Dreads for a Ravenwing army!

[Ravenwinghost]

Hi guys! I am in the midst of creating my Ravenwing host. I am trying to plan ahead and see what I can do to give my new army a little more of a punch. According to fluff RW just use speeders and bikes, however I would like to use a dread in this army.

 

I would only have one dread and a pod in a 1850pt army. What are your thoughts on this plan? Also, do you feel this will be accepted my opponents and community?

 

Thanks

 

JA

[Chaplain Lucifer]

About fluff it can be accepted, A Dread is RW calling for back up. ;)

 

In game terms it will stick out as sore thumb since it will cut mobility of RW army. Once on foot the dread can't keep up with bikes meaning he'll have to brave on his own or you'll have to divert bikes from elsewhere to aid him.

I'd run a few test games befor comitting fully to that aproach... If you have FA slots free Speeders can shoot as well as the dreadnought.

[breng77]

I have run dreads with ravenwing before, it works ok, as long range fire support. I am not a big fan of putting a dread in a pod in our army really ever. Our pods are over costed and don't have drop pod assault meaning the dread may come down late in the game, and be of little use. In some lists this can work for contesting objectives, however, Ravenwing is good enough at contesting without the dread.

[Isiah]

Hi guys! I am in the midst of creating my Ravenwing host. I am trying to plan ahead and see what I can do to give my new army a little more of a punch. According to fluff RW just use speeders and bikes, however I would like to use a dread in this army.

 

What sort of 'punch' were you looking for exactly? Literally the DCCW in cc - or tank busting melta fun - or a bit of both?

 

Cheers

I

[IanSturrock]

I'm with Breng -- a dread can work OK (not great) with Ravenwing if it has something like Missile Launcher + twin-linked Autocannon, and is just sitting in the back, but it's really not necessary to pod one in.

 

Be lovely if it worked better... my favourite mini is my home-made venerable dread... but it just doesn't work that well in my RW army. :)

[Ravenwinghost]

I see my Dread having a duel-purpose. He can drop shoot and then assault or drop/walk and provide extra long/close range fire power.

 

I believe in having as many options as I can possible get. I like the fact that Dreads can get down and dirty in CC or in a fire fight. This may not be the be-all end-all to my list but it does however add another treat that your opponent must contend with. They can also move and shoot all of its weapons which fits quite well with the whole mobile theme. Dreads may not be as fast as his brothers but then again he doesn't have to be.

 

I have seen a well place dread do some amazing things which have turned the tide of the battle.

 

These are just some of my thoughts.

 

Thanks

 

JA

[SeattleDV8]

I find the Plasma/Missile dread to be the best support dreadnought for ravenwing/deathwing

Granted the Ass cannon/H flamer is a good assault Dred it still is not the best choice for Raven/Death wing

[The Shadow Guard]

Since we are in the throes of Dark Angels rules development, I remembered something I wrote down during the thrid edition of the DA Codex. There was a White Dwarf competition by "Fat Bloe" (the old grognards will remember him) to detremine how the white scars would deploy their dreadnoughts. Inspired by that competition i came up with the following option for the ravewning. Part of the background about tarquin Hesperides is from a Rogue Trader era article in White Dwarf. Obviously the costs are based on thrid edition codex.

 

Just happened to find it in my archives!!

 

Ravenwing Speeder dreadnought

 

The first Master of the Ravenwing Company was Tarquin Hesperides. This brilliant tactician unfortunately suffered a transporter accident and was relegated to spending his life in the apothecarium of life support systems. Being a typical Ravenwing marine, he was not in the least amenable to being interned in the sarcophagus of a powerful but lumbering dreadnought. Following extensive investigations and experimentations the Ravenwing techmarines along with their brethren in the Dark Angels armorium developed what is probably the imperiums first and likely the only dread-speeder. The inner circle, desperate to keep the genius mind of the Hesperides alive, relented to this single attempt.

 

Structure: The Dread-Speeder consists of a specially modified land-speeder with a slightly lengthened body on to which the sarcophagus of the dreadnought has been attached at the commander’s place and wired in. The engine is a specially modified power plant to sustain all the energy needs of the dread-speeders weapon systems. As this configuration does away with the bulky superstructure of the dreadnought, movement is easy and does not require huge amounts of energy, thereby allowing transfer to weapons for sustained fire. A techmarine occupies the second crew seat, which is situated just behind the front seat and to the right and is tasked with maintaining all the complex systems functioning. He must be equipped with the servo-arm, but can’t take place in assaults as he is busy maintaining the systems

 

Armour: There is also an iron halo built into the dreadspeeder, giving a 4+ invulnerable save to make up for the loss of armour. The techmarine allows the unit to ignore the first immobilised result on the damage charts, but cannot shoot in the following turn as all systems are routed to maintaining mobility.

 

Weapons: Same as that of the normal dreadnought's options. These are attached to the mid-section of the speeder on either side.

 

Options: Consider allowing two energy weapons, and delete the DCCW. Techmarines servo-arm may be deleted for the loss of the first immobilised save.

 

Dreadnought close combat weapon: Same stats as the usual one but is not allowed to double its strength as it does not have a solid footing to use the full strength. However due to the ability to move rapidly it is allowed to make one special CC attack during the movement phase, on any enemy model which passes less than 2” from it. The enemy can’t hit back, the attack is resolved using normal combat scores (Similar to the Raven sword of the Master of Ravenwing) This depicts the dreadspeeder making rapid hit & run attacks

 

Choice: Taken as a single elites choice.

 

Points: Total = 105

[Landspeeder (50), Techmarine (15), servoarm (30), Rosarius (10), + Draed Weapons]

 

Movement: For movement purposes the dread-speeder behaves like a fast vehicle.

 

DIY rules but let's you have a dreadnought in your ravenwing army! :P :lol:

[Brother-Captain Sharp]

Hmmm, I don't know about that. Seems like an extreme unit to just invent.

 

Besides that, I do like to run Dreads in Ravenwing. While bikes pack a close punch, long range firepower never hurts. That allows you to threaten things without having to get right to them and open yourself up to a counter-attack.

 

Dreadnoughts stay in the company they were in when they were injured, so makes sense the Ravenwing would have Dreads. For modelling purposes, I modified a Dread to make it look like it could keep up with the bikes (of course rules-wise it does nothing).

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj236/sesharp/Deathwing%20WIPs/IMG_0644.jpg

 

It has a few different wargear options. It's done pretty well for me overall.

[Isiah]

Hmmm I've never seen how dreads could possibly keep within the RW setup. Logic says no reason why old RWingers should not be interred in a Dread - just not in the RW though :P.

 

Certainly something for the B&Cs new DA codex to grapple with I reckon.

 

Cheers

I

[ValourousHeart]

I personally don't like the flying dreadnought idea.

Sounds like a little jealousy over the BA dex and upcoming DE dex.

I really like the thought of RW venerable dreads... in fact I just finished building 2.

Sorry for the poor image quality... camera is on the fritz, took this one with my phone.

[Tanhausen]

What did you use for those tracks? They look sweet!

[Ash]

Thunderfire cannon tracks, looks expensive but a cool idea :P

[Tanhausen]

Yeah, wrecking a THC for the tracks seems a bit of a waist (in Euros).

 

BTW, I'm playing 2 x Dread with LC and ML in my DW list at 2k.... and they hold their ground supprisingly well. While they are not CC monsters, its not so easy kill and if in cover, it draws A LOT of heat. Wished I had the points to go ven

:D

[Grey Mage]

HRmmm... armored Landspeeder- IE AV 12/11/10, with two weapon systems for X/Y/Z points, and power of the machine spirit? Same cost as a vendread, after weapons are included... heavy support choice with a master of the RW?

 

Its a little out there, but it could work nicely.

[Isiah]

HRmmm... armored Landspeeder- IE AV 12/11/10, with two weapon systems for X/Y/Z points, and power of the machine spirit? Same cost as a vendread, after weapons are included... heavy support choice with a master of the RW?

 

Its a little out there, but it could work nicely.

 

Kind of Tempest-like but better?

[Grey Mage]

Yeah, a little better, with more weapon options but fewer weapon systems *IIRC the tmpest has 3*.

[ValourousHeart]

Nah, Tempest has 2 weapons, assault cannon and twin linked missile launcher (old heavy 1 version, not the nifty heavy 2 version)

 

A heavier speeder would be a neat option for RW, but might be better suited for an elite slot, if we still want to get attack bike squadrons back.

That would give us the following:

 

Elite - heavy speeder

Troops - bike squadrons

Fast Attack - speeder squadrons

Heavy Support - attack bike squadrons

[Brother Kovash]

Right now I'm running a AOBR dread in my DW list to add a little extra firepower and to support my tactical squad as best as I can. So far he has wrecked quite a few things, but he has not survived a full game yet. Hey, if my opponent wants to use 2-3 squads to shoot at him and take him out, my termies can get their job done.