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Three options in mind ...

The easy choice - Vulkan He'stan: He twin-links your flamers and meltas, has the best buff to shooting, Alpha strike, the best saves, and the most potential in close combat, but his special rules don't help your reserves show up earlier.

The glass cannon - Varro Tigurius: He guarantees your reserves on turns 2 and 3 (87% chance), picks his own psychic powers, buffs the tar out of your army, and can twin-link one unit per turn per game. His buffs to shooting are good, but not as good as He'stan's. His buff to reserves is the best in the game, and he usually gets his psychic powers off (rerolls), but he only has a 3+ save. He'll probably die.

The hard choice - Cato Sicarius: Very survivable, great in CC against numbers, a gambler's chance against monstrous creatures, an awesome buff to leadership, and a +1 to reserve rolls (82% chance). He has the worst buffs to shooting of these three.

So which one do you take, and why?

Comms relay help your reserves come out earlier. And bastion or adl are not useless either. Why not take Vulkan + comms relay?

I use this tactic with Tigurius as the Backbone for my forces. However I put Tig with Centurions in a Stormraven with some Talons on the side.

Considering the extent of my success, I'd say Tigurius is the best.

It's relatively glassy for a hammer, but if you put all your pods in one localised area away from anything large and blasty, there's a reasonable amount of surviveability.

how did you put centurions in pod?

plk2bem wrote:
how did you put centurions in pod?

I meant a Stormraven - editted, thanks!

My understanding is that a IC must be on the board for their buffs/traits/powers to work. So putting Tiggy in a SR wastes his reserves buff.

Tiggy is IMHO the best hq in the dex but not optimal for drop pods.

Vulcan is a given for pods but what about Pedro? An all sternguard drop pod list with OS is pretty good.

I would love to find a use for Sicarius but he is just too expensive. Especially with Tiggy for 20pts less.

It may be expensive but Sicarius and Tigurius together would make reserves come in on a rerollable 2+.

The best IC is a level 1 Libby with a power weapon of your choice, with ultramarine CT. This gives you more points to grab more pods. Tiggy is best used in a deathstar of some kind where he will never be focused out because of the other threats. I have always hated salamanders because with proper deployment their short range weapons can become useless. Basically just spam drop pods and don't take expensive HQs

Ive always been a fan of Pedro Kantor for pods, mainly because of the number of OS units you can put on the table, and his buffs to sternguard, who are awesome in pods.

Another vote for Pedro. He buffs Sternguard with Objective Secured, and Sternguard are a unit that are great with Drop Pods (and combi weapons). Plus his 12 inch +1 attack bubble is great with a drop pod assault.

Take pedro with honor guard in a pod.

take 2 sternguard squads/w heavy flamers and 3 combi meltas in pods

take 6 tac squads/w melta guns and power weapon vet serg's in pods

take 2 ironclads in pods

10 pods, horrendous vehicle threat and melee capabiliity, 12 objective secured units. Win

Sicarius. He allows a unit of tactical marines to outlfank, and every unit in your army can use his leadership of 10.

Bal4eva wrote:
My understanding is that a IC must be on the board for their buffs/traits/powers to work. So putting Tiggy in a SR wastes his reserves buff.

I disagree. As written "if your Army contains Tigurius" you re-roll for reserves. For comparison, Sicarius' rules specifically state "if on the battlefield." So yes, some ICs must be on the battlefield, just not Tiggy.

For all the Pedro Kantor supporters, what do you think of veteran sergeants with power weapons? That sounds like a 42-point model with a 3+ save to me. Two of those will get me an assault squad. Are they worth the cost? Do they survive long enough to use those extra attacks?

Pikal

Pikal wrote:

Bal4eva wrote:
My understanding is that a IC must be on the board for their buffs/traits/powers to work. So putting Tiggy in a SR wastes his reserves buff.

I disagree. As written "if your Army contains Tigurius" you re-roll for reserves. For comparison, Sicarius' rules specifically state "if on the battlefield." So yes, some ICs must be on the battlefield, just not Tiggy.

For all the Pedro Kantor supporters, what do you think of veteran sergeants with power weapons? That sounds like a 42-point model with a 3+ save to me. Two of those will get me an assault squad. Are they worth the cost? Do they survive long enough to use those extra attacks?

Pikal

Its just too many points for a WS 4 I4 3+ 1w, just not worth it.

Vet serg's with power weapons are only worth taking in 3 armies.

Black templars. They take mauls for the +2 str and then get rending and rerolls to hit in challanges.

Pedro armies. The +1 attack bubble for all models in range really lets you kick out some pain with drop pod armies.

White scars with power lance spam.

I agree the points cost is a bit steep for a 1 wound model, but considering you'll have ablative wounds (from the squads) from shooting and so many different squads coming down near each other potentially, all those power weapon attacks are gonna be a nice addition.

I second Kantor for the sick amount of OS units you can place on the field.