The dreadnought trio

[chapter master 454]

Ok before I start: I will make this as unbiased as possibly for those who know I hate deticating dreads to rifle or CC duty so lets get started. Making this also because I have little else to do! (boredom is the tap of knowledge!)

 

First things first is introducing our dread classes:

 

Combi-dreadnoughts: the best term I can find for them, they form the ones you will often see. They pack a ranged weapon (often something heavy and hurts!) being paired with a Dreadnought Close Combat Weapon (Hereby DCCW) that also unsling a light defensive weapon. Amongst their arsenal of weapons they have 3 well-known ones that they are known to pack: Assault canons (sometimes called cheese cannons), Multi-meltas or Twin-linked lascannons. However in general Twin-linked lascannons are not favoured too greatly on combi-dreads who tend to pack the assault or some of the less known ones like plasma cannons or Twin-linked autocannons. Multi-meltas can be employed as the cheap way to field a dread due to it being the default weapon, however many use these dreads in their Drop pod lists as a means to add extra AT to their list and can be really annoying to deal with.

 

There are only 2 dreadnoughts that can do this however there is a 3rd which can be called a Combi-dread. The 2(3) are your stand dreadnought and venerable dreadnought, while the blood angels Furioso variant dreadnought can also do combi by making use of the frag cannon (no AP but it wounds MEQs on 2+, is template, gets two shots and has rending). The standard dreadnought is your standard dreadnought, AV12/12/10 which is a dreadnought standard and packs everything a normal dread can pack. Option is open for a heavy flamer on it however to my knowlegde does not see use (because a standard dreadnought can ether retain the DCCWs underslung storm bolter or change it for a heavy flamer), so often it gets a quick upgrade to it's multi-melta so it becomes an assault cannon which is considered the most all-comers choice of weapon (and considering the thing can kill ANYTHING due to the rending rule, it's obvious why this thing is known as a cheese cannon!). The dreadnought uses basic marine stat line bar the AV bits and such so it's quite a nice killer.

The venerable dreadnought takes it's gear from the standard dread however has two differences in terms of stats and rules. For one: this dreadnought is a WS and BS higher than your stand dread so you can be sure that this will be hitting things, the other thing is the venerable rule which basicly means you can make your opponent re-roll results on the vechile damage chart. Trust me, nothing funnier than watching a combi-melta go to waste because of this rule!

The furioso isn't a combi-dread by nature so I won't really detail here. Oh and ironclads can also do Combi-dread however it's so rare to see in my area I only remembered when doing the CC dread part of this (they can mount a hurricane bolter)!

 

Rifleman dreadnoughts: These dreads come from the standard and venerable dreadnought selection and they are ranged fully, no CC abilities (however 2 Str6 attacks in CC is not bad but in the same vein getting smacked over the head with a lascannon barrel must hurt!). They will have ether their DCCW replaced with ether a Twin-linked auto-cannon or missle launcher (being one or the other due to them being the only left arm options, or right if you have converted you marines to be the 'left hand down a bit' chapter!). The most common variants is the duel TL-ACs (twin-linked autocannons) or the anti-tank killing Missle launcher and TL-LC (twin-linked lascannon). However other combinations can be made (No combination is bad really in truth). These mobile weapon platforms can be used to support infantry with little worry about your firing platform being unable to see, these dreads can march with your guys and still fire and get a-blasting! As stated previously, only standard and venerables can be made into rifleman dreads however the most common is using the standard since they often don't need the extra protection from marching up field (in terms of killhammer they are almost always are their maximum killing potiental) to have an effect.

 

Close combat dreads: These are the dreads who walk up to you, beat you up, crush you like you were an insect and then use your body as a cleaning tool to wipe off your squad leader's entrails. These dreads have nearly no ranged ability but hurt like heck in close combat. Often they pack 3 attacks basic so they get 4 on the charge so expect pain if your a marine squad but don't worry if your orks. As for the dreads, you can have one of 3 flavours: furiosos, ironclad or death company. Furiosos are by far the oldest running close combat deticated dreadnought these is in my memory, they pack standard fare stats of a marine bar better WS and their front AV is 13 and not 12 (however the ironclad has AV13/13/10).

They can be equiped with blood talons which are power weapons for dreads (so you lose your Str10 from DCCWs being taken away) however if in a pair can be nasty because for each kill they make, they get to attack again so in effect you can have a single dread kill 30 ork boys in one turn but realistically I would say 10 is possible which is still alot! They can also take a magna-grapple like a death company dread which if I put this bluntly is basicly scorpians spear out of mortal kombat for tanks (it has a chance of destroying the tank and has a chance of also pulling the tank if not destroyed towards it). Furiosos can be made in librarian dreads which often means they will pack the wings of sanguinious, in effect: a jump pack dreadnought. They do lose any other wargear options bar recieveing a force weapon but in general they give up some CC power for psychic power. Death company dreads are just furiosos but without the option for librarian but instead has fleet and ignore shaken and stunned results. They also have rage...

 

The Ironclad of C:SM however is more resilent than the BA's special dreads, it packs as standard extra armour and it's AV13/13/10 make it rather daunting to face head on. These brutes can also pack 2 HK missles (hunter killer) which is quite a nice trick to pull when your opponent ain't looking! Not much else to say about the ironclad other than it also takes the USR of move through cover and can hit CC like a freight train full of depleted uranium drums.

 

Generalised tactics: dreadnoughts are employed by almost every marine player and like rhinos, are bound to be in their collection somewhere. They are considered by far as one of the best walkers there is (unless we want to go up to titans......) due to their respectable AV, WS and BS. This is before they are even given any weapons which if you pick any of them can be an effective weapon is used correctly. Dreadnoughts often fight employment as line-breakers or fire-support. These roles can be done by any of the dreads (Line breaking doesn't mean in essence destroying the enemy completely, a rifleman dread can easily destroy a few key targets and thats one broken line!).

 

Well I hope you enjoyed reading this because it's killed a bit of my spare time nicely. T(h)anks for reading!

[Captain Idaho]

I enjoyed reading it, but can I critisise? Paragraphing please. I don't mean to undermine you but it's difficult for people to keep their attention sharp without it!

 

The actual content is good, and I agree with your summing up for each type of Dread. Very good introduction to advanced Dreadnought usage! :tu: