
Vs a Predator
A T7 target with a 3+ save (which also includes other common vehicles like Dreads) makes life better for the Plasma cannons as they now wound on a 3+ too. The Predator does on average 5 wounds but the Long Fangs cause 7 wounds.
 
Vs infantry
Here the Plasma cannons are way ahead. Against any dispersed target, they cause roughly double the damage of the lascannons. Obviously they don't compete with the efficiency of a heavy bolter for clearing lightly armoured hordes but they are certainly not wasted and against anything with a 5+ save or better or multiple wounds, they really do well.
 
Conclusion
So on offensive output, I was surprised to see that the plasma cannons equalled or exceed the lascannons against every target. Of course the downside is that the Predator is tougher and has twice the number of wounds. 6 wounds will kill the Long Fangs whereas the Predator will still be firing all weapons, albeit at BS4+.
 
Provided you can get them into a good firing position, I think that Plasma Long Fangs are a great unit. With rerolls of a 1, the chances are that you will only lose 1 model to overheats over the course of an average game. I think I will be running a pack of these veterans to see how they perform on the real tabletop.

Edited July 5, 2017 by Karhedronuk

[Rune Priest Jbickb]

I've been taking long fangs and predators in my lists. I like both for different roles. The long fangs I put in cover with either plasma or missiles and use them on heavy infantry types and occasionally to get the extra wound or 2 on a larger target. The predators I use only for harder targets and they do very well in that role, plus their durability us pretty decent, definitely better than the long fangs.

[Wolf_Lord_Hardrada]

I've just started building a squad of plasma fangs, so this is all sounds good to me!

[PeteySödes]

Used plasma fangs against 'nids the other day and they were handily the MVP. Only lost 2 to overcharge, which i did every turn, after 5 turns which wasnt bad IMO. I dont have a pred yet but plan on trying missiles on the LF's at some point.

[Gherrick]

I like LC over PC myself. Mostly it is the S9 that makes it so you are wounding on a 3+ or better vs practically all targets. I like to through a cheap WGBL to reroll wounds of 1, which makes they even more lethal (effectively not wounding only on a 2). Granted, they aren't really that useful for the hordes, but then again I don't really see that as their role. If the LFs can burn down all the high toughness/wound targets, they can take the rest of the fight off IMO.

[jerrys]

In past games (not 8E) I have found the 48" (lascannons or missiles) to be a lot better than the 36" (plasma cannons) on a squishy unit like the long fangs. That hasn't been so important for you guys who have gotten 8E games?

[The bushels]

I have run both Lf with plasma cannons, and with missiles. Always take the tda wolf guard which can take a heavy weapon now (always cyclone missle launcher). they both perform really well quite consistently.the biggest difference is the range. Plopping the missiles in your backfield holding an objective in cover and still being able to touch most anything on the board while also denying any deepstriking (if positioned correctly) is very valuable. The damage output for me has been too close to really make a difference. For me, if I have the points I take missiles. If I need to save points to field something else, I go plasma. As for lascannon preds, I don't run them at all. 4 lascannon shots do not have enough consistency or efficacy against different types of targets for me to use. Edited July 6, 2017 by The bushels

[Wolf_Lord_Hardrada]

I'm debating another squad of longfangs with a rocket launcher/lascannon mix, seen as I have a load of tactical heavy weapons lying around unused. Still not sure about adding that WGTDA though, would mean buying another box of TDA and finding some cyclones somewhere.