The Role of Adeptus Astartes Dreadnoughts in Your Warhammer 40k Army
- D6Veteran
- Jan 11, 2023
- 2 min read
Updated: Jul 20, 2023

In the Warhammer 40,000 tabletop game, Dreadnoughts are large, heavily-armored combat walkers that are often used as heavy support units. Here are some potential pros and cons of including multiple Dreadnoughts in your army:
Pros:
Heavy firepower: Dreadnoughts are typically armed with a variety of heavy weapons, such as lascannons or multi-meltas, which can deal significant damage to enemy vehicles and monsters.
Durability: Dreadnoughts are heavily armored and can absorb a lot of punishment before being destroyed.
Assault capability: Many dreadnoughts are also equipped with close combat weapons, such as power fists or chainfists, allowing them to engage in melee combat effectively.
Cons:
Cost: Dreadnoughts are typically one of the more expensive units in an army, so including multiple of them may consume a significant portion of your points budget.
Slow and vulnerable: Dreadnoughts are quite slow and can be vulnerable to being outmaneuvered by faster units such as jump troops, bikers and etc.
Target priority: Because dreadnoughts are typically heavily armored and durable, they may become a priority target for the enemy's firepower, which can lead to them being quickly taken out of the battle if not protected well.
Dedicated anti-tank units may not be present : If most of the enemy army is focused on infantry and less on tanks, that can cause your Dreadnoughts to be less effective on the battle field.
In general, while Dreadnoughts can be powerful units, it's important to consider your army's overall strategy and the type of army you will be facing before deciding to include multiple Dreadnoughts in your list. To make the best use of them, it's essential to make sure they are well-protected, and that they are able to engage the appropriate targets on the battlefield.
Having said that, the Arks of Omens Detachments provide some interesting opportunities to build Dreadnought centric lists that could be quite competitive due to their numbers.
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