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My son has been using a drop podding sternguard unit as a suicide squad in a few games and it seems effective for what he intends it to do.

He has been fielding the minimum sgt. + four sternguard and gives two h. flamers and the sgt. a c. flamer. There pod has deathwind launcher (205pt. investment total).

In many missions an opponent will have an objective back in their deployment zone or table half being guarded by a babysitting squad such as a grot mob, etc.

He has been dropping the pod right on them: the pod's inertial guidance system moves you just off if you hit and even if you scatter you move 6" out of the pod when you deploy from it and then hit them with multiple templates and hellfire rounds.

It has been taking huge chunks out of said units, even breaking them in some instances, and on one occassion he wiped a small grot mob and got firstblood award to boot.

Result being you can cause enemy to not control the objective and so now they have to think about sending something back to retake it instead of pushing toward your main force. If they anticipate this and keep oher squads back to counter it, that is other squads not pressing the attack elsewhere, etc.

It also allows you as a byproduct to get into their zone with a unit to boot for pusposes of linebreaker.

Even if this initial attack doesnt eliminate the unit holding the backfield objective it usually severely reduces it which is still valuable as it means you have less work to do later in the game with other units to clear/eliminate it rather then gambling that you can take the whole thing out late game when the clock is ticking against you.

One tactic he has been considering is joining a librarian to them with "The Avenger" (another template attack) and "The gate of infinity". Now they can drop and cause carnage as above then in the next turn gate away (leaving pod with deathwind near objective to attack any enemy squad that wants to reclaim it and forcing them to deal with it with something that can take out AV12) as needed to play a little cat and mouse with opponent.

Anyone tried this? Thoughts?

Fairly common tactic that can be boosted by taking Vulkan or Pedro (or both). Increase to full squad with some combi-meltas or combi-plasmas for xtra punch.

With 6" disembark move Drop Pods have become ridiculously easy to use and very effective for their cost.
Even with scattering directly away from your target and getting a 10 you are still in melta range and effective enough flamer range.
I hate Drop Pods more than anything in this edition so far.

I have a friend who uses a very similar tactic, although he does not use the deathwind missile launcher since you can't fire it the turn you come on. He will also give the remaining squad-members combi-plasma in case he needs to eliminate some TEQ.

It's very effective, although he always takes more than the single drop pod so he can elect to have the sternguard arrive on turn 2 or later. That way, if the enemy has transports, he can hit the units that have been forcibly disembarked. It's proven incredibly effective, albeit overkill in our meta as MSU is prevalent. Against Green Tide, or my own Sliscus blob though, it really shows its efficiency by throwing down a hideous number of wounds.

Its a pretty good tactic, but can be countered if the enemy positions correctly, also that unit is rather expensive so can be a waste of points if not used right.

However, like you said, it can be freaking awesome if done right and with a little luck.

I've been proxying a Pedro / Sternguard Drop Pod army and have found it to be very effective, though I'm dropping three 10 man squads on round one instead of the single. They lay down a withering hail of fire, can combat squad as needed, and being veterans, can hold their own in any assaults the next round with a combination of over-watch fire with specialty ammo and 2 base attacks. Pedro also makes them scoring, which is very nice, just make sure to give his squad a sgt with a power sword for challenges (haven't had it happen yet, but I like insurance) so Pedro won't get dropped before his I1 rolls around (plus he'll splatter more of the enemy with the fist for greater chance to win combat).

 Instinctual wrote:
I've been proxying a Pedro / Sternguard Drop Pod army and have found it to be very effective, though I'm dropping three 10 man squads on round one instead of the single. They lay down a withering hail of fire, can combat squad as needed, and being veterans, can hold their own in any assaults the next round with a combination of over-watch fire with specialty ammo and 2 base attacks. Pedro also makes them scoring, which is very nice, just make sure to give his squad a sgt with a power sword for challenges (haven't had it happen yet, but I like insurance) so Pedro won't get dropped before his I1 rolls around (plus he'll splatter more of the enemy with the fist for greater chance to win combat).

That build sounds fun.

Yeah, its a Blast. Here is the list as I'm currently running it:

HQ (175pts)

Pedro Kantor

Elites (990pts)

(3x) 10 man Sternguard Squads
3x combi-meltas, 2x combi-plasma, Sgt w/ combi-wep (variable) and power weapon, Drop Pod
Troops (325pts)

(1x) Scout Squad
3x sniper, Missile, Sgt with sniper

(1x) 10 Man Tac Squd
1x melta, 1x MM, Sgt with Power Weapon, Drop Pod

Fast Attack (120pts)

(1x) 5 Man Assault Squad
no upgrades, Drop Pod

Heavy Support (270pts)

(2x) Thunderfire Cannons
Drop Pods

Fortifications (125pts)

Bastion
4 Hvy Bolters, 1 Quad Gun


4 pods on round 1 (3 sterns and tac) scouts on bastion roof with quad, assault squad on bastion guns, drop pods on cannons just drive up pod numbers so you get 4 first round. You can also downgrade bastion to an ADL to get more combi weps on the sterns, and can swap out stern load-outs to fit your opponent if not in a tournament.

My brother has been doing this trick for years. But now with Wall of Death, he has switched to the combi flamers to stick it in the face of any would be attackers. I love the Sternguard, those guys can kill anything

In regards to his pod placement, I don't think it moves off of the unit if you roll a direct hit, I'm pretty sure that it mishaps.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/458270.page#4465099

Is one of the threads discussing it. There are probably more in depth ones about. Its not too large of a change (especially with the 6" disembark), but it is a change.

And it sounds like not a bad idea, especially against orks

You have to be very careful, against a full mech list this thing could come down and only kill one vehicle before getting swept off the board. Dont make it too killy or you will just end up killing that one vehicle 5 times over.

 Instinctual wrote:
Yeah, its a Blast. Here is the list as I'm currently running it:

HQ (175pts)

Pedro Kantor

Elites (990pts)

(3x) 10 man Sternguard Squads
3x combi-meltas, 2x combi-plasma, Sgt w/ combi-wep (variable) and power weapon, Drop Pod
Troops (325pts)

(1x) Scout Squad
3x sniper, Missile, Sgt with sniper

(1x) 10 Man Tac Squd
1x melta, 1x MM, Sgt with Power Weapon, Drop Pod

Fast Attack (120pts)

(1x) 5 Man Assault Squad
no upgrades, Drop Pod

Heavy Support (270pts)

(2x) Thunderfire Cannons
Drop Pods

Fortifications (125pts)

Bastion
4 Hvy Bolters, 1 Quad Gun


4 pods on round 1 (3 sterns and tac) scouts on bastion roof with quad, assault squad on bastion guns, drop pods on cannons just drive up pod numbers so you get 4 first round. You can also downgrade bastion to an ADL to get more combi weps on the sterns, and can swap out stern load-outs to fit your opponent if not in a tournament.

I am really interested in making a list and starting a crimson fists army very similar to this . Do the thunderfire cannons pull their weight in points or would 2 small tac squads in pods be better? and what role does the assault marines play in this list? also how does this list fair against mech lists?

The thunderfire cannons are awesome, and do alot of damage for their cost, just make sure they are in ruins so that you can upgrade the cover save. That and keep the techmarine out front, with his 2+ save and T7 (because of the cannon) he'll be able to absorb a good bit of fire barring bad rolls. Plus, they allow you to get 2 more pods to push it up to 70 for minimal cost, something that would be much harder with 2 tac squads.

2 TFC w/ pods = 270pts, 8 templates. 60" range

2 Tac w/ pods = avg 500pts, 2 templates max, 48" range max w/ missile