Purchasing and Arming a Malcador

[Company Master Holden]

Good morning all!

 

Forgeworld is of course discontinuing many different legion upgrade kits, so naturally I have to grab some for my 40k Dark Angels and my 30k Sons of Horus. This also presented the prime opportunity to grab a Heavy Support choice for my fledgling Death Korps of Krieg army to work on after ETL has concluded at the end of the summer. 

 

A little background first: when I decided to build my Death Korp army, I made a decision to focus primarily on the aesthetic and feel of the faction over raw competitiveness, e.g. I would rather purchase Basilisk Artillery pieces over the mobile Basilisk tank. I know that this really hurts in terms of points and utility, but I figured that if I was going to sell all my earthly possessions to field a DKoK army I want my army to look impressive on the table and capture the grinding trench war aesthetic. 

 

So with that said, I have decided to purchase a Malcador tank over the Leman Russ for the above reason, but I am unsure of which variant to get. Furthermore, I am unsure of the best armament for each variant. The Defender's ability to put out 21 Heavy Bolter shots in addition to sporting a Demolisher cannon is incredible, but when I saw that the Annihilator variant could field twin lascannons and autocannon sponsons I also drooled a little bit. I freely admit that I am unfamiliar and uninitiated with Guard and the DKoK in general, as I primarily play Dark Angels, Death Guard, and a little bit of Ad Mech/Grey Knights. My meta really consists of playing against Imperial Guard, Chaos/World Eaters, and Space Marines. 

 

Thus I come to ya'll hat in hand to ask for advice on which Malcador to purchase and how to arm said Malcador, in addition to any experience either playing against one or fielding one in your own army that you might have.

 

I know that traditionally I have approached problems like these through magnetization, so I was also curious as to whether any of ya'll have magnetized the Malcador and how feasible something like that would be. 

 

Thanks in advance for your time guys, and I wish you luck in the ETL!

 

DKoK Units:

* 1 x Death Korp Command Squad 

* 1 x Bits to Make Death Korp Tank Commander

* 2 X Death Korp Infantry Units

* 1 X Heavy Weapon Team (Heavy Bolter, Autocannon, Lascannon)

[duz_]

In general I'm a real fan of the HB and Demolisher this edition if that helps :)

Lascannons on BS4+ aren't the most reliable or greatest bang for your buck 

[Tyr13]

I feel that if you want an Annihilator, you should stick to the Leman Russ chassis. Gets you up to 5 shots for a lot fewer points (and also looks quite cool). The Malcador should be a bit more... interesting. And you dont really get more interesting than ludicrous amounts of heavy bolters. :P
 

[Danny Cyanide]

You really can't go wrong with a malcador Infernus! Burn them with holy promethieum!

[Arkaniss]

I'm interested in getting a couple of Malcadors for my IG and for much the same reason as you! So I will be interested in the feedback from this thread. I'd like some Lascannons but as duz points out BS4+ isn't fantastic so I'll have to consider that.

[duz_]

You really can't go wrong with a malcador Infernus! Burn them with holy promethieum!

As Danny so eloquently put it, you can always burn them with fire! :D

[Frostglaive]

As one who has never seen a Malcador in action nor read the rules for it, how does it perform? Debating whether I want to pick one up myself or not.

[Company Master Holden]

In general I'm a real fan of the HB and Demolisher this edition if that helps

 

Lascannons on BS4+ aren't the most reliable or greatest bang for your buck 

 

I'm interested in getting a couple of Malcadors for my IG and for much the same reason as you! So I will be interested in the feedback from this thread. I'd like some Lascannons but as duz points out BS4+ isn't fantastic so I'll have to consider that.

 

That absolutely helps! Heavy Bolters do some work, and the Demolisher is no joke either. Both of ya'll bring up excellent points about the lascannon on BS 4. My friend and I played a narrative game this past Christmas where he controlled Guard and Custodes trying to protect an LZ from a massive horde of Poxwalkers and Typhus (gotta love zombie apocalypse games!). He fielded a Leman Russ with a Battle Cannon, Plasma sponsons, and a Lascannon I believe. It took until about turn 3 for him to hit with the lascannon, and when he finally did I think he only rolled a one for damage. I know that some bad luck was involved in those series of events, but it is amazing the difference between BS 3 and BS 4 when it comes to the lascannon and getting the return out of your investment. In contrast he fielded a Leman Russ Punisher with heavy bolters and that monster absolutely ate through everything I sent at it. 

 

Which brings me to another question: the Malcador has the Lumbering Advance rule which allows it to fire its turret weapon without suffering penalty to hit on it. Do you know if that applies to the Defender's Heavy Bolters turret? Or will it suffer a -1 to hit when moving because it is a heavy weapon? 

 

I feel that if you want an Annihilator, you should stick to the Leman Russ chassis. Gets you up to 5 shots for a lot fewer points (and also looks quite cool). The Malcador should be a bit more... interesting. And you dont really get more interesting than ludicrous amounts of heavy bolters.

 

 

  You are right! Nothing says Guard like a whole bunch of dakka right? I am a newcomer to the tabletop game, having really on started playing seriously since 8th edition. But from what I've gathered the Malcador in previous editions was unreliable and incredibly less effective than the Leman Russ and that 8th has really seen it become a better Heavy Support option. I still may end up getting an Annihilator to stick my tank commander in, as the Annihilator is a sick model and it could help me get the most of my lascannons. 

 

You really can't go wrong with a malcador Infernus! Burn them with holy promethieum!

 

YES! I almost forgot about this model! The Infernus or the Defender would be a great choice for spearheading infantry assaults. Maybe one Malcador isn't enough...

[Arkaniss]

*snip*

 

That absolutely helps! Heavy Bolters do some work, and the Demolisher is no joke either. Both of ya'll bring up excellent points about the lascannon on BS 4. My friend and I played a narrative game this past Christmas where he controlled Guard and Custodes trying to protect an LZ from a massive horde of Poxwalkers and Typhus (gotta love zombie apocalypse games!). He fielded a Leman Russ with a Battle Cannon, Plasma sponsons, and a Lascannon I believe. It took until about turn 3 for him to hit with the lascannon, and when he finally did I think he only rolled a one for damage. I know that some bad luck was involved in those series of events, but it is amazing the difference between BS 3 and BS 4 when it comes to the lascannon and getting the return out of your investment. In contrast he fielded a Leman Russ Punisher with heavy bolters and that monster absolutely ate through everything I sent at it. 

 

Yeah it is a concern. I mean, last game I had my BS3+ Marine Lascannon fail to hit all game...

 

From the wording I think it's only the Demolisher Cannon that ignores the -1 to hit from moving unfortunately. I'm leaning towards avoiding the Annihilator Malcador at the moment anyway I won't be buying one for a while yet so I have time to change my mind ;) Does anyone know how easy they are to magnetise?

[Danny Cyanide]

The nice think about the Infernus is that it's auto hit, so your shooting output doesn't degrade as the tank dies

[Company Master Holden]

On my lunch break I cracked open my Imperial Armour book to look at the stats: apparently if you use chemical fuel it wounds everything except a vehicle on a 2+ in addition to having -3 AP and 2D6 shots. 

 

So I am going to valiantly attempt to do some statistics on the Infernus and the Defender (as those seem to be the two frontrunners) and see how that pans out. All of these I calculated on Battlescribe. 

 

Also, since this is my first time crunching numbers on this forum, I apologize if I list too much about a particular weapons profile, damage, stats, etc. I know that you are not supposed to put individual point values for weapons and such, so if I violate any rules I am truly sorry and will edit it out upon request. 

 

Infernus 

As Danny pointed out, the Infernus autohits at 2D6. While the autohit makes it easy, the amount of shots per se is a little tricky. I am going to calculate percentages based on rolling an average of 7 shots per attack and using the chemical fire option rather than the flammable material.

 

* Hits 100% of the time

* Wounds (GEQ and MEQ) 84% of the time. 

* Kills GEQs 100% of the time, MEQs 84% of the time

 

So in sum, assuming 7 shots that is roughly 6 GEQs dead in one go and ~ 4-5 MEQs. What makes this really scary is if you roll a 8 and above: you can potentially turn whole squads of GEQs or MEQs into charred remains.

 

Defender

Heavy Bolters: Putting out 21 shots and assuming you haven't moved.

* Hits 50% of the time 

* Wounds (both MEQs and GEQs 67% of the time

* Kills GEQs 83% of the time, MEQs 50% of the time

- So in sum, the heavy bolters on average will kill 6 GEQs, and roughly ~3-4 MEQs.

 

Demolisher Cannon: I am going to assume that you are firing at a squad of 5 or more, which is D6 shots. I am also going to assume that you roll an average of 3 for total shots. 

* Hits 50% of the time 

* Wounds 84% (Both GEQs and MEQs) of the time

* Kills GEQS 100% of the time, MEQS 84% of the time

- So in sum, the Demolisher Cannon, assuming 3 shots at 5+ man squad, will kill roughly 2 GEQs and 1 MEQ. 

 

In total, the Defender could erase about 8 GEQs and 4-5 MEQs. 

 

*Whew. That was dense* 

 

Now I didn't factor in the heavy stubber for the Infernus that it comes equipped with or flammable fuel or even performance against TEQs and other vehicles, and like anything that is math-hammered everything is arbitrary and does not accurately translate into the game as there are a ton of variables that come with number crunching. But both options seem to do well against baseline infantry and can perform well above or below my averages depending on the whims of the dice gods.

 

After comparing the two, the main thing that I see is that the Infernus trades off range and some anti-vehicle capability for the ability to possibly pump out 12 auto hit shots of holy promethium while the Defender can bring the pain but could possibly suffer from the -1 to hit on its Heavy Bolters as it moves to get into Demolisher cannon range.  Both have some great benefits and some weaknesses and are more than capable of spearheading infantry assaults while also providing some monster overwatch benefits. I'm not sure if this helps or adds anything to the discussion, but I figured that I would post it since there seems to be others interested in the Malcador variants!

 

 

[Tyr13]

 

  You are right! Nothing says Guard like a whole bunch of dakka right? I am a newcomer to the tabletop game, having really on started playing seriously since 8th edition. But from what I've gathered the Malcador in previous editions was unreliable and incredibly less effective than the Leman Russ and that 8th has really seen it become a better Heavy Support option. I still may end up getting an Annihilator to stick my tank commander in, as the Annihilator is a sick model and it could help me get the most of my lascannons.

Not possible, Im afraid. Annihilators cant be commanders. Weird, but there you go. :/

[Company Master Holden]

Tyr you are absolutely right. I blame my skimming skills for that mistake!

[Gibbous]

That flamer is nice! Two Artema Pattern Hellhounds would cost 162 pnts, and all you're losing is 1 strength.

 

Then again, out would look nice ruining in that DKoK

[Company Master Holden]

So playing off Gibbous’ post, in general how well does armor with flame weapons as their primary armament work? What are some of their drawbacks and weaknesses? Is flame weaponry a better deal for Guard armies than other armies?

[Bmseifer]

Hmm I'm tempted to get a Malcador infernus, It's such a cool model. And run it along side my 2 artemia hellhounds. If looking for efficiency, 4 artemias for pretty much the same cost might be the better choice (one thing I like about them is exploding in your opponents face, and getting 4 instead of 1 can put the fear in your opponent)

 

And I have a Malcador annihilator but haven't fielded it yet so cannot comment on that

[Danny Cyanide]

With the Hellhounds you are also losing one point of ap, and it's a toughness 7 chassis vs a toughness 8 chassis. That said, you can definitely get more offensive output by using the Hellhounds over the Malcador as you could get 4 of them for the points.

[Bmseifer]

Yeah. But T7 is almost a benefit becuase you want it to go booom! eventually :). But j/k aside it's a really cool model, too bad most of FW's big tanks are so overpriced in points

[Danny Cyanide]

I'm still planning to get one eventually, it just looks too cool not to!

[Jam Master Flex]

My Infernus has always cleaned up in every game I've used it, I usually just charge it up field at my opponents biggest blob of men and watch them panic.

 

I didn't glue the trailer on mine as it ended up a bit cumbersome/delicate for travelling.

 

The only problem now is my regular opponents know what it does so it does become a bit of a bullet magnet sometimes.

[Company Master Holden]

Alright y’all convinced me and I put in an order for an Infernus. It’s a good thing ETL is going on or I’d be sitting and twiddling my thumbs waiting for it to arrive. Now the question becomes who in my gaming circle I want to roast first...

[Lhorke The First]

Bring it on Holden 

[WarriorFish]

A magnetisation tutorial..? :P

[Are Verlo]

Flammable fuel will do ok vs medium and light vehicles.

Other that that, two hellhounds will preform better.

BUT the Malcador infernus looks amazing :-D

[Galron]

Why not simply bring a Catachan spearhead with a tank commander hq? Throw him in a Punisher or executioner, add the Infernus and Defender and bring some hellhounds in the FA slots. I dont think tanks gain anything from the death korps rules anyway. Just call them heavily experienced Krieg armor. Catachan and any random shot/hit weapon is amazing.