Dude, where's my drop pod?

[Brother Anvilus]

Hi,

 

I was thinking of a build last time and it occured to me; Do drop pods HAVE to be filled up to be used?

 

My answer would be no

 

 

Just field what should be in it ( dread/Thunderfire/etc ) and just drop the pod in your enemy's deployment zone.I did this once with a pod with deathwind in it wich should had carried a dread.I just equipped the dread with twinlinked las/missile launcher and parked it in my deployment zone.The pod was dropped into my opponent's zone, blocking his advance ( he was eldar ) and syphoning him into my firelanes while there was a 24"+ bubble in his zone where it rained large templates :rolleyes:

 

so, have any of you had this idea before?used it before? or seen it and thought 'NO' ?

 

Brother Anvilus

[awfulawful]

Sure. It's a common tactic for drop pod lists when the opponent hold everything in reserve. Drop the pods empty to sit on objectives, block line of sight/give cover, funnel movement, etc.

 

It's also an amusing idea to consider Space Marines actually launching empty pods. It seems very Raven Guardish or Alpha Legiony.

[TyrionTheImp]

I can't imagine Drop pods being TOO expensive and it would make a good psych tactic. After all they're basically giant bullets full of people being shot from the ships.

[Grey Mage]

In some fluff, for every DP thats launched with marines in it theres around 10 that are just empty shells hurtling towards the planet.

 

Why? Because the enemy has anti-aircraft and anti-spaceship weaponry capable of blowing 10, or so, of the imperiums finest right out of the sky in a single hit. Target saturation keeps them from doing their job, chaff droppers and extreme speed do the rest.

[Gamelli Streamfisher]

I have never tried it but I understand the concept.

Check out these Deathstorm Drop Pods.

http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Warhammer-4000...LT-CANNONS.html

http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Warhammer-4000...-LAUNCHERS.html

 

There is a story in C:SM that mentions empty drop pods being used against Necrons. Page 38, halfway down.

[7Thunders]

You know what would be funny?

A couple of these drop pods landing all over the field,and then funneling the opponent

into your Thunderfire cannons and maybe some whirlwinds <_< :D .

 

I don't know if you could win like this,but it would really make it hell for your opponent.

[Zynk Kaladin]

Can't your enemy just as easily destroy the drop pods and happily walk over their ashes as they smile at the prospect of taking a dump on your plans?

 

It would be even better if you trapped one of their transports with drop pods ^_^

 

I should make a Tactica for "beating your enemy in style".

[Meatman]

Can't your enemy just as easily destroy the drop pods and happily walk over their ashes as they smile at the prospect of taking a dump on your plans?

 

Only if they explode them :P

 

It would be even better if you trapped one of their transports with drop pods <_<

 

I should make a Tactica for "beating your enemy in style".

 

That would be awesome ;)

 

 

Also, can you actually buy dedicated transports with nothing in them? ie, I have 40 points left, so I decide to buy a razorback, but all of my units already had tranports? Can you actually do that? All it says in the codex is that they don't use up any FOC slots.

[Zynk Kaladin]

Only if they explode them ;)

 

hmm. Good point. <_<

 

Also, can you actually buy dedicated transports with nothing in them? ie, I have 40 points left, so I decide to buy a razorback, but all of my units already had tranports? Can you actually do that? All it says in the codex is that they don't use up any FOC slots.

 

You need to have a unit to buy a dedicated transport. "The only limitation of a dedicated transport is that when it is deployed it can only carry the unit it was selected with" (BRB pg 67). "Thin air" (empty transport) does not count as a unit. Meaning, you can't take dedicated transports by themselves. This, of course, doesn't prevent you from fielding the unit outside the transport.

[Meatman]

Also, can you actually buy dedicated transports with nothing in them? ie, I have 40 points left, so I decide to buy a razorback, but all of my units already had tranports? Can you actually do that? All it says in the codex is that they don't use up any FOC slots.

 

You need to have a unit to buy a dedicated transport. "The only limitation of a dedicated transport is that when it is deployed it can only carry the unit it was selected with" (BRB pg 67). "Thin air" (empty transport) does not count as a unit. Meaning, you can't take dedicated transports by themselves. This, of course, doesn't prevent you from fielding the unit outside the transport.

 

Thanks <_<

[Brother Anvilus]

Can't your enemy just as easily destroy the drop pods and happily walk over their ashes as they smile at the prospect of taking a dump on your plans?

 

It would be even better if you trapped one of their transports with drop pods :D

 

I should make a Tactica for "beating your enemy in style".

 

 

well, since only exploding them removes them, they actually become rather large speedbumps, even without the weapon inside :D

 

funneling them could be done, but roughly, as scatter doesn't always go along with your plans :)

[CaptinLoken]

Just thinking over Fluff and rules possible for missions... I thought of a mission where your army is basically dropping from a scudded ship. I remember in the Firewarrior game the ship dropped all pods as lifeboats for all on board. It would be interesting to see a game where you played with empty pods like that. If you pull it off be sure to show some pictures of a board game.

[Myxx]

I know there is an Apoc datasheet where the drop-pods are intentionlly devoid of SM's... and instead filled with Ass.Can.'s or multiple Deathwind launchers. The whole purpose is to drop a mini artillery unit inside your enemies zone.

[H.C.118]

That would be the FW drop Pods. Drops down and rains Whrilwind or Ass. Cannons at BS 2 into nearby units. If you have the IMP Armor updates for book2, then they have the full rules inside.

[thade]

Dropping a ton of empty drop pods does sound like a cool idea, but in practice I think it's a bad one (and it's the reason I don't take more than one drop pod).

 

The reason is that you then become a footslogging army, which in an objectives mission can be a problem. Sure, the drop pods can contest some or even all of the objectives that are too far for you to reasonably slog to...but they are armor 10, open-topped, and already count as immobilized...a few stray bolter shots will blow it up. :) Easy to glance to death. They will not contest for very long. If you're going to do this, you'll want to have as much ranged fire power as possible: devestators, vindis, ranged dreads, whirlwinds, etc...and hope you can blast your opponent off of the table while they're busy brushing away your DPs.

[Mysticaria]

I thought drop pods were AV12 all around. That's harder to kill then a rhino.

 

-Myst

[Brother Xeones]

Yep AV12-- that' not too shabby really IMO.

Sure it's open-topped, but any standard trooper won't be able to take it down in shooting and even krak grenades are only glancing on sixes which makes up for the fact that your opponent will auto-hit it in CC. So unless someones got a fist or a special weapon, you're OK.

I'm not saying they're durable by any means, but they aren't paper thin either.

[Brother Anvilus]

exactly my thinking :D and with the deathwind inside, drop em near an objective and they can pop alot with large templates

 

I used it once against an eldar player, dropped a pod next to his home objective and it survived the entire game + it took down alot that came close + it made a nice firelane for my dev's

[Frosty the Pyro]

Just remember drop pods cannot fire on the turn they land due to deap strike rules