Dreadclaw Assault Pod. May be seeing a FAQ coming out to bring it in line with RAI

[Kevlarshark]

I honestly do not see the problem with the dredclaw...It just a stormraven with no guns, and lower armour, and less transport capacity and fewer special rules...Nearly all SM can have ravens now.

Its not like we want a to deepstrike a landraider into your deployment zone (that would be silly).

Chaos are the one assault based army with no way of getting into assault (barring the rubbish chaos 'raider), the claw should have been in the codex. It would make units like mutilators and possessed a useful choice.

[SON OF ROMULOUS]

I know i for once am actually excited and cannot wait for Forgeworld to make these changes if they really do. what little i use for forgeworld doesn't seem to cause any problems. Heck when i first used lucius pods there was no complaints no arguments. it was vostroyans vs my wolves and the game came down to prety much the last turn. So i would say if 2 dreads didnt break the game i don't suddenly see my berserkers breaking the game either. I do know i wish they would give us rules to allow us to use regular standard drop pods. I love the idea of dropping in unit after unit of legionaire into the enemies line. I mean who ever would though about astartes working like astartes...

[Daemonette666]

OMG, have you guys seen the list of miniatures in the Chaos section of the new IA Apocalypse? Did oyu notice that the Dreadclaw Assault Pod is noticeably absent?

I just sent a please explain email to Forge World asking them for a possibly release date for the Re-release of the dreadclaw miniature which has not been on their website for a long time now. I asked them why the promised FAQ has not been released, what about the rumours of a Horus Heresy Assault Pod, and is that going to be the new Chaos Assault Pod. I covered the rumour about GW dropping their online specialty games section on their websites, and the sudden removal of the Aeronautica and Epic range of miniatures from the Forge World website.

I hope they reply back with good news, but I am expecting them to say they have dropped the Dreadclaw from their range, and will not be releasing rules for them in the future. Maybe the Tyranids ate them all up and then ate up all the remaining STC templates for them?

Anything to keep a good Chaos Marine army down and hobbled. Oh well another reason to not rely on GW or Forge World.

[david5th]

There is a Horus Heresy Assault Pod in the works, they show pics at the HH weekender. It looks like a cross between a drop pod and a triarch stalker.

[Daemonette666]

I got the reply from Forge World. It is not good news. They basically said that you can no longer assault from the Dreadclaw on the turn it arrives from reserves via deep striking and that the only way to deploy the unit on the Dreadclaw is to enter from reserves while in Hover Mode. Pity the 6th edition rules force fliers to come in from reserves in zooming mode, and the FAQ has made it so that fliers can not deep strike any more.

It makes the Dreadclaw useless. You bring it on as a weaponless flier with AV 12/12/12, and 3 or 4 HP flying it between 18 and 36", then if it survives to the next turn, change it to hover mode, move a maximum of 6" before deploying the unit, or deploy them before moving the Dreadclaw, then the unit can assault that turn. FW said they did not release the rules in the IA Apocalypse book as they had already released them in the previous 6th edition IA Apocalypse book (which does not make sense to me).

This is their reply for those who want to know about it.

Hi there.

The Dreadclaw rules were not included in the new Apocalypse book for two reasons, these being that the 6th edition 40k rules were already shown in the IA Apocalypse book and also that the model is no longer available to buy from us.

As the rules for the Dreadclaw currently stand it and the unit being transported must enter the board by Deep Strike and so as per the Deep Strike rules any unit entering play in this way can not assault on the turn that they arrive. However, it is not currently stated in the 40k rules what mode, (Zooming, hovering) Flyers count as when the arrive by Deep Strike. As such, without a strict stated ruling, you have the choice of mode when the Dreadclaw arrives and so in order for any transported unit to Disembark it would need to be in Hover mode.

As you can see there is a flaw in FW thinking about which mode a flier arrives from reserves, because the FAQ GW released specifically removes the Deepstrike rule from all the fliers listed in the 40K codexes, and you would expect them to have removed it from the Dreadclaw as well. Either that, or you an deepstrike and not assault on the turn you arrive via deep strike. I would prefer to bring the Dreadclaw in as a flier, moving up to 36" and then in the next turn deploy the squad to move, shoot and then assault normally rather than be forced to enter via deepstrike and have the unit sit around and do nothing.

I do not know whether to feel betrayed and peeved off with FW for this grave error they have made, especially since they did not give what I consider to be a satisfactory reply to my question, or whether I should feel gifted as I half expected FW to make the a give this sort of reply to my question. A reply that answers, but does not answer the question (Yes Minister/Prime Minister should hire their email question jockeys for tips and training).

So for now, my Dreadclaws are going to be boxed up and gather dust. I might even concentrate on my other gaming systems for a while. Dystopian Wars, DZC, and my all time favourite Classic Battletech. Well atleast until the HH Assault Pod rules come out, then I will use them for my Dreadclaws in my games (providing my opponents allow me to use HH rules in normal 40K).

[daboarder]

I dare you to bring this up in the FW apocalypse thread