How to use drop pods effectively?

[travh20]

I was wondering if a full drop pod army is viable. I wonder this because I fight against one quite a bit and it seems very easy for me to defeat, especially when I am playing Chaos SM's. It is almost as if my opponent is delivering my targets right to me to assault and kill. He drop pods 4 tactical squads, usually one of which has an HQ attached. Now I am guessing dropping tactical squads in one by one to be annihilated in assault is not the best way to use drop pods.

 

I myself have two drop pods that I can use for my SM army. I usually always put a dread in one, sometimes on in each pod. Last game I put Calgar in one with six sterguards, and they did well.

 

Anyway, how to use 4 drop pods full of tactical squads?

[Jackelope King]

A full drop-pod army is viable. Personally, I don't consider it as strong as a full-mechanized army, but it is still competitive.

 

A few rules about drop-pods:

1. Dropping 1 or 2 in an otherwise normal Marine army is bad. Exposing a small part of your force to a large portion of the enemy force is a recipe for disaster. Some people sing the praises of suicide Sternguard or a suicide Ironclad, but this is not points-efficient. You can pitch them empty at objectives to contest, which isn't a horrible use of 35 points, but I'd still rather have a Rhino most times. If you go light on Drop Pods, you can make it work, but keep the "suicide squads" cheap. And about as cheap as you can get is a Dread in a Drop Pod. It comes with a multi-melta and can get a heavy flamer (I'd skip that, though). It won't wreck face, but it can do some damage, at least.
   
2. A full drop-pod army is an alpha-strike list, pure and simple. You must get in, cripple your enemy's mobility, and then force your enemy to fight on your terms. A Vulkan Drop Pod list isn't bad here in that regard, because your meltaguns will be more reliable. Your foe's mobility needs to be crippled because...
   
3. Once you drop pod in, your army is slow. Foot lists can only compete with fast elements. You need to compensate for this by eliminating the enemy's fast elements and bringing it down to a battle of one foot army against another, or you need to bring your own fast elements to the table. In my mind, this usually means taking some Land Speeder Squadrons that can Deep Strike in with the benefit of Locator Beacons. You can also play around with a pair of Gate of Infinity Librarians porting around with some Sternguard or maybe some Terminators.
   
4. Once you drop pod in, you have minimal benefit of mech. That means lower durability in addition to the mobility problems I already mentioned. You need to play smart when you drop about how you'll deploy (usually behind the ramps of the Drop Pod to protect yourself from assault).
   
5. Always take an odd number of Drop Pods. This will let you put more Pods on the ground on turn 1, and give you better control of which "half" of your army you want to bring in. This usually means you'll either have an extra Tactical Squad, or you'll take a minimum-sized Assault Squad in a free Drop Pod. Grab 'em a flamer so they can at least be used to smoke enemy units out of cover when they come in late-game.
   

[Warp Angel]

A full drop-pod army is viable. Personally, I don't consider it as strong as a full-mechanized army, but it is still competitive.

 

A few rules about drop-pods:

1. Dropping 1 or 2 in an otherwise normal Marine army is bad. Exposing a small part of your force to a large portion of the enemy force is a recipe for disaster. Some people sing the praises of suicide Sternguard or a suicide Ironclad, but this is not points-efficient. You can pitch them empty at objectives to contest, which isn't a horrible use of 35 points, but I'd still rather have a Rhino most times. If you go light on Drop Pods, you can make it work, but keep the "suicide squads" cheap. And about as cheap as you can get is a Dread in a Drop Pod. It comes with a multi-melta and can get a heavy flamer (I'd skip that, though). It won't wreck face, but it can do some damage, at least.
   
2. A full drop-pod army is an alpha-strike list, pure and simple. You must get in, cripple your enemy's mobility, and then force your enemy to fight on your terms. A Vulkan Drop Pod list isn't bad here in that regard, because your meltaguns will be more reliable. Your foe's mobility needs to be crippled because...
   
3. Once you drop pod in, your army is slow. Foot lists can only compete with fast elements. You need to compensate for this by eliminating the enemy's fast elements and bringing it down to a battle of one foot army against another, or you need to bring your own fast elements to the table. In my mind, this usually means taking some Land Speeder Squadrons that can Deep Strike in with the benefit of Locator Beacons. You can also play around with a pair of Gate of Infinity Librarians porting around with some Sternguard or maybe some Terminators.
   
4. Once you drop pod in, you have minimal benefit of mech. That means lower durability in addition to the mobility problems I already mentioned. You need to play smart when you drop about how you'll deploy (usually behind the ramps of the Drop Pod to protect yourself from assault).
   
5. Always take an odd number of Drop Pods. This will let you put more Pods on the ground on turn 1, and give you better control of which "half" of your army you want to bring in. This usually means you'll either have an extra Tactical Squad, or you'll take a minimum-sized Assault Squad in a free Drop Pod. Grab 'em a flamer so they can at least be used to smoke enemy units out of cover when they come in late-game.
   

 

 

I have to disagree with point 1 because that "suicide" Ironclad isn't out there to die. It's out there to force my opponent to react to it with the weapons and equipment that could be used that same first turn against other things in my army. Its very important to control your opponent's decisions and force them into doing things in a predictable fashion. And an Ironclad can't be ignored. It's too dangerous to too many things - it can take entire units out of the battle, even if it doesn't kill them. Add in the Drop Pod's challenge to scoring and ability to limit enemy maneuver and line of sight and it's an incredibly handy unit.

[Jackelope King]

I have to disagree with point 1 because that "suicide" Ironclad isn't out there to die. It's out there to force my opponent to react to it with the weapons and equipment that could be used that same first turn against other things in my army. Its very important to control your opponent's decisions and force them into doing things in a predictable fashion. And an Ironclad can't be ignored. It's too dangerous to too many things - it can take entire units out of the battle, even if it doesn't kill them. Add in the Drop Pod's challenge to scoring and ability to limit enemy maneuver and line of sight and it's an incredibly handy unit.

Handy, but pricey for what it does. Yes, the enemy has to react to it. But most enemies don't need to invest a great deal to react to it. Against enemies that lack an answer to heavy armor (Orks, Daemons), it's sickening what a lone Ironclad in a Drop Pod can do. But most modern armies do have a response to heavy armor (Imperial armies get healthy amounts of Melta, DE get Dark Lances, Tyranids have MCs to wreck its face off). I contend that an ordinary Dread is more cost-effective, demands a very similar concentration of firepower to effectively neutralize, and accomplishes most of the aims of the Drop Podded Ironclad. Your contention is based on the notion that AV13 is miles away from AV12, which is is. But when you're sitting in melta range... not so much.

[Warp Angel]

I have to disagree with point 1 because that "suicide" Ironclad isn't out there to die. It's out there to force my opponent to react to it with the weapons and equipment that could be used that same first turn against other things in my army. Its very important to control your opponent's decisions and force them into doing things in a predictable fashion. And an Ironclad can't be ignored. It's too dangerous to too many things - it can take entire units out of the battle, even if it doesn't kill them. Add in the Drop Pod's challenge to scoring and ability to limit enemy maneuver and line of sight and it's an incredibly handy unit.

Handy, but pricey for what it does. Yes, the enemy has to react to it. But most enemies don't need to invest a great deal to react to it. Against enemies that lack an answer to heavy armor (Orks, Daemons), it's sickening what a lone Ironclad in a Drop Pod can do. But most modern armies do have a response to heavy armor (Imperial armies get healthy amounts of Melta, DE get Dark Lances, Tyranids have MCs to wreck its face off). I contend that an ordinary Dread is more cost-effective, demands a very similar concentration of firepower to effectively neutralize, and accomplishes most of the aims of the Drop Podded Ironclad. Your contention is based on the notion that AV13 is miles away from AV12, which is is. But when you're sitting in melta range... not so much.

 

If I needed the extra points, then I'd concede that a regular dread bought me something similar and would concede your point. But I don't.

 

Part of playing smart is knowing when your dread is vulnerable and shouldn't be dropped, or shouldn't be dropped where they are vulnerable. It goes right along with what you need to do to get your opponent to become predictable.

 

The Ironclad has more than AV13 to recommend it. Defensive grenades means that it takes a lot longer for the hidden fist to get a hit in and against lower tier MCs, the combination of AV and grenades buys some time. The weapon loadout also works better. 2 CCW, heavy flamer, and melta gun means that it's got a lot higher offensive potential than a basic dread.

 

My concern isn't saving points.

 

And I have to emphasize this - it's a major part of all of my philosophies on list building, playing, and overal strategy. The lynchpin of Killhammer.

 

In the Grim Darkness of the Far Future, EVERYTHING Dies If melta wipes out my Ironclad, but I achieved my game objectives with it, I don't care. Not one whit. Not at all. It did exactly what I needed it to do and by using it the way I did, I advance my victory condition.

[Grey Mage]

I was wondering if a full drop pod army is viable. I wonder this because I fight against one quite a bit and it seems very easy for me to defeat, especially when I am playing Chaos SM's. It is almost as if my opponent is delivering my targets right to me to assault and kill. He drop pods 4 tactical squads, usually one of which has an HQ attached. Now I am guessing dropping tactical squads in one by one to be annihilated in assault is not the best way to use drop pods.

 

I myself have two drop pods that I can use for my SM army. I usually always put a dread in one, sometimes on in each pod. Last game I put Calgar in one with six sterguards, and they did well.

 

Anyway, how to use 4 drop pods full of tactical squads?

Get a fifth one, with a dread for starters. Its cheap, and adds some firepower to the force.

 

Your sergeants, all of them, should be equiped with a combi-weapon of one form or another. Combi-meltas tend to be the most useful, combi-plasmas can be aswell however- but leave the combi-flamers at home. Your bolters are just as effective, and only a complete fool will bunch up his squad when your pods are falling. Besides, Dreads can take heavy flamers and do it better.

 

Sterngaurd make decent assassin style units, but theyre pricey- Id take unit of 5 to pad out your pod numbers, particularly in large games. Its somewhat demoarlising to most enemies when you tell them your initial wave is going to be 8 pods, and you have things to deploy on the board too.

 

Speaking of wich- Scouts, Bikers, Gate Libbies, and Landspeeders-particularly typhoons- are important. Snipe Scouts, or assault scouts in a LSS can change the face of the game by giving you boots on the ground before your pods ever hit. It increases the points you have available to you from turn 1, and properly equiped for their duties theyre quite effective at supporting the drop.

 

Scouts- Sniper Scouts can take down monstrous creatures, hold objectives, and provide a target that unwary opponents may move to eliminate. Assault Scouts in a storm give you a unit that can be in assault on turn 1, destroying artillery units or tying up heavy weapon teams- Id give the LSS a heavy flamer for dealing with infantry, but its a personal choice.

 

Bikers, particularly scoring bikers, can make a good secondairy force- the pods wreak havoc upon the enemy forces while the bikes move up to support them- and dash around taking objectives as needed, reinforcing units trapped in losing assaults and otherwise giving you the tactical mobility you may need to win the game.

 

Gate Libbies attached to a squad are another way to get your mobility up a notch, and can be another one of those "SUPRISE!" units- Comes down in the pod, hits something with Avenger, Next turn he and his squad vanish to another part of the table where you need their bolters now.

 

Landspeeders are also a good touch- they give you a good solid tank busting unit on the ground, with the speed to get side armor shots and a price that allows you to field several units if you have the models. So many pods blocking LOS can be good and bad- good rolls and target priority can allow you to stymie enemy heavy weapons and take down tanks and transports... bad rolls or thoughtless deployment can leave them out of position. Of the variants, I prefer typhoons because theyre more flexable in where and how I can use them... and two shots means a better chance at getting the damage results I need.

 

Runnem lean, hittem hard, and do it sharp. A good drop pod force should have the precision of a rapier and the blow of a flamberge.