Khaine is death incarnate. The great destroyer who has no equal in the making of war. The Aspect of the Fire Dragon personifies this. They bring to bear weapons that have the power of suns and lay obstacles to piles of molten slag. They are the bane of Imperial tank crews and squads unlucky enough to be in range. They are the great tank slayers and they are very good at their job.
Fire Dragons are the ultimate anti tank troops. Armed with Fusion guns and melta bombs they have one purpose. Destroy the enemy armor with extreme prejudice. One of the reasons I don't use Fire Dragons that much, contrary to most blogs and forums who say field as many as you can, is that once your opponent knows there are dragons on the board he is going to poor everything he has into the squad or transport so that they don't reach his tank line or precious land raider. So if anything they act as a big distraction. Granted the distraction can do a lot of damage as long as they reach their target.
You must put the squad in a transport. If you run Falcons a 6 man squad of Dragons will complement the tank nicely but you better have holo fields on the tank. I prefer, regardless of squad size, to put the squad in a wave serpent. The energy shield take the bite out of most all heavy weapons and you can arm the Serpent with bright lances to help the tank hunters do their job. This give you an autonomous tank hunting unit .
Given the fact Fusions guns have a range of 12 inches you must close range fast. Use the cover on the field and the great speed of the wave serpent to close in on the enemy tanks. If you can approach from the side its even better. Remember to dump the troops as close as possible to get the bonus dice, or at very least get within 9 inches. This is the half distance on the Fire pike.
The Fire Pike is the standard armament for the Exarch when upgrading from his fusion gun. It is a fusion gun with an 18” range. The Exarch also has the Dragons Breath Flamer as a free upgrade from his fusion gun. If I actually run more than one squad of dragons I use the flamer option for a second squad and they act in support taking tanks down and hosing any infantry that try and get to close. Combine this flamer with crack shot and you get the other ability most people forget it does. It allows you to re roll wounds. This is great for template weapons and means the Farseer can see to the “doom” of other units.
The key to Fire Dragons surviving is to have a unit in support of them to take out troops shooting at them. Also , I know I am stating the obvious or at least I hope I am, use the enemy tanks as cover. Position the squad so you minimize the amount of trooper fire they are going to take. Then once you obliterate the tank you have them near use it as cover, or the smoking crater where it was as cover. This will mitigate some of the nastier heavy weapons ability to wipe out the squad. I like to use the The squads Wave Serpent to ct as a shield while at the same time using it to take out more transports or more importantly artillery and other tanks. Support is the key. If you just turbo boost strait to the tanks with no support the squad is as good as dead and you just wasted points.
Since Dragons take up an elite spot I only usually run 1 squad. There are to many other choices in the elites section to take more. This is especially true when building a proper Eldar list which involves balance and all the units supporting each other and working in conjunction. Fire Dragons are one piece of the puzzle.
So that's my two cents about Fire Dragons. In our next segment of the Aspects of Khaine we get into some of the less well known and not so often used Aspect. The Shining Spears.
Until then.................................
Blood Runs, Anger Rises, Death Wakes, War Calls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sorry for necromancy, but what aspects do you suggest to support the dragons?
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