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The difference is flyers can go over enemy models, and drop pods can deep strike anywhere on the board.

Back in 5th edition, that was a great trick against bike armies that were all in reserve -- as the reddit post indicated

Nifty.

 labmouse42 wrote:

smithy12262 wrote:
Yeah, that was my understanding.

But the units inside them do count to your total limit. So if there were 4 storm ravens with 4 units inside. 2 of those units would need to start on the table.

p99 of C:SM codex
"Drop Pods and units embarked upon them must be held in reserve ..."

p124 BRB
'Units that must start the game in reserve are ignored for the purposes of working out how many other units may do so"

That's how you see armies made up entirely of drop pods.

But if the enemy starts first turn, you have eventually nothing on the board until your first turn (when going second). Then you've already lost???

 wuestenfux wrote:
But if the enemy starts first turn, you have eventually nothing on the board until your first turn (when going second). Then you've already lost???

"Likewise, if at the end of any game turn, one player has no models on the battlefield, his opponent automatically wins".
p122 of the BRB

"In a complete game turn, each player gets a player turn"
p9 of the BRB

So as long as you have some models dropping down by the end of your turn you cannot lose via not having models.
It also means that if I go second, I can drop 2 empty pods onto the table, and then reserve everything else in the last pod and storm ravens. My opponent will probably get first blood and kill a pod, but I will still have most of my army coming in on the bottom of turn 2.
This is the ideal case, as it effectively removes 2 turns of my opponents shooting for the possibility of giving first blood.

If I go first and I'm facing a shooting army, I'll start with 2 squads on the table - combat squadded out. I'll then drop down 2 empty pods on other parts of the board to split enemy fire as much as possible.
If by chance, I'm facing an assault army (daemon screamer spam) I'll probably just drop 2 pods out of assault range. He will then need to move up and assault them on turn 2, at which point I'll have my forces on the board. (Assuming I'm going first. If I'm going second, I just don't care)

I like the eldar allies list. Though have you thought about making the jetbike autarch a laughingtaurch with the reborn gem? Could be pretty great. An alternative could be a battery of D-Cannons or weavers instead of the flyer and a farseer to roll on divination for scriers gaze and trade one power in for prescience for the rerolling barrage.

Thanks for the input. You have given me a lot to think about.

I had some ideas on how to get the iron hands variation of this list to work. If you remove 1 drop pod from the list then you can afford to split the list into a Iron Hand Primary with Ultramarines Allies. You loose some tactical flexibility but it probably isn't a lot as a 5 man squad in a drop pod isn't going to do a lot more than a 5 man squad walking on the board edge, riding in an IWND/MotF repairing Stormraven, or hunkering down in ruins. You get less guys on 1st turn but their RPP is better thanks to FnP and bolstered ruins. Just some food for thought.

[1740 pts]
HQ
IH MotF
Tiggy

Troops
10 UM Tactical Marines w/Drop Pod
5 IH Tactical Marines
10 IH Tactical Marines w/Drop Pod

Fast Attack
IH Storm talon w/Skyhammer
IH Storm talon w/Skyhammer
IH Storm talon w/Skyhammer

Heavy Support
IH Storm Raven w/Hurricane bolters
IH Storm Raven w/Hurricane bolters
UM Storm Raven w/Hurricane bolters

SpankingApe wrote:
I thought if you had no models on the board you lose? Surely you would lose before you started?

That's at the end of any game turn, if you have everything in reserve, as long as something arrives on your own turn one, you won't lose. your opponent won't have anything to shoot at for their first turn if they go first, but just be aware that you will get your two tac squads shot to sht in your opponents 2nd turn.

That's where you risk getting tabled.

@ ansacs, are you sure tiggy can effect the IH reserves rolls?

@Jamo
No...no you cannot. You could however roll sciers gaze 75% of the time. You can also reroll the UM reserves. Eldar or IG look like they are better allies for this. You could get a vendetta+astropath command squad. 7 flyers is a bit much though.

I agree. With 6 its hard enough to maneuver. I'm worried that 7 would just to be to man.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Skabfang wrote:
That's at the end of any game turn, if you have everything in reserve, as long as something arrives on your own turn one, you won't lose. your opponent won't have anything to shoot at for their first turn if they go first, but just be aware that you will get your two tac squads shot to sht in your opponents 2nd turn.

That's where you risk getting tabled.

Actually if you went second you don't have any problem at all.
So lets say that you drop 2 pods full of tac marines at the bottom of turn one. At the end of that game turn you have 4-6 units on the board (depending if you combat squadded out of the pods)

On the top of turn 2, the taudar player manages to kill every single model you have on the table.
On the bottom of turn 2, your other reserves come onto the board. At the end of game turn 2, you still have models on the table.

That's why I said you could drop 2 empty pods on turn 1 if you went second with no worries.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 ansacs wrote:
@Jamo
No...no you cannot. You could however roll sciers gaze 75% of the time. You can also reroll the UM reserves. Eldar or IG look like they are better allies for this. You could get a vendetta+astropath command squad. 7 flyers is a bit much though.

For scyers to work you need to have Tiggy on the board. This means dropping him in on turn 1 in a pod, as he has to be able to cast it at the top of 2.

Also, this was in the FAQ. An astropath would only effect the vendetta.
Q: Do modifiers that apply to such things as Reserve Rolls, apply to units from an allied detachment?
A: No

I like the list, although I would be tempted to drop one of the stormravens for a scout squad in a LSS and a thunderfire cannon in a drop pod.

Updated to include C:I codex.