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SoloFalcon1138 wrote:so if half the army is going to deploy anyway, why waste the points of drop pods, outside of the deathwind tactic...

because if you don't the 1/2 that would have come down would just be a 1/4 of your force.

the drop pods are needed to allow those units to come down.

SoloFalcon1138 wrote:so if half the army is going to deploy anyway, why waste the points of drop pods, outside of the deathwind tactic...

Because you need them to have pods so that the podding half of the army you want deployed first turn can be. It's a trick to get your whole army out on turn one, since the only stuff in reserves are the empty pods you don't really care about.

SoloFalcon1138 wrote:so if half the army is going to deploy anyway, why waste the points of drop pods, outside of the deathwind tactic...

You can also use the empty drop pods to counter the full reserve technique. You send mostly empty pods on turn one and hopefully you full pods will arrive after the enemy has.

Thaylen wrote:

SoloFalcon1138 wrote:so if half the army is going to deploy anyway, why waste the points of drop pods, outside of the deathwind tactic...

You can also use the empty drop pods to counter the full reserve technique. You send mostly empty pods on turn one and hopefully you full pods will arrive after the enemy has.

That would be a fun idea. I have a question do you have to deploy the unit the moment the drop pod lands or could it stay inside for a turn or two?

IHEARTLARGEBLASTTEMPLATES wrote:Wow grey templar! Great reply! you really helped me i love the idea of "circling the wagons" what kind of cover save is that 4+? and the odd number of pods is a good detail. i want and all deep strike force... so i could have termies and other fun stuff! thanks man!

and i am using vanilla dex.

Ya, Grey Templar has got a really good handle on the proper DP tactics for the Vanilla Marines. I would offer one bit of advice and this is about special characters. C:SM pods have a capacity of 12 which means you can add in IC and there are some excellent choices in C:SM for Drop Pod armies.

1. Vulkan, DP depend a lot on melta and flamers so he is an obvious choice and his HF is a nice bonus to the unit he is with.

2. Kantor makes any sternguard you take scoring and his 12in +1 attack bubble can really boost your marines when they get charged after dropping.

3. Lysander in a pod with Sternguard is just amazing with his Bolt Drill SR plus he is a CC beast and he makes your Marines Stubborn so they will be less likely to flee after a round of shooting when they drop in.

Just food for thought but be sure to listen to Grey Templar he hit it the nail on the head.

hmm i do love imperial fists.

IHEARTLARGEBLASTTEMPLATES wrote:

That would be a fun idea. I have a question do you have to deploy the unit the moment the drop pod lands or could it stay inside for a turn or two?

Yes, you have to deploy. The rules say you must disembark as soon as the drop pod lands.

OverwatchCNC wrote:

IHEARTLARGEBLASTTEMPLATES wrote:Wow grey templar! Great reply! you really helped me i love the idea of "circling the wagons" what kind of cover save is that 4+? and the odd number of pods is a good detail. i want and all deep strike force... so i could have termies and other fun stuff! thanks man!

and i am using vanilla dex.

Ya, Grey Templar has got a really good handle on the proper DP tactics for the Vanilla Marines. I would offer one bit of advice and this is about special characters. C:SM pods have a capacity of 12 which means you can add in IC and there are some excellent choices in C:SM for Drop Pod armies.

1. Vulkan, DP depend a lot on melta and flamers so he is an obvious choice and his HF is a nice bonus to the unit he is with.

2. Kantor makes any sternguard you take scoring and his 12in +1 attack bubble can really boost your marines when they get charged after dropping.

3. Lysander in a pod with Sternguard is just amazing with his Bolt Drill SR plus he is a CC beast and he makes your Marines Stubborn so they will be less likely to flee after a round of shooting when they drop in.

Just food for thought but be sure to listen to Grey Templar he hit it the nail on the head.

I like Vulkan and MotF in dread spam melta flamer drop pod alpha strike list (wow )... Sure, you need like 2000pts to make it work that way, but 5 or 6 MM/HF TL dreads on turn one is quite nice
And then tacs with MM heavy weapon (TL 24'' bubble) and flamers to deal with infantry... I like to keep 5 dreads and 1 steinguard (small unit, 6 man, with combi-flamers and combi-meltas), and 3 tacs squads fully equiped... It should even leave you with enough pts for 2 landspeeders with HF/MM...

jeez that sounds like a really fun list!

Sounds awesome... Empty drop pods.... hmmm so basically pay (n-1)2*35pts extra to ensure proper drop poddage on T1

Phototoxin wrote:Sounds awesome... Empty drop pods.... hmmm so basically pay (n-1)2*35pts extra to ensure proper drop poddage on T1

Basically, you get your whole army precisely where you want it on Turn 1. Like I said before, paying a little extra to put some Deathwind Launchers into the otherwise empty pods is just extra icing on the cake, but it could make a difference in the right situation, as it's basically a pin-point accurate artillery strike, with bonus LOS-blocking and objective-contesting afterward.

alanedomain wrote:You can start the game Combat Squad-ed, with half your Marines in a Rhino and half on foot or even in Reserve.

This is not possible. You can put half in a Rhino and half on foot but not half in game and half in reserve. The combat squadding is done when deploying, so both units deploy at the same time.

This also means that the entire squad is in the pod and you can decide to combat squad upon deployment, so when the pod comes down. Both halves will however disembark from the pod.

Shrubs wrote:
This is not possible. You can put half in a Rhino and half on foot but not half in game and half in reserve. The combat squadding is done when deploying, so both units deploy at the same time.

I disagree. Putting a unit in reserves is part of deployment.

I only use two pods in my army ( well spore mines) and i have two small units that inflitrate so dawn of war serninos dont kill me that bad....

Because if you don't spend the points on the extra empty pods then only half your full pods can come down first turn. By paying an extra 35pts per unit that would be deployed normally anyways (like devastators) you get to pod down extra units in your first turn, or you get the flexibility of dropping empty pods the first turn (to block LoS and pop off a few missles) allowing you to keep your troops out of the fight until you know where you will want them.

General_Chaos wrote:

Shrubs wrote:
This is not possible. You can put half in a Rhino and half on foot but not half in game and half in reserve. The combat squadding is done when deploying, so both units deploy at the same time.

I disagree. Putting a unit in reserves is part of deployment.

Putting a unit in reserves is something you do during the deployment phase. When it comes in from reserves is when you actually deploy it, this is also the point at which you can combat squad.

Interesting thread we have going here! (My views will be coming from the wolves)

As far as being concerned with the blind deploy, it is key to remember that you get to choose which units come in when. So, say I have 2 sets of Melta Grey Hunters (Tac Squad), a Logan Bomb (Multimelta long fangs w/ Logan Grimnar), and 2 sets of Wolf Guard w/ Combi-plasma/Combi-melta all in droppods.

Their Turn 1 our opponent deploys in reserves.

Our Turn 1 we deploy 1/2 of our droppods, but are able to really start denying them deployment options for when they come in off of the board edge (Just as valuable as being able to rock their socks with our first drop IMO). I can deploy any 3 of my 5 droppods that I want to ensure that I will be losing minimal effectiveness. Save the big punch until after turn 1 when they will have their tasty expensive units start coming on the board.

Also, one thing that no one has brought up yet, it is almost always more beneficial for you to use turn 2, especially if you are deploying 100% using droppods (You can waste an entire turn of your opponents shooting!!!)

*Edit: Fixed multiple typo's (stupid typing fast at work)*

Definitely pass your turn to your opponent... As he will certainly pass his to you if he's going to reserves...

Big problem though on your turn 2 thinking when opponent reserves.... If he went second, and you spare your units, not only you have alpha strike wasted, but since you have turn 2 first, more pods will drop... I agree, if you go second, not so bad...

I would say it isn't a waste. The way I do my drop pod list is with several medium threats to my opponent and then the big threat.

Having to take the first turn vs a person in reserves isn't a big deal, it still lets you control the battlefield, i.e. (as long as deviation doesn't mess you up too bad) I deploy my medium threats deep into area of the board where the opponent has to come in to. Then you are still controlling where he is going to deploy (he's typically not going to go and hug your marines with meltas/plasma that are saying "Come to us!!!"). Then, when you get a little better of a feel as to what is coming in where you can deploy your big threat(s).

The great thing about pods is you really control the battlefield from the beginning of the game rather than having to move across the board an get into position.

Yes, but you still lose mobility to redeploy later if opponents strategy demands so...

But you should be close enough where it wont really matter how far they move in one turn. Or if you dont have all your pods in just slam one down next to the foe thats running. When you come down you should be close enough to pop most if not all their vehicles with meltas.

This is why Pods need some vehicle support.

even just a couple of landspeeders with MMs could solve the mobility issue by being able to chase down armor.

I made a list with Vulkan, a MotF, and 6 Dropping Ironclad Dreadnought. I'd like to see how it works out. Lots of TL Melta Dropping in should be good.