Deredeo Pattern Dreadnought - Preliminary Thoughts

In some of the most exciting news out of Forge World recently, the Deredeo Pattern Dreadnought was released, alongside some exciting new rules for the model. In this post, we'll look at both the experimental rules and the model.

Firstly to the rules.

The base cost of the Deredeo is not cheap, coming in at 185 points. What do we get for this though? We get a pseudo-contemptor dreadnought that exhibits a nice stat line which includes the invulnerable save that the Mortis Contemptor does, along side some rather interesting weapon systems.

The base weapons are the heavy 4 Anvilus Pattern Autocannons. At S8, these cannons are terrific, and will certainly give the Kheres a run for their money. To see how they compare, consider trying to take down an AV11 target.

The mortis contempt will get 12 shots, of which 10 will hit, and on average 1.67 will penetrate (rend) and 1.67 will glance (for 2 hull points of damage). With the Deredeo, 3.33 hits will be scored, and this will result in (on average) 2.22 glances and penetrations combined. This is clearly less Hull Points than with the Kheres. BUT: of these, 1.67 will also penetrate. Hence, its exactly the same amount of penetrations. For higher AV values, this result clearly changes.

Consider AV13. For the Mortis Kheres Contemptor, of its 10 hits, 1.67 will penetrate (and no glances). For the Deredeo, of its 3.33 hits, 0.55 will glance and 0.55 will penetrate. This makes to my mind the Kheres Mortis Contemptor have the edge. And certainly if you're going to go down the twin lascannon results, theres even more chance of penetrations that cause better damage.

The Deredeo can also be equipped with Aiolos missile system. This provides an additional Heavy 3 shots at S6 (and with pinning and can shoot at different targets). This isn't bad, but I just don't know if 35 points is a bit of a steep increase (compare with a havoc launcher upgrade on the Mortis). Armoured ceramite might almost be a given in 30k and recommended in 40k for extra survivability (particularly if you're up against lances from dark eldar).

Overall, I think the points are reasonable, but the Mortis Contemptor still has an edge over it when equipped with the Kheres.

Aside, I'm always intrigued by the presence of Anvilus equipment. I would contend that the forge world of Anvilus sided with Horus in the Heresy due to the power pack that came from there (i.e. the Anvilus pattern power pack). Hence the ability to build these Deredeos might be suspect in the time of 40k and they truly are relics left over from ten millennia ago.

To the model now.

I might be the only person in the world saying this, but I'm not actually a fan of the model. I know - I'm crazy. There are a couple of points here. Firstly, as an old timer, I don't think this incarnation is true to the original Rogue Trader era concept of the Deredeo (pictured). I like the helmet, to be fair, but the big chest just isn't needed unless you have a pair of wings on your back to justify it. Sorry!

What I do like though are the Aiolos missile launchers. I think these would make terrific conversions for Hyperios missile launchers (and the like), as well as interesting conversions for Whirlwinds (I'm not quite sure of their size in comparison to a rhino chassis, so please let me know if you have both in your possession - I'd love to know), as well as some of the more intimidating marines (terminators?) that can have similar weapon systems. I think these have terrific conversion potential!

Finally the cost. They're more than a primarch. Ouch!  I can't see me spending this much to be honest (not withstanding I don't like the model). I'd sooner spend it on a Sicaran Battle Tank, for which it is competing for the same force organisation chart slot.