The Nemesis Dreadknight is the new unique toy for us Grey Knight players, while it isn't to everybody's taste I personally like it and think its inclusion in the Grey Knight codex is justified considering for a fluff perspective unlike other Astartes the Grey Knights feel it is a dis-honour to be put into a Dreadnought.
That aside though how is this monstrous creature going to perform on the battlefield? Well lets start by looking at the basics of the Nemesis Dreadknight, for 130pts our basic stat line doesn't look too shabby weighing in at 4 wounds, 2+/5++ saves, couple this with the Aegis ability to throw a (albeit very slight) spanner in the works along with Psyker mastery level 1 casting Hammerhand as it runs towards you and you're gonna sit up and take notice...
Now lets get down to examining those all important wargear options. Are there any really worth taking or do they just suck points up making your great value monstrous creature a veritable points black hole?
Options:
May take up to 2 of these weapons but each type may only be taken once:
Heavy Incinerator - Good value for the extended range on flamer template.
Gatling Psilencer - Far too overpriced unless your tailoring to face Daemons.
Heavy Psycanon - Fantastic but very pricey.
May replace 1 Nemesis Doomfist with 1 of the following:
Nemesis Daemonhammer - Nice cheap little upgrade if you are facing a lot of high value armour.
Nemesis Greatsword - Slightly pricier than the Daemonhammer but the ability to re-roll failed to hit, wound and armour penetration makes this more than worth taking.
May take personal teleporter - Massively expensive but gives masses of manoeuvrability and additional charge range potential too.
So there's the options now lets look at some potential loadouts...
Dreadknight 1: 170pts
Heavy Psycanon
A great loadout for taking on Horde and Mechanised lists alike, walk this guy towards your opponent laying down suppressive fire power in the form of the rending large blast template...perfect for decimating those waves of Ork boys or Guard tank formations whilst taking advantage of the pair of Nemesis Doomfists should anything be crazy enough to charge you.
Fancy mixing it up a bit? run your Grey Knight Grand Master, give your Dreadknight the Scout ability using Grand Strategy and then outflank him to bunch your opponent into the middle of his deployment zone.
Dreadknight 2: 230pts
Personal Teleporter
Nemesis Greatsword
A costly example of the Dreadknight but this loadout has the manoeuvrability to keep your opponent constantly re-assessing the battlefiled, pick your target well and use that 12in movement available to you to strafe and manoeuvre yourself into position before striking to annihilate your target!
Should you want to take some fire power try the Heavy Incinerator for it's ability to soften up your opponents should you want to charge or if you have the points try the Heavy Psycanon should you want something a little more long range.
Conclusion:
Ok so there we have the Nemesis Dreadknight and I think that this beast has a lot to offer to your army, it has the potential manoeuvrability to cause opponents a massive headache, not to mention the Heavy Psycanon's large blast of awesomsauce!
Many people have asked about a close combat variant Grey Knights Dreadnought and for me this is the close combat variant for the Grey Knights, just keep him simple and everything else will fall into place. I realise that there is no re-enforced Aegis but when you look at his survivability compares to the Dread you cant help but feel this was the designed role for the Dreadknight, I will play test both units though and get back to you because on paper isn't the same as good old play testing...Labels: Dreadknight, Grey Knights, List Building, Ordo Malleus, Tactics
Dreadknight 1: 170pts