Furioso Dreads

[Scumgrief]

Most of the time I run Furioso's they seem to get picked off really quickly, sure occasionally they have a great run. But considering everyone runs powerfists if I don't wipe out the whole squad then the dread usually gets punched up.

 

Is there something I am doing wrong or is it just bad luck.

[Numinak]

As a Furioso, you have to take into consideration what it is armed with. Since it sounds like you are using power fists, you should have it concentrate more on vehicles and high value characters to make the best use of those fists. If you plan on having it tie up troops at all, I heartily recomend switching to the Blood Claws. While not nearly as useful VS vehicles, they'll make a mess of just about any unit you hit and give them much less chance to punch you back.

[Scumgrief]

I use it with the Talons because they are good for anti horde as well

[billga]

They do drop very quickly. Their advantage is in the fact that you can drop them and kill a tank or severely damage a squad, and then force your opponent to use high strength ranged attacks in their back lines versus using that same weaponry to attack more important units moving up the field.

 

*edited for bad grammer

[*Riken*]

I think you must have pretty bad luck for a powerfist to take out your furioso as it needs to 5 to even glance it. I normally lose mine to lascannon or brightlance fire as my friends all know how devastating it is once it there lines, but that normally means I get at least one turn for the rest of my army to advance without taking too much fire.

[Scumgrief]

I am starting to think that vehicles are just to fragile considering most people run lists to hunt big things eg. lots of melta/lance and powerfists.

[Kanis]

I would say that happens to any Dreadnought. Sometimes it's bad luck, or lack of planning. Try Drop podding, or screening it with terrain and/or Rhino's, etc. I found out walking mine wasn't going to really cut it once they learned about the Talons. The Stormraven is also a deadly way to get him from A to B, but I've not been lucky enough to get that yet, so no advice there.

 

As for the powerfists, well, that's tough to get around; though as mentioned, they do need 5's to even glance a Furioso, and a 6 to breach him. All you can do is try and shoot out a squad before Furioso hits, or hit other softer targets, like Devastators or even Tanks with his melta and Magna-grapple with Blood Fists instead.

 

I think you'll find something that works for you, it takes a few tries to get it, and he is a big red target that can, and will shred units. Good luck, comrade.

[Scumgrief]

Thanks Peoples

 

You have given me a bit to think about.

 

I found that a pair of stormravens with them really give people stuff to think about.

[billga]

If you want to see really effective Furiosos you can always run 3 (in drop pods), along with 3 Vindicators, 3 Dakka-Baals, Meph and two, 5 man tacts in drop pod. Should work out to 1850 points. I promise that at least one of your Furiosos will get to play :D.

[Deschenus Maximus]

The best way to deal with the threat of fists is to multicharge along with a RAS. Make sure that the RAS is contacting the enemy sergeant and thus your opponent won't have any other choice then to allocate the fist's attacks against the RAS instead of the Furioso.

[Brother Nathan]

mmm, str 8 fist vs armour 13... (walkers use the front armour value right?) they should still struggle to hurt your dread. an evisertor however is a different matter of course...(dam they hurt!) and yea if your uing fists youll struggle vs infantry, but short of being destroyed you should usually win combats...

[Chaplain Gunzhard]

Most of the time I run Furioso's they seem to get picked off really quickly, sure occasionally they have a great run. But considering everyone runs powerfists if I don't wipe out the whole squad then the dread usually gets punched up.

 

Is there something I am doing wrong or is it just bad luck.

 

Dreadnoughts in general don't last long against any half-way decent opponent. Close combat dreadnoughts are even more challenging to use, because up until that turn when they finally get into combat (if they are alive still) they are essentially just a threat-bubble and no more.

 

You can try several different approaches... you could spam dreads. Some of them will get through and wreck house, but still not an efficient build. You could use droppods, which are great for specialized shooty dreads (anit-troop or anti-tank), not as great for Close-combat dreads but can still be very effective, with the right terrain/cover. You could use dreads in a mech list where they will be marching behind the cover of transports. Their survivability will increase but you are still waiting many turns to do your thing, that is unless your opponent is coming straight at you. Finally use can use the stormraven, which imo is the best option we have. I like the anti-tank storm-raven with only a dread inside to be honest.

[Decoy]

^____ As above.

 

 

There's really no viable way to use Dreads actively against a halfway-conscious opponent. Storm Ravens are your best bet, but they die just as quick and if you don't get first turn or they're not in reserve, then there's a really good chance that the Raven will be a colossal waste of points and the Dread will -still- have to walk. It's a tough situation no matter how you look at it.

[JMac]

Come on, when have Dreadnoughts every been very reliable? The only ones I can think of are Bjorn from the SW chapter or an Ironclad. Truth is, Dreadnoughts are glasshammers. This doesn't mean you shouldn't use them, especially when we have the the different weapon loadouts we have. To be honest, if your Dreadnoughts aren't lasting too long, its either because of bad tactics or bad dice rolling.

 

The thing I've noticed with playing Blood Angels, is that they are "BOOM! IN YOUR FACE!" type of play style. Get everything you have up front and ready to fight as fast as possible. Hell, even our Predators are so anxious to get up in the action, they want to move before anyone else in turn 1! What I am trying to say is, you need a way to get your Dreadnought up close and personal turn 1.

 

Now the problem with putting a Dreadnought up close turn one, is that it goes against unconventional Dreadnought tactics. They are support units, always have been always will be. They seem so big and beefy, that we forget how easily they can go down. The key to this then, is to take Decoy's advice and mount them in a Stormraven. Then you have everything you need, transportation and support. Now just think tactful in where you want them and BOOM! IN YOUR FACE!

[DarkMark]

The latest WD has a so-so tactica on dreads. Nothing earth shattering, but some basic ideas nevertheless. Pretty sure the first list isn't legal though!

[Red Fury]

I think you must have pretty bad luck for a powerfist to take out your furioso as it needs to 5 to even glance it.

Yeah you shouldn't be having any problem in CC, it's really all the close range melta that causes a lot of problems.

 

Unfortunately, the Drop Pod Assault rule basically ruined dreads. With half coming down 1st turn without a chance to clear out some of the melta threats, they are a lot less survivable in pods than in the pdfdex. However, I think a first turn alpha strike with multiple scouting Baals and multiple dreads could work ok. Ravens really are an awesome delivery vehicle though, with the assault vehicle rules and all.

[Brother-Captain Lucius]

I run 2 Talon dreads in a twin Raven to great effect! The ravens are also loaded up with Meph and Assault Termies so when the ravens unleash their cargo the enemy has to make the decision on whats the biggest threat, The Termies, Meph or the 2 Dreads?

[knife&fork]

Unfortunately, the Drop Pod Assault rule basically ruined dreads. With half coming down 1st turn without a chance to clear out some of the melta threats, they are a lot less survivable in pods than in the pdfdex.

 

I don't know if it's worse, just different. After all, getting that dread close might be exactly what you need to break a gun line or deal with a melta threat. You kind of have to take two pods now for the flexibility, but I can think of many units that might as well be dropped in on turn one and thus be protected from shooting unless you go first. Ranged dreads, tacticals on an objective or devastators with medium ranged weapons who needs to get into cover outside of your deployment zone.

 

If anything the new dex made Furioso dreads a good pick again, thanks to the frag cannon. Three templates on arrival is just nasty, almost to the point where a normal (non-rifleman) dread is redundant. For pure CC power you might as well go with the DC dread (claws, melta, flamer and grapple).