Grey Knight Dreadnought Tactica
Continuing to put my spin on playing a Daemonhunter army, I’m going to continue the series this week by looking at the dreadnought, and why one would need its support in their army.
While generic marines and the other 5th edition marines (BA & SW) have their own specialized dreads the Inquisition is still a bit behind on the times with their generic dreads. Dreads that never the less must fulfill multiple roles for almost twice the costs. Such is the way of =I= right now…
At first glance the dreadnought appears to not always be the best choice for the Daemonhunter player as it occupies a heavy support choice in the codex competing for Land Raider and orbital bombardments. Towards the end of 4th edition not a dreadnought was in sight as the “Tri-Raider” list was popular so it wasn’t an issue. However, the game and how the community plays as always has evolved. A three raider GK list no longer works, but we will save that for a future article when we bring all the concepts together.
Now dreads are mandatory to pull off a mission. So before we get to the wargear what is the role of the model on the table? With so few unit choices, and costly basic troops/elites each model in the army needs to pull down multiple roles. No dedicated roles here! The dreadnought needs to be able to both provide long range support, followed by close range support to back up the ‘knights as the enemy closes in.
To make this happen we are going to start with adding the las-cannon for that long range punch, Keeping the close combat arm while adding a heavy flamer, and then throwing on some extra armor and smokes. Expensive? Hell yea, but what do you expect, we are playing Daemonhunters. Consider it incentive to push the learning curve…
So now that we have said dread, what is the plan for him?
At the start of the game he is going to be looking to fire at any transports to start getting bad guys out on foot so the knights can get to work with their storm bolters and psy-cannons mid game, along with the assassin setup. As much as you want to fire at that Land Raider about to rush forward forget about it for now, we have other/better tricks for that mid game when it is in range.
Mid game he is either going to act as a speed bump to assault incoming units so your knights can keep backpedaling while using the storm bolters and psy-cannons or he is going to join in a multi-assault to help make up for the lack of numbers or losses to the knights.
More than anything else placement is key before the game starts, especially with your dreads. They are going to need to be in terrain for that cover save, keeping in mind that if there is only room for one to get the 4+ save, the other can park and peek out behind the first for the 4+. They also need to be in a place next to the knights so your opponent is forced to move through their path. Forget about moving out of cover and chasing or moving to intercept the opponent. They will go down! Stay put and wait for the moment. Also keep in mind how objective placement can funnel your opponent past your dreads.
Keeping your dreads alive to counter assault or speedbump is very important mid to end game, especially when your opponent has closed and is now in 2d6 melta range, or about to be. That is when shooting takes a back seat and you pop your smokes. Now in cover you have multiple layers of protection- first that 4+ cover save, and then the smoke (using the old rules, capitalizing on GW’s laziness) which takes all penetrating hits down to a glance.
Finally a word on the heavy flamer- be aware of the casualties you can cause, especially if your also tag teaming the unit with your knights- kill enough with the flamer- especially Tyranids and Orksies can have your opponent pulling off the lead models leaving you unable to assault.
So what’s your take on DHs in the modern 5th edition era? More next week on realigning DH tactics for 5th! For the Emperor! Fritz Out!
