[the-ad-man]

so! as the title probably clued you in on, this is all about using empty drop pods

a friend of mine recently said that this was legal, now, onto my question: does using empty drop pods seem like a viable tactic to anyone? has anyone used this? blayed against this? how did it go?

because to me it just seems like an av12 free kill point
but like i said, thats because i cant think of any real uses for it


thanks for any and all replies

 

[Deathscythe4722]

Seems kind of silly to me. A lone drop pod isn't much of a threat, and im sure the points could be better spent elsewhere.

 

[turel2]

1 Empty drop pod seems silly, it doesn't have any synergy with the rest of the army really.

 

[the-ad-man]

thats what i thought

after all it only has a lonely storm bolter

or its a little more for a deathwind missile launcher. would that make it worth it?
probably for hordes maybe :/

 

[Deathscythe4722]

pfft. If you dropped even more points into it for a better gun, it would just be even more silly. The thing is stationary with AV12. any MC or bro/w PF will walk up and 1-hit it, and it could be blown to smithereens by most any Str7+ weapon.

Complete waste of points that will die in 1 turn, or wont die but will be useless (which is worse than death!).

Edit: Now that i think about it, depending on the terrain set up, the opponent could just move his units out of Line of Sight and ignore the thing. Then he wouldn't even have to bother killing it.

 

[the-ad-man]

pfft. If you dropped even more points into it for a better gun, it would just be even more silly. The thing is stationary with AV12. any MC or bro/w PF will walk up and 1-hit it, and it could be blown to smithereens by most any Str7+ weapon.

Complete waste of points that will die in 1 turn, or wont die but will be useless (which is worse than death!).

i get the strange feeling you dont see the point in them either ;P

i joke, but you seem to be on the same thought process as me

 

[Pssyche]

Could somebody explain to me how you get an empty "DEDICATED TRANSPORT" into your army list?

 

[Kaizer]

quite simple. You by something, a dreadnought maybe, give it a drop pod. You then deploy the dreadnought on the table and the drop pod is in reserve?

Don't really see the problem

 

[Forty Three]

the idea is not to buy a drop pod with the intention of having it deploy empty, but rather that if you have an army with one or more drop pods and for whatever reason it becomes more useful to deploy stuff on the table instead, the option is there.

43

 

[jaws900]

it can be useful in2/3 of the games where you drop it onto an objective(in your oponnets deployment if possible) and deny them there own objective and force them to combit firepower to a pointless 35pts modal rather than your 200+pts unit marchign towards them...however if you get an anilation then your in trouble as the hole plan backfires and gives them free kill points. In kill pointed games it best to drop in in stead somewhere where there is little cover to give cover bonuses to units or tanks that would otherwise not get a cover save eaither becuase there isn't large enoguht terrain or terrain at all. This can be very useful in toubles games as giving weak units such as Kroot something to hide behind while moving to the next wood.
However beacue alot of people are lazy and will jsut play aniliation with standard deployment it's not used that often.

(wow i went into that alot more than i thoguht i would)

 

[ItsPug]

you can also use empty drop pods to get more of your force down turn 1.

ie have two dreads and an assault squad in drop pods, deploy the assault squad in a crusader and leave their pod empty. Deploy the two drop pod dreads in your first turn and then you have an empty drop pod which can be used to contest an objective when it arrives.

 

[Pssyche]

Hmm...
So effectively for 35 points a go you can drop in a piece of Difficult Terrain that is 9" in diameter with an Impassable Terrain core that is 4.5" in diameter, after deployment? And due to its "Inertial Guidance System" you can deposit it pretty much right in front of let's say an Assault Land Raider on Turn One? A speedbump that shoots back until it's dead and then becomes a piece terrain, eh? That's got to be worth 35 points. even if it's just for Nuisance Value.

 

[Dies Irae]

Am I the only one thinking about getting a dozen of pods and building a 5 pod wall on turn one just in front of the enemy?

 

[Whizzwang]

drop as many random pods as you like guys. At AV 12 and already immobile they're kill points on sticks.. yes please.

 

[Classs]

Im sure there are much better ways of spending 35pts.

 

[the-ad-man]

ah rite cool, so they'd be more for nusance value over anything else, in that way i could see it being useful e.g. immobilising a landrider forcing the assault termis to footslog across the board

and yeah, kill point missions you'd b giving a free win haha

 

[Tzeen Qhayshek]

Just no. It sounds like the worst idea ever. Such a waste of points.

 

[hippypancake]

I use a drop pod assault usually with my space puppies which works great usually except for kill points which will just end with you losing by 8 xD

1 game? drop pods useful, I was able to take my squad of grey hunters with a runepriest and kill an entire army with them by funneling them in between my wrecked land raider and a drop pod which he shot then destroyed I won that game with a single killpoint

Tournys? Don't do it as at least one match will have kill points

 

[search116]

I have used that tactic I left a death company dreadnought with blood talons in reserve so my friend sam was keeping a constant look out for when i was bringing it in. His objective was inbetween two buildings and I dropped the pod right next to it before he knew it I deepstriked two assualt squads right next to the other objectives and one the game

 

[Cyklown]

The kill points on sticks argument doesn't really work, because it's a tactic you allow for when building a list, not one that you count on.

It's a nice option to have. 2/3 of the time killpoints don't matter, and when they DO matter you're trading one KP for blocking and cover saves. That blocking and those cover saves can more than pay for the 35 points and a KP that you paid for them.

Tau need the blocking more than SMurfs do, but they're willing to pay twice the cost of a drop pod for a blocking unit. Granted, the blocking unit has a BS3 meltagun and an extra set of blockers available, but it's twice as much and costs 2 kps.

There's some reasonably good diagramming over on (shameless plug for Kirby) 3++ is the New Black that shows the benefits of using Vypers for the same purpose.

It isn't always your best bet, but it's nice having the option and it can yield some significant dividends by shaping the battlefield, hampering your opponent's mobility and removing fire lanes that you find inconvenient.


edit: snapz! he wrote this too!
http://kirbysblog-ic.blogspot.com/2010/06/how-to-blocking.html
And, like, other ones.