Blood Angels Unit of the Week series Unit of the Week: Death Company Dreadnought

[Jolemai]

 

Welcome to part one of the Blood Angels Unit of the Week series!

 
Following the release of the 10^th edition Index, there is no better time to discuss all the units we have access to. Each week a different unit will appear, with the idea being that we discuss how best to use that model on the battlefield. Where part one will discuss the units from the units found within Index: Blood Angels, parts two to four will discuss Index: Space Marines, part five will be Imperial Armour, and part six will be Legends.
 
Note, this isn't to lament any nerfs, etc, from previous editions; the rules are as they are so try to unlock its potential for those who wish to use them all the same. Similarly, this thread is only for using the option being discussed; it matters not if you feel something is a better choice as such comments aren't constructive to the topic and shall be removed.
 
Without further ado, here's this week's entry:

 

Death Company Dreadnought

What are you thoughts here folks? How best would you play a Death Company Dreadnought?

• To compliment a list, or to build a list around? 
• Sons of Sanguinius or Gladius Task Force?
• Are you keeping in within range of a Chaplain?
• What wargear options are you choosing?
• What delivery options are you using? 
• What deployment options are you using?
• Stratagem synergy of note?

 

Over to you.

[Jolemai]

Should you want your model on display here (or on another thread), then submit a photo here please.

 

(Once I work out how best to float it!)

 

***

 

As an aside, the thread setup may change over the coming weeks until I'm happy with them. This includes the photos.

[Karhedron]

The Death Company Dreadnought is a decent fighty package. The "Frenzied Reprisals" rule allows it to fight back each time it is targeted but not destroyed meaning your opponent will have to think carefully about attacking it with anything not guaranteed to destroy it. Between Black Rage and Twin-linked, it can reroll both to Hit and to Wound which make it handy for taking on non-OOM targets. The choice between Fists and Talons comes down in favour of Fists IMHO. Getting attacks up to S8 in the rest of our army is pretty easy but S12 is really potent for dealing with Monsters, Vehicles and other Dreads. Fists also make for an impressive showing with the Tank Shock Stratagem for an average of 3-4 Mortal Wounds on the charge.

 

The choice between Smoke Launchers or Magna Grapples is more finely balanced as both provide useful abilities. On balance I favour Magna Grapples for 2 reasons. Firstly, you can only use Smoke once per turn and there are usually plenty of other units in our army with the SMOKE keyword. Secondly, Smoke requires CPs while the Magna Grapples are free to use, even if they are situational.

 

Now we come to the downside, the cost! The DC Dread is massively overpriced. All SM Dreadnoughts are rather too expensive in 10th edition IMHO but the DC Dread is a whole new level of overpriced at 195 points. For Comparison, the Ironcad costs only 150 points and has Toughness 10 as well as a similar melee profile and a pair of HK Missiles. For just 25 points more, you can get a Brutalis which has more Wounds and Attacks, better Toughness and built-in Multimeltas.

 

I love my DC dread but unless/until it gets a serious price drop, mine will be staying in the case.