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Hello, not really new to the forums, long time lurker. I decided to get into 40k and am looking at a drop pod ultramarine list. The captain will ride in with the sternguard and soak damage for them. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

180 - Captain
artificer armor
storm shield
burning blade

205 - tac squad
multi-melta
melta-gun
combi-melta
drop pod

205 - tac squad
multi-melta
melta-gun
combi-melta
drop pod

205 - sternguard
5x combi-plasma
drop pod

95 - assault squad
2x flamer
drop pod

95 - assault squad
2x flamer
drop pod

15 points to spare. Any recommendations?

I'm just getting back into the hobby as well... so my opinion really doesn't mean much

but it seems like a list that would be a good list against high armour troops and big expensive vehicles. But there is very little AOE damage to clear swathes of lightly armoured infantry.

There's so much melta stuff in the tac squads, I would maybe take the sterngaurd without the combi-meltas. This will make the unit plenty cheaper... and look up their "special issue ammunition" rule. It's such a good rule, I think it makes it kinda wasteful to replace a lot of their boltguns with combi-weapons. They can rapidfire at ap3 with just their bolters if they like!

Also- maybe consider some anti-air?

good luck. I'm in the same boat... trying to make a decent SM list.

U don't really need a locator beacon on everything. Also, Primarch's wrath is better used on a relentless model since it's salvo and u'll just fire 3 shots with it if u're a regular footslogging captain.

Yeah if the role of the Captain is to tank for the sternguard you should probably strip him of his extra artefact weapons. You probably don't need that many meltas either at 1k.

Dropping those bits of wargear should give you space for a few more bodies on the table or a land speeder - something along those lines.

It looks a little 5th Ed with all those meltas but everything has a defined role which is good. The Scouts don't fit at all and there's lots of wastage:

Captain should be Terminator Captain with Primarchs Wrath or he should not have Primarchs wrath. Digital weapons are a little pricey at this point level and meltabombs are a waste of the burning blade. Though if you go Terminator you can't have stormshield, blade and wrath as you only have 2 weapons. As tanking is his main job I'd drop down to no Wrath. He's then 180 points and that's 35 more points for your list. Or shield eternal and thunder hammer to help him survive that intercepting Riptide that every Tau player fields for 190 points.

Drop pods don't need locator beacons. You can't use them turn 1 and with a 6" deploy out of a DP you should never need them to get to your target. That's another 30 points.

Scouts don't fit at all it they mean is if you go 2nd your opponent gets 2 full shooting phases at your army before you can do anything (1 in his turn 1 at your lonely scouts and the other as you arrive from reserve due to interceptor). Deploy nothing and he wastes a turn if he goes first. So either outflanking LSS scouts or more Pod units seem a better fit. That's another 126 points.

So you've got 191 (181 if my preferred Captain build) nearly a 5th of your army that could easily be dropped without reducing the effectiveness of your army. So I would spend those points on more raw killing power.

Then I would diversify a little. Either go all plasma on the Sternguard squad or reduce the melta on the tacs for something else. Perhaps split a tac squad down to 2 five men squads with DPs and get a 5th DP.

Mainly what Fling said, though I'd consider a stormtalon or two.

If you are going to drop, might as well go null deployment.

One of the perks of a drop list is being able to put the right squad in the right place. So specialization is key. Have a pod for killing tanks, another one for killing troops, etc.

The full melta tacs are a good fit. If there are no tanks they can just bolter stuff. If you want to gear for for infantry work, you could swap to flamers and HBs.

The sternguard are overkill though. You don’t need that much melta, particularly with your tacs equipment. I might run them with a pair of HFs, and add some combi-plasma if you have the points to spare. But mostly I rely on special ammo to get the job done. Spare points can be spend boosting the squad size up.

As was pointed out, you can trim a lot of points from your list with minimal fuss. There are a number of things you could add, both with the points you save and as you grow your army.

Stormtalons/ravens
Ironclads in pods
5 man assault squad with paired flamers in a pod (good way to boost your pod count)
More sternguard

I have made some changes on the list and wanted to see if this looks better.

125 - Captain
artificer armor
storm shield

205 - tac squad
multi-melta
melta-gun
combi-melta
drop pod

205 - tac squad
multi-melta
melta-gun
combi-melta
drop pod

205 - sternguard
5x combi-plasma
drop pod

130 - assault squad
2x flamer
drop pod

130 - assault squad
2x flamer
drop pod

The list works similarly to before. Each pod has a specific function, 2 for infantry, 2 for tanks, and 1 for elites. If more elites are a problem one of the tac squads can become anti armor by switching to plasmas. Any thoughts on changes for this list?

Points are wrong on Assault Squads they are 95 points each so you gave another 70 points to spend. You could turn your captain into the best stick captain for that.

The trick with the assault squads is that they swap their jump packs for a free drop pod. So you just got 70 points back. I’d take those and buy you captain a power weapon (he needs something better then a chainsword) and a few more bodies in the sternguard squad.

Alternatively, take one of these squads you payed 130 for and swap it for a stormtalon for some air cover. Or both squads for two.

Whatever you decide, I think your new list is a lot leaner and meaner then your old one.

Thank you all, misread the assault squad and thought you had to still pay for the pod. 70 points goes a long way lol.

What would you recommend I do with the last 15 points after giving the captain a burning blade?

I thought you could only take one artifact per HQ

Johnnytorrance wrote:
I thought you could only take one artifact per HQ

That was fixed in the later list.

Johnnytorrance wrote:
I thought you could only take one artifact per HQ

It is highly debatable. It is true for all the hard back books but no FaQ has sorted it out yet. It says 1 for 1 does that mean 1 ever or 1 for each weapon you swap. The Eldar codex certainly strongly implies the later. It seems to be played that way most of the time in my experience.

Anyone have recommendations for what to run in place of the assault pods, not a fan of assault squads outside of this setup and tacticals can fill a similar roll and be much more in line with what I think I will typically run.

 FlingitNow wrote:
It looks a little 5th Ed with all those meltas but everything has a defined role which is good. The Scouts don't fit at all and there's lots of wastage:

Captain should be Terminator Captain with Primarchs Wrath or he should not have Primarchs wrath. Digital weapons are a little pricey at this point level and meltabombs are a waste of the burning blade. Though if you go Terminator you can't have stormshield, blade and wrath as you only have 2 weapons. As tanking is his main job I'd drop down to no Wrath. He's then 180 points and that's 35 more points for your list. Or shield eternal and thunder hammer to help him survive that intercepting Riptide that every Tau player fields for 190 points.

Drop pods don't need locator beacons. You can't use them turn 1 and with a 6" deploy out of a DP you should never need them to get to your target. That's another 30 points.

Scouts don't fit at all it they mean is if you go 2nd your opponent gets 2 full shooting phases at your army before you can do anything (1 in his turn 1 at your lonely scouts and the other as you arrive from reserve due to interceptor). Deploy nothing and he wastes a turn if he goes first. So either outflanking LSS scouts or more Pod units seem a better fit. That's another 126 points.

So you've got 191 (181 if my preferred Captain build) nearly a 5th of your army that could easily be dropped without reducing the effectiveness of your army. So I would spend those points on more raw killing power.

Then I would diversify a little. Either go all plasma on the Sternguard squad or reduce the melta on the tacs for something else. Perhaps split a tac squad down to 2 five men squads with DPs and get a 5th DP.

If nothing is on the table, you can't reserve something to outflank with. Half of your units must be deployed regularly. Drop pods don't count. So if you only have one non-drop pod unit, it must be deployed regularly.

If nothing is on the table, you can't reserve something to outflank with. Half of your units must be deployed regularly. Drop pods don't count. So if you only have one non-drop pod unit, it must be deployed regularly.

There are literally no rules governing how much of your army must be deployed. There are only rules on how much can be put in reserve and it is half founding up. If you only have 1 unit, half that rounding up is 1 so you can put that 1 unit in reserve.

zwillia3 wrote:
Anyone have recommendations for what to run in place of the assault pods, not a fan of assault squads outside of this setup and tacticals can fill a similar roll and be much more in line with what I think I will typically run.

Assault Squads in Pods will be the most point efficient way to clean hordes, get an odd number of drop pods, and tie up backfield units.

 Feasible wrote:

zwillia3 wrote:
Anyone have recommendations for what to run in place of the assault pods, not a fan of assault squads outside of this setup and tacticals can fill a similar roll and be much more in line with what I think I will typically run.

Assault Squads in Pods will be the most point efficient way to clean hordes, get an odd number of drop pods, and tie up backfield units.

Thanks for the feedback, may end up running them, just not a fan even if they fill the roll so well. But with them in the list it is getting closer and closer to being worth getting the strike force for building this list, plus it has the scouts that I am in love with even if they don't work in this specific list. The lack of use for razorbacks this edition makes me hesitant to get it.

I really like your second list, but would free up some points to add an additional five sternguard. 10 sternguard is really effective, and if your spending the points on the captain to eat bullets for them, you may as well get as much firepower as you can out of them.

Only 10 guys can get in a drop pod if you take 10 Sternguard you can't put the Captain in there...

It would require dropping an assault pod if not both and they are the infantry clearers in the list. We have a hordes tyrannid player here so they will be solidly in the list for now. And don't want to drop to 4 pods, want the 3 pods turn 1