New Drop Pod

[Northern Walker]

I think the pods need to be assault vehicles, otherwise what's the point? It's got to be on theme for the angels of death.

[Deus_Ex_Machina]

On 4/18/2025 at 11:57 PM, Inquisitor_Lensoven said:

I mean conceptually you could get the same effect by just having a drop pod stratagem for like 2CP

 

As for looks they look the part but beyond that I don’t see it lol.

In 3rd 40K there were no Drop Pod models although your SM could still be deployed in such a way. 

[Karhedron]

2 hours ago, ChapterMasterGodfrey said:

Just throwing the idea out there that I think it would be cool if the Drop pod could land in engagement range of enemy, dealing mortals as it does so and the embarked unit set up in engagemnt range like the Sanguinor does.

 

My concern then would be that it would be too good. Remember the early days of 8th edition when the alpha strike was everything? Yes having a steel rain of drop pods would be very cool but if you combine it with something like Blood Angels who get bonuses on the charge, it becomes seriously scary. Melee is generally more powerful than shooting for the important reason that it is harder to pull off.

 

If you give melee Marines a reliable way to get into combat on Turn 1 or 2 that avoids enemy shooting then it will be game over for a lot of factions. Armies will be divided into 2 groups, those who can pull off Drop Podding like this those who have to rely on ablative screens of bubble-wrap trying to hold on long enough to score before the Marines cut through the screening like a buzz-saw.

[Nephaston]

Ooof ouch

 

I guess while they are a lesser model, they will end up being the better game piece.

Edited Thursday at 07:28 PM by Nephaston

[HeadlessCross]

3 hours ago, Blindhamster said:

Honestly, I think this would be good. With the caveat I'd say the unit inside can shoot OR charge, but not both.

None of it is a good idea. "Use your points to throw out mortal wounds" is not a good mechanic for a transport. 

[Crimson Longinus]

It's not a terrible model, but I don't ever remember a new GW model being such an obvious downgrade to the older one. I have two of the old pods, and it seems unlikely that I'd need more. I just hope that the new rules are written so that the old pods having significantly different footprint than then new one isn't an issue. 

[Blindhamster]

56 minutes ago, HeadlessCross said:

None of it is a good idea. "Use your points to throw out mortal wounds" is not a good mechanic for a transport. 

I used to love using drop pods in Dawn of War 2, precisely to slam them into an enemy then come out charging. So i respectfully disagree. It's not really a transport to be frank. its a purchased scenery piece that that enables you to deep strike a unit within its footprint. It doesn't move so calling it a transport is rich (Im aware thats what it says on the sheet)

[DemonGSides]

2 minutes ago, Blindhamster said:

I used to love using drop pods in Dawn of War 2, precisely to slam them into an enemy then come out charging. So i respectfully disagree. It's not really a transport to be frank. its a purchased scenery piece that that enables you to deep strike a unit within its footprint. It doesn't move so calling it a transport is rich (Im aware thats what it says on the sheet)

 

I mean, it's a transport, it just doesn't keep moving after it's initial movement.  You're both talking past each other anyways; what's fun in an RTS video game isn't as fun in a 3 hour tabletop game.

 

Conceptually the idea of using it offensively sounds fun, but in actual game mechanics that doesn't just make have's and have-nots, it's not a great look.

I'd rather it still drop out of 9, but let's the squad set up outside of 6".  Powerful without being broken, still at the mercy of SOME sort of random chance.

[Ayatollah_of_Rock_n_Rolla]

2 hours ago, Nephaston said:

Ooof ouch

 

I guess while they are a lesser model, they will end up being the better game piece.

 

Do I understand right that not only the bottom of the kit is hollow, but also the engine part? I don't see any part to plug it, i.e. you can see that it's hollow in the finished kit? That would be hilarious.

[MoriyaSchism]

2 hours ago, Nephaston said:

Ooof ouch

 

I guess while they are a lesser model, they will end up being the better game piece.

That's worse than I imagined. Amazing how it's worse in every regard even down to the way spure space is used. The way they added random rocks while parts of the door are cut in half is just so good. The old one was a three sprue set, but one of the frames was a duplicate door frame. I love the Pac-man shaped sprue circle around the hollow engine part. That's just really funny. 

Edited Thursday at 10:20 PM by MoriyaSchism

[Ayatollah_of_Rock_n_Rolla]

2 hours ago, Crimson Longinus said:

I don't ever remember a new GW model being such an obvious downgrade to the older one.  

 

I mean...

 

 

 

[Hfran Morkai]

Oh man that's rough.

 

 

[de Selby]

The way the underside of the topper/engine part isn't modelled reminds me of fhe way the underside of the Rogal Dorn tank is missing.

"The model is obviously incomplete from this angle."

"Well, don't look at it from that angle."

 

I was looking forward to a primaris drop pod but the only thing this has going for it is the price.

[Sir Clausel]

I honestly dont mind this. Except for the pain of storeing it real bad when it cant be closed. The old ones are already hard to store and transport efficiently

Edited yesterday at 05:53 AM by Sir Clausel

[Antarius]

I have plenty of the old drop pods, so I'm definitely not going to be getting these and I'm usually a stickler for the old school marines over the new ones. But I think the idea that these are worse than the old kit is a bit silly, honestly. I mean, the old one is not exactly highly detailed. Don't get me wrong, it's a cool model, but it's mostly flat panels at different angles. It's also not a model with a lot of customisability or posing options, so I don't think any loss of those would bother me at all, if I were to get the new ones.

Finally, the old kit was an absolute  to put together (it's one of the very few models I haven't enjoyed assembling) and more often than not, people would end up assembling them with all sorts of gaps and mouldlines in hard-to-get-to places, which frankly looks much worse than any supposed "downgrade" this kit brings in the details department. I think making it into a more ETB-style kit is a good call, mostly for this reason. Also, I guess it's cheaper too (but of course, you'll have to buy two).

tl;dr - I'll be happy to exchange my old pods for new ones, if you want to trade.

[ChapterMasterGodfrey]

10 hours ago, Ayatollah_of_Rock_n_Rolla said:

As a devout Son of Sanguinius I already knew this.. But seeing it visualised is heartbreaking.

Edited 21 hours ago by ChapterMasterGodfrey

[roryokane]

2 hours ago, ChapterMasterGodfrey said:

As a devout Son of Sanguinius I already knew this.. But seeing it visualised is heartbreaking.

I'm starting to see WHY Horus turned if the Emperor was half as bad as GW is currently with its "range refreshing" (culling of options).

 

As to the drop pod being incomplete... looks like GW is basically just going to try to sell us incomplete models now if they can get away with it? Was the Rogal Dorn tank a test run?

Edited 19 hours ago by roryokane

[Evil Eye]

That is atrocious. If this were an ETB alt-version for a starter box I could forgive it, but the new "definitive" drop pod being an objective aesthetic downgrade in basically every way from a kit released in the 2000s is inexcusable.

[Joe]

I feel like I'm the only one who spotted how easy the new kit is going to be to magnetise and break down for travel. That's not actually awful in of itself.

 

On the other hand, the older kit will at least live on in Heresy - at least until they shift the resin drop pods into plastic.

[Ayatollah_of_Rock_n_Rolla]

16 minutes ago, roryokane said:

I'm starting to see WHY Horus turned if the Emperor was half as bad as GW is currently with its "range refreshing" (culling of options).

 

As to the drop pod being incomplete... looks like GW is basically just going to try to sell us incomplete models now if they can get away with it? Was the Rogal Dorn tank a test run?

 

To their credit,  the recent Eldar release was very good.

 

I'm not sure if we should expect more and more kits to follow the examples of Invader ATV, Dorn or the new pods. I would expect few kits sprinkeld here and there. To an extent, there already has been an issue with marine tanks having hollow sides, so if you looked at a Rhino chassis even slightly form downside you could easily see the insides (currently more problematic with the new HH tanks, which have threads all around).

 

[Robbienw]

Incredibly lame, old drop pod kit is objectively superior

[HeadlessCross]

2 hours ago, Robbienw said:

Incredibly lame, old drop pod kit is objectively superior

Objectively superior in what sense?

[Blindhamster]

I'd say... 

Old kit was objectively more complete

Old kit was objectively more dynamic (due to doors that moved)

 

However...

 

Old kit was annoying to make, and a real problem for many people (I personally only ever bought one, and that was enough, it just wasn't an enjoyable kit to make).

 

New kit is... simpler to build I guess

 

Kind of about all there is to it. 

 

Wonder what the rules will be like.

[Robbienw]

18 minutes ago, HeadlessCross said:

Objectively superior in what sense?

 

Better kit, more detailing, full pod model.  Obviously.

[Galron]

While I have effectively canned my attempts to make drop pods work in 40k and have transferred all my remaining 40k drop pods back over to my 30k Night Lords where they started back in 5th edition, this still would be a kick in the nuts. All of mine are glued shut. I have never understood the hate of putting the old ones together. What annoys me a little more is how expensive these are, $40 for a 35 point model, yes 30k points because I could almost not give a crap about 40k at this point and hope 11th makes it more interesting.