Chaos Dreadnought

It's like the armor equivalent of Doomrider.

The evil version of the loyalist Dreadnought. Generally-speaking cruder, less-advanced, and notably less-noble than its Space Marine counterpart, the Chaos Dreadnought is usually piloted by former Chaos Champions who were cut down in their prime. As a great many of these were not particularly mentally-stable in the first place (what with serving Chaos and all), and Dreadnought tech the Chaos Legions have is typically older, less-advanced, and shittier than that of the loyalists, most Chaos Dreadnoughts have a notorious reputation for succumbing to built-up psychosis and flying into screaming, psychotic rages in which they do a bang-up impression of an Angry Marine high on hallucinagenic drugs, flinging themselves forward and burning, slicing, crushing, and raping anything in front of it.

Often a combination of many (if not all) of the above at once.

This is made worse by the fact that what a given Legion does with its Dreadnought occupants varies dramatically on an individual basis. The Emperor's Children for example, keeps them in a drugged-up haze, whilst the World Eaters simply leave them awake and aware but unhooked from their Dreadnoughts. Suffice to say, when they go into battle, either due to a hangover or due to pure balls-out rage, the average Dread pilot has ample amounts of frustration to vent.

Suffice to say, the Chaos Marines have a divided opinion on Dreadnoughts. Many continue the ways of their pre-heresy fellows, often view interring their fallen champions in Dreadnoughts as a sign of reverence, but in many cases Chaos Marines view this as being assigned a living death; their ambition has been cut short and they are now doomed to fight on in a cold metal shell, never again to participate in the glory of direct combat. The ones that fight on despite it, such as Tankred's rival Donovan, are bad-ass, if, like all Chaos Dreadnoughts, out of their motherfucking minds.

Additionally, whilst rare, it's possible for the occupant of a loyalist Dreadnought to turn to Chaos. One that does keeps its loyalist chassis but becomes a Chaos Dreadnought in all other respects. So Grimdark.

Overview

On paper, the Chaos Dreadnought is amazing save for one major flaw (which is described in detail below) - same cost as a loyalist Dreadnought, with one more attack. Its close-combat weapon can take a variety of forms (Many players like giving them Defiler claws, Chainfists, or giant sledgehammers), but regardless of what it is, it counts as a Dreadnought Close-Combat weapon. This Dread CCW comes equipped with a twin-linked Bolter by default, and can be replaced by a Heavy Flamer for a surprisingly low points-cost. The arm can be replaced with a Missile Launcher, just like a loyalist Dreadnought, and this reduces its melee capacity significantly (but does not remove it).

The other arm (which you need to pay for) can be any of several options. You can put on another close-combat weapon with another twin-linked bolter (which can be upgraded to a Heavy Flamer just like the other one), and it can pack twin-linked Lascannons, Twin-Linked Heavy Bolters, or a Plasma Cannon, just like the loyalist flavor. The Chaos Dreadnought cannot take Assault Cannons, but it also has an option the Loyalist version doesn't which is pretty decent (twin-linked Autocannon). The Plasma Cannon (which costs surprisingly little) is widely considered its best option, but all are pretty viable.

With all these options and a low cost, the Chaos Dreadnought, in theory, is amazing. Unfortunately, it suffers from the Crazed rule.

Crazed

Crazed basically means that the Chaos Dreadnought, overpowered with pain and rage, has a small chance (about 1 in 3) to act other than how its owner desires. The table below covers the effect of the dice rolls on 1d6:

• 1: Fire Frenzy - the Dreadnought may not move or assault this turn. Instead it must turn towards the closest unit (friend or foe) and fire all of its weapons. Twice. If the Dreadnought cannot fire any ranged weapons (due to everyone being out-of-range or its ranged weapons being offlined), this is treated as a 2-5: Sane result instead.

• 2-5: Sane - the Dreadnought controls normally this turn.

• 6: Blood Rage - the Chaos Dreadnought may not shoot and until the end of the turn, gets the Fleet special rule. It must move towards the closest enemy unit as fast as possible and assault the enemy in the assault phase, if possible. If the Chaos Dreadnought is immobilized, this counts as a 2-5: Sane result.

For reasons obvious, the Chaos Dreadnought is one of those tabletop units that is either insanely good or insanely bad, with no real middle ground, depending on where and how it's used and whether or not the blessing of the dice god decides to cooperate. If used correctly and deployed carefully with lucky dice-rolls, it will bring a heaping pile of ownage to the table for a disturbingly low points cost - 100 or so points for a Dreadnought with a Plasma Cannon is amazing for efficiency, especially given that its crazed rules can actually work for you on occasion (Fire Frenzy + Firing line of Necrons = lots and lots of Necron casualties). If you get bad rolls it will spend most of the game pointlessly chasing a unit or worse, firing on your own troops.

It's not a unit for the faint of heart. But anyone who can maintain the blessings of Lady Luck and Admiral Awesome will find a place in their hearts (and armies) for the Chaos Dreadnought.

Gallery

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  Even in death I'm still killing shit.