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A multi part question.

Can boarding torpedoes be used to land ground troops like drop pods?
If not, could you fire drop pods from torpedo tubes?
If not, does this force Chaos Marines to utilize carrier type ships in order to land troops aggressively and with haste?

 minigun762 wrote:
A multi part question.

Can boarding torpedoes be used to land ground troops like drop pods?
If not, could you fire drop pods from torpedo tubes?
If not, does this force Chaos Marines to utilize carrier type ships in order to land troops aggressively and with haste?

Some chaos marines have drop pods. See Storm of Iron and the Night Lords books. Some marines are just more adept at maintaining them and building replacement parts. So the Iron Warriors who are into logistics and are familiar with manufacturing techniques can replace their equipment loses. While other marines like the Night Lords were never taught how to make things, just terror and assault tactics. So if the Night Lords lose a drop pod or a tank, they can't replace their loses easily. They have to steal them from the Imperium or buy them from Dark Mechanicus or the technologically savvy.

In lieu of drop pods chaos marines use Thunder Hawks too. In Storm of Iron there are bulk landers used as well.

I can't speak for the first two points, but as to the last if Battlefleet Gothic is to be believed Chaos aren't all that big on torpedoes, launch bays are more common - fitted with Dreadclaw Assault Boats as standard.

Dreadclaws that originally were used by the Space Marines in the Great Crusade (but now are chaos exclusive due to their evil sentience they developed) are basically an assault boat/drop pod combination.

Boarding torpedoes are designed to embed themselves in the target ship before blowing a hole for the assault troops to disembark. I think that is somewhat at odds with the need for a reasonably soft landing on the ground I guess you could try and fire boarding torpedoes at a hive city, but they are probably not too good at flying in atmosphere or deep in a gravity well.

I'm trying to understand the primary means of getting Chaos Marines to the surface.

Loyalists use Thunderhawks and Drop Pods which are integral with each Strike Cruiser and Battle Barge.

The majority of Chaos warships do not have launch bays, which makes me think they either use alternative methods like boarding torpedoes or they are limited to utilizing only those ships with launch bays if they want to launch a rapid orbital landing.

 minigun762 wrote:

The majority of Chaos warships do not have launch bays, which makes me think they either use alternative methods like boarding torpedoes or they are limited to utilizing only those ships with launch bays if they want to launch a rapid orbital landing.

A lot of Chaos Space Marine warbands will have Strike Cruisers and Battle Barges from when they were loyal to the Imperium.

SomeRandomEvilGuy wrote:

 minigun762 wrote:

The majority of Chaos warships do not have launch bays, which makes me think they either use alternative methods like boarding torpedoes or they are limited to utilizing only those ships with launch bays if they want to launch a rapid orbital landing.

A lot of Chaos Space Marine warbands will have Strike Cruisers and Battle Barges from when they were loyal to the Imperium.

True but that's really only the case for the more recent traitors.
The original legions left when the space marine defined warships weren't as defined as they are in the current timeline.

Thunderhawks aren't the only means to descend from orbit. Unless the warband is particularly well equipped I would imagine they use whatever type of dropship they can get their hands on. Probably a mixture of armed shuttles and unarmed transports depending on what they are doing and what they've been able to steal recently

Sorcery and teleportation are also valid options.

 minigun762 wrote:

SomeRandomEvilGuy wrote:

 minigun762 wrote:

The majority of Chaos warships do not have launch bays, which makes me think they either use alternative methods like boarding torpedoes or they are limited to utilizing only those ships with launch bays if they want to launch a rapid orbital landing.

A lot of Chaos Space Marine warbands will have Strike Cruisers and Battle Barges from when they were loyal to the Imperium.

True but that's really only the case for the more recent traitors.
The original legions left when the space marine defined warships weren't as defined as they are in the current timeline.

The Vengeful Spirit was the flag ship of the Sons of Horus and all the Heresy books indicate its ability to launch drop pods and Thunderhawks.

Plus the only requirement to launch a Thunderhawk is to have a cargo bay. Most ships in the Imperium seem to have that capacity.