What to put inside drop pods?

[40k nut]

Hello all, I'm building a 5 drop pod army. I keep going back on forth in regards to which units to put in the pods. Was hoping for some advice.

First off I have 2 furioso dreadnoughts with frag cannons. I feel like they are auto-include. The remaining 3 pods are the ones I am struggling with. Suicide melta assualt squads seem awsome as do tactical squads with flamers. I also have the parts to build a sternguard squad or death company. 

It seems like most the options are good for anti infantry. The only units that are geared towards anti armor are the assualt squads and possibly sternguard with combi meltas. I'm having a hard time figuring out what kind of balance I should have between the number of pods that are geared towards anti infantry or anti armor. 

Any suggestions would be appreciated. I would like the focus of the army to be the pods and am willing to tailor the rest of the army around it. Thanks in advance!

[Karhedron]

I would not put DC in a pod since they cannot assault on the turn they disembark. 2 RAS Meltacide squads are an auto-include for me due to their cost effectiveness.

 

I am also a fan of the Fragioso with melta gun. I feel this works better than the heavy flamer in 7th edition since by the time the Frag cannon has fired, there is likely to be little left for the flamer to kill. Against vehicles, a melta shot + 2 automatic S6 Rending hits are quite respectable. Against tougher infantry, the melta shot will help against good armour saves if you do not get many rends. Melta Fragiosos thus provide a balance between anti-infantryt and anti-tank.

 

For the 5th pod, I would go for stenguard due to their flexibility.

[40k nut]

Thanks for the advice. I like your tactics for making the fragiosos more adaptable. With the sternguard would you recommend combi weapons or just running them stock? They seem so expensive now that combi weapons are 10 pts a man... Also how many bodies would you include in such a squad?

[Deschenus Maximus]

 

I am also a fan of the Fragioso with melta gun. I feel this works better than the heavy flamer in 7th edition since by the time the Frag cannon has fired, there is likely to be little left for the flamer to kill. Against vehicles, a melta shot + 2 automatic S6 Rending hits are quite respectable. Against tougher infantry, the melta shot will help against good armour saves if you do not get many rends. Melta Fragiosos thus provide a balance between anti-infantryt and anti-tank.

 

I second that piece of advice.

 

For the other pods, I'd go with Tactical squad (10 men, melta, heavy flamer).

[Karhedron]

Thanks for the advice. I like your tactics for making the fragiosos more adaptable. With the sternguard would you recommend combi weapons or just running them stock? They seem so expensive now that combi weapons are 10 pts a man... Also how many bodies would you include in such a squad?

In general I prefer boys over toys. Sternguard are well equipped to hammer anything with a toughness value that does not have a 2+ save. Piling combi-weapons on them is tempting but expensive. The only targets they struggle with are vehicles and TEQs. I normally have a couple of meltacide squads and inferno pistols in other squads so killing vehicles is not an issue. 2+ save units are best hammered with Grav weapons which work best on bike squads on the whole.

 

If you can, supporting the Sternguard with complimentary units is probably better than blowing a load of points to try and cover every eventuality. Keep them lean and focus on doing what they best, shredding infantry and MCs.

[Blood & Thunder]

Remember with a 10 man tactical squad, you do not have to put all 10 in the pod. You can have 5 on the field and the other 5 Can be in the pod.

[Deschenus Maximus]

Remember with a 10 man tactical squad, you do not have to put all 10 in the pod. You can have 5 on the field and the other 5 Can be in the pod.

 

While this is true, in the very large majority of instances, you want all your menz dropping.

[knife&fork]

 

 

If you can, supporting the Sternguard with complimentary units is probably better than blowing a load of points to try and cover every eventuality. Keep them lean and focus on doing what they best, shredding infantry and MCs.

 

 

I have disagree here, with just the special issue ammo they won't be that effective against MCs. Specially since many of those will fly. Taking melta in assault squads means giving up FA slots that are needed for complimentary grav bikers. Volume of fire is important for all types of weapons, single meltas doesn't cut in IMHO.

 

Extra detachments can be taken but troop and HQ tax will start to ad up. 

 

With 'only' 5 pods you don't have a lot of room to work with. 

2 fragioso

2 melacide squads

1 sternguard/or tac squad

 

That's it

 

 

With that in mind I'd suggest something like this instead;

 

2 fragioso

1 meltacide assault squad

1 tac squad (heavy flamer + grav or flamer )

1 sternguard (decent amount of combi-meltas, + grav if you can spare the points)

 

Now you have 2 available slots for grav bikers (+ MM AB) and no real holes in your alpha strike capability. 

[InquisitorBlack]

I've adjusted my drop list for an upcoming tournament in Melb.

 

I'll be running 5 pods with a Vindicator and Dreadknight.

 

Front 3:

Melta/stormshield command squad with Meph, BA libby and GK libby (two combi-meltas on the libbies)

10 Purifiers with 4 incinerators

8 Legion of the Damned with melta and grav

 

Back 2:

 

2 Min tactical squads

 

I feel this list is a lot stronger than the last pod list I played. I will post a report after the tourney

[DominicJ]

3 or 7 tend to be better numbers than 5

 

Bolter DC are a fantastic drop, they arent that expensive, 260ish for ten in a pod with a fist and they have to be killed, 

 

Sternguard "look" ace when they drop, but its easy to spend 350+ pts, and they will not survive.

[Meatcaber]

During 6th Ed. ( as JP's were so expensive) my DC were deployed via Drop Pod. I ran a Termi-Libby, SS, Axe, with unleash rage and shield of sanguinius with 8 DC, bolters + 2 power axes, or 1 axe 1 fist. With 7th I made a new DC unit with JP's and fists though I still have my 'old' DC'. I have yet to play a game of 7th but I am curious as to how podded DC would fare in the current edition. 

 

I also ran 2x Furioso dreads - FC + MG - which were usually my first drops and they'll definitely be included in most of my 7th Ed. games. A Tactical squad with full flamers and 2 meltacide squads will be in my other pods for 7th. 

 

Guess it depends on what you want to accomplish with your podded units to determine what you put in them, and in which order you pod them in. Those 5 pods give you a fair amount of option for killing armour and infantry.

[Captain Obvious]

Hello!

 

3*10 Sternguardinas; (5 combimelta, 5 combiplasma). After deep strike, combat squad them and Murder Inc.

Will cost you both your arms and both your legs but thees guys DO wreak havoc like nothing else.

The last 2 DP should be dedicated transports for Assault Squads because they can grab objectives and DP is free for them. (Alternatively go for 2 empty DP.)

 

Captain Obvious

[Urauloth]

The problem I see with kitting out sternguard is that while they can shoot up a storm, they still die just as easily as tac squad bolter bros. With no way of getting FNP or a storm shield for tanking, they'll get murdered by ap3 and anything that forces a high volume of saves... won't they? How do you keep a squad of 10 alive after their first round of shooting, or do you use them as a super-expensive meltacide/plasmacide unit? They seem like they need to be in smaller squads, or in cover, or something, but then again I've never actually used them yet.

 

As an aside (apologies for the noob question derail) what's RAS? I'm pretty decent with BA acronyms but that's the only one I don't recognise. I assume it's an assault squad without packs, but what's the R?

[Deschenus Maximus]

Regular Assault Squad, IIRC. It's a old term from the time BA also had Veteran Assault Squads (IIRC, again).

[Captain Obvious]

Hi, A Kvlt Ghost!

 

The point is you go all or nothing with Sternguardians. Bring in a lot (30 or 40 in case your opponent is fine with formations) in T1 and cripple the opponent's army. In case you ony plan to deploy 10, don't bother trying them. They will fail for exactly the reason you mentioned.

 

If you only field 10, you can destroy something (important if you are lucky) but they will die miserably T2. The rest of your opponent's army will see bringing them down. They are only MEQ and most armies are pretty good at murdering MEQ. The commandment is: 'Thou shalt not suffer a marine equipped with special ammunition bolter to survive T2!!!' And for a good reason. Special ammunition is very versatile and effective. Your opponent will be scared of it, and will kiss your nice little sternguardians' life 'Good Bye!'

 

In case you field 30 of these crazy little shoota massa, you can CRIPPLE your opponent's ARMY. 30 sternguardians will smash 6 units. (Assuming you combat squad them.) You will not only destroy one or two important unit; It is very likely you can break the backbone of your opponent's army destroying ALL the important elements of your opponent's army. Your sternguardians will not be slaughtered T2, because they have already destroyed (almost) everything that can easily slaughter them. Now they can go toe-to-toe with the rest of the opponent's army. (Notice that I normally run at least 3 Vindicators and they can cripple units not destroyed by the sternguardians.)

 

Well, except your opponent plays AM and fields 200+ guardsmen blobbed around half a dozen tanks and your nice little sternguardians can't get to the targets they are supposed to destroy...

 

Captain Obvious

[CaptainHelion]

That's what the combi-flamer combat squads are for. You did bring combi-flamers, didn't you?

[Captain Obvious]

Hi, CaptainHelion!

 

Nope, I run the same army against every opponent. No adjustments at all.

And if I would have, I can see no difference.

You can roast say 100 guardsmen but your opponent still have 100+ guardsmen meatshielding the tanks, and T2 these tanks WILL roast your nice little army.

 

Captain Obvious

[CaptainHelion]

I always pack combi-flamers. I find them just really helpful. But I don't face all too much in the way of that style of Guard, so I suppose it's not much of an issue for me.