Grey Knight Dreads- Options other than the Psyrifleman

[hattusa]

Ok hear me out. I like Psyriflemen but they are other good options for our Dreads. I take at least one Psyautocannon and Fist Dread (the other way you could use Psyautocannons other than Psyriflemen). Also Psycannons on Dreads are awesome (assault cannons with Psybolts). And why not consider a lascannon or plasma cannon a Dread. The group think of only ever using one Dread type, which I think is good, but certainly overrated, is problematic. How do you deal with heavy armored vehicles, especially AV 14? I dont think having at least one Lascannon is your army is a bad thing.

[Gentlemanloser]

I'm growing to love a GK Dread with only an Assault Cannon and Psyboly upgrades. :devil:

 

Relentless Psycannon, and 2 S5 Storm Bolter shots, plus a S10 Force Weapon in CC. Awesomesauce. :)

[KnowThyEnemy]

I think the way most people are dealing with AV14 centers around the use of psycannons elsewhere in their army. the S8 is great for cracking open AV12 (50% chance of doing glancing or penetrating) while psycannons are less effective (33%). however, when it comes to AV14, the tale is much different. Those 6's to glance for your autocannons aren't nearly as good compared to the 6's of psycannons giving you a minimum glance, 66% chance to penetrate.

 

So a regular psycannon, while it doesn't have the range of the autocannon, is much better at dealing with AV14. considering a lot of lists being posted (and used, personally speaking) are using at least 2 psycannons in a squad, each of those squads is going to get roughly 3 cracks at rolling a 6 if they are in range and on the move, and a solid 6 chances if theyre sitting still in range. the issue with psycannons is they don't have the range or the punch for transport killing, which is where the psyrifle dreads come into play. its debatable which is better when it comes to AV13. autocannon does damage 33% of the time but only pens 16%, which is the same pen % as a psycannon. plus psycannons can put out more shots (assuming you run the 2 psycannons per squad thing). just my thoughts on why i love my psyrifle dreads: death to the transports! :devil:

[Daedalus Templarius]

One lascannon won't scratch a LR, unless you get super lucky.

 

My LR was hit by 3 brightlances per turn in my last game, not to mention the occasional terranofex s10 blast and fire prism focused beam; it lost its assault cannon. That is all. A brightlance has a better chance to kill a LR than a lascannon even.

[iamnothere]

Psycannon ? Stom Bolter Ven dread is doing wonders for me; dropped near my dreadknight it helps tear things up god and propper.

 

I've been encouraged to go MM on it for that antitank punch but I'm happy with my Psycannon. I think 4 shots beats 1 everytime.

[Angelis Mortis]

I tend to like Multi-Melta w/DCCW +HF. Then I drop him from a Stormraven. Simple, inexpensive, quick, dirty.

[Valerian]

I'm growing to love a GK Dread with only an Assault Cannon and Psyboly upgrades. ;)

 

Relentless Psycannon, and 2 S5 Storm Bolter shots, plus a S10 Force Weapon in CC. Awesomesauce. ;)

 

Yep, I'm planning on keeping one of my Dreads like this (possibly moving forward in a Stormraven), while adding the magnetized Forgeworld autocannon arms to my second Dread. I think one of each will balance nicely.

 

Valerian

[thecapn226]

I run one with a plasma cannon and keep him close to the majority of my units because I play against a lot of psykers and reinforced aegis is great.

[Chucku]

I'm magnetizing mine for either Psyrifle or Psy Assault Cannon (using FW Psycannon arms) & DCCW.

[Captain Idaho]

I'm completely sold on the Heavy Gunner variant of Dreadnought in my Ultramarines. It has an Assault Cannon and Twin linked Autocannon and is incredibly powerful. The thing has 6 shots a turn which is impressive, even if some aren't twin linked, the rending makes up for it. With this variant you can turn to destroying infantry if there are no better targets.

 

Of course the main weakness in the Grey Knights list is the lack of range, alongside that of the lack of numbers of course, therefore there is a possibility the weapon load out is surplus to requirement.

 

I'd say go for Lascannons but you might struggle to get more than the 1 in the list. Any less than 3 in an army becomes a luck based noise maker against heavy armour and inefficient against light armour.

[number6]

I'm completely sold on the Heavy Gunner variant of Dreadnought in my Ultramarines. It has an Assault Cannon and Twin linked Autocannon and is incredibly powerful.

The thing I don't like about this loadout is the varied ranges on the gun. As you yourself noted, long range is one of the weaknesses of the GK army. Psyflemen dreadnoughts are one of the few units capable of making up that deficit. Lessening their role as such strikes me as inefficient. We can get psycannons everywhere in the army. I don't think we need our dreadnoughts to be carrying a pseudo-psycannon, too. ;) Not when they can do things only they can do; things that GKs cannot....

 

Also, splitting the weapons up means that weapons destroyed results will have a major impact on what role the dread will play. If you've accounted for pure psyflemen in your tactical loadout for the army list, the "heavy gunner" as you call it isn't a fair substitute. A single weapons destroyed will inevitably turn that "gunner" into a more limited machine. Whereas a weapon destroyed result on a psyflemen just means it puts out fewer shots. It is otherwise still going to perform exactly the task you had in mind for it. A heavy gunner has no such dedicated task, it is trying to be all things. I feel like that is asking for trouble. One die roll and your opponent can dictate to you how you will continue to use the machine.

 

Finally, I dislike the range disparity of the weapons. There is little reason for a psyflemen to approach close to the enemy, but every reason for a "heavy gunner" to do so. That inevitably puts it at more risk, especially to melta weapons, bane of dreadnoughts everywhere! :)

 

I say leave the psycannons where they belong: in the hands of the Grey Knights themselves. If you always want 4 shots on the move, footslog some terminators. Don't forget: Malleus Inquisitors are cheap! ^_^

[Gentlemanloser]

225 points for a footslogging Psycannon or 130? ;)

[Grimtooth]

Rifle dreads really serve one major purpose for GK; opening up transports to put the enemy on foot and face the power GK midrange firepower. They are going to pop medium fire support armor, but their main purpose in practically every list will be to open up transports to expose occupants to masses psycannon fire.

 

Personally, if I am going to use any dreads other then rifle dreads, I am going with ven dreads outfitted for close combat with plasma cannons. Moving them up with my infantry, adding to psycannon fire on infantry, and supporting my GK in close combat as well as a buffer for harder hitting enemy cc units.

[Captain Idaho]

Finally, I dislike the range disparity of the weapons. There is little reason for a psyflemen to approach close to the enemy, but every reason for a "heavy gunner" to do so. That inevitably puts it at more risk, especially to melta weapons, bane of dreadnoughts everywhere! -_-

 

I say leave the psycannons where they belong: in the hands of the Grey Knights themselves. If you always want 4 shots on the move, footslog some terminators. Don't forget: Malleus Inquisitors are cheap! :D

 

Yeah, I agree with that. With so many models with Psycannons it does seem like the Heavy Gunner is worth less to GKs. I did acknowledge that though. ;)

 

The weapon disparity is not such an issue in a Space Marines army which has other ranged firepower to pick up the slack.

 

Looking at the GK army, I can't really see much point in Dreadnoughts not armed with dual Autocannons really. Any other weapon seems like needless duplication of what the other GK achieve.

 

EXCEPT - putting a Lascannon on it when there are other units with Lascannons in the list. Say you have a second Dreadnought with Lascannon, a Storm Raven and few Razorbacks. Then the extra Lascannon works wonders and shores up a crucial weakness in the army.

[Chapter Master Ignis Domus]

You could always listen to GW and stick a MM/ML dread in a drop pod. :D

 

More seriously, I would put a MM Venerable in a drop pod with a locator beacon, kill large tanks, hopefully survive, then use the locator to bring down a large portion of your force, such as Dreadknights, on top of it.

[DeathKorpsman]

You could always listen to GW and stick a MM/ML dread in a drop pod. :lol:

 

More seriously, I would put a MM Venerable in a drop pod with a locator beacon, kill large tanks, hopefully survive, then use the locator to bring down a large portion of your force, such as Dreadknights, on top of it.

GK Dreads can't take DP's. GK's can't take DP's at all, actually. Stormbirds are the only DS option for GK Dreads.

 

Psyrifle dreads are great. Cheap, effective for their task and a much needed long range high strength option for GK's. For other options, I like the Ven w/ P. Cannon mentioned above as an anchor for an infantry line. It would definitely add some umph to a footslogging or mech GK list. MM is not so good, since there is not DS option other than Stormbirds. It isn't awful, to be sure, as getting into range to blast things isn't that awful hard most of the time and Vens don't miss much, which ups the usefulness of single shot non-twinlinked weapons. Psycannon dreads are also quite good, as you get the 4 S7 rending shots and 2 S5 shots of dakka on the move. Not bad for adding some extra shooting power to the 24" killzone.

[number6]

More seriously, I would put a MM Venerable in a drop pod with a locator beacon, kill large tanks, hopefully survive, then use the locator to bring down a large portion of your force, such as Dreadknights, on top of it.

As noted, we don't get drop pods ... but we do get Stormravens.

 

Most of my army lists so far created stuff a stock Venerable Dreadnought (i.e., equipped with a MM and Doomfist w/stormbolter) inside the raven (along with whatever infantry unit I also wish to transport). Gives me a BS 5 MM that I can probably get close to the enemy. GKs have very few melta weapons, but swapping the TLHB on the raven for a TLMM -- and taking the aforementioned Ven Dread -- I have two accurate MMs that I can probably get close enough to target two distinct enemy units early in the game (if so desired, of course).

[Red Lost Soldier]

I also run a standard MM, Doomfist Dread in a Stormraven. Even when the SR crashes, it is usually too late for the enemy to dodge and always diverts enough attention to make him worthwhile. Haven't found the points to make him Venerable yet, not sure the re rolls are worth it. Then again I haven't desperately needed the MM shot yet.