Space Marines:Fast Attack: Lucius Pattern Dreadnaught Drop pod Review

Hello everyone, this is your lord and savior Hotsauceman here to tell you about the one thing making dreadnaughts good again: The Lucius Pattern Dreadnaught Drop Pod. If you want to learn more, check out Tactics Corner for more fun stuff.

Like I said, this guy alone makes dreads good. It is simple, it is a drop pod that ups the dread’s defense and allows it to kill something at the very least. It does this with a few simple tricks, such as not requiring you to actually leave the pod, but still shoot out of it, and having built in defenses. It can be taken as a dedicated transport for any dreadnaught from Space Marines, Space Wolves, Dark Angels and Blood Angels.

There is not a whole lot of actual fluff behind it sadly. Like the name says, it is from the ForgeWorld Lucius. The forges actually have a hard time keeping up with demand because these have a high destruction rate. Of course, one can infer that all drop pods have a high casualty rate, plunging from orbit, being immobile and unable to actually defend itself, and only retrieved when, or if, the battle is won.

Wargear:

• NONE: Yup, not even a Storm Bolter to defend itself.  For this model, special rules are where the gravy is at.

Special Rules

• Immobile: It cannot move. Despite what most people say, it does NOT make it more susceptible to Grav. Two shots are still needed to kill it.
• Inertial Guidance System: If it scatters onto of impassible terrain or a model, you reduce it by the minimum amount to not. Anyone who knows Drop Pods knows this.
• Drop Pod Assault: Counts as a Drop Pod along with all others in the army. You choose half, rounding up, and they come in automatically first turn.  The rest come in normally. If you ever played with/against Drop Pods you know this rule.
• Assault Vehicle: You can assault out of it. It’s kinda weird they gave it this rule, because it is open topped. It clarifies you cannot assault from Deep Strike.
• Burning Retros: When the model comes down, until its next turn, it has Shrouded. This applies even against interceptor fire. This is really good!  Place it in terrain and then it has a high cover save of 3+ most of the time which also applies to models BEHIND IT.  Yes, there are a few ways to negate it, but not a whole lot.

Tactics.

You may be wondering what makes this thing so great, huh? Well, it is one thing – the Dreadnaught is not required to actually leave it. So when you come down you can shoot from the safety of the pod. You can then assault from it with safety. I wouldn’t bother with assault based Dreads because on the following turn, your opponent can easily move from assault range. But if you are facing a relatively immobile force, such as Astra Militarum or Renegades, it can actually do some real damage. Artillery is a big thing now for both those armies. So a Space Wolf Venerable Dreadnaught would be pretty good to drop near them and then assault because they are immobile. I would use this for a shooty dreadnaught like a Lascannon/Missile load out. In that case, I would drop them not too far back field, but enough to be safe and start plinking away. Reece used to have great success using the Lucius Drop Pod and a Siege Dreadnaught. With two flame weapons he would get it close and flame stuff with it. An Ironclad is great as well. With two Heavy flamers, it can rip things to shreds. But here is a brief overview of all dreads and their place when using the pod.

Space Marines/ Dark Angels

• Dreadnaught: Depends on the kit, but my preffered is Lascannon/Missile and put it down backfield and use the Drop Pod as an extra layer of defense
• Venerable: Same as Regular Dreadnaught, just has better WS/BS
• Ironclad Dreadnaught: Drop him in the middle of your opponents line. Two heavy flamers and just have some fun. Works great with Salamanders. Str 5 re-rolling to wound flamers.
• Chaplain Dreadnaught: Same options as the previous regular dreads,but go towards the Close combat to take advantage of his buffs in close combat. So drop him close then hope you can still get into CC.
• Siege Dreadnaught: Same as Ironclad, get in close and hit with Flamers.
• Mark V Mortis: Drop it near the back field and plink away at models. Problem is, unless you leave, you will be in Anti-Air mode so you will snap-shot against anything that are not flyers

Blood Angels

• Librarian Dreadnaught: Can’t cast powers in a vehicle, so be wary of that. But he is the bane of monstrous creatures with his Force weapon. I have seen people drop this guy down near some stormsurges then completely annihilate them in CC
• Death Company Dreadnaught: Can kill things with its Meltagun and wreck in close combat, a good choice IMO if you want to run these.
• Furioso Dreadnaught: Same as the Death Company one.

Space Wolves:

• Venerable/Murderfang/Bjorn: Close combat Dreads that you want to get as close as possible so next turn you can assault them. And hope you are not facing a very mobile army.

So, before I said that what kills Forge World models in this meta is formations. Well, there is a tiny little oversight that allow these guys to be taken in formations. Because formations do not restrict(barring a few) what Dedicated Transports you can take, all Dreads can take these in formations. But any benefits that name Drop Pods do not count. This may be a point of contention but I have yet to find something that contradicts this.  So, under this author’s interpretation, you can take the Lucius in the Gladius, you just don’t get them for free. Even though they are not free, they are still a boon in your army. Another fun one is in the Salamanders special formation: the Flame Blade Strikeforce. My god, an Ironclad with two Str6 re-roll to wound Heavy Flamers is brutal. Try experimenting and see if you can find some cool combos.

One final thing, there is a Legacy of Glory, “Burning of Prospero” you can take that allows the Lucius Drop Pod to not scatter.  Yes, it is half the price of the pod itself, but it removes a variable from the game. This upgrade is super fun and really allows you to get your dreads where they need to be.

So, there you go, an underappreciated model that I actually see gaining some traction in the tournament circuit. Have fun and remember to share your opinions below and Frontline Gaming sells Games Workshop product at up to 25% off, every day.