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I had a read through the new marine codex the other day and saw that once the drop pod doors are open the seal is broken and it counts as open topped!

OMG that is going to give some interesting combos. Especially with the homing beacon on scout bikes meaning that deep striking squads can land just where you want them now.

Turn one turbo boost bikes - turn two army arrives on cue to deal some hurt!!


Im not sure how much this has been discussed hidden in other treads but after reading the codex for my self i was shocked at how cool and BIG it was

Roll on my spearhead arriving

Drop pods have been open-topped since the 4ed SM codex. The actual rules for drop pods prohibit assaulting from them though -- 4ed codex as written and DA/BA via FAQ and standard 5ed rules which prohibit assaulting after deepstrike. I would bet a good chunk of money the new drop pods work the same.

Oh well it was a nice thought

Oh and the new sallie special is amazing,

he allows re-rolls on all flamers, h.flamers, meltas and m.melters in the army!!!!!

how much do the new special characters cost?

Thats a good question and one i can't remember, i will text my mate who has the book and find out

And seeing as Drop Pods are automically 'immobilized' upon landing, and I believe by RAW (as transports) are now worth a KP each, I'd think GW would have come up with some sort of special KP rule for them.

As it is now, not so sure about the validity of an all Drop Pod marine army, what with all the extra not so hard to get KPs in it, which is especially odd seeing as GW is releasing a new plastic Drop Pod!

well you only get the KP for killing them so the immobilized isn't as bad as in 4th ed for them

then again they do still give up 1/2 VPs in a draw

Consider though, drop pods armies and the other two missions. Combine with the rumored ability to split combat squads that use drop pods (yet another thing that vanilla gets over DA/BA if true) I think they have plenty of viability. Consider also that new SM drop pod armies will probably have less pods since you have to take full squads for the specials.

I am thinking something like this for my Salamander drop army:
Vulkan or Kantor
2x Sternguard 8 man w/ heavy flamers in drop pods
1x Assault terminators in drop pod
4x 10 man tacticals in drop pod (MM, flamer or MM MG, fists)

Left over points in another HQ, or lose a sternguard for a seige dread in pod and another tac squad. Kps would be 16 or so (managable, a bit more then the average 13-14)

The thing to remember about drop pods is that they are AV12 all around. So while they are worth a KP each, you actually have to use anti-tank fire to kill them. They are immune to the heavy bolter, H.flamer, or other lower strength/high ROF weapons that will show up in most Tac squads now.

It will be interesting, I plan on using 5-6 of them myself in a Space Wolf army.

I admit that I haven't played a game of 5th yet, but the idea of tacking on extra easy to get KPs doesn't sound so good to me.

Maybe it will work as you've suggested.

I hope.

But you've added 7 extra KPs to your force (in your example) that aren't all that hard to collect...

winterman wrote:I am thinking something like this for my Salamander drop army:
Vulkan or Kantor
2x Sternguard 8 man w/ heavy flamers in drop pods

Take a ten man Sternguard unit. Give it two Heavy Flamers, give everyone else Combi-Meltas.

Drop, split the unit into Combat Squads (while I haven't explicitly heard this confirmed, I'm assuming that Sternguard will get the Combat Squads rule...) upon drop.

A drop pod is about 5" wide (probably a little more, but still...). On each side, 2" deploy, 6" range for 2D6 armor penetration on a melta. That's a 21" distance from one end to another -- with four Combi-Meltas on each side (and assuming you split the eight of them evenly) which hit at TL BS4 (that's 8 hits out of 9 shots), you're basically picking two enemy tanks not more than 21" apart and killing both on your first turn with one unit -- and then having that unit revert to a very solid anti-infantry squad after popping two vehicles.

Ouch.

I'm pretty sure if you split a unit up into combat squads you can't recombine them later. So your now stuck with two Five man units in very close proximity to the rest of the enemy army. They might not get a chance to fire off the flamers.

Alpharius wrote:I admit that I haven't played a game of 5th yet, but the idea of tacking on extra easy to get KPs doesn't sound so good to me.

Maybe it will work as you've suggested.

I hope.

But you've added 7 extra KPs to your force (in your example) that aren't all that hard to collect...

You said much the same about razorbacks, but perhaps not everyone is playing KP denial, not to mention that KPs are not a game decider in every scenario IIRC.

I haven't played drop pods in 5ed but my experience so far with KPs and transports, it is easier said then done to get those 'easy' kps. And honestly, waste shooting on the pods which have little to no killing ability themselves, I'd prefer that over shooting my squads which can actully garner kill points.

My biggest worry with drop pods is killing power more then anything else. I can currently load up on 2x specials in 6 or 8 man squads. Now that kill potential will be greatly reduced, even with Vulkan and his chapter tactic. I am also concerned with LOS, since I am kinda spoiled with my LOS blocking PVC pods. I will definitely be replacing them with the new pods but I feel like they should be deployed doors down (I think my compromise will be to magnetize my doors and just remove em when deployed but that is another topic).

I did say the same about Razorbacks, didn't I?

I'm not a fan of them, though I can be convinced otherwise.

But I'm really not a fan of Drop Pods - coming down auto immobilized, open topped and AV10, right? And giving up KPs?

Jump Infantry, Infiltrate (if it still exists for some), Deep Strike, Flank March, Out Flank, Whatever It is Called all seem better off in this KP world.

I really don't like the whole KP system. So if you're telling me that gaming groups are already in revolt over them, sounds good!

Sad, as KP are my initials too...

Jayden63 wrote:I'm pretty sure if you split a unit up into combat squads you can't recombine them later. So your now stuck with two Five man units in very close proximity to the rest of the enemy army. They might not get a chance to fire off the flamers.

Two things:

You aren't going to send them there alone -- I figure a minimum of three pods (so two come in on the first round, and one the second) for a standard SM list. I like how with half rounded up coming in on the first turn it makes hybrid pod lists a lot more viable.

And, considering that they're now amongst three line of sight obscuring (and difficult terrain inducing!) vehicles/wrecks, they aren't exactly out in the open.

Pods are all about controlling game flow by putting terrain where you want it to be.

Alpharius wrote:I did say the same about Razorbacks, didn't I?

I'm not a fan of them, though I can be convinced otherwise.

But I'm really not a fan of Drop Pods - coming down auto immobilized, open topped and AV10, right? And giving up KPs?

Jump Infantry, Infiltrate (if it still exists for some), Deep Strike, Flank March, Out Flank, Whatever It is Called all seem better off in this KP world.

I really don't like the whole KP system. So if you're telling me that gaming groups are already in revolt over them, sounds good!

Sad, as KP are my initials too...

Pods are AV12 open topped. Gut call on pods in KP missions is that the improved viability of hybrid lists (e.g., half in pods, half deployed otherwise as opposed to all or nothing) will more than make up for the (relatively) easy KP they give.

That is, of course, if they do give up KPs -- AV12 is non-trivial to pop, and shots at pods are shots that aren't hitting Razorbacks, Predators, or Land Raiders.

OK fine!

You've sold me on the 'hybrid' Pod list!

Lowinor wrote:

Jayden63 wrote:I'm pretty sure if you split a unit up into combat squads you can't recombine them later. So your now stuck with two Five man units in very close proximity to the rest of the enemy army. They might not get a chance to fire off the flamers.

Two things:

You aren't going to send them there alone -- I figure a minimum of three pods (so two come in on the first round, and one the second) for a standard SM list. I like how with half rounded up coming in on the first turn it makes hybrid pod lists a lot more viable.

And, considering that they're now amongst three line of sight obscuring (and difficult terrain inducing!) vehicles/wrecks, they aren't exactly out in the open.

Pods are all about controlling game flow by putting terrain where you want it to be.

Two things.

In the example you gave that I responded to, you had 1 pod unloading guys and shooting meltas, not two. Yes much changes when you keep two units together, but you didn't say anything about any other pods. You probably don't need all the combi weapons if you can have other guys right next two it.

The tanks will enjoy the 4+ cover save if your deploying your guys behind the drop pod instead of out in front/side of it hoping to get the difficult terrain and cover for yourselves. The pods are probably not small, and unless you gut it (modeling for advantage) it will obscure 50% of most vehicles on rhino chasis sized vehicles or slightly larger.

Jayden63 wrote:In the example you gave that I responded to, you had 1 pod unloading guys and shooting meltas, not two. Yes much changes when you keep two units together, but you didn't say anything about any other pods. You probably don't need all the combi weapons if you can have other guys right next two it.

Yeah, it's one pod unloading one unit in two places that pops two vehicles and then reverts to an anti-infantry role. Like anything else it's going to need some support, but the support can be cheaper podding tactical squads geared solely for other things.

The tanks will enjoy the 4+ cover save if your deploying your guys behind the drop pod instead of out in front/side of it hoping to get the difficult terrain and cover for yourselves. The pods are probably not small, and unless you gut it (modeling for advantage) it will obscure 50% of most vehicles on rhino chasis sized vehicles or slightly larger.

The trick is deploying the squad between the pod and the target vehicle, so they have plenty of room to shoot it and can then use both pod and wreck as cover/los blocking terrain. It's realistically not much of a gamble when you're shooting 4 twin-linked meltas at it.

It's not that the Sternguard are going to be unstoppable; they're just going to be good. Better than some are expecting once you apply all of their tactical options.