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Accepting the fact that, no, this would not be a good option for hard core competitive games for several reasons, would using a DP instead of jump packs be at least fun in casual games?
Cons over Jump packs:
-More points, although if using 3 Capts, it's at least close
-one time use that leaves the Captains without mobility later on
-Does not give Fly to the Capts

Pros over JPs:
-Turn 1 drop
-Provides a unit that may have to be shot at first if places correctly (disembark the Capts between 2 lowered doors for the Pod is always the closest enemy unit)
-Could also provide Turn 1 transportation for unit that cannot get Jump Packs at all, such as DW Watch masters

Thoughts?

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Thought about that and it scares me a little.

A Smash Captain jumps out of a Drop Pod turn 1. He's exposed and needs to make a 9" charge or face the bulk of the opponent's shooting.

You could position the Smash Captain in a way where the Drop Pod itself becomes a screen. But then you get into issues with positioning and there's times you would be forced to increase his charge distance.

My main concern is it's a high risk / low reward maneuver. Most often, his only charge target will be a screening unit and the decreased mobility means he's less likely to get at the big threats later in the game.

But sure, for a friendly game, this may be appealing.

Ive done it with a CPT a librarian an apothecary and a tac squad their hard hitting together but you dont have to drop t1 if their are no good targets clean their screen first. Use the create your own chapter for a 8" charge plus their are several other relic or psychic power charge buffers

You'd be stuck with using Black Templars if you wanted to do this.

Slayer-Fan123 wrote:
You'd be stuck with using Black Templars if you wanted to do this.

White Scars can also work. Get a Captain with Imperiums' Sword and choppy relic of choice, a choppy squad of 8 dudes of your choice and a librarian with Plume of the Plainsrunner (+1" advance and charge distance), Ride the Winds (+2" charge distance) and Storm-Wreathed (denies overwatch). Cast Ride the Winds on the choppy squad to make their charge distance 6". Use Fierce Rivalries on the Captain to get him a rerollable 8" charge on 3d6 discard lowest. Use Storm-Wreathed on whatever you don't want overwatched. You now have two charges that both have an 80+% chance of succeeding on turn 1 (use a CP reroll if you fluke the 6" one).

Only problem with this strategy is of course that you are dependent on your opponent making a mistake during deployment and leaves something valuable unscreened.

I have done this, but it really requires a few things to happen to work effectively.

1. Chaplain with 2+ to charge rolls and a jp. The chaplain advances up in the direction of where you plan on dropping the pods. Assuming you have deployed on the edge of your deployment zone and rolled decently (3 or better for advance) thats a 15" move and a 6" bubble from him, with the drop pod dropping in, it CAN be done.

2. Your opponent has to have something of VALUE to charge that close. Otherwise your throwing your smash captain into junk and its a lot of work for nothing.


Honestly its better to use drop pods for shooting units. I have been using them for devistarors t1. When your opponent cant shoot your devs t1 and cant hide because they will come in with some angel where they can be hit.... drop 4 las cannons with an armored cherub down and say goodbye pask. Bonus if you drop next to your chapter master and get full rerolls.

I'm debating using this for DW. Put 2 Smash Captains and a Watch master, maybe a Librarian in a single pods. Have intercessors with Aggressors in them to advance near the character drop.
Could even use the Beacon Angelis to port some Intercessors over.
Librarian could cast Veil of time on 1 unit or Capt.

The main appeal for me is the Turn 1 drop to put a bunch of Characters that don't have access to JPs (mainly the Watch Master) exactly where it needs to be.

It could even be used to "Drop Pod in" a big unit of Primaris. Have the unit deploy somewhere out of LoS, drop the Pod carrying a Character with the Beacon, and use it to teleport them to that Character. It would have the same net affect as using a DP for the Primaris directly.

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Pandabeer wrote:

Slayer-Fan123 wrote:
You'd be stuck with using Black Templars if you wanted to do this.

White Scars can also work. Get a Captain with Imperiums' Sword and choppy relic of choice, a choppy squad of 8 dudes of your choice and a librarian with Plume of the Plainsrunner (+1" advance and charge distance), Ride the Winds (+2" charge distance) and Storm-Wreathed (denies overwatch). Cast Ride the Winds on the choppy squad to make their charge distance 6". Use Fierce Rivalries on the Captain to get him a rerollable 8" charge on 3d6 discard lowest. Use Storm-Wreathed on whatever you don't want overwatched. You now have two charges that both have an 80+% chance of succeeding on turn 1 (use a CP reroll if you fluke the 6" one).

Only problem with this strategy is of course that you are dependent on your opponent making a mistake during deployment and leaves something valuable unscreened.

...which is why you're stuck with Black Templars. Look how much you had to do for just a couple of models.