One single drop pod.

[thade]

So. Recently I won a drop pod in an ebay auction (yay I saved some $) and now I'm looking at my Ironclad Dread in a new way. He is pending a paint job and now won't have to footslog...I can drop him right in the middle of my opponent's squishies. That is...presuming they don't start with everything in reserve, as - since I have only one drop pod - it *has* to come in on my first turn. (I'm pretty sure I'm reading that correctly.)

 

So, here I am, posting in tactica, wondering what the best application of this ironhard suicide trooper is. If my goal is to make his points back before he gets blowed up, I presume I want to drop him as far as I can from anti-vehicle OR close enough to heavy flamer it to death (if it's not a vehicle). Use cover and LOS obstruction to keep him alive, try to use him to pressure opponents into LOS of my other units...or (best case) wade into a unit and eat it in CC.

 

Am I missing anything? I've never seen one of these boys on the field, so I guess the overall question is "How do I use a solo drop pod/ironclad combo?"

[Gornall]

So. Recently I won a drop pod in an ebay auction (yay I saved some $) and now I'm looking at my Ironclad Dread in a new way. He is pending a paint job and now won't have to footslog...I can drop him right in the middle of my opponent's squishies. That is...presuming they don't start with everything in reserve, as - since I have only one drop pod - it *has* to come in on my first turn. (I'm pretty sure I'm reading that correctly.)

 

So, here I am, posting in tactica, wondering what the best application of this ironhard suicide trooper is. If my goal is to make his points back before he gets blowed up, I presume I want to drop him as far as I can from anti-vehicle OR close enough to heavy flamer it to death (if it's not a vehicle). Use cover and LOS obstruction to keep him alive, try to use him to pressure opponents into LOS of my other units...or (best case) wade into a unit and eat it in CC.

 

Am I missing anything? I've never seen one of these boys on the field, so I guess the overall question is "How do I use a solo drop pod/ironclad combo?"

 

Back when I ran a single Ironclad in a DP, I found that a little discretion goes a long way. Don't fool yourself into thinking he HAS to make an impact on Turn 1 or 2. Drop him in a safer position where he can run/smoke and set himself up for a Turn 2 or even Turn 3 charge into something. If you get too aggressive with him, you'll just eat a melta and be done. Dropping him away from my main offensive push seemed to work the best as my opponent had to split forces to cover both the Dread and the incoming Marines.

[Ethrion]

If there is a specific target you NEED to destroy at all costs then it's worth dropping the ironclad into the thick of things. Remember the threat of a cqc monster running amok amongst the enemy lines is a potent one.

 

Equally, if the enemy does some canny tactics like keeping everything in reserve and there is no real target to drop onto then as Gornall says, drop the pod sensibly and don't waste it. Ultimately it does all depend on what is arrayed before you.

 

But overall when I deploy 1 ironclad in a pod I tend to go with the first strategy and dump him right in there. Just remember to try and position his rear as safely as possible.

[Brother Crassus]

I find with a single Iron-clad its a bit hit or miss. It either survives to do a little damage, then gets picked off at their leisure.. Or they just avoid it.

 

When I was using 2 of them I dropped them aggressively. One would ususally get a little dinged up, the other would almost always go on a unholy rampage across their army. Very rarely were both destroyed. When I field just one, it seems like as soon as its immobile they just ignore it. It can be very frustrating, even when dropped conservatively.

 

Hope this helps

[OIF Knight]

I will be playing with my frist DP Ironclad Dread this weekend (after a minor conversion of my regular dread) and anticipate it should be successful. I would agree that a bit of reservation goes a long way when dropping a solo unit, regardless of the AV 13. When drop podding anything, I have come to find that dropping along the flanks of my opponent is most successful. It forces the enemy to either run away from it (essentially channeling him into a killzone you preplanned for) or shoot it, which with AV 13 is easier said than done, in which case he has essentially distracted at least 1 turn of enemy fire power from your front lines. Again, I support the idea of setting up a DP Ironclad for success in turn 2 or 3 instead of getting too greedy on turn 1. Come turn 3 my reseves usually pay huge dividends when used conservatively (DP or not), although I will admit its a nail-biting first few turns sometimes :P

 

Knight

[HERO]

I would personally take 2. One Tac squad and one Ironclad. Or else you'll be forced to drop the Ironclad prematurely if he holds his stuff in reserve. That's basically asking him to be killed.

[Giga]

Well, as far as I'm concerned, a drop podded dread is only good if you're sporting a highly aggressive army, and preferring highly aggressive play. In other words, if you're the kind of player who takes the fight to the enemy, then the droppodded dread is THE good thing to use.

 

Why, you ask? Because a droppodded dread draws lots of fire. There's no opponent in the world who won't try to take it out (or at least immobilize it) in the first turn it lands. This is great, because it buys the time for the rest of your army to close in on the enemy, and do its thing.

 

In a vulkan army, for example, a drop podded dread has a good chance to take something out with its meltagun/multimelta, or maybe fry a squad with its heavy flamer. It will usually die in the following enemy shooting phase, but it has drawn that dangerous anti-vehicle fire from your land raider, speeders, attackbikes, transports, and whatever other really killy stuff you have, which was the whole point to begin with.

 

Just don't expect your dread to do much, if anything. Don't worry if it falls down and misses its melta shot, or scatters too far for his heavy flamer to have any real effect, or it's blown apart before it even gets near assault. It's only real purpose is to draw fire so that the rest of your army can advance in greater safety. In fact, it wouldn't be a bad idea to consider popping smoke on the turn it arrives, just so that it might take more fire before its neutralized.

[waaanial00]

Whilst it is true that an Ironclad can best serve its master by taking those melta shots and other heavy weapon rounds it is a bit soul destroying to see it fall down time and time again. Especially if your army is too slow to capitalise on its demise or doesnt have sufficient heavy weapons to bring to bare, since the Ironclad will die on turn 1 and you will still not be in a position to capitalise on its deat by the start of turn 2.

 

If this is the case I would drop it a little way off the beaten track. It still serves as a distraction because lets face it most dreadnoughts are, it has move through cover and decent armour so it will likely get in. You are just making sure that it doesnt become a martyr in its first turn!

 

Wan

[Thantoes]

It may be soul destroying to watch it go down on the first turn but its alright if its done its job. I use my Ironclad as almost a 1 shot shell. Mine dies often but generally after its popped open that LR and forced its nasty contents to foot slog across the board. If it then survives to go on and wreak havoc then thats just a bonus.

[Grey Mage]

Am I missing anything? I've never seen one of these boys on the field, so I guess the overall question is "How do I use a solo drop pod/ironclad combo?"

As I see it theres four ways to play this guy:

 

1) Drop pod him in just beside the target, and melta/flamer away. Hope to survive until the next round to do it again and/or assault.

 

2) Drop pod him in with your own lines as a special "reserve" called in from orbit. Your opponent will probly have tightened up his deployment, so this is a fun 35pt mind game.

 

3) Drop Pod him and play it safe- IE pop smoke and hope for the best, or deploy so your hidden by LOS but in advance of your own army by comparison. Good if you want to lock down on a heavy weapons team or a fixed emplacement type of army like IG, Gunline SM, and some tau lists. With move through cover you can more reliably approach the enemy through woods and ruins.

 

4) Drop Pod him in and heavy flamer a tank or shoot a storm bolter at it- and then wait to be destroyed so your opponent can get a couple of KPs. /sarcasm.

 

Personally I would always run an IC as HF on the DCCW... and thats it. In a drop pod thats 180pts or fun that has a good number of attacks, antinfantry and antitank weapons, and is pretty tough. It also switches out smoothly for a tactical squad if needs be.

 

And remember: BE FLEXABLE. You can use any of the above options in each and every game, so THINK about it. Use what you think is best, and have some fun with it and soon youll be able to use this wonderful example of a schock troop to decimate your opponents army.

[Giga]

Whilst it is true that an Ironclad can best serve its master by taking those melta shots and other heavy weapon rounds it is a bit soul destroying to see it fall down time and time again.

Look at it this way:

 

That dread is going to die no matter what.

 

Whether you footslog him or drop pod him, that dread will be a huge fire magnet, because nobody wants an av13 walker with two dccw getting close to their vehicles or infantry. Not even th/ss terminators are going to have an easy time with that guy (glancing on 5 and penetrating on 6!), especially if he has his defensive 'nades. Hence people will shoot it, and kill it. So it's up to you to make it's sacrifice worth it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Or... If you really want your dreads up and running, you make a shooty dread with both arms replaced with long-range weaponry. ;)