Tuesday, 19 October 2010

Incoming Mail - Drop Pod Marines


E-Mail in :

Hello, I'm from your local games-workshop and follow your website. I was looking for advice on this list i am writing, I was hoping you would be able to help me.

1750- Drop Pod

Captain @ 170pts
Relic blade, Artificer armour, Digi weapons, storm shield.

Master Of The Forge @ 100

Tactical squad @ 225
Melta, Rocket, Power weapon, Drop pod

Tactical squad @ 225
Melta, Rocket, Power weapon, Drop pod

Tactical squad @ 230
flamer, Rocket, Power Fist, Drop pod

Dreadnought @165
Heavy flamer, Extra armour, Drop pod

Dreadnought @165
Heavy flamer, Extra armour, Drop pod

Ironclad Dreadnought @ 180
Heavy flamer, Drop pod

Ironclad Dreadnought @ 180 Heavy flamer, Drop pod

Landspeeder @ 70
Multi-melta, Heavy flamer

Landspeeder @
70 Multi-melta, Heavy flamer

Landspeeder @ 70
Multi-melta, Heavy flamer

Thanks,
Louis Snazle


Reply :

Happy to help.

I'm presuming your intention is to drop 4 Dreadnoughts in your opponents face on turn 1 and then have the Tactical Squads come in later and 'mop-up'.
This is a perfectly viable way of doing such a list but there are a few things we can do to optimise things a bit more.

A few points.

1) If you'd really like a Captain geared up for assault then you can get Vulkan for only 20 points more and he will have the added benefit of making your Flamer and Melta weapons twin-linked.
2) If your landing a Dreadnought in somebodies face then 9 times out of 10 it'll be in short range for your opponents Melta weapons and an average roll will kill an Ironclad just as dead as it will a normal Armour 12 Dreadnought. Also, It's entirely possible for your Drop Pod to scatter far enough away from a vehicle target that you'll be outside of short range with an Ironclad's Meltagun but that is much less likely with a Multi-Melta armed standard Dread.
3) Dreadnoughts don't really need Extra Armour unless they're designed for running into Assault and need to avoid being 'stunned'.
4) Your Tactical Squads are equipped with an odd mix of weaponry (though I can see what you were thinking with the Missile Launchers). I'd stick with Flamer + Multi-Melta and not bother with the Power Weapons and Power Fists. Marines aren't that good in a fight against anything that is designed for assault and anything that isn't they can tie up just fine on their own.
5) The Landspeeders will probably work best if you Deep Strike them in later and it would be nice if you didn't have to worry about them scattering so Locator Beacons on the 'first wave' of Drop Pods may be a good idea.

So we can either have a Vulkan list that has very reliable weaponry or a non-Vulkan list that has more stuff in it.
Personally I'd use Vulkan as he'll make your first strike more reliable due to the fact that your Multi-Meltas will be rerolling to hit and your Flamers will be rerolling to wound ;-)

1750 Pts - Space Marines Roster - Vulkan Drop Pod List

HQ: Forgefather Vulkan He'stan (1#, 190 pts)
1 Forgefather Vulkan He'stan @ 190 pts
1 Kesare's Mantle

HQ: Master of the Forge (1#, 100 pts)
1 Master of the Forge @ 100 pts
1 Servo Harness

Elite: Dreadnought (2#, 160 pts)
1 Dreadnought @ 160 pts (Heavy Flamer; Drop Pod)
1 Drop Pod (Locator Beacon; Drop Pod Assault)

Elite: Dreadnought (2#, 160 pts)
1 Dreadnought @ 160 pts (Heavy Flamer; Drop Pod)
1 Drop Pod (Locator Beacon; Drop Pod Assault)

Elite: Dreadnought (2#, 160 pts)
1 Dreadnought @ 160 pts (Heavy Flamer; Drop Pod)
1 Drop Pod (Locator Beacon; Drop Pod Assault)

Heavy Support: Dreadnought (2#, 150 pts)
1 Dreadnought @ 150 pts (Drop Pod)
1 Drop Pod (Locator Beacon; Drop Pod Assault)

Troops: Tactical Squad (11#, 205 pts)
9 Tactical Squad @ 205 pts (Flamer; Multi-Melta; Drop Pod)
1 Sergeant (Bolt Pistol; Bolter)
1 Drop Pod (Drop Pod Assault)

Troops: Tactical Squad (11#, 205 pts)
9 Tactical Squad @ 205 pts (Flamer; Multi-Melta; Drop Pod)
1 Sergeant (Bolt Pistol; Bolter)
1 Drop Pod (Drop Pod Assault)

Troops: Tactical Squad (11#, 205 pts)
9 Tactical Squad @ 205 pts (Flamer; Multi-Melta; Drop Pod)
1 Sergeant (Bolt Pistol; Bolter)
1 Drop Pod (Drop Pod Assault)

Fast Attack: Land Speeder Squadron (1#, 70 pts)
1 Land Speeder Squadron @ 70 pts (Multi-Melta x1; Heavy Flamer x1)

Fast Attack: Land Speeder Squadron (1#, 70 pts)
1 Land Speeder Squadron @ 70 pts (Multi-Melta x1; Heavy Flamer x1)

Fast Attack: Land Speeder Squadron (1#, 70 pts)
1 Land Speeder Squadron @ 70 pts (Multi-Melta x1; Heavy Flamer x1)

Total Roster Cost: 1745

One Dreadnought has had to go without a Heavy Flamer but just don't send that one after infantry and you'll be fine. If you want Ironclads then you'll have to sacrifice a Landspeeder but I wouldn't bother for the reasons I mentioned earlier.

Of course that isn't the only way of doing it.

If you ditch the Landspeeders altogether it's entirely possible to have a 5 Dreadnought Drop Pod Assault with 4 Tactical Squads in support.

1750 Pts - Space Marines Roster - Vulkan Drop Pod List - 5 Dreads

HQ: Master of the Forge (1#, 100 pts)
1 Master of the Forge @ 100 pts
1 Servo Harness

Elite: Dreadnought (2#, 160 pts)
1 Dreadnought @ 160 pts (Heavy Flamer; Drop Pod)
1 Drop Pod (Locator Beacon; Drop Pod Assault)

Elite: Dreadnought (2#, 160 pts)
1 Dreadnought @ 160 pts (Heavy Flamer; Drop Pod)
1 Drop Pod (Locator Beacon; Drop Pod Assault)

Elite: Dreadnought (2#, 160 pts)
1 Dreadnought @ 160 pts (Heavy Flamer; Drop Pod)
1 Drop Pod (Locator Beacon; Drop Pod Assault)

Heavy Support: Dreadnought (2#, 160 pts)
1 Dreadnought @ 160 pts (Heavy Flamer; Drop Pod)
1 Drop Pod (Locator Beacon; Drop Pod Assault)

Heavy Support: Dreadnought (2#, 160 pts)
1 Dreadnought @ 160 pts (Heavy Flamer; Drop Pod)
1 Drop Pod (Locator Beacon; Drop Pod Assault)

Troops: Tactical Squad (11#, 205 pts)
9 Tactical Squad @ 205 pts (Flamer; Multi-Melta; Drop Pod)
1 Sergeant (Bolt Pistol; Bolter)
1 Drop Pod (Drop Pod Assault)

Troops: Tactical Squad (11#, 205 pts)
9 Tactical Squad @ 205 pts (Flamer; Multi-Melta; Drop Pod)
1 Sergeant (Bolt Pistol; Bolter)
1 Drop Pod (Drop Pod Assault)

Troops: Tactical Squad (11#, 205 pts)
9 Tactical Squad @ 205 pts (Flamer; Multi-Melta; Drop Pod)
1 Sergeant (Bolt Pistol; Bolter)
1 Drop Pod (Drop Pod Assault)

Troops: Tactical Squad (11#, 205 pts)
9 Tactical Squad @ 205 pts (Flamer; Multi-Melta; Drop Pod)
1 Sergeant (Bolt Pistol; Bolter)
1 Drop Pod (Drop Pod Assault)

Total Roster Cost: 1720

That leaves you 30 points to use for upgrades on the Sergeants or some gear for the Master of the Forge or whatever else you fancy. It lacks the Vulkan 'safety net' but other Marines seem to do fine without him, lol.

Hope that's given you some ideas, If you want any more info either leave a comment or send me another E-Mail.

Thoughts, Comments and offers of money are (as usual) most welcome.

4 comments:

  1. Thank you! that has help alot.

    ReplyDelete
  2. i completely agree that Vulkan is a better choice with that many dreads though i'd stay wityh the captain in a drop pod army normally as i have a preference for infantry and combat tactics has saved my ass more times than i can remember.

    as for the power weapons on space marines, in my army (which as i mentioned is infantry based with combat tactics) i found they had to have power weapons and/or fists as without them the balance is just tipped against you when you come up against an identically armed squad with their shiny power weapon, its so galling when that single wounding hit is then saved by power or terminator armour. that said, once again this point is rendered moot when in the context of a dread heavy army as you should get a counter attack with a big strength 10 arm of death.

    for the most part tyhough, drop pod armies rely on you thinking far more ahead than you have to with m,ost armies as once you're down you're staying where you are so making sure things come down on the right target for each unit is the key to success and that only comes with practice and asking your opponent afterwards what would have scared him more if you did it wrong in that game

    ReplyDelete
  3. Im in the no Vulkan camp as he's just boring. One thing im interested in is how you use this list against a reserve based army, which really screws with drop pods or IG with master of the Fleet (i think thats the right one) which just messes with your rolls. Its also week against hoard or monster style lists as it just carnt deal with multi wounds by having that many meltas, specificaly thinking Nid's here.

    Going all pod is very hard unless you have back up plans for the common counters.

    ReplyDelete
  4. @ Boomstick - Against all reserve armies there's no rule that says you have to put anything in those Drop Pods if you don't want to. You can easily deploy the most part of an army on the objectives on turn 1 just by dropping the Tactical Squads first and deploying the Dreadnoughts. Keeping one Tactical squad in reserve for last minute contesting purposes is (somewhat ironically) helped by armies that effect your reserves.

    The Vulkan Version still has 7 Heavy Flamers and 4 normal ones all of which will be re-rolling to wound. That should put a dent in most horde armies. Dreadnoughts also work very well against most horde armies as they usually (at best) only have one guy in the unit that can hurt them and even then not reliably.

    Tyranid MC's are for the most part low WS, low I and don't get many attacks. A couple of Dreadnoughts charging in after firing their weapons will kick the shit out of any Tyranid MC short of a Hive Tyrant/Swarmlord before it gets a chance to hit back. Even if it does hit back it will have to be lucky to destroy the Dreadnought/s first attempt and it's unlikely to get a 2nd, I know because I've both done it and had it done to me, lol.

    I'd happily use either of those lists against Tyranids or Orks (especially Orks).

    Any list based around a 'theme' suffers some weaknesses. Practice to minimise those weaknesses (against opponents who know how to exploit them, obviously) is essential for anybody who wishes to use them.

    The quality of your list helps, good tactics win you games though ;-)

    ReplyDelete