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Hi again everyone, just wanted opinions on the best way to arm a new venerable dreadnought? it shall be used as more a support fire vehicle than assault oriented, any suggestions?


thanks in advance.

nerdfest09

Hmm! Well as a BA player, Dreads acting as fire support aren't really my thing but I would prob say, a lascannon for sorting out any heavy armour and an autocannon for any pesky troops. Or maybe swap out the lascannon for a Plasma and then the autocannon for a missile launcher, that way if you do come up against armour you've got krak! Or better still just magnetise the whole kit and wait to see what you opponent brings!

Don't make the mistake I did and give a BS5 Dread a twin-linked weapon. Mine has a TL Lascannon. I only miss when I roll two 1s in a row (and I actually have before!). I plan on swapping it out for an Assault Cannon.

In fact, your best bet for a mobile fire platform could well be Assault Cannon + Missile Launcher. That gives it a good mix of anti-infantry and anti-vehicle, and with Rending can take down even Land Raiders.

However, WS5 means they're not too shabby in melee. Swap out that Missile Launcher for a DCCW and Heavy Flamer, and they're deadly to infantry and vehicles alike, but also tooled for close combat. Alternately, a Storm Bolter, if you want to take advantage of their BS5, but personally I like Heavy Flamers better, since I go up against Nids quite often, and Heavy Flamers make Nids disappear.

Also, a Plasma Cannon isn't a bad choice either. 2d6-5 scatter is pretty sweet, and paired with a missile launcher it'll make a mess of hordes and MEqs alike... but you'll have a lot more trouble against heavy vehicles.

Hey thanks saint, sounds like tooling them up like a 'normal' dread would work? assault cannon and ccw with flamer? sounds good to me! probably still not enough to take out that wraithlord in real life though


cheers man.

I'm a big fan of Plasma Cannons or Assault Cannons on dreads. Also, the DCCW on the other arm with a heavy flamer if you can spare the points on the flamer.

Sounds like its a ccw and flamer on one arm and either a plasma or assualt on the other, what benefits are there for a plasma cannon? I know they throw a lot of hurt around but are they better against meq's?

Close combat weapon, heavy flamer, assault cannon. Magnetize it so you can switch out whatever you want.

what benefits are there for a plasma cannon? I know they throw a lot of hurt around but are they better against meq's?

S7 AP2, man.

If they aren't in cover, you're taking models off the table. Or, you're forcing terminators to make 5+ invulnerable saves instead of 2+ armor saves. A 5 or 6 is harder to make than 2+.

The chance to scatter is there, so assault cannons are good second choice. But your milage may vary, of course.

You aren't glueing these on, are you? I just slip mine on and off. Magnets are your friends.

I got a fine ven. Frorgeworld Dread for cheap on eBay. Unfortunally with a Multimelta.

Do you think that is worth taking? I mean, 24" one shot? BS5 is a lot better than BS4 for a one shot weapon but still...

Yeah probably not glueing them on, but want one set up to have for the majority, i'll be playing against Tau, blood angels and Nurgle marines mostly...o.k all the time as that's all my mates have :-)

First, always Extra Armour. That's because if your Dreadnought is Stunned then enemy troops engaging it in close combat roll vs WS to hit the Dreadnought with Grenades, instead of rolling on a flat 6. Also, even if your Dreadnought can't shoot, it can still still move, which is good, as Dreadnoughts can't afford to be slowed down.

Second, always a Dreadnought Close Combat Weapon and a Heavy Flamer. The Dreadnought Close Combat Weapon makes it a threat in combat, to vehicles and infantry alike. The WS5 means it'll hit stuff like Space Marines and Orks on a 3+, which is a serious improvement on 4+. The Heavy Flamer is for dealing with hordes. If you can get close enough, burn them and then charge so they can't put you out of charge range by casualty removal, otherwise burn them because against most targets you'll be better off killing enough to put yourself out of charge range than charging with three attacks. Remember, you're Venerable, so you have a better chance of surviving incoming Melta fire so long as you re-roll Weapon Destroyed and Immobilized glancing hits and Destroyed penetrating hits. So go and introduce yourself. Shake someone's hand.

Thirdly, don't waste that BS5 on diminishing returns or useless weapons like Twin-Linked Heavy Bolters or Heavy Flamers. Twin-Linked Lascannons are ridiculously expensively and wasted on BS5. Missile Launchers are nice, but the Imperium has forgotten how to build right-handed versions, and as per the second point you're better off with a Dreadnought Close Combat Weapon and Heavy Flamer. Not to mention the hassle of getting a spare Missile Launcher from the regular Dreadnought kit. Twin-Linked Autocannons are likewise nice, but if you're going to take advantage of those weapons, you might as well save points and take a regular Dreadnought because it's going to hang back and shoot. Furthermore both the Plasma Cannon and the Twin-Linked Autocannon are incapable of engaging AV14.

Take either a Multi-Melta or an Assault Cannon. They'll hit on 2+, and that's good for the single shot at cracking tanks, and the four shots on infantry.

Consider the following, the difference between a Venerable Dreadnought and a Dreadnought of identical configuration (Assault Cannon, Heavy Flamer, Dreadnought Close Combat Weapon), attacking a unit of Tactical Space Marines.

Assault Cannon
Ven. 1.29 expected casualties (including Rending)
Reg. 0.73 expected casulaties (including Rending)

Close Combat
Ven. 1.67 expected casualties
Reg. 1.25 expected casualties
Iron. 1.66 expected casualties

I added in the Ironclad's expected casualties to show how the Venerable's heroic Weapon Skill evened out the lack of extra Dreadnought Close Combat Weapon.

Consider the following configurations: Multi-Melta, Heavy Flamer, Dreadnought Close Combat Weapon vs Melta Gun, Heavy Flamer, Dreadnought Close Combat Weapon, Seismic Hammer.

Melta Weapon vs AV14 at 12"
Ven. 0.02 expected Destroyed results

Melta Weapon vs AV14 at 6-12"
Ven. 0.26 expected Destroyed results
Iron. 0.02 expected Destroyed results

Melta Weapon vs AV14 at 1"-6"
Ven. 0.26 expected Destroyed results
Iron. 0.21 expected Destroyed results

Wow, nurglitch thanks dude, that's great info, you had that off the top of your head? some people just know too much stuf! :-) i'm leaning to assault cannon, but the melta sounds good too, may suprise his blood angels? do you know if the box comes with one?

you arm them the same way you would a normal dred.

i prefer shooty(2 Autocannons or Lascannon and missile launcher) to benifit from the BS5.

yeah, my auto-cannons hit on 2+ and get to reroll misses.

The box doesn't come with a Multi-Melta, Missile Launcher, Twin-Linked Heavy Bolter, or Twin-Linked Heavy Flamer. I'm looking into whether the Leman Russ Multi-Melta sponson might fit the Venerable Dreadnought right-arms, but so far it looks like it'll require a lot of cutting.

Nurglitch wrote:The box doesn't come with a Multi-Melta, Missile Launcher, Twin-Linked Heavy Bolter, or Twin-Linked Heavy Flamer. I'm looking into whether the Leman Russ Multi-Melta sponson might fit the Venerable Dreadnought right-arms, but so far it looks like it'll require a lot of cutting.

You can use a AoBR dread MM arm, but it doesn't fit exactly right, so you'll need to magnetize it.

But AoBR dreads are a dime a dozen on eBay, so that route would not be expensive.

nerdfest09 wrote: what benefits are there for a plasma cannon? I know they throw a lot of hurt around but are they better against meq's?

Well, they wound on a 2+ and ignore even terminator armor, so ,yeah I'd say they are better against MEQs.

Between Plasma and Assault Cannons until your MEQ opponents realize they need to spread out really far, you will score more kills with the Plasma. even when your opponent does start spreading out you will score the same number of kills with the plasma.

It goes like this; A BS 5 Assault Cannon will generally hit with every shot; each of those 4 shots have a chance to rend meaning that you are likely to rend (on average) 1x/turn of shooting; so we can give the Assault cannon 1 dead marine/turn. A BS Plasma cannon is rarely going to scatter, and isn't going to scatter very far when it does. Assuming your opponent has spread his MEQs out >1.5" you will only land the blast marker on 1 marine, but that marine will die.

Now reading this you are going to say: but the Assault Cannon hits with all 4 attacks; this is true, it also will generally wound all 4 marines it hit, with the assumed 1 rend we can also assume 1 failed armor save; so the assault cannon really nets ~2 kills/turn

But then we have the Fact that the Plasma cannon will still only be hitting about 61.1111 % of the time; the average scatter distance will be 1-3"(a scatter score of 6, 7, or 8); this is actually the sweet spot for a spread unit, and should net you 2-3 kills. Plus, it also adds the bonus of often keeping marines from either getting the whole squad into rapid-fire range, or assaulting you.

Tactical advantage actually goes to the Plasma Cannon; even though the Assault cannon may get more kills, the Plasma cannon forces a more conservative and defensive playstyle onto your opponent.

Edit: danggit got a call in the middle of typing all that and had to take care of a few other things before I could finish.

Having a plasma cannon around when you pop a transport with another unit and have a bunch of clustered marines is very nice.

It's also nice when your opponent deepstrikes jump marines and shoots something instead of running to spread out in the shooting phase.

"Why, yes. I think I will drop a S7AP2 template on those 7 jump pack marines..."

*insert evli laugh here* yes, yes i feel a plasma cannon coming on right about.....now!

Basically, model two right arms and two left arms for him. One DCCW + HF and one Missile Launcher for the left arm, and one Assault Cannon and one Plasma Cannon for the right arm. Mix and match based on what he's going to be killing today.

The Ven Dread box comes with the materials for everything above (including the Missile Launcher, I think).

If you want to give him a Multi-Melta, that's good too, but you'll need to get the MM elsewhere, like Nurglitch said. I'm not a fan... I trust four Rending shots at 24" more than I trust a single Melta shot at 12" (for maximum effect)... but that could just be personal preference above all else.

While Plasma Cannons are handy against clumps of Sv2+ models, they're not that great for dismounting those models, and cannot engage AV14. The Assault Cannon also has advantages against Monstrous Creatures and Vehicle Squadrons, stuff that requires a volume of shots.

If you want to take Plasma Cannon armed Dreadnought, go for the regular Dreadnought as the extra 12" of range will help you keep Melta weapons at arms reach, and you won't suffer much lose of accuracy. The extra points you save can then be invested in weapons that can knock out armour.

the Ven dred doesn't have the missile launcher.

it has the PC, LC, assault cannon, and the DCCW.


the Dred and ven dred kits should be interchangable as far as fitting(so a simple magnet will do the trick)

MM only comes with the AoBr dred.


Auto-cannons must be looted off an Aegis Defense line box(which works with almost no alteration needed)

the only place to get HBs(the worst option IMO) is FW or make your own.

I don't think that's right. I've got the Ven Dread box at home, I'll have to go and see, but I'm almost certain it comes with the Missile Launcher. I remember because the Missile Launcher has the fancy inscriptions (presumably of battles fought by this particular veteran brother) found on the right arms, but not on the DCCW.

Mine did not come with a ML

Huh, you know what? I'm wrong. I'm looking at pictures of the sprues on GW's website, and there appears to be no Missile Launcher.

Ignore my previous statement.

Nurglitch wrote:While Plasma Cannons are handy against clumps of Sv2+ models, they're not that great for dismounting those models, and cannot engage AV14. The Assault Cannon also has advantages against Monstrous Creatures and Vehicle Squadrons, stuff that requires a volume of shots.

True. I would never argue someone out of an Assault Cannon. It does a decent job of cracking AV 14.

I like my Multi-Melta and DCCW with heavy flamer. In a drop pod.

It's also one of the few models that I always put Extra Armor on, what with the increased chance of being stunned.

Dual Autocannons

Shas'O Dorian wrote:Dual Autocannons

On a Ven Dread? Any twin-linked weapon is a waste of points. Take that on a regular dread, so you're not spending a boatload of points on four TL S7 AP4 shots... which is still a waste, in my opinion, but at least you'd be paying less for it.

Shas'O Dorian wrote:Dual Autocannons

If you could still give them Tank Hunters that would be pretty brutal.

Alas...