Space Marine Dreadnought

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A Space Marine Dreadnought is a large, walking tank which carries both powerful guns and lethal close combat weaponry, armoured to withstand all but the most powerful of enemy firepower and often relied on by Space Marine forces to tear an opening in enemy defenses. Each Dreadnought contains a living being, permanently interfaced with the machine through a form of mind impulse unit. Dreadnoughts are surprisingly agile, able to walk and balance with the ease of a living creature.

The pilots within Dreadnoughts are Marines who have suffered mortal wounds in battle, maimed and crippled beyond recovery - instead of being mercifully killed, the greatest heroes are instead given what is considered an honor of continuing to serve the Emperor past their normal life. Once interred within the Dreadnought, the Marine cannot leave the metal womb and is destined for a life of endless battle until destroyed. Some are so ancient their memories may extend back to the founding of their chapter and its earliest history. For this reason they are revered not just as powerful warriors but also as ageless forebears and living embodiments of battles fought long ago. If a dreadnought is destroyed, the Space Marines will fight to retrieve the armoured shell so that the occupant can be returned to the chapter's mausoleum for the long deserved final rest.

Dreadnought machines themselves are ancient, the oldest dating back tens of thousands of years to the Age of Strife. Because the art of constructing them has been almost lost, Dreadnoughts are revered as rare machines.

Dreadnoughts are armoured with ceramite and adamantium, their muscles are formed of electro-fibre bundles and magna-coils. They are usually armed with weapons to suit a particular role, such as destroying other heavy armoured vehicles.

Although a Dreadnought can be damaged and disabled, it can survive unless the actual armoured tomb containing the occupant's form is destroyed. When not fighting, the Chapter's Techmarines will allow the fallen heroes to sleep away the centuries, until once more they are called to battle.

Variants

Furioso Pattern

The Blood Angels often use a variant called the Furioso pattern. The Blood Angels preference for close combat is reflected in this Dreadnought as it is armed with two Dreadnought Close Combat Weapons and forgoes any heavy weaponry. It also has one built in storm bolter to deal with large numbers of light infantry as well as a meltagun to deal with any heavier vehicles it may come across. The storm bolter is sometimes upgraded to a heavy flamer. Moriar the Chosen of the Blood Angels is entombed within a Furioso pattern Dreadnought.

Mortis Pattern

The Dark Angels have a unique type of Dreadnought, the Mortis pattern. It's armed with paired heavy weapons consisting of either two Missile Launchers, two twin-linked Heavy Bolters, two twin-linked autocannons or two twin-linked lascannons.²

Siege Dreadnought

Siege Dreadnoughts are equipped for breaking through fortified enemy positions. They are armed with an assault drill with a built-in heavy flamer on one arm and an Inferno Cannon on the other. The assault drill is designed to grind through defensive walls and bunkers. Once the wall is penetrated, the incorporated heavy flamer unleashes a torrent of flame that can engulf an entire bunker and incinerate anything within. The Inferno cannon uses huge amounts of fuel and is uncontrollable in its consumption so the likelihood of running out of fuel mid-battle is greater than on normal flame weapons.^{6, 8}

Venerable Dreadnought

File:Pre-Heresy Dreadnought.jpg

Pre-Heresy Dreadnought.

Venerable Dreadnoughts are the oldest of Dreadnoughts still in service, many of them having fought during the Horus Heresy. They have fought for thousands of years and in so doing have gained vast amounts of knowledge of warfare in almost every situation imaginable. Continuous warfare has steeled them against harm and combined with their knowledge of warfare, they have become very difficult to destroy and ultimately it requires the utter destruction of their sarcophagus to stop them.¹

Ironclad Dreadnought

Ironclad Dreadnoughts are build to withstand heavy firepower. They have reinforced front armour, and have Dreadnought close-combat weapons. The left arm is equiped with a large piston-powered weapon with a built in heavy flamer, and the right arm can be equipped with a weapon similiar to the hurricane-bolter.

Notable Dreadnoughts

• Brother Serverus of the Ultramarines
• Bjorn the Fell-Handed of the Space Wolves
• Brother Damos of the Angels Porphyr
• Huron-Fal of the Pre-Heresy Death Guard
• Ancient Rylanor Pre-Heresy Emperor's Children
• Lord Berossus of the Iron Warriors (deceased)
• The Warmonger of the Word Bearers-An ancient warrior, The Warmonger was a Dark Apostle who fought during the siege of the Emperor's Palace during the Horus Heresy. Due to his formidable mental power, he is the only Dreadnought on the Infidus Diablous who has retained some of his sanity, though he often remembers The Siege while in the heat of battle.

Images

• 

  A standard Space Marine Dreadnought

• 

  A Classic Space Marine Dreadnought

• 

  Furioso Dreadnought

• 

  Mortis Dreadnought

• 

  A Venerable Dreadnought

• 

  A Siege Dreadnought

• 

  An Ironclad Dreadnought, still in its early phase

Sources

• Codex: Space Marines (5th Edition)
• ¹:Codex: Space Marines (4th Edition)
• ²:Imperial Armour II
• ³:Codex: Blood Angels (3rd Edition)
• ⁴:Codex: Dark Angels (4th Edition)
• ⁵:Flight of the Eisenstein by James Swallow
• ⁶:Forgeworld Siege Dreadnought Rules
• ⁷:Dark Millennium, second edition expansion rulebook
• ⁸:Imperial Armour Update 2006
• ⁹:Dark Apostle (Novel) by Anthony Reynolds