Arming dreadnaughts

[spu00sed]

I was looking through my army lists and thinking of options and usefulness. During this my thoughts turned to dreadnaughts.

 

I always arm my dreads with at least one close combat weapon, reasoning that an ancient warrior will need a hand to point and gesture with.

 

To me a dread with two ranged weapons has been reduced to nothing more than a weapon platform, akin to the automatons of ordo reductor. This is an insult to their warrior spirit.

 

So who else arms their dreads because it feels right, rather than useful?

[the jeske]

taking walkers with low AV and few hull points in 6th ed is not the smartest thing to do . I would guess few people take dreads at all . maybe drop pod armies .

[Olis]

Personally, I've always armed by venerable ones with a DCCW and a weapon that can take on vehicles, whether it's a plasma cannon or twin linked lascannons or something else, they've always been my AT back-up.

[Acebaur]

I'm moving this to Tactica as it is more related to that then general marine discussion.

[MagicMan]

So who else arms their dreads because it feels right, rather than useful?

 

 

Me! I think dreads are an awesome looking part of a space marine force, and i alway give mine a close combat weapon and something else. They aren't bad, they just don't always perform, unlike Sternguard or whatever. Which makes the use of an elites slot for one kind've a bummer.

[Phoros]

I do a Pod/2LHeavy Flamer/Heavy Flamer one. Combined with Vulkan He'stan it's pretty nasty.

[Kingkaneda]

I find the basic AOBR dread very cost-effective for a mere 105 points. Im planning on experimenting with a TLLC dread, that fights in an 48 inch shooting army. The dread will be one of the lists few countercharge units, while still adding to the 48 inch firepower.

[Somar]

dreads are such a cool unit and it is a shame that the only ones seen nowadays are a psyfleman dread in GK lists. good fun to engage them in CC though, imagining them trying to kick something is kinda funny.

[Shaggy12009]

I've never been let down by my furioso with twin CC weapons. Maybe it's the front av13 instead of av12 since st 6 guns can't even glance. For my wolves, I always field a DCW/MM combo. It doesn't survive as often as the furioso, but its usually effective since I don't put him out front where he's a bullet magnet. it's true dreads aren't the mini titans they were in 5th, but if you're smart with them, they can avoid effective return fire and lay down the hurt at the same time.

[DarkGuard]

Furiosos are a different matter for more than AV13. If you give them Blood Talons, you'll just rip units apart in combat, which normal Dreads can't do. Wouldn't mind a couple in my army.

 

I still think Dreads may have a place though, you just need saturation. AV12 is still better than AV11, and 3 HPs is standard. If run another couple of Dreads, and Preds and Vindicators, maybe a Raider, then you'll overwhelm your opponent with mid-high AV targets. In my mind, AV12 is mid AV, not low, that's for AV10-11.

 

One on its own could struggle though.

 

As for arming them, I used to run them as Rifleman, but S7 isn't so great now as less people are taking AV10-11 at the moment. So my current one has a DCCW and TL-LC, for sniping and supporting my foot Tactical squads. I run a few Rhinos and a Vindicator as well so some firepower should go to them, and if it doesn't that's fine. Thinking of maybe running a second with DCCW and an assault cannon. More versatile, and I do agree that Dreads look right with DCCWs.

[spartan249]

Keep them cheap and hide them in cover protecting your tactical squads. To this end, long range weaponry and a CC fist can work well enough. Any other situation begs the question "why dreadnoughts?".

[Brom MKIV]

A basic dread with dccw + asscan is simply iconic, that's why I bring it. If it happens to do something unexpected then even better. In addition they are actually a decent babysitter for your firebase, able to threaten a wide range of things. Even better if its a SW dread since it comes standard with the AC for 105. Not terrible when you consider the cost of other AC platforms available.

That said I would like to see dreads shifted to av13 with 3 attacks base and/or a reworked venerable rule as standard, either that or a pts reduction, just to see more of our venerable brothers on the field. Furiosos and ironclads though are both still good from a pod.

[Giga]

The way I see it, there are two things dreads can be useful for in 6th:

 

- droppod dread in a mid-to-short range army, designed to pull away enemy fire while other heavy hitters advance across the board and maybe kill something on the turn it lands

 

- rifleman dread, sitting in cover far in the back of the field, picking off transports and trying to get glances

[Shaggy12009]

It's really funny to pod in a MM dread when you get the first turn. It's hard to make your points back unless you pop a land raider or something just as expensive since its pretty much a suicide run, but often it's worth it to put your opponent on their heels instantly. Not to mention the look on their face!

[Gideon999]

Am I the only one who drops a dread, lucks out and doesnt deviate, and when that all important melta shot fires, always rolls a 1?

[Giga]

Am I the only one who drops a dread, lucks out and doesnt deviate, and when that all important melta shot fires, always rolls a 1?

When you have one meltagun/multimelta on a squad/vehicle, it always misses. Always.

 

It is known.

[Captain Idaho]

Dreads work best as armour saturation boosting along with adding a few heavy weapons as a bonus. Since they are a threat when up close people will shoot a Dread long before they shoot backfield tanks, thus an army with a couple transports could do well with a couple Dreads too.

[spartan249]

Am I the only one who drops a dread, lucks out and doesnt deviate, and when that all important melta shot fires, always rolls a 1?

When you have one meltagun/multimelta on a squad/vehicle, it always misses. Always.

 

It is known.

 

I don't know... I had this one multi-melta that destroyed a monolith (the old 3rd edition one that ignored melta) on it's maiden shot. I'd say that's a pretty good indication that they don't always miss :lol:

 

Given the presence of Vulkan, Melta Dreads can do pretty decent at the drop n' slag routine.

[Giga]

I had this one multi-melta that destroyed a monolith (the old 3rd edition one that ignored melta) on it's maiden shot.

So, how many months ago was that? ;)

[Captain Idaho]

Everyone knows everything that happened in a previous edition didn't really happen and was just a dream. There is only now.

[Gideon999]

My buddies and I refer to this as "melta-fail" and yes, it ALWAYS happens. Its a major reason I dont take wolf guard with my grey hunters. Without 2 proper meltaguns Im just an unwilling pawn of the dice gods and melta-fail. :-)

[Muctar]

I've found that plain dreads work better if they're kept cheap and work in coordination with tacticals while also having other armor on the table. When I use mine they're podded and have MM and HF, supported by tacticals in rhinos. Though I do see the value in having a TTLC dread sitting in the backfield to support home-base objective holders. I always like the option of having the DCCW because it helps a lot if the dreads get attacked by marines who are looking to krak grenade them in combat.

[Brom MKIV]

Ive had double LS storms nuke 2 monoliths t1..and 8 podded sternguard whiff the very next game on one of the same liths. I would not trust a mm dread unless it came with a twin plus vulkan.

 

Thanks for this thread btw it actually inspired me to dust off one of my dreads for some modifications so I can run him this weekend. I plan on dccw/asscan although I have plenty of tlac arms so a "deathwatch" pattern dread with tlac/ac is kinda tempting too, just for cool factor.

[Captain Idaho]

Deathwatch pattern? I've been calling the assault cannon/twin autocannon variant the Heavy Gunner, as a twist on the Rifleman in comparison with Borderlands classes!

 

Either way it's a great choice.

[Brom MKIV]

Haha ya thats a term I coined to refer to my own tlac/ac dreads in my kantor list counts as a deathwatch force. And ya either way they are seriously cool man.