Drop troops tactica.( from the Lo)

[Plisken]

A Doctrine too far - Imperial Guard Drop Troop Tactica

I have been tempted to write this for a while as I find myself saying the same thing over again on the IG forum, this is basically a guide to the uses of the drop troop doctrine available from codex IG. I am going to try and bite my tongue and not mention my Elysians (damn did it already) or general forgeworld goodness that fits so well with the doctrine (Vuture gunships)

So mostly we have all seen “A bridge too far” or “Black hawk down” right? All excited? Want to field an army which deep strikes onto the battlefield and through heroic courage and skill at arms manages to save they day? The look no further (this could put you off the idea for life)

Classically paratroops are used as part of a combined arms operation, taking objectives ahead of an advancing body of troops. This really doesn’t equate to the skirmish scale of 40K but it can be used in the game. Add to this that fact that IG generally stands and shoots relying on putting down a hail of fire for as many turns as possible as the opponent treks towards them, however the drop troop doctrine when applied to a unit means the unit gets fewer turns shooting having missed at least the first one and starts closer to the enemy. Disaster? Not entirely, deep striking isn’t on of those “All or nothing” doctrines, you can give it to selected units, which brings us, rather laboriously, to the first area:

Partly drop troop Armies

This is the most common usage of the drop troop doctrine, the main body of the army is played as standard IG army but selected units are given the deep strike ability in order to “reach out and touch someone”

Objective taking
In theory odd squads can be deep struck onto objectives, a cunning plan, probably best reserved for storm troopers, but don’t expect them to hold onto it if your opponent makes any serious attempt to take it, even a squad of stormies cant cope that well in close combat, rather, if you have units arriving very late, drop them onto objectives that are well clear of your opponent, but this is more or less a target of opportunity rather than a planned tactic.

Suicide squads
By far the most common use of drop troop doctrine is the creation of a suicide squad that lands next to an opponent unit and destroys it, subsequently they tend to get wiped out but some units are very effective at this. The two riders on this are that firstly you can not guarantee the squad wont deviate/scatter, often this makes them completely ineffective so don’t rely on them as an absolute, secondly the nature of deep strike means you wont be using these squads in turn 1 so don’t depend on them to take out armour or fast elites that will do their damage early on. Classics include:

Special weapons squads with flamers and/or demo charges – these can devastate full squads of the biggest, hardest units in your opponents’ army, and rather pleasingly the demo charge reinforces the suicide nature of the squad by deviating back on to its own unit half the time

Special weapons squads with meltaguns and/or demo charges – again can devastate MEQs but clearly can take out tanks very effectively

Veteran squads (small in numbers) with 3 flamers or 3 meltas – can do the same as above

Arguably platoon HQs tooled with flamers or meltas can do this too but this is rather a waste of the points spent on an officer

Sentinels – the most common option being the heavy flamer which can kill troops effectively, but equally all other options can get access to the rear armour of vehicles

But I see myself as Gene Hackman in a beret with a dodgy Polish accent
Ok so if you genuinely want to play a drop troop army and drop everything onto the table, then.. your forces are going to arrive piecemeal and off target, you can not out fight your opponent and you have hampered your shooting, all you have is guts and the bare faced refusal to look facts in the face! Me, I am in! This isn’t an army for the inexperienced or faint hearted; it needs to be played cunningly and innovatively. You need to hit hard and then hold on for dear life

Classically my drop troops, when the Elysian rules are banned, takes the iron discipline doctrine. All squads have voxs and the Command HQ has a master vox. All squads take vet sgts. The HQs provide fire support from as many special weapons as I can get into them, but I do tend to include a medic, roughly the army can be broken down into 3 areas: 2 assault elements and odds and sods. The 2 assault elements are essentially the infantry platoons and their command squads. Each infantry squad has a special weapon and a missile launcher (the only viable heavy weapon mini for the Elysians). In addition to this are the odds and sods, these include special weapons squads (flamers and meltas with demo charge), the HQ command squad, with loads of special weaponry, a sentinel with an Autocannon and improved comms, 2 sentinels with las cannons and HK missiles, veterans and storm troopers.

Assault Elements:
Identify 1 target per platoon (in my case 2 targets), ideally these are objectives guarded by strong squads. Deep strike platoons around the target, usually the whole platoon around a single objective, and rapid fire into the defenders, what is left will generally charge you, charge it right back, with as much as possible, the only proviso on this is if other units are in the area, you may need to dose these up with fire. Gradually get your units into firing positions on the objective.

Odds and Sods
These have a number of roles, firstly they can reinforce the assault elements, if you feel the entire platoon can not handle the current defenders then support them with an odds and sods unit.
Secondly these units can take out enemy squads threatening your assault units, particularly good for this are the special weapons squads with demo charges, although rolling the scatter dice twice makes you very prone to missing.
Several of these units can be used to take out enemy tanks and fire support, deep striking deep into the enemies deployment zone and chewing up his rear, this can be a suicide mission, but if so will distract your opponent from taking on your assault elements and recapturing the objectives.
These are to all intents and purposes, a tactical reserve to squander or hoard at your peril, generally if they have killed more points than they cost, then they have done their job.

Usually by turn 5 the majority of your army has arrived, most of the odds and sods have been killed or are routing off the board and what is left of your assault elements are hiding in cover around objectives and trying to tough it out. Arnhem all over again, unfortunately 30 Corps is not ever going to arrive, but hey, you have the advantage of the game ending around turn so you just need to tough it out until then

Cityfight
Drop troop armies are a mixed blessing in a cityfight, but can be extremely effective, their lack of vehicles, high numbers, mobile fire power all contributes to make them pretty effective, but don’t deep strike them if at all possible, watching as you entire platoon disappears thanks to the scatter dice gods is not a pleasant feeling.

Most importantly – have fun, enjoy the flamboyance and daring of the army, revel in the fact that your drop knocked your opponents plans into a cocked hat and by the time he had recovered, the game was over. Personally I always enjoy sitting through the deployment phase with my arms crossed looking smug and watching my opponent get anxious on turn 2 when I pick up the dice for the reserve rolls
(Written By cheriadine http://www.librarium-online.com/foru...op-troops.html)

[Levin]

couldn't have written a better report myself, good work!

[experiment 626]

nicely done mate! it's good to see i'm not the only lawn dart around here...

if i may add some of my views to your article;

personally, i would *never*, *ever* go the 'half drop troops, half armour' approch as it simply smacks of half-heartedness! a drop troops force is a very extream army and i find it works much better when you go 'all-in'... taking just 2-4 or so deep striking squads to me simply smacks of a lack of confidence!
with drop troops you need to be bold, be decisive and drop in numbers! lots of numbers!!!

i agree that remnents, special weapon teams, sentinels (particularly the heavy flamer ones!) and smaller hardened vet squads are your best precision/throw-away units that are gold at harrasing your opponent to no end! (my heavy flamer honestly has to be the most reviled and hated model in my army simply because he never fails to crispy-fry at least one unit!)
the great thing about these units is their cheap pts cost, and with a high consentration of special weapons (like say meltas!) it's very easy to make their pts back with a single kill... just don't expect these units to survive.
platoon hq's shouldn't be ignored either as they can pack lots of special weapons and still provide solid Ld should drop well away from your lines...

speaking of your sentinels, it's mandetory that you take a set of improved coms! these little beauties have saved my skin so many times it's not even remotely funny! that re-roll can be used even on a successful roll in order to ensure a large formation (such as an infantry platoon!) won't drop if there's no real target for them!
the basic idea is to drop 90-100% of your reserves on the same turn! few armies will be able to deal with 40-50+ guardsmen after taking a round of rapid fire from them...
which brings me to one of those neat, dirty little tricks; drop into cover! it's not as harsh as in v3, and if your opponent doesn't like the thought of 40+ guardsmen landing on his front door, he'll loath that same number of guardsmen landing on his front door with a 5+ or better cover save (just beware of flamers!)

as for where to drop? well, i've found after two years of playing all-drop troops that if you can isolate 1 or 2 enemy units, you'll usually win the ensuing fire fight! like every guard army, drop troops still rely on numbers to win the battle. by surrounding say a devastator squad and the nearby predator with an infantry platoon, special weapons team and sentinel, you can usually rest assured that the offending enemy units won't be on the table much longer!
droping one or two squads away from the main concentration of your forces isn't nessessarily a bad idea either. it simply depends on the situation at hand... for example, droping an infantry squad behind a mechanised enemy force can delay them for at least 2 full turns as they stop, get out and deal with your troops, before packing up again next turn! if they don't deal with your troops or deploy only one or two units to get them, then you still win because now their force is coming at the rest of your lines peicemeal!!! (it's one of those, 'heads i win, tails you lose' sitiuations!) this is a very handy trick to pull in say a rescue or any objective-based mission


i'll have more later, but for now i'm being booted!

cheers!

[Plisken]

I agree with the coms idea, But in some cases i dont go all in simply because it think droping all my men would kill 3/4 or them, or when im playing an odjectives game whereas i will take objectives with units on land and drop units onto them when they need help.

[experiment 626]

well, i always make sure to deploy a solid firebase to help either pin the nemy down into a protracted fire fight (and then land the lawn darts as the hammer blow!) or else my firebase units will clear an LZ for my lawn darts to land fairly safely and sweep the area clear of any remaining enemies... (thus forcing a battle on two fronts!)

as for objectives, i include an armoured fist squad (who ride about in a scratch-built 40k style blackhawk!) to do those jobs, or if i'm fighting say a recon, i find deep striking at least half a guard army on turn 4 or 5 into my opponent's deployment zone is quite nasty and game-winning! (again, coms to the rescue in this case!)
another thing i always recommend for others is to never, ever for any reason give a heavy weapon to a deep striking unit!!! spending over 20pts in some cases on a weapon you'll only ever fire 2-3 times isn't a smart investment! (you can instead get more boots for dropping on top of enemies!)

again, when i get some more time i'll go into my doctrines and why i feel they can work, provided i'm not the one rolling the dice

cheers!

[hairyyahoo]

the comms idea is vital for drop guard as far as i'm conserned and the more of them you can get the better control you'll have over your army. i played a game against marines using drop troops once, thinking i'll allow them to move forwards for 2-3 turns then catch them between 2 forces in a kind of "hammer and anvil" tactic. of course all my troops arrived on turn 2 and got butchered, and this could have been avoided with a comms reroll.

hindsight, a wonderful thing.

[experiment 626]

i've found that one set of coms is generally all you need for anything under 2000pts... basically, if i fudge the re-roll then i may as well go with what i've got and try to make good of a bad situation!

a key to playing drop troops well is to always play for going 2nd. i know it sounds odd, even slightly barking, but by going 2nd you effectively deny your opponent a whole turn of shooting! very handy if you ask me

cheers!

[DeAd_cOmMaNdO]

you also get the last turn of the game - which is great for last minute manouvering and knocking enemy units below scoring strength.

[Plisken]

Originally Posted by hairyyahoo

hindsight, a wonderful thing.

Couldnt agree with you more.

[experiment 626]

Originally Posted by DeAd_cOmMaNdO

you also get the last turn of the game - which is great for last minute manouvering and knocking enemy units below scoring strength.

exactly! and drop troops by their very nature are the most manouverable guard force you can get, simply for the ability to deploy them were you want and (hopefully!) when you want


one thing i find that holds alot of players back from the drop troops is the thought of the scatter die... truth be told, it's your very best friend and if you treat it as such, it will help you out more than it will hurt you.
honestly, my heavy flamer sentinel *never* scatters more than 3"-4"! maybe i'm just lucky with that one die, but usually you'll find that your units won't go horribly off target too often.
again, this is why you drop most of your squads in the same area. (say a flank) as long as you keep more than 12" from the table edge/s you're fine! sure you migh lose a unit every now and then, but you'll most likely still have 30+ guardsmen, hopefully all in rapid fire range of their target

the main mistake i see most people make with the lawn darts is they either go half-hearted (and thus have little to no support for their deep striking units, meaning they don't kill as much and lose most of their deep strikers in their opponent's next turn!) or else they scatter their forces far too thin on the drop and try to take on as many enemy squads as they have deep striking units...
drop in force against two or three key targets and you'll murder most things in range... spread out and try to take on half the enemy army at once and you're simply asking for trouble!

cheers!

[hairyyahoo]

Originally Posted by experiment 626

the main mistake i see most people make with the lawn darts is they either go half-hearted (and thus have little to no support for their deep striking units, meaning they don't kill as much and lose most of their deep strikers in their opponent's next turn!) or else they scatter their forces far too thin on the drop and try to take on as many enemy squads as they have deep striking units...
drop in force against two or three key targets and you'll murder most things in range... spread out and try to take on half the enemy army at once and you're simply asking for trouble!

cheers!

totally and undeniably true.

this is the mistake i made againt the marines. i dropped my troops into the same area but forgot to co-ordinate their fire, so instead of 1 dead squad out of 3 i wounded a few marines and the rest butchered me.

never go 1 squad on 1 against marines!

[experiment 626]

against meq's, if you can drop into cover then i highly recomend you do so!

and yes, concentration of fire is key to success with any deep striking force, but especially with guard as you simply can't take the punishment back

against marines, i try to come down in 2 waves;
1st wave is my heavy flamer sentinel, meltagun units and special weapon squad w/satchel charge.
2nd wave is the infantry itself.

hopefully the 1st wave will have been able to take out a tank or two and/or land the satchel charge on a big unit of nasty space marines! once the main bulk of my deep striking infantry comes down, they can hopefully wether what's left of the marine's main forces without suffering too many casulties!
droping behind vehicle wrecks is also fun as it forces the few remaining marines to either pull back and 'dare' you to come get them, or else they try and come to you whereby you can jump them next turn!lol.

cheers!

[Plisken]

Originally Posted by experiment 626

against meq's, if you can drop into cover then i highly recomend you do so!

and yes, concentration of fire is key to success with any deep striking force, but especially with guard as you simply can't take the punishment back

against marines, i try to come down in 2 waves;
1st wave is my heavy flamer sentinel, meltagun units and special weapon squad w/satchel charge.
2nd wave is the infantry itself.



cheers!

I do the same first wave is my sents and suicide sqauds, they seconds is the infintry.

[experiment 626]

Originally Posted by Plisken

I do the same first wave is my sents and suicide sqauds, they seconds is the infintry.

when you can time it right and pull off a precision drop, it's truely something to behold just how horrifyingly efficent the lawn darts are at annhialating the enemy within a couple of very brutal turns of deep striking madness

when things go 'bad' though, it's usually not so pretty!lol. (well, for your opponent it's good though!!!)

cheers!

[Perturabo]

My main opponent has been known to use this on occasion to great effect.

Draw me in with a normal force-plenty of troops and armour, plenty for me to get my teeth into and get distracted with, then drop in a large well armed contingent in my relatively unprotected rear!He then uses these troops to take out any remaining node creatures, sits back and watches the entire nid advance grind to a halt!

Doesnt always work because I now know of this tactic and Im ready for it or Im already in his lines on the other table edge or his drop just goes horribly wrong (somthing even I dont like because it spoils a damn good scrap).

[experiment 626]

dirty, filthy trick of the day:
1) take an allied inquisitor with the books of pain radical wargear. drive him upto the enemy (preferably in a land raider!). the enemy will no doubt try to mug him with everything range in their turn... (careless fools!)
2) your turn, read from your dark texts and pin every unit with a model within 3"!!! now drop all your guard units onto your opponent's opposite flank and watch as his/her army is helpless to support the threatned flank

overall, yes it's pricey! but if you can pull it off there's litterly nothing that can stand upto this trick (well, except fearless armies obviously...)

cheers!

[Plisken]

Secret allies FTW. ^.^

[Plisken]

Originally Posted by experiment 626

overall, yes it's pricey! but if you can pull it off there's litterly nothing that can stand upto this trick (well, except fearless armies obviously...)

cheers!

that is brilliant ima try that against my Tau opponent.

[experiment 626]

Originally Posted by Plisken

that is brilliant ima try that against my Tau opponent.

hehehe! add in some heavy flamer sentinels for even more fun!

though, against tau it'll be alot more difficult due to all their nasty rail guns... i suggest adding on smoke launchers (no brainer really!) and extra armour for a bit more protection! (at least that way you can always deploy your retinue...)
shielding your raider with some inquisition stormies in their chimera might also help a bit.


dirty, flithy trick of the day: against an enemy inquisitor with mystics, drop a single 40 point heavy flamer sentinel on them... odds are the sentinel will go bang and can easily take most of the retinue with it in the explosion! (and will now count as size 3 area terrain, forcing the retinue to move!)
if it does somehow survive, well you've still blocked the unit's line of sight

cheers!

cheers!

[Steellegioncpt]

one of th best tactics I have used is a simple one.
You take the veterans douctrine and use two hardened vet squads. Have these squads maxed out with 3 melta guns and only have 5 men in each squad. Then you have a cheap 75 point "melta bomb" squad that can take out that pesky hammerhead in the corner.

[WNxHasoroth]

I would have to agree! Drop Pod armies are not for the faint of heart. If you wish to play these heroes of derring-do then bring a defibrillator, trust me, you'll need it.

I've found a very effective way for me to play a drop pod force is a small section of suicide squads, and the deployment of a platoon without deepstrike so that you have a hold on a portion of the battlefield. Another sneaky tactic is the usage of one small Sentinel Walker with Improved Comms snuck behind a big tree or rock. This will do wonders for your rolls.

[Plisken]

Originally Posted by Steellegioncpt

one of th best tactics I have used is a simple one.
You take the veterans douctrine and use two hardened vet squads. Have these squads maxed out with 3 melta guns and only have 5 men in each squad. Then you have a cheap 75 point "melta bomb" squad that can take out that pesky hammerhead in the corner.

YAh, that hammerhead is the least of my problems, i kill it with hunter killer missles, The only real problem i have is killing there broadsides with thoes shield drones. Man there a problem.

[experiment 626]

Originally Posted by Plisken

YAh, that hammerhead is the least of my problems, i kill it with hunter killer missles, The only real problem i have is killing there broadsides with thoes shield drones. Man there a problem.

a well thrown satchel charge will solve those pesky battlesuit problems my friend, drones or no drones!
everything