Helbrute as anti tank?

[KhorneFlakes]

I've got two Helbrutes and am thinking about using them as anti tank fellas to roam the battlefield looking for transports and the like, thinking of giving them multi melta with warpflame gargoyles, power fist and heavy flamer. I was thinking of using the melta with soul blaze to give tanks ongoing but hurt, the power fist to pop tanks up close and the heavy flamer to scorch whatever makes it out. What do you think, comments and criticisms welcome!

 

Cheers in advance!

[the jeske]

low AV. no rifleman set upt. low HP. dreads are bad in 6th and chaos dreads are worse then all other dreads in the game , because of lack of pods , good arment etc.

[totgeboren]

Soul blaze does not give extra hits with the same profile as the weapon firing, it's just ordinary flamer hits. So if you intend to use dreads for anti-tank, soulblaze is about as pointless as it gets.

 

I ran two dreads in a game against eldar just yesterday (they were accompanied by a Forgefiend, Maulerfiend, Defiler and Decimator), and it was a massacre of the eldar. However, the dreads did just about nothing. One dread with a multimelta actually did nothing. The enemy tanks could drive 12" and still shot, he can walk 6" with his 24" gun, so yeah. The other dread with a plasmacannon got into close combat with some pathfinders on turn 3, and during the rest of the game he killed one of them.

And that's what my dreads did.

 

I just use them as decoys. They look sort of scary, and if you can keep them in/behind cover, they are as resilient as the daemon engines, but cost a bit less, so hopefully they can give your good stuff time to kill the enemy.

 

Other than that it must be said that they are much worse at shooting than a predator, and are much worse in close combat than a maulerfiend. But it can do both, and it is in elites, meaning they have little competition from similar-but-better units. They are a jack of all trades unit, but pay a bit too much for it. Personally the only way i found that they work okish is in support of a squad of marines in a rhino. The Rhino provides cover and the dread soaks some enemy firepower, enabling your scoring marines to get where they want to be intact. With a bit of luck the dread will still come up in support, hopefully saving the marines from being swept in close combat and stuff like that.

[Xenith]

The best anti tank loadout is the TLLC/ML combo, or Reaper/ML if you want to go transport hunting.

 

It is expensive, but it keeps you out of melta and krak grenade range.

 

MM/PF/HF hellbrutes are generalists, with only one strong shot tat needs to be close to be mosteffective.

 

The Reaper/Ml build can strip all 3 hull points from a rhino in one turn, if youre slightly above average lucky.

[Jiron]

Despite I would like to use the same loadout, I suggest use of Maulerfiend for tank hunting. It works pretty fine to me.

[SRSFACE]

I'm with Jiron. Maulerfiends shred vehicles way better than any helbrute ever could, and it's way more reliable, and maulerfiends are generally sturdier due to built in invuln save and It Will Not Die, and it tends to get good cover saves too because Move Through Cover might as well read "jump from forest to forest til you make it where you need to be."

 

Helbrutes are fun units for silly games but his crazed results tend to be more detrimental than beneficial. The only thing they've got going for them is that they're elites, and assuming you're using a lord/sorcerer to run your gods elite choice as a troop instead, the only other elites you can even bring that are worthwhile are terminators.

[minigun762]

If I had to use a Brute, I'd take Reaper & Fist. Embrace the cheap multi-purpose nature of the unit.

[minionboy]

Reaper + Missile Launcher is pretty much the most viable set up in my experience.  Reaper + Fist isnt' bad either, but I just find that they're too slow to usually use the fist, and then they only have 2 attacks anyhow.

[minigun762]

Reaper + Missile Launcher is pretty much the most viable set up in my experience. Reaper + Fist isnt' bad either, but I just find that they're too slow to usually use the fist, and then they only have 2 attacks anyhow.

I figure since you could be forced into assaulting a target thanks to Crazed, I might as well embrace that option and keep the free Fist.

[40kChrista]

I run then with Reaper & ML, and usually 2.  Since they can walk and shoot I have them slide around the 4 AC Havocs.  It sets up a potent back field deterrent and midfield annoyance due to the range.

[Smurfalypse]

No

[Chaeron]

If I had to use a Brute, I'd take Reaper & Fist. Embrace the cheap multi-purpose nature of the unit.

 

Probably best.

 

No

 

:lol:

[Sception]

Despite I would like to use the same loadout, I suggest use of Maulerfiend for tank hunting. It works pretty fine to me.

 

The problem with maulers as anti-tank ime is that is that a number of factions can and do bubble wrap their tanks with cheap infantry, especally when facing maulers, and you have to be able to strip that infantry unit with something else in order to open a path for the mauler to charge through.  That's not usually too hard, but it is diverting resources you might have wanted to spend elsewhere, while ranged anti tank can do the job without necessarily needing that kind of support.  If the mauler does get stuck in with infantry, it can be bogged down for a long time, and if that infantry has krak grenades then you might be in trouble.  Not that the mauler costs so many points that that's a big deal, but the heavy slot is pretty valuable in single org games, which, ime, remain the overwhelming majority of games.

 

Not that the shooty dread is a 'good' choice, mind.  But I wouldn't necessarily rule it out just because of the mauler's existence.  I wouldn't really recommend fielding a dread to begin with, but if you were to field one or two for aesthetic reasons, I'd definitely lean Missile launcher over fist, with reaper or twin las on the other arm.  It's just too slow & fragile for me to expect a melee weapon to see any use, and if you're taking a missile launcher anyway, might as well go long range anti tank with the other arm.

 

Now, if our dreads could take drop pods, then I might consider melee gear & short ranged guns, but as it is, no, not really.

[the jeske]

bubble wraps, sits in hvy support section [well easier to take maulers with BL dex , but still no easy thing to balance an army around them] , does 0 to Flyers and FMC . low number of attacks. high cost for an av 12 hull. even with cover and inv it is still vunerable .A stupid sgt can blow you up with a melta bomb .

[Tenebris]

It can be an anti tank unit albeit a very unreliable, vulnerable and unpredictable unit to do the anti tank job. I think that it lends well to spend those 25 points more and buy a Maulerfiend which has a larger threat range, more chance to kill a vehicle and it is reasonably fast to be there where it is needed.

 

I think that the Hellbrute would become actual with the new SM since we can expect a lot of new Drop Pod lists where we would love to have a Hellbrute to guard our deployment zone. IMO the best way to kill a vehicle nowadays is either to glance it to death or snipe off hull points from range. A Hellbrute can do both but he lacks the range to do both "reliably" and we still speak of a very vulnerable walker. 

 

Still Lascannon/Missile Launcher Brute can be of some use here but not much sadly. In my case I load with Melta Bombs, I always keep a single Obliterator in reserve to Deep Strike him close to something nasty and fire his melta guns or I load on Melta Bikers.

 

So far the Brute is a bit underwhelming as an unit, but so goes with all the walkers in the 6th.