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Hey guys,
I've bought a built but not painted ironclad dreadnought, it's current loadout being a seismic hammer and DDCW. (With a heavy flamer and meltagun) but no frag assault launchers or HK missiles. What's the best thing to do with him, I bought the bugger cos I loved the model....would be great to use him! I was thinking of using him to support my vindicator/s as these will remain stationary behind cover etc and because the vindis are such a threat, the opponent will prioritize and go them and then....BAM...much munch....ironclad round the corner. Any ideas would be much appreciated. Any tactics to do with this beast, feel free to post.

Sounds like you're using an ironclad as a...countercharge unit?

But why?

 TheCaptain wrote:
Sounds like you're using an ironclad as a...countercharge unit?

But why?

Planning to, because most of the games I've payed end up with my lines being charged by the opponents, most of my stuff getting wiped out and nothing to defend or retaliate with in CQB as usually I end up with units that are useless At CC right next to good stuff to kill in Cc.

I will occasionally take a dread to shore up a gunline and countercharge if needed. The problem with the ironclad you have is he's entirely close range. So he's just going to be twiddling his thumbs for a chunk of the game waiting for something to happen. He wants to be in close combat, and fast. That's what drop pods are for. I dislike units sitting idle. You want your forces to be in situations they excel at for as much of the game as you can manage.

At the very least I'd give him the HKs. Not sure how hard the bits are to get. That way the first turn he can pop a pair of missiles at something.

For the countercharge job, I use a normal dread with either the assault cannon or TLLC and a DCCW(SB). I've thought of using an ironclad with the hammer/melta and hurricane bolter with a pair of HKs.

I run an iron clad in a pod and give it double heavy flamer. Or HF melta for versatility. I find the double HF murders units hiding back field in cover. Although the melta is nice to have to ensure I have a chance at a rear AV if the need is there. He will draw a lot of fire but his AV13 has been know to withstand a fair share. If is survives look out parking lots. But to answer your question a drop pod is pretty important as it gets the Iron Clad where it NEEDS to be for fairly cheap points.

It's a pretty odd unit the ironclad. It's not that great as countercharge since it's so expensive and can't even kill a basic combatsquad per turn. For a few points more you can have assault termies, you know?

Best thing I can figure to do with an ironclad is to use him as walking cover for your rhino/vindicator/pred. He can cover 6th's 25% pretty easily and AV13 is a lot harder to shift than 11. He can still be useful when your tacs bail out, as usually he can assault on that turn to tie things up, or destroy a transport to let you flame the passengers.

Gonna be a slow ride though.

Shooty terminators will work better in the role you envision. Ironclad in pod is a great for putting early game pressure but not so much for countercharge. Only way I have ever seen ironclads run outside of pods effectively was taking 5-6 with HKs and that was only in 5ed during the early meta.

Provided you give him two hunter killers, he is and excellent support unit for your army, either as defensive or offensive support.

I use two ironclads in my SM lists from time to time, and they work best in pairs or three at a time. Just remember, the more armor on the field, the longer it all lasts. Running a single ironclad tends to get him killed quickly.

 Nevelon wrote:
I will occasionally take a dread to shore up a gunline and countercharge if needed. The problem with the ironclad you have is he's entirely close range. So he's just going to be twiddling his thumbs for a chunk of the game waiting for something to happen. He wants to be in close combat, and fast. That's what drop pods are for. I dislike units sitting idle. You want your forces to be in situations they excel at for as much of the game as you can manage.

At the very least I'd give him the HKs. Not sure how hard the bits are to get. That way the first turn he can pop a pair of missiles at something.

For the countercharge job, I use a normal dread with either the assault cannon or TLLC and a DCCW(SB). I've thought of using an ironclad with the hammer/melta and hurricane bolter with a pair of HKs.

I run two dreads usually venerable and ironclad....venerable has an assault cannon and power fist.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 skycapt44 wrote:
I run an iron clad in a pod and give it double heavy flamer. Or HF melta for versatility. I find the double HF murders units hiding back field in cover. Although the melta is nice to have to ensure I have a chance at a rear AV if the need is there. He will draw a lot of fire but his AV13 has been know to withstand a fair share. If is survives look out parking lots. But to answer your question a drop pod is pretty important as it gets the Iron Clad where it NEEDS to be for fairly cheap points.

True...I might get two....but im so used to walking everything up the field without transports and for me...it actually works!