Dreadnought Variant Tactics

[Acebaur]

So recently I've been thinking a lot about Dreadnoughts due to building a Venerable one for our competition with the BA.  I made my Venerable to be able to pass for a chaplain as much as possible so I can run him as either. I know that a lot of folks love Venerable dreads for their better BS and their FNP save so I began comparing a standard Ven with the Chaplain version. I was surprised at the value of the chaplain over a standard one. 

 

The chaplain costs 30 points more in an identical load out to the standard ven dread and carries all the same rules and gains these benefits

- An extra wound

- A 5+ Invul save

- +1 S for everyone he's in combat with

- Character Keyword

- HQ slot instead of Elite(depending on your list may not be a benefit)

- Inferno Dreadnought cannon(although I don't think this is a very useful weapon though honestly)

- The option to make him even cheaper and get a second CCW and re-rolls of 1 in CC

 

 

That is a ton of value, the character keyword alone is a huge boon making him very difficult to target and combined with the extra wound and invul he seems like he would be a very hard unit to bring down. The S bonus is also really good and can combine with Helbrecht for S12 TH and PF, though you aren't likely to run both in a list due to cost. Still the S bonus really increases the value of weapons like LC's and PS. All in all I think this is a unit that fits BT very well and plus he's a chaplain :D

 

 

I've also been eyeing the Redemptor. He brings a lot of firepower but I've not got any experience with him or what loadout would be best. 

 

So brothers what do you think of the chaplain? What other variants do you run and how effective are they?

[AlmightyWalrus]

The Chaplain Dreadnought has access to relics by virtue of being a Character as well, meaning he can get the Amour Indomitus for a 2+ save and a one-time 3+ invulnerable save.

[Acebaur]

That's a really good point, never thought about giving him the armor :lol:

 

Also he can be the Warlord so he can take a trait.

[Ciler]

Or the helmet to extend the range of it's S bonus by 3"

[AlmightyWalrus]

Or the helmet to extend the range of it's S bonus by 3"

S bonus is only for units in combat with the same thing as the Dread, it doesn't have a range per se.

[Sword Brother Adelard]

How does the datasheet define that?

[AlmightyWalrus]

It literally says that any unit that's in combat with a unit that's also in combat with the Chap Dread gets +1S.

[Sword Brother Adelard]

That's oddly defined in comparison to other auras. However, it does mean you could, in conjunction with Helbrecht, get a S9 Champion!

[Firepower]

While giving him Warlord Traits would be fun, I wouldn't bother with a Relic.  The Armor isn't that huge on top of his already impressive resilience, and you could use that free relic better elsewhere.  It is a real shame we can't put the Crusader's Helm on him...well, we can, it just doesn't do anything.

 

Best to avoid the Inferno I think.  It's most frequent use would be denying you a charge for burninating too many models

 

If only I had one.  I would love to experiment with placement in an army.  Is he best slogging along with Crusaders, pew pewing with Lascannons until he can get stuck in the fray?  Is he best Deep Striking in with a pair of Ironclads as an indomitable stompy smashy brick to the face?  So many possibilities 

Edited March 11, 2018 by Firepower

[Schlitzaf]

No it increases the range of the strength bonus by to everyone in combat and then it create 3" of phantom combat! In all seriousness Chaplain Dread likely pretty solid (does it have Chappy Rerolls too?), I haven't tried it yet

[Acebaur]

No it increases the range of the strength bonus by to everyone in combat and then it create 3" of phantom combat! In all seriousness Chaplain Dread likely pretty solid (does it have Chappy Rerolls too?), I haven't tried it yet

 

 

No he doesn't have the re-rolls except for himself when he has two DCCW's and then it's just one's

[Margulix]

The main problem i see is to deliver chim into CC. He is not trhat useful in shooting backline (well as regular venerable i guess). So you will have to pay 6pl for Lucius Droppod at least. Which is junk because it costs more than regular and cannot shoot a stormbolter. 

[AlmightyWalrus]

He can't be shot at though, so he'll live longer than a regular Ven Dread if the enemy wants him dead.

[Acebaur]

The main problem i see is to deliver chim into CC. He is not trhat useful in shooting backline (well as regular venerable i guess). So you will have to pay 6pl for Lucius Droppod at least. Which is junk because it costs more than regular and cannot shoot a stormbolter. 

 

Actually it's cheaper than a regular points wise and with the Chap being a character it's much harder to target him. While he cant take a ML or Twin Autocannon as a second ranged weapon, he's still got BS2+ which is nice as he marches up the field

[tvih]

I wish I had a Chaplain Dread - but in this case it's more rules-wise since it's a HQ. I like dreads - I have five of them so far - but the Chaplain Dread model is just, I dunno. I guess it might be the wings mainly. I wouldn't even have to buy more than the "chassis" as I could lend some arms from other dreads to keep cost down.

 

But yeah, rules-wise, Character is certainly nice for it now. I've found that just about all of my opponents seem to go bananas when they see dreads and always insist on murdering them, which is no fun for me. Being semi-untargetable would surely help with that. However I do think that for a HQ he is a bit lacking in his buff. Yeah, the +1S can be nice, but it really should be a proper aura. Of course if you're fighting some huge spread out blob the current wording may prove beneficial, but I feel an aura would be far more commonly useful.

[theJoeMan]

I run the Chaplain Dread in almost all of my games and let me tell you guys, he is an absolute beast. I've run him in Lucius Pods and footslogging and he pretty much always gets into combat (I've actually had better luck footslogging him).

 

I also like running the Inferno Cannon occasionally, it's great in situations where there are two or three units nearby and you only need to make the charge on one key unit, then you can cleanse the other heretics with an incredibly strong holy flamer.

 

This guy does work in CC too, last game he took out a Foetid Bloat Drone, a Blight Hauler, and a Lord of Contagion by the end of turn 3 (no drop pod).

[Acebaur]

@tvih I'm kind of in the same boat as you, I'm not the biggest fan of the FW model so I just made my Venerable look as chaplain like as possible and I doubt anyone will have a problem with it.

[tvih]

Well, I'm actually making this dreadnought right now, it's a regular one but I should "bling" it enough to make it pass for a venerable :P

I did contemplate a Chaplain conversion but I'm not sure if I could make it look the part.

[Acebaur]

I mean really all I did was lots of skulls and scrolls and seals lol. The only thing I didn't do was a skull helm because they are hard to come by

[Dark_Jober]

Hello Brothers!
This is an interesting thread, I'm really interested in the Chaplain Dreadnought.

How do you equip it? Which weapons do you recommend?

I have never played a Dread in 8th edition, and I have some bits for doing a fantastic conversion for my Chaplain Dread, so I want to know the best configurations or the best options and trying to fit it with my own playstyle.

[SWORD BROTHER RYAN]

On the subject of Dreads alone, I have personally run a venerable detachment full of them in 2 games so far, 1 Redemptor, 1 Venerable, and 1 standard. The Redemptor was loaded out with Macro Plasma Incinerator, underslung Onslaught Gatling Cannon, 2 storm bolters, Icarus Rocket Pod, and Redemptor fist. The Venerable had Multimelta, Storm Bolter, and DCCW. The Standard had Rocket Pod and TLLC. This has been a Dread​fully effective force, making full use of my perceived notion that this game has devolved into "My guns are bigger and badder than yours!", forcing the enemy to panic as they try to determine which is the bigger threat and positioning all of them to work in concert with one another.

 

That said, I would run a Chaplain Dread as the HQ for this unit if I had one, with the 2 DCCW option. Just MHO.

[Sword Brother Adelard]

The problem with the 'my guns are bigger and badder than yours' meta, is that Space Marines suck at it.

[Honda]

In my Apoc games, I like to field my Leviathan (Axios) with the siege fist and the choppy fist, an Ironclad with the chainfist and the DCCW (2 x Hflamers), and the Chaplain with 2 x DCCW, entering the table via Lucius drop pods.

 

There aren't any good options for the enemy. :)

[Medjugorje]

i take often 2 Ironclade with Hurricane Boltersystem and the Dreadknought Chainsaw and Grimaldus... if they arrive in close combat it is very nice to have 8 attacks with 4dmg and -4AP and in statistic you have more then 8 hits (ca 8,1)