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I've distanced myself from most of the forgeworld stuff, but my FLGS is about to order some FW and decided that my night lords might fancy one of those sweet legion contemptor dreads. However I have no idea which arms to order.

Since it lacks deepstrike and will have to walk the table I was thinking on getting 2 butcher cannons, or maybe 2 HB with the rending. Not sure if it's worth to pay close combat weapons on it.

So, I wanted to know what the most common configuration was for these guys

Now, I havn't tried the Contemptor, but i have played the Decimator, which is in the same class, so to say, both are heavy and expensive Walkers.

I like the Decimator with double Butcher Cannons, and i think they would work even better on the Contemptor, since it has a even higher BS, maybe even with a dedication of Tzeentch for mini TL.

I do not think the rending is worth it, double plasma cannon or plasma/Conversion beamer gets you close to the same result (ap 2 and tank hunting potential), for less points.

Frankly I'm not impressed with shooty contemptors. You pay a ton of points for an amount of shooting that doesn't justify its almost land raider cost and chaos doesn't get a mortis pattern to get skyfire with. And unlike the Decimator tzeentch dedication doesn't make it better at shooting.

It is an amazing combat beast though. Take dedication to Khorne and a pair of DCCWs and you can get up to 9 Ws5 S10 ap2 attacks on the charge thanks to Rage and Rampage. It comes with Fleet and you can take Extra Armour on it so it doesn't lose a turn of movement to Stunned if you want. The problem is what you said though which is getting it into combat. Other then just running across the table, the only other option is to take a Dreadclaw or Kharybdis and drop pod assault it across the board. They are not cheap though as the Dreadclaw is 100 and the Kharyibdis is more then a land raider (but does have Internal Guidance unlike its cheaper counterpart)

 CrownAxe wrote:
And unlike the Decimator tzeentch dedication doesn't make it better at shooting.

Rerolling to hit rolls of 1 makes it basicly Twin Linked, which should mean that all shots hit, on average (7.77 repeating).
I would not take it in a pod for point reasons though, I would rather grab 3 Mauler Fiends and let the Decimator/Contemptor dakka from afar. Hitting with 8 S8 shots every round at 36" range is quite okay for the points, in my opinion.

And a tips from someone who likes to run walkers, it is the same as with melee, do it properly or don't, meaning that you need a couple of targets that require anti tank attention, or one will be focused down quickly.

dethric wrote:

 CrownAxe wrote:
And unlike the Decimator tzeentch dedication doesn't make it better at shooting.

Rerolling to hit rolls of 1 makes it basicly Twin Linked, which should mean that all shots hit, on average (7.77 repeating).
I would not take it in a pod for point reasons though, I would rather grab 3 Mauler Fiends and let the Decimator/Contemptor dakka from afar. Hitting with 8 S8 shots every round at 36" range is quite okay for the points, in my opinion.

And a tips from someone who likes to run walkers, it is the same as with melee, do it properly or don't, meaning that you need a couple of targets that require anti tank attention, or one will be focused down quickly.

The MoT on the contemptor allows him to re-roll invuls on 1's instead of re-rolling to hit,

But yeah, 8 shots S8 that hit on 3+ sounds nice, a little expensive thou. I usually run the Hellpack formation, 3 dreads with melta/CCW as tank hunters and then bringing havoc on the other end of the table. So the target saturation might work with the contemptor. A double butcher cannon would be however my only really shooty units since I run a more all assault list, the CCW one might fit nicely

 Lord Yayula wrote:
Since it lacks deepstrike and will have to walk the table I was thinking on getting 2 butcher cannons, or maybe 2 HB with the rending. Not sure if it's worth to pay close combat weapons on it.

I don't think the Chaos contemptor can take a second heavy bolter.

 Opera wrote:

 Lord Yayula wrote:
Since it lacks deepstrike and will have to walk the table I was thinking on getting 2 butcher cannons, or maybe 2 HB with the rending. Not sure if it's worth to pay close combat weapons on it.

I don't think the Chaos contemptor can take a second heavy bolter.

It can on the IA13, it also changes it for free, so that woul keep the cost low and with malefic ammunition it'd be 6 shots S5 Ap4 rending

Wow okay that makes a huge difference!

Maelific ammo is 40 friggin points, putting it back into landraider costs. For 6 str5 shots. wooooooooooooooooooo.

IMO, shooty contemptors (or decimators) for that matter are entirely a waste of the unit's potential. If you want to shoot, get a relic predator, or some rapier batteries, or aircraft, or anything else really. Youre paying through the nose for the contemptors melee capabilities of WS5, AV13 (a huge boon in combat), and powerfist attacks.
The chaos contemptor is unique amongst most walkers in that it can be made extremely effective in a dual role, which is where I think it excels. If you want a pure melee walker, there are better options (blood slaughterers, soul grinders, maulerfiends, decimators) that have deepstrike or speed. If you want shooty, use a tank. But the contemptor can do both, and that versatility helps offset the high cost a bit. It will always kill stuff in a game.

Personally, I run mine with a single butcher cannon, and mark of khorne. It spits out as much firepower as a rifleman dread, and punches harder than any assault dread, with up to 6-8 powerfist swings on the charge at WS5. Walk up it up the field shooting away with the cannon, and charging whatever you can get your mits on once he gets to midfield.
Regardless, I think 1 ranged and 1 fist loadout is the way to go, bullying whatever they can reach. This is not a unit that was meant to sit at the back of the table and take potshots. It's not fast enough to be pure choppy, and its not cheap enough to be full shooty, but it does both very well.

Comparing it to heavy support and fast attack is unfair I think... Since those slots are usually full up anyway (with better things too!). I agree they are best suited for close combat though that is if they even make it there. With such an expensive unit I would make no compromise on their setup.

 McGibs wrote:
Maelific ammo is 40 friggin points, putting it back into landraider costs. For 6 str5 shots. wooooooooooooooooooo.

IMO, shooty contemptors (or decimators) for that matter are entirely a waste of the unit's potential. If you want to shoot, get a relic predator, or some rapier batteries, or aircraft, or anything else really. Youre paying through the nose for the contemptors melee capabilities of WS5, AV13 (a huge boon in combat), and powerfist attacks.
The chaos contemptor is unique amongst most walkers in that it can be made extremely effective in a dual role, which is where I think it excels. If you want a pure melee walker, there are better options (blood slaughterers, soul grinders, maulerfiends, decimators) that have deepstrike or speed. If you want shooty, use a tank. But the contemptor can do both, and that versatility helps offset the high cost a bit. It will always kill stuff in a game.

Personally, I run mine with a single butcher cannon, and mark of khorne. It spits out as much firepower as a rifleman dread, and punches harder than any assault dread, with up to 6-8 powerfist swings on the charge at WS5. Walk up it up the field shooting away with the cannon, and charging whatever you can get your mits on once he gets to midfield.
Regardless, I think 1 ranged and 1 fist loadout is the way to go, bullying whatever they can reach. This is not a unit that was meant to sit at the back of the table and take potshots. It's not fast enough to be pure choppy, and its not cheap enough to be full shooty, but it does both very well.

I agree completely in that it is really expensive and that there are lots of better options out there for either roll, I am getting however because the Night Lords one looks cool as hell and even though it might not be the best choice I want it to be the less sucky possible. Doing both roles sounds good, besides I think It'd look cooler with a cannon and one evil claw.

Take a decomator instead, has deep strike so can easily get into your opponents lines