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So I was reading someones article today on a pod army and he said he glued his pods to deny los to his dred . I think this is a load of crap and cheesy as heck. Legal or not?

Depending on the terrain, you may not be able to open the doors all the way anyhow, so it seems like a pointless argument. It always irritated me that GW makes vehicle kits with moving parts. Too fragile.

Im not sure if that's actually against the rules, but at the very least its somewhat mean spirited

I glued my doors shut, not for any tactical advantage i just couldn't be bothered to paint the inside of it. The rules neither conform or allow opening the doors or gluing them shut so I suppose it's down to your preference.

This came up recently. I'm converting the marine drop pods into Dreadclaw drop pods for a Slaanesh counts-as BA army, and they're closed. Are they just considered open all the time, glued shut or not in the same way that turrets have 360 degree arcs of fire, whether or not they're free to spin or glued in place accidentally?

I wouldn't mind a consistent "yes they count as completely open and can be seen through" ruling. I'm building mine to stick to chaos fluff, not necessarily to block LOS to my dreadnoughts. That'll just be an occasional bonus.

I wouldn't have a problem saying they count as open at all, but saying they block LOS doesn't seem right.

Doctor Khorne wrote:I wouldn't have a problem saying they count as open at all, but saying they block LOS doesn't seem right.

Right, they don't block line of sight, they just have less of a chance of breaking through frequent handling.

But 40k is "true line of sight", "model's eye view" so you can't do "this doesn't block LoS" without removing the model all the time to check.

If the doors are "up" then they block Los. A to may require you to pretend they were open, as it can be considered modelling for advantage.

But if the doors are up the drop pod can't shoot. Not much of a negative but still...

If the doors are glued shut then the contents cannot get out... seems fair if he's doing it to be a dickens without the -ens!

By TLOS rules, yes. However, it you try to claim that than I can just as easily call you out on modelling for advantage.

It is definitely mean spirited, and if used in a casual game would ensure I would never play the person pulling it again.

Phototoxin wrote:If the doors are glued shut then the contents cannot get out... seems fair if he's doing it to be a dickens without the -ens!

Just like people have to not glue the hatches on Rhinos, WaveSerpents and Valkyries shut, right? 'Coz the contents cannot get out if they are, right?

Glued doors means it will block LoS. The contents do not require the doors to open in order to get out. The gun on the inside does require them to be open in order to shoot though. There's an upside and a downside.

Modelling to advantage as stated before.

That is like saying since wings don't count, if I modelled a daemon prince surrounded in his own wings, you could not draw to LoS either.

If you can use TLOS to shoot through the parts of a model, just treat the glued doors the same way. I would discuss it before starting though. Also, if I shoot through something that way, does it get a cover save? Sure seems like it should.

Homer

We just play them as opened in our group. No problems after that. I understand that 40k is a rather complex game and sure, they wont get EVERYTHING on the first go, but somethings just kindda stick out like a sore thumb. Hmmmm I know the droppod is a rather LARGE vehicle to drop down on the table, so lets just ignore the fact that it can either be open or completely block LOS to the unit behind it

-Edited by insaniak- does peoples don’t understand that this game is about having fun? It’s not about "how to play with the system to gain a bit here and there to WIN WIN WIN".
if I ever came across with a gamer who will try to claim this I will definitely wont play with him any more, nor anyone form our play group, and this is the best tactic to eliminate idiots like that.

My point is, even if might be legally for point of view of rules (lack of FAQ etcetera.) it’s NOT legal in the terms of sportsmanship. -Edited by insaniak-.

- How about we not sink to insulting people just because they play with their toy soldiers differently to you? - insaniak

I would say it is legal, a little unsporting, but legal nonetheless. There is nothing that says the doors have to be down, so they can be up.

LOS works both ways, so the owner and his opponent both cannot shoot through the pod, including the pods guns. That seems a little more indicative of a disadvantage for the person dropping the pod, not the opponent IMO.

-cgmckenzie

Where in the rules does it state that the pod doors must open or even be able to open? No other transport has this requirement. I don't see how its abusive at all, especially considering how fiddly the doors are and transporting them. LoS through the pods is also often exaggerated, most of the time people think they can see through pods they can't actually see squat.

Well, since GW is now treating fluff as rules, the description does say the doors blast open upon landing....

As for doors on other vehicles, it's irrelevant as the hull still blocks LOS, even with the doors open.

More incentive to remove TLOS from the game, imo. TLOS is terrible for table-top games anyway. Too many arguments and gives people huge incentives to asshats.

With the way the innards of the pod are filled, you can't see infantry past a pod anyway, and half the time, dreadnaughts will be out of view too with open doors as well.

I don't see how one can claim modeling for an advantage when one builds the kit in a manner completely within the instructions and with no conversions. Complain all you want, but if you can't deal with obstacles, you should probably just play a game without vehicles entirely.

This discussion has clarified in my mind what is wrong with the tournament mindset. This doesn't apply to all tournament gamers, but enough that it is what turns me off. There are an extremely vocal minority of players who want to win at all costs, and despite their own constant attempts to fudge and twist and otherwise gain every little weasely advantage they can, they are also quick to point out anybody else whom they catch doing the same thing. Glue the doors shut on the damn drop pod but agree that they count as open for line of sight in the damn game and get over yourselves already.

warpcrafter wrote:This discussion has clarified in my mind what is wrong with the tournament mindset. This doesn't apply to all tournament gamers, but enough that it is what turns me off. There are an extremely vocal minority of players who want to win at all costs, and despite their own constant attempts to fudge and twist and otherwise gain every little weasely advantage they can, they are also quick to point out anybody else whom they catch doing the same thing. Glue the doors shut on the damn drop pod but agree that they count as open for line of sight in the damn game and get over yourselves already.

I disagree that this is even a tournament mindset. This is a douche mindset. Given how players in good tournament games behave, this sort of thing rarely comes up because the game itself imposes a ruling as quickly as humanly possible. In my experience, this is what you get when casual players try to be cutthroat, because they don't know what superior play looks like.

From lots of tourney experience, this is NOT a tournament mindset as GreyHamster says.

Who is to say that the doors can't shut after the contents spill out? I don't play drop pods, so this isn't coming from a WAAC mindset as some would try and insinuate. After disembarking from a landraider or rhino, do the hatches/doors need to remain open for the rest of the game? Do they need to ever open in the first place?

Having the pod doors closed sounds like an advantage for the drop pod player at first but really, the line of sight is blocked both ways. If the drop pod player is deploying behind the pod, in relation to his opponent, because he wants to shield assault troops, those troops, still have to spend extra movement moving around the pod in their next turn, probably leaving them open to a turn of shooting just like if the doors were open or they deployed to the front. So that is a wash.

There is a definite negative for the pod player who leaves the doors shut, because he can't fire the storm bolter or deathwind launcher.

I don't really see the problem here. People use vehicles to block line of sight or provide cover all the time.

My take for making the doors counts as open. Upon landing the doors blast open so the troops can disembark. The vehicle counts as immobilized from then on.

Immobilized - The vehicle aint moving.....not even the doors. If I was TOing or making the call, that would be my blockheaded reasoning - Edited by insaniak - I can't believe people try to bring this up as an advantage.

I've play against a friend who uses drop pod armies. The doors being down presents its own disadvantage insomuch as you can't move your models within an inch of an opponents vehicle unless you're assaulting. Let me tell you 6 giant stars in the middle of your table is hugely annoying.

-MightyG


- How about we not sink to insulting people just because they play with their toy soldiers differently to you? - insaniak

Not opening the doors is legal.

It can be seen as unsporting, but it is within the rules.

MightyGodzilla wrote:I've play against a friend who uses drop pod armies. The doors being down presents its own disadvantage insomuch as you can't move your models within an inch of an opponents vehicle unless you're assaulting. Let me tell you 6 giant stars in the middle of your table is hugely annoying. -MightyG

As for the 6 giant stars, the doors should be ignored for movement purposes, since doors are not considered hull. To play it that way makes it really tough to move on the gameboard, since no one can stand on the doors that are open.

So they are not as big as you might think.

Does anyone really encounter this that much? In all honesty? If you glue the doors shut the pod can still fire, and you can't see thre dread behind it. Modeling to the advantage? Perhaps. Or perhaps the owner of the drop pod was simply trying to make sure the fragile moving doors didnt break off. I think its interesting that we assumed that all the people who did this did so to be mean spirited dicks.

If it was really a game changing issue, meaning the very course of the game would be changed by me not being able to fire at the dreadnought, i'd call over a TO and get a ruling. If it were a casual game? Hell, there are more contentious points than this.

Then again, I don't run into drop pod armies that often.

As far as I am concerned, we should just model all drop pods without doors. No fussing with brittle parts, no fussing about TLOS.