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So this seemed like a likely spot to ask this, since it is the modeling forum and it is about a model. This is a purely casual question.

Not trying to start any kind of flame war here. I just really am wondering why all the fuss. What makes folks like the Contemptor dread so much?

I just really do not like that model. It sure doesn't inspire any kind of awe or dread to me, it looks like a giant, beer bellied Space Marine to me.

Thoughts?

Generally, I think it's the asthetics. The plastic dread is an oversized box on stubby legs that looks clumsy at best. The Contemptor is sleeker looking, better proportioned, and better articulated for posing on the base.

i dont like the model either.... but lately pre heresy armies have been very popular and the contemptor is a pre heresy dreadnought

Initially I disliked it greatly, but now it is growing on me, especially around prehersey marines. Newer armies with contemptors still don't look right to me.

I think it looks alot more mobile than the GW dreads. They tend to make me think of something slightly mobile, but not much more than a weapons platform with stubby little legs. The contemptor is just a giant space marine, like a hero, which i think is fitting for a veteran of many battles. I did make a few alterations to mine, if you'd like to have a look in my gallery. I think the close combat options are much more fitting aesthetically for something with the ability to run.

I thought they were really goofy looking originally, but like others it has grown on me. I also like how pose-able they are, and the rules are pretty sweet too.

I'm going to have to agree with OP here - for me, dreads are walking weapons platforms and the Contemptor looks too curvy and sculpted for that role. The boxy dread looks nice and solid - something that marches through gunfire while roaring away with an assasult cannon.

Round makes more sense from a design perspective. Bigger likelyhood of shots glancing off instead of impacting directly.

d-usa wrote:Round makes more sense from a design perspective. Bigger likelyhood of shots glancing off instead of impacting directly.

the armor on the front side of a dread is angled tilting back, and they are armoured with several centimeters ceramite and adamantium so i dont think they have to fear anything except anti vehicle weapons, something even a rounded armor shell cant protect against

DijnsK wrote:

d-usa wrote:Round makes more sense from a design perspective. Bigger likelyhood of shots glancing off instead of impacting directly.

the armor on the front side of a dread is angled tilting back, and they are armoured with several centimeters ceramite and adamantium so i dont think they have to fear anything except anti vehicle weapons, something even a rounded armor shell cant protect against

Yeah, but there's more extreme angles available on a rounded chassis. It's the same reason many modern tanks are shaped like two discs on top of each other - the shallow slopes everywhere encourage shots to glance off. On a box-dread, the angles are fairly vertical and offer less redirection than most of the surfaces on the Contemptor's chassis.

I think the Contemptor looks like it belongs in Warmachine...

I've never understood how people can dislike the vanilla Dread, but I came to the game from Dawn of War so I guess that I've always imagined it moving as it does in the games...

@pistolpete - Yours looks great. It has a 40k feel, definitely.

I have always loved the original dread. Most of the contemptors I've seen look like Space marine anime to me and not at all in line with the Universe, like most Tau armies that I've seen.

Thanks for all the input.

Gorgrimm wrote:I have always loved the original dread.

By "original" do you mean the original "figure-8" or the box on legs types?

Contextually, the Contemptors seems to be an attempt to make very ancient dreadnoughts look more technologically advanced in terms of manufacturing, which would be the case, and the boxnoughts exist to represent necessary sacrifices due to supply and technological limitations.

Breotan wrote:Generally, I think it's the asthetics. The plastic dread is an oversized box on stubby legs that looks clumsy at best. The Contemptor is sleeker looking, better proportioned, and better articulated for posing on the base.

Sums it up well. I really hate the regular SM dread...It looks like all you need to do is run up and push it over to defeat it. It would be unsteady even on flat smooth ground...

I used to hate it but they grew on me and now I have 2 for my Deathwing. It was mostly the amazingly posed and painted Contemptors posted on the net that convinced me.

Fictional wrote:

Gorgrimm wrote:I have always loved the original dread.

By "original" do you mean the original "figure-8" or the box on legs types?

Contextually, the Contemptors seems to be an attempt to make very ancient dreadnoughts look more technologically advanced in terms of manufacturing, which would be the case, and the boxnoughts exist to represent necessary sacrifices due to supply and technological limitations.

Well, I did like the older "Imperial" dreadnoughts, the Deredo, Furibundus, and Contemptor a.k.a Eddy, Fury, Chuck from first edition. But back then they were not just marine specific, Imperial army and Rogue Traders used them. I think those models were vicious looking, but those days the background wasn't quite finished.

I can't remember which edition brought in the mortally wounded Marine piloting the dread instead of just a surgically attached pilot, but the sarcophagus dreads are my favorite. I like the background having been chnaged to a more revered mech. The Eddis, Furies, and Chucks were like Imperial versions of Ork dreads.

Although I will say that the legs on the iron clad are a joke. I've got this model with incredibly large arms and legs that barely keep the arms off the ground. I'm trying to consider what I'll do to finish that model as it looks ridiculous. I think I would be more apt to like the new Contemptor if it had a sarcophagus and not the beer belly giant SM.

not a big fan, myself, but I suppose that's partly because I was introduced to a lot of the 40k imagery by the dawn of war video game. proper dreads will always be boxy in my mind if you're going for a pre-heresy army, though, the contemptor certainly fits the fluff better.

I prefer the standard box dread, and the GW anatomically impossible terminators.

But I'm batty so pay me not heed.

I agree with the OP as well, the Contemptor looks like a fat Marine. So does the "early Terminator" armor they put up a month or so ago. The Heresy era stuff just doesn't look good to me.

Sure, there is the shot deflection to work with, but no one pays attention to that at any other time, so why bother here? Only the Tau and Eldar have sloped surfaces, and then they are so extreme (for tank design) that the shots will deflect into something else higher on the vehicle.

Don't try to make realism an argument for 40k, or any futuristic wargame. It is just silly.

Once I realised they could kneel, I caved and bought one. They're a bit plain for my taste as a painter though and I'm no sculptor. If I buy another, it'll be a relic

Davylove21 wrote:Once I realised they could kneel, I caved and bought one. They're a bit plain for my taste as a painter though and I'm no sculptor. If I buy another, it'll be a relic

Bonus points if you modeled it in a 3-point landing Iron Man style.

As a painter I kinda like large, blank parts on the model if i'm planning on doing loads of freehand...

The only thing I dislike about the Contemptor is the pear-like torso.

I quite like the contemptor... not enough to drop £45-00 on it... but I like it.

I like most of the dreadnoughts that GW/Forgeworld make but I really don't like the feet on the ironclad .

Inso wrote:
I like most of the dreadnoughts that GW/Forgeworld make but I really don't like the feet on the ironclad .

You mean the weird toes

Yep... they just look like a lamp-stand or something.