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Seems the concept of a drop pod is to descend into the face of the enemy and unleash a hellish assault. But every time my command squad does it they die horribly. It's the fricken command squad.

So I submit to you are they broken and pointless. Is the idea of a pod army pointless ?

Only the circle is truly pointless.

In 40k you just have units that do the job, units that can somehow do another job, and the units that no-one in their right mind ever takes because they are overpriced, or just badly designed.

The drop pod army was a one trick pony in 4th and 5th ed. Like "leafblower", it had its time in the sun and now that sun has set.

The concept is fine. But if you're choosing to drop just a single squad into the middle of the enemy army, you shouldn't be too surprised if it doesn't always work out in your favour.

My pod army has done very well.

Against experienced players you need to decide what you want your pod(s) to do.

A) Suicide melta
B) Defeat in detail
C) Contest, create a superiority force
D) Simply let you deploy after they move
E) Deliver homing beacons for DS units
F) probably a dozen things I'm not thinking of right now

A) is easy. Send something in to kill an enemy unit, but lose it in the process
B) this is surgery with a butcher's knife, but it can work. Put in enough pods to defeat part of the enemy force, and use the pods to play line of sight games with the rest of the force. I like to attempt to put 60%+ of my force against about 25% of theirs. Kill it quickly, and get ready for the remaining 75%, but you've got the rest of your pods/force coming in too, so a little planning ahead/synergy is very important
C) now its an all pod/DS force and you better know your foe as well as you know your force. You're dropping in heavy hitters (sternguard) and they're making a beachhead for heavier hitters (termies in a StormEagle). You're all in and you better have the cards to pull it off.
D) If you wanted to do B or C and it just isn't looking good. Firebase up and use the Pods as a little extra protection/cover.
E) sometimes the empty pods with LocatorBeacons for Termies, Assault squads, or LS works...

I'm a "B" guy. Its what I do, and I do it fairly well (that's my "B" Blue force in my sig). I'll help you write a list if you want, and a ton of the guys here can give equally good/better advice along those lines too.

Pods are awesome. You need to put something good in them, and use them well.

They have some weaknesses - especially say versus Grey Knight army with Coteaz and some Strike squads.

Chaos Space Marines just wish they could use drop pods.

I would definitely say you want to follow to logic of no drop pods or a lot drop pods, unless it is one drop pod with a dedicated suicide unit such as a sternguard with combi-meltas/plasmas. All drop pod SW and Salamanders armies are fantastic!

 Dozer Blades wrote:
They have some weaknesses - especially say versus Grey Knight army with Coteaz and some Strike squads.

At least as a Marine player though yo uhave the option of simply deploying normally outside your pods and/or walking onto the table.
Try playing Daemons against a Coteaz/Strike Squads list...


And one or two pods are still viable, even without putting a squad on suicide duty.
For example, why not take a Pod for a Devie squad, then use it as a LOS blocker/force divider.

You can also use empty pods to up the overal number so that you can better control what pods deep strike at which point in the game. Again, if say you're going for a sneaky Horde-killer unit/Burny Dread, a spare empty pod lets you hold that other unit in reserve until a more opportune moment and/or you can line up more support to ensure your incoming squad is no longer on a simple suicide mission.

So you're dropping a command squad - 5 dudes, maybe 6 if an IC is attached - deep in the enemy line, and you wonder why they die so quickly. Are you only dropping one squad? 5 Marines are going to die unsupported, no matter what.

Diogenesethedog wrote:
Seems the concept of a drop pod is to descend into the face of the enemy and unleash a hellish assault. But every time my command squad does it they die horribly. It's the fricken command squad.

So I submit to you are they broken and pointless. Is the idea of a pod army pointless ?

No, drop pods are the boy.

First off, you're dropping someone in for assault? You would probably have a better time with a rhino, at least they can't be shot at then.
Command squad? Since when have they been relevant in 40k? They're like the over costed gak unit that's thrown in the codex for fluff reasons, but under the assumption that no one would take them. Ever.
Dropping in 1 squad, on turn one, to sit there while your opponents whole army sees them in rapid fire range? I submit to you, that you're broken and pointless. The idea of that tactic is pointless.

Drop pod army =/= 1 drop pod.

 Griddlelol wrote:

Command squad? Since when have they been relevant in 40k? They're like the over costed gak unit that's thrown in the codex for fluff reasons, but under the assumption that no one would

Depends on the Codex. Templar Command Squads are sort of playable and Terminator Command Squads are definitely playable.

I own 9 drop pods, odd numbers are the magic number!, I also own around 35 sternguard, and vulkan and pedro, drop pods are awesome! I have run a 1850 list with pedro vulkan 30 sternguard and 20 tac marines to good effect, very very evil alpha strike but sternguard die as easy as normal tac marines sadly but vulkans combat tactics or pedros, deciding on the day what I want to use, go someway to counter that.

I also use furioso's in pods, at least two with maybe DC in a third,

I played against a player who used 4 of them with bunch of Space wolf with melta. He deployed right on your deployment zone, destroy all your vehicles or HS on the first turn, then try to survive for the rest of the game. Works fine the first time.

Drop drops are devastating in 6th. At least from the SW GH perspective. If I run my SWs. Its with 4-6 pods with 10 GHs each.

One pod with a command squad is like trying to out a fire with a squirt gun.

 chromedog wrote:
Only the circle is truly pointless.

In 40k you just have units that do the job, units that can somehow do another job, and the units that no-one in their right mind ever takes because they are overpriced, or just badly designed.

The drop pod army was a one trick pony in 4th and 5th ed. Like "leafblower", it had its time in the sun and now that sun has set.

behold my vespid army ! o wait they have the same range as a pistol..... UNDO UNDO!
In all seriousness i agree with you sadly still some bad designs rolling around and guess ya still have to figure out new strategy's with 6th out now.

Pods are awesome and most players fail to use them to their full extent.

My chaos can't get them, but every noe and then we switch armies at my club. I used the three pods in my friend's Salamander army (which I was playing) to seal the routes the enemy Land Raider and Vindicators could take to have access to the main objectives while disembarking the passengers into cover.

So in one fell swoop you can cause nasty traffic jams to give your guys better command of the field, and force them to waste lascannon/melta fire on static obstacles instead of your actual expensive stuff if they want to move.

Now that you can move 6" after the drop it's particularly egregious. I mean, aim the pod right on top of a tank and even with full scatter you can still move a meltagun within optimal range. It's a risk-free deal as long as you stay 13" from a border.