Opinions on still using the FW Dreadclaw

[FENRISÚLFUR]

Lately there has been a lot of chatter on here about the lackluster (at best) transport options from the Chaos Space Marines Codex. I have to ask, why not use the Dreadclaw?

 

Forgeworld is no longer selling the model, but does this mean it is no longer usable? I still have the rules for it from IA: Apoc (2 or Second edition, can't remember which), and the downloads page still has the update to the Dreadclaw for 6th edition. Its got the 40k Approved stamp, and would actually give us somthing other than the Heldrake and bikers to take from the Fast Attack slot.

 

Like with anything from FW I try and ask my opponent first, even if its stamped for 40k use.

 

Thoughts??

[the jeske]

 

 why not use the Dreadclaw?

It is ultra bad . cheaper then the new uber pod we got , but it still sucks. No tactical gains vs losing important slots and high vunerability.

[Sception]

1) it's a fast attack slot, not a dedicated transport.  Fast attack is already crammed with the majority of our good units, eating up one of those slots on delivery for one of our subpar units from other categories is a losing proposition to start.

 

2) at half the cost of a heldrake, it's way overpriced for a drop pod - more than twice what marines pay.  Yes, it isn't immobilized on arrival like they are, but it's a pure transport, and arrives at best on turn two.  Half the time later.  40k games aren't long enough to make repositioning another unit after delivering the first anything anything more than a rare fluke application, and its poor armor means it isn't likely to be able to pull that job off even if it ever does become relevant to try.  Being able to keep moving after arrival is extremely overvalued in its points cost.

 

2.5) Further leading into the overpriced aspect, it's assault transport rule is nigh unusable in an edition where units cannot assault the turn they come in from reserve.  For the ability to be relevant, you have to opt not to disembark the turn you arrive, which means you aren't assaulting any sooner than if you just got out, and you're opting not to use the guns of the unit for that turn, and opening yourself up to the possibility of getting surrounded and popped, losing the whole unit along with the pod.  So basically, you're paying for rules that don't work together, and as a result will never be used, further reducing it to being just a dramatically overpriced drop pod.

 

3) most damning of all, it has no scatter or mishap mitigation.  It does not reduce scatter distance to avoid landing on impassible terrain or other units like a drop pod or the new Kharybdis, and instead just dumps itself and whatever unit it's carrying straight into the mishap table, so they can't even pull off the reliable melta assaults that are often what make regular drop pods so frightening.  So in addition to being hideously overpriced for a drop pod (to pay for rules you won't use), it's also bad at being a drop pod in the first place.

 

 

Altogether, the dread claw has three hideous failings - hogging a fast slot to deliver a unit that will cost more and do less than the bikes, spawn, or drake you could have purchased with that fast slot instead; way overpriced for rules that don't work or don't add any meaningful utility; and no scatter mitigation making taking a claw no better than deep striking without one, completely undercutting the claw's primary function of unit delivery in the first place - each more crippling than the last, while even the least of them would be enough to prevent the dreadclaw from being a meaningful option on the tabletop.

 

The dread claw as is is almost hilariously bad.  It is to Forgeworld chaos units what Possessed are to our codex options.

[Rune_Priest_Rhapsody]

Agreed.

It's an overpriced Drop Pod, pure and simple. The model is cool as hell (in my opinion), but as already stated, takes up a slot full of some real "gems" from this codex. I would rather field a Drake or squad of bikers then give a squad of marines to ability to drop in the face of Tau or Eldar and get shot to :cuss. You might as well drive a rhino up the board, it's cheaper and is a dedicated transport...

 

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