Legiones Astartes – Legion Deathstorm Drop Pod Squadron
- Legion Deathstorm Drop Pod Squadron 90 pts
Deathstorm drop pods were first conceived and prototyped by the Raven Guard Legion, who sought to augment the firepower of their precision-orbital assaults. The Raven Guard Legion’s preference for such surgical-strike tactics would, upon occasion, leave them at a disadvantage in the case of both protracted engagements and in assaulting very heavily fortified targets where heavy units such as Legion tanks and artillery could not be deployed. This opened the Legion up to levels of casualties during some successful drop pod assaults that their Primarch Corax would not countenance. The Raven Guard’s solution spoke much to their own nature and preferred tactics – a weapon that would strike with merciless swiftness and expend its force in a lethal fury that left little need for prolonged endurance. Built around a standard drop pod chassis, the Deathstorm pattern uses rapid-firing missile launchers to provide fire support in contested landing zones, or to deny key areas of the battlefield to the enemy.
| Armour | Transport Capacity | ||||||
| M | BS | Front | Side | Rear | HP | ||
| Legion Deathstorm Drop Pod (⌀Use model) | |||||||
| Legion Deathstorm Drop Pod (⌀Use model) | - | 2 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 3 | - |
- Turret Mounted Deathstorm missile launcher
- Legiones Astartes (X)
- Deep Strike
- Impact-reactive Doors
- Orbital Assault Vehicle
- Area Denial Drop
- Vehicle
- A Legion Deathstorm Drop Pod Squadron may take:
- - Up to 2 additional Legion Deathstorm Drop Pods+90 points each
The Space Marines of the Emperor’s Legions are genetically engineered, psycho-indoctrinated warriors with superhuman abilities, and minds and souls tempered for war. Each of the Legions has its own idiosyncrasies and character – the product of their gene-seed and the unique warrior cultures fostered by their masters.
Any unit with this special rule will have a number of additional special rules and abilities specific to their ‘named’ Legion, all of which will be defined in other Horus Heresy – Age of Darkness publications. A Space Marine unit may only have one such ‘named’ rule, e.g., Legiones Astartes (Sons of Horus). Space Marine units from a different Legion may only be included in an army using an Allied Detachment and in conjunction with the Allies in the Age of Darkness chart.Many assault vehicles have doors designed to release via explosive bolts, allowing their passengers to disembark as swiftly as possible.
When a model with this special rule is deployed, any doors on the model must be opened to their full extent. All models Embarked within a model with this special rule must then Disembark immediately and no models can thereafter Embark within that model for the remainder of the battle. Any model that has Disembarked from a model with this special rule may not have a Charge declared for it in the same turn. The physical doors attached to a model with this special rule are not treated as part of the model once opened and cannot be targeted by Shooting Attacks and do not impede Movement in any way.Drop pods and other dedicated orbital assault vehicles are intended for one purpose only – to deliver warriors and equipment from orbiting spacecraft to battlefields on a planet’s surface. Once deployed they play little further part in the battle, serving only to support the onslaught of their passengers.
A model with this special rule must be deployed onto the battlefield as part of a Deep Strike Assault, or other deployment that requires the Deep Strike special rule. It may never be deployed as normal, regardless of any other rule or mission, and if forced to do so it is immediately reduced to 0 Hull Points and replaced with a Wreck (any models Embarked within must make an Emergency Disembarkation). Furthermore, a model with this special rule may never move – and if forced to do so is immediately reduced to 0 Hull Points and replaced with a Wreck (any models Embarked within must make an Emergency Disembarkation).Some units make their way to battle via tunnelling, teleportation, flying, or some other extraordinary means which allows them to appear in the thick of the fighting.
A unit made up entirely of models with this special rule may perform a Deep Strike Assault. Certain Faction or unit special rules may present other options for the deployment of units with the Deep Strike special rule.This datasheet has Heavy Support Battlefield Role. Full list of Legiones Astartes units sharing same Battlefield Role follows:
An area denial drop is a co-ordinated attempt to close off an area of the battlefield to the enemy by seeding it with automated weapons systems and hunter seeker units.
Before the start of the first turn, when placing units into Reserve, a player must assign all models with this special rule in the army to Reserve to perform an Area Denial Drop. At the beginning of the controlling player’s first turn, before any other models are moved or deployed, all of the Area Denial Drop units must enter play using the procedure described below:Performing an Area Denial Drop
When deploying the Area Denial Drop, the controlling player selects one of the available units to deploy first. Place a single model from that unit anywhere on the battlefield that is at least 6" from any enemy model, battlefield edge or piece of Impassable Terrain and is outside of all Deployment Zones. Do not scatter the model.
If possible, the model must be placed in a position that will allow any other models in the same unit to deploy (as follows), and may only be placed in a position that denies the remainder of the squad a place within unit coherency if no other position is available.
Once the model’s final position has been decided, the remainder of the unit may be deployed anywhere that is within unit coherency and more than 6" from any enemy model or piece of Impassable Terrain. Any models that cannot be placed are removed as casualties.
Once this first unit has been deployed, roll a D6. On the roll of a ‘1’, the Area Denial Drop is Disordered and the opposing player may deploy each remaining unit in the Area Denial Drop anywhere within 12" of the first unit without scattering, though no model may be within 1" of an enemy model or within Impassable Terrain. If the roll is a ‘2’ or higher, the controlling player deploys each remaining unit anywhere within 12" of the first without scattering, though no model may be within 1" of an enemy model or within Impassable Terrain.
Once all units are deployed, any enemy units within line of sight and range may choose to make the Interceptor Reaction targeting any one of the units deployed as part of the Area Denial Drop. Any units that are chosen to make the Interceptor Reaction do not expend any of the controlling player’s Reaction Allotment, but do count as having made a Reaction (and thus cannot React again before the next Phase begins). Note that no Reaction other than Interceptor may be made against the deployment of a unit as part of an Area Denial Drop.
Once all units from the Area Denial Drop have been deployed and any Interceptor Reactions have been resolved, the turn proceeds as normal. Units that have been deployed as part of an Area Denial Drop may not Move or Run in the Movement phase of the turn in which they are deployed, but may Shoot and declare Charges as normal (if the models deployed as part of the Area Denial Drop are allowed to make Charges).
Some weapons, either due to a restricted capacity to store shells, a terrifying rate of fire or a complex loading mechanism, are prone to running out of ammunition in the heat of battle. Once drained of their reserves, these weapons become little more than burdens to their wielders, impotent until the battle is concluded and specialised equipment can be used to replenish their stores.
After all Shooting Attacks for a weapon with this special rule have been fully resolved, roll a D6, adding +1 if the weapon has fired before in the same battle. If the total of this roll is 6 or more then the weapon may no longer be used to make Shooting Attacks in this battle. If this weapon is unable to make further Shooting Attacks then it may not be targeted by a Weapon Destroyed result on the Vehicle Damage table, and for the purposes of such a result is treated as though it had already been destroyed.Some weapons make no attempt to target individual warriors, but instead saturate the target zone with such a torrent of gunfire that few can escape their wrath. Such weapons are capable of causing high casualty numbers in a short space of time, but require vast stores of ammunition to maintain their attack.
When making a Shooting Attack, select up to four enemy units within range and line of sight of the attacking unit and make a Shooting Attack using the weapon’s profile against each unit instead of following the normal procedure (any individual enemy unit may only be selected as a target once, and if there are less than four enemy units within line of sight and range then each viable target may be attacked). Each unit targeted is attacked with the full number of attacks listed as part of the weapon’s profile, for example, a weapon with the Heavy 6 type and the Deathstorm special rule would select up to four enemy units within range and line of sight and roll six dice To Hit against each unit.