Dreadclaw and Kharybdis best uses?

[Lord Krungharr]

Hey everyone, I tried out a Dreadclaw today just for a 10 man unit of regular CSM in a 1000 point game. They delivered some death to Nurglings, then ended up running away from a Soul Grinder. The Heat Blast didn't do much to the Nurglings unfortunately. I don't think a low point game is good for either assault claw transport.

So I was wondering what people thought of the Dreadclaw. It's 100 points and potentially eats a passenger on a D6 roll of 1 due to daemonic possession. Is it worth it for any unit? I mean 100 points is steep, and only holds 10 models or 1 Dreadnought of whatever type.

Chosen can be well-armed, but also pricy, probably shooty plasma or melta squad is best there. Regular CSM just don't pack much of a whallop, but I was thinking maybe Terminators or Plague Marines perhaps. Getting in on Turn 1 across the table is just really good, but 100 points!

The Contemptor seems to be a popular choice, and I'm thinking that's a good idea, despite the possession eating it accidentally. It can wait inside until Turn 2 to assault also. But that option would also be good for Daemon Troops, like Bloodletters or Daemonettes, though I think the 20 model capacity of the Kharybdis would be super awesome for the Daemon Troops. But is that thing worth 260? It can potentially be anti-air too, so that's something.

Any thoughts or battle experiences with either?

On a side note, I also tried the Hellblade barebones......always get the 15 point upgrade for the Hellstorm ACs, regular reaper ACs are just not good enough!

[Badtucker]

Why use a transport to bring in troops that are already able to Deepstrike in... Other than to not have them mishap? Use tank hunting armed chosen or bezerkers in claws... Ability to assault from these things is brilliant.

[DarkLink]

Because deepstrike sucks. Unless you're in a drop pod or you're like Eldar, GK, or Tau and you can run, shoot, and make an assault move, it's probably not worth it. The only time CSM deepstruck in was for melta suicide squads, and daemons mainly did it because they had to.

[hyudun]

Why use a transport to bring in troops that are already able to Deepstrike in... Other than to not have them mishap? Use tank hunting armed chosen or bezerkers in claws... Ability to assault from these things is brilliant.

Because Drop Pod Assault gives you a 1st turn deepstrike, in addition to protection from mishaps and disembarking flexibility from a drop pod.

[Lord Krungharr]

Yeah, often times bringing in the Daemon Troops the get intercepted or just plain mowed down. At least the pod can shield them for a bit and possibly for a whole player turn. Another nice thing is the Dreadclaw can move 6" over terrain because it's in Hover mode, and then the guys can disembark and assault.

I tried the Kharybdis this weekend too with a Lord, Sorcerer, and 18 CSMs. They were between a Knight and Tesseract Vault, so I kept them inside to avoid getting D-flamed and then D-sworded and stomped. Kharybdis got Knighted of course. Not enough melta in there to deal with threats like that.

I'll have to get some more melta guns though, on every squad I have! Good against monsters too.