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Author Topic: Best build for an all drop pod/deep strike army  (Read 1941 times)

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Offline zero88

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Best build for an all drop pod/deep strike army
« on: August 10, 2010, 12:26:17 AM »
Hey guys, I really want to build an all drop pod/deepstrike list and am having a hard time deciding what the best way to go about it is. Firstly, this would be a 1500pt list, with possible expansion to 2000. So far I have three different ideas:

1. Vulkan/Salamander drop pod list.
*PROS
-Decent amount of models on the field
-Locator Beacons allow accurate placement of your units.
-TL Flame and Melta weapons ties in perfect for tac squads, speeders, and dreads. MAster crafting makes assault termies nasty.
-For possible expansion master of the forge frees up elite slots taken up by Dreads for units such as Sternguard.
*CONS
-Basic marines only receive one attack each in cc. With drop podding this is an issue because you will be so close if you dont kill/break most opponents in one go, you're screwed since after you land you can pretty much expect to be assaulted.

2. Space Wolves Generic List
*PROS
-LOTS of attacks per regular marine. 3 each in the first round of cc compared to one in the Salamanders.
-Cheaper special weapons and access to two if squad is at full strength.
-Wolf Guard Squad leaders give an additional cc punch.
*CONS
-10 man pods means you can take two special weapons, but then have virtually no cc punch that can ignore saves. Taking a guard leader means combined with a wolf guard with power/weapon fist you have much improved cc ability, but less shooting.
-No sternguard or other veterans, nor no way of taking dreads as heavy support, meaning less variety of units and elites slots fill up extremely quickly

3. Logan/Wolf Wing Army
*PROS
-All terminators. High resilience and combi and power weapons means each marine is deadly.
-Logan gives one squad a USR, and with the 18" range you can probably fit most of your army in for the +1A whenever he uses it.
-Wolf Guard as troops means lots of scoring units and room for dreads if you want them.
-Drop podding instead of teleporting means accuracy and aggressive placement is possible
*CONS
-Low model count, susceptible to AP2 weapons.
-Low model count means your army will be even more piecemeal than a normal pod army.
-Logan is a huge point sink and is mandatory
-Drop podding instead of teleporting means lots of points sunk into pods.

In regards to the ideas ive got so far, I think the wolf lists are the most viable for all podding due to their increased cc effectiveness. Realistically, you will probably only get that one round of shooting in before you get swarmed and shot up. For these reasons and for coolness I think loganwing might be the best bet. Only one round of shooting? Fine, Ill do it with all combi weapons. That could yield some devastating results. Then if you get assaulted, well, your terminators, so you should have a decent chance of surviving.

Finally, I wanted to get peoples feedback on playing with ANY all podding army. Obviously the biggest disadvantage is that you come in in piecemeal, a even bigger risk if you play logan wing where you have hardly any models to begin with. I suppose podding into a flank would be the best bet that way as little of the enemy force will get to you before your reinforcements arrive.

Comments? Thoughts? If you have any other pod armies ideas post them up too.

Thanks guys

Offline ~Iron Captain Softy~

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Re: Best build for an all drop pod/deep strike army
« Reply #1 on: August 10, 2010, 05:41:20 AM »
I used to play a pod list in 2k all the time. I don't play this list too much anymore because it basically works once against a good opponent. If it works more than once, then either your opponent's unable to get the models to field the proper countermeasure or unable to comprehend that hard work is only 1/4th of the equation of winning.
Note: By work, I mean annihilate with almost no chance of failure. It begins to become a much more disadvantaged fight the more you use it.

The actual list went as below:
2000 pts "Shrike & Co."
HQ
   Shrike: 195 pts
   Chaplain: 100 pts
Troops
   Tactical Squad: 10 marines, Mgun, MLauncher, DP - 210 pts
   Tactical Squad: 10 marines, Mgun, MLauncher, DP - 210 pts
   Tactical Squad: 10 marines, Mgun, MLauncher, DP - 210 pts
Elites
   Assault Terminator Squad: 7 Th/SS, 3 DLC - 400 pts
   Sternguard Squad: 10 veterans, 8 combi-meltas, 2 Mlaunchers, DP - 335 pts
   Sternguard Squad: 10 veterans, 8 combi-meltas, 2 Mlaunchers, DP - 335 pts

As you might imagine, it was incredibly fast at destroying vehicles when they are deployed. It also has something to do when it decides to land on objectives and duke it out. The terminators are there to infiltrate/outflank to give people something to think about. I played a lot with this particular bomb's configuration, including using Khan in a raider, but I ended up using this. If nothing else, it influences how my opponent deploys.

As you can see from the list, it can be predictable and countered with creative deployment and certain army builds. Sugar coat it as much as you please, an all-drop army is one-faceted.
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They've got us surrounded? That simplifies the problem.
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Offline EldarBaller

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Re: Best build for an all drop pod/deep strike army
« Reply #2 on: August 10, 2010, 11:46:31 AM »
I like all or mainly drop pod armies a lot.  I use Vulkan and Salamander pod lists almost exclusively and find that they are not that much of a one use only list, they just take a lot of practice and while can be countered in theory hammer they dont necessarily get easily countered on the table top.... well not in tournament play where people arent exactly likely to be able to simply build a perfect counter list.

My current 1850 list looks like this:


Vulkan - 190

Master of the forge - 100

Ironclad Dreadnought - 2 heavy flamers, 2 hunter killer missiles, drop pod - 205

Ironclad Dreadnought - 2 heavy flamers, 2 hunter killer missiles, drop pod - 205

Dreadnought - mulitmeta, heavy flamer, extra armor, drop pod - 165

Dreadnought - multimelta, heavy flamer, extra armor, drop pod - 165

Dreadnought - multimelta, heavy flamer, drop pod - 150

Dreadnought - multimelta, heavy flamer, drop pod - 150

Tactical Squad - flamer, multimelta, power weapon, drop pod - 220

Scout Squad - shotguns, combi-melta - 85

Scout Squad - shotguns, combi-melta - 85

Land Speeder Storm - multimelta - 65

Land Speeder Storm - multimelta - 65

Dreadnoughts are more forgiving in an all pod list then super shooty units like sternguard.  Because if the enemy decides to go all reserves then you can drop close to his edge and hide behind your pods or pop smoke for cover and set up for charges when he does come in.  I do really like sternguard in a pod list however and my hard boyz list had two full units of them, along with 9 total pods.

Offline WisdomLS

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Re: Best build for an all drop pod/deep strike army
« Reply #3 on: August 10, 2010, 12:20:39 PM »
If your looking for a Vanilla marine pod idea a friend of mine is thinking of starting a Pedro Cantor pod list, scoring sternguard, stubborn and the +1 attack to nearby dudes (including dreads) makes you hard to assault. He's also reasonably priced for those abilities, a good gun, orbital strike and a P-fist.

Offline g3nius_monkey

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Re: Best build for an all drop pod/deep strike army
« Reply #4 on: August 11, 2010, 09:11:28 AM »
Realistically, you will probably only get that one round of shooting in before you get swarmed and shot up.

Remember that the point of having a Drop Pod is that you can drop your unit where it's convenient, which doesn't always have to be right next to an enemy unit. A hard to reach objective or an area that looks like it's thus far been neglected by your opponent make excellent placements for things like Tactical Squads or other long range support units like devs and Thunderfire cannons; remember that it's not always possible to pick out prime spots for these units before the game starts. Most good opponents will set up their army in a way that can respond to multiple combinations of your own deployment, and an area might not become safe or even available until a few turns into the game. The general strategy under these circumstances would be to drop your "shock" units in first, and then have your troops or other support units come in on reserve.

I wouldn't let your judgement on army choice rest solely on which performs best in close combat. While its true that you might only get a single round of shooting once a unit comes in, that may be all you need, especially if you heavily flank one end of an enemy line or pin point a particularly vulnerable spot. One of the biggest mistakes I see players do with Pod armies is that they try and stretch their army too thin, engaging as many valuable targets as they possibly can on the first turn which generally sets them up for a brutal counter charge. There's nothing wrong with taking advtantage of the fact that you can hit one point on the enemy line pretty hard, and depending where that may be you can easily win yourself a game long before the match goes underway.

Suppose for instance I were to be thrown up against an Ork army in a Pod list, and the Ork army conatined a large number of Boyz and the common Nob Deathstar unit. Knowing that to be the largest threat to my army, there's no reason I wouldn't stack all of available firepower on the Nobz to try and obliterate them on the first turn; although there would still be plenty of Boyz on the table, having destroyed the Nobz I know that the ability of my Marines to handle the rest of the Ork Army strongly swings in my favor. I have in fact performed similar strategies against orks before (albeit in a different form than using drop pods) with massive success on my part, all of which I attribute to killing exactly the right unit before the game gets underway.
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