Warhammer 40K: New Space Marine Drop Pods Arriving From The Skies
Games Workshop has created a new Space Marine Drop Pod and it looks to solve quite a few issues from the previous kit.
I did not have “a new design for the Space Marine Drop Pods” on my bingo card for Warhammer 40k in 2025 but here we are! Coming in hot from orbit, there’s a new Drop Pod kit coming — and this time they come in pairs!
“The kit is significantly easier to build and will have a new Datasheet which clarifies exactly where everything gets measured from – leaving little room for creative rules interpretations. That new Datasheet will be available via free download when it’s released.”
Space Marine Drop Pod Update
So there’s a couple of major changes/new features about this redesign that we need to go over. First up there are no long internal Storm Bolters/Deathwind Launchers inside the Drop Pod. I’m curious to know if those are gone completely or what. We’ll find out when the new Datasheet shows up.
The next major change and one I’m excited about is the fixed, open doors. As a person who has played with Drop Pods since they were introduced in 40k as an actual vehicle I can tell you stories about the arguments they caused. While it was a great modeling feature and allowed for some really cool options, those open doors caused so many rules arguments. This new design fixes many of those issues. More importantly, GW is even addressing where you measure from with this model. That’s going to cut down on the ambiguity the old/current Drop Pods created and help to make using them consistent.
I also wanted to note that the insides look a lot cleaner to build. As a person who’s built over a dozen Drop Pods in my time can I just say I’m glad to see this change. While I did eventually figure out how to build the insides so everything was were it was suppose to be, there really was no “easy” way to do it; the Drop Pod’s internals were just tedious to assemble. In fact, most games I’d just keep the doors closed because it looked better and people couldn’t claim they could shoot through the pod.
One last feature I do want to mention is that the debris around the impact of the doors is apparently modular. I think that’s also great! Maybe you want a “clean” landing. It’s a nice touch overall.
Drop Pods Come In Pairs?!
Okay, this isn’t a feature of the pods themselves. It’s more a feature of the new kit coming soon.
“Each box will contain two complete Drop Pods – an excellent proposition for those who lack the natural Deep Strike capability of Terminators and Jump Pack Intercessors. We recommend Infernus Marines for a blistering entrance, but the sky’s really the limit.”
While I think it’s nice that GW is trying to pitch the uses for the Drop Pod, the important part there is that these Drop Pods will come in a kit with two pods to build. I do wonder why GW would want to put two in a box. Maybe they want to save on shipping costs? Or perhaps there’s some other design option to cram two in a single box. Surely it’s not because the price will go up…
What do you think of the new Space Marine Drop Pod redesign?
