Marines in Drop Pods – is it possible?

[Maggotlord]

Hi all,

 

a friend of mine told me that a Drop Pod is not a dedicated transport option for Marines. I do not have a rulebook, therefore I´m unable to check wether that´s true or not.

So, can someone please explain if you can use a Drop Pod for Marines. Is it even possible to run a "Drop–Pod–Rush"?

 

Thanks in advance

[MARK0SIAN]

Marines can’t take a drop pod as standard. Only Legion Veteran squads have the option to take them as a standard dedicated transport. 
 

However, you can use the Drop Pod Assault Rite of War which allows any unit that can normally take a rhino (marines) to take a drop pod instead. This is specifically designed to allow a drop pod rush but, like all rites, comes with some restrictions which you may decide aren’t worth it.

 

EDIT- To clarify, when I say Marines, I’m assuming you’re talking about tactical marines, not just marines in general :)

Edited September 3, 2022 by MARK0SIAN

[Xenith]

On 9/3/2022 at 8:23 AM, Maggotlord said:

I do not have a rulebook, therefore I´m unable to check wether that´s true or not.

What units can take a drop pod is the least of your worries - without the book you won't be able to build an army at all! I'd make this priority #1 to be honest. Dedicated transports, among other things, aren't intuitive, and battlescribe will no way be able to handle the potential complexity of the list. You'll need to wrap your head round the book first before going near BS. 

[Mandragola]

This is pretty clear when you have the rule book - specifically the one for either the loyal or traitor legions. 

You can’t play the game without the books. Battlescribe isn’t enough even when it’s correct, which does happen occasionally.

In 30k the shape of your army is governed by Rites of War. They come with benefits but also restrictions. The drop pod assault rite lets you use pods but with the restriction that you have to drop pod almost everything. Other than that pods are very rare. 

[Gorgoff]

And I may add that you don't have to take Rite of War at all.

[Claws and Effect]

On 9/5/2022 at 7:48 AM, Xenith said:

What units can take a drop pod is the least of your worries - without the book you won't be able to build an army at all! I'd make this priority #1 to be honest. Dedicated transports, among other things, aren't intuitive, and battlescribe will no way be able to handle the potential complexity of the list. You'll need to wrap your head round the book first before going near BS. 

Seconding this. 

I love Battlescribe for the ease of list building, but it is currently being updated by basically 1 guy doing it in his spare time with a little help from a few people. I've already found at least a dozen things in unit entries that are just plain wrong. My Veteran squads can trade in their bolter and bolt pistol for Ravens Talons for free? That would be awesome, but it is wrong. And my Deliverers paying 20 points for Ravens Talons is wrong as well. They calculated it based on the cost of upgrading regular lightning claws into them, and regular claws aren't even an option. 

That's just 2 examples from a single Legion. There are tons more. It is going to be months before Battlescribe is remotely usable without having the books on hand to cross reference. 

[The Scorpion]

On 9/3/2022 at 10:10 AM, MARK0SIAN said:

Marines can’t take a drop pod as standard. Only Legion Veteran squads have the option to take them as a standard dedicated transport. 
 

However, you can use the Drop Pod Assault Rite of War which allows any unit that can normally take a rhino (marines) to take a drop pod instead. This is specifically designed to allow a drop pod rush but, like all rites, comes with some restrictions which you may decide aren’t worth it.

 

EDIT- To clarify, when I say Marines, I’m assuming you’re talking about tactical marines, not just marines in general :)

If one takes Pride of the Legion, is it possible to field a full drop pod list?

Dreadclaws for terminators, Kharibdyss for anything bigger than that.

[MARK0SIAN]

On 9/10/2022 at 7:20 PM, The Scorpion said:

If one takes Pride of the Legion, is it possible to field a full drop pod list?

Dreadclaws for terminators, Kharibdyss for anything bigger than that.

You could technically do that yeah but the cost of the various dreadclaws or assault claws that would be required for anything other than a veteran squad would add up pretty quick. Plus the kharibdyss is a heavy support choice and pride of the legion limits you to one HS choice, you’d be using that one choice on the claw. 

You could probably pull off something with just veterans in drop pods, terminators in dreadclaws and a leviathan and some contemptors in Dreadnought drop pods, though it would probably be more effective if you could find a way to give the terminators deep strike on their own like the warmonger consul or something legion specific. Even then, I think you’d be sacrificing a lot to run it this way, even though dreads are very good. 

[Slips]

If you want to "Deep strike ALL infantry with impunity" just look at the Hammerfall Strikeforce for IF since its been made actually playable in 2.0