Devastators in Drop Pods

[SM1981]

Does this work as a "golly gee is he doing?" play?

 

I've been reading a bit about drop pods and how if your guys fall out of range to engage their preferred hand to hand combat targets, the marines get turned into soup by massed close range enemy fire.

 

Well what about the other way round? Drop in a couple of Devastator squads with high volume or template weapons and really mess some things up.

 

Anyone done this effectively? Obviously they will end up dieing, but if they also take out a mass of troops and give your other guys time to get up the table can it be worth it?

[Raven6826]

Assault squads with flamers would be cheaper way to go... Cent devs more durable.... But, it has possibilities. Just for the golly gee value if for no other reason. An ironclad podded in does much the same thing tho.

[Frater Antodeniel]

Raven6826 ====> Blood Angels Army mean ====> 0 Centurion Devastator and 0 Ironclad. (Edit : Apart from allies of course^^)

 

And Assault squads with flamers are quite a good idea if you face a massed/horde opponent. If you want "insertion" support => Devastator or Stormraven, that our only choice apart from FW...

 

If you look by FW, then you will have far more choice, first, the Deredeo Dreadnought pattern. A great choice for a support that can arrive via Drop Pod.

 

Personnaly a Devastator Squad and a Deredeo will form a good couple to perform the supporting duty. And you can add a stormraven to the show. (This way you will have quite the diversity of tactical choices).

[SM1981]

I was thinking 2 drop pods = 20 marines = 4 combat squads. Take 2 with heavy bolter X 4, 2 with missile launcher × 4. One of each combat squad in each drop pod. Doors open and there's lots of dakka dakka to kill infantry, then 2 missiles with frag for template damage, and 2 missiles with Krak for vehicles / unfortunate characters... In each drop pod!

 

Then your men die.

 

But not before taking out the vast majority of the opponents deployed minis.

Plus there's always the chance (slim slim chance) you've thined out ranks enough to mean that there isn't enough of a shooting threat left to actually wipe out your guys.

[Xenith]

You seem to be missing the key point that you cannot move and fire normally with heavy weapons. You can only snap shot, so you cannot fire frag missiles at all, and your heavy bolters are hitting on 6's on the turn you disembark from the pod.

 

Realistically, the pods open, your heavy weapons do nothing, bolters rapid fire, then the dev squads either die or get charged.

[Montuhotep]

A way to do it that I've had used against me is the burn-inator squad. 5 man Command Squad kitted out with flamers, supported by a techmarine in full servo harness with a combi-flamer in a pod.

 

 That's 7 flamer templates on the drop turn. Ruins lightly armoured folks such as Orks, Guard and Tau Firewarriors.

[SM1981]

I understand you can't move and shoot heavy weapons normally, but with that volume of dcw you are going to get some 6s turn up, and if lady luck smiles your opponent won't be.

 

Worst case scenario his plan for round one is in the toilet (no one can ig ore 20 devastators armed to the teeth with heavy weapk s sitting smack bang in the middle of their army). And by round two any speed focused troops (bikes, speeders, jump packs, etc) will have closed the gap and be in close combat.

 

Plus your forgetting the hilarity and sheer fun of the situation (which is surely why we all play - no?).

Dice not dcw. Fat fingers + spell check = fail.

[Xenith]

I was thinking 2 drop pods = 20 marines = 4 combat squads. Take 2 with heavy bolter X 4, 2 with missile launcher × 4. One of each combat squad in each drop pod. Doors open and there's lots of dakka dakka to kill infantry, then 2 missiles with frag for template damage, and 2 missiles with Krak for vehicles / unfortunate characters... In each drop pod!

 

 

Also, it seems in the suggested units, you want to take 5 men with 4 heavy bolters, and 5 with 4x missile launchers in each pod?

 

You can't do that. A dev squad gets to take 4 weapons total, not 4 per 5 men.

 

Your heavy bolter dev squad is 10 men, 4 heavy bolters. The 4 HVB snap fire and get, on average, 2 hits at S5. Assume 3 if youre lucky, which converts to two wounds on MEQ, and less than one death after armour. Conversely, the 6 bolters rapid fire and get 8 hits, 4 wounds, and one failed save. At which point, you drop the HVB and take more bolters, then realise you should have gone with a tactical squad.$

 

If you can find a way to make them relentless, then I'm all ears, but dropping your heavy weapons into the enemy, and unable to shoot, is a terrible idea.

 

As for hilarity...some dudes dropping in, failing to do anything, then being wiped out isnt really fun for either player.

 

Consider with missile launchers, and drop them onto a flank. Use the pod for cover, and set them up for T2 flank shots on tanks, however you want them as far away from your opponent as possible.

 

Also consider 10 Death Company, all with infernus pistols in a pod.

[SM1981]

I'm not thinking 10 man devastator squads. I'm thinking 4 independent 5 man squads. Each with four heavy weapons. 2 independant squads per pod (as each has a ten man allocation). Is that not legal?

[Xenith]

I'm not thinking 10 man devastator squads. I'm thinking 4 independent 5 man squads. Each with four heavy weapons. 2 independant squads per pod (as each has a ten man allocation). Is that not legal?

 

I'm afraid not, sorry :S

 

Check the dedicated transport rules again.

 

1 unit per pod, the only exception is that both halves of a combat squadded unit can go in the same transport.

[SM1981]

Balls of Sanguinius - I guess that sinks that.

[evildrcheese]

As a final thought this might have some uses as a mid-field ground taking denial unit.

 

Consider dropping 4 MM midfield blocking the way of your opponents vehicles. Again it's not something that can be ignored as it has a decent threat range.

 

Is it good? Probably not the best use of points, but could it be useful? I'd say so. A unit's usefulness shouldn't be assessed on it's killing power alone.

 

D

[Xenith]

One thing that was nasty a while back was Logan Grimnar with long fangs. If I remember correctly, he could bestow relentless on a unit, so 5 relentless multimelta longfangs and grimnar drop out of a pod in T1.

 

You could replicate this with Sevrin Loth, if he can pick biomancy.

[evildrcheese]

Good catch. Obviously it's possible with fishing for the right power, Loth isn't necessarily essential.

 

D

[Xenith]

Good catch. Obviously it's possible with fishing for the right power, Loth isn't necessarily essential.

 

D

 

Well, either him or tigurius are if you want to guarantee getting the right power!

[SM1981]

What about a psyker casting endurance from the biomacy list. Does that not convey relentless (and FNP as a cheeky Brucie bonus)?

[Xenith]

That's what I was getting at :)

 

Both Sevrin loth (Red Scorpions) and Tigurius (Ultramarines) are psykers who have a greater (or 100%) change of being able to get the Endurance power.

 

The good news is that you can get 4x heavy weapons without needing 10 men, so you could get 5 devs, 4 multimeltas, combi melta, Loth, and a shield eternal chapter master in there for a laugh.

[SM1981]

Errr...

 

I think the Emperor may have just answered my prayers...

 

And then for being a good little Astartes thrown in a second squad too...

 

And then given them BOTH "Relentless"...

 

And then put two jump pack assault squads on top as a cherry!

 

The Emperor protects indeed!

 

https://files.acrobat.com/a/preview/8c624b63-caaa-40a0-bdb6-52456f027cd9

[Xenith]

I cant download it on my phpne, but im guessing that link is to the skyhammer formation.

 

Please note that I think file sharing is against forum rules, mainly as you're giving away for free something GW sells. you wouldn't want to get banned.

[CaptainHelion]

I believe it is, yes. On both the Identifying and the forum rules

[tjr]

Wasn't the Skyhammer released to the "general public" a while back (and not just the few people who bought the whole package)?

[Karhedron]

Skyhammer is a great formation (borderline broken). If you use combat squading, you are dropping 8 units in your opponent's face on the turn of your choice. The heavy weapons have Relentless and the ASM can assault from DS (that used to be our trick :().

 

It causes a whole lot of hurt and should dish out enough damage and tangle enough units to mess up any army's plans. ASM may not hit as hard as our elite units but they should live long enough to tie the enemy up while waiting for our DC and SG to arrive and deliver the coup-de-grace.

 

Downside of course is the points cost. Also you need opponents who are cool with running more than one detachment/formation in your army (to be fair, most people are these days).

 

If you are after some cheaper dakka in a drop pod, don't forget Sternguard. Your special ammo is good against a wide range of targets and you can add a sprinkling of special or combi-weapons to deal with stubborn targets.

[SM1981]

Wasn't aware that the PDF infringed on copy right laws (it's literally all over the web). This said if any mods are watching this please feel free to delete that post should you choose.

 

I am so rolling that formation out next game with an absolute hoard of DC charging up the field behind it. The local Greenskins are going to get boned!

[Charlo]

The sky hammer is cool. I think in the age of Wraith knights and such it's not too broken either. Maybe.

[SlangWhanger]

What about two 5 man squads of devs in a FA drop pod, allowing 8 heavy weapons? Again no relentless (unless you get a libby nearby, perhaps in another pod) but a hell of a lot of fire from one squad. Will draw fire though and may result in an expensive unit being wiped out quickly without doing much...