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I have been playing less competitive armies for a while now (mostly dark eldar for the last couple of years), and I have been having a hankering to play some harder lists.  I have already built an all infiltrating Alpha Legion army that looks pretty good, and I am thinking of making a "Pod list.

I know that I will have two x fear/fury termy librarian with obligatory AssCan x 2 termy retinue.

I will probably also have 3 x 1 speeder w/AssCan.

I was curious how effective 3 x VenDread w/AssCan & Heavy Flamer in 'Pod would be (assuming I took the trait that allows it).

That doesn't leave a lot of points for troops, unfortunately, so I don't know if the Dreads would be tough enough to balance out the loss of overall model count.

Any opinions?

Sal.

I have a drop pod Marine list and I love it. I used to infiltrate all of my marines but that tactic is too easy to counter. I have found that the best way to be effective with pods is to have lots of squads. For one, the odds of only having one squad come in a turn is greatly reduced, you need to have mulitple pods come in to provide more than one target for your enemy and to make effective use of the LOS blocking that is the pods second best use. Also, by having lots of redundant squads, the likelyhood that the one you need will come on is increased.

also, I have found that having a smallish firebase of shooty squads start on board is really effective. you can create "landing zones" with the fields of fire they provide or kill zones to deny your enemy from flanking your incoming troops in order to cover your pods. A few las plas squads fill this role nicely.

But the list you are proposing is a little too shy on the model count for my liking. and i rarely take two powers for my librarian if i take him at all. i find that in game i only ever use one (fury) and the other points are just wasted. for the cost of those two librarians you could take an entire other squad. But that is just my opinion, i like having lots of troopers in stead of a few hard charcters that can too easily be instakilled or neutralized.

In my experiance (with any kind of army really) i find that numbers win games. Too many people under estimate a marine tac squad. a 10 man squad with a melta and a vet sarge with a powerfist can take on dang near anything in the game. put a flamer in the squad also (with cleanse and purify) and each squad can land, take out armor, chartacters or bulk troops, and is fairly resliant. Take three or four of those squads, landing in troublesome places for your enemy, and you have a really effective force that can dish out and take a lot of punishment.

as for the dreads, i always take one to drop. I love the siege dread (inferno cannon heavy flamer) for crowd control, but if you dont use forgeworld, then the *donkey*cannon and HF is really effective, but dreads die easily, even venerable dreads. again, a tac squad can last longer and stands nearly no chance of dropping in, getting off one round of shooting and then being destroyed by one enemy shot where a points heavy ven dread can, (and does!!! learned that too many times from experiance). same goes for the speeders. they are less likely to get their points back. I find that the *donkey*cannon speeder is often a one hit wonder, it jumps out, kills a couple models and then is destroyed. the *donkey*cannon speeder is good to drop in behind vehicles for the rear armor shots, but it does not always work. I usualy take a heavy bolter speeder to sieze and deny objectives and that is it.

just my two cents but i can truly say, the pod army is a lot of fun to play.

Well, having had some success with pod armies in different configurations, I disagree with Reecius on the small firebase issue. I found that starting with 40 or so marines on the table with the rest dropping in didn't give me enough numbers to deal with most skilled opponents.

For the pod list, I favor the "more boys, less toys" approach. If found that putting more models on the table was more important than anything else.

I favor the fear/fury librarian in power armor with a 2 meltagun retinue. Then, throw in the one obligitory squad of terminators for the asscans and a modicum of range. Fill out with troop squads of 10 men, with 2 meltaguns or two flamers, season with a squad of scouts in a pod with a Vet Sgt for the cheap, throwaway unit that is overlooked until it starts muching things, and you have a pretty solid list.

Dreads look good on paper, but they're one hit wonders. As the only armor in the list, they attract a lot of attention. With only 2 attacks, they also get swarmed by power fist armed assault squads. Land speeders are the same way. If the mission doesn't allow deep strike, then they die very quickly, sometimes without doing anything.

Not to say your list won't work, but 5 terminators cost about the same as 2 dreads, have the same firepower, and are more resiliant. Your comman squads are going to run around 400ish points the way you're configured. Compare that to taking 2 10 man tac squads with meltaguns instead.

Your list is a common "first build" sort, but usually ends up being modified once a few games are played and you realize just how vulnerable those dreads and speeders are.

Just my .02 for what it's worth.

Personally, I think 4 squads of terminators should be the core of any pod list (with some or most of the terminators not actually in pods).

But that's just me.

By a small fire base i dont mean 40 troops at all, i take two las plas squads and an 8 man dev squad with 4 missle launchers. That is 400 points and 20% of my force. I also usually take one speeder with only a heavy bolter (which i dont deep stirke) to seize objectives. And I totally agree that numbers win games, my drop pod army has a model count of 73. And to be honest, the proof is in the pudding and in our league here, which covers nearly all of southern california and has dozens of members, I am undeafted and have had a victorious slaughter in every game. not to toot my own horn , but i have found that taking a bunch of troops and a small fire base to take out armor and cover landing zones really works. and i have played some totaly power gamed armies and stomped them with my list.

but again, that is just my two cents, i am sure there are tons of ways to win with any list if you are clever and dedicated anough to find it.

Damn PapaNurgle and Mauleed, I guess Reecius really showed you. He is undefeated in his league and has won all of his games by "victorious slaughters." Not to toot Reecius's horn but that sure beats anything you have done PapaNurgle. You better listen to this guy.

Darrian
(Hey, PapaNurgle might have won the Adepticon Gladiator tourney this year with a drop pod list, but he is not undefeated in Reecius's league. A league that spans nearly all of Southern California, but not the Los Angeles/Orange County area where we have never heard of his league)

Well, i certainly didnt mean to come accross as arrogant and i am sorry if i did so, but i certainly dont think that i warnted a personal attack. By the way Papa Nurgle, congrats on the Adepticon win.

at any rate, considering the fact that i live in Orange County and i play in the SCGWL (southern california games workshop league) that has been around for many years here, i would assume that you would have heard of it, but perhaps not. I am relatively new to the area, having come from san diego which has a great gaming community and some truly outstanding players if you are ever in that area. check out the SCGWL if you would like to meet some new players, all the info for can be found at the battle bunker. there are some very good players in the league as well.

and if you guys would ever like to get a game in , i would be more than happy as i always enjoy meeting new people and seeing some new tactics.

@Reecius I am sorry for the personal attack, I do hope you can see the humor in it though. I played in your league BTW, so yeah I do know it. I thought you were still down in San Diego. I play at Game Empire's RTT's. Since you are in the SCGWL you might want to discuss drop pod tactics with Charlie Nichols, he is in the league and lost to PapaNUrgle in the finals of the Adepticon Gladiator. Oh, and if you play Charlie with your drop pod list and win, then toot your horn about that.

Darrian

The way to beat charlie with a drop pod list is to have all 8 units come in on turn 2. He hasn't figured out how to deal with that quite yet.

Ed,
I found that lots of terminators died too quickly to what otherwise would be anti-tank fire. One squad of terminators has been enough for me to claim a table quarter and still get some ranged fire to support the assault of other squads.

Reecius,
Let me know if you ever happen to be in the area. Sounds like it'd be a fun game. I'd like to see how you do versus Mr. Nichols though.

Mick

Darian: its all good, i did sound like a pompus *donkey*=) I was just trying to show that i had some success with my lsit against good players by making that statement, but it deffinately came accross the wrong way.

But i am really looking forward to playing charlie, he is a really skilled player and won the league last time around. I think i have a good chance of playing him in the playoffs, and i hope i do. the only way to get better is to play tough opponants, and if you would like to get a game in sometime i go to the battle bunker most weekends for pick up games, ill actually be there sunday to play a couple buddies. hahah, and if you can teach me how to consistantly drop my whole army on turn two, you will have a buddy for life

papanurgle: i currantly dont use any termies to drop, have you had a lot of success with them? i love the models and would really enjoy using some but i find the 10 man tac squad to be so useful and points effective. my termies always die to flack fire. ( i have an assault termie squad that i sometimes use in friendly games ) and, i find that the chappy tends to win his points back for me more frequently than the librarian, even when i take a bare bones 120 point librarian that only has fury, although he has made some key fury shots that have changed the course of the game, especially against dark eldar, i love taking out those hidden raiders!

Well, I also play a pod list and have had some success with the old cleanse and purify apothecary list. I also tried dreads and termies and was unimpressed. I prefer multiple squads with a mix of melta and plasma. I do use speeders which I do DS as i do not want them on the table by themselves turn one. I'm surprised you use scouts and small firebase as well. Scouts have never been stellar for me and i do not want isolated troops on the table turn one. The whole advantage of drop troops is to set up after your opponent. The list has been okay although it can be beaten by smart opponents. It fares best against Tau, IG and Meqs. Nids, Eldar and DE cause problems. I also have drop troop elysiansd which we played against the list and that was a fun game ( the Elysians demo charges and Vulture were enough to swing the game, btw ).

I dont drop scouts myself, although i have considered it, i typically only use scouts when i am not dropping my army. but i do have to say that i love the youngsters, they always seem to live a charmed life, mine almost never get wiped out even though i often use them to absorb charges from some pretty insane units.

a lot of people dont use a few shooty units on the board with a drop army, and it seems like it would be a bad idea as they wouild be the only targets to shoot at, but i deploy them in places where they are not visible to much of my opponant's force but where they have fields of fire in areas i anticipate a great deal of the fighting will be taking place. it doesn't always work but I have found the extra bit of punch they provide has really made a differece plus they can hold onto my table quarter, objectives, etc..

and I have found my army to be most effective against shooty armies such as Tau, Meq, etc. but i have much more difficulty against orcs and Nids who tend to swarm my squads as they drop in unless i can put up a wall of pods to block them. although a good Tau player who tailors his list and expects drop pods, will really give me a hard time. i find that their mobility and fire power will allow them to wipe entire squads off the baord the turn they drop in. plus, killiing those damn skimmers can be a real pain.

you have an elysian army? that is awesome, i love those models but the cost is a bit prohibitive. I have a drop IG amry that is a ton of fun to play and yes, those demo charges are super fun, and as long as the squad doesn't end up blowing themselves up, can be really brutal. I drop the entire army too, air borne rangers and half of them die from bad scatters! but there are so many squads that it still packs a punch. that army for me is more for fun than competition though.