Drop Pods

[Lord Asher]

I read the novels and stories quite a bit and I think the Drop Pod Assault is an iconic part of Space Marine fluff.

 

I'd like to incorporate a few pods into my 1750 list.

 

I'm open to any ideas?

 

I considered dropping a Death Dread or death company? Anyone have good results dropping DC.

[Angelus Mortifer]

I've had some above average success with a Dread: Frag Cannon / Hvy Flamer in a Pod. It's tended to kill a fair bit on arrival against most things, but sometimes you just don't roll any 6's to Rend and then it's just a dud. It usually attracts a lot of fire the following turn and ever so rarely manages to make it to turn 2, but that's to be expected. It's punishing against soft targets (IG, Nids, Orks, Tau) but doesn't always shine against 3+ Saves.

 

I've also used a DC Dread in a pod quite regularly (been waiting for the Stormraven :lol: ) and the trick is to try and land somewhere that gives you some cover (at least LOS blocking to a chunk of the enemy if possible) but within a reasonable Fleet range, assuming it survives the attention it will get. That Fleet move can get it into something meaty the following turn and then it becomes a real headache, drawing attention away from the rest of your force.

 

Haven't dropped a DC squad but that's also another attention seeker unit that will require some heavy/multiple hits to get rid of completely as it should soak up a lot of regular small arms fire/attacks.

[liberate_tutame]

I find the one Dready with the Frag Cannon/Meltagun a far more effective choice. He can rend anything under the sun with the frag and the meltagun has wrecked a ton of vehicles. He's a absolutely trooper and soaks up most of the enemy fire for the next turn, leaving all my other goodies plenty of time lay down some withering fire.

[Emperors Immortals]

In one of my standard lists (which i will be posting soon oooooooo) i take 3 pods - 1 for a dual heavy bolter missile launcher dread(against tau) or DC dread with blood fists (for any other swarms) and a 9 man DC with Rec.The DC ALWAYS make there points back in usefulness, they are an amazingly hardy unit.The third is either for a back up squad (tac with locator for the termies is a fan fav) or left empty to give cover and ensure the other 2 drop first turn.

 

ALSO, ive found that its bes to drop DC in the middle of the largest infantry you can find, the special scatter rules will really help you out.

[Grizzly Adams]

i pretty much stick to shooty preds in mine, i do not like putting assault units in them, esp. assaulty dreads, as unless you put them too far away to be ineffective, they will get the :) shot out of them before they can do any real damage. I usually run -

-2 Melta Missile Launcher Dreads

-1 Furioso w/ Frag cannon Heavy flamer

all in drop pods

 

I usually drop the 2 HS dreads in turn 1 to pop transports/tanks and then follow up w/ the furioso to template squads in the later turns. tends to work pretty well, though can be a lil on the low shot number side as far as HS shootyness is concerned.

[d503]

Honestly?

 

Tactical squad with flamer and missile launcher. AoBR cheapie.

 

dump them ontop of an objective and have them provide firesupport.

 

205 points is a bargain for the durability and reliability of a bog standard tactical squad ontop of an objective on turn 1.

[BAJake]

3 Pods is useful for dropping 2 in on turn 1. Usually I always drop 2 Furiosos with Frag cannon/meltagun/Magnagrapple. AV13 is nice. 2 s8 shots are always key (4 when you calculate both) and they are very versitile. Ive seen mine decimate squads in a single turn and quite regularly they wreck a tank or two on turn 1 which can be useful

[Emperors Immortals]

Honestly?

 

Tactical squad with flamer and missile launcher. AoBR cheapie.

 

dump them ontop of an objective and have them provide firesupport.

 

205 points is a bargain for the durability and reliability of a bog standard tactical squad ontop of an objective on turn 1.

 

 

 

 

/agree.

 

I love the durability and reliabilty of the standard Tac squad, and considering you can have termie turn it into a true fire bulwark which is nigh on impossible to shift, its a real bargain.

 

But BA also have an amazing ability with Sang priests, drop one in termie armour with the termies, have him leave and join the tac squad(why not there not going anywhere) and you have an even harder obstacle to shift with an amazing speed bump.

 

Works real well for me, and fairly inexpensive considering itll hold a table quarter on its own.

[d503]

Honestly?

 

Tactical squad with flamer and missile launcher. AoBR cheapie.

 

dump them ontop of an objective and have them provide firesupport.

 

205 points is a bargain for the durability and reliability of a bog standard tactical squad ontop of an objective on turn 1.

 

 

 

 

/agree.

 

I love the durability and reliabilty of the standard Tac squad, and considering you can have termie turn it into a true fire bulwark which is nigh on impossible to shift, its a real bargain.

 

But BA also have an amazing ability with Sang priests, drop one in termie armour with the termies, have him leave and join the tac squad(why not there not going anywhere) and you have an even harder obstacle to shift with an amazing speed bump.

 

Works real well for me, and fairly inexpensive considering itll hold a table quarter on its own.

 

So you mean:

 

1) use drop pod assault to land a tac squad with a locator beacon in turn 1, then leg it into cover.

2) DS a termie squad in with a priest, using the locator beacon.

3) Send the priest into the tac squad and have the termies go-a-slaughtering merrily on thier way, singing lalalalala

4) laugh at people throwing innefective and puny weapons fire at your invulnerable yet cheap-ass troops choice of doom.

 

not bad.

 

Thats almost as dirty as putting a lord commissar with a camo cloak in with 50 conscripts and then throwing them at an objective.

[Blinard]

Hey Lord Ash you from Mackay?

[Emperors Immortals]

Honestly?

 

Tactical squad with flamer and missile launcher. AoBR cheapie.

 

dump them ontop of an objective and have them provide firesupport.

 

205 points is a bargain for the durability and reliability of a bog standard tactical squad ontop of an objective on turn 1.

 

 

 

 

/agree.

 

I love the durability and reliabilty of the standard Tac squad, and considering you can have termie turn it into a true fire bulwark which is nigh on impossible to shift, its a real bargain.

 

But BA also have an amazing ability with Sang priests, drop one in termie armour with the termies, have him leave and join the tac squad(why not there not going anywhere) and you have an even harder obstacle to shift with an amazing speed bump.

 

Works real well for me, and fairly inexpensive considering itll hold a table quarter on its own.

 

So you mean:

 

1) use drop pod assault to land a tac squad with a locator beacon in turn 1, then leg it into cover.

2) DS a termie squad in with a priest, using the locator beacon.

3) Send the priest into the tac squad and have the termies go-a-slaughtering merrily on thier way, singing lalalalala

4) laugh at people throwing innefective and puny weapons fire at your invulnerable yet cheap-ass troops choice of doom.

 

not bad.

 

Thats almost as dirty as putting a lord commissar with a camo cloak in with 50 conscripts and then throwing them at an objective.

 

 

 

Yeah thats exactly what i mean hehehe.

 

Its amazingly effective, at first i thought it would be marginally so, yet very entertaining - but it turns out to be entertaining and very, very effective.

[Lord Asher]

Firstly,

 

Blinard I'm not from Mackay, don't even know where Mackay is :P

 

 

Great ideas from everyone, thanks for the input.

 

I'm definetly going with a dread and DC in pods, I was thinking about dropping in a 5 man melta assault squad with the dread on turn 1 and then the DC in subsequent turns.

[Angelus Mortifer]

I was thinking about dropping in a 5 man melta assault squad with the dread on turn 1 and then the DC in subsequent turns.

 

My own personal reservation to this is one Melta (one dice) isn't always going to pop a vehicle for you. You can add an Infernus to the Sgt to double your odds but then your adding points into only a 5-man squad that's going to be very close to the enemy on arrival. Their staying power/effectiveness past the drop is going to be quite limited I feel, but that's just personal preference.

 

Though extremely pricey, you could go completely the other way and take a 10-man Sternguard Squad (2 Melta, 4 Combi-Melta, Power Weapon, Pod - 330pts): Combat Squad on arrival to give you a more than reasonable chance of popping two vehicles first turn (assuming they're close enough to where you land), and the Power Wpn Sgt at least gives you a decent chance of doing something in the counter-assault. If your list then allows something like a Dread with a Frag Cannon, he can arrive next to either Combat Squad to maul the disembarked infantry. When the dice go your way, 2 vehicles and probably an infantry squad of some description is an excellent return in the first turn of the game, and a full 10-man unit will likely require a fair bit of attention to completely eliminate them - attention that the rest of your force won't be getting early on.

 

My 2p's worth :)

 

(Of course, taking these guys plus a DC Drop Squad really starts to reduce your model count...)