Drop Pod doors

[Jonny Wolf]

1. When disembarking it's two inches from the hatch (door) not two inches from the vehicle? (i.e. from the end of the laying down door)

 

2. Do we have to open all 5 doors? Or can we use one or two and keep the rest closed to block LOS?

 

Thanks,

 

Brother Jonny

[muzzyman1981]

When you disembark you go 2" from the hull of the Pod....doors don't count in it.

 

When the Drop Pod hits the ground it is counted as open as far as I'm aware. Now in the case where it lands next to a building or some such and the doors cannot open then that is a different story but you would have the other impediment in the way anyways. I would have to say generally though that the Drop Pod is see through as some people glue the doors shut or just don't want to open it.

[Bran Scalphunter]

Hmmm... until Wolf or OID show up, I'll try my hand at this.

 

The rules for disembarking say 2" from the hatch/door/ladder that the model exits from, so I'd say with confidence that you would place the Pod down, lay down the ramps, but still keep with 2" of the doors themselves. As for whether or not you are supposed to open it up all the way, I'd say that you are supposed to open them all up. Just to be sure to clarify this with your opponent before the game so no misunderstandings occur.

 

Edit: Just so I've got it right- the doors are equal with the hull of the Drop Pod right? I don't own one myself to check so someone with one can check for me right?

 

Cheers, Bran

[Jarl Kjaran Coldheart]

1. my group uses doorway, not the hatches.

 

2. again, my group says the doors all open upon impact. (trust me, i wish we could hide LoS from attacking units.)

 

wolf lord kieran

[Jonny Wolf]

I agree with the consensus with number one (2" off the hatch).

 

The second one I just wasnt sure on...the new C:SM states "the hatches are blown and all passengers must immediately disembark."

 

I'm not one for rules lawyering, so I'd have to say that means "all hatches"...still it'd be nice to block LOS.

[muzzyman1981]

Unfortunately for #1 there is a rule that says disembark from the access point....not from the hatch, otherwise you could be moving up to 8" or so from the vehicle. Picture the Drop pod with the doors in the up position and position your disembarking troops around the edges and that is your disembarking profile.

[Jarl Kjaran Coldheart]

looking at what i wrote for #1, i dont think i was clear in my answer. what i would have said if i reread it for common sense is: when exiting the pod,measure 2in from the main hull of the pod, not from the hatches. my bad.

 

wolf lord kieran

[muzzyman1981]

LOL yeah that is what I was seeing =P

[The_Betrayed_Spacewolf]

so what about people who glue their doors shut? do they get a bonus to blocking los (despite it being hard as heck to see anything in there) or are we allowed to say it lands here (roll) and say since the door cant go all the way its not going to open?

[Jarl Kjaran Coldheart]

if people glue their doors shut their troops cannot get out. plain and simple.

 

wolf lord kieran

[the jeske]

if people glue their doors shut their troops cannot get out. plain and simple.

nope thats not what the rules say . Or to be more precise , the drop pods rules say its open toped after landing , so to get out of them you dont need any doors[access points].

Just like all ork transports dont need to have door for orks to get out , drop pods work the same way.

[muzzyman1981]

Well think of it this way....most people I imagine glue the doors to their Rhinos, Razorbacks, and Land Raiders shut for ease of transport but are still allowed to use those as access points (unless they are playing a complete a-hole). Same thing applies to the Drop Pod, it just would not be able to take the "wings" of the Drop Pod into account for LOS purposes and the top of the Drop Pod I would say is clear in the cases of LOS, due to the glueing.

[G. A. K.]

Who says you can't open only the doors you exit from? Open two of five on the side you disembark. The internal layouts of vehicles have never been taken into consideration for disembarking purposes anyway.

And to counter "the hatches are blown" argument... you blow the hatches before you. To hell with the others!

[Wolf89]

There have been many discussions about this, even on the B&C (I'm too lazy to find one on here, but I remembered a decent on on dakka so I'll provide the link here.

 

I'll let you guys read to find the answers, sounds like most of you have already answered them.

[Nightrunner]

I know it isn't official and all, but the way it was played at the UK GT was that you can open as many doors as you want, but they don't count for your measuring for deployment.

 

Otherwise, I could build an ork battlewagon with a converted, 24" long assault ramp, and send my models into combat with you on turn 1. Silly. :ph34r:

 

However, your closed doors can only be set once you land (you don't have to open any at all) based upon the squad receiving tactical data on the ground situation as they land.

 

This WILL then have an effect on true LOS, i.e. shooting through the pod, and also for the pod's own guns, which can only shoot out of open doorways.

 

This seems like the fairest way to play them, and again I KNOW that the GT FAQ's aren't official, but if you can't take those as being right, I don't know what you can!

 

NR :nuke:

[-Brother Sargent Tiberius-]

ha... who needs doors!?!?!

 

in a deathwatch book they fill a drop pod with stormbolters and hellfire missiles and rig em to go off as soon as they land. they were fighting a horde of niddys.

 

only wimps use drop pods... my marines just jump into the atmosphere and land on there feet.

[hendrik]

Who says you can't open only the doors you exit from? Open two of five on the side you disembark. The internal layouts of vehicles have never been taken into consideration for disembarking purposes anyway.

And to counter "the hatches are blown" argument... you blow the hatches before you. To hell with the others!

possible but the fact why all the hatches blow i think has to do with the fact that the drop pod might spin a bit, dissorientating the marines a bit, when only blowing 1 hatch you could possibly face your own armyline while when you blow them all you can go to wherever you want,guns blazing

if this makes any sense?

[Jonny Wolf]

Unfortunately for #1 there is a rule that says disembark from the access point....not from the hatch, otherwise you could be moving up to 8" or so from the vehicle. Picture the Drop pod with the doors in the up position and position your disembarking troops around the edges and that is your disembarking profile.

 

Maybe our lexicon is not the same.

 

Hatch to me is the door - so yeah, 2" off the hull then, lol :)

[muzzyman1981]

=) Yeah, my understanding is the hatch is the actual swinging door which is why I kept saying hull so there was no misunderstandings. Got it cleared up though.

[WolfLordLars]

if people glue their doors shut their troops cannot get out. plain and simple.

nope thats not what the rules say . Or to be more precise , the drop pods rules say its open toped after landing , so to get out of them you dont need any doors[access points].

Just like all ork transports dont need to have door for orks to get out , drop pods work the same way.

 

Its a sign of the Wolftime... Jeske and I agree on this one.

 

My pods dont open. I dont like painting inside vehicles, and moving parts generally lead to broken parts. My resin pods are closed. My new pods will likely be closed as well. Measure from the HULL of the vehicle (its open topped) and the doors can remain shut, as its counted as open topped as soon as it lands, regardless of the doors.

 

To say if the door doesnt open the troops cant get out would clearly violate the rule that its open topped, thus the GW Rules Enforcement Squad (GWRES?) would show up to your store and break your legs. Those europeans are a testy bunch..

[muzzyman1981]

Well my concern would be LOS with, say, one of your models on one side of the Drop Pod and an enemy model on the opposite side. If you have the doors open, and I'm saying you NEED to have them unglued and open as it is always the modelers choice, how would you work out LOS for targetting and cover save purposes?

 

I'm not saying you can't glue doors shut, I'm just trying to get what seems to be the common practice or logical choice if I were to run into someone who had their Drop Pod doors glued shut....

[WolfLordLars]

IMHO - If doors are shut, doors are shut. You cant see through. It blocks LOS. If your group disagrees, make up a house rule. Maybe a 5+ save through it? Nothing says that your doors MUST be open. Just like I have seen HUGE Ork trukks made from Land Raider hulls and built up, it would block LOS, and nothing in the rules says it cant.

 

Keep the peace, but I keep my doors shut.

[muzzyman1981]

Well the reason I ask is more of a real-world view of how a Drop Pod would work and how it is made. When in flight the Drop Pod is sealed shut but when it lands at least one of it's doors are blown open to allow exit from the Drop Pod so we can assume that for the most part it may totally block LOS. However, many people would say that ALL the doors are blown open to let exits from all angles....plus if you look at the layout of the Drop Pod those on one side of the Drop Pod don't have access to any door but where they are strapped. Now, I know that doesn't constitute any sort of rule it does make you wonder. Remember, most rules in the 5th Ed rulebook are given real-world (or at least real-world for Warhammer 40k) explinations.

 

I would agree though, that anyone with a Drop Pod, especially those with the doors glued shut, or any means of not being able to open, should ask their opponent or TO to get some rules laid down for door rules and LOS through thereof.

[WolfLordLars]

The way *I* would see it happening would be that when the DP fires its retro thrusters before impact (say, 50ft from the ground or so) the doors would blow off as well, to prevent issues where it jams into a location that the doors cant open. The bottom of the pod would clear anything that might hit the troops inside, and hey, its an assault drop, risk is a part of it.

 

But, thats just me. I dont see how it would 'flower' open if the bottom is buried in the terrain (as it should be), or water/mud/sand/etc. Better for the doors to be blown away than to hinge to the pod.

[muzzyman1981]

Well, talking realistically, the doors themselves would weigh quite a bit and would, with the added momentum from the explosives opening them, crush through most anything. As for the Pod being buried, I don't really see that happening much outside of marshy terrain due to the thrust slowing it down enough, which is why Space Marines are the only ones to use them due to the ability to take the punishment of such an arrested landing.

 

Personally, I would say as well that ALL the doors would be blown open due to the fact a Drop Pod literally falling on the enemies heads, or at least much closer than any sane IG trooper would want to be, would add the element of surprise which would allow the SMs to clear the pod under cover of its weaponry thereby negating the need to have one or more doors kept up to provide cover.

 

Also keeping the doors connected and "flowering" upon opening would allow easier recovery of the Pod for later use by the Chapter. Just have the Pod pull them back up, replace the disembarkation explosives on the doors or panels, and you can use the Pods again (provided they are still in operable condition after the combat).