As I have been continuing to mull over the Space Vikings codex and some ways to incorporate it into the IG army, I came across an interesting idea, its a bit silly really. The flavor of the week right now is taking those wonderful non dedicated drop pods in the SW and using it in their own armies. To be hip and up with the cool kids, I have one of my own to add.
Special weapons squads in the IG platoon are not bad, but they suffer from issues of being BS 3, making a lot of their weapon option not that great, and not being able to take a dedicated transport. Valks are a good option, but the drop for them can be very risk and unreliable. Ah ha! Drop pods are much more reliable (and cheaper). The idea for this is that it is a suicide bomb to go off in your enemies zone, with little care on your end what happens to them.
Space wolves should be primary so you can get two drop pods, the you take two IG platoons to get two special weapons squads. Platoons are terrible so I'm sure you'll struggle to find a use for them. You kit the special weapon squads out with all demo charges. For added alpha strike, throw in a drop pod or two on some of the space wolf squads, as they suck at dropping in so much.
First turn (or not depending on opponent) you drop the bombs in, keep em close to the enemy lines, if you scatter towards them you stop anyways. The squads pop out and lob 6 demo charges into their lines for high explosive fun. You'll scatter some, but if you pick a good area with multiple targets, it won't be too bad, and with 6 demo charges, its really hard to not do any damage. Could you kill the squad, sure, but oh well, they were going to die next turn anyway as your enemy wasted shots killing them.
The investment really isn't that much so its not hard at all to fit this combo into your army. Will this take the meta by storm? Lol, prob not, but its not a bad unit and can do a lot of damage. If you like wolves and IG, its something to try out and at the very least laugh at the fireworks.
GG
Thought you couldn't start the game in another detachment's dedicated transport, not even battlebrothers.
ReplyDeleteAh yes, but SWs can get fast attack drop pods, so they don't come with a squad :)
DeleteYes, only the unit purchased with the dedicated transport, plus an independent character that joined the unit can start the game inside. But, I think the article is talking about using non-dedicated transport drop pods and putting a battle brother ally inside. And, in 7th edition battle brothers are now allowed to embark in each other's transports.
DeleteAs for whether a unit can start the game in a non-dedicated transport, this has been debated for many years. The problem is there is no nice and specific rule in the rules of transports. I've always said that a unit can deploy embarked so long as there is transport capacity, no specific unit size restriction, and there's no conflict with the dedicated transport restriction. The other side of the argument is that embarkation only can take place in the movement phase, therefore you can't start the game in a non-dedicated transport, you'd have to embark turn 1. So, I'm relying on the absence of a rule restriction, and the other side is referring to a very general movement phase rule.
There is nothing that states you can't start a unit embarked on a non dedicated transport, and in this case that is how I see it going. Otherwise there is no way to start a squad in valk or vendettas until the second turn at the latest, or for other transports that are not dedicated.
DeleteThe idea is great tactic wise but concerning the fluff… I mean, “landing” (or rather smashing into the ground) in the drop pod is an enormous strain to the body - it is used almost exclusively by astrates for a reason. When guardsmen-loaded drop pod would hit the ground, and when the doors would finally open, there should be just flush of a red pulp splashing the faces of the enemy. Oh well, even if they survived, they would not last long in front of the hostile gun line. Just lets hope poor guardsmen managed to arm their demo charges on the way down and set the time fuses accurately:)
ReplyDeleteMaybe any damage caused was actually caused by the Demo Charges exploding when the Pod smashed into the ground and any shots directed at them the following turn (assuming some survive) are just from units that got freaked out by the whole thing and were shooting wildly at the wreckage. Perfect fluff for a "Special Operations" Suicide Squad :)
DeleteWell you could model them as servitors to represent their bionically enhanced for this task bodies
DeleteOr even like terrorists in movies with dynomite strapped to their bodies LOL
Either way, "In the grim dark future, it just sucks to be a guardsman". Cruel commanders prefer to throw your sorry arse into an essentially one-use elevator with a rope cut off rather than launch a new, shiny and expensive missile...
DeleteHey missiles are expensive and who knows how to make em anymore. Guardsmen are easy to make, there's only a few trillion humans around, and despite the Imperiums best efforts, more keep popping out every day. HI Ex is cheap too! Combine and you get profit
DeleteLol, yeah no fancy arming systems, or remote detonators, just a bloke and a match.
DeleteSomething I've been really playing around with is using the Brethren of the Fellhanded formation. Bjorn, & 2x Venerables, 5+ invulnerable, and re-rolling all to hits in Close Combat? Oh heck yes!
ReplyDeleteAnyways, food for thought.