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Now that dreads have 4 attacks base across the board, all varieties, I'm trying to decide what the best way to run them is. I know Space Wolves and Blood Angels can run all dread armies, but I really feel like I'd be missing on out the AV13 Ironclads from regular marines. Chaos also has ways to get Obsec dreads, at the cost of some taxes in the Warband formation, but Chaos lacks the drop pods.

With all that being said, what are the best ways to run an all dread army, or what are some good support for a mostly dread army?

Some things I'm wondering:
- Are Ironclads better than Furiosos?
- Is it worth being stuck with regular Marines to get Ironclads over Furiosos?
- Space Wolf Ven Dreads get the Shield for a 3++, is that better than AV13 in most cases, at the expense of losing a gun?
- Are Lucius Drop Pods mandatory, or can regular pods suffice?
- Any other types of movement shenanigans to get them where they need to go? (For example, World Eaters dreads now always re-roll charge distances)

Any help would be appreciated!

Ideally, it would be all from one codex, since I'm planning on just adding a few dreads to my existing World Eater dreads to make the whole army, so this whole deal will be "counts as" most likely. With that in mind, it would be inconvenient to have to run multiple detachments that are different armies, but I'm not opposed to just starting a whole new army either I suppose.

Thanks Dakka!

I'm going to be really honest with you. I've spent the last six month running variants of Dread armies, and as fun as they are as a concept, they are abysmal and will fold against literally any competitive army you face.

The buffs to their attacks are meaningless, as Dreads, aside from the ONE you get in on a Lucius Pod (they're relics so you can only ever have one), they will be dead/immobilized before even seeing combat.

The issue is compounded badness (sic). In an edition where close-combat is terribly hard to get into outside of amazing units or death-stars, you also have the innate weakness of being a vehicle, and going to gak the minute you take a pen that results in almost anything (cleaving attacks from you, or worse, stopping you in your tracks).

IF IF IF you could take Lucius Pods with every Dread then it would fare somewhat better... but you can't, and after your tenth demoralizing loss in a row, you realize Dreads are cool as hell, and are also utterly useless in competitive 40k right now. :-p

Chaos do get drop pods in the form of dreadclaws or kharybdis assault claws from forge world. Helbrutes, dreadnoughts and contemptors can take them. Decimators, plague hulks and blood slaughterers can deepstrike on their own, as can helbrutes in a mayhem pack.
Decimator or Contemptors could be even tougher than their loyalist counterpart. Contemptors, Decimators, plague hulks and blood slaughterers are also AV13.
Blood slaughterers could get a 3++ with enough support. With a psyker casting cursed earth and a vehicle with a legacy of ruin they would have a 3++ or one guy could even get a 2++ with grimoire (also possible with daemon knights).
Tzeentch contemptors have a 4++ vs glancing, re-rerolling 1s. Decimators are daemons so can be buffed by cursed earth for a universal 4++, also re-relloble if tzeentch (misread, decimators re-roll to hit of 1 because reasons) and all our dreads can be given IWND via heretech. Decimators also get to stand back up when they die.

I'm not saying CSM are the way to go, not by long shot. But as far as dread armies go, you're not lacking for options.
As for shenanigans, we have legacies of ruin to sprinkle as you see fit. IWND, outflank, AW, 4++ on the last hullpoint, rage....the world's your oyster (for a price).

NewTruthNeomaxim wrote:
I'm going to be really honest with you. I've spent the last six month running variants of Dread armies, and as fun as they are as a concept, they are abysmal and will fold against literally any competitive army you face.

The buffs to their attacks are meaningless, as Dreads, aside from the ONE you get in on a Lucius Pod (they're relics so you can only ever have one), they will be dead/immobilized before even seeing combat.

The issue is compounded badness (sic). In an edition where close-combat is terribly hard to get into outside of amazing units or death-stars, you also have the innate weakness of being a vehicle, and going to gak the minute you take a pen that results in almost anything (cleaving attacks from you, or worse, stopping you in your tracks).

IF IF IF you could take Lucius Pods with every Dread then it would fare somewhat better... but you can't, and after your tenth demoralizing loss in a row, you realize Dreads are cool as hell, and are also utterly useless in competitive 40k right now. :-p

What rules are you seeing that make the Lucius Pods relic vehicles? Have they changed since Imperial Armor Volume 2 - 2nd Edition?

If I'm not mistaken, a Dreadnought deployed inside of a Storm Raven MAY assault when it deploys, as the Storm Raven is an assault vehicle. The thing is, when trying to get into assault that way, you're looking at a Turn 3 charge at the best. If you're going to deal with Tac Marines anyways, might as well milk a few more benefits from their inclusion.


I guess what you must consider is that in order to start being as efficient as other competitive army builds, you gotta make sure you wipe out about 100pts of Infantry or Bikes the turn the Dread shows up.


That's why I first thought of the Storm Raven. While Hideously expensive, it also packs an outrageous amount of firepower. Forge World pods sure are great, but what's wrong with the humble Deathwind Launcher? There's so little risk of costly scatters since Dreads are tougher than the infantry that usually deploys in Pods.


As long as you're keeping the backs of the Dreads to their transports or cover, you may be able to beat the odds...

Yeah I'm pretty sure Lucius pods are not relics. I know a BA player who has about nine of the things.
An army of dreadnoughts in lucius pods is actually pretty terrifying. He won a 70 player tournament with them a month or so ago.

Go CSM.

All. The. Way.

Better yet, Hellforge Hunting pack is just the thing for you. I'm building one.

Seriously.

CSM might not be a bad idea for mostly Dread dread army.

For instance, take the Iron Warrior detachment. The pisser with this detachment is that you cannot take named characters... so, for HQ get plain Warpsmith, or for jollies, TzDP with the 2+ re-rollable armor relic for general nuisance.

Purchase some Oblits to fill out your troops. (obj secured oblits that can be the swiss army knife and can DS!).

Purchase some fortification: 1 VSG to help defray the alpha/1st turn strike, and 2x shooty fortification (can't remember the name, but some consistent dakka ).

Then, go hogwild on whatever dreads you want.

CSM even have the Hellbrute Mayhem Pack formation (3 'bruts giving them IWND + DS).

I use the blood angels angel head spear fury thingy with the 3 storm ravens. Its expensive but fun. The 3 storm ravens get ignore cover because of one of the patterns in DFTS. The Dreads come down without any tax due to chapter ancients and can take drop pods and assault first turn due to being BA faction. I also take a Ravenwing Attack squadron with some of my leftover points from taking 5 dreadnoughts!

on a sidenote do mix units now count as both factions? i.e i stick a BA librarian with some GK I count as both GK and BA>

I've been using the following list to great effect. The only list I've had issues with was a genestealer-heavy GSC list, where the Patriach rolled biomancy and mulched through my dreadnoughts along with all the rending claws everywhere.

The Anvil Strike Force formation makes the dreads ignore shaken and stunned, and 1 dread gets to be the warlord to allow himself or another dread a second shooting phase.

5 Dreadnoughts pod in on T1, with plenty of heavy flamer love for hordes or MMs + Assault cannons for tougher stuff. The dreads get to stay inside their cozy safe drop pods for a turn and shoot whatever they want, then disembark and charge the next turn to clean up. Whirlwinds and Techmarine are the cheapest core choice, and they can help a lot against hordes as well. Also they all get hit and run from White Scars, because why not.

Space Marine Anvil Strike Force (White Scars)
Core
Armored Task Force
Techmarine
Whirlwind
Whirlwind
Whirlwind
Aux
Ironclad Dreadnought + Lucius Dreadnought Drop Pod
Venerable Dreadnought (Multi-melta) + Lucius Dreadnought Drop Pod
Venerable Dreadnought (Multi-melta) + Lucius Dreadnought Drop Pod
Venerable Dreadnought (Assault Cannon) + Lucius Dreadnought Drop Pod
Venerable Dreadnought (Assault Cannon) + Lucius Dreadnought Drop Pod
Venerable Dreadnought (Assault Cannon) + Lucius Dreadnought Drop Pod
Dreadnought (Twin-linked Heavy Flamer, Flamer) + Lucius Dreadnought Drop Pod
Dreadnought (Twin-linked Heavy Flamer, Flamer) + Lucius Dreadnought Drop Pod
Dreadnought (Twin-linked Heavy Flamer, Flamer) + Lucius Dreadnought Drop Pod
Dreadnought (Twin-linked Heavy Flamer, Flamer) + Lucius Dreadnought Drop Pod

I don't have a link off-hand, but Forgeworld errata'd the Lucius Pod a long time ago to be a relic, and thus one per army-list, period.

Trust me, I WISH you could take more. I'll see if I can find the FAQ entry when I get home, but I am 100% certain its one per army, rendering most of these unfortunately illegal, and immensely killing the all-Dread concept.

NewTruthNeomaxim wrote:
I don't have a link off-hand, but Forgeworld errata'd the Lucius Pod a long time ago to be a relic, and thus one per army-list, period.

Trust me, I WISH you could take more. I'll see if I can find the FAQ entry when I get home, but I am 100% certain its one per army, rendering most of these unfortunately illegal, and immensely killing the all-Dread concept.

It's most recent rules are in IA2:2ed which does not say its a relic and the IA:2 errata doesn't errata it to be one. You are thinking about older outdated rules for the Lucius Drop Pod

And even if it were a relic, you can take a Master of the Armoury which lets you take more then 1 relic per army

I like all these ideas!

I really like the idea of a White Scars dread army, because the hit and run is really nice!

Space Marines obviously have much better deep strike mitigation with drop pods than Chaos does, even with the dataslate formation. Drop Pods are inherently safer, and since you get to disembark 6" as well, alot better for dual flamer or melta action on the intial drop. I'm leaning towards Blood Angel Furiosos because of front armor 13 and Frag Cannons for this, but Iron Clads with regular marines are also good I think. Space Wolves can easily get all dreads but they don't have the AV or weaponry. Drop Podding an Axe/Shield dread doesn't seem that helpful when it has no other guns/weapons.

As for Chaos, Whembly, I do like the Hellforged Hunting pack, but that army benefits more from Soul Grinders and Maulerfiends, and I'm trying to capitalize on dreads. Plus, since its a KDK formation, it doesn't get the World Eater buffs. I'm thinking that World Eater dreads re-rolling charge distance is a good thing even if they have to start on the line.

Plus, if I take 2 min sized warbands, I can have 6 ObSec Chaos Dreadnoughts! That seems pretty cool too!

Space wolves can take an entire dread army. Take the company of tbe great wolf (no required troops, just required elites and you get 8 slots for them), then take Bjorn and 8 Dreads outfitted how you want, give them all drop pods and take 2 additional pods from.your.fast attack slot. Thats 11 pods, 6 coming down on turn 1. Due to the absolutely stupid ruling that the doors count as part.of the model, you can literally lock your opponent in their deployment zone and mow them down however you want. Then drop your remaining pods on objectives.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
If you have points to spare, take a deathwatch captain and give him the relic telepot.homer and a squad with a drop pod (then take an additional pod.so you have 7 dropping in). Slam.down the captains pod first for the beacon, and then have other pods go ar o und it, withing 6" of the pod doors (again because of that door ruling) so it doesn't scatter. Now you can drop your pods anywhere on the board, practically.

The drop pod door ruling isn't finalised yet, and I very much doubt it will finalise in it's current form, since it's pretty daft. It gives pods a ridiculous footprint.

I'm going to houserule against it if they do make it official, because it just does stupid things to the game.