What are they hiding with the venerable dred?

[spinny]

Hi there everybody.

Not certain if this is the right place for this, but the venerable dred which we are seeing, appears to me to not be the whole story. If you look at the description on the Games Workshop site it says that it contains 84 pieces, and yet when you count it, i can only find 80.

Alongside this when you actually look at the frame where the heads are, there is space for six and yet there are only three shown. This to me seems like a waste of space and considering how packed the sprues we have had lately have been, a strange occurrence to say the least. Also on the non head sprue in the bottom left corner there is a bit of sprue sticking up which doesn't attach to anything.

From all of this i can only concur that GW are hiding something from us, maybe three heads which are chapter specific? to do with the other half of the story which has been mentioned on some forums? Possibly Grey Knight? Who knows, and maybe it is just my paranoid delusions, but i am incredibly interested to see what happens when it finally comes out.

One last detail, i saw the sprue in my shop last night and the gaps were still gaps, but appear like they could have been purposely made that way to hide something.

Anyway, sorry for bothering you all with my ranting, and if this is the wrong place for this post please move it.

[Drew da Destroya]

I like a good conspiracy theory!

Admittedly, lots of sprues come with the peice of sprue leading to nowhere. I think it's just part of the casting process, they create two sprues side-by-side, and then break them apart to put into boxes.

But missing heads? That could be really cool. Grey Knights, Blood Angels, Dark Angels? Or scrap the Bloodies, and maybe it's for the Space Wolves, so you can create whats-his-face, the HQ dread?

[david5th]

ssshhhh spinny, they have eyes and ears everywhere. TRUST NO ONE;)

[musical-fool]

No I've seen the sprues at my FLGW and there are only three heads, granted these are all space marine sized and are all variants ofthe crusader helmets very old school knight looking if you catch my drift.

As for the weapons, they are all inter changeable, a-la-lemon russ style of weapons. Also only one breast-plate and one shin guard are engraved with the names of previous battles.

[DarkLink]

I like a good conspiracy theory!

Admittedly, lots of sprues come with the peice of sprue leading to nowhere. I think it's just part of the casting process, they create two sprues side-by-side, and then break them apart to put into boxes.

But missing heads? That could be really cool. Grey Knights, Blood Angels, Dark Angels? Or scrap the Bloodies, and maybe it's for the Space Wolves, so you can create whats-his-face, the HQ dread?

Yeah, conspiracy theories are always good for a laugh. Though a chapter-specific set of sprues would be awesome, especially a Grey Knight one.

[MadCowCrazy]

I was able to count to 81 items on the sprues, Im sure they count the base as one as well.

Anyways the pieces are numbered and one of those heads were numbered 84. So start your counting to see what numbers are missing :D

[Brosef Stalin]

I could always use a nice beakie dreadnought, if that's an option. :D

[Scryer in the Darkness]

Anyways the pieces are numbered and one of those heads were numbered 84. So start your counting to see what numbers are missing :D

35, 45, 46 and 49 by my eyes. Note the standard sarcophagus with eagle doesn't have a part number next to it and part 68 is branded as 86.

[twistinthunder]

35, 45, 46 and 49 by my eyes. Note the standard sarcophagus with eagle doesn't have a part number next to it and part 68 is branded as 86.

i think its actually missing the 'standard' dreadnaught 'fingers' i cant see them anywhere and the descrition definatly says there is 2 dreadnaught fists in there and there is a picture of 2 variants, a standard and an ornate one.

[RocketRollRebel]

I hate counting

[Scryer in the Darkness]

i think its actually missing the 'standard' dreadnaught 'fingers' i cant see them anywhere
They're part of the standard claw component, sprue 2 part number 60.

[RogueGarou]

I hate counting

One. One piece of Dreadnought leg armor. HA HA HA!

Two. Two pieces of Dreadnought leg armor. HA HA HA!

... You get the idea. Although in the case of a surefire seller like this, perhaps The Count is a poor example and it should be Count DeMonet (as in "count da money").

But seriously, with the new capabilities of using CAD software and rapid prototypers, they may have decided to use one Dreadnought sprue design as a basis for multiple Dreadnought kits. The open spaces could be left open for additional components to easily be added to the render, prototyped to create a mold, and quickly move a new Dreadnought piece into production.

Since all Dreadnoughts are basically the same, what could fit into four open slots? Perhaps four Chaos Icons? Perhaps some Chapter specific bits? Maybe an open book with a sword or the letter "I". I am more and more happy with the details coming in the new plastic kits and the possibilities of using software speeds up development and that means we can see more kits, more quickly. It also means better efficiency and possibly the chance of a few extras on the sprues. For instance, I would love to revisit the Chaos Legion kits but with plastic torsos and heads instead of metal. Legion and Chapter specific shoulder pads would be cool, too. All more readily possible with the new software in play now. Also, the new production capabilities have allowed slimmer components like the Daemonettes and the prototype Seekers showed off last year. New Eldar, Dark Eldar, and Sisters models could be more likely in plastic now so who knows what other plans are in the works for the Dreadnought sprues?