From Lexicanum

Drop Pods are transports used by Space Marines and other armies for orbital insertion and one-way rides.

Contents 1 Space Marines 1.1 Drop Pod 1.2 Deathstorm Drop Pod 2 Other Forces 2.1 Dreadclaw 2.2 Eversor Temple 3 Notes 4 Sources

Space Marines

Drop Pod

The Drop Pods of the Adeptus Astartes look and work similarly to a ship's Life Pod and can carry either twelve normal Marines, a single Dreadnought or a single Thunderfire Cannon⁴. They are launched from a vessel in low orbit towards the drop zone, usually amidst or near a battle field.³ Once launched, they plummet through the atmosphere until retro jets fire to slow their descent.⁴ A machine spirit guides the Pod to its destination and can receive further commands from the mother ship. Although the Pods become immobile after having landed they can be recovered by the Chapter's Techmarines and reused.^{1 2-p6 6-p26}

Deathstorm Drop Pod

Deathstorm Drop Pods are a variant pattern that don't carry troops but have weapon systems installed to strafe the enemy with high levels of fire once they have landed and opened. They can be armed with either Whirlwind Launchers or Assault Cannons.⁷

Other Forces

Dreadclaw

The Dreadclaw is an ancient Drop Pod variant that can also be used as an assault boat for ship-to-ship combat. Unlike other Drop Pods it is able to take off after landing. Dreadclaws are exclusively used by Chaos Space Marines.^{2-p42 6-p100}

Eversor Temple

The assassins of the Eversor Temple are deployed in special Drop Pods that prepare them for their missions. These Pods are equipped with neuro-links that feed the details of the mission to the assassin while remote links activate and begin to prepare his body for the task at hand.⁵

Notes

With the release of ⁷, the Deathwind Drop Pod (discontinued) from previous Forge World publications has officially been replaced with the Deathstorm pattern.

Sources

• ¹ Imperial Armour Volume Two - Space Marines and Forces of the Inquisition p143-153
• ² Imperial Armour Update 2002 p6 p42
• ³ Codex: Space Marines (4th Edition) p21
• ⁴ Codex: Space Marines (5th Edition) p69
• ⁵ Inquisitor Facets of Death (site is no longer active, accessed 2008.07.19)
• ⁶ Imperial Armour - Apocalypse p26 p100
• ⁷ IMPERIAL ARMOUR VOLUME 2 RULES UPDATE (v1.1) REVISED (accessed 2008.11.09)