Mechanics of the Bahzhakhain: Fighting in Battlegroups and Fighting Drop Pod

For a mechanized list, for the most part, there is little a drop pod army can do straight off to your vehicles as long as they have moved and they don't get up close melta shots on your rear.

My approach is (if possible, it depends on points size, higher is easier) I separate my army into balanced and self sufficient detachments, such as A falcon of harlequins, a waveserpent of locking avengers, and a fire prism, and then as a second detachment a squad of locking jetbikes, a squad of shinning spears+autarch, and some Vypers. If it's a large battle I may have a third detachment with a waveserpent of banshees, some harassment/locking jetbike squads, and another support element. Each detachment should have: 1) either a core CC unit like banshees, or a lock+hit&run unit, 2) a support fire element such as a falcon, fire prisms, waveserpents, Vypers, etc, 3) and this is optional, depending on the makeup of the rest of your force and what you intend for them; a locking section without a hit&run element.

The method, and composition of splitting off into these detachments will depend on your enemy and what forces you expect to see. If I expect a terminator squad, I will make sure one of my detachments can deal with this specific threat. If I expect a dreadnaught, one of my detachments will be capable of this. It is likely that I will ensure each of my detachments is capable of dealing with all relevant threats at least until support arrives. Most drop-pod armies lack considerable mobility once they have landed, so with my far superior mobility, it usually isn't hard to redeploy my detachments to deal with their specific target, wherever it is on the battlefield. Also the detachments may depend on what is close to another unit upon deployment, but as long as my opponent doesn't have a strong static/starting deployed force that stops me from having free reign of movement, I usually have at least one turn to redeploy into the balanced detachments that I want to run with.

As soon as these detachments are formed, I head for locations that would be least favourable for my opponents to deep strike into. This may be with me next to area terrain, size three terrain, line of sight blocking terrain, in a funnel, on top of terrain, or out in the middle of nowhere. Where I decide will depend on what my opponents specific army makeup is. If he isnt very mobile, I may decide to trap him in terrain. If he has a lot of terminators or other resilient units, I may force him in the open. If he is range based, I may stick him in the open, or try to force terrain to intervene in his LoS. If he is CC, I may put him in the open so as to be able to assault him without need of plasma grenades. Where I try to place him varies considerably on the conditions of scenario, his army makeup, and the terrain available.

When I do split up into detachments I keep my army moving every turn to keep SMF, and try to keep my army united. If I have a jetbike element to any given detachment, they will remain behind the exit ramp of my transports (preferably against a board edge but with them in the way) which will stop my ramp from being blocked, so I can disembark immediately if I judge it to be the best choice. For this reason I like keeping a fire prism or falcon with most detachments that have a waveserpent so that if a deep striking land speeder tries to tank shock my bikes out of the way to block my ramp, I will have something else to move it (deploying with the ramp side close enough to the board edge to not allow room for a land speeder also solves this problem). Whilst waiting for the drop pods to fall, I like to keep my movement relatively random, but close to the terrain I want to trap my opponent in, if I wish to do so. This will keep some kind of confusion or uncertainty in the mind of your opponent as to your intentions and wishes. If the board is small enough or the areas you want him dropping into are close enough, you can rotate detachments from one area to another to get the same effect.

Once my opponent drops, as moc says, pouncing on them and destroying as much as possible is important. With the sheer power of the bahzhakhain, and the mobility, usually a banshee squad and a support unit will destroy whatever falls in one area. Converging more than one detachment at once when needed will often be worth it, depending on where that leaves the rear armour of vehicles open to, and what has yet to fall from the sky.

Target priority and deciding whether to dedicate your forces or not is a big point. If it's only a tac squad and a dreadnaught that has fallen in table quarter A near detachment 1, I will use supportive shooting to down the dreadnaught, and then the marines with whatever is left, instead of disembark my banshees which should be reserved until they need it. However, if he manages 3 tac squads close to each other, and maybe a dev squad, then a higher volume of forces should be dedicated. This is all also dependent on the scenario, the size of the game (what has yet to drop, and what is most threatening to you; CC, anti-armour, mobile or resilient elements, etc), and where the have dropped.

This is my main philosophy on approaching drop pod armies. Drop pod armies usually have an advantage by being able to avoid being shot at until they fall into your ranks, but with the highly mobile, resilient, and hammer power based Bahzhakhain, there is little to be feared in the drop pod army, once you understand and practice the important tactics. Sometimes there will be a strong static/deployed element with a few drop pods and deep striking elements, which I find the most troublesome, because dedicating the core of your army into their DZ tends to be the best choice, leaving you not completely sure where his drop pods will enter. For this, I take advantage of having good ranged support such as the falcon, fire prism, and Vypers. My transports tend to move into the DZ to work on the rear/sides of enemy armour, making it hard for my opponent to DZ in for rear shots on already empty transports.