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Fairly new player here. I'm currently playing Adpetus Mechanicus with Beliarius Cawl. Just him, no Celestine or Greyfax.
That being said I was advised to actually make my assload of Skitarii Vanguard worth something that I pile them into some drop pods and shove them into enemy lines. The idea being they do the shooting until the rest of my forces can slog up to the rest of the fight.

Question is. How the hell do I do the whole space marine detachment thing to get said drop pods?
I would preferably like as little non-mechanicus units as possible.

The articles you are reading this from may be a bit outdated - GW has released various FAQ's about their rules, and one of the more contentious points is that allies cannot start the game in a transport with a different Faction. This shuts down the various Skitarii (and many others) lists that were prevalent about a year or so ago.

I really can't say why they FAQ'd it that way, since the rulebook itself doesn't give much of a hint, and they must have sold a bucket-load more drop pods when it did work.

Here's a link.

Awh, damn. So it looks like I'll have to walk across the table the old fashioned way.

Thank you though for the quick and clear reply.

Odd that admech dont have thwir own drop pods considering everyone elses are built and maintained by the ad mech.

 Lance845 wrote:
Odd that admech dont have thwir own drop pods considering everyone elses are built and maintained by the ad mech.

as I understand it, Astartes are the only ones capable of surviving a drop via drop pod, mere humans apparently are too fragile

BrianDavion wrote:
as I understand it, Astartes are the only ones capable of surviving a drop via drop pod, mere humans apparently are too fragile

Ad. Mech are more than mere humans (but the point still applies, you were able to fit regular guardsmen in pods before the FAQ and they'd just come out as a sort of soup).

@Austinman, you can still ally-in some transports if you wanted to, you just can't start the game in them for some reason. You could take the Flesh Tearers (Blood Angel sucessor chapter) detachment that I can't remember the name of which has 6 fast attack slots (I believe the minimum tax is 1 HQ and 2 Troop) and use Rhinos or Razorbacks if you wanted to. Deploy the Rhino next to the unit and then embark in the first turn.

{Edit} It's a "Flesh Tearer's Strike Force" detachment, min 1 HQ, 1 Troop 1 FA, with optionals for up to 5 more FA and other bits. It's from Shield of Baal: Exterminatus.

 Quanar wrote:
you were able to fit regular guardsmen in pods before the FAQ and they'd just come out as a sort of soup..

Hahahahaha! That line made my day...

Hmm I see. This is all very informative. Thank you all.

Now that I'm here. Would a Baneblade be worth investing into? Idk the points on that thing or army restrictions. But I've heard it can carry an insane amount of troops.

I'm not sure if I mentioned before, but I'm running the Grand Convocation that comes from the Fall of Cadia book.

 corpuschain wrote:

 Quanar wrote:
you were able to fit regular guardsmen in pods before the FAQ and they'd just come out as a sort of soup..

Hahahahaha! That line made my day...

This is why you gave them a ton of demo charges though.

 n0t_u wrote:

 corpuschain wrote:

 Quanar wrote:
you were able to fit regular guardsmen in pods before the FAQ and they'd just come out as a sort of soup..

Hahahahaha! That line made my day...

This is why you gave them a ton of demo charges though.

You could just put the demo-charges in the Drop Pod...(But what fun would that be?)

As to the serious question from the OP Drop Pods are basically the reason for the ban on using other armies' transports; it's not too abuseable most of the time, but letting any unit in the Imperium get reliable Reserves and perfect-accuracy Deep Strike has too many powerful combinations (Skitarii, Purifiers, Guard melta-vets for what is just a straight-up more cost-effective suicide squad...).




Automatically Appended Next Post:

Austinman42 wrote:
Hmm I see. This is all very informative. Thank you all.

Now that I'm here. Would a Baneblade be worth investing into? Idk the points on that thing or army restrictions. But I've heard it can carry an insane amount of troops.

I'm not sure if I mentioned before, but I'm running the Grand Convocation that comes from the Fall of Cadia book.

You're thinking of the Stormlord (a Baneblade variant built out of the same kit, the one with the Titan-scale giant boltgun on the front and the open deck to the rear). The rules on multi-faction detachments are vague and ill-defined at the moment, and I'll have to double-check to make sure the Stormlord is even in the Grand Convocation, but if it is you should be able to just deploy in it, at which point it carries forty models and lets twenty of them shoot as if it were open-topped. (They did take away the rule that let you shoot as if it were stationary that super-heavy transports used to have, but you're the Mechanicum. Everything's Relentless.) Which means you get to sit still and have a bunker for artillery units, or just drive about doing drive-by shootings.

(Keep in mind if you do this that two five-man Vanguard squads carry more heavy weapons than one ten-man squad. Forty models means eight five-man squads and sixteen plasma calivers or arc rifles, as opposed to merely twelve if you put four ten-man squads in it instead.)

(Also keep in mind that Kataphrons are Very Bulky Infantry. They may take up three slots apeice but you can totally put them in the Stormlord.)

(Also keep in mind that the rules say that models embark on/disembark from the Stormlord as if it were open-topped. You may have to have an argument with your opponent/TO about this pending an FAQ, but it may count as an Assault Vehicle to deliver Electro-Priests and Sicarans.)

(Also keep in mind that your dudes can fire Overwatch out of the Stormlord. Which is much funnier in 30k where you can actually put twenty flamers in it easily, but you've got Cognis-Flamers on Kataphron Destroyers so you can still make it a chore to get to.)

(Stormlords are an endless source of comedic fun and wacky combos. Go forth and wander around exploding things for the greater glory of the Macrotechnika and the Omnissiah.)

Teeny-tiny note about the above excellent Stormlord post - Super-Heavy Transports are allowed to carry more than one unit (normally you are restricted to a single unit plus IC's), which is why AnomanderRake mentions you get more special weapons per guy if you use smaller squads.

Ah yes, that's the one. I don't think a Stormlord is in the Grand Convocation and I would have to take an Imperium Detachment of some sort.

Which of course would require the compulsory troops and HQ crap.

If its any worth. I have 6 Kataphrons, 5 Sicarians, and 20 Vanguard plus other vehicles.

AGH! This would have been so easy if i could just have some damn drop pods!!!

Austinman42 wrote:
Ah yes, that's the one. I don't think a Stormlord is in the Grand Convocation and I would have to take an Imperium Detachment of some sort.

Which of course would require the compulsory troops and HQ crap.

If its any worth. I have 6 Kataphrons, 5 Sicarians, and 20 Vanguard plus other vehicles.

AGH! This would have been so easy if i could just have some damn drop pods!!!

Fortunately you don't have to deviate very far. Cawl is allowed as an HQ in any Army of the Imperium, so you could just take him, two Guard Veteran squads (with appropriately tech-thrall-ified models) and the Stormlord as a CAD.

BrianDavion wrote:

 Lance845 wrote:
Odd that admech dont have thwir own drop pods considering everyone elses are built and maintained by the ad mech.

as I understand it, Astartes are the only ones capable of surviving a drop via drop pod, mere humans apparently are too fragile

GW has given Sisters of Battle drop pods in the past.

 Melissia wrote:

BrianDavion wrote:

 Lance845 wrote:
Odd that admech dont have thwir own drop pods considering everyone elses are built and maintained by the ad mech.

as I understand it, Astartes are the only ones capable of surviving a drop via drop pod, mere humans apparently are too fragile

GW has given Sisters of Battle drop pods in the past.

stares in chaos space marine

 Melissia wrote:

BrianDavion wrote:

 Lance845 wrote:
Odd that admech dont have thwir own drop pods considering everyone elses are built and maintained by the ad mech.

as I understand it, Astartes are the only ones capable of surviving a drop via drop pod, mere humans apparently are too fragile

GW has given Sisters of Battle drop pods in the past.

Power armour almost certainly helps.

 AnomanderRake wrote:

 n0t_u wrote:

 corpuschain wrote:

 Quanar wrote:
you were able to fit regular guardsmen in pods before the FAQ and they'd just come out as a sort of soup..

Hahahahaha! That line made my day...

This is why you gave them a ton of demo charges though.

You could just put the demo-charges in the Drop Pod...(But what fun would that be?)

That would maybe need some level of abominable intelligence, and that's tech heresy, or a timer which could destroy valuable drop pods. Instead the guardsman aid by lubricating the inside of the drop pod with their remains better allowing the demo charges to be flung out of the pod on arrival. Alternatively some may be reinforced with braces ensuring that any partially alive guardsmen would prime and toss out the democharges.

 Melissia wrote:

BrianDavion wrote:

 Lance845 wrote:
Odd that admech dont have thwir own drop pods considering everyone elses are built and maintained by the ad mech.

as I understand it, Astartes are the only ones capable of surviving a drop via drop pod, mere humans apparently are too fragile

GW has given Sisters of Battle drop pods in the past.

intreasting, when was this?

 AnomanderRake wrote:

Austinman42 wrote:
Ah yes, that's the one. I don't think a Stormlord is in the Grand Convocation and I would have to take an Imperium Detachment of some sort.

Which of course would require the compulsory troops and HQ crap.

If its any worth. I have 6 Kataphrons, 5 Sicarians, and 20 Vanguard plus other vehicles.

AGH! This would have been so easy if i could just have some damn drop pods!!!

Fortunately you don't have to deviate very far. Cawl is allowed as an HQ in any Army of the Imperium, so you could just take him, two Guard Veteran squads (with appropriately tech-thrall-ified models) and the Stormlord as a CAD.

I see, however wouldn't I then be using the Astra Militarum Codex?

Austinman42 wrote:

 AnomanderRake wrote:

Austinman42 wrote:
Ah yes, that's the one. I don't think a Stormlord is in the Grand Convocation and I would have to take an Imperium Detachment of some sort.

Which of course would require the compulsory troops and HQ crap.

If its any worth. I have 6 Kataphrons, 5 Sicarians, and 20 Vanguard plus other vehicles.

AGH! This would have been so easy if i could just have some damn drop pods!!!

Fortunately you don't have to deviate very far. Cawl is allowed as an HQ in any Army of the Imperium, so you could just take him, two Guard Veteran squads (with appropriately tech-thrall-ified models) and the Stormlord as a CAD.

I see, however wouldn't I then be using the Astra Militarum Codex?

Yes, technically. But you'd only need the rules for Cawl (who's not in the AM codex) IG veterans and possibly either Tauroxes or Chimeras to carry them, and the Stormlord (also not in the IG codex, not sure where to find it though). So you'd only need the Guard codex for the vets and maybe transports for them.

 gnome_idea_what wrote:

Austinman42 wrote:
...I see, however wouldn't I then be using the Astra Militarum Codex?

Yes, technically. But you'd only need the rules for Cawl (who's not in the AM codex) IG veterans and possibly either Tauroxes or Chimeras to carry them, and the Stormlord (also not in the IG codex, not sure where to find it though). So you'd only need the Guard codex for the vets and maybe transports for them.

The Stormlord is in Warzone Damocles (Mont'ka), and you'll need the AM book for the rest of the detachment.

BrianDavion wrote:

 Lance845 wrote:
Odd that admech dont have thwir own drop pods considering everyone elses are built and maintained by the ad mech.

as I understand it, Astartes are the only ones capable of surviving a drop via drop pod, mere humans apparently are too fragile

Sisters had Dominica pattern drop pods in lore. They never showed up in the codex, but they could survive the impact just fine in power armor.

Edit: Dominica, not Lucius -- L's are dread pods.

.
Source:
http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Drop_Pod#fn_11
http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/The_Citadel_Journal_49

You could run an aeronautica detachment from the Imperial Agents book.

Your ad mech can't start embarked in them but can hop in first turn and fly to their destinations in style.

Well apparently they have advanced targetting relays so that they never crash into opponents with the force of StrD.

...if Cawl can be the HQ of any army, can someone remind me why he can't be in a drop pod? Was there a rule preventing that?

 Captain Joystick wrote:
You could run an aeronautica detachment from the Imperial Agents book.

Your ad mech can't start embarked in them but can hop in first turn and fly to their destinations in style.

If you want to do that you also need Skyshield landing pads so you're allowed to deploy the Valkyries on the table in the first place. You're really better off looking for ground transportation.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Quickjager wrote:
Well apparently they have advanced targetting relays so that they never crash into opponents with the force of StrD.

...if Cawl can be the HQ of any army, can someone remind me why he can't be in a drop pod? Was there a rule preventing that?

Multi-Faction detachments are very new and haven't been clearly ruled on; among other things the ruling in the FAQ is worded such that you can't get in a transport if you don't share a Faction with it, which may prevent Inquisitorial Henchmen Warband formations from getting in their own Dedicated Transports. He may be able to, he may not be able to. He may only be able to if he's in a Space Marine unit. You may be able to let Skitarii get into Drop Pods by joining a Librarian to them. We don't know at the moment.

 AnomanderRake wrote:

 Quickjager wrote:
Well apparently they have advanced targetting relays so that they never crash into opponents with the force of StrD.

...if Cawl can be the HQ of any army, can someone remind me why he can't be in a drop pod? Was there a rule preventing that?

Multi-Faction detachments are very new and haven't been clearly ruled on; among other things the ruling in the FAQ is worded such that you can't get in a transport if you don't share a Faction with it, which may prevent Inquisitorial Henchmen Warband formations from getting in their own Dedicated Transports. He may be able to, he may not be able to. He may only be able to if he's in a Space Marine unit. You may be able to let Skitarii get into Drop Pods by joining a Librarian to them. We don't know at the moment.

Thought they had ruled on it with the new Eldar/Yvraine stuff. You must shall all factions in order to share a transport. So if Eldar in a Ynari detachment can't deploy in a Dark Eldar transport from the same faction, Cawl would surely be the same.

 kirotheavenger wrote:

 AnomanderRake wrote:

 Quickjager wrote:
Well apparently they have advanced targetting relays so that they never crash into opponents with the force of StrD.

...if Cawl can be the HQ of any army, can someone remind me why he can't be in a drop pod? Was there a rule preventing that?

Multi-Faction detachments are very new and haven't been clearly ruled on; among other things the ruling in the FAQ is worded such that you can't get in a transport if you don't share a Faction with it, which may prevent Inquisitorial Henchmen Warband formations from getting in their own Dedicated Transports. He may be able to, he may not be able to. He may only be able to if he's in a Space Marine unit. You may be able to let Skitarii get into Drop Pods by joining a Librarian to them. We don't know at the moment.

Thought they had ruled on it with the new Eldar/Yvraine stuff. You must shall all factions in order to share a transport. So if Eldar in a Ynari detachment can't deploy in a Dark Eldar transport from the same faction, Cawl would surely be the same.

The 'must share all factions to share a transport' ruling was the FAQ ruling back from November that outlawed borrowing Drop Pods in the first place. They've since released Imperial Agents and two Gathering Storm books containing multi-faction detachments, whether or not they intended to ban Inquisitorial Henchmen Warbands from using their own Dedicated Transports is debateable.

The inquisition transports do not at any point say the Razorbacks/rhinos are SM faction or that Chimeras are AM faction as far as I remember (my Dex is on my English phone back in Shanghai so don't have access to it atm put am pretty darn sure on that), and all the transports are in the Inquisition dex/armylist thus making them Inquisition transports if they are any type.

 AnomanderRake wrote:

 kirotheavenger wrote:

 AnomanderRake wrote:

 Quickjager wrote:
Well apparently they have advanced targetting relays so that they never crash into opponents with the force of StrD.

...if Cawl can be the HQ of any army, can someone remind me why he can't be in a drop pod? Was there a rule preventing that?

Multi-Faction detachments are very new and haven't been clearly ruled on; among other things the ruling in the FAQ is worded such that you can't get in a transport if you don't share a Faction with it, which may prevent Inquisitorial Henchmen Warband formations from getting in their own Dedicated Transports. He may be able to, he may not be able to. He may only be able to if he's in a Space Marine unit. You may be able to let Skitarii get into Drop Pods by joining a Librarian to them. We don't know at the moment.

Thought they had ruled on it with the new Eldar/Yvraine stuff. You must shall all factions in order to share a transport. So if Eldar in a Ynari detachment can't deploy in a Dark Eldar transport from the same faction, Cawl would surely be the same.

The 'must share all factions to share a transport' ruling was the FAQ ruling back from November that outlawed borrowing Drop Pods in the first place. They've since released Imperial Agents and two Gathering Storm books containing multi-faction detachments, whether or not they intended to ban Inquisitorial Henchmen Warbands from using their own Dedicated Transports is debateable.

The Ynari FaQ they're talking about was released a few days ago. Basically it's been clarified that you can start in a transport that has the same faction as you as long as you don't have a faction it doesn't. So a Ynari or Ynari/Craftworld unit can ride in a Ynari/Craftworld vehicle.

It'd be a similar situation for the Henchmen. Due to the rules for Dedicated Transports they'd have the Inquisition faction like the warband, so the Warband can deploy in it even though they lack the Adepta Soroitas/Grey Knight/Aeronautica factions.

Interestingly it also means that an IC from those factions could join the warband and deploy in the transport with them if said transport was of their faction too.

I wouldn't suppose the Skitarii and Cult Mechanicus count as "Armies of the Inperium faction"? Or is that not a valid faction at all?