Dreadnought "Captain" and Treadnought

[XenoMechanicum]

I have two questions here about - you guessed it! - Dreadnoughts.

 

First - My custom chapter is an Iron Hands Successor, planned to have a defect in their Progenoid Glands (either slower to grow or sometimes only growing half of the needed Gene-Seed), making them a smaller than normal Chapter - this imminent doom combined with the Iron Hands original mechanical inclination has resulted in one of the larger quantities of Dreadnoughts per Chapter, even to the point that the entire 1st Company is comprised of Dreadnoughts (planning on buying a Chaplain Dreadnought to bolster this) - which ends in my question; there's no rules for a Dreadnought to be a Captain like there is for the Chaplain (barring the Wisdom of the Ancients strat), so what are people's opinions on designating with markings a single Dreadnought (most likely a Venerable) as a Captain for the fluff, should be no issues with opponents or tournaments if Imake if clear I'm still just using the normal rules for that model?

 

Second - I bought a Kromlech 'thunder fire cannon' equivalent but realized it was a plasma fun after the fact - and looking at it I think I can put a Dreadnought torso on the treads and probably kitbash the plasma gun into a workable arm, fitting with their lore a bit in terms of closer ties to Cawl and the AdMech, being a bit of a 'threadbare' Chapter that primarily Wars with Necrons and Tyranids - scavenging bits and pieces of Necrons that they barter with Cawl for (he wants to research their technology and my Chapter needs every edge they can get just to stay alive), so any thoughts on whether that should work? I haven't actually compared the pieces yet, very recent idea.

[Halandaar]

There's no rules for a Dreadnought to be a Captain like there is for the Chaplain (barring the Wisdom of the Ancients strat), so what are people's opinions on designating with markings a single Dreadnought (most likely a Venerable) as a Captain for the fluff, should be no issues with opponents or tournaments if Imake if clear I'm still just using the normal rules for that model?

 

To be perfectly honest, I doubt the majority of players would even take any notice of what markings you put on your model. If it looks like a Venerable and plays like a Venerable, then that will be fine. You could always consider mounting your "Captain" in a different pattern of Dreadnought, such as a Contemptor, Redemptor or even Leviathan to make him stand out even more, and be a little bit different from a basic Dread while still just using normal rules.

 

Another option is to take one of the Forgeworld special character Dreadnoughts (Culln the Risen, Hecaton Aiakos, Bray'arth Ashmantle) as an auxillary detachment, giving you some extra rules to represent the fact that this particular Dread is different from the others. 

[Ishagu]

Chaplain Dread is an actual character and a HQ. Great rules too.

 

Also Culln is a Leviathan Dreadnought chapter master.

[XenoMechanicum]

Thanks for the input! I do like the idea of using a special Dreadnought (and I did want a Leviathan anyway), so that would be awesome! I hadn't thought of using an actual character model though that is interesting - I might see about buying some of the individual parts to add a little more flair to a standard model though since even if they have special rules, I don't want to waste the points/money on an awesome character for a chapter I don't actually play - especially since their auras only affect their particular chapter, so I feel it could get a bit squicky with the rules. Definitely food for thought though, thank you!

 

Has anyone had any experience with the treadnought idea? I feel like it'll be pretty unique but possible someone else has had the idea, and any advice would be awesome.

[Halandaar]

I don't want to waste the points/money on an awesome character for a chapter I don't actually play - especially since their auras only affect their particular chapter, so I feel it could get a bit squicky with the rules. 

 

More food for thought;

• Bray'arth Ashmantle and Hecaton Aiakos don't have aura abilities, so you don't lose anything by them being a different chapter to the rest of your army.
• Culln does have an aura that only effects <Red Scorpions>, but it's essentially the same as your Chapter Tactic (models within 6" of Culln ignore wounds on a 6+), so you don't lose anything there either.
• Hecaton Aiakaos doesn't lose any durability by not being an <Iron Hands> dread, because he has his own special rule that lets him ignore wounds on a 6+.
• Bray'arth also doesn't lose anything in terms of durability, because he has an even better version (he ignores wounds on a 4+!) 
• All three Dreadnought characters have Invulnerable saves on top of the above.

[XenoMechanicum]

Huh...didn't realize all of that, thank you! That does help a lot with that, theoretically I suppose I could also run all three as my 'command squad ' for a larger army, in a surpreme command detachment without losing anything thanks to your above points, maybe once I have more leeway on my spending; thanks for the great advice! Exactly what I signed up for; informative and useful lol.

 

Is there an Imperial Armour out yet or still only index for 8th?

[Race Bannon]

Only Index iirc.

[XenoMechanicum]

Ah, well I have the index I bought a while back digitally (I buy all the indexes on my phone/tablet since their more for reference for models without a codex anyway), but I couldn't find the rules for his Dreadnought version, only the Badab War era version; can anyone tell me where his rules are?

 

Edit: Nevermind, had a moment of nonfunctional brain cells; I googled it and found it lol.

Edited January 5, 2018 by XenoMechanicum

[THUNDERFISTS]

The 'Wisdom of the Ancients' stratagem turns a Dreadnought into a captain buff-bot for a phase for just one CP. Food for thought. I like the idea of a Vanguard detachment of dreads "led" by a Redemptor/Leviathan with a Lieutenant in the HQ slot.  

[XenoMechanicum]

Thanks! That was basically going to be my original plan except with a techmarine hiding behind his bulky wall of repairable allies.

 

Might still do that actually - Carab Culln (and others maybe) in a separate auxiliary/supreme command detachment followed by a Vanguard or two of dreads lead by the minimum of Techs.

 

By the way, does anyone have ideas for converting more dreads to be different? They're scavengers so ultimately anything will work (even Xenos tech - maybe I'll take some Necron gauss rods kitbash an arm in the form of an assault cannon or something), and I considered using a Nemesis Dreadknight for some parts too, but does anyone have some suggestions for comparable scale? I'm sure I can find some interesting Tau parts that would do the trick.

[Schlitzaf]

Xeno that is honestly super cool idea. One idea you could maybe build off of is using Aggressor or Centurions as ‘MiniDreadnoughts’ while not Dreadnoughts be a cool aethestically.

[XenoMechanicum]

Thanks! And do you mean for kitbashing or including the models alongside the Company? Because I actually have a set of Aggressors assembled and mostly painted and a box of Centurions I intend to build as Assault models - expensive but much needed melee grinders. I think I need to get some Devaststors since I just realized I terrible lack of Lascannon firepower - I only have a single Dreadnought and my Missile Launcher Tactical for range.