The Contemptor joins a growing band of Dreadnoughts in my collection (like the burly Iron Clad chap below), and I thought it would be worth sharing a few thoughts about how useful Dreads might be to support my Carcharodons force.
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| Iron Clad Dreadnought |
First up is the Carcharodons Astra Captain. His intended role is pretty straight forward; get in close and smash stuff. He's armed with a Combi Melta and Thunder Hammer which will let him go after heavy duty targets, and I'm planning on running him with "Silent Stalker" Warlord Trait, and the "Raven's Fury" Relic Jump Pack. This combination should make him pretty reliable at getting into assault intact.
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| Captain Smashy |
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| And a profile pic! |
The completion of the Captain along with the remaining Aggressors and Vanguard Veterans means the core of my initial army list is now complete. I've still got plenty of points to spend, and there are a number of roles to fill, including both Anti Tank fire power and some mobile units for objective grabbing.
I also want to include some models in the army which are fluffy (i.e. in keeping with the faction's background in the 40K literature). The Red Tithe novel notes that the Carcharodons have a number of Contemptor Dreadnoughts (hinting the Battle Brothers within might date from as far back as the Heresy), so I decided to build one.
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| Brother Humpty |
I was a bit disappointed with the kit to be honest. It's a very simple monopose assembly (quite possibly as it's a kit designed for one of the Horus Heresy box sets), and the weapon arms can't be swapped over. I decided to rectify that with a simple brass rod pin:
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| Pin set in the socket of the joint |
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| With Multi Melta arm attached |
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| And with the Kheres Assault Cannon mounted |
The Multi Melta certainly counts as Anti Tank firepower, but I'm not sure if the Contemptor is the best platform for such a weapon; he's not overly fast for a weapon that ideally wants to be in close range. Some informed play testing is required!
I quite like the idea of taking one or more Dreadnoughts for the Space Sharks:
- they fit with the sneaky Strike Force background I have in mind (well a Dreadnought is arguably sneakier than a Main Battle Tank!),
- they can satisfy the Anti Tank role, are similar in point cost to Devestators, and arguably more survivable*
- can invoke the "Wisdom of the Ancients" Stratagem making them and other units nearby more accurate
- benefit from Chapter Tactics (unlike other vehicles) (so fire support Dreadnoughts benefit from the -1 to hit bonus at long range)
*The Dreadnought has higher Toughness and more Wounds than a 5 man Devestator squad, but is more susceptible to high damage weapons, and will struggle to benefit from Cover.
(As an aside I noticed that the Forge World Dreadnought carrying Drop Pods reduced in points cost in Chapter Approved, so fluff reasons aside, I may try these out as well for the shorter range Dreadnoughts).
My Grey Knights used to run 3 Psyfle-men (psychic auto-cannon toting Dreadnoughts):
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| Brother Moe |
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| Brother Larry |
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| Brother Curly |
And the Light Bringers have used a variety of Dreddies!
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| Close range Dakka Dreadnought |
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| Venerable Fire Support Dreadnought |
The standard-bearing model above was my first Dreadnought (that's my excuse for the dodgy free hand, and thick paint on the flags), and I find it amusing I'm considering a similar load out for the Carcharodons! It's tempting to build and paint such a model, not least to see how much my painting has improved over the years.
I've got a game planned at the Club next week, so I'll try out a couple of Dreadnoughts and see how they fare; I'll report back with the results!
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