Drop pods

[TheAlchemist]

In 7th I fell in love with drop pod assaults, unfortunately drop pods are too overpriced in this edition.

How many drop pods can you put into a list before they begin to hinder your build?

[MARK0SIAN]

I would say 1, they’re not worth taking at all in my opinion. I’m sorry, that’s probably not very helpful to you. I just think that, as well as being overcosted, the units you can put in them aren’t that great either (with the possible exception of a devastator squad), but that’s a general weakness with Marines and not specific to drop pods.

 

They do have one advantage though, they help you overcome enemies who can target and shoot units that arrived from reserve, like death marks or those that can use a stratagem to do it. Generally the wording of the rule means they have to shoot the pod itself, not the unit that was in it.

[Panzer]

I go with 1 as well.

I really don't see anything a Drop Pod adds to your army that's worth the points.

[Dark_Jober]

Well... I think the most important point is which function are you going to carry with the unit/units inside?

 

I think maybe 1 drop pod for suicide squads could be nice, but still you know they are dead before disembarking.

• Suicide Multi-Melta DevSquad: 65p+27px4 = 173p. You have an antitank unit that will deep strike to more than 9" to your target, but still in melta-range... As multi-melta are Heavy, you will have 3x Shots at 4+ and 1x at 3+ (Signum). It is a good amount of melta, and still you have 5 more spaces in the drop pod. You could also buy a Cherub for shooting twice with one melta (I'm not sure if Signum and Cherub can be combined and shooting twice 3+)
• Suicide Plasma Vet-Squad. You can deep strike with veterans (2-5 Vets 16p/each( equipped with Plasma or CombiPlas (13p or 15p) and Chainsword (3A each, 4 if Sargeant), a 5man squad is 145-155p with 5 plasma or combiplas weapons, and 3-4 F4 AP- Attacks each one.

Atm I'm building the suicide Multi-melta squad, because I think it could be really funny, but still I know that 4-5 shots are not enough and maybe a second squad could be needed. Another interesting unit could be a Suicide Grav-cannon Squad...

 

This is all theoryhammer, so it could be totally useless but these are some ideas I have:

 

The point with these kind of units should be that the enemy must kill them the next turn so you are distracting part of their forces... maybe a single suicide squad is not enough, because you weren't able to do much wounds and they will be easily destroyed next turn, but maybe two suicide squads in a drop pod... disembarking in cover, adding some Inceptors and a captain with jump pack... you could create a good distraction.

Devastators should attack the vehicles, Inceptors putting pressure in the surrounding infantry and the captain adding the re-roll aura. Then the Inceptors and the captain could try to charge against some units that received fire or even trying to engage the tanks that survived.

Maybe even adding the Ancient with the banner relic for shooting again with the Devastators... but I don't now...

 

In my games I sit my devs in my deploy zone and play to pew-pew-pew and not moving them... and trying to protect them as much as possible.

[Race Bannon]

I want to agree.  In a tournament or all-comers list - forget it.  Otherwise, use 'em if you want to ^_^

[Panzer]

Relevant to the topic, fresh from the new FAQ:

 

Q: If the unit arriving as reinforcements has another unit embarked inside it which must disembark after it has been set up (such as units embarked within a Drop Pod, or a Tyrannocyte), can the firing unit shoot at the unit as it disembarks?

A: No – though the unit can shoot at the Drop Pod/ Tyrannocyte before the units inside disembark.

 

So depending on the meta and how much intercept shooting you expect Drop Pods might become a better choice again.

[Dark_Jober]

Relevant to the topic, fresh from the new FAQ:

 

Q: If the unit arriving as reinforcements has another unit embarked inside it which must disembark after it has been set up (such as units embarked within a Drop Pod, or a Tyrannocyte), can the firing unit shoot at the unit as it disembarks?

A: No – though the unit can shoot at the Drop Pod/ Tyrannocyte before the units inside disembark.

 

So depending on the meta and how much intercept shooting you expect Drop Pods might become a better choice again.

I can't find that Questions and Answer in the WARHAMMER 40,000 THE BIG FAQ 1 2018 document, where could I found that?

 

 

EDIT: Ok, I found it in the new version of Rulebook.   

[justicarius6]

The FAQ nerf on deepstriking really was the final nail in the coffin for Pods.

[Aothaine]

Personally, I find drop pods an underused gold mine. They can block fire lanes and hinder enemy movement. I'm actually in the process of building a list that uses empty pods as object holders and nuisances. Planning on 2-4 of them. It is a huge point investment and I still need to figure out how it is going to work with the new rules and using Power Level to determine how much of your army can deep strike. But I have high hopes. 

[Honda]

I still use them, a lot, but then  I mostly play Apoc with larger boards and walking across the battlefield just doesn't cut it.

 

They are cheaper than most transport options, though the rhino is a good alternative.

 

I guess the way I look at it, since I've been playing SM since 3rd is, we used to pay for our drop pods before 8th, we got them free in 7th and everyone unhappy about that. I get it. But we used to have to pay for them, not have them show up before turn two, not be able to shoot  heavy weapons, and with the recent FAQ, now the contents can't be shot at disembarking.

 

So although there have been changes, on the whole,  I'd say we're still a little bit ahead of previous versions, except the free drop pods that everyone except SM players hated.

[MeltaRange]

I've considered using a Drop Pod to deliver 3 Librarians.  (specifically 2 + Tigurius) Has anyone tried that?  I'm hoping that due to the character targeting rules, that I can deploy the drop pod in a way that gives me some cover to incoming fire since they have to target the drop pod first. 

[Panzer]

I've considered using a Drop Pod to deliver 3 Librarians.  (specifically 2 + Tigurius) Has anyone tried that?  I'm hoping that due to the character targeting rules, that I can deploy the drop pod in a way that gives me some cover to incoming fire since they have to target the drop pod first. 

 

Well that's definitely possible, but what do you intent to do with those three Librarians? Without a plan on how to use them there's not much point in just dropping them somewhere on the board. ^^

[Race Bannon]

A visit to Smiteville?

[Panzer]

Dunno, is that really worth the points for a Drop Pod (probably coming in turn 2 the earliest now anyway) and the risk of not being able to position them properly? It feels to me much better to just let them walk up the board with the rest of their army and do their psychic shenanigans from turn 1 on.

[Race Bannon]

If it's to say, "You've been SMOTE!" ... then yes.  At least for a game or two.

[Captain Idaho]

40pts for a Drop Pod seems Okay, if a little expensive really. But then I'd give Space Marines 35pts Rhinos again to give a leg up to the cheese we're seeing right now.

[Aothaine]

I've considered using a Drop Pod to deliver 3 Librarians.  (specifically 2 + Tigurius) Has anyone tried that?  I'm hoping that due to the character targeting rules, that I can deploy the drop pod in a way that gives me some cover to incoming fire since they have to target the drop pod first. 

 

I was actually thinking this same thing but with more librarians until the new smite rule came into effect. It will still work really good in a Grey Knights army though. If they have access to Drop Pods. :/ I don't have their codex so I'm not sure if they even have Drop Pod access.

[d36williams]

Drop Pods early on were a way to keep units like Devastators off the table so they didn't get shot. Lias Issadon did something similar much better though.

 

I'm trying to use a single Drop Pod in my army in a multi-tool way -- one game it drops 2 tactical squads with 4 plasma guns off, up the field, the next game it deploys on the table and is the only model that remains in my deployment zone using its wide open doors to block out deepstrikers. On crowded terrain boards it would block traffic. It's the kind of model the enemy doesn't want to spend time and resources shooting because it doesn't shoot back much.  Other games I use it to deploy Pedro Kantor up the field, or even in a bizare game where Devastators can't help me, why not use the Devs as Meatshields from the Drop Pod instead of tacticals.

 

Dropping off characters is also a good use. MeltaRange, that is the very first time I have seen anyone even make mention of 3 Librarians (and potentially Librarius Conclave) in any remotely useful way, so I just want to say thanks. If we were playing a game on Steam I'm sure you would have unlocked an achievement.

[Kallas]

The main problem with the multi-Librarian thing is that Marine psychic powers aren't exactly stellar! There's only really 2-3 (Might, Veil and sort of Scourge) that are worth much, the others are kinda crap/too situational.

[jonjacob]

I have done the tiggy + two Libby pod combo with some success pre smite change. The smite was strong and stratagems helped. But I didn't put an effective enough screen up to protect the investment.

 

Company veterans or sterguard would support it well to a point.

 

I used the librarians to smite priority targets like predators and anything very killy

[MeltaRange]

So the drop pod wasn't an effective enough screen?  I was kinda laughing to myself thinking about using Tig's -1 to hit power on the Drop Pod and having someone pour a bunch of lascannons into it. (rather than my actual army)

[jonjacob]

This was pre faq many months ago and poor positioning on my part, Libbys where at the front. But I would certainly give it another go with the pod being a screen, especially with some power armoured elites of some description and -1 to hit from tiggy.

 

It Never really seemed a viable tactic at the time as most people never target them (7th edition thinking). I tend to forget the targeting rules for characters.

[UnkyHamHam]

I've considered using a Drop Pod to deliver 3 Librarians. (specifically 2 + Tigurius) Has anyone tried that? I'm hoping that due to the character targeting rules, that I can deploy the drop pod in a way that gives me some cover to incoming fire since they have to target the drop pod first.

So I've actually tried this tactic to help support my Legion of the Damned unit when testing them in 8th. The only synergy the LotD have with Codex Marines is the fact that their psychic powers can target ANY ADEPTUS ASTARTES keyword unit.

 

So I'd drop in the 10 man Legion squad and a drop pod behind them with Tigurius, 2 librarians, and a company vet squad with storm bolters and chain swords.

 

I juice the Legion full of buffs. Psychic Fortress to mitigate mortal wounds (one of their big weaknesses) and moral. Veil of Time to charge in easier. And might of heroes on the power fist sarge. The keep the company Vets close to screen the librarians and tank wounds.

 

Tiggy and the Libby Conclave helps mitigate successive smites too. I liked throwing the tome of malcador in there too. I'll put Tiggys prescience on the Vets too. And burn scions of Guilliman for shooting on them.

 

Long story short, Legion are just too expensive currently to be useful, and it's a lot of points tied up in a multi pronged drop. That the enemy can just flood with bullets and lasers to erase.

[Ishagu]

You're far better off getting a supreme command detachment of 3 Inquisitors and putting them in the Pod.

[Panzer]

Except that Inquisitors can't use Drop Pods.