Drop Pod options

[Annatar Giftbringer]

Greetings,

I'm in the process of assembling a Drop Pod, and one option to consider is its weapon-loadout. A large template blast sounds nice at first glance, but it's very expensive, short-ranged and can't fire on the turn it lands...

 

Is it worth using, in spite of this? Has anyone tried it, and care to comment on its effectiveness? Or is it better to keep the pod cheap and use the Deathwind parts as missile launchers for infantry (or put two on the shoulders of a terminator and call it Cyclone).

[rat of vengence]

I loved it for the S5 large blast, until someone pointed out after months of using it that it can't fire the turn it lands (not a 'fast' vehicle). That gives everyone time to either assault the contents of the pod (can't shoot them) or back off (can't shoot them). I wouldn't bother, keep the pod cheap. That said, it can be fun.. :(

 

RoV

[spartan249]

Drop pods without DWMLs are mere annoyances that the opponent may destroy if it blocks too much of his movement. Drop pods with DWMLs become a threat that the opponent will seriously consider splitting fire to deal with. It helps with target saturation, and can sometimes keep more of your pods' contents alive by drawing fire because it is percieved as the bigger threat. This should ideally be done en-mass to amplify the effect as much as possible.

 

All of my pods have DWMLs. I never write my pod lists without DWMLs anymore.

[Annatar Giftbringer]

I loved it for the S5 large blast, until someone pointed out after months of using it that it can't fire the turn it lands (not a 'fast' vehicle). That gives everyone time to either assault the contents of the pod (can't shoot them) or back off (can't shoot them). I wouldn't bother, keep the pod cheap. That said, it can be fun.. :)

 

RoV

 

Yeah, that was my initial reaction too...

 

Drop pods without DWMLs are mere annoyances that the opponent may destroy if it blocks too much of his movement. Drop pods with DWMLs become a threat that the opponent will seriously consider splitting fire to deal with. It helps with target saturation, and can sometimes keep more of your pods' contents alive by drawing fire because it is percieved as the bigger threat. This should ideally be done en-mass to amplify the effect as much as possible.

 

All of my pods have DWMLs. I never write my pod lists without DWMLs anymore.

 

Hmm, interresting, didn't think of that. Though as it stands at the moment, I will use a single pod to deploy an Ironclad Dread, so the contents will be more threatening in any case and target saturation will be achieved by armoured units such as Vindicator moving towards the enemy.

[Hellios]

If you want missile death and you have a spare HS slot... Deathstorm dropods are the way to go... I know this isn't what you asked... but everyone needs to know how great they are!

 

As for bolter/missiles on the normal drop pod... both have advantages and I guess it depends on where you land... and will the pod survive to fire the missile? Ideally you want to land close to where they are hiding to force them to attack/move/eat missile or in front of their chosen attack force so they have to move by you... destroy you, take shots... or go the long way round...

[spartan249]

It never hurts to add one more target to the list of things to kill.

[Leonaides]

As for the enemy avoiding them - drop 2 DWML-armed pods in front of an Ork Horde - enjoy 2-3 turns of firing (unless they stop to try and destroy them) at his battlelines as he advances into the rest of your army. Basically drop it within range of a positon the enemy has to move through, or has to remain in (so within range to cover an objective, or close to that big IG platoon hoping to advance, or near the HW squads on that hill with good LOS across the board).

[Brother Arius]

Somebody show me where in the rulebook it says that you can't fire the droppod on the turn it arrives cause I haven't found it and therefore don't play by this rule.

[Koremu]

Somebody show me where in the rulebook it says that you can't fire the droppod on the turn it arrives cause I haven't found it and therefore don't play by this rule.

p95 col1 para6; (Deep Striking) vehicles count as having moved at cruising speed.

[rat of vengence]

As for the enemy avoiding them - drop 2 DWML-armed pods in front of an Ork Horde - enjoy 2-3 turns of firing (unless they stop to try and destroy them) at his battlelines as he advances into the rest of your army. Basically drop it within range of a positon the enemy has to move through, or has to remain in (so within range to cover an objective, or close to that big IG platoon hoping to advance, or near the HW squads on that hill with good LOS across the board).

Sorry, doesn't this just give the Orks an extra 6" move as they assault it with automatically hitting powerclaws? Yes, it will mow some down (if it survives!), but I'd rather not give them something to charge, and then give them something to gain cover from against the rest of my army.

 

RoV

[Koremu]

As for the enemy avoiding them - drop 2 DWML-armed pods in front of an Ork Horde - enjoy 2-3 turns of firing (unless they stop to try and destroy them) at his battlelines as he advances into the rest of your army. Basically drop it within range of a positon the enemy has to move through, or has to remain in (so within range to cover an objective, or close to that big IG platoon hoping to advance, or near the HW squads on that hill with good LOS across the board).

Sorry, doesn't this just give the Orks an extra 6" move as they assault it with automatically hitting powerclaws? Yes, it will mow some down (if it survives!), but I'd rather not give them something to charge, and then give them something to gain cover from against the rest of my army.

As I said above - it counts as moving at Cruising Speed on the turn it lands, so it requires 6s to hit with that Klaw.

[Hellios]

As for the enemy avoiding them - drop 2 DWML-armed pods in front of an Ork Horde - enjoy 2-3 turns of firing (unless they stop to try and destroy them) at his battlelines as he advances into the rest of your army. Basically drop it within range of a positon the enemy has to move through, or has to remain in (so within range to cover an objective, or close to that big IG platoon hoping to advance, or near the HW squads on that hill with good LOS across the board).

Sorry, doesn't this just give the Orks an extra 6" move as they assault it with automatically hitting powerclaws? Yes, it will mow some down (if it survives!), but I'd rather not give them something to charge, and then give them something to gain cover from against the rest of my army.

As I said above - it counts as moving at Cruising Speed on the turn it lands, so it requires 6s to hit with that Klaw.

 

I always dakka tanks so I may still be suffering from old rules... but once a vehicle is immobile don't you automatically hit it? That being the case it matters not how fast the drop pod went... and to deal with this issue you just drop the pod behind the orks B) now they take fire from both sides... and if they go for the threat behind them it gives your main force and extra turn or at least less stuff to deal with at once...

[rat of vengence]

Yup, it is immobile, so auto hitting with the claw.

 

Dropping them behind the orks could work, unless they ignore them, and continue on their way towards your troops and away from template death... but if they can contest an objective or two they have to be dealt with. :P

 

RoV

[spartan249]

Pg. 63 confirms that the drop pod is automatically hit no matter how far it "moved". It may have moved at cruising speed thanks to the drop, but it is also immobilized.

 

Drop Pods are fun things to drop on static elements in an ork army, especially lootas and zzap guns. A storm bolter's picking off maybe 1 of them each turn. A Missile's bound to be picking off a LOT more than that.

[Warp Angel]

I only use one in my 2k point army, and it is a saturation tool. It's ANOTHER threat that my opponent has to deal with that distracts them from their ability to deal with the actual killing power in my army, which is elsewhere, and diverts the strong hand to hand/anti-tank for a brief while. The storm bolter doesn't do that nearly as well.

[Grey Mage]

Greetings,

I'm in the process of assembling a Drop Pod, and one option to consider is its weapon-loadout. A large template blast sounds nice at first glance, but it's very expensive, short-ranged and can't fire on the turn it lands...

 

Is it worth using, in spite of this? Has anyone tried it, and care to comment on its effectiveness? Or is it better to keep the pod cheap and use the Deathwind parts as missile launchers for infantry (or put two on the shoulders of a terminator and call it Cyclone).

I wouldnt use it unless I just happened to have 20pts laying around and not much to do with them- and even then, theres usually something better. Perhaps one in 5 pods will get them in larger lists.

 

Because frankly, your almost doubling the price of the transport for a gun thats somewhat situational. No AP isnt as bad as it sounds, against marines its as good as a Whirlwind Template- its really the range and the lack of shots that make it so bleh.

 

So when I do use them, its only one Dreadnaught pods actually... for the very simple reason of its being unable to hurt a dread.