Tactical Squad in a Drop Pod

[Meatcaber]

Hi all,

 

Does any use or tried a TS in a DP?

 

Would like to try it out in an 'all-reserve' army in which, hopefully, my opponent would get the first turn so he'd have nothing to shoot at. The TS can then be podded onto or near an objective in my deployment zone and quickly contest or claim that objective. At the moment my army only has a single DP with a Furioso, but I think that if I dropped that first it would take a lot of firepower as it will need to be placed fairly near the enemy. The TS shouldn't have that problem since they'll be 'on the defensive' or be placed at an objective away from the majority of the enemies firepower. Once they have been podded they can swiftly find cover etc...

 

Viable tactic? Has anyone ever tried it?

 

The other option I was considering was sticking an AS in a DP, but they would obviously be played a little more aggressively. Podding an assault squad that then can't assault doesn't seem like the best use of that squad to me. Though, it's similar to a transport but once placed the squad will then be footing it and not have a vehicle to help them traverse the battlefield. I see these guys more for objective taking rather than objective sitting, but bad placement of a Pod could see them not achieving a great deal.

 

Also viable? Anyone have experiences with Assault Squads in Drop Pods? Should I stick with vehicles instead?

 

 

To finish I just have a couple of rules queries relating to transports!

 

Can a Dedicated Transport carry more than one squad? Ie, can a rhino carry two five man squads? Two separate squads/combat squads? Can a Stormraven carry two six man squads and a Dreadnought or just a single squad of up to 12 models and the Dread?

 

Alrighty, thanks in advance for any replies!

[Toasterfree]

drop pod armies are really fragile. coming in piece meal gives time for your units to be whittled down one by one. good thing is, takes some serious shooting to take out marines.

 

i dont play BA but I would do packless assualt units so that your pods are cheaper or near free (cant remember which). that way you have points for things to help your guys stay alive longer. i would also add in out flaking Baal preds to keep EVERYTHING off the table turn 1.

[SevenExxes]

5 pods is 3 on turn 1. That's hardly peicemeal. It's 30 marines in the enemy's face. That has to hurt someone. As for using asault marine you wouldget the pods for free but have limited shooting on the drop. However, a 9 man assault squad can still take one special weapon (meltagun) and have room for a priest.

 

As for the transport questions, only one unit in one transport at any one time, even if that unit is only made up of one model like The Sanguinor or Mephiston.

[ArdezFurioso]

5 pods is 3 on turn 1. That's hardly peicemeal. It's 30 marines in the enemy's face. That has to hurt someone. As for using asault marine you wouldget the pods for free but have limited shooting on the drop. However, a 9 man assault squad can still take one special weapon (meltagun) and have room for a priest.

 

As for the transport questions, only one unit in one transport at any one time, even if that unit is only made up of one model like The Sanguinor or Mephiston.

 

 

So to use combat squads do you split them when they get out or at the start of the game if there are 10 men in a rhino(or something similar)? Or can you not use combat squads on a unit in a vehicle?

[Brutis]

If you have a 10 man squad in a rhino, you split them at deployment. You can have two 5 man squads anywhere you want to put them. 5 can stay with the vehicle if you like. With drop pods, you split them when they arrive.

[ArdezFurioso]

If you have a 10 man squad in a rhino, you split them at deployment. You can have two 5 man squads anywhere you want to put them. 5 can stay with the vehicle if you like. With drop pods, you split them when they arrive.

 

 

So can you make a 10 man squad, assign them a razorback, and then combat squad them at deployment so 1 of the combat squads can fit in the vehicle while the other can be elsewhere?

[Brutis]

That's correct.

[Toasterfree]

its a good way to get two heavy weapons for a tac squad since you get one on the razor and a free one (they are the same as ultra yes?) from having 10 dudes.

 

keep in mind i dont actually play BA.

 

as far as 30 dudes in their face, playing space wolves, thats not hard to take out. if i was playing bugs that would scare me a little or other xenos. it honestly wouldnt scare me with GK either.

[Deschenus Maximus]

Coming in piecemeal is really really bad. The Drop Pod Assault rule basically cripples all-pod armies.

[Chaplain Admetus]

its a good way to get two heavy weapons for a tac squad since you get one on the razor and a free one (they are the same as ultra yes?) from having 10 dudes.

 

keep in mind i dont actually play BA.

 

as far as 30 dudes in their face, playing space wolves, thats not hard to take out. if i was playing bugs that would scare me a little or other xenos. it honestly wouldnt scare me with GK either.

 

Not quite... you have to pay for some of the upgrades. Heavy Bolters, Missile Launchers and Multi-meltas you can get for free if you have 10, but you have to pay to upgrade to a plasma/lascannon.

 

As far as the tac squad in a drop pod is concerned, I've seen it used quite effectively, and considered it myself. As far as the transports go, only 1 unit in 1 at a time, with the Stormraven being the sole exception in that it can carry a squad of up to 12 models, and a dreadnought, but you can't get 2 dreads or 2 squads.

 

I'd have to agree with the people that say coming in piecemeal is really bad, though I wouldn't say it necessarily cripples them. It runs in a similar vein to DoA armies, though for that you at least get a re-roll if you need them. Drop pod assault does mitigate this, but only in the sense that you guarantee half your army turn 1 if they're all in pods. April GT last year my third opponent got shafted by this; he had 3 pods and other stuff, and reserved literally everything. 2 pods turned up on turn 1, which got the entire attention of my army, and the rest of his units turned up one a turn for the rest of the game. At best, you're a slightly more reliable version of Daemons in that you can guarantee you'll get the half of your army that you want on turn 1, but you still have the potential risk of everything turning up at the wrong time. You really need everything to come down around the same time, otherwise your opponent will be able to isolate and pick things off as they come down, or at least make a large enough dent in them that their threat value is significantly lessened. For the thing with a furioso in a pod, I'm trying that out for the first time this week. All I know is that you do NOT want that on turn 1. Dropping a furioso into the middle of their lines on turn 1 is just asking for it to get blown to kingdom come. Its a better idea to have minimum 2 drop pods, so you can bring in the other one first, and then the dreadnought later on when you have other threats, such as rapidly encroaching assault squads, and your opponent is forced to split fire. If you plan on podding a tactical squad onto an objective in your deployment zone, why not just put them there in deployment. Bear in mind you can deploy a unit on its own at the start of the game, and then drop in empty pods early on, as this buys you more time to think about what you want on, and where.

[Toasterfree]

well HB MM and ML are free in ultras too, so yeah. get some heavy weapons free :P

 

i tried a drop bug list and coming in piece meal was just eww...

a gimmick that i dont see working for even more protected SMs. not having full combat ability is not good.

[Meatcaber]

Thanks for replying everyone :)

 

So, just for clarification, if I took a ten man squad in a Pod, I can still combat squad them and have both squads in the same transport? Also, can you just drop the pod with nothing in it?

 

I could just deploy the squad near an objective during set up, but then if I don't get the first turn that unit will receive a lot of attention from my enemy - something similar to what you did in that game. Was going with the idea of having my enemy waste a turn if he went first, simply by not having any models on the table to shoot at or destroy. But then again, it might also work in his favour if I had to take the first turn. If I had an empty pod to drop, I could still effectively make him waste a turn.

 

Still trying to get my head around what type of army I want to play, so just information gathering about various ideas I have come up with.

[Chaplain Admetus]

Rules for combat squadding with the pod are that they stay as one unit for the purposes of deployment etc, but may split into 2 combat squads when the pod lands; you won't need to make the decision about whether or not to combat squad until the pod hits the table, but it must be done then if it happens at all. And, as far as I am aware (since there's nothing in the rules that forbids it), you may deploy the tactical squad as normal in deployment, and when their pod turns up it just turns up on its own - its the same as just because you buy a rhino for a tactical squad, it doesn't mean you have to start the game in it. However I don't believe you can combat squad them in the sense of setting up 5 at deployment, and then having the other 5 come down later in a pod, but anyone can feel free to correct me on that one if I'm just spewing rubbish. The idea behind having an empty pod is to buy you that little bit of extra flexibility - I have a friend who plays codex marines who often takes a pod for his thunderfire cannon, purely so that he can have other units come in later in the game if he needs them, making sure that they don't turn up too early. Another thing to consider if you have a lot of jump packs that you plan to deep strike, if your opponent makes you go first, you can just set up on the table anyway; just because your army is designed to deep strike in doesn't mean it has to play that way in every game, flexibility and adaptability are how you win games.