# How do you guys avoid drop pods?



## Pirate Metal Troy (Jun 2, 2008)

Since I'm about to start using a drop pod heavy army, I want to ask, how do you guys go about avoid the inevitable drop pod assault?

Also, do you gents ever keep your whole army off the table when you are forced to go second in a "dawn of war" deployment?


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## Inquisitor Einar (Mar 6, 2009)

There are several ways to deal with drop pods.
The first is to deny them the tactical advantage of drop pods, by not deploying anything.
The others are using things like an astropath to deny the full fury of a drop pod assault.
Letting their forces come down piecemeal so you can concentrate your fire and limit
the amount of firepower the enemy can bring to bear.

Other tricks are things like using mechanised movement, giving your enemy a target
and when he commits his drop pods, redeploy to nullify the advantage gained with his pods.


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## Sebi (Mar 3, 2009)

as Speed freak or or Dakka-Ork I normally "castle-up" - setting up cheap Gretchin in the front while my expensive units are all huddled in their tanks together (spread wide enough so that your pod can just land between them just in case it scatters into my "castle" but so that you cannot get out 

Now you might want to drop your army in front of my Tank-caste or Dakka-fortress ... there are cheap Gretchin in your way or strong Tanks ... blow on up ... who cares ... I will get your troops as you only brought down 50% and I have my full army there

deploy your pods around the field ... I will spread out with my fast Pikkupz and Bikes and pikk of what is there of fire the hell with my Lootaz out of your spread out troops.

once I even killed a Cybot with Dakkaguns of my Bikes (S5) that was fun.

Drop pod can be bad ... but when expected one can do a lot of things agains it

What really pis**s me off are melta and flammer "suicide" squads getting on my tanks ... or burning into my troops.

As Necron:
Castle to the max. with mobile Destroyers and a Monolith come and try to get me ...
Cybots? I love em ... even my tiniy warriors can glance them and at rapid fire range that will be 20 Shots normaly resulting in 2-3 glancing hits with at worst stunning your Bot
At best it will be immobilised or/and rid of a weapon

Again:
Drop Pod Assault or as it is called the "Steel Rain" can be deadly but also easily avoided


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## darklove (May 7, 2008)

As a mainly Necron player I never worry about drop pods. As my armies generally are very mobile and have no weak points. I quite like playing vs drop armies because they have fewer units and arrive in my kill zone faster.


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## Katie Drake (Nov 28, 2007)

With my Daemons I pray to the Gods I get to go second.

With my Flesh Tearers I tend to castle up in a corner somewhere and use my transports as a wall to protect my units that don't have transports (like my Veteran Assault Marines and Death Company). Of course depending on the mission and number of Drop Pods in my enemy's army I'll think about holding my entire army in Reserve.


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## moshpiler (Apr 16, 2009)

ye but a drop pod army doesn't have to deploy in their drop pods. they can use empty pods to block LOS and movement


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## Katie Drake (Nov 28, 2007)

moshpiler said:


> ye but a drop pod army doesn't have to deploy in their drop pods. they can use empty pods to block LOS and movement


Yeah, but then they're stuck walking which can be a big problem.

Also, I assume by "Drop Pod army" we're talking about an army that mostly if not entirely arrives on the battlefield via Drop Pod?


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## Necrosis (Nov 1, 2008)

I take a normal Inquisitor and give him two mystics. Each time a drop pod lands within 4d6, I can get a unit within 12 of the Inquisitor to take "free shots" at the squad coming out of the drop pod or the drop pod itself.


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## Someguy (Nov 19, 2007)

Mystics are one issue. Tactical flexibility is another.#

Drop pods force you to play in a particular way, and you don't have a whole lot of control over when your guys turn up. It's very easy for your opponent to just put his guys in reserve or get inside rhinos to be largely safe.

I'm really not a fan of drop pod armies. Personally I tend to beat them very easily so I can't see any point in doing it. Drop pods are manifestly worse than rhinos, most especially in objective games because you can't get back into them.


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## Tim/Steve (Jan 25, 2009)

Yup agree with Someguy: drop pods armies are very inflexible, they have to send half their force onto the tabel first turn after which it is very slow moving. If you are in reserve then they lose 50% of their punch and if you are in reserve and going second then over 75% of the enemy drop pods should already be on the board before you even enter play... that means that you have total control of the battlefield. If the enemy are already set up and are all on foot then you can come on on the flank of your choice (or rather the side of your board edge) and concentrate fire/assault onto the units you choose to fight

I love drop pods but dont really see a reason to have more then 2-3 in an army: it means they arent they arent a great part of the army so no-one acts to counter them (like being in reserve) so when they appear they get to shoot at whatever they want and to be around the enemies they most want to fight.... I also like having a pod placed into reserve (which is why I like using 2 pods not an odd number) to carry a unit of troops which I can then add into the battlefield at any point I want later in the game (either to support units which need help, to clear enemy objectives or to claim some of my own which I either cleared the enemy off or abandoned to take the fight to the enemy).
- couple of drop pods gives added flexibility... all/many drop pods makes you too predictable and obvious.


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## deathbringer (Feb 19, 2009)

I dont really mind pods. You cant assault on the way in and normally with the whole of my tau army trained upon them i have enough to minimize the damage they can do to me. Its only when i have pods coming in and then rhino's and raiders trundling up behind them that i start to worry as you can easily get overwhelmed.

I always deploy everything in cover anyway so normally i can survive the shooting and bite back. Just be prepared to be assaulted.


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## Someguy (Nov 19, 2007)

As the last couple of posters have mentioned, a small number of pods can really help a conventional attack. You can drop something in, like a dread or sternguard squad maybe, and hit a key target (usually something that threatens your land raider). Then you are giving your opponent multiple problems all at once, rather than having a totally random army.


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## Blue Liger (Apr 25, 2008)

As a DE player full drop pod armies like daemon armies don't do well as it gives me the advantage of you can't assault me I'm but I can assault you also having the use of 12" moving vehicles then disembarking and assaulting doesn't help either as I can do this well by holding my army in reserve whilst you have to drop pod in giving me a huge advantage, in the long run of the game it also helps me as I have vehicles that move 24" and most things that come in pods can only move 6" with a max of 12". In annihilation drop pods are going to be your worst enemy as they give easy KP's away, capture and control not too bad but as I said against a highly manouverable army they don't do well.


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## Truthteller (Sep 2, 2009)

FWIW I just keep everyone together. Half the enemy army appears and then I assault it - Codex SM armies are no match for CSM in assault however they turn up. 

I would however keep everyone off board if faced with Dawn of War and going second. 

I like the drop pod concept and intend to try it out with Space Wolves once I have the models sorted out (probably March next year at current rate of progress). Whilst I can see its weaknesses I think that SW can address some of these because of their better CC performance. The other thought in my mind is that range for shooting is key if you don't have mobility, so any drop podded Dreads I used would have TL Las and I would probably take a LF pack with 2Las and 3ML. 

TT


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## Tim/Steve (Jan 25, 2009)

If you are taking long range weaponry on dreads and/or long fangs why would you bother putting them in drop pods?
You spend 35pts (not to mention an extra KP) on a deployment option that doesnt actually help you out in the least... just walk onto the board and bingo, there you go.


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## Rye (Sep 22, 2009)

Also, doesn't deploying in a drop pod count as the unit having moved? I see how this wouldn't be a problem for a Dreadnought, but for the Devastators?


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## Sqwerlpunk (Mar 1, 2009)

Only time I've ever seen Devastators/Long Fangs in Drop Pods is with the Relentless SC trick so you can drop 5 MMs and fire.


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## Brother Tancred (Nov 5, 2009)

I use drop pods mostly for my dreadnoughts, I use the fear factor of then to my advantage...some people may argue this but if I see enemy armor on the board and or heavy weapons teams that I dont want to deal with...I send in my dreads and knock them out with my multi melta and missile launcher...I think that is a very affective way to use my dreads. Any other time they have to take the time to walk across the field and they always get picked off.


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## Pirate Metal Troy (Jun 2, 2008)

Alright, lets make it more specific.

2 dreads with multi-metlas and heavy flamers, a 10 man sternguard squad full of combi-weapons, and 2 tactical squads are in 5 drop pods, which means 3 pods on turn one, no matter what you do.

You have first turn (no way around it). How do you deploy?


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## Orochi (Jan 28, 2009)

Deploy everything in reserve!!


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## Aramoro (Oct 7, 2009)

Depends what I'm playing really. If i'm playing Mech Eldar then I would turboboost/flatout my guys up the table, castling next to some terrain features. (Wave Serpents with their back to something impassable if possible or another Wave Serpent) Trying to control where he can drop if he wants to drop near my guys. You're going to get a pretty bad shooting up, you can't avoid that but you should be able to minimise your losses and hit them back hard on your turn. 

Aramoro


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## Iron Angel (Aug 2, 2009)

As a Necron player, DPAs eliminate the frustrating hassle of walking my guys up to you so I can shoot you to hell. This way, they drop right on top of a full bowl of ass kicking.

Against DPA, there are two sound tactics I use. The first is counterassault castling, which I will use if I'm packing Scarabs and Pariahs, which I usually am. Scarabs are set up to tarpit the oncoming enemy squads. If they have flamers, they have to make a tough choice. Shoot the Scarabs with the flamers and risk the 12" Necron Warrior death zone, or assault the scarabs and get diced up by Pariahs which will rush out from the back of the army to assault. If they have Meltas, well, GL. You'll have to wade through my entire army to get to my monolith(s).

The second tactic is the divide and conquer. This is if I'm NOT packing any Scarabs/Pariahs, and its difficult and time consuming to pull off. I've only had it work once, against a SW player. When they assault, cycle through the monolith to draw them closer and closer into your front lines, and then by the second or third turn, he's surrounded on all sides and he doesn't even realize he's now being assaulted by every unit in my army. I'll cycle what needs it through a Monolith to keep troop count high, and reassault every turn. Problem is, you're focusing all of your military against that threat, leaving the rest of his army open to do whatever it likes- He's forced your hand, and now theres nothing you can do.


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## Tim/Steve (Jan 25, 2009)

Have to say that nothing scares me less then a drop pod assault- would give my nids free reign to set up with all MCs surrounded by gaunts so no melta/plasma squads can kill them (like sternguard) and any non-WoN gaunt unit is likely to be in cover (well... ~55% in cover at least) so only flamers will do much of anything to them (and they are only gaunts after all)
....
then in my turn _all_ everything that isnt a vehicle is pretty much dead... and I have zoanthropes, biovores, a winged tyrant and fex spread throughout my army to try to kill as many dreads as I can (or just go for pods if I have no better targets).


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## Underground Heretic (Aug 9, 2008)

On a tangent: How would you deal with the tyranid army that can deep strike, mostly in drop pods. The landing spore, from what I've heard does not have the drop pod assault rule. If the player takes tyrants with the +1 to reserves upgrade, they can bring the rest of the army in on a 2 or 3+. I'm assuming the same principles of rapid firing should bring the gaunts down, but what about the Trygons, carnifexes and tyrants that can deep strike on the same turn.

Admittedly I am worried about the tyranids hitting the static portions of my army. Playing a semi-mechanized Tau army I'm wondering how to counter that many close combat units deep striking next to my army simultaneously.


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## Katie Drake (Nov 28, 2007)

Underground Heretic said:


> On a tangent: How would you deal with the tyranid army that can deep strike, mostly in drop pods. The landing spore, from what I've heard does not have the drop pod assault rule. If the player takes tyrants with the +1 to reserves upgrade, they can bring the rest of the army in on a 2 or 3+. I'm assuming the same principles of rapid firing should bring the gaunts down, but what about the Trygons, carnifexes and tyrants that can deep strike on the same turn.
> 
> Admittedly I am worried about the tyranids hitting the static portions of my army. Playing a semi-mechanized Tau army I'm wondering how to counter that many close combat units deep striking next to my army simultaneously.


Firstly, I highly recommend that you change your Tau army from a semi-mechanized one to a fully mechanized one. The absolute last thing you want is to have anything on foot against the new Tyranids, as the entire army excels at tearing infantry to pieces. The more Hammerheads and Devilfish that you have the better you'll do.

Other than army composition, you'll need to choose your targets very carefully. When playing against "Boo!" type Tyranids (meaning everything or almost everything arrives by spore, burrowing, jumping out of terrain, outflanking, etc) it's probably going to be impossible to avoid being charged completely. There'll simply be too many units to deal with them all. You'll need to protect your most important assets (just about anything that can lay down a template) by screening them with less important units. You're going to need a lot of plasma rifles, missile pods and flamers (yes, flamers. Preferably twin-linked ones).

The Great Devourer is coming... what do _you_ plan to do about it?


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## dillonlaval (Oct 23, 2009)

Make sure all my Heavy Bolters are locked and loaded...


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## Arbite (Jan 1, 2010)

Luck. Last game i played, my opponents venerable dreadnought scattered off the table and died.


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## Raptors8th (Jul 3, 2009)

Wow Katie way to publicize for your thread. As for what i do against DPAs? Inquisitor w/ 2 mystics sitting behind a vindi. Nuff said.


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## Katie Drake (Nov 28, 2007)

Raptors8th said:


> Wow Katie way to publicize for your thread.


Sue me? Hahaha...


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## Crimzzen (Jul 9, 2008)

If there are 3 or more drop pods, most likely I will reserve everything. That being said, I think a dreadnought in a drop pod is probably one of the smartest choices in any SM/SW list. For 150 points, you will inevitably destroy/cripple a piece of armour they were counting on which undoubtedly cost them more. Not to mentioned the scare that a dreadnought with a h.flamer/multimelta causes in an opponents backfield.


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## oblivion8 (Jun 17, 2009)

with drop pods, it all depends on what mission type you are playing.
with kill points, probably just bunker down a corner or table edge like said before.
with points its a little more tricky as you have to spread your army to win.

but whatever you do u should not ignore drop pods!They are kill points first off. Also, if you forget about them and you start playing clumsily, then those point contesting droppods can be annoying in the last turns when you remember you need to kill them off....


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## Farseer Darvaleth (Nov 15, 2009)

one unit I always find really slow for me is the dreadnought, that heavy flamer never gets used and the power weapon, seldom.

WELL, stick him in a drop pod and there you go. put a locator beacon on that drop pod and send in the termies, while the rest of your force speeds across the table unnapposed. ITS FUN.


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## dakari-mane (Mar 9, 2007)

When facing off against drop pods I like to start everything in reserve. 

The advantage of the pods is lost as they drop onto an empty board.


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