What type of Drop Pod Dread?

[Kilofix]

Remind me, for loyalist SM, what's the best type of Dread to put in a 3 Drop Pod TAC list?

 

With the other Turn 1 Pod containing Melta Sternguard.

 

Cheap regular Dread with MM, Fist and Flamer, or Ironclad, or maximize Turn 1 shooting with a double ranged weapon Dread?

 

Thanks for the opinions.

 

Edit - Spelling

[minigun762]

I think the standard option is an Ironclad with dual heavy flamers. The biggest reason is AV13 and it's durability boost over AV12 (no krak grenades). 

 

After this, some of the other common options are:

 

Multi-Melta/Heavy Flamer (add Venerable to taste)

 

Assault Cannon/Heavy Flamer (add Venerable to taste)

[Iron Father Ferrum]

Yeah, Ironclad with double flamer is my go-to in that situation.  It's tough, it can burnerize infantry, and punch a tank open.  It's like a one-stop shop for all your drop podding needs.

[Kilofix]

Ironclad it is - thanks guys!

[Toldavf]

I prefer to maintain one melta gun gives me a little extra flexibility on the drop.

[Montuhotep]

There's another one to consider if you are that way inclined - the FW Siege Dread.

 

 Inferno Cannon, Heavy Flamer, Assault Drill and Extra Armour.

 

Can take a pair of HK missiles at 10 points a pop.

[Redlead]

Hi fellas, hope you dont mind me hijacking this thread a tad but Im in the middle of painting up two Ironclads and are wondering what to arm them with.

 

Was originally thinking of two HF on one and hurricane bolters on the other, Im not much of a player right now but do like a game from time to time and would like to arm them with a sporting chance, reading the posts above Im thinking both sould have 2x HF and maybe use magnets to swop for Meltas if needs be.

 

What are your thoughts, thanks.

[Iron Father Ferrum]

Hurricane bolters are kind of a waste.  They work on LRCs and Storm Ravens because you have a pair of them, generating enough dice to push wounds through armor and cover saves.  A single hurricane bolter just doesn't cut it.  If you want to murderize infantry with an Ironclad, stick with a pair of heavy flamers.

[GreyCrow]

In my experience with podded Dreads, keep them as cheap as possible. They have big targets painted on their AV10 back especially with short ranged weapons that you can be sure they'll get destroyed if you throw them right in the face of the enemy, because he will circle around to hit the AV10 or get close enough with melta weapons that AV13 won't matter much. The downside is that they won't be able to do much on the turn they arrive.

 

I've had good experiences with a multi-melta, heavy flamer regular Dreadnought in a pod. The Venerable upgrarde is quite a waste of points because of the massed melta fire they're going to eat that the reroll on the pen damage chart is less interesting.

The best use of podded Dreadnoughts I've had is when I threw them in support of another decent threat in my army to make target priority harder. Do you kill the Dreadnought, the 2 Las/Plas Razorbacks or the 10 Marines with nasty special weapons in front of them ?

 

In the turn it drops, however, the Dreadnought will not have sufficient punch to be an effective suicide unit, he just lacks the weaponry. Except perhaps TL Heavy Flamer/Flamer types, but you won't get your points back and they really only work well against infantry heavy armies.

[knife&fork]

Another vote for the MM dread with HF. 

 

You can deploy him in a protected position where he doesn't have to expose himself thanks to range of that MM.

Don't suicide, slow play and keep him around as a thorn in your opponents side.

 

If you are using a storm raven I would advice you to use that for deployment instead of a pod. They generally will work better as part of your tactical reserve. Bring them in where there's nothing or little that can harm them and they'll do a wonderful job. 

Plus hitching a ride in storm raven isn't nearly as dangerous as it use to be in 6th.

[GreyCrow]

Another vote for the MM dread with HF. 

 

You can deploy him in a protected position where he doesn't have to expose himself thanks to range of that MM.

Don't suicide, slow play and keep him around as a thorn in your opponents side.

 

If you are using a storm raven I would advice you to use that for deployment instead of a pod. They generally will work better as part of your tactical reserve. Bring them in where there's nothing or little that can harm them and they'll do a wonderful job. 

Plus hitching a ride in storm raven isn't nearly as dangerous as it use to be in 6th.

 

The Stormraven deployment works too for a MM/HF Dread, especially because it's an Assault transport so you get to charge on the turn you physically appear on the ground.

 

It all depends whether you're aiming for a strong board presence in a specific area of the table in Turn 1, or if you're looking at a delayed strikeforce. For example, a Stormraven with a Dreadnought and a squad of Tactical marines arriving at Turn 3 somewhere on the table is a pretty sizeable reinforcement in terms of body count and firepower !

[knife&fork]

 

The Stormraven deployment works too for a MM/HF Dread, especially because it's an Assault transport so you get to charge on the turn you physically appear on the ground.

 

It all depends whether you're aiming for a strong board presence in a specific area of the table in Turn 1, or if you're looking at a delayed strikeforce. For example, a Stormraven with a Dreadnought and a squad of Tactical marines arriving at Turn 3 somewhere on the table is a pretty sizeable reinforcement in terms of body count and firepower !

 

 

Normally I wouldn't put something as expensive as a tac squad in a raven, it's far too dangerous if they crash and those points are probably needed for turn 1 fire support. It's also one more unit you have to ferry to the same place as the flyer. A position they might not be suited to hold.

A combat squad or minimal scout squad on the other hand.... Skies of fury deployment isn't to be underestimated in maelstrom missions.

 

Frankly I don't think any vanilla SM dreadnought is good enough for a serious alpha strike, not enough damage output. The only dread that really suits this role is the BA frag cannon dread, even then it's borderline and you should have alternative units to drop on turn 1.

[GreyCrow]

Well, I'd say that depends how many Tactical squads you have on the board in Turn 1 :) If you have 3 already plus long range support, that Stormraven, Dread, Tactical squad is a battering ram to grab an area far into the enemy DZ, while forcing him to come to your army early game.

 

Which is why I think Stormravens work better in slow moving armies as a breaching unit over fast moving armies like the Raven Guard or White Scars for instance. You don't need as many tools to get deep into the DZ like the Raven :)

[knife&fork]

It's fine to keep the raven as deployment option, just have another way to use that squad (such as backup transport in form of pod or rhino/razorback) for when deploying in the flyer is the wrong thing to do. 

[Kilofix]

Would it make a difference if I said I would Drop Pod a full Tac along with a second Pod with the Dread?

 

I'm thinking still Iron Dread with double Flamer. Or scrap the Dread and go Assault TDA or a second Tac?

[GreyCrow]

In that case, I would say that your Tacticals should try to draw part of the anti-tank firepower dedicated to the Dreadnought. That way, it might survive a little longer :)

 

The more I think about it, though, the more I wonder whether drop podded Dreadnought bring an interesting tactical edge to a game. To be fair, you only want Dreadnoughts that close if they are equipped with some form of melee weapons. Drop Pods mean an Assault at least in Turn 2. Wouldn't a Dreadnought manage to reach combat by turn 2 by footslogging already ? Besides, a 24" range for the multi-melta (if we consider the shortest range for a right arm weapon) is still interesting, that means a 30" threat range for the gun in the first turn and we don't really need to be in melta range unless we try to aim for AV13/14 vehicles.

 

Besides, the pod is roughly a third of the price of the Dreadnought. Is it worth it or will the Dreadnought die before he can even think about reaching melee ? (assuming you have Rhinos and other armour to distract from focusing on the Dreadnought)

[crazyterran]

A normal dread with a twin linked Heavy Flamer and a Heavy Flamer isn't too bad either. 115pts. Just need to get a TL Heavy Flamer arm, Forgeworld makes them...