Maneater weaponry

For some time now I have been wondering about what to equip my maneaters with. All weaponupgrades seem to have their virtues. Great weapons are great for molesting anything equal to or tougher than a shieldor. Cathayan longswords are great for dealing with more skilled opponents, increasing both combat effectiveness and defence versus a lot of elite units out there. A brace of handguns is nice versus all opponents, but the other 2 give a better bonus in combat, especially considering the opponents you want em to face (I'd rather not delay my maneaters from doing what must be done by slaying mere goblins for instance). They also give you two very good shooting attacks an Ogre, making them the best (albeit most expensive) shooting unit out there. They should be able to negate a rank here and there before hitting combat. It also slows down their movement dramatically. Than there is the option to take a mix, which' awesomeness speaks for itself.

Since most lists posted here on this forum contain braces of handguns, I think it's safe to say you all consider those to be best, but I'm really torn. I strongly leaning towards a mix of weapons. So what weaponry do you all take, and how did you come by that decision?

rate of attack.

CLS: 4 S5 attacks/maneater
GW: 4 S7 attacks/maneater
BoH: 5 S5 attacks/maneater

across a frontage of 3 ogres, that's 3 more S5 attacks than the other options, coupled with some ranged potential and the ability to always stand and shoot.

Against a T3 opponent, S5 and S7 both wound on a 2+, the ability to punch through armour is better with the GW, but also you'll always be striking last.  Again, against most things, the -2 on the armour save is generally enough.

When I use maneaters, I'm forming a character-loaded deathstar unit, so rate of attacks is the more important factor.  Having one great weapon though isn't a bad thing.

The Longsword, because the jump from WS4 to 5 is quite a large one - there are few troops in the game that you won't now be hitting on 3s. The AP is very nice too, giving an overall -3 to saves.

rate of attack.
BoH: 5 S5 attacks/maneater

Why 5 attacks? Sorry can you explain that pls 

because a maneater has 4 attacks normally and a brace of handguns counts as him having an additional hand weapon in close combat - so a maneater equipped with them has 5 attacks instead.

The AP is very nice too, giving an overall -3 to saves.

  I totally overlooked that. I must say this really tips the balance in favour of this sword over the great weapon, and probably over the brace of handguns as well.

Brace of Handguns is probably without a doubt the best option for Maneaters if you don't know what you're up against.

In addition to the +1 A, you also get to shoot 2 S4 AP shots per maneater wich hits on 4+ even if it's long range and if you've moved - and you get to stand and shoot with them as well.

Plus, shooty ogres is so damn cool and wrong at the same time. (A list mostly containing characters with BoHG, Leadbelchers, Scraplaunchers and 2 units of Maneaters with BoHG - No one expects that much shooting when they face ogres.)

If you ask me id say hands down Brace of handguns

A couple of S4 AP shots is so good at killing fast cav and stuff i'd always take a brace.  A greatweapon is nice, if i had a larger unit i'd take 1 in the mix.
Longswords are very meh to me, +1 attack is way better than +1 WS/Int which does not always make any difference and maneaters get ogre clubs anyway if they want the -3 to saves.  Then the 2 shots with no move/shoot and range penalties at 24+" always standing and shooting seals it for me.

Picked off a HE mage in a wood a while back (double 6s to hit!), she now sits in units.

BOH for me.  1 GW in the mix isnt a totally bad idea either.  Not a fan of the CLS.

For some reason I led myself to believe having WS5 would increase my offensive capability versus WS5 troops, which is the sort of unit you want to be facing with maneaters. This is of course not the case.

As Eg Giant-tripper pointed out, having WS5 does help out versus WS4 troops. To be honest though, I think our core are more than capable of dealing with those troops, so why would I equip my maneaters for that purpose? I think we should not, so that leaves out the cathayan longsword.

I want maneaters to deal with the real nasties, so the question for me remains whether to go with the greatweapon or the braces. I will just compare them statistically. Not a big fan of that because ye know how dice tend to roll, but it's the only way to compare without take a whole armycompotition into account. I will not take into account not breaking my opponent on the charge. That means I will not take striking last for greatweapons into account. Other than that it will be a fair comparison .

The brace of handguns. We gain an attack, but loose armour piercing. Lets consider an armoursave of 4+ or better, which is a fair assumption I dare say. Maneater effectiveness in combat is increased by 1/4 (one attack on top of the 4 present), but decreased by 1/6 (6+ armoursave remaining). This results in a 1/12 increase. Against tougher opponents increase will remain the same.

The great weapon. I will consider both troops at T4 with a 4/3/2+ save (tough core and elite) and T5/6 with a 4+ save (nasty monsters), which covers the smallest and biggest increase in offensive effectiveness one might expect.
T4 with 4+ sv: increase by 1/6 (3+ to wound becomes 2+)
T4 with 3+ sv: increase by 1/6 (3+ to wound becomes 2+) and 1/6 (6+ save is no save): increase = 2/6
T4 with 2+ sv: increase by 1/6 (3+ to wound becomes 2+) and 2/6 (5+ save becomes no save): increase = 3/6
T5 with 4+ sv: increase by 2/6 (4+ to wound becomes 2+) and 1/6 (6+ save becomes no save): increase = 3/6

All this bogus means great weapons will perform better versus nasty creatures, which we allready knew of course, but they do so by a whopping 50%! No small feat. Even versus elven elite with T3 they will perform equall to a brace of handguns (8.33% increase), or even better if they have a 3+ as or better.

In combat versus tough opponents a greatweapon will potentially perform 38% better than a brace of handguns. I myself usually face a lot of high armoured troops (dwarves, brettonia, 2 warriors of choas, but also dark elves, skaven and wood elves) Is this worth loosing 2 really really good shooting attacks over and not getting any chance at all to strike first next round? To be honest I don't know. Their ability to shoot is really good and gives the unit much more flexibility.

It's a difficult comparison. I guess experience will tell, which means I should follow the main crowd here and go with the handguns  . Next weekend I will finally recieve the rest of the maneaters, which will allow me to use 2 units of 3 maneaters. I guess I will field both a unit with greatweapons one with handguns and see how it works out. Thanks for all the input so far. I'll keep you posted.

I'd go with 2 handguns and a great weapon in each unit for your test - that way you can see how the GW and handguns work in the same fight in the same battle.