Horus Heresy: Saturnine Dreadnought Rules Reveal – Mid-Range Monster
The new Saturnine Dreadnought rules are now available from Games Workshop. What function will it fill? It’s a Mid-Range Monster!
When it comes to the Horus Heresy there’s loads of great dreadnought options to bring. The Leviathan is a close-range nightmare. The Deredeo Dreadnought is perfect for long-range and anti-air support. So what will the Saturnine bring to the tabletop? Turns out this new dreadnought is perfect for bullying the mid-field. With these stats and weapons it’s easy to see why.
“It’s in those bruising middle-ranged firefights that typify many Horus Heresy battles where the Saturnine Dreadnought reigns supreme. Each one comes with two very big guns – from a choice of four – with a couple of smaller (but still scary) point defense weapons.”
The Saturnine Dreadnought Rules
Just looking at the statline you can see what a beast this dreadnought turned out to be. Toughness 8 and 8 Wounds means you’re enemies will need to bring some dedicated anti-armor to the field if they want to scratch the paint on the Saturnine. Don’t forget it’s also got the Saturnine special thermal diffraction field that reduces the strength of Las, Plasma, Melta, and Falame weapons. Additionally, it’s also got a 2+/4++ so even if they bring the big guns they could bounce right off that invulnerable save! When it comes to durability among dreadnoughts the Saturnine is the top dog.
If we take a quick look at the other dreadnoughts we can see how the Saturnine stacks up stat-wise directly. It doesn’t have as many attacks as the Leviathan and it’s not as agile as the Deredeo (nor does it have access to the same long range firepower). So these other dreadnoughts still have a viable place in your army. However, when it comes to controlling and dominating the mid-range, that’s where the Saturnine shines.
With access to the weapons above you can see what this dreadnought is designed to do. Keep in mind that the thermal diffraction field also helps against it’s own plasma overheating. That’s why the Heavy Plasma Bombard can be uses with such devastating impact on the battlefield. Also note the ranges of these weapon systems. 24″ and 36″ being solid distances. But these aren’t the only weapons they can bring…
If you want to swap your weapons out, you can — if you do it wisely. The Inversion Beamer and Graviton Pulveriser are two other weapon options for it’s massive arms. The Inversion Beam is one of those Conversion weapons that gets funky at different ranges. The Graviton Pulveriser is a shorter range monster though. It’s going to do a number on anyone unfortunate enough to get tagged by it.
There’s also the smaller weapon systems the Saturnine Dreadnought can bring.
These template weapons are shorter range by nature. And they are there to cause infantry problems when they get too close. Again, the Saturnine is a mid-range monster but that doesn’t mean it’s helpless up close!
At a points cost of 340, you’re going to want to get your Saturnine Dreadnought into the thick of the fight so it can start earning it’s points back. The good news is that it’s going to cause a problem for the enemy one way or another! This big dreadnought cannot be ignored.
What do you think of the new Saturnine Dreadnought for the Horus Heresy?
