Unit of the Week: Venerable Dreadnought

[Skywrath]

Welcome to the Grey Knight unit of the Week, where we analyse the Grey Knights units strength's and weaknesses. The unit for this week is the ancient Venerable Dreadnought. Each week a different unit will appear, with the idea being that we discuss how best to use that model on the battlefield.

 

Questions:

 

1. General first thoughts and impressions of the unit?

 

2. How would you use said unit, to compliment a list, or to build a list around? 

 

3. What other units/strategems synergize with it to give it that extra shine?

 

4. Miscellaneous use/Tips and Tricks?

 

 

BONUS: Creative ways to use units that wouldn't be obvious at first. 

 

[librisrouge]

I like the venerable dreadnought. It gives us out only source of long ranged AT weapons. It benefited a lot from the 9th update, since it can move and shoot now. However, since we didn't get the marine update (yet) it lacks the perma -1 damage. That holds it back from being competitive in the same way other GK units are compared to their marine counterparts. 

 

For weapons, I think the multimelta and TL lascannon are the clear winners. The real question is the arm. The missile launcher has always been debatable, since it is only a single shot weapon. With 9th edition making the board smaller and drawing everything toward the middle, that CCW arm starts to look awful tempting. I'm honestly not sure which is better and I suppose that relates to what power you've given it. Multimelta and teleporting around lends itself to the CCW with either under-gun. Astral Aim with a TL las makes a strong case for the missile launcher.

[Skywrath]

The Venerable Dreadnought is more or less a staple in my lists because of anti-tank killing power, and a beatstick to protect my other units (most of which are purgators). Sometimes I decide to get ambitious and gate the Dreadnought on top of insurmountable terrain where he just wipes anything on top of it. One of my lists have two of them which then can be ran up the board with my paladins in a classic hammer-anvil formation, a-la Spider style. He is also my top choice of unit compared to razorbacks and land raiders.

 

Other than that, there isn't much to say - good unit, good options (even though lascannon/MM are realistically the only good ones), and still will be seeing him played when our codex drops.

 

Nothing on the unconventional ideas front, other than gating him into terrain that he can see, but the other's can't.

[Captain Coolpants]

Although I've not played for a long while. I feel my use of it would still be the same. Aaaalways include at least 1 in the list, hidden in completely line of sight blocking terrain with lascannon + missile launcher with astral aim taking pot shots of whatever is in range.

[The Woodsman]

I also like the Ven Dread, the BS2+ gun platform is nice, though I do like the duality of having the combat weapon. I also think he's useful through the Wisdom of the Ancients stratagem, for when you don't have or want to send forward your GM bubble. I only have the one myself, and he does alright, but I think they really shine in pairs or triplets, from what I've seen in battle reports. Fluff-wise I think they are awesome too (see my narrative for SFOD #1 to see just how much I love them lol), and I love my old school FW model. As far as combos go they've been mentioned, his main drawback is that while he's a useful piece, his uses still are limited. Would I include him in every list, all the time? No. Do I think he can have a spot in a strong list? Yes.

[Archadeus]

Personally I think having a astral aim dread is a waste, I'd rather have asral aim on one of my 10 man's. I am a fan of having 2 MM dreads escort my character blob up midboard while my paladin and terminator bricks wreck face. Best paired with a brother captain imo and situationally used for rerrolls. They are good gate holders and gating one up to a vehicle you need to disappear for the d6+2 is always fantastic as well.