Melee Dreadnoughts can’t have nice things. Why does GW hate the Melee Dreadnought for Space Marines?
Jstove is back on the editorial track today. He’s got some beef with the game designers to air out. Specifically, why do the boys at Nottingham hate melee Dreadnoughts so much?
Melee Dreadnoughts
Here’s the problem, we all love Dreadnoughts and think they’re cool as hell. But the only time Dreadnoughts ever see competitive play is in ITC rules. They’re popular there because they don’t surrender a secondary kill point objective.
You could argue by saying “Well that’s fine, just play casual then, you don’t have to compete.”
But I’d tell you “Buddy, how long have you been playing 40k? Because Dreadnoughts and Dreadnought like models (Helbrutes, Wraithlords, Carnifexes without guns) get panned by everyone. Not even the casual Saturday crew likes them.”
The Dreadnought style model is a middle-of-the-road fatty. He’s not fast, he’s not as tough as a tank, and any amount of dedicated attention with high strength and high damage weaponry will clean him out in a few shots. Having a toughness and wounds profile really helped him out when he went over to 8th, but he’s still in this awkward place on the roster where he’s too fat to be cheap and too skinny to be swole.
We know this is true because we constantly see walkers that are more popular because they’re basically Dreadnoughts that are faster, tougher, or just have more badass guns. The Leviathan from Forgeworld is a very popular monster at almost all levels of play. Fatties like the Maulerfiend and Forgefiend blow out the Helbrute.
While on Team Bug, chubby bugs like Tyrannofex and Exocrine stole the thunder from the Carnifex. Nearly every army in the game has a welterweight walker that suffers because it’s at what I call a “healthy weight.” By that, I mean a skinnier model or a fatter model is usually a better option than them.
Making Midweight Models Playable
Middle-weight melee weapons on Dreadnoughts and Dreadnought-like models should cost nothing. Tyranids already almost do this with melee weapons on Carnifexes, but I don’t think they go far enough. The truth is that melee weapons on Dreads and Dread-likes are too expensive to be competitive, and massively inflate the cost of the model.
Let’s pull an example from the Chaos Codex.
A Helbrute (vanilla Dreadnought for loyalists) costs 122 points with two fists.
That’s without Heavy Flamers or Bolters in them. That’s 5 attacks at WS3+ that are S12, AP3, and D3, on a model that moves 8 inches and is T7 W8 Sv3+.
Now let’s compare that to a Maulerfiend.
The Maulerfiend is 152 out the door with Tentacles, which are the superior and cheaper of the 2 mandatory options. So what do we get for an extra 30 points? THE WORLD, CHICO. AN EVRYTING IN IT.
A fresh Maulerfiend has 4 attacks at the same profile as the Helbrute with his fists, and another massive 6 attacks from the Tentacles going off on S6 AP2 D2, which will absolutely clean up after he swings those haymakers.
The Maulerfiend has depreciating stats as he takes damage, but when he’s fresh he moves 10 inches, he’s got 4 more wounds than the Helbrute at the same toughness, and he has a Daemonic 5+ invulnerable save and regenerates a wound for free every turn. He only hits on a 4+, but thanks to the Daemonforge stratagem, he re-rolls all hits and wounds every turn. He gets all this for a little baby 30 point increase.
Lowering the Points
Now you could argue that the Helbrute competes through consistency. His profile doesn’t decay with wounds. But I’d tell you that’s never going to be a factor because with the Maulerfiends’ Daemonic save, regeneration, and 4 extra wounds, the Helbrute is already dead when the Maulerfiend starts to get tired.
Which begs the question, why would you ever want a fisty Dread? He’s a welterweight in a heavyweight boxing match. For 30 extra points, you gain volume, stratagems, resilience, and speed. It’s a no-brainer. Helby is just outclassed.
What do I believe is the solution, not just for Helbrutes but for Dreadnoughts everywhere?
Lower the cost of melee weapons exponentially to compete with fatter monsters/walkers.
The Helbrute will never be better than the Maulerfiend or the Leviathan, but he doesn’t have to be. Dreadnoughts should be able to compete with bigger models through cost-effectiveness alone. If Helby’s melee weapons were cheaper and running a naked melee Dread was out the door for less than 100, then I’d work harder to get Helby onto my squad.
As it is right now, he’s a chump and he’s gonna hold the bench until after 3 Maulerfiends and the Obliterators are already in the list…I doubt there’s any points for him left after that.
Someone might also argue, “Hey man, Dreadnoughts with sleeveless t-shirts and S12 pythons under 100 points would be out of control. That’s way too cheap.”
Well, they wouldn’t be. Think about it like this. A fist Dread makes 5 attacks at S12 AP3 D3 after he walks his fat ass across the board for 3 turns while getting shot at, and pays about 50 points for the privilege. Meanwhile, that same 50 points buys a Venerable Dreadnought a pair of Las cannons that he can pop off at a 2+ from the backfield without risking his biscuit. The fist Dread gets overwatched. The Venerable throws 3 pointers from halfcourt. On what planet are those options both 50 points?
Lower points for middle-weight monster melee weapons. The dream!
About the Author: Jack Stover
