So,deploy to Carnath with Tarrus in play use Marvos ability and get 3 gold back making it 4 gold cost only?ummm sure!

It's nice that no form of exhaust is required, which means you can put it into play using Y'varn to avoid the steep cost and then proceed to take advantage of the Dreadnought's ability regardless of it coming onto a planet exhausted.

Imagine the flop has Y'varn as a late and seemingly insignificant planet and then you get a starting hand with two Sword Brethren and a Tense Negotiations among the seven cards..

Oh, and if Y'varn has called in sick for the game, why, then you simply win some command-snipe battle and Declare the Crusade to get it there

So,deploy to Carnath with Tarrus in play use Marvos ability and get 3 gold back making it 4 gold cost only?ummm sure!

Lets say you have initiative, and you drop this on Tarrus. I then play 7 resources worth of units to OTHER planets.You could then commit to Tarrus and get one command win and one activation to my 4 command wins, or you could commit elsewhere and get zero activations and 2 command wins to my three command wins. Either way I'm pretty happy.

Could go even worse, of course. I could put a 0 attack capper opposite it, and promote it, or use superiority. Or I could go there with Eldorath and foresight. Or Baharroth and mobile away. Or I could rout it with Terror or Fortress. Or I could Palace it. Lots of worst case scenarios that leave you very command screwed, and one best case scenario where you get only a bit command screwed. Planet 1 being Tarrus is best, but that's 1 in 10 games, coinciding with drawing this unit at that time.

Dropping it in with Y'varn is very sensible, but Sparrowhawk long ago offered the same idea for running 3 x Heldrake. That doesn't work either - you can't base a gameplan around Y'varn opportunities. I'd rather run a Predator than this card, and that's saying something!

Lets say you have initiative, and you drop this on Tarrus. I then play 7 resources worth of units to OTHER planets.You could then commit to Tarrus and get one command win and one activation to my 4 command wins, or you could commit elsewhere and get zero activations and 2 command wins to my three command wins. Either way I'm pretty happy.

Could go even worse, of course. I could put a 0 attack capper opposite it, and promote it, or use superiority. Or I could go there with Eldorath and foresight. Or Baharroth and mobile away. Or I could rout it with Terror or Fortress. Or I could Palace it. Lots of worst case scenarios that leave you very command screwed, and one best case scenario where you get only a bit command screwed. Planet 1 being Tarrus is best, but that's 1 in 10 games, coinciding with drawing this unit at that time.

 

Dropping it in with Y'varn is very sensible, but Sparrowhawk long ago offered the same idea for running 3 x Heldrake. That doesn't work either - you can't base a gameplan around Y'varn opportunities. I'd rather run a Predator than this card, and that's saying something!

I think you judge this card a little too harshly Asklepios

First of all, in your example, dropping the Dreadnought on Taurus and then committing to Taurus makes very little sense and as you rightly infer one would likely only get a normal 1x trigger from doing so in your example. Though I do not believe Taurus to be a particularly suitable planet for this unit - Unstoppable ability-wise - I believe that others mention Taurus only in tandem with Carnath, which is certainly a better solution than Taurus.

For the Dreadnought to work to your advantage other than as a heavy army unit you need to either set it up opposite an enemy army, or be able to deal it some damage yourself, preferably 1 point. I regard the former as a mere combat bonus-benefit (potentially nice to get) and the latter as a kind of command-snipe usage. The command-snipe usage, where you somehow deal it damage yourself, is most likely where this card will shine.

Mavros' hale ability is an obvious solution to this of course, but note that the target unit - in this case the Dreadnought - needs to be on a Tech planet, so Taurus is not exactly ideal, while Carnath, Plannum, the tricons and Atrox Prime are likely targets.

Your comparison with the Heldrake seems a little wrong as well seeing as the Heldrake (although being a potentially tough foe) lacks a math-changing ability compared to the Dreadnought.

I'm not saying this is an auto 3x include, but I don't think we should dismiss its potential value so soon

I've noticed that they tend to release in the same pack cards that have some sort of synergy. This time we got this Dreadnought that allows you to benefit from an extra trigger and an event that allows you to ensure you are seeing a given planet: what about setting up a deck that abuses Y'varn? Doesn't sound tournament viable but could be rather effective: maybe not a deck built entirely around this, but having 5-7 elites and 3x Declare the Crusade doesn't sound like too much deckspace if the trick works.

I actually want to go all-in with an elite deck. Declare the Crusade to make sure you have Y'varn in play, then abuse Dreadnought and/or Tense Negotiations to spam elites. Use Know no Fear afterwards to threaten every planet with big, mean elites.

Don't expect it to be good, but if it's fun, I'm sold.

I tried this card out in a Cato setup during a few games vs. Baharroth with a Wildrider+Bonesinger deck last night.

The card is of course waaay too expensive, but I thought you know it looks hilarious so let's give the guy a 1x try.. Some thoughts afterwards:

1) Ferrin is an excellent target for this unit (if Ferrin happens to be significant to a win-strategy for any of the players). In one of the games Baharroth was going for the red icons; the Marines are the kings of shielding so at one point I used all seven resources I had to dump this guy to Ferrin which had a Vyper and a Squadron guarding it - it single handedly won me that planet. (Works like a charm with an Indomitable as well because you can still trigger Unstoppable and then use Indomitable to counter a heavy blow from a Vyper or the likes)

2) The Dreadnought is a real headache for your opponent if he/she's not running Terror of Inquisitorial Fortress. Plannum and Carnath are potentially great places for it as well. At one point I was so outmaneuvered command wise that the Carnath-->Taurus trigger saved the game for me.

3) Baharroth (that pointy-eared flying squirrel) did have access to Doom in his deck, but luckily I was only 'doomed' once and that didn't cost me the Dreadnought. However, if Doom had hit while the Dreadnought was is my HQ I'd expect it to be a gg right there.

To sum up you'd need a really strong command game/economy to make the Dreadnought viable I think. Against opponents with Terror/Klaivex or Doom playing the card seems a much too risky gamble. Good opponents for the Dreadnought is probably Ork, Tau, Chaos, AM and other SM decks. I expect it will be somewhat easier to use with Mavros than with Cato, once the former actually arrives.. 

yesterday I was playing a non-competitive game with my brother. Got the Y'varn deploy to HQ, and then committed to Iridal....my warlord already had damage on him from a previous battle.  My brother was forced into a situation where the first attack on the dreadnought was guaranteed to heal at least 3 damage, and if he instead tried to just push the warlord, the action speed activation from the warlord on the unstoppable would just heal the warlord before the bloody-ing attack. talk about a rock and a hard place. 

yesterday I was playing a non-competitive game with my brother. Got the Y'varn deploy to HQ, and then committed to Iridal....my warlord already had damage on him from a previous battle.  My brother was forced into a situation where the first attack on the dreadnought was guaranteed to heal at least 3 damage, and if he instead tried to just push the warlord, the action speed activation from the warlord on the unstoppable would just heal the warlord before the bloody-ing attack. talk about a rock and a hard place. 

If he would decide to attack your warlord you wouldn't be able to heal yourself wih dreadnought because it would be to late

circumstances were that I had a few 1/2 shields in hand and the most damage he could deal was 4. So I could take a hit, prevent bloody with shields, and then before the next swing, activate the ability targeting the dreadnaught and heal. 

But if he attacks Dreadnought right away, you must heal right away, so there is really no choice, right ?

exactly, hard place and a rock.