Need help with overall tactics of my drop pod army

[Sternguard sergeant McColl]

I know my list isn't spotless, but it shouldn't be losing as hard as it is. It may have something to do with that my common enemy for all test games have been BT, BA and TS.

 

HQ:

Vulkan He’stan

 

 

Master of the forge- digital weapons

 

 

Troops

10x Tactical squad (Melta gun, multi melta, storm bolter)-

Drop pod-

(Vulkan goes here^)

 

10x Tactical squad (melta gun, multi melta, storm bolter)-1

Drop pod-

(MotF goes here^)

 

10x Tactical squad (flamer, multi melta, power fist, storm bolter)-

Drop pod-

 

Elites:

5 Sternguard-5 combi melta, )-

Drop pod-

 

 

Ironclad dreadnaught (2x HF, 2x HK )-

Drop pod w/ locator beacon-

 

Fire drake assault terminators (5x TH/SS)-

 

 

Heavy support-

 

 

 

Ironclad dreadnaught (2x HF, Ironclad assault launchers, HK missile)-

Drop pod w/ locator beacon-

 

Ironclad dreadnaught (2x HF, Ironclad assault launchers, HK missile)-

Drop pod w/locator beacon-

 

as you can see the liust is based around getting up close and personal to utalise my twin-linked short range weapons as soon as possible. The HQ's support the Tac's to add PF's and PW attacks so i don't have to make the tacs crazy expensive. I really think my problems so far have come from my poor placement of Objectives, pod landing designations and general tactics. Can anyone direct me to a pod tactica, or give me advice on where to land my pods to avoid the constant melta fate I have so far received? The dreads NEVER survive long enough, and if they did the list would be great.

[waaanial00]

Ok then walk us through it. What is your deployment priority - you have to chose 4 of your 7 to land first. So which ones do you always choose?

 

You are saying that your dreads never survive long enough, when are you seeing them fall because I think you might just be encountering the short life of Dreadnoughts. Dont believe the fluff my friend Dreads never survive the battle in tact. The Ironclad allows them a modicum of protection against certain things but high strength tank busting weapons, especially short range meltas, will always get you in the end.

 

My tactics for Drop pod dread deployment are either:

 

In their face make a lot of noise and attract all the gunfire : Almost always guarenteed to get your Dread killed in the first turn he arrives however it does take some of the attention away from the rest of my army. However not much of your force will benefit from this because you are a complete pod army and none of your armour (apart from the podding dreads) will be on the board anyway. Plus the disadvantage of being a dreadnought supporting infantry is that they are too tough to attract the small arms fire away from your troops and a complete magnet for attracting all those nasty weapons which can kill you.

 

Just out of the way to make your enemy need to redeploy in order to counter you: This one requires you to drop your Dreads just out of their effective kill range in turn 1, prefereably behind some intervening cover, but just within the "threat zone" of key enemy troops. Try dropping your dread 16" away from your enemy troops and watch him redeploy, therefore messing up his/her plans without actually being that much of a threat. Remember that your Ironclads have move through cover ability and defensive and offensive grenades, thus making it a perfect ambush unit.

 

Pick on the weak forget the strong: Easy tactic to achieve for people who like to take static deployment zone huggers. Pick an isolated unit and park your dread close enough to it. This tactic differs from above because it is a better one for those late arriving dreads when the game is in full swing. Drop your pod in turn 3 next to that annoying squad of lootas or next to that tactical squad that you just cant stretch yourself to get at and watch the enemy cry once he realises that all of his units capable of countering this menace or actually engaged in other places.

 

Dread spearhead: One I have yet to try, it involves dropping multiple dreads in the same location. Reason being that the enemy cannot therefore bring all of his guns to bare on the same location at the same time, some of your dreads have to survive and therefore the survivors are in a position to cause much needed havoc. I see this as a great tactic for engaging troops, especially Power Weapon packed ones in combat on turn 2. Drop the pods close enough and they should not be able to run fast enough from you.

 

Hope these ideas serve you well but in the meantime think about mixing your initial drop so that it has more than just Dreads, that way you can keep one of them in reserve ready for a late game drop which might just mean that they a) dont die so easily and :) can arrive when you can see the weaknesses in his army form (usually mid game and if you are anything like me you are probably a gaming mile away from being able to do anything about them).

 

Wan

[Sternguard sergeant McColl]

I drop the dreads first with the sternguard. Then use the locator beacons to bring my tacticals and terminators in on target. I like to keep my troops alive, I'll remember their move through cover. Your second suggestion sounds up my ally. The short life of dreadnaughts? How about the short life of anything faced by a melta. Walkers have all the rules for tanks but better IMO. I may have to start mixing up what comes in my initial drop wave, but sticking my troops out there seems rough.

[Cameron Magnus]

For the first time I had success with my dreads in a 3000 point battle. I was suprised because I only used one and as many terminators as I could jam in my list (25). It was against tyranids and I went after those bugs. My dread suprisingly took alot of fire in the second turn as my oponent typicaly does fear him and it destroyed a weapon. The Dread took no more damage the rest of the game as my terminators smashed into my opponent in turn 2 and tore them a new spore hole. The dread ran into two different ripper swarms and while was not a good use of his point value at first, he did save my tac and stern guard units a hurrting. In the end he was locked with 3 gene stealers having killed three already.

He survived in my opinion because my opponent could not draw a clear line through the screening termies and there were so many other units that he could have fired at more effectively. I must say though that I am in love with assault termies with a Pedro Cantor nearby and a Chaplain attached. Bye bye Monstrous Creatures.