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I have yet to play my first game. I'm a little bit of a perfectionist with things like this. I won't field it unpainted and I want it to be awesome. Does the Contemtor dreadnought have the same rules as a venerable or can I just declare it as what I want to play it as? I'm sure some of this depends on who I'm playing. I guess my biggest question would be IS IT VALUABLE TO GREY KNIGHTS???
How big of a role does a dreadnought play for them? I love the model and I'll take the $$ gut check. I have two dread knights but no dreadnoughts. Almost every army I've seen at my local store has a dreadnought in it so just looking for advice. So far, every question I've asked at the store results in a generic answer like "yeah Draigo is pretty good" or "he will work". I need some substantial feedback here.

Thanks

It has different rules that can be found in IA:Aeronautica (for the Mortis Pattern) or in HH:Betrayal

It's not allowed for GK because they are a relatively recent chapter and mainly because they don't deserve it !

They are tougher dread (Front AV13 and 5+ save most of the time), but of course more exepnsive
They are only available for C:SM, DA and BT as said above
not for SW, BA or GK then. I guess DA already have enough choice when it comes to Dreads, don't know why for the wolves though *shrugs*

BA and Space Wolves have their own versions of the Contemptor, and don't get the Mortis Pattern as a result.

You could model a contemptor for a Grey Knights army, but you'll have to count it as a Venerable or other Dreadnought as I don't think Grey Knights get any of the Contemptor dread patterns. Sorry, dude.

Ok so that answers that. I still love the model and I've seen pictures of them painted up for grey knights.


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I don't care if I can't playit as a contemptor. I wouldn't mind playing it as something else because it looks way cooler than the other dreadnoughts.

Honestly many people don't see the point in taking a dreadnought except:
Suicide dread: base dread with MM/DCCW in a drop pod to put melta hurt on expensive vehicular toys turn 1
Rifleman (or for GK, psyfleman): dreadnoughts with 2 twin-linked autocannons used as bane of transports/light vehicles (AV10-11)
Tank Hunter: TLLC and Missile launcher used to pop medium vehicles (best against AV 12-13 but useable against 14)
Other than these I really haven't seen dreads get much utility. I personally use a MOTF and Vulkan in my vanilla marines and spam 6 dreads, 2 rifleman, 2 suicide and a pair of ironclads to support my drop troop tac squads, but to each their own.
In the end, depending on the role you need them to fill depends on how they should be kitted out. A contemptor patter dreadnought has its own stats in the Apocalypse or IA books but you can easily use it as a "counts-as" dread of any flavor (adhere to WYSIWYG) and I've seen it done many times. Some people see them as advantageous some do not. However, let it be said psyfleman or rifleman dreads should have a place in any army. 4 S7 Twin-linked shots at BS4 should be enough to strip hullpoints from transports (avg 4 hits, 1 glance 1 pen). Best used in pairs though.

Great. Maybe I'll get two! I'll dig deep in the wallet. It sucks that it's the same price as a SR or LR when you add on the arms.

I'm not exactly sure what you're asking, you want to field a contemptor but use the codex rules for the venerable dreadnought instead? Is that right?

If so, I don't imagine it being an issue, try to at least to have the weapons match what the venerable dread would normally have. In terms of gameplay the Contemptor is a bit larger so will be a bit more difficult to get those cover saves.

In terms of rules and stats the Contemptor is very different from a standard dreadnought, you can find those in Imperial Armour Apocalypse Second Edition and in Imperial Armour Aeronautica for the Mortis-Pattern version. IMPORTANT NOTE: neither version can be fielded by Grey Knights (space marines, black templars and dark angels only).
In terms of fluff: the contemptors are pre-heresy relics and the Grey Knights were founded post-heresy.

That said, in terms of modeling you're welcome to do whatever you want, Forge World also has a really nice Mark IV Grey Knight venerable dreadnought available.

As far as competitiveness of the dreadnought for Grey Knights it's supposed to be very good in the "rifle-dread" setup: dual twin-linked autocannon with psybolt ammunition. That's 4 twin-linked strength 8 shots, awesome at tearing through flyers, vehicles and heavy infantry alike.

Hope this helps.

Do any dreadnoughts come with auto cannons?

If you mean "come with" as if "included in the kit" then no, none of them do. If you mean "can take in the rules" then yes, all of them can.

Thanks. So it's make it or buy it from forge world... That's what I thought. Thanks.

A GK Contemptor would be fine. I would be okay with you using the full Contemptor rules, especially if you had it nicely modeled and painted.
I believe most players would be fine with it as well. The only issue is you couldn't use it in a tourney as a Contemptor. So what.

I think I'm subconsciously trying to talk myself out of buying this. I could get two regular venerable dreads for a little more than the cost of this one anyway.

 Chipperwig wrote:
I think I'm subconsciously trying to talk myself out of buying this. I could get two regular venerable dreads for a little more than the cost of this one anyway.

And for the price of the second you could get two ALD's and convert the quadguns to TLAC arms for them food for thought

Yes. That's what I'll do.

plus, you get some other weapons including a Plasma Cannon that's not on the reg dreaddy

I have two "contemptor" dreadnoughts in my GK army,

of course I have to use them as normal dreadnaoughts rules wize,

but I absolutely LOVE the look of the contemptors, they look awesome with two TL autocannons,

I am likely to buy a third