Orbital Assault

[terminatorAM]

Slowly but surely I have become drawn to the heresy and have considered abandoning current 40k projects to become part of the ship, part of the crew. I would want to do something completely different than what I have done with marine armies in the past (vanilla mech, BA jump list), but have always wanted to do, a full drop pod list.

 

Before I decide to throw my wallet over the edge, I did have some questions on how this kind of army will work for the Sons of Horus. Although I may still be influenced by World Eaters' and Night Lords' take on Orbital Assault.

 

1) If the whole force must arrive via deep strike, how do you avoid the 'no models on the table, you lose' rule from the rule book? I can't remember how it's worded and I've never done a full reserves list before so I'm sorry if I've missed something.

 

2) Do Veteran Tactical Squads offer anything that Reavers don't? If I use Maloghurst as one HQ choice, would it be worth mixing, or just going one or the other since both would be troops?

 

3) Is it worth it to load up on assault troops when using drop pods or more close ranged shooty squads? Basically should Reavers have banestrike or ccw?

 

4) Can Contemptor Dreads take Legion Dreadnought Drop Pods from Massacre instead of the Dreadclaw (super expensive) with this RoW? It seems to fit, but there isn't anything I've found to support it between the two books.

 

Random questions I know, but I'm a really sporadic gamer and mostly a hobbyist so would like to know how an army will work with the rules before I buy a bunch of stuff and realize I can't use it. That being said, I'd rally appreciate any input you guys have on tactics or recommended units when using the Orbital Assault RoW. Thanks! 

[Quixus]

1) You only lose if at the end of the game turn, if you have no models on the table. So if you go first with an all drop pod list, your opponent will have to wipe out half your army to force that condition. If you go last, he cannot do it on game turn 1, on game turn 2 he can only do it if he wipes out half your army and nor reinforcements for you arrive that turn.

[Sanct]

1) Wrong way round. It's not that you must deep strike all units, it's that you cannot take units that cannot arrive from deep strike.

So you could take a unit of jump marines (because jump infantry can deep strike) and deploy them on the table.

You could also take a unit of 20 tactical marines and deploy them on the table if you had a storm eagle that wasn't carrying anything else. But you would need a second storm eagle if you wanted a second 20 man tactical squad (and they have to abide the 20 man transport limit on the storm eagle)

 

2) In their basic form Veterans start with boltguns and a choice of skills. Reavers start with the option to pay for their development. 

I believe reavers are more assaulty but you can really mold them to your will if you're willing to use the points.

 

3) They already have ccw so you could use them as super assault marines (assault marines are not very good imo) It's been debated on page 2 here and everyone has their own style.

IMO 15 with jumppacks/dreadclaw, 3 melta, 9 volkite, 2 power axes and 2 power swords although you could use them like a 30k sternguard unit  with combi weapons/banestrike and a dreadclaw

 

4) Errrrr I would say yes (even without the RoW) but it's hazy and someone else would say no. Check with your gamer group for their opinion and wait on an faq

[terminatorAM]

Thanks for clearing that up guys. So if I can take jump troops without needing to deep strike them to enter the game, I could actually take Reavers and outflank them as long as they have jump packs. That opens up more flexible options.