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I was thinking of making a spear tip detatchmemt of space marines that can deep strike. Things like double chain sword VGV, inceptors, etc. However what unit is best dropped in a pod? I was considering devastators, sternguard, or a leviathan in the forge world one. Branching from that, what is a good mix of units to form a "spear tip" as stated above?

The fact that they need to stay 9” away limits what works well. Sternguard, plasma, grav, all seem like they have a place. But IMHO the days of dropping melta/flamers is gone.

 Nevelon wrote:
The fact that they need to stay 9” away limits what works well. Sternguard, plasma, grav, all seem like they have a place. But IMHO the days of dropping melta/flamers is gone.

Yeah I was afraid of this. I was never a drop pod alpha strike player, but having about 3 and building a theme around it always appealed to me.
Not to mention how expensive a pod is now, I was afraid of this answer

 Nevelon wrote:
The fact that they need to stay 9” away limits what works well. Sternguard, plasma, grav, all seem like they have a place. But IMHO the days of dropping melta/flamers is gone.

I'm not sure Meltaguns are bad in a drop pod. Expensive, yes, but they can still kill things even at 12". You just don't get the sweet "roll 2d6 and pick the highest" thing. I'm wondering about a squad of Company Veterans with Combi-meltas in a pod myself. Expensive, but can wreck stuff, especially if they have a Captain with them to reroll 1's.

Since meltas and flamers don't benefit from firing at 9'' or more I'd say units with plasma guns or multimeltas.

Why a drop pod ? Its 95 or 98 points and it does pretty much nothing after deepstriking. I feel they are wasting a lot of points. Why not VV with JP ? They can also deepstrike, move 12", and they can fly. The JP are only 10 pts for 5 models, leaving you ~85 pts to spend on their equipment.

p5freak wrote:
Why a drop pod ? Its 95 or 98 points and it does pretty much nothing after deepstriking. I feel they are wasting a lot of points. Why not VV with JP ? They can also deepstrike, move 12", and they can fly. The JP are only 10 pts for 5 models, leaving you ~85 pts to spend on their equipment.

I've come to that conclusion as well, just disappointed drop pods aren't worth much this edition

Drop pods are useless in this edition. And as it looks like they will stay that way. 8th has been FAQed twice already, and no word about a price reduction on drop pods.

 Nevelon wrote:
The fact that they need to stay 9” away limits what works well. Sternguard, plasma, grav, all seem like they have a place. But IMHO the days of dropping melta/flamers is gone.

Not a bad message for armies which no access to classical melta and flamer weapons.

In the one time I took them out to try them, they did work. It was against a newer player, so not the best test. I took 3 pods, 2 with full tac squads, one full melta (MM/M, c-melta), the other full grav (GC/G, c-grav). last pod was 9 bare-bones sternguard and a captain.

I like the fact that you can choose when and where they drop. It was useful in my game, as I kept the grav pod up late, so I could blow a new LZ closer to a decent target.

Melta can work, just not nearly as reliably as it used to. You are still in range, and have everything but the extra damage rule. But with wounding their preferred targets on 3-4s I think a lot more are going to be needed to get the job done. In my game, they landed, blew a savage chunk out of a rhino, but failed to kill it. The bolters were able to crew up a nearby infantry squad; love the new native split fire.

Sternguard performed as well as expected (which was excellently). Drop pods put them where they need to be. My preferred load was mostly bare-bones, with a pair of HFs. I’ll probably ditch the flamers, which is sad. Could still be useful vs. counter charges, or when they ride in rhinos/ravens.

Captain/other aura buffs work well for multiple drops, as you can get a few squads with one character.

The grav squad landed late, after I had cleared some bubble wrap and his command/HQ squad had disembarked. With the pod, I was able to get behind his squad, so could target characters that were the closest model to the drop. Something a lot harder to do with a rhino deploy.

The pods themselves still have some tricks. You can land them on objectives, to claim them until destroyed. Stormbolters are better then ever, and can plink fire down. It adds up. They can protect characters by being closer to shooting units. That pod 12” behind you keeps you from shooting the HQ 13” in front of you, even if nobody is in the way.

Pods were undercosted before. They needed the nerf. IMHO they got nerfed a little too hard, but that’s GW pendulum balance fixes for you. I don’t think they are efficient enough to form the core of any competitive list, but in friendly play I think they can work fine.

They can deliver mid range units to optimal range. If you feel lucky, or have something that helps, you can drop CC units that don’t natively DS. Not that there are a lot of those in marine lists, but they exist. But JP if you can over taking a pod.

None. Drop pods are overpriced and worthless now. If they could still take dreads MAYBE they would be worth it, but as it is, they are simply dead weight.

Have faced drop pods a few times. Twice they were a single pod, and once they were lots of pods. Mass Drop Pods now is definitely worse than before - you're paying a premium for their ability to land anywhere and be tough. The trick is making that premium be worth it. A basic Tactical Squad likely isn't the best use, you need something that can put out a ton of firepower right away. Likely this means Veterans. You also want to hold it back until the time is right. Since they're so expensive and eat up points, you can't spam them now to just provide threat overload. Instead, you have to use them surgically. At the end of the day, the unit is exposed once its down.

My expectation in the future is that pods are going to be to get something like Devastators set up in the perfect spot on turns 1 or 2, or will combo with Terminators and Interceptors to create a large and deadly force somewhere on the battlefield on turns 1 or 2.

"Pods were undercosted before. "

I had little trouble with them. With BA. Xeno players were pure whiners.

Salamander chapter. 4 squads of 2x company veterans with plasma/combiplasma. Captain with combiplasma. Ancient with banner and more combiplasma.

Drop in the middle of the enemy. Overcharge all day long, pop captain rerolls on 1's, chapter tactic rerolls on the rest. If something still dies, the banner can give more shots.