Controlling the insanity....

[Hyaenidae]

How do you ladies and gents run your dreads in regular games, planetstrike, and apoc games? For regular, I run a Plasma/CCW/Combi bolter which I just stick as far away from my army and as close to the enemy as possible, and just rush and fire until he dies screaming gibberish. Apoc, the same, but times four dreads configured differently. Probably not the most effective way, I know. Any thoughts?

[Borkhal]

I normally have my dreadnought roll a 6 on the first turn, and run screaming at the nearest enemy - also a chaos dreadnought - but stopping just out of charge range

 

the opposing dreadnought then in turn rolls a 1 and fires his missile launcher and plasma cannon at my dreadnought, twice. blowing him to smithereens.

 

 

so far this tactic has never failed to dissapoint me.

 

 

might keep an eye out on this thread <_<

[hazardousZERO]

The time i actually used my dreads i had them close together 2 with plasama cannons and one with 2 CCW. One of the plasma dreads shot and killed the CCW dread. Then they just moved forward and got shot too a smoking wrecks.

 

Best option is make them equipped with 2 CCW and run them so that there close together that way they shoot eachother with bolters so no harm really.

[Dan The Deamon]

man i used my autocannon extra armor dread in Austin at Wargames Con and he was my MVP in just about every game. When he fire frenzied it was towards my land raider which was ineffective or in the direction of the enemy. He did some real damage to squads who didn't expect to see him.

Doubles

1 Chased down a squad of grey hunters after blowing their pod up, and contesting an objective.

2 Ran straight up the center soaking up fire for a handful of turns against chaos before getting caught in with zerks who couldn't harm him.

3 got stuck in combat with an IG infantry blob on turn 2 for the rest of a game.

Singles

1 wrecked a rhino, assaulted a ten man marine squad without a fist. mopped up and moved on

2 soaked up fire from three oblit squads for two turns before going boom

3 shot some bugs, got caught with some ravagers and warriors holding them up

4 Exploded early in game due to mass fire

5 chased a wolf guard squad up the flank table and soaked up missile launcher fire with no support

6 killed a soulgrinder and finished off a couple of horror squads before taking bolt of change in the back

7 killed a SW drop pod, helped sweep the grey hunters inside, assaulted a logan/njal squad.

Certainly not the greatest unit in the C:CSM but for a little over 100 points he's a steal.

I love mine

[Shas'o R'Vre]

I love mine

With a look like that who wouldn't? Kudos to you on the look.

[RapatoR]

Players usually forget about one important think: Your roll on (in)sanity of dreadnought is at start of your turn and that leaves you with entire movement phase to get out of range or LOS, and with carefull daployment and all that mech everwhere there is good chance of dread shooting opponent on frenzy.

[Dante Alighieri]

I love mine

 

My good man, a Dread with that much valor and battle honors deserves a name.

[Hyaenidae]

I run the Four Stooges during my Apoc games, named as such due to the humour they bring. Example: my last game with 'em was a 'charge the breach' apoc game. The Stooges (one with melta, one plas, one TW Hvy. Bolter, one CCW's) went in first, and two immedietly went nuts and blew away the hvy bolter and plasma dread the second they went through. My opponents laughter faded to my maniacal chuckles as the last two then survived everything thrown at em, and tore through a baneblade, a leman russ, and were busy butchering their way through a crapload of SW terms and stalling an entire wall of rhinos/chimera's at games end. The dread's may be a pain sometimes, but when they get stuck in, they always make me smile.

 

@ Dan the Daemon- Love the dread, man, and it's kill tally is beautiful. Makes me want to order a NL dread and add a 5th Stooge, lol.

[Dan The Deamon]

that was just in one weekend too! Chaos dreads while not as consistent as Marine dreads, still rock socks.

 

I find that if i don't count on him for critical deeds during games he will either run around doing his own thing, crazy or sane, or surpass any expectations I have of him and do well. I use the autocannon because while he's sane it's a light armor busting machine and hand to hand monster. If he goes crazy it's normally towards my Land raider, or a couple of shots against marines who get saves from the high AP autocannon and bolters.

 

Do they belong in top tier lists? Yesnomaybeso

Are they fun? If you are playing to have fun then yes. If you are playing to win probably not.

[hazardousZERO]

I do agree that in games of apocalypse dreads are great fun. In normal games I usually dont use them however time i have i run them with 2X CCW and run it behind my land raider.

 

HMMM now that i have 3 land raiders i just might look into using dreads again. :thanks:

[Hyaenidae]

Anybody have any luck knee-capping a titan in Apoc with your dreads? I came close one game with the Stooges, then watched as they died screaming under fire from a Leman Russ squadron.

[Decepticon Soundwave]

My dread I have used in a few games i Kit him out with a reaper autocannon because if he pops one of my rhinos....ehh my rhinos get popped anyway, but when he fire frenzies into squads all of a sudden 4strength 7 ap 4 twin linked shots hit the enemy in the face. Against a close combat guard horde he killed a command squad since all his attacks are instant death he killed a defiler in single combat.

 

ohh and he is the Night Lords Legionary dread.

 

Which btw forge world legion dreads are only 5 dollars more expensive then the crappy GW metal one and if you get a whole bunch of people on a big forge world order you get them for that price and not a penny more which includes weapons.

[Hyaenidae]

Any other interesting tactics out there? Anybody have experience with Dreadclaws/drop pods for Chaos dreads? I once thought of using a Gorgon Super-Heavy for Apoc games to safely deliver 5 screaming dreads into the heart of the enemy. I'm not too sure how well that would work, but it'd be funny as hell. <_<

[Lady_Canoness]

I often run Dreads in 1500 point games and find them quite satisfying so long as you follow certain a method of using them.

 

A lot of people will call them a point sink, and those people will be right if you do any of the following:

1) take only one of them

2) arm it with anti-tank weapons or in a hell-fire pattern

3) put them as far away from the rest of your forces as possible

Doing any of these will make your dread FAIL. Maybe I should say that last word again to get the point across: FAIL

... and this is why:

1) A lone dread is always a very tempting target no matter what kind of Marine or Chaos Marine army you play, and, frankly, anyone can kill it if they really want to. Add to that that your Chaos dread has a one in six chance of shooting the closest thing to him (typically your guys!) and stand around for another turn in the open waiting to get shot.

2) Anti-tank weapons that shoot twice on a 1 are not good news, and are almost assured to hurt/kill something of yours. We have Obliterators with anti-tank weapons for that very reason - so keep them off your dreadnoughts. Hellfire is also not a good idea (hellfire being the 2 ranged weapon no CC weapon layout) since that 1 will lay on the hurt while oblits should really be taking care of any targets the dread would in theory be engaging.

3) Dreadnoughts need infantry support. Plain and simple. Not to mention; how easy is it to ignore a lone dreadnought that is sequestered on the far side of the board? Dreadnoughts and infantry support each other quite well, and as such they should be kept together. How do you deal with the dread that tries to kill your guys though? I'll get to that.

 

A dread is significanlty more worth-while (though not 100% golden since they can still stand around and do nothing for a turn) if you do the following:

1) ALWAYS take more than one dreadnought, and keep them close together. Two or even three dreadnoughts can be used like this.

2) Equip them with SAFE weapons (i.e. Weapons that are plenty deadly to infantry, but fairly harmless against Armour 12).

3) Always leave at least one close combat arm on, and take extra armour.

Doing all of these (not some, but all) will make your dreads that much more valuable to you, and that much more dangerous to the other player.

and here is why:

1) Two or more Chaos Dreadnoughts compliment each other in more ways than you'd think when they are deployed together. Firstly, they should be the closest model to one another, and thus can absorb any unfortunate craziness. Secondly, your opponent will more than likely focus on one dread instead of the other - meaning that the other's chance of survival goes way up (especially against up-close melta's and the like), and if he does target both, then both of them are more likely to survive (splitting fire and all that to spread out the 'pain'). Pair dreads also discourage fast moving assault troops from trying to 'one-shot' your dread - mainly because the prospect of the other one (or possibly both) getting the jump on a unit is not a nice thought. Also, if one lucky dread gets to charge a unit, then his buddy is at most one turn away from joining the fun (unless he rolls 1s like a madman).

2) this is fairly obvious: if you want your dreads to be keeping each other in check and not hosing your guys, then give them weapons that (while deadly to the enemy) are not deadly to themselves. The Plasma Cannon is a fav because it gets only 2 S7 shots off (which, assuming you show your side to your ragging buddy as you should) that have a decent chance at scattering and doing no damage to you. The Missile Launcher is also good - it has frags for a reason. Dual CC weapons can't go wrong either. Multi-meltas, lascannons, and even the humble auto-cannon is not recommended.

3) Your dreads should always be thirsting for close combat (the ranged gun is really only for a few oppertunity shots) and thus should always have a DCCW. You want to make the most of that '6' on the crazy rolls and always be moving forward if you can help it, and to that end extra armour is a must: you already have a 1 in 6 chance of not moving for a turn, so why add to it by letting 'stunned' stay as 'stunned'?

 

Keep in mind that Dreadnoughts are also CHEAP - usually landing at about 120pts - and when taken in large numbers alongside other close combat killers (which we have a lot of) can really add to the hurt.

The Lash of Submission is also a handy tool with them as it can move dangerous heavy weapons away from them while pulling tempting targets closer. The look of horror on the other players face when you roll a 6 on your crazy roll and then proceed to pull a nice big unit towards it is probably one of the more priceless looks a Chaos player can get :P

Unfortunately all the planning in the world can still go to hell. I had a game with 3 dreads where two went about their killy ways while the third sat in my deployment zone and proceeded to pump out 1s like they were in style (3 1s in a row with frag missiles flying all over the place...)

 

Dreads are fun, and can often surprise people who discount them as useless...

[brother heckengar]

Lady Canoness you hit the nail on the head with this one. I run 2 in my 1500pts World Eaters list and always kept them together with two squads backing them up. Most player will run alway from you instead of trying to get that lucky metla shot in. And if they do stop it, they have the other one to deal with and 16 berzerkers. They never let me down yet in 15 years, so keep goning crazy and have fun.

[Rune Priest Ridcully]

which dread combo would be good for Thousand Sons? I was thinking maybe DCCW with missile launcher and extra armour? only 115pts and I could pick it up at games day as well. The only problem though, is that as I am not too keen on the FW chaos DCCW I was thinking of using the Grey Knight DCCW, the problem is none of the chaos missile launchers go on the Right arm, and the mortis pattern one does not have nice curved top, it would not match with the GK DCCW, I don't suppose there is a way to convert the Chaos right DCCW so it has the trim instead of the 8 pointed star and has a blade similer to the GK DCCW?

[chaplain belisarius]

i find a pair of dreads with 2dccw work well...:evil:

[Lady_Canoness]

which dread combo would be good for Thousand Sons? I was thinking maybe DCCW with missile launcher and extra armour? only 115pts and I could pick it up at games day as well. The only problem though, is that as I am not too keen on the FW chaos DCCW I was thinking of using the Grey Knight DCCW, the problem is none of the chaos missile launchers go on the Right arm, and the mortis pattern one does not have nice curved top, it would not match with the GK DCCW, I don't suppose there is a way to convert the Chaos right DCCW so it has the trim instead of the 8 pointed star and has a blade similer to the GK DCCW?

 

Thousand Sons could be tricky as they are more regal than most other CSMs. Weapon-wise the Missile Launchers are a good choice, though you can't go far wrong with Plasma Cannons either.

[nurglez]

wow, a dread thread that hasn't devolved into a how much they suck since the last codex thread :D

 

I used to run my dreads all the time, with different wep combo's, then tried out 2 dual combat dread's, man these guys rocked most games and were fun all games.

 

In the older codex the charge into combat roll was better, doubling your attacks on the charge, because of this one of dread's came to the support of a daemon prince in combat with a hive tyrant, the tyrant killed the prince, then my dreadnought proceeded to rip him into small pieces. next turn my dread was within range of a carnifex with one wound, all set to charge, i rolled fire frenzy, not to be denied the kill my dread fired his 2 combi bolters twice each and shot the carni in the head :D

 

This codex, i really havent used them much, as their dual close combat config has jumped by 15-20 points and no longer gets the double attacks, and they dont really fit in with my mechanised playing style with my deathguard, but I will be sure to break out my 2 dread's again after reading this post :D

 

Oh, and been meaning to run a 2-3 dread squad in spearhead (with the fleet spearhead or w/e its called), but me and my friends just haven't gotten around to playing any yet.