I have been looking at starting another army, and am looking at space marines (among some others.) How viable are drop pod armies at 1500 points?

Roughly it would look like this:

HQ: Captain 123 points
Storm Bolter and Power Sword

HQ:Command Squad 205 Points
Champion
Melta bomb x4
Flamer
Combi Melta
Combi plasma
Drop Pod

2x Tac Sqd (10) 220 points each
Flamer
Multimelta
Power Wpn
Drop Pod

2x Scout Squad (5) 125 points each
Hvy Bolter (1st squad), Missile Launcher (2nd Squad)
Combi Flamer
Teleport Homer

Terminator Assault Squad 200 points
Thunder Hammers and Storm Shields

Sternguard Vet Squad (5) 180 Points
Combi Melta (2)
Combi Flamer (1)
Drop Pod

Dreadnought 140 points
Drop Pod

Total Points 1498. Any Suggestions would be appreciated!

First of all, your squads are multi tasking. You are best putting your meltas in one squad and flamers in another.

Whats your dread armed with?

I would also lose the command squad, possibly the Captain and take Hest'an instead. Use the point s from the command squad to get an Ironclad Dread with two heavy flamers.

Oh, and try getting some camo cloaks on your scouts, possibly even dropping their heavy weapons to accomodate them.

The dread is multimelta with claw/stormbolter, which i think is stock. Thanks for the suggestions though! Hopefully I will be able to start on this within the year, although in the last day or so I am leaning more toward finishing a guard/wh army.

If I'm honest, I have put a lot of consideration into a pure pod army, with a Master of the Forge, 2 100 man tac squads, sternguard, 2 dreads and an ironclad.

Should be fairly fluffy though, and a different challenge to play with and against.

You call 2 x 100 man tactical squads fluffy Pip

I call it foolish (or inspired or cheaty depending on your POV), and thats gonna be two giant Drop Pods (or very small Marines)



T

I callit fluffy, cos in the background, that is how Space Marines are supposed to be deployed.

And two, fully equipped Tactical Squads is not cheesy. Two, bare 5 man squads may be.

100 man tactical squads Pip 100

Oh, ok then, oopsies.

A slight change to the overall idea. I believe it would be awesome to play an all assaulting/deepstriking force. The 3rd Co of the Raven Guard fit the bill very well. I kind of feel that it is kind of cheese to use special characters, but I can't help myself. It is as follows:

HQ: Shadow Captain Shrike 195 pts

TR: Scout Squad (10 man) x2 410 pts
sniper x4
heavy bolter
combi flame
teleport homer
camo cloaks

EL: Terminator Assault (10 man) 400 pts
5x Thunder Hammer & Storm Shield

EL: Dreadnought 195 pts
Heavy Flamer
Twin Linked Heavy Flamer
extra Armor
Drop Pod
Deathwind Missile Launcher
locaotr beacon

FA: Assault Squad (10 Man) 245 pts
Flamer X2
Thunder Hammer & Combat Shield

FA: Land speeder storm 50 pts

Total Points 1495

Basic Idea is to use scout squads, split them up from combat tactics. The sniper/hvy bolter squads provide top cover while the other 2 squads move into key terrain/avenue of approach. Teleport Homers with the foward scouts allow the termies to deepstrike in for surgical assaults on key armor/units.
The termies and Assault Squad can also use the locator beacon on the dreadnoughts drop pod to mass an assault.
The land speeder storm can move in once a unit has deepstriked and use its jammer to prevent counter assaults (unlikely to be around that long, but it's a plus)
The obvious downside is long range firepower. I believe it could work if the focus remains to take out specific units via deepstrikers and the drop pod. If nothing else, it would be hella fun!

Let me know what you think, thanks!

Regarding 'cheese' over using special characters these days, that is something all of us veterans have to get around. To accept me using Vulkan Hest'an, I am painting an entirely new army of Salamanders.

However, due to GW's new approach to codex writing, it is the only way now to allow to deviate from the norm and create more interesting and esoteric army lists.

Otherwise, the list looks very solid and nasty. Not a lover of the Storm, but I guess in an army list like this, it has its uses. Get it on the tabletop (using proxies, if necessary) and see how it works for you.

I do think there are a few things you can trim. I would drop the combi flamer from the scout squad and the Deathwind, and look at upgrading your Dread to an Ironclad. Armour 13 is priceless against Krak Grenades.

Thanks much for the suggestions, I will take them into account=D

Is there not a way to make custom characters? I imagine that having them could be pretty broke if the person you are playing is an asshat and tries to give it too much power. It would be neat to be able to create them though, it would give alot more appeal to having to stick to the big chapters!

It would be nice to be able to give a single character an ability which changed things a little (I miss having two special weapons instead of one special and on heavy) unfortunately, there are no official rules now.