Unit Focus: Drop Pods

[PeteySödes]

- WELCOME BACK -

With the release of 9th edition and our shiny new supplement it seems we've good reason and cause for some new discussions relating to our units. Every week we'll feature a new unit available to the 6th with the purpose of discussing the tactics, use, and synergies around them. The Space Wolves are also about legends, sagas and great deeds as well so each week will also kick off or feature a showcase for you bloodclaws and longfangs alike to show off your units and inspire your battle brothers. These discussions will be archived to allow for reference by the new and old as well!

Note, this isn't to overly focus on any nerfs, etc, from previous editions; the rules are as they are so try to unlock its potential for those who wish to use them all the same. Similarly, this thread is only for using the option being discussed; if you feel something is a better choice make your case in a constructive way.

- Week 1 -

- Drop Pods -

How do Space Wolves best use Drop Pods?

• Wargear?
• Which strategems are worth throwing out?
• Any solid unit combos?

What say you fearless Warriors of the Rout? And please post your finished orbital death taxis here!

[PeteySödes]

I think the we’re in a great spot with these having some seriously great units to drop into people. I think the chaplain combos sound great and I think we have the best dreads to drop in turn one (finally, thank you FW).

[BrotherRanik]

I've been noticing a lot of chatter about Blood Claws with Chaplain support coming in through a Drop Pod. With our new Astartes chainsword they become an amazing shock assault unit to land in someone's face. A company champion with them to re-roll charge and you have an affordable unit that can get reliable charges on top of being an absolute danger to almost anything they engage.

[PeteySödes]

Yea 8 claws, with a wolf priest and Lucas would shred for sure. At that point I’d maybe do 2 with 9 and the character in each though.

[Karhedron]

I think we have some of the best units for making use of Drop Pods. Charging Blood Claws are an easy one. As well as auto-chanting Canticle of Hate, we have multiple means of getting rerolls.

 

1. Champion

2. Wulfenstone

3. Ragnar

4. Wulfen

 

The last 2 are a bit harder because they require co-ordination to pull off but I don't think any Chapter has quite as many sources of rerollable charges as we do.

 

Grey Hunters are strong in the mid-field so using Pods and Hunters to take Objectives is pretty handy. Personally I like my Razorbacks but I can see the value of dropping 20 wounds of Grey Hunters with doubled-down special weapons onto an Objective T1. It creates a problem that your opponent cannot easily ignore.

 

Lastly we have our trusty Long Fangs. 5 Multimeltas in a Pod along with an Armorium cherub would be truly brutal. Heck, give the Pack Leader a meltagun for a little extra overkill if you like. Play "Keen Senses" and pop the Cherub and Signum when you land for 8 MM shots hitting on a 3+ and 4 hitting on a 2+, all of which can deploy within 12" of the enemy. Use the Thane stratagem to put Morkai bolts on the LFPL or WGPL to reroll 1s and you have the kind of firepower that bracket a Knight, even through RIS. Anything without an Invuln would basically be toast.

[Gherrick]

I would think having one drop pod contain 5BCs and 5 total longfangs (4 heavies+PL) would be better overall. The BCs can be a screen and engage the nearby enemies that aren't the direct target of the LFs. It's not like folks are gonna want to just ignore a unit of BCs, so they should put some nice pressure on the enemy to pick the form of their destruction :)

[TiguriusX]

I would think having one drop pod contain 5BCs and 5 total longfangs (4 heavies+PL) would be better overall. The BCs can be a screen and engage the nearby enemies that aren't the direct target of the LFs. It's not like folks are gonna want to just ignore a unit of BCs, so they should put some nice pressure on the enemy to pick the form of their destruction :)

You lose the synergy combos by going cheap

 

Captain for rerolls makes the LFs super deadly (especially the BS2 shots)

 

Chaplain and champion make charging blood claws real dangerous (7" rerolling)

 

2nd pod lets you put the above mentioned characters and 5 more BCs on the field

 

IMO the expense is worth the payoff

 

*and the company champion just became 10 points cheaper in the FAQ today

Edited November 9, 2020 by TiguriusX

[TiguriusX]

I just realized the long fang drop pod has another combo.

 

If you are facing a vehicle heavy list you use the recitation of focus instead canticle of hate when the drop pod lands.

 

All 12 multi melta hitting on 2s rerolling...death to flyers too.

 

Might be worth the master of sanctity upgrade to have the choice of 2 litanies now.

 

That upgrade is cheaper now thanks to FAQ.

[Commander_Moustache]

Im also loving the fact that dreadnought drop pods now match normal ones with the deep strike turn 1

[BadgersinHills]

Planning to put some Grey Hunters and Long Fangs in a drop pod, a Chaplain and some company veterans perhaps in another. Grey Hunters will have a flamer, I don't think it's an extreme stroke of military genius but it seems fluffy and useful enough. Ideally the Long Fangs prove a bigger threat than the Chaplain who has a Wulfen stone and the Canticle of Hate who will help usher in the terminators in the next turn. The Grey Hunters and Veterans would ideally clear some chaff.

Edited November 13, 2020 by BadgersinHills

[Bloody Legionnaire]

Glad to see everyone is saying what I've been thinking about the past week. Drop Pod wolves were a main part of my lists from my very first days of playing WH40k, after last edition I'm glad to see they are viable again.

I was initially thinking BCs and Long Fangs but now I'm really thinking about going the dakka route and having Grey Hunters come down with the Long Fangs instead. If using Impulsors with Ragnar and Assault Intercessors in the list as well then the CC will be there fairly quickly. Drop Pod units hold ground and performing blocking duties while the CC guys are on the way.

What do you guys think the appropriate number of Drop Pods is? 

[Karhedron]

The good news IMHO is that unlike in previous editions, you don't a magic number of pods. You decide your strategy and then purchase the appropriate number of pods to suit. If you want to alpha-strike something juicy then a single pod of Long Fangs with multi-meltas is perfectly viable. If you want to go assaulty or contest the midfield, you can build up from there.

 

Long Fangs really need 7 in a Pod (5 heavy weapons, LFPL and WGL). That leaves just 3 slots for characters or a small command squad. The command squad can be a sneaky use of 40 points as you get an infantry squad that can perform actions like deploying scramblers without attracting too much attention. Grey Hunters will mostly want to dig in so a 10-man squad with 2 plasma, plasma pistol on the PL and combi plas on the WGPL is a solid combo. Getting a character with Armour of Russ and reasonably punchy melee weapon into the mix is a good idea if you want the holding force to survive. Allowing the Hunters to strike ahead of whoever charges them is vital. If your opponent is light on counter-charge units, they may suffer more than they expect since Grey Hunters pack just a bit more punch in melee than Tactical marines.

[FabulousRex]

I think 2 is the magic number now. The table is smaller, the pods are easy secondary points, and only Foot Firstborn is a bit limiting.

 

Blood Claws and Long Fangs are pretty popular, but I'm going with a tooled up Grey Hunter squad to go with my melta Blood Claws. Leaving vehicle killing to MM Attack Bikes and Dreadnoughts.

 

Are Grey Hunters always going with Plasma these days?. I've been wondering about the new 12" Flamers out of a pod to focus on screen clearing, with Power Fists still. Would mean that I won't NEED a Wolf Lord nearby to reroll 1s.

[Karhedron]

Are Grey Hunters always going with Plasma these days?. I've been wondering about the new 12" Flamers out of a pod to focus on screen clearing, with Power Fists still. Would mean that I won't NEED a Wolf Lord nearby to reroll 1s.

Tough call. I run plasma because that is how I modelled mine in 5th edition and I never felt like changing them. Flamers are OK if you really want to focus on clearing chaff. The problem with flamers for me is that they just double down on the bolters that Hunters already carry. It doesn't add a new capability to the squad or allow them to effectively threaten anything they could not do before.

 

Chaff clearing is fine but with MEQs now at 2 wounds, bolters won't really threaten other Marine units significantly. 20 Bolter shots will only kill 1 Marine on average. Plasma guns within 12" range will kill 1 Marine each on average assuming you are willing to risk the overcharge. That means adding a couple of PGs will triple the killing power of the squad's shooting vs Marines.

[TiguriusX]

So update on this. I'm having great success with LF and multi melta

 

I run 4 or 5 MM depending on my points available and I give morkai bolts to the pack leader. No wolf guard ever added.

 

4 MM works...5 is insurance for bad dice.

 

The main benefit from this unit is scaring your opponent into playing safe and punishing any over aggressive moves.

 

Keen senses is enough to be effective but the recitation of focus combo puts it over the top.

 

Just stay away from units with wound rules like transhuman!