Dreadnoughts, how to run them?

[teemoki]

I want to run them but it seems no one really runs them competitively. Anyone ever take Dreadnoughts (Furioso or DC, not talking about the Heavy Slot ones) competitively against good players or in tournaments and do well? It seems every single list (even other SM chapters) don't ever take Dreadnoughts on a competitive level. Is there something I'm missing that's bad about them? I think drop podding Dreads are really awesome...although it does put them in melta range a turn sooner.

 

Anyone have success with running them? and how?

 

Thankssss! :P

[angel of justice]

there are a heap of options for making a dread competitive

 

Furioso dreadnought with frag cannon and heavy flamer in a drop pod, 2 strenth 6 rending templates followed by a heavy flamer template does wonders

the first tournament i took it to i was surprised by how effective it was using it to shift heavy weapons hiding in cover or large hordes of guard and that its an immediate threat that has to be dealt with.

 

Blood talons on a dread are also pretty helpful if you intend to get up close and personal with furioso or death company dreads loaded in a raven or drop pod

 

twin linked autocannons on dreadnoughts are becoming popular as its 4 rerolling strenght 7 shots which is handy for popping transports and then moving on to high toughness creatures

[Rybnick]

I think the main reason you don't see Dread's in more competitive lists currently is that they are pricey for what boils down to a fairly easy to kill AV12/13 model. This is even more true for most of the BA dreads since they really want to be up close and personal and Melta eats through them with ease. That said drop podding dreads with either melta/magna grapple or frag cannon/heavy flamer can lay down a lot of hurt very quickly and can help the rest of your army out immensely by providing a threat that your enemy MUST deal with on turn 1 or possibly regret it the rest of the game. The trouble with drop pods though is that they are an epensive kit to purchase that can't pull double or triple duty like a Rhino chassis can, so you really have to like the idea of a drop pod army to commit to buying enough of the pods to be worthwhile. If you do run pods try and always keep them at an odd nnumber so the maximium anount of pods come in on turn 1. I personally only have 3 pods, and if I decide to run 2 drop pods dreads I'll usually give a 3rd pod to a devestator squad that just deploys on the board. That way my two dreads come in guaranteed on turn 1 and the 3rd empty pod can come in whenever and contest and objective or block firing lanes etc.

 

I think their will be an upswing of dreads in competitive lists sooner or later once more people start experimenting with the Storm Raven (remember the kit has only been out about 2 months or so). Nobody can deliver a CC dread where is wants to be quite like we can, and I think more people will warm up to the idea eventually.