Dreadnoughts: What do we do with them?

What's up everyone?  It has been a while since I have gotten a post out but it has been because I have been trying to think about my two armies:  Iron Hands and Space Wolves, and how I can better use them with 7th edition seeing a rise in the Vehicles, the Psyker Phase, and a very interesting mix of newer armies.

I love Dreadnoughts and I have loved them from the moment I got into the game.  The idea of a Great Leader or Warrior continuing to serve the Emperor in a Machine that takes on his personality is something I love the fluff, and now with Vehicles staying a little bit more alive, does that mean that Dreads are back?  The answer is yes, but you have to be extremely smart with them.

So what type of Dreads do you want to roll?  How is your Army Setup?  Are you expecting heavy troops, heavy armor, or flyers?  These are all questions that you have to think about before you deploy them.
Drop Pod Army - Now this is the in your face, angry, wanting to destroy anything and everything that you can when you touch down with your army.  So how can a Dreadnought come to the rescue?  In my opinion there are three ways to go:  The Drop Dread, Heavy Flamer Drop, or the Rifle Dread.  Now if you know what army you are going to fight then there is no question on the one you should select, but if you are looking at a tournament, this gets a little more challenging.  Personally I feel that the best overall might be the Rifle Dread.  While the rest of your army is dropping in turn 1 or 2, the Rifle Dread can be on the field from the start or walking on Turn 2 and with the option of 2 TL Autocannons or TL Lascannon with Missile Launcher, you have two options to bring to the party.

The Heavy Armor List - With This List, you are going to be looking at most of your army being AV 14 or AV 13, so what can a Dread do for you?  Well For this Kind of Army, I would be looking at filling the roles that your army is missing.  Now you could look at doing the Drop Dread for quick turn 1 First Blood, but I would look for the anti-troop fire power and walk them on turn 2 or anti-vehicle distance and still walk them on turn 2.  Either way the Dreads can fill the Roll.

MSU List - Well this is the list that you are probably going to see a healthy mix of Transports, and most of these are going to have anti vehicle or anti troop capabilities.  So what Dread do we need?  Well this might be the time for a Heavy CC.  Especially with IronClads or Furiosos, you can use it as a way to attack vehicles, supplement charging units, or in a worse case scenario, you can try to bog down a Deathstar unit for maybe a round of combat.

Now I feel that with most Dreads being AV12, it is almost imperative that you do one of three things:  Drop Pod them in two get them there quick turn 1, Walk Them behind a stronger unit for a mobile cover, or Walk them on from Reserves to give them an oppurtunity to go after a juicy target or have another round of survivability.  For me, I had my Iron Hands Dreads on the Table from turn 1 in all four of my games from the Day at SpikeyCon and they only performed well in one of the games.  I feel that if I had reserved them in my games against the FMCs of the Nids (3 of 4 games fyi) that they might have survived longer and done more work.

So what do you think?  Do Dreads have a better presence in 7th edition, or are they still a limited option?