Dreadnought

A Dreadnought is a cybernetic combat walker of intermediate size used by the Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes as heavy infantry support for their Space Marine companies. Even the superhuman Space Marines are still mortal. When the greatest of their number fall in battle and they are experienced enough to be considered invaluable to their Chapter, then their body will be repaired and transferred into the armoured cybernetic sarcophagus of a Dreadnought if there is even a spark of life left in them. Dreadnoughts are often mistaken by observers to be huge armoured fighting suits or robots; they are similar to both and yet neither. Dreadnoughts are a combination of armoured walker and cybernetic life-support system; their pilots are neurally linked straight into the Dreadnought's cybernetic systems, and are able to use the walker as if it were their own body, although they are permanently entombed within its Ceramite skin until they are destroyed.

The Space Marines encased within Dreadnoughts are often thousands of Terran years old. As a result of their great age, many Dreadnoughts, known as Venerable Dreadnoughts, are not only approached by their Battle-Brothers for support in combat, but also as advisors in the governance of their Chapter. The oldest Dreadnought in the Imperium, Bjorn the Fell-Handed, of the Space Wolves, was a member of the Primarch Leman Russ' retinue and fought in the Horus Heresy when he was still whole of body, making him well over 10,000 standard Terran years old. When the Dreadnoughts are not in use by their Chapter, they are placed back into the Chapter's Chapel in its fortress-monastery to sleep away the centuries in a form of suspended animation until they are needed once more.

There are two standard variants of Dreadnought currently in service with the Space Marines. These include the older Mars Pattern Mark IV and the current standard Mars Pattern Mark V. Both variants of the Mars Pattern can make use of the same weapon load-outs, though Mark IV Dreadnoughts are considered slightly less adaptable and robust compared to the newer Mark V cybernetic chassis.

Weaponry
The standard Mars Pattern Mark IV or Mark V Dreadnought carries a heavy ranged weapon on its right arm and the left arm acts as a close-combat weapon. The latter is usually a Powerfist with either a Storm Bolter or Heavy Flamer fitted below the forearm. Though the Dreadnought's Powerfist shares the same name, it is not at all similar to the melee weapons also called Powerfists used by other armed forces of the Imperium. Unrestricted by size or weight, Dreadnought Powerfists are vastly more powerful than ones carried by Imperial infantrymen, even Space Marine Terminators. The Dreadnought's Powerfist is more effective as (like the unwieldy infantry-borne Power Fist and Chainfist) it is strikingly effective against heavy armour. This, combined with the Dreadnought's own impressive unmodified strength makes the fist deadly to all, even heavily armored foes like a Space Marine Chapter Master. Also, the Dreadnought's heavy vehicle armour means that even those that survive the initial assault can do little more than wait for the inevitable. The Space Wolves Venerable Dreadnought's melee weapon is a Lightning Claw with an underslung Heavy Flamer, though the claw functions the same as a Powerfist.

Other weapons used by various types of Dreadnoughts have included the Assault Cannon, Multi-melta, or twin-linked Lascannons as the heavy ranged weapon. Through customizations or conversions Space Marine Chapters may also possess "standard" Mars Pattern Mark IV or Mark V Dreadnoughts armed with Plasma Cannons, twin-linked Autocannons or twin-linked Heavy Bolters. One of a Dreadnought's weapon arms can also be replaced with a bunker-busting Assault Drill, as detailed below, transforming it into a Siege Dreadnought.

Variants
There are two major variants of the standard Mars Pattern Mark IV or Mark V Dreadnought in service within the Imperium.
 * The Hellfire Dreadnought replaces the Powerfist with a Missile Launcher, trading its close combat ability for long-range, anti-vehicle firepower. The advantage of the Dreadnought's Missile Launcher over its Space Marine equivalent (which can only be fired when the Space Marine stays still and braces himself) is that the former can run at full speed whilst still laying down a barrage of missiles. Officially, Hellfire Dreadnoughts are usually referred to as Fire Support Dreadnoughts. The Hellfire term was first used in the computer game Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War, and was quickly adopted by players of the tabletop version as well. Before 1998, the Hellfire was solely a Dark Angels-themed Dreadnought armed with a twin-linked Lascannon and Missile Launcher, though it can be used by other Chapters.
 * The Siege Dreadnought is designed exclusively for assaults against fortified positions. Some Space Marine Chapters have equipped theur armoured Dreadnought Battle-Brothers to siege fortresses and lead their assaults upon other fortified enemy emplacements. They are equipped with Flamer weapons for clearing out enemy infantry from bunkers and an Assault Drill arm for grinding through Ferrocrete in only a matter of seconds. This arm is also usually includes a built-in Heavy Flamer so that once a hole has been drilled, the Dreadnought can pour super-heated Promethium into a bunker or pill box complex. Siege Dreadnoughts are specialised units and are only deployed when a Chapter needs to break through a stubborn static defence line or during close quarters street-to-street fighting within a city or town. A Siege Dreadnought's standard weapons loadout includes an Inferno Cannon, as Assault Drill with built-in Heavy Flamer, Smoke Launchers, a Searchlight and reinforced Ceramite Armour. In some cases the Inferno Cannon can be replaced with a Multi-melta, and 2 Hunter-killer Missiles can be attached using external sponsons to the Dreadnought's carapace.

Among the countless more specialised variants that are Chapter-specific Dreadnoughts, three stand out:
 * The Furioso Dreadnought was designed by the Blood Angels Chapter to be used as a close assault combat specialist and this variant is used by them and their myriad Successor Chapters. The Furioso gives up the ranged heavy weapon for another Dreadnought Powerfist. This allows a Furioso Dreadnought to literally "tear apart" enemy vehicles when in melee combat. It is the antithesis of the Dark Angel's ranged weapon specialist Mortis-pattern Dreadnought in this respect. Prior to 1998, the Furioso was the Blood Angels-themed Dreadnought with a Multi-Melta and Powerfist, though it can be used by other Chapters. A Furioso Dreadnought called Furibundus was used for the very earliest Dreadnought models of the late 1980's. Another unique aspect of the Furioso Dreadnought was the special character, Moriar the Chosen, who operates with the Blood Angels' Death Company. Also, there is a variant of the Furioso known as the Librarian Dreadnought, which is capable of combining the powerful melee attacks of a Furioso Dreadnought with the psychic powers of a Blood Angels Librarian who fell in combat and has been interred within a Furioso Dreadnought. Many Venerable Furioso and Librarian Dreadnoughts are said to date back many millenia, in some cases as far back as the Horus Heresy, and their counsel is sought often by the Blood Angels' Chapter Master, Lord Commander Dante.
 * The Mortis Dreadnought is a ranged weapons specialist unit and is almost exclusively used by the Dark Angels Chapter and its Unforgiven Successor Chapters. The Mortis Dreadnought variant sacrifices all close combat capability so that it can mount two heavy ranged weapons. Unlike the Hellfire ranged variant of the Dreadnought, the Mortis has a considerably wider weapons selection, as the left arm strongpoint is not restricted solely to the use of a Missile Launcher. It mounts a pair of the same ranged weapons: twin-linked Autocannons, twin-linked Heavy Bolters, twin-linked Lascannons, or two Missile Launchers.
 * The Aegis or Mark VI Dreadnought, used by the Grey Knights Chapter that serves the Ordo Malleus of the Inquisition, is equipped with special Warp-resistant devices, and blessed Aegis Armour that offers a degree of protection from the psychic powers of daemons and heretics. Aegis Dreadnoughts are also able to use the powerful Psycannon in place of their standard ranged weapon, and have the same psychic resistance as a Grey Knight Marine.

Contemptor Pattern Dreadnoughts
A Contemptor Pattern Dreadnought is an ancient Imperial cybernetic combat walker used by the Space Marines in the days of the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy, 10,000 Terran years before the present day. Like the current patterns of Dreadnoughts now in service, the Contemptor Pattern Dreadnought served as a cybernetic sarcophagus for an Astartes who had been so badly wounded in battle that his only chance for continued service to the Emperor lay in being interred within the cybernetic sarcophagus of a Dreadnought. The Contemptor Pattern Dreadnought, like much of the technology developed at the dawn of the Imperium of Man, is larger and more powerful than its standard pattern counterparts and was once a key part of the earliest Space Marine Legion forces raised on Terra in the 31st Millennium to initiate the Great Crusade. Such relics are sometimes recovered as archeotech by the Imperium in the 41st Millennium and then used to supplement the forces of the present-day Space Marine Chapters. The Contemptor Pattern Dreadnought was once a staple of the armoured might of the Space Marine Legions first raised on Terra following the end of the Unification Wars. Evidence of their ancient origins exist in the forms of sacred Chapter memento mori and other ancient Imperial monuments raised on worlds such as Necromunda and Lorin Alpha. This suggests that the Contemptor Pattern Dreadnought played an integral part in the earliest Astartes forces raised on Terra for the Great Crusade.

A more powerful combat walker than the current patterns of Dreadnought in service with the Adeptus Astartes, the Contemptor Pattern Dreadnought featured many technological systems that found a parallel in the combat robots of the ancient Legio Cybernetica, including such fabled techno-arcana as Atomantic Field Generator technology that would later be refined and incorporated into the Storm Shields used by Space Marine Terminators and other now-lost secrets from the Dark Age of Technology that were meshed with the Contemptor's basic systems.

During the height of the Great Crusade, the Contemptor served alongside the standard Mars Pattern Mark IV and Mark V Dreadnoughts as a spearhead unit for the Legiones Astartes. During the Horus Heresy and the the wars that followed in its wake like the Great Scouring, they bore the brunt of the fighting by Dreadnoughts in every theater and as a result suffered the heaviest losses. Like so many of the Imperium's most advanced and sophisticated war-fighting technologies, the ability to manufacture and maintain the Contemptor Dreadnought was essentially lost in the chaotic aftermath of the Heresy. The few of these relics that remain in service in the 41st Millennium are incredibly rare pieces of archeotech even in comparison to their fellow Dreadnoughts. But when they take to the field, it is as a living reminder of the Golden Age of the Imperium when the Emperor still walked amongst Mankind, and the foes of humanity tremble at the sight of its ancient glory.

The standard Contemptor Pattern Dreadnought is outfitted with a Twin-linked Heavy Bolter attached to one arm and a massive Dreadnought Close Combat Weapon on the other with a built-in Storm Bolter. Smoke Launchers complete the standard weapons load-out. A Contemptor's standard weapons complement can be replaced with a number of different weapons to suit different tactical needs, including a Multi-melta, a Twin-linked Heavy Flamer, a Twin-linked Autocannon, a Plasma Cannon, a Kheres Pattern Assault Cannon, a Twin-linked Lascannon, a power-leeching Heavy Conversion Beamer, and a Chainfist with a built-in Storm Bolter. A Contemptor can replace its built-in Storm Bolter with a Heavy Flamer, a compact, Dreadnought-sized Plasma Blaster or an ancient Graviton Gun. It can be outfitted with extra Ceramite Armour Plating, a Searchlight, a carapace-mounted Cyclone Missile Launcher and an advanced Targeting Augury cogitator system to increase the accuracy of its ranged weapons arrays. All Contemptor Dreadnoughts are protected by advanced Atomantic Shielding which generates a protective gravitic shield around the walker using an advanced Atomantic power core and which provides greater protection from both ranged and melee attacks for the walker. However, when damaged, the Atomantic power generator can overload and result in a devastating miniature atomic explosion which can badly damage nearby allied units.

Some rare examples of Contemptor Pattern Dreadnoughts have been known to carry strange and singular weapons that find their origins in the Dark Age of Technology such as the Kheres Pattern Assault Cannon, which is considered by some Imperial savants of the techno-arcane to be the forerunner of the Terminators' Assault Cannon, compact Plasma Blasters capable of being fitted to the carapace of a Dreadnought and Gravity Flux Weapons like the Graviton Gun whose secrets were ultimately lost during the civil war between the sects of the Adeptus Mechanicus known as the Schism of Mars at the outset of the Horus Heresy.

Contemptor-Mortis Pattern Dreadnought
In the time of the Great Crusade, Dreadnought combat walkers primarily served as heavy assault units and highly mobile weapons support platforms for the Space Marine Legions. They were highly valued for their ability to endure under very heavy enemy fire and to operate in locations and theatres where traditional combat support vehicles would be impractical or downright impossible to use. The Contemptor-Mortis sub-pattern used the more advanced Contemptor chassis as a potent carrier of heavy weapons. It was able to target and destroy the foe at close range and was also outfitted with an advanded Helical Targeting Array that allowed it to provide a Space Marine spearhead force with close anti-air support when needed. During the last years of the Great Crusade, the Contemptor-Mortis sub-pattern was widely used by both the Dark Angels and Iron Warriors Legions, although it was used to some extent by all of the Astartes Legions during this era. Ten millennia later, there remain several Contemptor-Mortis Dreadnoughts that are still operational. They are revered both as potent relics of the Imperium's Golden Age and as powerful weapons by those few Space Marine Chapters lucky enough to still possess them.

The Contemptor-Mortis differs from the standard pattern Contemptor Dreadnought only in being outfitted with 2 Twin-linked Heavy Bolters and Smoke Launchers as a standard weapon load-out and in the integration of a Helical Targeting Array that allows the Dreadnought to unleash its heavy weapons as dedicated anti-aircraft support.

Chaos Contemptor Pattern Dreadnoughts
{C}In the aftermath of the galaxy-wide conflict known as the Horus Heresy and the subsequent Great Scouring, the Traitor Legions were pursued by the vengeful Imperium and cast into disorder and retreat. They were eventually driven into the shadow of the greatest Warp Storm in the galaxy, known as the Eye of Terror. During their flight from their persecutors, the Traitors lost much of their cherished and sacred wargear or it became corrupted and scavenged. Much of the more advanced techno-arcana was cast aside in favour of arms more readily manufactured and maintained by the hell-spat forges of the Dark Mechanicus. But even during these dark times for the servants of the Ruinous Powers, the rare few Contemptor Pattern Dreadnoughts were always held as a most precious resource by those Chaos Space Marine warbands fortunate enough to possess them. The nightmarish intellects of the warsmiths of the Traitor Legions fashioned daemonic replacements for those technological systems of the Contemptor Dreadnoughts that they no longer possessed the skills or the materiel to replicate.

Unable to maintain the Contemptor's original arcane armaments in exile, the Dark Magos replaced them with occult weapons of diabolical design, forged in blood and suffused by daemonic force, such as the Soul Burner which unleashes explosive blasts of daemonic force that devours the souls of its victims, and the Butcher Cannon, a heavy calibre rotary gun whose shells are bound with daemonic runes of anathema and bloodletting to increase their pentrating power and murderou toll. Another notable piece of forbidden Chaotic technology incorporated within a Chaos Contemptor is the replacement of its standard Atomantic power generator with a Warp-infused Hellfire Reactor that charges its armoured carapace to provide a preternatural resilience and also serves as a hungry vortex for the soul-stuff of those it has killed. Enemy psykers are particularly vulnerable to its relentless hunger. The cost for this boon, however, is the lost of the advanced Atomantic Shielding used by the original Contemptor Pattern Dreadnought.

Though few in number, these ancient relics have changed hands over the millennia many times and carried out countless dark deeds in their wake. Chaos Contemptor Dreadnought chassis have always been preserved for the interment of powerful Chaos Lords, Dark Magos Hereteks and sometimes even worse. As a result of their exalted nature and favour with the Dark Gods the occupants of these Dreadnoughts have avoided the inevitable madness that normally consumes other Chaos Dreadnoughts. These walkers fuse together the power of Mankind's lost technological might with the diabolic forces of the Warp to create killing machines that are more than a match for any fielded by the forces of the Corpse Emperor.

Chaos Contemptor Dreadnoughts are normally dedicated to one of the four major Chaos Gods, which provides the following sorcerous boons in combat:
 * Dedication of Khorne: The Chaos Contemptor Dreadnought can be consumed by a Khornate Berserker rage that increases the speed and velocity of its attacks when it engages in close combat.
 * Dedication of Slaanesh: The Chaos Contemptor Dreadnought is outfitted with sonic weaponry that mimics the effect and usage of grenades and allows it to often gain the drop on the enemy in ranged combat.
 * Dedication of Nurgle: The Chaos Contemptor Dreadnought is afflicted with the decay and pestilence of the Plague Lord and finds itself more resistant to external damage as a result.
 * Dedication of Tzeentch: The Chaos Contemptor Dreadnought finds its effectiveness, damage and ability to target the foe with Bolter and Flamer weapons to be dramatically increased a s aresult of the arcane blessing of the Lord of Change.

Venerable Dreadnoughts
Older Dreadnoughts are referred to by Space Marine Chapters as Venerable Dreadnoughts. Having earned many millennia worth of combat experience, Venerable Dreadnoughts are even harder to destroy than their younger counterparts. However, as a trade-off for their knowledge, they are armed with older, more volatile and usually less effective weaponry. Venerable Dreadnoughts are prone to malfunction and the parts needed to update them can no longer be manufactured. Some of these ancient behemoths no longer resemble the current mass production Mark V Dreadnoughts and are bulky and cumbersome. Others stand towering over their foes like elegantly-crafted statues ready to smite their enemies.

The original design for scratch-building Dreadnoughts have been long-lost and so newer versions of these behemoths (if any exist) can only be built from spare/salvaged parts. This is evident in the Iron Hands Chapter as they have very few of these powerful units left after the Drop Site Massacre on Istvaan V during the Horus Heresy.

One of the more notable examples of Venerable Dreadnoughts is the Space Wolves' Bjorn the Fell-Handed. He is the oldest Dreadnought in the Imperium and was a member of the Primarch Leman Russ' personal retinue and fought in the Horus Heresy when he was still whole of body. Oddly, the Space Wolves Venerable Dreadnought released by Games Workshop is similar in design to the standard Mark V Dreadnought (save for the Space Wolves tokens and possessing a metal blister instead of plastic), while the "generic" Venerable Dreadnought is an ornately decorated war machine.

Notable Dreadnoughts

 * Bjorn the Fell-Handed (Space Wolves)
 * Brother Severus (Ultramarines)
 * Brother Damos (Angels Porphyr)
 * Huron-Fal (Death Guard) (Pre-Heresy)
 * Ancient Rylanor (Emperor's Children) (Pre-Heresy)
 * Captain Davian Thule (Blood Ravens)
 * Jarold (Black Templars)
 * Rhodomanus (Crimson Fists)

Chaos Dreadnoughts
Chaos Dreadnoughts are very similar to their Loyalist counterparts. The body of a mortally wounded but feared member of a Renegade or Traitor Legion warband is placed within a sarcophagus that contains multiple life support technologies and this sarcophagus is them placed within the armoured form of a combat walker that the sarcophagus' inhabitant can control using neural impulses. However, most Chaos Space Marines, unlike their Loyalist counterparts, do not see this fate as an honour but as a destiny to be avoid at all costs. This is because being trapped within the armoured shell of a Dreadnought while suffused with the power of Chaos drives the Chaos Space Marine insane and transforms the resulting Dreadnought into an unstoppable and inclredibly bloood-thirsty killing machine. As a result, far from being revered for their wisdom or experience like their Imperial counterparts, Chaos Dreadnoughts are shackled securely when not in combat because the crippled Chaos Space Marine within has been driven insane by millennia of being trapped within the cold cybernetic sarcophagus as the power of Chaos warped his mind and spirit. They are used as insane behemoths to trample the enemy and are regarded with caution, as the madman within the Dreadnought can turn his wrath upon his comrades if there are no enemy units within range. It is exactly this unreliability that led Abaddon the Despoiler to call for the creation of the Defiler as a replacement for the Traitor Legions' Dreadnoughts. Chaos Dreadnoughts' weapons are configured in the same way as Imperial Dreadnoughts of the same pattern and variant but have no specific designations. As they are not wise or even reliable by any standard, Chaos Dreadnoughts are usually designated as fire support or frontal close combat assault units rather than elite warriors like their Loyalist Space Marine counterparts. Chaos Dreadnoughts could also once be configured into more powerful versions of their Imperial counterparts by the use of special Marks dedicated to one of the Chaos Gods, imbuing them with unholy sorcerous powers. This practice is now rarely seen amongst the warbands of Astartes that serve the Dark Gods.

Chaos Dreadnoughts are armed similarly to their Loyalist counterparts with potent ranged and close combat weapons. These include Dreadnought Close Combat Weapons such as claws or energy-infused whips and flails, or Twin-linked Autocannons, Lascannons and Heavy Bolters. Chaos Dreadnoughts are also sometimes outfitted with a Multi-melta or a Plasma Cannon to provide enhanced armour-piercing abilities. A Chaos Dreadnought's close combat weapons often have a built-in Bolter or Heavy Flamer and one or both arms can be replaced with a Missile Launcher to provide added ranged fire support. Chaos Dreadnoughts often prove erratic or unstable in combat and as a result few Chaos Space Marine warbands will make use of them unless there is little other choice and will prefer to unleash other, more reliable daemon engines upon their foes.

Notable Chaos Dreadnoughts

 * Lord Berossus (Iron Warriors) - Berossus is an Iron Warriors Warsmith and Chaos Lord who leads an Iron Warriors Grand Company on their homeworld of Medrengard within the Eye of Terror. Unlike most Chaos Dreadnoughts, Berossus is able to expercise his command because he has not been driven insane by his interrment within a Dreadnought's armoured body.
 * The Warmonger (Word Bearers) - The Warmonger was a Dark Apostle of the Word Bearers Traitor Legion who fought with his Legion during the Battle of Terra and laid siege to the Imperial Palace at the climax of the Horus Heresy. As a result of the formidable willpower he developed as a Dark Apostle, The Warmonger also managed to retain at least a portion of his sanity following his internment within his Dreadnought's shell, but during combat he sometimes forgot where and when he was and began to relive moments from the siege of the Imperial Palace. The Warmonger was slain during the Battle of Boros Prime when he successfully killed the Necron Lord known as The Undying One, though the explosion following the Necron's death also finished off the already-wounded Dreadnought. The Warmonger's shell next housed the broken form of the daemonically-possessed Word Bearer named Burias Drak'Shal.
 * Amurael the Corrupted (Black Legion) - Amurael was the Chaos Champion who led a warband of the Blac Legion until he was literally cut in two by a Khornate daemon. His shattered body was kept alive in a life support sarcophagus tat as then implanted within a Dreadnought shell.
 * Commander Demetrius (Violators) - Demetrius was a Chaos Dreadnought who led a large warband of Chaos Space Marines dedicated to Slaanesh under the banner of the Chaos Lord named Lady Charybdia, the Princess of Slaanesh, on the Daemon World of Torvendis.

Orks
The Orks also have noticed the usefulness of Dreadnoughts in battle, particularly their "shooty" and "stompy" aspects. Orkish Dreadnoughts, or "Deff Dreds" as they are called, are a crude parody of their Imperial namesake. Ork Dreds are armed with massive numbers of claws and guns. Due to the fact that Ork Meks have less understanding of technology than the Adeptus Mechanicus, most Orkish Dreds are simply robotic-controlled war machines with an array of buttons and levers to be used by the Gretchin pilot rather than the pilot being cybernetically interfaced with the machine. Smaller variants of Ork Dreds, named Killa Kanz, also exist. These cousins of the Deff Dreds are often fielded in squadrons of 3 and are just as devastating in combat as their larger cousins, except they have less armour. This is due to the nature of the Killa Kan's pilot who, being merely a Gretchin, still retains a healthy fear of being shot at.

Eldar
The Eldar also use large robotic walkers in combat called Wraithlords that are their equivalent of Space Marine Dreadnoughts. A Wraithlord contains no living warrior; rather, it is merely a robotic shell, a repository for the animating soul of a dead Eldar hero. Wraithlords are graceful but mighty giants that dwarf their Wraithguard cousins. These massive constructs are extremely precious to their Eldar Craftworlds and have a supernatural toughness due to being made from the psychically-active substance called Wraithbone. Summoned into being by the necromantic processes and sorcery of the Eldar Spiritseers, only a true hero of the Eldar race has psychic power enough to animate the gigantic wraithbone shell of a Wraithlord.

An Eldar soul is drawn from the Infinity Circuit of a Craftworld and resides within the wraithbone construct until such time as its power begins to fade and it can no longer function or it is destroyed. The Eldar Wraithlords stand significantly taller than a man, carry an array of weaponry and are a terrifying sight on the battlefield. Wraithlords have incredible strength in any case, but also sometimes carry a wraithsword for close-combat.

If the animating soul within the Wraithlord specialized in close infantry assault when it was alive, it will seek to tear apart its enemies with great energized fists or cleave several apart with a swing from its massive sword, known as a Wraithblade. If the animating Eldar soul specialized in combat support during life, the ghostly warrior's energy core will instead be rerouted to power a devastating array of heavy weaponry such as a shuriken cannon. Either way, a single Wraithlord can turn the tide of battle for the Eldar; the legends of the fallen heroes within the construct continuing to grow even after death.

Current Models
As with Space Marine Power Armour there are different "Marks" (iterative versions) of Dreadnoughts. The most common version is the Mark V, a design that has been used since the introduction of the 2nd Edition of Warhammer 40,000 in 1993. Made of plastic, this is a generic model which can be used by any Space Marine Chapter. The right arm can either be armed with an Assault Cannon or twin-linked Lascannon, while the left side can either be a Powerfist (with either a Storm Bolter or Heavy Flamer underneath) or Missile Launcher, allowing the player to build either a standard or fire-support (Hellfire) Dreadnought. Chapter-specific Dreadnoughts such as the Blood Angels' Furioso and the Dark Angels' Mortis also exist; these use the standard Mark V design.

There are also metal models for Venerable Dreadnoughts. The "generic" Venerable Dreadnought is an ornately-decorated war machine armed with an Assault Cannon and Powerfist. Interestingly, the Space Wolves' Venerable Dreadnought is similar in design to the standard Mark V Dreadnought, save for the Space Wolves badges and iconography and the unique Lightning Claw/Heavy Flamer on the left side. The Space Wolves also possess standard shells for their Venerable Dreadnoughts.

Forge World makes a (resin) Mark IV model. The style of the Mark IV is close to that of the Epic scale Dreadnought when first released - it predates the current 25mm scale design.

Metal Mark V Dreadnoughts were released for Epic 40,000 and were carried over for the succeeding Epic: Armageddon game. There is some variation in the sarcophagi design, and the Missile Launcher consisted of eight "tubes" instead of the cells of the Warhammer 40,000 scale. Weapons include the Twin-Lascannon, Assault Cannon, and Multi-melta for the right arm, and Powerfist, Lightning Claw, and Missile Launcher for the left side. Dreadnoughts had a unique blend of firepower and assault strength, making them useful for defending objectives. However, their slow speed otherwise proved a major hindrance on the vast Epic battlefield, though the introduction of transports able to carry Dreadnoughts, such as the Thunderhawk Transporter, should compensate for this.

The very earliest editions of Warhammer 40,000 had the Dreadnought's occupants as healthy individuals and they were common to both Imperial Guard and Space Marines forces.

Previous Versions
The first Dreadnought models produced were for the Space Marines and Imperial Guard armies. These were the Furibundus, Deredeo and Contemptor patterns which each had a different weapons configuration. There were a selection of arms (single or double Bolter, Lascannon or Missile Launcher) which fitted to the body, "wide" or "narrow" which in turn could have either long or short legs.

In Warhammer 40,000 2nd Edition, various bipedal, heavily armoured fighting machines belonging to numerous factions of the game were collectively called Dreadnoughts. Space Marines, Chaos Space Marines, Orks and the Eldar all fielded a Dreadnought of their own design, generally carrying at least one Heavy Weapon and having armour and survivability characteristics roughly equivalent to a tank (in fact, even under the current rules Dreadnoughts are so heavily armoured they could be classified as medium armour rather than light armour, even when compared to vehicles such as the Chimera and Leman Russ tank). Dreadnoughts were important support units in the game due to their prowess in close combat, being far more capable of defending themselves at close quarters than tanks or other vehicles, while being much harder to damage than infantry. A corresponding disadvantage was their size as tabletop models; this made them highly visible and particularly in the game's early days where large tank models were less common, Dreadnoughts were highly vulnerable to being sighted from long distance and destroyed before they could retaliate.

A cardboard cut-out of an Ork Dreadnought was included in the 2nd Edition boxed introductory game as a stand-in for new players to be able to play all the included introductory scenarios, as the metal Ork Dreadnought model was a fairly expensive purchase at the time of publication. In the 2nd Edition, the four Dreadnought patterns released by Games Workshop were metal models of the Mark V design, distinguished by their weaponry and Chapter-specific banners and decals. They included an Ultramarines Dreadnought with an Assault Cannon and Powerfist/Stormbolter, the Dark Angels Dreadnought with a twin-linked Lascannon and Missile Launcher (now known as the fire-support or Hellfire Dreadnought), the Blood Angels Dreadnought Furioso with a Multi-Melta and Powerfist/Stormbolter, and the Space Wolves' Bjorn the Fell-Handed Venerable Dreadnought with an Assault Cannon and Lightning Claw/Heavy Flamer. Bjorn the Fell-Handed is unique as he is fielded as a special character and his Space Wolves tokens made him specific to that Chapter. The model is still in release at the present but has since been renamed the Space Wolves Venerable Dreadnought since the 3rd Edition and now lacks the banner. The other themed Dreadnoughts can be used by other Chapters.

Following the release of Warhammer 40,000's 3rd Edition, Games Workshop publications generally ceased the generic use of the word "Dreadnought", instead referring only to the types of walkers fielded by the Space Marines, Chaos Space Marines, and occasionally the Orks by that name. Eldar Dreadnoughts were now known as Wraithlords and the Orks, except for the appropriate army list entries, colloquially referred to their versions simply as Dreds or Killa Kanz, a name also given to smaller Orkish Dreadnought-style vehicles that they fielded. It was also in the 3rd Edition that variant Dreadnoughts such as the fire-support Hellfire, Mortis, and the Furioso were released.

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