Written By: Isiah from the Original by Aaron Bergman

Written by: Isiah from the original by Aaron Bergman.

With the introduction of the revised Codex: Space Marines came a new transport option- Drop pods.

Blasting down from a Strikecruiser or Battlebarge, these unique vehicles appear anywhere on the battlefield using the deep strike/reserves special rule. Space Marine commanders quickly realised their potential and despite the lack of a suitable (reasonably priced) model form an important tactical and game winning role within many Space Marine armies.

Why use drop pods?

Deep striking can cause real headaches for your opponent - but in addition drop pods offer several advantages:

Safer

Drop-podding units are not destroyed if they scatter onto enemy units or impassable terrain.

Instant cover

Drop pods are vehicles that block line-of-sight so helping to protect emerging troops.

Offensive capability

Drop pods have a built in weapon (but only BS2).

Deep strike for all

Drop pods can get units who can't usually deep strike into thick of the action.

I'll be discussing each of the above items in more detail within the Tactica.

Who to drop pod?

There are several units that can use drop pods, and I'll examine the viability of drop-podding each of them. But as an overall rule-of-thumb, drop pods do not suit assault-orientated armies because you can't assault on the turn you arrive, plus any scatter may take you too far away from a unit to assault anyway.

The best use of drop pods is for 'shooty' units with short to medium-ranged weapons ie bolters, storm bolters, assault cannons, meltaguns; and template assault weapons- flamers (if you can get close enough) and plasma guns. You always fire on the turn you arrive, assuming there is a suitable target, so take advantage of it.

Keep in mind that your enemy will have enough squads around that your drop pod unit will only get one turn of free firing before being charged or shot at from all directions. While this might not always be the case, it's going to be the case more often that not so be prepared for it. Prioritise targets carefully and where possible use the drop pod as cover.

Command squads

Out of all the Command squads, the one I feel to be most effective in a drop pod is a Librarian Command squad. Commander Command squads are best when they're on the table from the start to give their Ld benefit for as long as possible, and Reclusiam Command squads are best when leading a charge- something they might never do if drop-podded.

Librarians, however, have a number of short-range shooting-style powers (three of them have a 12" range), so getting them into that range without being shot to pieces or charged first is all-important. Of his powers, Fear of the Darkness works well during the initial landing turn (but not against Fearless opponents) - and you can place the drop-podding squad in a very favourable position to crossfire fleeing enemy units - Might of Heroes and Veil of Time work well in the subsequent turns.

Command Squads can have two assault weapons, giving them even more of an edge when it comes to short-range firepower. As with all command squads, be careful of over-equipping them - a Vet Sarge with a power fist or powersword to back up your Librarian, and maybe an Apothecary to help save guys if you roll badly with your plasma gun firings, should be about your upper limit.

Librarian Terminator command squads are a fearsome unit to drop pod. With two assault cannons thay can put out an awesome ammount of firepower not forgetting the impact of FotD, and have the capability of soaking up return fire too. They can defend themselves well against counter-chargers, so all-in-all a real pain to deal with and as such should be considered a must for drop-podding.

Terminator squads

Terminator squads using drop pods are in the balance- the decision will proably come down to both personal preference and having the points available to spend in the first place. Of course I am talking about non-assault Termies here - assault Termies are better suited to assault straight from the front ramp of a Land Raider Crusader.

The advantages are that the drop pods will protect expensive Termies from being wiped out by a bad scatter and will provide good line-of-sight blocking terrain to protect them from too much enemy return fire upon landing. In addition they will get the short-range assault cannon, flamers (if used) and storm bolters into action quickly. This looks better than the traditional deep strike method but doesn't come free.

However, they will be restricted to a unit size of five and there is the constant problem of uncertainty as to their time of arrival during the game.

As Terminators get to deep strike for free anyway it could be seen as a waste of points to equip them with drop pods too. But I would say that the cost of the pod isn't that much in relation to the cost of the squad anyway, and the benefits of the cover afforded make them a worthwhile investment for deep striking termies.

Veteran squads

Another uncertain prospect. The advantage is that you can have a Vet Sarge and two Vets with a combination of power fists/power weapons or lightning claws giving some hefty close combat punch; the disadvantage- whichever Veteran Skills they choose will quite likely be wasted because they can't use heavy weapons (Tank Hhunters) or charge (Furious Charge) on the turn they land, and they probably won't get another turn of shooting after their first. To avoid wasted points, I wouldn't put vets in a drop pod.

Dreadnoughts

These are sure-fire drop pod successes. The main vulnerabilities of Dreads (weak armour, particularly rear armour, and slow speed) are both negated by the use of drop pods. In addition, if you can place the drop pod correctly, you can hide the Dread from any enemy heavy weapons squads, forcing your opponent to deal with it with some of his close combat specialists rather than killing it with fire. Plus, the lethal combination of assault cannon or melta, heavy flamer template and that almighty Str 10 Dreadnought claw is guaranteed to cause havoc in the enemies lines. A Dreadnought in a drop pod can be a real game-turner.

Tactical squads

The best and most obvious candidates for drop pods- can either be 'good' or 'excellent', depending on how the dice role - either way a sure winner!

I favour having eight marines in drop pod squads- this is a sensible balance between needing some numbers to help keep the unit in the fight because they will almost certainly be charged, and the need for not wanting a huge squad that represents too many points in one basket. With a flamer they can be a real threat against horde armies, with a plasmagun against heavier troops. Remember, you'll never scatter into an enemy squad - and a player with nerve could put a drop pod intentionally into an enemy unit knowing that the pod will move to the nearest safe edge of the enemy letting you place the assault-weapon guy to give him maximum effectiveness. Meltagun squads will be equally effective against vehicles, just drop them behind the target.

It seems pointless taking a heavy weapon with a drop-podding Tac squad as it cannot fire upon landing and, assuming the squad moves off from the landing zone on the next turn, will not be able to fire then either. If your pod arrives on turn four you might not get to shoot a heavy weapon at all. Stick with assault weapons.

Veteran Sergeants with power weapons are almost mandatory, because the squad will almost certainly be counter-charged, and you want your drop-podders to earn as many points back as possible.

Scouts

As Scouts can already Infiltrate, the use of drop pods seems unnecessary.

Devastator Squads

A no-no for a drop pod. They can't fire the turn they arrive, and they probably won't last long after that because only a poor opponent would leave them alone to set up their heavy weapons properly! Spend the points on more Tactical drop pods, and leave these guys to set up on the table. There role when using drop pods should be to soften up the major threats prior to the pods' arrival.

Drop pod tactics

There are just two overall tactical approaches to drop pod use: putting your entire army in them, or just a select few units supported by your footsloggers.

Having your entire army deploy in drop pods has serious flaws. Although you'll always get the first turn of firing you run the risk of your army arriving in bits and pieces (making each squad vulnerable in turn) and a clever opponent will use his first turn of movement to make sure that anywhere you put your deep-strikers is bad for you. Also, your army is limited to drop-podding the above mentioned units - not a great selection all told - so you will be missing out on the best of the Space Marine vehicles.

A select few units drop-podding however, has very good possibilities. As it's unlikely that the squads you have on the table at the start of the game will be overwhelmed before the reinforcements arrive (unless you are playing Tyranids). When the drop pods do arrive you can put your enemy between a rock and a hard place. By deploying in his rear you are giving him the unattractive choice of moving towards your drop pods or your advancing footslogging squads. As already stated, Dreadnoughts, Librarian Command squads, and regular Tactical squads are all prime choices for units used in this manner.

Deployment options

Whenever deploying drop pods consider carefully the tactical objective you have set for the unit inside and place them accordingly. Drop pods are unique and you are able to deploy them aggressively to achieve maximum effect both territorial and tactical - just put yourself in your opponents' position and deploy them where you wouldn't like to see them arriving. Remember that nothing about deep strike is an exact science and you can guarantee that your pod will scatter the full distance whenever you don't want it to, so make contingency plans.

In all probability in the first couple of turns your opponent will try to second-guess as to where you will deploy your pods, covering the vulnerable areas with heavy weapons and fast counter-attack units. But this works in your favour as it means he has taken his eye off the ball with regards objectives strategy - compromising his own plan to respond to yours. Use these early turns to whittle away at his main threats with your own heavy weapons, land speeders etc, effectively clearing landing zones.

One successful deployment strategy is to deploy the drop pods in such a way as to divide the enemy army in half by creating a 'wall of drop pods'. With only half of the enemy army able to shoot at you (the other half with blocked line-of-sight), you have a distinct advantage. The divide and conquer gambit works like a charm against armies that aren't very mobile.

Deploy drop pods upon objectives. Why not? With a shooty-squad emerging and Deathwind launchers (see below) covering a 12 inch radius what is your opponent going to do about it? Works particularly well against forces with a small model-count who simply don't have the spare capacity to deal with the dual threat.

Deploy drop pods on impassable terrain, knowing that it will be moved to the nearest safe area in line with the scatter direction.

Don't just spread them thinly across the table or there is the likleyhood that each deploying unit could be overwhelmed either by assault or shooting and you will just be frittering away your army. Actually, this can happen anyway when deep striking and sometimes there isn't much you can do about either scatter or arrival time. The point I am trying to make is aim to deploy them so that emerging units can give each other covering fire, and, if you are using deathwind launchers, their combined range radii denies as much ground to the enemy as possible.

Deathwind launchers

Drop pods come with a storm bolter as standard. Although useful (and free) two BS2 24" Str4 AP5 shots per turn is hardly going to wreak havoc, merely an inconvenience, for your opponent.

So deathwind launchers are the best points you will ever spend. Why? Because it turns an empty transport that your enemy can ignore into something that he will have to waste his time destroying lest it blasts him apart.

As drop pods are AV12 on all sides (though open topped) they'll soak up some fire before being finally knocked out and because of the 12" range, your opponent will fear approaching them in any way (would you take the risk?). If nothing else it will create no-go areas to your advantage. And don't forget the deathwind can fire on the turn the pod arrives.

Admittedly when used singly deathwinds are not particularly effective - they only hit one-third of the time and will arrive on turns 2-4 (normally) - as such they will often not get a single hit per game! But the prospect improves considerably with four or five drop pods, each of them with a deathwind launcher. That's at least 1-2 large blast hits a turn from vehicles that are entirely useless otherwise. All this for the price of a Rhino.

The upgrade is a solid investment, it'll rattle almost anyone to have large blast templates coming down on them. A tricky drop-podding player could use small squads that will almost certainly get wiped out by a counter-charging enemy, then blast the hell out of the winners with the deathwind launchers.

Finally it should also be mentioned that the deathwind launcher is an additional weapon and not a replacement for the standard-issue storm bolter, so you end up with two weapons. Unfortunately the built-in Power of the Machine Spirit can only fire one of these weapons per turn.

Half victory points given away

The recently published Codex: Space Marines FAQ sheet now states that half victory points per pod must be given to your opponent just for them turning up and doing their job as, by the rules as written, drop pods counts as being an 'immobilised vehicle'. To me this is ridiculous as the vehicle is DESIGNED as immobile. However, rules is rules. Bearing this in mind, the Deathwind upgrade looks an expensive investment in a small army. Something to bear in mind.

I think this has come about because so many Space Marine armies are using pods extremely effectively – it has become the 4th Edition version of 'the Rhino rush' – and as a result have been penalised to offset their advantages.

Conclusion

Drop pods are an important part of the Space Marine armoury. The ability to deep strike is a uselful tool but a risky prospect. Drop pods lessen the risk slightly and give a wider choice of units able to deep strike. When used en masse (more than two) they are very effective, used individually not so effective. But they can deliver units to areas that create the most trouble for your opponent and, as such can be a real game-winner even allowing for the vagaries of not knowing exactly where or when they will turn up. And all this despite automatically giving up half victory points. Nerves of steel are required.

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Well, by no means exhaustive, I hope this Tactica has given you an insight into the use and potential of drop pods.

Hope you enjoyed the MT