State of the Faction: Infantry

Khador Infantry has traditionally been the heart of any competitive pairing. Back in the heady days of MK 2, it was pretty normal to just take the one jack and load up massively on every infantry model you could fit in. Those days are gone, with a more balanced approach being more the norm nowadays. Infantry still has it’s place, but it’s struggled a bit recently, especially with the many, many releases that are great at casually murdering all the infantry in the world.

“I think he’s talking about me?” – Jeff the Death Archon

Infantry still has it’s place though, and Khador infantry tends to break with the Warjack principle of ‘no rules, all stats’. We have infantry like that, but we have much more variety and versatility. The reality of themes means that we don’t get to mix and match very much, which used to be one of our strengths.

As with the jack list, I’m going to be briefly listing strengths, weaknesses and role, as well as any tweaks I’d like to see. The tweaks are going to be for models that don’t see play, or that I feel need adjusting, not to bring up the already stronk models. I don’t care how a MOW Kovnik compares to a Warden Executioner, the Kovnik is still perfectly reasonable for his points.

“Remember Kids: Just because others got broken stuff doesn’t mean we’re entitled to it” – Ivan the Disclaimer Crow

Assault Kommandos:

Assault Kommandos are a weird unit. They’re abilities are non-trivial, but don’t really amount to anything. Strangle Gas is surprisingly useful (it’s a non healing effect that works on Huge bases), the immunties render them immune to a lot of SWI killers and shield wall is actually pretty good on a unit with guns. Rat 6 is also not to be sniffed at in faction. They make for a decent unit that is fairly difficult to remove in the right situations, that have good abilities in the right situations, that are good at removing the right kind of opponent. And that specificity is their massive weakness. There are just match ups where they do absolutely nothing. They are also in the WGK theme, which is not lacking in ways to deal with Assault Kommandos preferred targets at a cheaper price and with better support.

“Boss, apparently we’re worse than random peasants” – Elite Trench Warfare Unit

To give them a niche, I’d like to see them gain Smoke Bombs, get put into Jaws and maybe Legion of Steel, and to see a CA that gives them access to a decent mini feat (Mission Objective from the Trencher Kommandos would be cool). Really double down on the versatility of the unit. Then we could take a small unit as a cloud wall option with the likes of Kozlov or Irusk 2, or take a larger unit to hold a flank.

Rating: Assaulting my senses with their mediocrity.

Battle Mechanics:

The cheapest unit we have, Battle Mechanics are pretty bad compared to other mechanic units in the game. Slow, victim stats, etc, they struggle to be taken. Khador is theoretically a great faction to have repair in, but these guys just tend to die. Compare them to Cygnar mechanics, which have speed 6 and non victim stats. Bump them to speed 6 and give them Iron Sentinel or Repo 3, then we’ll talk.

Litreally the worst mechanics in the game. At least the Menoth one is a single point.

The CA continues the trend of being awful. He’s as much as a whole min unit, repairs a bit better, but is spd 4. How he is ever going to repair anything when he’s that slow is a mystery to me. Make him cheaper and actually contribute something to the unit (maybe improve their repair or give repo 3?). Or, radical idea, make him a solo. I might genuinely take a cheap flag holder, even at speed 4.

The worst CA in the game, to compliment the worst mechanic unit in the game.

Rating: Apparently Khador is bad at fixing things.

Doom Reaver Swordsmen:

The classic insane convict chained to a cursed sword, the Doom Reaver is the gold standard for a single wound melee unit. They are cheap, fast, hit hard and have a rule to help keep them alive, as well as ways to make more than one attack. Advance Deploy gets these bad boys up the board fast as well. They’re base stats are just good enough to make them annoying to kill. Things miss def 13 a fair amount, and arm 14 comes up every now and then. They work as a screening unit that can’t be ignored (for the jack lists running in Wolves, like Malakov 2 and Strakhov 1), and as the main stay of a list (for the spam lists like Vlad 2 and Old Witch 2) . Great unit, doesn’t need touching.

Lady Doom Reavers, because Khador is an equal opportunity human rights violater

The CA is one of the better success stories from CID. It used to be pointless taking one, as it mostly gave Rise (a knocked down Doom Reaver was a dead Doom Reaver) and Silence (the unit was small enough to make the need for it rare). It know gives the unit access to pathfinder and grevious wounds, making it a genuine option to make your Doomies more effective, without feeling necessary to take.

Plus they have a bitchin’ stick!

Rating: Yes please, at least 2 units.

Great Bears of Gallowswoods:

Khador’s 3 man character unit is actually pretty decent. They epitamise the Iron Fang archetype, being hyper accurate and hard hitting. Flank plus veteran leader gets them to Mat 11 weapon master, and any kind of damage buff takes their damage into the stratosphere. Add on counter charge from theme and precision strike and tactician from various solos and they become a massive issue for enemy battlegroup models to commit to your line. They could use a small bump in power , and could afford to be a free card in the theme (which has very few good options for free cards), but are pretty great beyond that. There are issues with Legion of Steel, but the Bears aren’t it. They live up to their name.

Now they need a second version that are mounted on Bears!

Rating: Still pretty great.

Greylord Outriders:

Let’s give our wizardy boys some ponies. Make the sprays really fast. Greylord Outriders are a really specialised unit. Speed 9, pathfinder, constant concealment and a range 8 spray make them absolute death to lower arm infantry. They can and will hold down a flank themselves in the right match ups. They are pretty cheap for Cavalry, being 17 for a max unit. They struggle a bit to see play, as they really need a bit of caster assistance to really shine (whether Hand of Fate, Zerkova 2, Backstab from Malakov or Sorscha 1 Freezing stuff). They also struggle to compete for the options in Wolves, between Void Archons, Doomies and the excellent solo options. They have a niche and work well enough in that niche (mostly Zerkova 2 and Sorscha for assassination stuff).

They really should be riding wolves though.

Rating: Niche, but good.

Greylord Ternions:

These guys got put in a good place by CID. Being made a free card was all they really needed frankly. I would have liked to have seen them available in more themes (they’d be kind of interesting as a support unit in Jaws), but they are pretty great at the moment. The change to Bonds of Woe and changes to Blizzard make these guys really good value, with the ability to take a unit as a free card being a nice cherry on top. Overall, they are usually a good choice and will get something done in a game, even if that’s just making your Doomies mildly harder to kill.

Recurring Doom Reavers is funny!

Rating: By the power of Greylords!

Ironfang Pikemen/ Black Dragons:

I’m gonna talk about these guys together, because the fact of the matter is that Black Dragons were never taken after Theme-machine became a thing, and IFP have just been eclipsed by other options. Let’s start with the good. Iron Fang Pikemen are reasonably fast, have good reach, are hyper accurate in the full boat (mass mat 8) and hit hard. Shield wall takes them to be resistant to blast damage (though not immune). The vanilla pikes have relentless charge with the CA, as well as Defensive Formation mini feat (relentless charge being a big deal), whereas the Black dragons get a bunch of little abilities that are otherwise granted as leaderships by various solos, as well as getting Iron Zeal, which is a good Mini feat. They also have a great set of solos that support, between precision strike, veteran leader and tactician being available.

That makes them pretty good right? Right?

Now for the bad. They die to everything. 12/14 with shield wall just dies in droves these days (I have literally seen Finn murder 2 units of these guys). They are single wound (and as such are massively vulnerable to corrosion and fire) and they don’t threat far enough (11 inches is decent, but Khador is not big on infantry threat extenders). The final nail is that they are damn expensive. Taking a full unit with CA of either flavour is going to set you back about 20 points, not leaving much room for anything other than Pikes.

Oh no boys! A Scather/Covering Fire/Razor Wall/Auto point/corrosion/fire/thing that screws over single wound infantry thing. Guess we’re boned.

So what do we do about it. Personally, I think they need a total re-work. My idea was to take shield wall of both units, bump them to arm 15 and give them Wall of Steel. Black Dragons then get shield wall order on their CA, as well as vengeance. Vanilla pikes change out defensive formation for something like No Quarter or Team Effort, and the drop each unit by 2 points. Distuingishes nicely between the 2 units, gives them a niche and makes them actually relevant.

“Remember Kids: the author is massively wishlisting here. They might just need a point drop…. – Ivan the Disclaimer Crow

Rating: Needs looking at.

Iron Fang Uhlans:

I go back and forth on the Non-Winged Hussars. On the one hand: they are fast, hit hard and have relevant abilities (they are really good in WOTOF). On the other hand,they die pretty easily and are really expensive. I think I land on them being generally fine, but really could use a bump to arm 18. Most cav in the game is either 12/18 or 13/17 (with a few exceptions like Chosen), but Uhlans are a sad 12/17. Getting to Arm 20 (arm 22 with a buff) in B2B would be a nice survivability buff. Overall, they hit hard, are fast and suffer from the same issues all other cav do.

My Little Uhlans: Crit Knockdown is Magic!

Rating: Pretty decent cavalry

Kayazy Assassins

The boys of infinite stab are somewhat on the rise. They have not been in a great position for quite a while, with def 13 base being pretty bad and def 15 not being what it used to be. Their previous MO of charging what they could and running to engage simply doesn’t work any more, there are too many ways around it (like getting bulldozed into a covering fire). That being said, they are fairly cheap at 9/15 and still hit pretty hard. The Underboss is a must take, as not having duelist makes them pretty worthless frankly. The mini feat is best used as a way to emulate charging the next turn. They have an interesting niche with Kozlov, as they benefit from feat massively (combine with Boundless Charge and Fury on one or two for great Archon hunters, POW 15 weapon masters are no joke) and are very useful for triggering Gang Fighter. To see wider appeal, they probably need tweaking, as they die too easily and don’t threaten far enough. Maybe moving Duelist onto the unit base, getting the Underboss to grant Grevious or Take Down, and upping them back to def 14 would be a nice start.

His daggers are called Stab and Mr Pointy.

Rating: An offer you probably can refuse.

Kayazy Eliminators

The Ladies of Infinite Stab are much more useful and taken than their male relations. Faster, with Acrobatics and 2 initials, they are the perfect accompany to a jack spam, as they can clear off jams or contest easily. They hit surprisingly hard at pow 15 on the Combo Strike, or can take an auto point versus living for harder SWI, making them useful against a wide range of opponents. Perfect for hunting Lights, Solos and Archons. And they can be taken for free! Perfection.

My personal record with a unit was 2 units of Fenn Blades over 5 turns. Def 17 is hard to deal with at times.

Rating: Take 2 if you can.

Kommandant Atanas and Standard Bearer

As this is the first MOW unit I’m discussing, lets take a moment to talk about MOW. They need an arm buff. Base arm 16 for the range is simply not good enough any more. MOW are supposed to be relentless and durable, and they aren’t really either of those things. Too much stuff in the game kills them. God help a unit of Shockies if a Death Archon gets to them, because they’ll just die. If they are going to be speed 4 and def 10, at least up their armour to compensate. Hell, Crucible guard Troopers are 11/16 with carapace and other neat rules, so I don’t think 10/17 across the board would be unreasonable. Let me do some real actual Arm stacking in my armour faction.

“They love me for the Mortal Fear, but hate me for the Blood Reaper. No pleasing some people” – Death the Jeff Archon

Atanas was a release for MOW that was sorely needed. The good Kommandant brings some interesting battle plans and Tactician. He is a no brainer for any unit heavy Armoured Korp build. Access to Pathfinder is really good, as is Tough (especially on Shock Troopers). Giving Demo Corp retaliatory strike is actually pretty good with certain casters (such as the Vlads, or anyone with a damage buff), whilst having access to it on Sorscha 3 is pretty hilarious. Tactician on a 12 inch bubble is also really good, allowing them to play the wave tactics of using Shockies to deliver Demo Corp or Bombardiers, or allow the numerous good solos the ability to clear off jams more easily. He struggles a bit at the moment due to MOW being a bit left behind, but is otherwise great. Maybe he could stand to be a free card?

For some reason he has a bigger command range than Irusk 2?

Rating: Exactly as good as MOW are.

Kossite Woodsmen:

Khador’s only ambushing unit is a victim of PP’s previous ambush design style. In that they are crap in exchange for the ability to ambush. Range 10, pow 10 is fine, but is shackled to a unit that is rat 4 and has no CRA. Prowl is useful, especially with Sorscha 0 about, but they will likely be nowhere near her. Yuri 1 gives them access to Tree Walker, which is pretty good, and he will likely be in any Jaws list that has Kossites. They are cheap at least, and can be alright with a couple of casters (Malakov 2 can give them back stab, repo 3 and likes suckering to them). They really need to get at least rat 5 (rat 4 is just embarrasing, Winterguard are rat 5) and possibly repo 3. They don’t need to be hyper accurate or killing jacks, but actually being able to hit something would be nice.

These assholes are supposed to be hunters. I’m unsure how they don’t starve, seeing as they can’t hit anything.

Rating: Somehow less accurate than a Khador jack

Man O War Bombardiers:

The ranged Man O War, Bombardiers are spd 4 with range 12, pow 14 aoe 3 guns that have CRA. Melee wise, they have pow 13s with Crit Shred. They are pretty damn good with the right caster, liking Butcher 1 for the extra damage, Vlad 2 for Signs and boosted to hit (I had one kill an Ironclad on his own once, just kept making attacks), and Irusk 1 for Iron Flesh/Feat. CA gives out Dual Shot, and pathfinder on an advance, as well as Quick work. They are pretty decent as is, and any kind of buff takes their damage output at range into the stratosphere. A unit with Hand of Fate are going to do pretty severe damage to lights and medium infantry, and are going to put a dent into any heavy. Getting the full Mini Feat off doubles their output, allowing the unit to put out an easy 6 pow 16, rat 10 shots. Their main issue is just that the casters that want to take them are either better in other themes (Like Vlad 2) or kind of under performing at the moment (like Irusk 1). I don’t actually think they need any tweaks beyond an armour buff (which I think all MOW need), though high explosive would be nice, seeing as those nerf herding Crucible Guard Shocktroopers have them. Give us an actual ranged caster, and these guys will see some play.

The Bombshell is also a really cool model.

Rating: Boom Baby!

MOW Demo Corp:

The Hammer Bros hit really damn hard. Like really damn hard. Pow 16 is already really good on a 14 point unit, and being conditional weapon masters is excellent as well. Taking them with Sorscha 3 makes them utterly destroy stuff, as does Vlad 2 (HOF plus boosted to hit makes crits really likely). Their main issue is that they are slow and die to shooting. 8 boxes is good, but def 10, arm 16 is very poor. Frankly, they should be arm 17 minimum (The new Wardens in Ret are def 12 arm 17 with unyielding). If they get to anything, they will utterly destroy it, but the delivery is the issue. They threat 11 with a Kovnik, but we don’t really get threat extenders outside of that, and Arm 16 just doesn’t protect them. The CA helps alot, giving Vengeance and a mini feat for sharing damage. Defensive line is mainly interesting for the steady, but def 15 to melee with Vlad 2 is not to be sniffed at.

I really don’t get how armour thick enough to slow someone down to speed 4 is only arm 16.

Rating: Mighty Glaciers indeed.

MOW Shocktroopers:

Shockies have been a main stay of Khador for a long time. Demo Corp and Bombardiers were kind of bad in Mk 2, but 8 box shield wall troops at arm 21 have always had a place in Khador lists. Add on a CA that grants Steady, Sturdy and Assault and you have a decent unit. Shame that everything and their mum can kill these guys these days. The game has simply advanced to the point where most lists can trivially kill or control a low Def, high armour unit. Plus 4 damage swings are now common place, and these guys do very little to mitigate that, as getting a debuff on them is as simple as getting in range. On top of that, this is a unit that is designed to stay in shield wall, that doesn’t have much output outside of shield wall. If their Rat was higher, if their melee Pow was a bit higher, if their base arm was a bit higher. So many ifs. They really need a way to either contribute more in Shield Wall and be harder to kill. My thought was to up their RAT to 6, up their armour to 18 and have give the CA defensive formation. Arm 22 doesn’t seem unreasonable in the current game, and I’d like to not be punished for actually charging and using that shiny Assault shot. MOW Shockies are supposed to be the premier hard to kill medium unit in the game, let them be that again.

I would really like to see a reason to actually take Armoured Corp again. It’s OK, but just behind the curve at the moment.

Rating: Shockingly inadequate at the moment.

Widowmakers:

Snipers are really good at the moment. Being able to do auto points is good, as is range 14. Shame that’s all that this unit has going for it. 8 points is a lot for a model that will die to any blast damage. They have no stealth, no prowl, no repo, no stealth mitigation, no nothing. Drop them to 6 or 7 points, give them a special rule (Repo 3 or Headshot would be my suggestions) and give me a reason to run my favourite snipers again. Maybe we could actually do something about the damn Hermit then.

Seriously, why doesn’t this unit have Prowl at least?

Rating: Lot fewer Widows these days.

Winterguard Field Gun:

Winterguard are an interesting set of models. They are universally cheap, have guns and terrible stats. What makes them viable is the human wave tactics available and the synergies with our solos and casters. The Field Gun is one such example. At range 14, pow 15 it packs a punch, but it’s main purpose is to knock stuff down so that our pesants with terrible aim can actually hit stuff (and our jacks I suppose). Whether this is useful or not is going to depend on your list. Stalingrad style lists, for example, tend to go for bigger CRAs, and as such don’t really need the help. Less committed lists, however, quite like the idea of a Rat 9 (aiming plus Joe) shot that can cause the rest of the list to hit accurately. At 4 points and 2 grunts, these things are pretty reasonable. It would be nice if they had Repo, like so many other weapons teams seem to get, but they are honestly pretty alright.

My question is: Isn’t this just a smaller version of the Decimator gun? Why can’t that have Knockdown?

Rating: They get Knockdown, but don’t get up again.

Winter Guard Infantry:

Cheap as chips and boy do they show it. The backbone of the Khadoran army boasts a might spd 6, rat 5 and a range 8 blunderbuss. For the low price of 6/10 though, you can field loads of the gits. As such, we tend to use WGI as either a cheap ablative shield and rocket caddy in jack lists, or flooding the field with the smelly peasants and watching our opponents try to roll enough dice on their clock. They can get tough, they can CRA, they can cart rockets around. Stick Fury or Battle Lust on them, along with Joe’s strength buff and they become pretty respectable melee fighters (though they struggle to hit anything). They are the ideal cheap infantry, in that they take buffs really well.

His gun is the most valuable thing in this picture.

The CA is interesting, but almost certainly a mistake. Repo 3 is nice, as is the extra command, but Grape shot just does more of what WG already do well: murder infantry. They also cost as much as half a min unit. Ideally, I’d like to see them get Bob and Weave back as a mini feat or order (+2 defence), at which point I could see taking them. Skip it unless you want a full unit with all the trimmings (15 dudes in a unit makes buffs go really far).

Oh how the mighty have fallen, from the days of the Winter Guard Deathstar.

How do we make a smelly peasant more dangerous. Give the fool a panzerfaust of course. Now no one can ignore his pleas for extra turnips. The rocketeer is probably the best weapon attachment in the game, in that you actually want them. 2 points is expensive in the land of <1 point models, but a range 14, pow 12 shot on 3 dice damage is pretty decent, giving the base unit some teeth at long range. The only real question is how many and which WG unit to attach them to. I favour rifle corp, as they are all the same range.

“Tonight I have real meat for stew!” – Angry Fantasy Russian with an RPG

Rating: Cheap and Cheerful

Winter Guard Mortar Crew:

The Winter Guard Mortar exemplifies the Khador approach to hitting things. If I carpet bomb the surrounding area, I’m sure to get ’em. So we have an inaccurate (effectively RAT 1) AOE 4 with high explosive that has a ridiculous 18 inch range. If you go first, these things will fire every turn after the first until they die. Whether they kill anything is left up to the whims of fate and dice, as they are very unlikely to actually hit anything (although Signs and Portents does strange things to dice). They work very well in tandem with field guns, as the direct hit is pow 16, and Knockdown means they only have to roll a 4. I have also had fun with Alexia and the Risen, having Alexia bring up a Risen to act as an easy AOE marker. Pretty alright in the right list (Fire for Effect makes them hilarious).

“Shoot in that general direction Komrade! ” – Man who can barely move the Mortar, let alone aim it.

Rating: Carpet bombing for fun and profit.

Winter Guard Rifle Corp:

So it turns out that having range 14 is a good thing. Who knew? Whilst the Cygnar and Ret players whinge about how Long Gunners and Houseguard Riflemen are, mighty Khador actually quite like their unit of range 14, pow 10 CRA unit, despite their lack of desperate pace or Dual Shot. I guess Signs is really that good….

These are our premier rocket caddies, and a min unit with 3 rockets is a good unit option for a Jack list. Taking a couple of min or max units in a Stalingrad list also gives some layered shooting, allowing more of the army to engage at once. They get some decent infantry clearing out, and can put out 1 big CRA if they have nothing better to do. 8/13 is expensive by Winterguard standards, but Range 14 is probably worth it, as it means your smelly rat 5 peasants can aim more often.

What’s this crap about paying more than a point per model? Where are we, Cygnar?

Rating: Wouldn’t kick them out of bed for eating crisps.

That’s all the Khador units folks. I’ve not included the options from Flames or Warriors of the Old Faith, because they are hyper specialised options that really have to be talked about in context of the casters they can play with (for example, Vengers are pretty good, but Vlad 3 has no pathfinder solution for them. Resolutes are pretty decent, but Zerkova 1 has no damage buff for them, etc). Next week we take a sneaky peaky at some of our solos. I’m not gonna go into Archons, as I’m saving them for an article of their own.

For the Motherland!

State of the Faction: Warjacks

The big blocky bois of the faction are a big part of our faction identity. You’re going to see at least 2 in every list (or a colossal), and every caster interacts with them in some way (some more poorly than others).

“What are these ‘warjacks’ you speak of? Can they cast spells?” – Magic Obsessed Ice Witch

It’s hard to argue that Khador jacks aren’t iconic to the faction. We stand out amongst other faction as doubling down on our jack statline. If it ain’t speed 4, rat 4, def 10 and at least arm 20, we ain’t interested.

Berserkers and Mad Dogs being heretical early designs from before they figured out how to weld enough armour on. Their designer was executed for his failures.

Due to this uniformity, there are a couple of rules of thumb when talking about any of our jacks. They are easy to hit, so expect 95% of attacks to hit. They are high armour, so they shrug off things lower armour jacks get dented by (for example, fire: arm 18 jacks statistically take some damage, on average Khador jacks do not). We also have a large number of boxes, making Khador jacks some of the most difficult jacks to actually cripple. We tend to either have high POW (Pow 19 base on a 13 point jack is really good ) or have access to higher pow (such as the combo smite on the marauder). Paired with near univeral mat 7, our heavies hit hard and hit well. They have a low speed, but access to lots of threat extenders, which means they will have a good threat range, but will struggle to take board space or redeploy. Chances are, once you have deployed a jack on a side of the board, it’s staying on that side of the board.

Mighty Khador scoffs at your puny need for tactics. We need only axe.

Now that we have the general stuff out of the way, I’m going to go through each jack, in alphabetical order and discuss it’s specific strengths, weaknesses and role, as well as any tweaks I’d like to see.

Note: For the tweaks, I’m not looking for buffs strictly from a power level perspective (the Juggernaut, Marauder, Kodiak etc don’t need a damn thing really). I’d just like to have a reason to take our myriad of jacks that never see play. Give them a niche so to speak. I own most of them dammit, give me a reason to put them on the table!

“Remember Kids, the author takes no responsiblity for flame wars cause by his ‘niche building’ ” – Ivan the Disclaimer Crow

Beast 09:

Sorscha’s personal Beast has a pretty great card. He’s a character Juggernaut, who at 18 points, is expensive, but toting around a great set of improvements over the standard chassis. Mat 8, 2 inch reach on the big axe, thresher, Hyper Aggressive, and Murderous. This makes him a menace into the current Archon Meta, as what he can’t kill, he can almost certainly freeze (boost for that 4 dice to crit roll). His bond is Shield Guard, which any of the Sorscha’s appreciate (it’s normally that one boosted knockdown shot that kills her), which is hilarious combined with hyper aggressive.

It’s just a shame almost none of the Sorscha’s actually want him.

“Beast sad, Master no want”

Beast suffers the same issue that a Juggernaut does, namely that he is incredibly focus hungry. He wants to get Boundless Charge and have 3 focus to buy awesome Murderous pow 19 attacks or boost for his 4 dice crits. Sorscha 1 doesn’t want to give out the focus (and doesn’t need help freezing stuff), Sorscha 2 doesn’t want to fuel jacks (and pow 19 double damage is massive overkill) and Sorscha 3 wants lots of cheap jacks to trigger flank on (though counter charge on a murderous jack is a great way to keep Archons away). Amusingly, Sorscha 0 comes the closest, as running a shield guard is a great use for her, and certain casters appreciate access to Beast, like Strakhov 1 or Witch 1. Shame that means putting an 18 point jack on a squishy junior. To fix him, I’d just include him in more themes, Wolves of Winter or Jaws maybe (I think all our characters should be available in Jaws personally). Strakhov in particular would love him, as he’s a great assassin with a 23 inch threat range.

Rating: Great, but sad that Mummy doesn’t love him.

Behemoth:

The big punchy one has had an interesting history in Mk 3. He’s been pretty much unchanged, other than a point increase. He’s still going to kill anything he touches, and has better ranged output than 2 destroyers due to powerful attack. He’s still only about as durable as a regular khador jack, but functions as an excellent anchor piece. He’s great with anyone who wants a jack that can kill anything without any outside input or who wants reliable ranged output. Any caster in Khador is going to like something Behemoth does, whether it’s Butcher 1 buffing his damage output or Strakhov flinging Big B up the board.

This is as close to dabbing as Behemoth can get with those honking great shoulders.

The problem is that Behemoth is a lot of points. He’s about the same as any 2 of our cheaper jacks, and doesn’t necessarily have as much output. He also is not any more durable. This is not necessary a huge deal breaker, as he usually has something to do between his shooting and output, and also tends to anchor lists (he’s usually the last jack standing). Unfortunately, having 2 jacks tends to be better for the heavy trading game. He really could do with a slight update, possibly staying the same price but gaining some extra shooting based rules. My personal idea is to put him up to arm 21 (like ye olde days of Mk 2), and give him some options for what his sub cortex does (maybe give him a choice of dual attack, powerful shot and a bonus to hit?). Overall, he is still good, still effective, but struggling due to his sheer expense.

Rating: Awesome, but expensive

Berserkers

These ancient bad boys have come a long way from the meme lists of yesteryear (other than my meme Butcher 1 list). Mat 6, berserk and base pow 16, they compare well to other 8 point jacks in other factions. They are fragile compared to our regular jacks (Arm 18 and 27 boxes is low by Khador standards), but still take some shifting. They take buffs really well and trade up consistently if they can get there. Shame they explode if they spend too much focus.

He lived the Khadoran ideal: dual wielding axes and then exploding.

Unstable makes it difficult to justify taking these jacks as battlegroup models, as even at 8 points, a model spontanouesly exploding is never great. It does however, make them interesting in situations where they don’t have to spend focus, such as marshalling or with battlegroup wide buffs (like full throttle). Berserk is also interesting with any caster with in activation movement, such as Strakhov 1’s Overrun or Karchev’s Road to War (hell, if Karchev’s feat had boosted to hit rolls again, I’d take a pair of these with him). Overall, they see the table at times, but struggle to get taken consistently as the cheap option, when Ragers are 2 points more (and have a gun and shield guard) or a Marauder is an additional 3 points, it’s hard to justify these bad boys. I don’t think there’s anything intrinsically wrong with the Berserker, I think they are just waiting for the right caster. Maybe if Butcher 2 gets re-worked…..

Rating: Good, but waiting for a chance to be.

Black Ivan

The Big Beard’s Big Bombard Boi is a mess of a jack. He is a character destroyer and destroyers are not great as is, so taking a more expensive version is a bit of an odd prospect. On top of this, he has a weird grab bag of abilities. Rat 5, Bulldoze, Evasive and point plank are all valuable, but they don’t really come together in any kind of interesting combination. Point blank is probably the most interesting as it solves the long standing problem of the Destroyer have just one initial (and also leads to funny combinations like Fury affecting blast damage rolls). For all that, he’s just too expensive and ineffective. His melee output is particularly awful. A Pow 14 blast and a Pow 16 crit brutal is simply not enough on a 19 point heavy. Ideas to fix him abound. I would personally double down on his weird grab bag. Make him def 12 like back in mark 2, give him full brutal on the claw (so he’s a weapon master) and high explosive on the bombard. Make it so he’s difficult to shoot or spell (def 12 gets us to 14 with concealment, 16 with cover and evasive makes him hard to pin down).

Pictured above: a hot mess

Rating: Please, send help!

Conquest:

The first of our giant walking tanks is a bit of an odd colossal. Most colossals in the game are shooting platforms first, and melee beasts second. The Conquest is very much the opposite. It gets pretty far on it’s base stats, Arm 20 and 62 boxes is a pretty intimidating prospect. Any other heavy without major buffs is going to fail to one round it and then be laid out by the Conquests might POW 23 fists. It’s guns are oddly focus efficient. You generally allocate it an extra one on top of it’s power up so it can double boost it’s hilarious crit Devastation gun, and then it’s side guns are pow 10 regardless of a direct hit. This makes it useful for more focus conservative casters, as well as anyone who wants the creeping barrages. It can be useful in a AC build to compliment the covering fires from Suppression Tankers. Unfortunately, it tends to get overshadowed by the tech offered by the Victor and by it’s generally poor position among Colossals in the game at the moment. Blockaders, Judicators and Hurricanes are all far more useful, and the Conquests durability and output just doesn’t hold up any more. If it’s going to be a punch bot, give it Mat 7 at least. Giving it straight devastation on the gun might be too much, but make it ROF 2 at least (the thing has 2 barrels).

Still not as deadly as the OG Behemoth

Rating: Niche, very niche, possibly too niche.

Decimator:

One of two jacks that almost every player is guaranteed to have, due to it coming in the battlebox, the Decimator is another combined arms jack. Wielding a pow 17 sustained attack saw in one hand and a range 10, pow 15, ROF 2 gun in the other, it’s a pretty decent jack. Shame about the rat 4 though. Unlike a lot of other factions, this guy doesn’t have any shenanigans on the gun, other than beat back, which is a problem as it needs to boost to hit (and it doesn’t do that well). If it gets a knockdown of some sort on the gun (even crit would be okay) or something like powerful attack, then I could see this being a decent start to the Khador ranged jack list of my dreams. However, much like the mythical Unicorn, our ranged support for jacks is non existant and this interesting specimen never gets taken due to it’s low melee power and poor ranged accuracy. At least the Destroyer gets to drift aoes….

What has gone wrong in your life to be compared negatively to a Destroyer

Rating: One buff shy of awesomeness.

Demolisher:

Speaking of weird ranged jacks, the Demolisher is a bit of a head scratcher. We take the clam jack chassis that never wants to make attacks and give it….. short ranged guns? That, again, struggle to hit anything. So it drops the excellent Rain of Death attack and gains 2 points in cost for 2 guns and girded. As you might imagine, it never gets taken. It is an infuriating piece of design, because you would expect this thing to have point blank. It kind of looks like that’s what the designers (in universe designers, not the devs) basically wanted for the Demolisher.T o roll forward and shoot at point blank range, but apparantely not. It doesn’t even have gun fighter. Give it Point Blank, High Explosive and make me feel like it actually has some output to reward me for dropping the high armour.

Namaste

Rating: Garbage, needs a rework.

Destroyer:

The original bombard jack is pretty simple. He has a Khador jack statline; a range 14, pow 14, aoe 4 cannon; and a pow 17 axe with crit amputation. That’s it. No special rules, no frills, just a pile of armour with a cannon attached to one arm. And he’s terrible. He can’t hit anything at range. Even with a boost, you will miss def 14 (also known as def 12 with any kind of concealment or anything) alot unless you aim, and Khador just doesn’t support shooting the way other factions do. Even at the cheap price of 14 points (which is pretty low for a gun heavy), I never consider taking one (with the exception of Irusk 2, because FFE fixes alot of it’s problems). Even with the likes of Sorscha 1, I’m going to take a Conquest instead. At least give it High Explosive (this is going to be a common theme for AOE gun jacks in faction, give us High Explosive dammit, it fits perfectly in with our faction identity and fluff)

Why does this gun, operated by random peasants, have High Explosive, but the ones attached to walking robots don’t?

Rating: Feels bad when you miss that boosted 8 to hit a def 12 model.

Devastator:

AKA: The good clam jack. Devastators are low melee pow, mat 6 and speed 4. They have no pathfinder, no threat extension, no gun. And that doesn’t matter, because this thing is doing one job. Rolling towards your enemy like the boulder from Indiana Jones.

Imagine they stole a golden monkey or something.

Devastators are made to take punishment. You run every turn, being the lead jack in the pack. You bulldoze every thing out of your way, only ever performing Slams and Headbutts so you don’t open. Every time your opponent attacks the armour 23 jack generates value for you. The only time you should be making an attack is if you get a good smattering of high value infantry, at which point your boulder turns out to be full of dynamite (bonus points if you can also hit something squishy, but hard to hit, with the pow 18 b2b). They are simple to use, focus efficient, highly effective and form the point of your hard to kill Khador spear.

Rating: 4/5 opponents frothing at the mouth agree, take at least one in every jack list.

Drago:

The last of the many jacks in Khador that have a D-name is an odd jack. Not bad, just weird. It has an imprint for a start, unique in the rest of Khador. That Imprint is also a def boost? I’m not entirely sure how this fits Dragos fluff as I was under the impression that Drago was a crazy murder bot that would only tolerate Vlad. I didn’t think it was possessed. Still, pow 17 is nice, as is mat 7. You can do cute things with Strakhov 1 (spend to get the imprint, layer on superiority, give it a free charge and overrun/berserk through loads of infantry twice. Congrats,your Khador jack is def 15 and has Poltergeist), but it’s more cute than good. Personally, I’d like to see the bond change to overtake, which would give the Vlads a reason to take him, and for him to regain aggressive. Both would fit him well and make him feel like the rage machine that he actually is.

Warning: Looking at Drago can cause Grave Wind

Rating: Weirder than a green dog.

Grolar:

The mythical unicorn jack of Mk 2, the Grolar is in an odd place at the moment. It is unquestionably worth it’s points. 18 points gets you Auto knockdown, Pathfinder, Heavy Boiler, Dual attack, POW 18 and a gun. It’s pretty decent all told. But everytime I reach for it, I pause and decide to go for a Kodiak, Marauder or Juggernaut instead. 18 points is just a lot to pay in this faction for a beater heavy. For that cost we can get Ruin, or Beast 09, or have gone most of the way to 2 Marauders. If it had straight Knockdown on it’s hammer, it might be interesting with Kozlov, Malakov or Harkevich, but maybe not? I’m not sure what to suggest here. Maybe give it some utility? It’s got a machine gun, so why not Covering Fire? Same boiler as a Kodiak so Vent Steam? I dunno.

Maybe it’s fine and I just don’t like paying for good jacks?

Rating: It’s good, so why don’t I want one?

Juggernaut:

The bread and butter of the faction. The purest distillation of Khador jacks is a big pile of armour and hitpoints with Mat 7 and a POW 19 axe. That’s pretty much it. I guess it can throw things or crit stationary things if you must, but having a high base POW is worth a lot in todays game. Other factions have to pay premium points (whether for one jack, or jack plus support) to get this high in base POW, whereas we get it on a cheap jack.

It’s cheap, hits hard and takes buffs well. Nuff said.

Those other factions may rhyme with Mygmar or Met. I think Myx has to go for a Colossal to get that high.

Rating: Taking at least one in most lists.

Kodiaks:

Kodiaks used to be the bread and butter of our jack stable. You went Juggernaut for high POW and Kodiak for utility. POW 16 matches the cheaper Marauder, but you get a couple of cool rules for your points. Grab and Smash, Heavy Boiler, Vent Steam and Pathfinder are all excellent and really do compete with the Juggernauts higher POW. They are excellent playmakers in some list. Send in a Kodiak (which is likely further up the field anyway), grab and smash a throw back towards your lines and murder the offending model. Hell, the impromtu cloud walls or auto hitting pow 12s mean that this model gets way more mileage than it looks like at first. It’s taken a step back since Jaws got the Pathfinder benefit, but these guys are still good and still worth a look. Especially with new Kozlov. Pow 21 Kodiaks are a thing.

It Bears up under scrutiny. The fate of anything it gets it’s mitts on is Grizzly. The enemy will find it un-Bear-able.

Rating: Fantastic utility jack. See’s regular use.

Mad Dog

The saddest of the Berserker chassis, the Mad Dog is a trample machine. He can trample for free, trample further with fleet and gets an additional dice on trample attack rolls. It’s all trample all the time, especially as it’s never worth making an attack with you terrible pow 14 melee attacks. Frankly, these things need to double down on the trampling. Make it able to trample over everything (I think the rule is called Blade Rush?), make it’s tramples POW 14 and we’ll talk (it would give the Mad Dog a niche as the jack you take to unjam your other jacks). Until then the question remains – why would I take this over a Berserker?

Hello Trample my old friend, I’ve come to Trample you again.

Rating: More of a Sad Dog.

Marauder:

The cheapest standard heavy we have, there is a lot to recommend the Marauder. It has the standard Khador statline, with a slightly poor base POW 16. Despite this, 3 factors make it the most taken reached for jack in the faction. It’s incredibly focus efficient with it’s POW 20 combo smite. It is a weapon master vs huge bases. It’s super damn cheap. All of these combine to make the Marauder our best jack. You’ll likely be reaching for these first, and upgrading to Juggernauts or Devastators as you have points available.

He’s a Slam Jam Brother.

Rating: Better have a damn good reason your not taking multiple.

Rager:

Likely the most taken of the base line berserker chassis, the Rager has a couple of advantages over the Berserker, with the most obvious being Shield Guard. The current meta makes having at least one Shield Guard damn near mandatory. It also has a gun, which is useful (which is randomly pow 15?) and, thanks to point blank, 3 intials. Which is the most melee intials of any of our jacks. This makes it take buffs extremely well, making it a great target for Marshalling, or for taking on one of our juniors (Sorscha doesn’t have to give it focus, Malakov ups it’s POW and gives free charges). It’s a point less than a marauder, which are more durable, but has a shield to maintain your wall of arm 20 stuff. All round a solid jack and a gold standard for what can be achieved on a budget heavy.

Also, the one Khador jack who loses more melee output from losing it’s left arm.

Rating: I hear they’re all the Rage(r)

Ruin:

Take a Khador jack, hand him a cursed Black Iron Mace, hand him over to a crazy axe wielding maniac and what do you get? The best character jack in the faction. Ruin has a lot to recommend him. Mat 8, a POW 18 dispel weapon, self sufficiency late game, and (crucially for a Khador jack) Sacred Ward. Sacred Ward itself is amazing, making Ruin immune to a lot of the normal crap that messes up our jacks. Give the middle finger to TK, tell Cryx to stuff their debuffs, laugh at enemy models trying to land Hunters Mark or Kiss. Spell Immunity is a big deal in Khador as (as mentioned above) our jacks get hit by every damn thing. On top of all that, Ruin is a great combat jack who takes buffs well, strips enemy buffs and is generally a pain in the ass to deal with. If you’re in Wolves, or playing Butcher, you better have a damn good reason not to take him.

Plus, he’s pretty clearly fisted a Pureblood Warpwolf to death and wears it’s skin as a mantle.

Rating: Ruin your opponents day.

Spriggan:

This lance wielding asshole has 2 issues. He’s Mat 6 and he’s too expensive. That’s pretty much it. His Grenade launchers are terribad, but with Dual Attack who cares? You’re getting to fire them for no impact to your turn anyway, and sometimes they can help you shoot a random dude or mitigate clouds for your infantry. Targeting flare is usually useful for something, especially in Wolves of Winter where you can’t put guidance on your sword wielding maniacs or you want to de-stealth something for your wizards to magic. He has a respectable pow 18 and 2 inch reach, the only non-character heavy to do so. Shame he’s 18 points.

Sod making him less expensive, let’s make this bad boy worth taking at 18 points. Give him High Explosive on the grenades, crit Knockdown and Cavalry (he’s supposed to be modeled off of old Khadoran Horselords). A random rule for the shield would be nice too. Something crap like beatback.

Am I wish listing? Yes.
Would it be awesome and fluffy? Yes.
Am I going to be violently disagreed with? Stop asking questions!

Rating: Good, but never taken.

Torch:

Those of you who have followed my blog for a while know that I am a Torch apologist. Torch is a character jack who should never be taken out of his bonded caster, but is pretty awesome there. Outside of Strakhov 1, Torch is pillowfisted, has 3 gun initials that are terrible, and is, frankly, not worth his points. With Strakhov 1, you get a Sprinting Heavy with access to overrun that can kill stuff and end up further back than he charged. He has a couple of other benefits as well. His immunities make him immune to a lot of shooting, relentless charge is nice to have, and his ranged output is surprisingly good (for things like clearing zones of that random solo that ran in). He’s also a surprisingly good assassin with Strakhov 1, as Mat 9 sustained attack is really good into a lot of casters. I actually wouldn’t change Torch at all. He’s certainly not great everywhere, but he’s appropriately costed and really good in his niche.

That’s probably a hot take. Appropriate for the jack with the flamethrower.

Rating: Niche appeal, but good niche appeal.

Victor:

Everybody loves the firey dong cannon. The Victor discussion is dominated by his massive gun. 20 inches is, frankly, a ridiculous range. That’s firing into back line stuff without being near the front lines kind of range. On top of that, AOE 5 on a fire causing attack is ludicrous. It ignores most blast damage tech and massively screws over most infantry. Even reasonable armour medium infantry doesn’t like being on fire. Frankly, the fire pie plate kind of over shadows the other shot types, which are both great. Crater and Flare are both amazing, and you will almost never choose them, because then you aren’t setting fire to something.

This isn’t Protectorate dammit!

It’s secondary guns are kind of meh. Flak Fire is cute, but we are still rat 4. Most flying stuff is at least def 14, meaning we only have an even chance of hitting even with the additional dice. You aren’t shooting Angelius to death with these things, so don’t try. Of course, this is all attached to the the same POW 23, 62 box chassis the Conquest has, and the same critiques apply there. This is not a gun platform with fists, it’s a fist platform with guns. Also, the big gun should have High Explosive on base principle, because apparently the smaller man portable Winterguard one does.

The one operated by peasants is also higher POW for some reason.

Rating: It’s all ’bout that big dong cannon.

Overall, considering our massive stable of jacks, we have a decent number of good options to plump for. Death Archons and new potential jack casters make them more viable than ever.

If Karchev – Deathjack isn’ t a jack caster, I’ll eat my Conquest.

We have a good number of jack casters in faction, ranging from the good (Kozlov, Karchev, Strakhov 1, Old Witch 1 & 2) to the not so good (Harkevich), and it would be nice to see the less taken of our jack stable given a reason to be. Even if that doesn’t happen though, some of the newer releases are really giving our jack lists a new lease on life. It will be interesting to see where those lists are in a few months.

“Remember Kids, the Author has been wishlisting, not predicting.” – Ivan the Disclaimer Crow

For the Motherland!