Legion Malcador

[coloroutofspace]

I have two questions regarding Malcador for you all: is anyone using it? And what do you think of it in general, what options do you think are worth taking, is it worth the points or not, and so on?

 

The reason for asking is that after Betrayal I wasn't considering a Malcador or two in my force, but now in Massacre there's this great depiction of an Iron Hands Malcador, and along with some fluff it really started looking cool.

[Hyaenidae]

I'm planning on three of them, and using them as MBT's. I'm using the Armoured Spearhead Rite of War for my Iron Warriors, so my vast numbers of Land Raiders' can deal with light to medium armour. The Malcadors' primary role will be harassment and heavy armour stalking, and generally making my opponent nervous about large-volume blast templates. When I finally get a Warhound, they'll switch to an escort role, keeping the two-legged vehicle killers away from her.

[Dono1979]

I have two questions regarding Malcador for you all: is anyone using it? And what do you think of it in general, what options do you think are worth taking, is it worth the points or not, and so on?

 

The reason for asking is that after Betrayal I wasn't considering a Malcador or two in my force, but now in Massacre there's this great depiction of an Iron Hands Malcador, and along with some fluff it really started looking cool.

 

1: Yes, I love fielding my Malcador, before I got my Warhounds painted and Fellblade conversion (soon to be painted) it was the centre piece of my army, my first Super Heavy. I think it is an awesome looking little tank.

 

2: No, it is not worth its points at all, its performance is woeful for a Super Heavy and it will normally always die to a single D-Weapon shot and then explode. It barely outperforms a Leman Russ if at all.

 

However the answer to Question 1 will always over ride the answer to Question 2 when I consider its inclusion in lists!

[DuskRaider]

Actually, the 30K version of the Malcador is pretty nice for the price. A decent amount of weapons options, can take a flare shield, is actually fast, and is cheap. Like around the price of a Spartan cheap. I've had a few from my Siege of Vraks force that I never got around to painting, so they're getting repurposed for the XIVth. I've armed mine with a Battle Cannon, Demolisher Cannon, and Lascannon Sponsons. Strong pie plates backed by anti-armour. Give it Astartes Crew and it becomes much much better.

[coloroutofspace]

Actually, the 30K version of the Malcador is pretty nice for the price. A decent amount of weapons options, can take a flare shield, is actually fast, and is cheap.

Exactly. Being Fast it can move quite a few inches a turn, can fire all its weapons at different targets (and comes with four before upgrades), got a good few HPs. Only AV is a downside. Lightweight superheavy so to speak, but cheap.

 

So if I wanted to run two of those, how should I build them? Demolishers on both? Lascannon sponsons would require Space Marine Crew upgrade, which really increases the cost, so maybe just HBs? Or go 3 autocannons? What about Armoured Ceramite? To me it seems a good idea to make the Malcador a bit more durable this way, but taking both AC and a Flare Shield seems like an overkill.

[DuskRaider]

I would always use Marine crew for the Malcador. That BS 4 is a requirement, IMO, especially if you want it to make an impact. Honestly, even with the upgrade cost it's still a ridiculously cheap super heavy so spend away. Armament wise, that's really up to you. IMO, a super heavy lobbing pie plates all over the place is just the bee's knees, but then again an all-Lascannon layout would be pretty nifty too. You'd definitely have a chance of popping multiple targets a turn, and that's great when you come across things like a squadron of Predators and whatnot. I take Armoured Ceramite and Flare Shield, but I'm paranoid about my tanks.

[Moonstalker]

I think the issue you run into is "Why not just spend x more points and get a Fellblade?"  The stock weapon load out is just really bad.  Sponson heavy stubbers?  Tickle cannons is more like it.  Stock, you're just looking at a battle cannon and an autocannon standard, and that will have difficulty even handling another Malcador - never mind the kind of heavy fighting you might expect a super heavy to be able to do.  It's basically helpless against even a Land Raider.  A battle cannon brings some nice long-range boom that is very hard to find in a marine army, but that's all this tank is bringing to the party in the stock form.  IMO, it needs upgrades.

 

First up, swapping the hull autocannon for the Demolisher cannon.  It's more pie plates that are always in demand for a marine force, and the Malcador has the speed to get it into range.  Second, upgrading the sponsons.  Again, personal opinion, but I think heavy bolters are just awful.  For the small points increase, autocannons minimum.   If you have the spare points, then lascannons.  Battle cannon vs twin-linked lascannon in the turret is entirely up to what you think the vehicle will be doing.  If you want dedicated tank and MC hunting, then the lascannon is gonna do it.  There's not much waffling over points here, just what do you want the vehicle to do?  I think with the sponson lascannons and demolisher cannon you've got some good anti-tank going on, and you can afford to lose the ability to pen AV14 for the extra versatility/infantry killing that the battle cannon will bring.

 

Command tank = only if I don't already have vexillas.  If I was going to rely on the Malcador for that instead of Vexillas, then I'm trading some flexibility on the battlefield for some points (assuming I have at least three squads whose Vexillas I'm taking off).  But the Vexillas do the same thing and also allow you to move around the battlefield more freely, as you're not trying to keep a toe in the 24 inch command bubble.  I think a Space Marine crew is good, both for the fluff (unless you have Imperial Army allies?) and for making sure your pie plates and las beams are landing on target.

 

At this point, we have a tank that costs 370 points.  Armored Ceramite and Flare Shields are entirely optional, IMO, but they are nice and worth the points if you have them to spare.  For another 170, though,  we could have a Fellblade that is more than twice as tough (with higher AV and double the hull points), a way more effective main gun, the same hull mounted demolisher cannon, and quad lascannon or lasdestroyer sponsons instead of single lascannons.  Sure, it's slower, but the main gun will be able to reach out and touch anything on all but the largest of Apoc-scale tables and you can probably find targets closer to it for the rest of its guns.  That's where I say, "Why don't I just take a Fellblade instead?"  About the only reason I can think of is, "Because this is 2000 points and a Fellblade is just a hair over 25% of that."  That, and "Malcadors are cool."  At higher points levels, I think the other tanks are better, and at the point levels where you could take a squadron of Malcadors in your Lord of War slot, you could take a Warhound instead (which will be tougher, for the points, and much, much, much deadlier - depending on weapon load out, at least).

 

TL:DR, if you're taking it, at the very least it needs sponson upgrades, it's a good micro-superheavy for a Lord of War that fits at 2k, it brings some things that SM Legions might have in short supply (ordnance blasts).  SM Crew lascannon sponsons, and Hull Demolisher Cannon are nice, other upgrades are luxuries, it is outperformed by other options when the Lord of War choice goes into 500+ points.

[coloroutofspace]

That's some good advice, thank you. Now that I thought about it, i'll tell you what I have in mind.

 

I'm thinking 2000 or 2500 pts Iron Hands list, but without the RoW. Unfortunately at 2500, there's only one option: 2 Malcadors with Demolishers and no other upgrades, that hits 25%. At 2000 one Malcador with Demolisher, Lascannons, SM crew. Why would I take two of those instead of a Fellblade? Simply because it's two targets instead of one, and it's 4 pie-plates. And it's cool :)

 

At 2000 pts a Typhon could perform a similar role, and I'm undecided, and don't have the resources to get a nice selection of superheavies from FW anytime soon.

 

As to the role, it's main purpose would be to deal with infantry. For anti-tank I think of having a few more specialized units. Now that a plan started to form in my mind, I imagine my Iron Hands as seriously heavy on shooting, durable force, with tanks followed by few infantry. No CC specialists, no Terminators, no fancy dresses, just a storm of firepower...

 

I think I'll be posting in the army lists section soon :)

[Dono1979]

Hmmm did I miss something in Book 2? I was pretty sure that there was no double force org at 2,000 pts... that's a 40K thing.

[coloroutofspace]

What do you mean exactly?

[Dono1979]

Sorry I saw someone mention taking Two Malcadors at 2,500 and assumed that was because of a double FoC, but now I remeber that you can take a squadron of Super Heavies as a Lord of War choice.

[coloroutofspace]

Yes

Although in Betrayal there's something I don't quite understand - it says that "the rules presented (in the 6th ed Rulebook) for Primary Detachments [...], etc." apply to forces chosen for Age of Darkness battles - does it mean you can take two detachments, or not?

Oh, and by the way, I'd justify, for fluff purposes, the lack of SM Crew by claiming that the Legion Malcadors drawn from the reserve are operated by battle servitors - after all, it's Iron Hands...

Edit: added second para

[Dono1979]

Ture, I am not sure now. I have never played double FOC in either 30K or 40K, in 30K especially I struggle use all of the slots in 3,000pts let alone under 2,000

[coloroutofspace]

Especially during Heresy, with squadrons of tanks and dreadnought talons, I don't see such a need either.

[Noserenda]

I love my malcadors with dual cannons and triple flamers, they are great fun but always die and hand out vps like candy :/ so fun but uncompetitive.

[depthcharge12]

I love my malcadors with dual cannons and triple flamers, they are great fun but always die and hand out vps like candy :/ so fun but uncompetitive.

Where is this "fun" and "forging a narrative"?

I need to purge it.

That's some good advice, thank you. Now that I thought about it, i'll tell you what I have in mind.

I'm thinking 2000 or 2500 pts Iron Hands list, but without the RoW. Unfortunately at 2500, there's only one option: 2 Malcadors with Demolishers and no other upgrades, that hits 25%. At 2000 one Malcador with Demolisher, Lascannons, SM crew. Why would I take two of those instead of a Fellblade? Simply because it's two targets instead of one, and it's 4 pie-plates. And it's cool

At 2000 pts a Typhon could perform a similar role, and I'm undecided, and don't have the resources to get a nice selection of superheavies from FW anytime soon.

As to the role, it's main purpose would be to deal with infantry. For anti-tank I think of having a few more specialized units. Now that a plan started to form in my mind, I imagine my Iron Hands as seriously heavy on shooting, durable force, with tanks followed by few infantry. No CC specialists, no Terminators, no fancy dresses, just a storm of firepower...

I think I'll be posting in the army lists section soon

I would take double malcadors with pie plates. The other guns are just for giggles