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Im a player who prefers 'fluffy' armies and being the underdog over 'best list to win' armies and i play Raptors Space Marines. I use four drop pods at the moment and think the current edition really plays against using drop pods in an army, much preferd the previous edition and i dont think the rules portray how drop pods would work in real life. Does anyone else agree? any thoughts? Does anyone else play drop pod lists and know any strategies because i'm currently 0-6 at the moment. Is there any news of a change in rules for drop pods in the next edition?

Cheers

Borneo

There's a difference between "playing fluffy", "win at all costs", "competitive list building" and "playing to lose."

That said, drop pods are awesome and have received nothing but buffs and good things.

The first thing you should try is upgrading the number of drop pods you've got to 5; Drop Pod Assault lets you drop half on the first turn, rounding up, meaning you go from dropping 2, to dropping 3.

The second thing you should try is combat squadding; When you disembark from your pods, combat squad into 2 5-man units, instead of 1 10-man unit. This forces your opponent to focus on twice as many units, and helps grant cover saves.

Finally, drop Sternguard with Comb-melta or combi-plas. They'll really chew through whatever they drop near.

Remember to read over the drop pod rules - they reduce scatter when scattering over impassible or enemy models, are av12 all around, and have a stormbolter (defensive weapon, I believe it can fire on the turn it lands!)

Cheers for the advice chrisrawr....Drop Pod Assault is what im having the problem with. Are you forced to use this rule and must drop half pods on turn one? This is what i play and if i go first my opponent stays in reserve waiting for me to deploy half pods before hes even deployed. Is this rule correct or am i getting screwed over. Ive played around with using storms and scouts to flank from reserve with some success but maybe the dice hasnt been kind to me....ill try combat squadding next time

cheers again for the advice

Yes: you must drop on your turn 1. If your opponent reserves his entire list, it means he's coming in turn 2 on 4+; move up with your entire list, and just kill his lesser forces with your entire force as they come in - you're fighting at a 2-1 ratio now >

When your opponent reserves his list because you're drop-podding, drop pod close to his table edge, in cover. Deploy behind your drop pods (away from his table edge) so that you get cover from true line of sight. If you can, force him to come in from one side of the table in order to avoid your drop pods, and bring the rest of your army to bear on that side of the table, effectively forcing him into a smaller portion of the map, meaning he has to break through somewhere in order to capture objectives or get killpoints.

Once you've forced him to use a certain tactic in order to win, all you have to do is counter that tactice; if he tries to break out with skimmers, kill them with predator autocannons. if he tries to break out through assault, bring some Dreadnoughts to the fore. If he has hordey armies, a whirlwind or thunderfire cannon can be fun. Also, a landraider with some shield-hammer termies in it can be great at punching through defensive lines, and removing a high-value target. These models are expensive and large, but I've found them to be powerful, powerful tools in a variety of armies.

Cheers for all this advice, gunna take it in and try get this win. At the moment all ive got is a: stern with combi meltas; 2 tactical with meltas and missille launcher; assault squad with no packs and plasma pistols; librarian; chaplain. All coming down in drop pods. What would you recommend to go with this? I've also got 2 storms but i dont think worth the points.

Hmm, the problem with tacs is that missile launchers are heavy weapons, and you can't combat-squad them before they go in the pod... maybe keep their pods in reserve, and combat squad them on the table during deployment - have the sergeant and the melta in one group, and the missile launcher in the other; missile launcher in back, rest up from moving up to help flank. I think you really need a predator or two to fill out this list, because you've got a hammer with no anvil to drop on.

yeah i was thinking of bringing in predators but the points bump up the total allowing my opponents to bring in much more, at the moment with just the pods, the opposing armies dont look as daunting and at the moment it seems as though im flirting with victory, when more points are allowed it is more often than not a crushing defeat, but then i might just be unlucky with the dice.

To your original question.
The Drop Pod assault rule is in the codex, so it's unlikely that there will be much of a change to it in 6th edition. This really only changes based upon how reserves and deep striking work.

IMO the worst thing about drop pod assault is that you must use it. I would rather have my army drop pod randomly where they could do something than force half the units to deploy early and unsupported. This gives you only 3 real options;
deploy near your own stuff (thus pointless)
deploy on the ass end of the board (possibly pointless, also more dangerous... unless drop pods can't scatter off)
deploy near the enemy (and die alone)

OPTION 4

MASTER OF THE FORGE.

6 IRONCLAD DREADNOUGHTS IN PODS.
5 TAC MARINES IN PODS.

DROP POD ASSAULT 6 IRONCLADS TURN 1 IN THEIR FACES.

(Option 4 is the hardcore option.)

chrisrawr wrote:There's a difference between "playing fluffy", "win at all costs", "competitive list building" and "playing to lose."

That said, drop pods are awesome and have received nothing but buffs and good things.

The first thing you should try is upgrading the number of drop pods you've got to 5; Drop Pod Assault lets you drop half on the first turn, rounding up, meaning you go from dropping 2, to dropping 3.

The second thing you should try is combat squadding; When you disembark from your pods, combat squad into 2 5-man units, instead of 1 10-man unit. This forces your opponent to focus on twice as many units, and helps grant cover saves.

Finally, drop Sternguard with Comb-melta or combi-plas. They'll really chew through whatever they drop near.

Remember to read over the drop pod rules - they reduce scatter when scattering over impassible or enemy models, are av12 all around, and have a stormbolter (defensive weapon, I believe it can fire on the turn it lands!)

From what I recall, the pods specifically cannot fire their weapon the turn it arrives.

My space wolves list (when I finally get the money / time) is going to be 11+ pods, 3+ dreads, Melta everywhere... so 6 pods drop turn 1, spilling out dreads / troops / meltafangs as needed, the remaing 5 pods either have troops for later-game objective holding, or are empty 'cos things deployed at the start, and because the list is mostly about the pods - as many of them as possible will have the missile upgrade for happy template fun time.

My recommendation would be 5 sternguard plus drop pod or 10 devastators with drop pod. You want to drop your devastators in the first turn and try to position them with good fields of fire. Combat squad and that will give you the ability to target two units. Remember the sergent gives you 1 with a BS of 5 so multi-melta or pricey lascannon. The MM is good but it also brings you up close and personal. Sternguard can take two heavy weapons at a discount so they are a good option.

Finally you are going to be up close with tac squads so you need something to answer him in HTH. Assault squads with chaplains, terminators (either kind), or vanguard vets can blunt any CC. If you go with vanguard vets, don't go nuts on outfitting as AC 3 still means they will die. PW and maybe 1 PF. Another shorter ranged option would be a captain with a command squad in yet another drop pod.

I have a friend who played a 6 drop pod army of 6 tacticals, marneus and honor guard. It always takes horrendous casualties but it is quite competitive.