I have fought against very few dreadnoughts in 6th edition and they all seem, for lack of a better term, lack luster. Sure they CAN do damage and don't get me wrong I think dreadnoughts look really awesome but they are simply too soft and go down way to easily, I mean these are supposed to be the Emperor's finest returning from the (near) dead to avenge themselves and their battle brothers. More often than not I can down a dreadnought with one or maybe even two vypers if I get unlucky, and these guys are armed with a scatter laser and shuriken cannon, the anti infantry stuff manages to destroy something that fluff-wise has the same armor as a land raider, however if those fail one brightlance to the front will quite often incapacitate a dreadnought by wrecking a weapon, immobilizing, or making a pretty explosion. My question to all those who harbor any love for the dreadnought, post how you would balance these critters out so they can compete again.
They do, for Forgeworld, its a Chaplain Dreadnaught. Additionally you are correct. They used to be quite destructive but now that every army has something Strength 8 or better, and the allowed use of Grenades with an easier chance to hit they have fallen to the wayside. They have always been iffy though. They either do really well or not at all. For most of my experiences fielding a Dreadnaught, both Ork, Chaos Marine, and Space marine Armies, I have found that less is more. If it doesn't look that threatening it will most likely go ignored and do what it needs to do. But for the most part a Dreadnaught is a symbol of diversity as it is rather flimsy armor wise you use it where its needed without giving it a specific task to purpose it towards. For my Chaos Marines I give it a Missile Launcher, a Heavy Flamer, and give it Extra Armor and call it a day or I mob with melee weapons when using them in my Khorne Infantry army. For Space Marines I either spam-drop them in DPs or don't take them at all, fielding them with multi-meltas to pop tanks when they do and a heavy flamer to lay waste to low T & Ac on a power fist. Orks are a little different. I usually just field Killer Kan units with Grott Lobbers. They are, in my consideration, one of the most brutal ranged weapons the Ork army has at its disposal -and I have destroyed so much with them they are hard to ignore. Otherwise I melee the Dread out and run it beside my Big Mek with a force field. It draws a crazy ton of fire, but that's the point. It keeps people from shooting my normal orks. It is often glanced to death but every bullet wasted is less on a greenboy.
so are there any special rules, or maybe a piece of wargear not available to them (like an Iron Halo (4++ save))? I want to hear some opinions on this
If a big Mekk could install himself into a Deff Dread and have access to a Force Field Generator that would be pretty cool and presumably fluffy. A Storm Shield on a Siege Dreadnaught would also not be too far fetched. Surprised they didn't come up with one of those for the Imperials yet.
Why would they? their number 1 tactic is "Charge the hill and clog their firing mechanisms with your blown off limbs"
much like the various Fiends in Chaos Marines they are now more of a strictly supporting role then they ever were. They can't do much on there own, but they can quickly help end a fight. Also, it helps when throwing dreads against Nids, as the gaunts can't hurt them. If the gaunts are in fearless mode they can't flee voluntarily so are forced to surround the Dreadnaught, hemming them up until the dread casually eliminates 2-3 a turn -usually for the rest of the game.
