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Greetings all, good to have found this forum. I am getting back into the game after a roughly 20-year haitus, and have put together a nice starting Dark Angels army (with Space Marines Codex). My challenge now is rounding out my collection with a couple transports. I have a LRC, but would like one or two drop pods and/or rhinos. In looking at the way the game is played now with holding strategic locations via objectives, it seems to me that having a drop pod deliver scoring units to objecticves would be preferrable to having a rhino drive around at hazard. My question is then, why would I rather select a rhino over a drop pod as a more well-rounded transport, when a drop pod seems more strategically advantageous? I am sure I am missing something in my neophyte assessment, and I realize answers will be largely, 'it depends' but I am interested in experienced players thoughts.

Thanks in advance for any insights.

Sometimes the Rhino is a better choice, sometimes the Droppod is better, it really depends on the list.

With that said, since I see you live in the US, it is never worth buying a Rhino, always buy the Razorback kit. It gets you a Rhino and the Razorback sprue, which to buy from a bits seller would cost you just under $20.

Drop pods precisely place a unit where you want it to be, at a time not of your choosing (well, half the time on that last point), and offer static cover.

Rhinos facilitate placing a unit where you want it to be, at a time of your choosing, and offer immunity to small arms fire for the squad inside of it, and mobile cover.

Neither one is strictly better than the other - they do two similar but ultimately different things.

Jokorey wrote:Drop pods precisely place a unit where you want it to be, at a time not of your choosing (well, half the time on that last point), and offer static cover.

Rhinos facilitate placing a unit where you want it to be, at a time of your choosing, and offer immunity to small arms fire for the squad inside of it, and mobile cover.

Neither one is strictly better than the other - they do two similar but ultimately different things.

I'd second that, it all depends on what you want out of your army, do you want to drop death on your enemy (thats what my space wolves do) or sort of 'already on the ground' and and on footsloggers campaign

Greetings Mephisto, welcome to the forums!

And you're right - it does depend. Each have their advantages & disadvantages.

Drop pods are a fantastic delivery system. In my area, most times they are used to deliver multi-melta Dreadnoughts into enemy deployment areas. It solves the problem of them having to slog across the board through enemy fire. Also, Sternguard are a favorite, as again, they can be delivered into deployment zones, or against a non-supported unit, like a dev squad or something similar. The drawback being that once they disembark, they are now on foot (as they cannot re-embark into the drop pod, and even if they could, the drop pod is immobile) & their maneuverability is substantially decreased (depends on the enemy you are fighting and what their composition is as to how big a drawback that is). And if you're using the SM codex, half of your drop pods have to be delivered turn one. If all you have is a tactical squad & are planning to hold an objective w/ them, 5-6 turns is usually enough to push them off the objective or destroy the unit all together. However, running multiple drop pods can mitigate this to a degree.

Rhino's on the other hand, are mobile throughout the game - provided they haven't been destroyed/immobilized. Also, if a unit disembarks, the rhino can then be used to rescue a stranded unit (maybe their rhino got destroyed for example), or if the unit that started the game in it has completed it's task after disembarking (pushed an enemy off it's objective for example) it can now re-embark into the rhino & hold their position in the rhino, giving them a measure of protection vs. anti-infantry weaponry, or they can be relocated to give aid to a unit in danger of being assaulted or otherwise compromised. And believe it or not, rhino's are actually quite sturdy & reliable, they have smoke launchers as standard equipment now, so can be used to rush up, pop smoke & (usually) survive long enough to disgorge their cargo into enemy lines. However, if you're facing an army w/ plenty of heavy weaponry (Space Wolves dev squads, or IG) there's usually enough firepower around to pop one or two in the first couple turns. But, at that point you're no worse off than if you had that unit deployed in the drop pod, provided the rhino didn't explode & kill half the embarked unit, lol.

Most people I know that run drop pods usually do so in tandem w/ rhino's, to maximize maneuverability and first turn shock attack value.

~Vryce

*edit - ninja'd!

Excellent suggestions and examples of situations where one is good or the other is good. Just what I was looking for. Much appreciated all! @Catyrpelius - thanks for the suggestion on buying the razorback.