Drop Pods in 9th

[Deafbok]

So, I've been playing around with list ideas since picking up my codex and the arrival of the Battlescribe update - and my first list that "clicked" was a throwback to my Steel Rain list from 5th!

 

This got me thinking - I built to a theme, but just how viable can pods be now in 9th?

 

To me, there are a couple of things to consider:

 

1-What are they carrying?

2-WHERE and WHEN are they deploying?

 

For the purposes of this discussion, let's assume these are standard drop pods only - not everyone has "Don't care" levels of money to get FW variants :D

 

So, 1: Who's riding 'em?

 

There's the obvious limitation that they can only carry Firstborn infantry. Gone are the days when Dreads could plunge down from the skies alongside their smaller brothers, and the cogboys still haven't worked out the seatbelts for the Primaris upstarts yet.

 

So, what are our options?

 

- The Devastator Gravbomb

Devastator squad, all Gravcannons, aim at target that must be deleted, pop stratagem as needed. Sprinkle in buffing characters to flavour.

 

- The Veterans

A number of different variants available here. The most obvious are Sternguard and Company Veterans loaded for bear. Vanguard veterans have access to jump packs and the limitations to charges from pods mean ranged units are better served than melee ones, so adjust your loadouts accordingly. My preference is Company Veterans with combi-weapons and storm shields, with one or two CCWs such as Hammers or Fists for maximum nuisance factor. Chuck an Apothecary in with them to make them stick around longer, especially if your threat saturation is sufficient to split your opponent's fire so they aren't killed off after their initial strike.

 

- The Objective Grabbers

Tactical squads, generally kitted as MSU's for objective clearance and holding ground. Use these guys to deny objectives to the enemy wherever you can - since you can hold back until turn 3, you should be able to drop an annoying team in to deny or grab points that would otherwise be clear.

 

 

To my mind, any of the following units are usable as bases for other ideas in pods: Tacticals, Devastators, Firstborn Characters (HQ and Elites), Sternguard Veterans, & Company Veterans.

 

 

Lastly, the pods themselves can be used for area denial against your opponent's reserves - since the doors of the pods themselves count as part of the model, they have a MASSIVE footprint to prevent deep strikes. Take an empty or two to protect a backfield firebase if you have the points and are committed to a full Steel Rain list!

[XeonDragon]

The grav strat is gone. A grav bomb is still good, especially against gravis marines, but I think melta bomb devastators will be the thing in 9th. 

[Charlo]

Iron Hands can still pull off a the Multi Melta Devs rather well, getting no penalties to move/shoot turn one.

 

Salamanders have absolutely brutal turn 1/2 drops with Flamer/ Melta Stermguard and the addition of Vulkan and other such strats to buff them.

 

Deathwatch are utterly awesome in pods now - they can be in Tactical Doctrine turn one and drop down with Special Issue Ammo goodnes.

 

Additionally, Chaplains see good use being in a drop pod (or just having a jump pack) with their stratagem that allows them to insta-success any Litany at the beginning of any phase, so they can drop-in and support units from the start of shooting.

 

As for when/ where - ultimately Pods niche lies in two things:

1. Deep Striking units that normally cannot
2. Deep Striking outside of the normal reverve rules (limits and turn 1 allowed)

[Mandragola]

I think it probably makes sense to go with deathwatch if you want to do steel rain. You probably want some troops and the Proteus (Firstborn) kill team is by far the best troop choice out of a pod, in my opinion. You can get Deathwatch Veterans with SIA bolters and Astartes chainswords for 20 points. That's the cost of an intercessor and they're clearly better at both melee and shooting. Plus you have enormous freedom to add other toys, at pretty low prices for melee weapons in particular. Guns like the infernus heavy bolter look pretty interesting when coming out of a pod too.

 

The shotguns are an interesting choice. You could potentially replace your bolters with them. I'm not sure I would though, as for some reason (probably model related) you can't have a shotgun and chainsword.

[Karhedron]

Melta Bomb Devs and Tactical squad Objective grabbers seem like the clear winners to me. Veterans are also an interesting possibility as they have some significant anti-infantry dakka.

[TheUnlikelyGamer84]

Melta pod devs are nasty I’ve been using them like this already. Additionally I disagree about the pods being for shooting only. Melee troops loaded with claws and pwr fists etc Would work great in pods. Have the chapter champion with martial exemplar trait and a chaplain using litany strat to get them 7”rerollable charges out of the pods. Company vets and vanguard without jump packs would be great. Scars would be amazing woth this if you use the strat that activates all doctrines for a unit. Bunch of dmg 2 claws rerolling all failed wounds at 2dmg a pop. Edited November 2, 2020 by TheUnlikelyGamer84

[Mandragola]

I forgot DW can't have devastators. That does reduce what they can do on the turn they drop in. They aren't particularly well placed to do charges, though I guess their chaplains are as good as anyone's. 

 

I'm still not convinced by tactical marines in pods. They aren't terrible but they're not going to accomplish an awful lot. I'd be tempted to take something like incursors instead so they could meaningfully join in with your attack, or else just a bunch of intercessors to generally be useful.

 

Black Templars and Space Wolves have often been good drop pod armies and I think that's still the case. Templars' charge reroll is great and their crusader squads are much better suited to dropping in than tactical squads. Likewise Grey Hunters and Blood Claws are great coming out of pods.

 

Deathwatch Vets are still the best troops I think, with a great mix of shooting and melee in a cheap-ish 20 point model (with bolt gun and chainsword). You can give them combi-flamers with SIA for 5 points too. But missing out on devastator squads is definitely a problem.

[Charlo]

I forgot DW can't have devastators. That does reduce what they can do on the turn they drop in. They aren't particularly well placed to do charges, though I guess their chaplains are as good as anyone's. 

 

But they can have four Infernus Heavy Bolters or Frag Cannons in a squad.

 

The former are real heavy hitters now, with the buffs to Damage for the Heavy Bolters and range to Heavy Flamers working in tandem on the drop. 15pts for the pleasure is very nice too. Plus they look friggin' AMAZING.

 

With a maximum penalty of -1 to hit (depite moving or firing both weapons in tandem), its another reason to consider using Dev Doctrine with DW.

 

Frag Cannons are okay, they're basically Plasma without the risk to overcharge OR a decent horde clearer pumping out 8-24 shots of S6 AP-1 (-2 in Dev) D1 shots, with Blast to pump those numbers up.

[Mandragola]

Yeah I agree that the standard deathwatch veteran squad is excellent coming out of a pod. It does a lot of things well, not including killing vehicles. Unfortunately I think this leaves Deathwatch in not a great place for an all-drop-pod list.

 

They have plenty of other tools to deal with vehicles of course, so I'm not saying they aren't a good army in general. Just that others are able to bring more tools in this particular theme.

 

FWIW I'm not totally sold on the infernus - or at least I don't think it's a no-brainer. It's definitely a cool gun. It puts the price of your guys up a lot though, and means they can't also have chainswords. I quite like combi-flamers and chainswords as a load-out, for 25 points instead of 35.

[Charlo]

Yeah I agree that the standard deathwatch veteran squad is excellent coming out of a pod. It does a lot of things well, not including killing vehicles. Unfortunately I think this leaves Deathwatch in not a great place for an all-drop-pod list.

 

They have plenty of other tools to deal with vehicles of course, so I'm not saying they aren't a good army in general. Just that others are able to bring more tools in this particular theme.

 

FWIW I'm not totally sold on the infernus - or at least I don't think it's a no-brainer. It's definitely a cool gun. It puts the price of your guys up a lot though, and means they can't also have chainswords. I quite like combi-flamers and chainswords as a load-out, for 25 points instead of 35.

 

For sure! 

 

Though Deathwatch have the Teleport Strat that can effect Eradicators and buff them with a Kill Team Specialisation, so pick your poison I suppose.

 

I like the comb-flamer idea too, its probably not too far away from the Infernus against hordes.

[TheUnlikelyGamer84]

 

Frag cannons are Assault weapons not heavy

Edited November 2, 2020 by TheUnlikelyGamer84

[Acebaur]

Dreadnought pods are getting the same rule that regular pods have, just limited to carrying a dread with 9 wounds or less. Dropping in an Ironclad sounds delicious!

[TrawlingCleaner]

With the new Deathwatch strat of allowing one unit to gain the Chapter Tactics of another chapter, does that include their super doctrine too? If so, switching to Iron Hands after coming out of pod in Dev would be very tasty

[Mandragola]

With the new Deathwatch strat of allowing one unit to gain the Chapter Tactics of another chapter, does that include their super doctrine too? If so, switching to Iron Hands after coming out of pod in Dev would be very tasty

It doesn't say anything about the super doctrine, so I'm afraid not. The super doctrine is not part of the chapter tactic so there's no reason you'd get it. You obviously wouldn't meet the requirement of having a detachment entirely from that chapter - indeed I don't think even the unit you play the strat on gains that chapter's keyword for the turn.

 

In so far as Deathwatch get a super doctrine at all, it seems to be their ability to swap around the order that you get doctrines. That's potentially useful as it would let you be in tactical or assault doctrine on turn one when you dropped in, if that would be useful... and it could be great for Deathwatch Vets, who have a lot of RF and assault guns.

 

FWIW Deathwatch Vets look like the best troops available to any marine faction if you want to load them into pods or rhinos. But otherwise I think their bonuses are a bit less impressive than what other chapters can do in their area of expertise. Dreadnought pods might actually be one of the few good ways for Deathwatch to bring in heavy weapons, and they'd be especially good with a Chaplain giving +2" charges. But then, the same dread as something like Black Templars would arguably be better. Really, I think the only thing Deathwatch do best is troops.