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I know this involves a can of worms but I hope only a little bit.

I was reading the INAT FAQ the other day and I noticed that they mentioned that the drop pod's doors allow for the movement of both friendly and enemy models over them. But my question revolves around using the the Drop Pods' doors for cover. For Example I deploy out of a drop pod and sprint my combat squad of 5 guys into base contact w/ the doors. Cover rules state that if any part of a model is obscured from the firing models LOS then it gets cover, so would the doors be enough for cover?

I haven't tried the above tactic as it seems kinda dubious (and I usually only use them for dreadnoughts anyhow), but I was wondering if it might be of use when building a DP army when say my opponent declares full reserve in response. The Idea would be to Pod onto objectives and uses the doors for cover.

I think this is a difficult one for a couple of reasons:
1/ As soon as a drop pod has landed the squad inside must exit however the doors are longer than 2" so it is difficult to deploy beyond the range of the doors.
2/The doors do not do anything to limit LOS because they are so thin.
3/You must open all the doors as a drop pod it counted as an open topped vehicle when it lands therefore you must open all of them.
Bottom line if it obstructs LOS then yes if not then no it won't give cover IMHO

The idea would be to spring to alongside a door between them and where the enemy would show up. I would think the door woud cover the feet and maybe legs but I don't have my models w/ me at the moment and may have forgot to figure the height of the base into this strategy. As I said this tactic would be mainly in response to a "Full Reserve" situation. Usually if the enemy is on the board I'll be dropping units to scuttle key units w/ turn one melta fire.

Yeah, drop pod doors are a sticky situation. There's no clear explanation for what to do with them.

As for granting cover, I'd say that they could if they block enough of the model.

There are already plenty of threads with "healthy" debate about the existance of, or visibility through doors (both open and closed) so I won't get into that.

I personally play the doors as existing but not a part of the DP. Meaning that the doors can provide cover to my troops or the enemies if they are placed in such a way that LoS is actually partially blocked, but the doors are not a part of the DP as far as coming within 1" or shooting at the DP etc.

Thanks for your thoughts guys.

I've had the same question/problem. I had BA player DS the DP deep into my lines go get his Furioso across the table ASAP. He kept half of the doors closed so as to block LOS from my FWs. Neither of us were sure that he could legally d o it at the time, so I let it slide. After discussing it amongst our group a few days later, we decided that all DP doors have to be opened. It would be nice if GW would release a ruling though.

Although there's no ruling regarding drop pod doors specifically, there is also no ruling to allow moving part of a model (other than vehicle weapons when shooting).

So, if your friend wants to leave some doors closed he can. However he must choose which ones before he places the model on the table. Furthermore, he cannot rotate it after scattering it.

Scott-S6 wrote:Although there's no ruling regarding drop pod doors specifically, there is also no ruling to allow moving part of a model (other than vehicle weapons when shooting).

So, if your friend wants to leave some doors closed he can. However he must choose which ones before he places the model on the table. Furthermore, he cannot rotate it after scattering it.

Thanks Scott. That seems like a reasonable compromise, I think that's the ruling that we'll use from now on.