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Now, something I'm curious about is how does the Guard quickly drop a large force into a battle? I've seen mention of drop pods in some books, but what about if they're bringing some light vehicles too? I'm not talking about baneblades, or anything crazy, but some sentinels and maybe a chimera? I take it those get air dropped in?

Thanks for your time, and any answers you may have.

Fluff:
Each Sky Talon can carry a pair of drop sentinels or a single tauros (not the same as a taurox).

Opinion:
Sky talon's don't seem to be anywhere near the size required to drop a chimera in.

A FW book (Raid on Kastorel-Novem) goes into a lot of detail on drop troopers. I think that the Taros one might give some details on them as well, but probably not as much.

There's some details on the Elysium Drop Troops here, but, as with everything Lexicanum, take things with a pinch of salt.

It's mostly in ships. The IG isn't really the fastest at deployment. They have super large ships that can deploy a whole regiment at once. If you want something different then ships, some ships have a gravity elevator that can lower troops from orbit. (Some times it just drops them though.)

The IN and the IG may prefer Space Ports to deploy nicely. But in Wars you get your stuff where it has to go even if the ride is like a rollercoaster for those involved...
The IoM uses dropships of different sizes ( some got onto to the cover of a IG dex in the background ). Small transports to ferry squads down or whole ships to land regiments at once.
There aren't many pictures and details AFAIK, I have seen just 1 pic of a Heavy lander in 5 IG codices.
I would expect lots of armor plating, guns, and not much comfort for the passengers.

Thanks for the answers everyone, they've been very helpful. I assumed vehicles couldn't get drop podded in, but that would be something, wouldn't it? Just dropping an entire mechanized infantry right behind enemy lines. Of course, that would be very problematic is a tank is lodged inside an apartment complex, and then recovery would be a nightmare...

There's quite the comprehensive little bit about it in Imperial Armor 3, where they're landing Tallarn, Cadians and Elysians. Huge drop ships capable of taking regiments at once.
There commander manages to drop them into the desert, behind enemy lines, without any fighting, and it's considered quite the little victory. The only one of the campaign, actually.

 2BlackJack1 wrote:
Thanks for the answers everyone, they've been very helpful. I assumed vehicles couldn't get drop podded in, but that would be something, wouldn't it? Just dropping an entire mechanized infantry right behind enemy lines. Of course, that would be very problematic is a tank is lodged inside an apartment complex, and then recovery would be a nightmare...

I don't think the IG has any drop-pods. I know there is a sentinel variant that can be deployed by Grav-chute. (Maybe the tauros too?)

I bet if you looked hard enough, you would find an example of someone dropping a take from orbit. I know there is a case for deep striking skimmers.

I've read of books mentioning drop pods with IG, it's either that or my memory is failing terribly right now. Commisar by Andy Hoare had drop pods, as did some Ciaphis Cain novels?

 2BlackJack1 wrote:
I've read of books mentioning drop pods with IG, it's either that or my memory is failing terribly right now. Commisar by Andy Hoare had drop pods, as did some Ciaphis Cain novels?

I don't recall any mention of IG with drop-pods. They are more of a SM thing. I mean why would they go threw all the trouble with Grav-chutes when they could just use drop-pods. On the other hand, if you look, you can find fluff for anything.

I have a feeling that there is some example of dropping tanks from drop pods though. I just can't think of an example.

Seeing that fluff is so flexible, as you said yourself, would it be fluff heresy that I continue on thinking that at least some IG can use drop pods? If not all the time, then when the situation calls for their express need?

I mean, if it's for the Crusade of Fury thread I'm fairly certain we broke the fluff heresy line a LONG while back. I would say it'd be fine though.

 2BlackJack1 wrote:
Seeing that fluff is so flexible, as you said yourself, would it be fluff heresy that I continue on thinking that at least some IG can use drop pods? If not all the time, then when the situation calls for their express need?

Well the fluff police might get you. I mean I have seen nutter ideas then IG in drop pods. I would just strap grav-chutes onto tanks though. That feels better Drop pods are like a SM thing and I like to keep IG and SM separate.

I'm not concerned about getting tanks onto the ground, just infantrymen quickly. I was also curious how light vehicles got down too, but it seems valkyrie-esque looking planes are for that. Sorry for any confusion I may have caused, I could have worded my questions a little bit better.

Flying dumpsters

 2BlackJack1 wrote:
I've read of books mentioning drop pods with IG, it's either that or my memory is failing terribly right now. Commisar by Andy Hoare had drop pods, as did some Ciaphis Cain novels?

I have yet to read commisar but the in "Death or glory", a Cain novel, everyones favorite fearless hero of the Imperium takes a ride in a drop pod to escape death by vaccum. What he's actually boarding though is more of an escape pod which has some diffrences from a drop pod. For one they have a vox set and some food in there, it's also big enough for him to perform physical excersises in and it appears impossible to steer. It does however survive re-entry into the atmosphere so I suppose an inspired Imperial guard commander could launch some forces in theese things in an attempt to Catch the enemy off guard.

In "Fire caste" (an Imperial guard novel I strongly reccomend) a rapid insurgenecy is made by a guard commander as they fly over a ruined city and descend through ropes straight from the flyer. The Sentinels jump down and once a perimiter is secured the flyer lands and the rest of the Company deployes.

It's not really canon for ig to use drop pods but as diverse as the fluff is I can definetly see it happening. The ig is probably the least consistent organization in the galaxy with the lasgun being the only common feature amongs many regiments. I wouldn't be suprised if an advanced developed world manufactured drop pod esc things and they end up using it for the local guard regiments. Also There was that ridicilous piece of fluff where storm troopers launched themselves out of space (in nothing but space suits), survived re-entry and beat the space marines to a fight, winning the war before the astartes could deploy.

The Stormtrooper jumped like that because the AA on the planet surface was too much for the pods and the thunderhawks, but they couldn't track small human signatures, they then disabled the defences and allowed the SM's to drop

The saviour pod - the thing Caine commandeers - is an escape pod, not a marine-style assault drop pod.

The difference is that drop pods are designed to hit as fast as possible and brake as late as possible, to prevent defensive fire stopping them. The saviour pod is, by comparison, slow - that's why the ork fighta-bomma is able to catch it and strafe it almost at leisure. You could use it to land troops but it'd cost you a lot of men because it's neither a hard target nor especially tough.

Guard regiments get dropped in by dropship - big-ass company- and regiment-scale landers, or else by flights of shuttles.

You can grav-chute in, but that's generally done from inside atmosphere by individual troopers and light vehicles like sentinals. Sky talons can deploy sentinals and tauros.

Grav-dropping from orbit was a semi-suicidal tactic the militarum tempestus did once because the planet had ALL the flak batteries such that even drop pods couldn't get through. It's not standard practice.




Guard Dropships:

Lighter - a squad-sized shuttle. Not really used in a combat zone, but if landing troops from a bulk carrier that can't enter atmosphere, expect dozens of lighters to head down to a port from the ship. Carries a squad. Arvus lighters have a model in-game.



Drophsip
Carries a company or so. Armoured and armed enough to 'hot drop' into a combat zone, carried by troop ships and specialised carriers. Devourer and Tetrarch are the two known classes.





Transport ship
Escort-sized transport ships (1km or so) in Battlefleet Gothic were allowed to enter atmosphere and land - rough terrain touchdowns would be a no-no aside from specialised troop ships (seen in the background of the previous guard codex cover) but landing in a spaceport is quite feasible.
Since they're warp-capable, they're the most efficient if you've got a spaceport in your hands at the other end. Certainly, if you're fighting a war where you've got to bring in EVERYTHING - power cells, food, fuel, potentially even air, the logistics requirement of a guard army is immense and sooner or later this is the only way you could sustain a major campaign.

Well, again I have to thank you all. It seems I messed up life pods for drop pods somewhere along the line. I did read most of the Cain novels when I was just getting into 40k, so I can see how I messed up the two. Now I might as well skim through Commisar to make sure I wasn't messed up on that too. It seems I'll end up using the dropship for my plans instead, as I hardly would expect someone to use their life pods in an assault.

Bottom line for me is that there are millions of Guard Regiments in the galaxy. Some of them specialize in some form of rapid deployment from orbit like the Elysians. Of those 'drop troop' regiments there are probably as many specialized techniques as there are planets providing the regiments.

Whether drop they use drop pods, grav chutes, rappell out of hovering transports or use some kind of special assault craft is kind of up to you. Certainly insertion by Valkyrie is canon. Heck, if you want to get esoteric you could even go for teleport insertion (Inquisitorial Stormtroopers do this) or delivery by Hellbore burrowing transport.

If you have the cash or the kitbash/scratch build skills you could build the delivery system. That would be really 'characterful'. Otherwise, standard deep strike rules will cover the bill on the tabletop for teleport, grav chute or non-vehicle or aircraft insertion.

My two cents.

Drop pods have consistently been described in the fluff as being almost exclusively for the Astartes, as you need power armor (and in some cases Marine toughness, though that part is debatable) to survive the shock of the landing. Except possibly for dropping supplies, you're not going to find any IG regiment that employs pods.

This is covered in Commissar briefly. They don't use drop pods, per se, they use something very unpleasant and very similar, but piloted if I remember correctly.
I'll dig it out in the morning if I remember.

But considering that book also has a commissar ignoring all orders, leading a regiment through a prison whilst kicking and swording everything to death, and even I don't particularly like it, I'm not sure if I'd rely on it as a credible source of information.

Redemption Corps has super-Valkyries of some description (four-engines) that can carry Salamanders into battle, but nothing heavier.

Then again, it also has Stormtrooper Snipers using Autocannons instead of sniper rifles, just because, and don't get me started on the other ways it generates hate like an incompetent Black Mage.

Elysians have a kind of drop pod that's attached to a grav chute, but its only for equipment - their troops and vehicles are dropped by Valkyrie and Sky Talon.

A single Drop Sentinel can be loaded into a standard Valkyrie. They have built-in Grav Chutes, so they can just be tossed out the back - kind of like carrying a jeep in a C-130. They can also be carried two at a time by Sky Talons.

Tauros and Tauros Venators can both be carried one at a time by Sky Talons as well. Really, a Tauros Venator is all the firepower you'll reasonably need - it's a battery-powered two-man jeep with a twin-linked lascannon and two Hunter-Killer missiles!

Just another question: is it common that Imperial Guard regiments or companies travel onboard 'regular' Imperial navy ships?


Because according To Imperial Armour 3 the Guard Regiments that deployed on Taros we're carried on both regular naval vessels (cruisers) and specialized transport ships. they way it it described is that the transport ships land directly on the planet, but that seems to inconsistent with the fact that the IG uses special drop craft for deployment.

These use the BETTER HALF, the Imperial Navy to ferry them down with dedicated transports. The types of dropships is all MET-TTC based, and differs depending on what forge world supply's that Battlefleet with.

MET-TTC? What's that when its at home?

Judging from the cover of the Battleforce box, the IN just lands its troop barges straight on the frontline, so that the IG may charge out heroically: D-Day in space!

 Furyou Miko wrote:

Then again, it also has Stormtrooper Snipers using Autocannons instead of sniper rifles,

Sniper with the caliber of an autocannon, not an autocannon.

 Buttery Commissar wrote:
This is covered in Commissar briefly. They don't use drop pods, per se, they use something very unpleasant and very similar, but piloted if I remember correctly.
I'll dig it out in the morning if I remember.

But considering that book also has a commissar ignoring all orders, leading a regiment through a prison whilst kicking and swording everything to death, and even I don't particularly like it, I'm not sure if I'd rely on it as a credible source of information.

I agree that the book was not of a particularly good quality, I just remembered they had something like a drop pod.

Again, thanks for all of the answers, it's nice to have information on this, seeing as how most books briefly (if at all) talk about this.

 Bobthehero wrote:

 Furyou Miko wrote:

Then again, it also has Stormtrooper Snipers using Autocannons instead of sniper rifles,

Sniper with the caliber of an autocannon, not an autocannon.

Whatever, we both know it was really a Barrett Light .50. Or maybe an M-98 Widow depending on what Sanders had been playing recently.

Could be an RT-20, equivalent, it fires 20mm rounds, which wouldn't be far off from modern autocannons (25mm on the LAV's and Bradleys) and according to wikipedia, the minimum calier for an autocannon is 20mm.

I know 40k autocannons are usually meant to be 40mm and up, but reall, it isn't too far off, especially considering the more outlandish stuff 40k has put out in the past.