1850 Traited Pods!

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**Mosg**

Cleanse and Purify+Purity Above All; Eye to Eye+Have Pride in Your Colors

epistolary (169)
fotd and fota
terminator armor
purity seals

terminator command squad x4 (235)
assault cannon x2
chainfist
drop pod
**404 total**
=========================

epistolary (169)
fotd and fota
terminator armor
purity seals

terminator command squad x4 (235)
assault cannon x2
chainfist x2
drop pod
**409 total**
=========================

tac marines x8 (215)
terminator honors/apothecary
plasma gun x2
drop pod
=========================

tac marines x8 (175)
melta x2
drop pod

================================================================

So, this is my first go at Pods. I decided it's time to put together a new army, but I wanted something completely different that was still dead 'ard. Pods it is!

Basically the idea is to use the Apothecaries in the tac squads to suck up any Plasma gun wounds during my turn, and try and support the two Terminator squads during my opponents shooting phase.

Unfortunately Eye to Eye is the only major drawback that I could use for this idea, so no Tornados. I could go the other way and only take Cleanse and Purify and dump Purity Above All, which would net me 160 points and allow me to use Land Speeders if I wanted to.

So... What's everyone think?

**Longshot**

I wanna see powerfists and more meltaguns.

Also, I think the 2nd librarian is overkill. If you want another character, a master for board-wide L10 would be a better investment, but I'd go with just a normal termie squad and use the rest of the pts to flesh out your squads and get your last apothecary.

**Mosg**

Cleanse and Purify, Purity Above All; Eye to Eye, Have Pride in Your Colors.

164 Epistolary w/ FotD, FotA, Terminator Armor.

235 Terminator Command Squad x4 w/ Assault Cannon x2, Chainfist, Drop Pod.

275 Terminator x5 w/ Assault Cannon x2, Chainfist, Drop Pod.

230 Tactical Marines x8 w/ Plasma Gun x2, Drop Pod, Vet Sarge w/ Power Fist, Terminator Honors, Apothecary.

230 Tactical Marines x8 w/ Melta Gun x2, Drop Pod, Vet Sarge w/ Power Fist, Terminator Honors, Apothecary.

What do you think of the Apothecary idea? Unless I misunderstand the way that the Narthecium/Reductor works, you can use it during your turn to soak a Plasma wound and during your opponents shooting phase, too. I would/will change my list around quite a bit if that's not how they work.

**Longshot**

Well the reason I like them is for the insane amount of protection they offer to terminators. Keep a couple apothecaries next to a termie squad and they're suddenly a lot harder to kill with lots of small arms.

I like that list a lot better.

Personally I think the apoths are great with or without the plasma rule. I think the twice in a turn thing is kind of open to interpretation so I tend to take the least advantageous view to me (e.g. my apoths will soak once a turn).

**Mosg**

Hmm. So, the problem is whether "each turn" is mine and then yours, or mine and yours together?

What do you think as far as drop pod viability goes? What do you think are the differences between the different pod lists? How will this one fair vs the competition?

**PapaNurgle**

Well, I probably don't know what I'm talking about, but here's what I've found with pod lists...

1) Number of guys matters. At 1850, I like to bring around 65 guys. You've got 50, mitigated by the apothecaries.

2) Number of guns matters. You've got 4 assault cannons, 6 plasma guns, and 4 melta guns. That's more than I took to the Adepticon Gladiator. I would suggest switching two fo the plasma guns to melta guns. I've found meltas to be a better choice because it gives you a really good anti-tank shooting attack when you drop. (and the tank then turns to terrain which blocks LOS to your unit etc. etc. etc)

3) Looking at your list, the only thought I would have would be to swap the apothecaries for 8 marines. But if you look at it, you'll probably save more than 8 marines with the apothecaries, so they're probably worth keeping ALso, if you can deploy with an overlap, apothecaries from unit A can save marines from unit B.... Just something to think about.

4) My reading of the rule is that they can save one marine a turn, so 1 in turn 1, 1 in turn 2, 1 in turn 3. I don't believe that they are able to save one per player turn, but it's worth bringing up with your opponent.

5) Land speeders aren't a good support unit for pods over the long haul because there are missions in which they won't be able to deep strike and will be the only target on the table. (easy meat for Basilisks, whirlwinds, etc...)

Not a bad list.

Big Papa

**Mosg**

The big thing with the Apothecaries is that they can potentially save Termis, too--One Termi saved makes the Apothecary's points back right there.

Good point about the Land Speeders--I knew there was a reason that I went with no armor for the first incarnation

The good part is, it's only 5 extra miniatures to paint to try out the Apothecaries. I'm making 8 pods just in case, so I can pull'em out and put in another squad if need be.

So... You suggest that I take 2 squads of plasma guns and 3 squads of meltas. You don't think that the double tapping plasma'll make up more points than possibly blowing open a vehicle? /shrug

You also said that you went even less guns than this to Adepticon? What were you set up like?

**Longshot**

I think two melta squads is usually enough since plasma and assault cannons can help out with armor (sometimes even being better, e.g. vs. Eldar style skimmers and Tau even).

My list runs 5 assault cannons and 3 melta squads, but there's a very high armor environment here. Mecha Tau and Mecha/SamHain Eldar are both very common.

Drop pods do best with all the roughly same type of target. All infantry works great, 6 dreads seems to do OK. Tornado speeders are second best to anything you can think of almost. I am not a big fan, suffice it to say.

I think your list will do just great. Play it 5 times before you adjust it though, would be my suggestion. Pods take some finesse.

**Raider**

Your list is allready pretty solid.

Id add Tankhunter to the Termis, drop the Pod on the Elite Termis (pun intended) and add one more unit of Elite Termis (for one of the Melta units.)
Mid range firesupport is invaluable in my experience and more 2+ saves means that your opponont wont have the answer to all most likely. So every 2+ save beyond a certain magic number (depending on the equipment of your adversary) gets a lot better then the first few ones, which everybody is prepared to deal with.

In contrast to what others will tell you, I find that the chainfists are overkill (many fists and ACs, that have to shoot at the same target you charge.) and dont fit the role of the Termis (Firesupport from 20" away and countercharge.) So Id drop thouse to save points better spent elsewhere.

**Spinsane**

One little nitpick I'd like to point out, but which doesn't seem to ever come up in casual or tourney play (I suggest you ask the tournament organiser's ruling first, to make sure you don't get penalised during actual gameplay): C:SM never lists 'Terminator Command squads' as units able to take a Drop Pod. Sure Command squads and Terminator squads, but neither Terminator Command or Terminator Assault squads are listed. On the other hand, C:BT does make the distinction ( Sword Brethren Terminator, Sword Brethren Terminator Command and Sword Brethren Terminator Assault squads are all listed), which seems to confirm that if playing using the C:SM rules, only standard termies are allowed to use a Pod.

Just to make sure you don't suddently come face to face with a lawyer who wants to sc*** you over...

**PapaNurgle**

MosG,

Adepticon gladiator winning list is posted elsewhere,

Here's a summary:

Librarian, FotD, FoA, Admantium Mantle, bolt pistol

Command squad, 2 flamers, apothecary, vet sgt w/PF (in pod)

5 Terminators, 2 asscans, pod

3x10 marines, 2 melta guns, pod

10 marines, 2 plasma guns, pod

10 marines, bolters, pod

10 Scouts, pod

(Of course, each squad had the vet sgt w/PF)

What I found is that the plasma guns missed a lot, make me roll for overheat a lot and screwed with my rhythm. Meltaguns were good for targeting anything (insta-kill oblits, death company etc...) whereas plasma guns were okay, but nothing special. Flamers were good for pure killiness on people who castled hard and the bolter squads were great for pure fire support against infantry.

So, in my limited experience of playing pods for a year and a half now, out of 6 tactical squads, my split would be 3-4 melta, 1 plasma, and 0-1 flamer. Multiple melta also ensure that you get what you need when you need it. Nothing like facing templars in LRCs and rolling all plasma squads coming out. (that hurts by the way.)