drop pod or rhino ?

[KYR GKIKAS]

I am starting a space wolves army and i am curious about transports.I want to field a LRC full with angry Blood claws and 2 full squads of Grey Hunters with bolters My question is which trasport to prefer.A Rhino or a Drop pod?

[MechSpacewulf]

I am a drop pod-aholic. here are my REASONS and OPINIONS which have worked for me and some wisdom I have gleamed off our elder wulf brothers

 

GH's and dreads do great deploying from DP's

 

BC's are sketchy... you must deploy very carefully and make sure they can survive a round and do not get shot or charged first so in other words they do great from a Rhino. Think of every game you used a Rhino in and see if one ever lasted intact for more then 2 turns unscathed

 

Use the DP like a Rhino... you do not have to deploy deep in your enemies rear area ( insert joke hear ) you can put them in the way of your opponents path and when you fork over the extra points for the Deathwind you will always get your points back. Your enemy will have more targets to consider and once those large blast templates start falling the fun really begins. At 55 total points it's a bargain.

 

I posted a question about how many pods to take and the I found that odd numbers work for eveyone the best for every 250 points rounding up.

 

Do not place them without support so that if you have 3 and the first 2 come in do not put them on the opposite ends of the table and out of range of support unless you have a real good reason like bait and switch.

 

Don't be afraid to drop it in your own deployment zone... Deathwind, the ultimate speed bump!

 

Don't underestimate the psychological effect of the DP vs the Rhino... they have a general idea of where the Rhino will deploy and knowlwge is power.

 

MAKE THEM GO FIRST!!!!! this will max out the effectiveness of the DP. You might even think that you messed up big time letting the enemy go first like I did on quite a few occasions but after each game when we reviewed the moves letting the enemy go first was never one of the errors that cost me the game...it was crappy dice and lousy deployment and targeting priorities that did the damage.

 

 

Good Luck and just type in drop pod on the search to get more info...

 

Pat

[Grey Mage]

One of each. Seriously.

 

You have two Grey Hunter squads. Unless your looking at putting a dreadnaught, or some wolfgaurd, into another pod.... you should do one of each. Thus the pod with the hunters in it will hit first turn, and your rhino full of them will move up with the bloodclaws to support. Make sure that the pack with the pod has a meltagun, plenty of bolters, and after that consider plasma and CC upgrades. In general I find 1 powerweapon/fist is a good idea, maybe two. Keeps the points down but gives your enemy a little pause for thought.

 

Then the other squads in transports roll up around the concentration off enemies that are trying to pick off your GH's in pod. Now you have the perfect concetration of enemy forces to throw down your 700pts of SW's on.

[Wolf Guard Nostromo]

Although I have had success with a rhino based army, an odd number of pods makes a brilliant addition to any force. This allows you to pod in a larger percentage of your force in the first turn, and if combined with a venerable dreadnought re-roll, gives you a big tactical advantgae right from the start.

 

I admit that I have no experience with an all drop pod force bigger than three pods worth (!?) but if you are going to use two squads of Grey Hunters, one of each is a winner with two rhinos as a good second option.

 

I have also found that podding blood claws look great but tend to get torn apart by any army with a decent firebase. Ironclad and venerable dreadnoughts also work very well from pods, so (assuming you had the points) two grey hunter packs in rhinos, your blood claw lrc and a ven dread in a pod would be a strong tactical combination.

[Spacefrisian]

I use an all pod force but in my oppinion their even numbers work just as good as uneven. I can put 6 in 1500 points.

[Wolf PupE]

I played an all drop pod army in 4th ed and it worked really well.

 

Playing rhinos in 5th ed, I need to buy drop pod models now :(

 

I'm worried about an all pod army if you get dawn of war deployment, so I would like to hear peoples thoughts on that.

 

The rhinos aren't bad but the pods were much better for me. Still need to try the mixed combo though.

[Yeti]

I'll add a vote for one of each.

 

Rhinos give you the mobility that pods don't have, which can be important. As for them surviving, mine routinely make it to the end of the game, you just have to place them inteligently and once the troops have disembarked, they pretty much get ignored.

 

Drop pods can give you a surprise factor, similar to OBEL scouts. With 10 GHs with bolters you get a lot more firepower than scouts and it's more survivable too ... though more expensive.

[Grey Mage]

In the long run to it lets you try out a new set of skills. You can play around with drop pods to see if you like them, without investing alot of cash into them if you dont. Rhinos are rather universal, and rather cheap points wise, so having one laying around isnt a bad idea if you decide you like pods a heck of alot more.

[JEFF4i]

If your Wolves need to kill somebody,

drop it like its hot, drop it like its hot, drop it like its hot.

 

If the enemy wants a bloody death,

drop it like its hot, drop it like its hot, drop it like its hot.

 

If you love winning and hate Chaos,

drop it like its hot, drop it like its hot, drop it like its hot.

[WG Vrox]

Mixed list for me.

 

So far I have been running a 1 pod 1 rhino 1 RB list and have had very good success with it. I am a big fan of having your entire army on the table turn 1, (other than the scouts of course). I put 9 GHs, 1 HQ SS/TH and 1 WG in TA SS/CF in the DP. Ends up being a very hard wolf pack that can deal with anything short of a Vindi blast. Between the Pod and Scouts my oppenent usually deploys in a way that screws up their normal battle deployment so I have them reacting to me from the beginning. In the book Art of War (A must read for any general) it tells you to keep the enemy reacting to you on the field for a huge multiplier in your favor toward the outcome of the battle.

 

Depending on the ojbective very rarely do I just drop the 1 pod in middle of their force, but rather use it for a bait and hook or a securing a flank/far objective tactic. The trick is to have a fast unit that can move forward fast enough to support the Pod, in my case I use 3 Attack Bikes 2 MM 1 HB.

 

The Rhino moves forward to secures a second objective or plug a hole, while the RB keeps a home/close objective secure. All the time my mech force keep the firepower pressure on. Vindi, Pred Dest/HB Spon, WW. filling up 3 Heavy slots for under 300 points.

 

WG Vrox

[Grey Mage]

Well I never read the art of war, but I know by heart that every time you force your enemy to make a decision he wasnt planning for theres the chance for a mistake in your favor. Force him to see only options you want him to and and tempt him with things he only thinks he wants.

 

Drop pods are a good thing for this. Then again, almost anything in the army is.