Do Drop Pod Armies Still Work?

[eagleboy7259]

I've been considering starting a second army since my return to 40k. I was thinking about doing an all drop pod list from C:SM with Pedro Cantor and I was wondering if this style of play still works? Specifically what goes into creating a good drop pod list and would I be better off trying this theme with a different character or book?

[Gooball]

Well i don't see why this kind of army wouldn't work :P
IF you want an army completely in a drop pod army go with the new BA codex (jump marines as troops, swapping jump packs for free drop pod, scattering 1d6)
The major flaw with it would be dropping into the midst of a nyd/wolf/Ba/ork horde of close combaty goodness
Its not that a dedicated SM force wouldn't be able to punch em to the ground.. but if they are a dedicated CC force aswell then :s
(i was drooling over the spear of sicarious earlier.. something like 5000 points of SM all of which can deepstrike)

[Lerra]

Drop pod marines work really well sometimes and really poorly sometimes. It's easy to counter drop pod marines with certain tactics - expect to lose nearly every game of Dawn of War where you are forced to go first. You'll either drop on the table only to have your opponent walk on the table and shoot you to bits, or you'll end up footslogging and shot to bits. Inquisitors with mystics will also make your day pretty bad, too.

I played all-drop-pods for about 6 months. I switched to a mixed drop pod/rhino/razorback list which works much better and is more difficult to shut down. I run 3 drop pods, 3 rhinos, and 2 razorbacks. The razorbacks are basically just shooting platforms (they are purchased for squads that don't ride in them), but if the drop pods are ineffective due to the opponent or scenario, I put two of the drop pod squads into the razorbacks and drop their pods down empty. You do have to limit the squad size to 6 for this to work, though - otherwise you can buy rhinos.

If you want to run all drop pods or heavy drop pods, make sure you have a backup plan if you can't deepstrike.

[DarkLink]

Funnily enough, the Drop Pod Assault rule hurts the drop pods far more than it helps them most of the time.

[papa smurf]

i run a mixed drop pod C:SM army with 3 pods and then usually 1 or 2 other vehicles, usually just a single rhino or razorback, and in higher points games a land raider redeemer. i'd say go for it, because like lerra said if you feel like you're going to get chewed up by drop podding first turn in dawn of war (or any other nasty predicament for that matter) you can deploy your troops out of the drop pods on the board and the pods come in empty. i haven't ever done this personally, but i can tell you from experience drop pod heaviness is a high risk/high reward type of thing, especially against dedicated CC stuff.
It definitely is super fun though, i have a blast with my drop pods. I recommend lots of pods, but whether or not you do all drop pods or a mix (favoring pods of course) is really up to you and your personal taste.

[Darkwynn]

they don't work with people being able to reserve there army off the board.

[sonsoftaurus]

Is it an uber-list? No.

Can it work? Yes.

Can it be fun? Definitely.

Against opponents/armies unprepared for it, it can be devastating. Against those prepared for it, it can struggle.

The drop pod only lists that get crippled by enemies reserving are those that typically rely heavily on the alpha strike when they land. Fun fact: You don't HAVE to land your pods as close to the enemy as possible. You can even take long ranged units and land them in good firing spots away from the enemy! If you mix things up a little, if you think the enemy will reserve a lot, you can land the support elements first, then the up-close guys can hit them as they move to engage your support guys.

You have fantastic initial mobility (able to land wherever you want) but poor mobility afterwards. Think about the end game when you place the pods, support yourself, don't forget to fire the pods themselves, use the pods for cover and to block enemy movement.

[eagleboy7259]

Well I guess I should have started by saying - I play demons so deep striking and funny reserves games don't frighten me as much as I feel like they've made the game a lot more fun for me. Before I quit during 4th ed and sold off my armies I played Black Templars primarily, so using Crimson Fists, Imperial Fists, or Salamanders is what I'm hoping for.

So from the feedback so far I can tell that you need a plan B for when the game plan hits a snag. Believing that mixed pods and mech work the best, do you believe that a pod force could work if it had the ability to set up alternatively through outflanking with a leader as using Sicarus, Shrike or Khan? or would it be best to take Predo or Vulkan and try to rely on an Alpha strike with scouts or something to still outflank and support?

My rough first thoughts about a list was something along these lines:

Predo Kantor
2x Ironclad Dreadnoughts
Assault Terminators w/ Thunder Hammers & Storm Shields
3x Sternguard Vets w/ Meltas & Combi-Meltas

All podded of course. I was also thinking about Legion of the Damned, Scouts, or Vanguard Vets as they rank up there in terms of my favorite models and I've always wanted a reason to get some but I haven't seen anyone running Vanguard Vets anymore so I'm assuming they turned out to be a great dud in the vanilla 'dex?

[AbusePuppy]

You might want to try adding some troops to that list.

[eagleboy7259]

Pedro lets you take Sternguard as troops?