Kommander Andrei Malakov
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Kommander Andrei Malakov |
Prime This model is available in one Prime Army, 5th Division. It can also be used in the Unlimited game mode. You can view the other Mk3 models that made it into a Legacy Army at this page. Note that the rest of this page is about the model's Mark III rules. |
Kommander Andrei Malakov has developed into a ruthless but eminently capable Khadoran officer. Driven by bold self-confidence and implementing unconventional tactics, he has no qualms about ordering artillery strikes close to his own lines or pushing feints to their limits despite casualties. As a protégé of Supreme Kommandant Irusk, the young warcaster strives not only to emulate his mentor but also to surpass him, developing his own more aggressive doctrine.
Basic Info
Malakov2 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Warcaster - All warcasters come with a stack of standard special rules - most notably being awesome. Click here for a newbie-friendly recap, or click here for the full rules.
Feat: Poison Pill
- When a friendly, non-battle engine Faction model suffers damage from an enemy attack while in Malakov’s control range at any time except while it is advancing, after the attack is resolved the damaged model can immediately make a full advance.
- Additionally, while in Malakov’s control range, friendly Faction models gain Parry and cannot become knocked down.
- Poison Pill lasts for one round.
Abilities
- Battle Plan - This model can use one of the following plans at any time during its activation. A friendly Faction model/unit can be affected by only one plan each turn.
- Fighting Dirty - RNG 5". Target friendly Faction warrior model. If the model is in range, a model hit by its next basic melee attack this turn becomes knocked down.
- Sneak - RNG 5". Target friendly Faction warrior model/unit. If the model/unit is in range, it gains Prowl. Models are not affected while out of formation. (Prowl - While a model with Prowl has concealment, it gains stealth.)
- Throat Cutter - RNG 5". Target friendly Faction warrior model/unit. If the model/unit is in range, it gains Backstab. Throat Cutter lasts for one turn. (Backstab - While completely within the back arc of an enemy model, a model with Backstab gains an additional die on its attack and damage rolls against that model.)
- Sucker! - If this model is directly hit by an enemy ranged attack, choose a friendly non-incorporeal warrior model within 3" of it to be directly hit instead. That model is automatically hit and suffers all damage and effects.
Weapons
Hand Cannon | ||||||||||||||
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RNG | ROF | AOE | POW | ||||||||||
12 | 1 | - | 12 | |||||||||||
Evangeline | ||||||||||||||
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RNG | POW | P+S | |||||||||||
0.5 | 6 | 12 | ||||||||||||
Spells
COST | RNG | AOE | POW | DUR | OFF | ||
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Discombobulate
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2 | 10 | - | - | Turn | Yes | |
Both the front arc and back arc of target model/unit is treated as its back arc. | |||||||
Escort
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2 | SELF | Control | - | Upkeep | No | |
Warjacks in the spellcaster's battlegroup beginning their activations in its control range gain +2" movement when advancing as part of their Normal Movement. The spellcaster gains +2 ARM while one or more warjacks in its battlegroup are within 3" of it. | |||||||
Open Fire
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1 | Control | - | - | - | No | |
Target warjack in this model's battlegroup that is in its control range can immediately make one basic melee or ranged attack. A model can be targeted by Open Fire only once per turn. | |||||||
Tactical Supremacy
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2 | 6 | - | - | Upkeep | No | |
Target friendly Faction model/unit gains Reposition [3"].
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Veil of Mists
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2 | CTRL | 4 | - | Upkeep | No | |
Place a 4" AOE cloud effect anywhere completely within the spellcaster's control range. This AOE does not block friendly Faction models' LOS. While in the AOE, friendly Faction models gain Pathfinder and can move through obstructions and other models if they have enough movement to move completely past them. |
Theme Forces
- Khador
- Armored Korps
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Flame in the Darkness - Jaws of the Wolf
- Legion of Steel
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Warriors of the Old Faith - Winter Guard Kommand. In this theme the caster gains Sacrificial Pawn [Winter Guard trooper model].
- Wolves of Winter
- Other Factions
- Infernal players can use this warcaster in the Hearts of Darkness theme.
Thoughts on Malakov2
Malakov2 in a Nutshell
Malakov's second incarnation has turned him into an unorthodox combined arms midfield support warcaster with a whole host of devious and cruel tricks. He defies every Khadoran stereotype as he attempts to live up to the legacy of his mentor Gurvaldt Irusk, but in his own entirely unique way. Embodying a callous philosophy of victory at all costs, Malakov deems even his own troops utterly expendable as means to his ends...which is ironic, because his feat is surprisingly good at keeping models alive through tricky movement.
His toolkit reads like a mixture of several other Khador 'casters:
- You can find traces of battlegroup mobility spells like those of Harkevich, Supreme Kommandant Irusk or Orsus & his Argi.
- Special orders that buff infantry like with Assault Kommander Strakhov or Kommandant Irusk.
- Out-of-activation tricks like those of Harkevich or Kommander Strakhov.
- Movement shenanigans akin to Koldun Kommander Zerkova or The Old Witch and Fate Keeper.
This toolbox approach makes Malakov an extremely flexible and unpredictable warcaster which he emphasizes at the cost of traditional Khadoran speed, power and armor buffs, making him more difficult to get comfortable with and demanding you build lists tailored for him.
Malakov's tactics require he stay up close to the action so he can issue his wholly unique set of Battle Plans. He's ridiculously vulnerable for a Khadoran warcaster and doesn't often have spare focus, so he needs to rely on good positioning and his Sucker! ability to stay alive. He's a very poor combatant (although you should never forget to fire that Hand Cannon) and instead relies on his warjacks and warriors to do all the heavy lifting. Instead of buffing his army directly though, Malakov manipulates the battlefield to set up indirect advantages for him and his troops. His Fighting Dirty Battle Plan sets a key model up for assassination, Sneak is designed to deliver vulnerable units up the field safely and Throat Cutter is his signature tool for destroying key targets. Using his Poison Pill feat it becomes possible to move models damaged by an attack to safety, ideally into the back arcs of their attackers, setting up devastating Backstab retaliation attacks on the following turn. Escort and Tactical Supremacy set your models up in ideal positions for your tricks, Open Fire is a weapon of opportunity for the right situation, and the ever amazing Veil of Mists helps you protect and maneuver your models in a myriad of ways. Discombobulate is the most deadly and versatile tool in his arsenal, combining with Throat Cutter to deal an incredible amount of damage when used with the right unit. The downside to all this is you can't do it all at once. So find your opportunity and exploit it to take your opponent apart on your terms.
Feat thoughts
Poison Pill applies to all non-Battle Engine Faction models in his control range, which includes his battlegroup. You may feel tempted to run more than two warjacks with Malakov to exploit that fact, but he usually doesn't have the focus available to actually run them. Instead, fill out his WJP and focus the feat on your warriors.
The trouble with warriors is, of course, that most of them only have 1 hitbox and don't survive long enough to actually benefit from Poison Pill's effects, which only trigger on a model being damaged. Man-o-War and Faction models with multiple points of Health in general make for natural fits with the feat, and should be among your first considerations for a Malakov force. That being said, Faction models that pass their Tough roll also benefit from the feat (the wording for Tough makes clear that the model is disabled first, and then recovers its Health, meaning it was still damaged initially), don't become knocked down and can perform their movement tricks as usual.
The feat is most obviously used to keep your models safe from multiple attacks, by moving them either out of melee range or into a ranged attacker's face. Against a melee opponent, you can either back up or press further forward, circling behind enemy models into their back arcs. Your opponent may try to "box you in" by surrounding the model they want to eliminate before attacking it, so that your model has nowhere to go, but you can counter this with Veil of Mists, which lets you move through models. If the opponent decides to wait out your feat their models have just become useless for an entire round and your models can simply go on the offensive anyway, benefiting from Veil of Mists if they need to go anywhere specifically. Be careful when using this bonus movement to leave Mal's (relatively small) control range, since you won't have any more opportunities to use the feat if you do.
While warriors should be the main focus for Poison Pill, that doesn't mean it's not an amazing feat for your warjacks (and those controlled by Battlegroup Controllers or 'Jack Marshals), because it is. Unless you really mess up placement or the opponent invests a lot in boxing you in, it allows your 'jacks to survive all but the heaviest punishment the enemy might throw at them. You can walk out of the melee range of a brawler beast, or run behind its back without a free strike. It is extremely useful against jacks and beasts that have Knockdown on their attacks, such as the Inverter. Since the advance can be triggered every time an enemy damages you, enemy gunlines will also face a tough choice - can they bring down a jack, before it reaches its lines for a proper next turn brawl? Also be on the lookout for opportunities to use the feat for offense on your own turn, for example by trampling into the thick of enemy infantry formations without fearing free strikes. The feat lasts for a whole round, and just giving your whole army Parry is pretty powerful all on its own.
The feat includes Malakov himself as well, so "pop & drop" tricks (save for the ones which cause stationary) won't work on him - provided he survived the initial hit from an unlikely assassination run.
Spell thoughts
- Discombobulate - An extremely handy spell, not only does it serve as a to-hit buff, it also synergizes with his Thoat Cutter Battle Plan, it also shuts down Shields, Free Strikes, Defensive Line, Counter Charge, Admonition and many other abilities.
- Escort: The ARM boost can be nice but its main utility is in the movement bonus. Khador heavies with their notoriously low DEF can invite all kind of nasty surprises within 3-4" of their actual target, like Electro Leaps, Spine Bursts, Ashes to Ashes etc. It is often better to evade it completely with ARM 14 rather facing a possible dice spike with ARM 16.
- Open Fire: Open Fire faces some difficulties in Khador, as the poor RAT of Khador jacks means you usually have to rely on boosts to attack rolls to hit anything.
Out of activation shots can't be boosted, so unless you are shooting something knocked down or stationary, or unless you want to make a melee attack it can be difficult to get value out of. It is thus recommended to use it on a jack with powerful AOE shots, who thus don't rely on hitting their targets directly, such as the Behemoth, Destroyer, Demolisher or Victor. A Decimator who knocked down its target during its activation with a Batter shot is also a valid target, as its gun is excellent. Alternatively using the spell in melee to disengage a heavy before it activates is also a valid tactic, this works especially well on the low ranged Demolisher. The best trick this spell offer is the fact that your jacks can run turn one to get into position, and then fire off an AOE pie plate with Open Fire. Long range guns such as the Viktors should make the enemy particularly nervous.
- Tactical Supremacy: Typically best used on ranged units or slow models like Man-o-War it's an excellent mobility booster. It’s also not bad on Malkov himself as he can walk up cast a battle plan and Discombobulate before ducking back to relative safety, you will need to drop Escort to make this work though, so it works best once the lines have met and Escort is no longer needed for its speed buff.
- Veil of Mists: A godsend spell in Steamroller scenarios where LOS-blocking terrain pieces dominate the centre of the board. It enables Prowl, lets your models move to inopportune spots and helps traverse terrain. It's excellent. Disclaimer: Check the diagrams in the spell description to see its limitations.
Drawbacks & Downsides
- Unusual for a Khador warcaster, Malakov has relatively low DEF and ARM, and no defensive abilities in melee.
- With Battle Plans he must play closer to the front lines than with upkeep spells, and without Sucker! targets, he's vulnerable to assassinations.
- Not much personal combat output to talk about.
- He is typically strapped for focus and vulnerable to upkeep hate.
Tricks & Tips
- Being knocked down causes models to lose Tough so feel free to have your troops Fight Dirty against them.
- While Sucker! guards against ranged attacks, it doesn't protect against melee. Having your War Dog or another model with Countercharge like a Man-o-War Drakhun nearby can be an ideal deterrent.
- Sucker is not optional.
List Building Advice
Strategy
Malakov's abilities, feat and spells are best applied to a somewhat esoteric combined arms force and a warjack with a strong ranged attack in his battlegroup. Ironically, given his Sucker! ability, he works best with models that don't need a lot of help hitting and hurting their targets, which in Khador's case means more elite combatants like Doom Reavers and Man-o-War so he can focus his attention on his asymmetrical warfare strategies. The timing of his activations can be tricky to get your head around because he typically wants to issue Battle Plans or Open Fire commands early enough to use them, but not so soon that he jams himself up with your own models. His three upkeep spells--of which one you'll be recasting multiple times--tend to keep him strapped for focus every turn and unable to significantly allocate focus to his 'jacks. This is why he prefers a small amount of 'jacks with powerful attacks that can reliably benefit from Escort, Open Fire and his feat.
While Malakov can do a bunch of different things to achieve victory, his main win condition is his Throat Cutter Battle Plan applied to a Faction warrior unit. He needs to get himself and his army up close and personal to exploit Poison Pill and Veil of Mists to engage the enemy and beat them down with powerful melee combatants. His suite of board control tools let him control the board and punish the opponent for attacking so your goal should be to push the aggression and dare the opponent into coming close enough where you can spring your trap and pounce with a Battle Plan. Failing this, Malakov will struggle to beat your opponent unless you can regain the attrition edge and win by goading them into making mistakes. And mistakes are easy to make against Malakov. His worst match-up is probably against hyper-mobile forces that can dart in and out of range so they can wear his forces down, initially ceding the scenario edge for a late game victory.
Malakov prefers a capable combined arms force that can do a bit of everything but contains at least one unit that can mix it up in melee, perhaps additional warjacks controlled by others than himself and probably no Battle Engines because he has literally nothing to support them with.
Theme Thoughts
Malakov is perfectly placed in the Armored Corps. All his tools work great with Man-o-War and he's a very big fan of Behemoth.
- Man-o-War Shocktroopers: The Perfect target for Tactical Supremacy, as it lets them order Shield Wall, make a full advance, then repo 3" into B2B contact. This gets them 12" up the board with Desperate Pace
- Man-o-War Kovnik: He usheres Desperate Pace to your MoW units, giving them a much needed thread extension.
- Man-o-War Demolition Corps - Under Dragos's mini feat (Bond of Brotherhood) they can spread around damage to ensure a model survives to trigger Poison Pill. Note that when you spread damage, Poison Pill only triggers on the original target. The other models have been damaged by the Bond, not by an enemy attack. On your following turn they get to make Vengeance moves and attacks and should be positioned for some throat cutting. Backstab is also insane with them, because the three hit dice make the odds of critting waaaay better so they're rolling five(!) damage dice between charging, backstabbing and Shattering their target.
- Man-o-War Bombardiers - Ranged POW 14 Backstabs. Honestly this should be enough to be convincing, but if that isn't enough they also have conditional Pathfinder, so Veil can be used elsewhere. As a ranged unit the also love TacSup of course.
- Antanas & Standard - Tactician lets you spare focus on Veil of Mist and his battle plans can enhance the Demo Corps combo with either Retaliatory Strike or Tough.
- Behemoth - There is hardly a better Open Fire target in the faction other than the Viktor, and Big B is no slouch in melee either, meaning he doesn't mind Malakovs lack of battle group damage fixers.
Battle Plans are non-spell buffs, which is perfect for Doom Reaver Swordsmen in the list. A knockdown is nice enough but Sneak with Veil of Mists can be downright scary on a unit of sword-wielding maniacs. They even have Tough to work with his feat! Beyond Veil of Mists several Greylords can make any of your infantry Stealthy with some Blizzards.
- Doom Reaver Swordsmen Doom Reavers have native Tough, so the feat works well on them, and love Prowling on the advance. Veil of Mists lets them get into uncomfortable places for the enemy.
- Butcher4 - With Tough and Bloodbath he is the single best target for Malakov's feat.
- Fenris - Another good feat target. He also buffs other doom reavers.
- Valachev - Croe's with Zephyr reach ridiculous levels mobility!
- Alexia & The Risen with Valachev count as khador models and are as such eligible targets for his battleplans. Alexia can spawn Risen in the backarc of things, which can then Cut Throats so they might actually deal some damage for once.
Not really the sort of combined arms force that Malakov prefers, but at smaller encounters the infantry available are perhaps the only ones you'll need.
- Kossite Woodsmen care a nice flanking force with innate Backstab and it combos well with Ambush. Malakov also doesn’t need to give them prowl to make the veil of mists combo work.
- Behemoth: Is in this theme, too.
- Sorscha0: Sorscha's Fog of War enables Prowl and her warjack(s) benefit from his feat. Escort and Boundless Charge make for a very threatening combo in terms of speed.
- Kayazy Assassins - They can Shadow Dance and Parry to get into back arcs and have innate Backstab due to their mini feat, so they love Fighting Dirty Discombobulate and Veil of Mists. Their main issue is speed though and Malakov does not help with that.
- You can take two units of Kayazy Eliminators in this theme as Requisition choices (see below).
Perhaps the most obvious Sucker! targets, plus the infantry can become real beasts with the Battle Plans of his and Kovnik Joe's (although a unit can only be affected by one plan at a time).
- Sorscha0, mentioned above, can also be taken in this theme.
Refer to Theme - Hearts of Darkness#Malakov2.
Support models & Mercenaries - Various themes
- Greylord Adjunct: A free Escort makes Malakov more focus effiecient. Extra control area is always nice. Guidance is a very valuable spell for ranged models especially.
- Battle Mechaniks: Probably the cheapest Suckers around, Mechaniks are nice and expendable. The officer also provides a crucial safe zone from blasts.
- Croe's Cutthroats - They are his best friends. because they have Backstab naively. The can gun down pretty much anything with Prey and Discombobulate, or mix it up in melee, and Stealth, Pathfinder and Repo 5" means they can be very safe doing so.
- Madelyn Corbeau: She and Malakov make quite the pair. Intrigue provides some Stealth hate, Parlay protects herself and Malakov against warriors and once in a blue moon Seduction turns them against their owner. She even has Sucker! like Andrei. The War Dog is great, but Madelyn might be even better with him.
- Kayazy Eliminators - A great choice in any theme, but only in Jaws you will not lose out on Croe's if you take them. With Backstab they come terrifying murder machines. Or use Fighting Dirty to set up a clean kill.
- Ogrun Bokur: The Bokur likes Clients that stay close to the action and having a Shield Guard nearby is great insurance against shooty armies.
- Orin Midwinter: Ideal to clear jamming, light models, as well as providing protection from spells.
- Saxon Orrik: Can give his army crucial Pathfinder when Veil of Mists isn't enough.
- Eilish Garrity - Puppet Master is very helpful when trying to Discombobulate targets.
Battlegroup
- Conquest/Victor: Malakov adores having a Colossal as his battlegroup, presenting perfect feat, Escort and Open Fire targets on a Huge screening base with native Pathfinder.
- Spriggan has flare, one of the few ranges attacks worth using with Open Fire in Khador.
- Kodiak vent steam adds to the could wall and pathfinder is always nice.
- Rager - As a Shield Guard, it should hang out close to Andrei anyway, so it's the perfect Escort bodyguard.
- Mad Dog with fleet and escort he can go far.
- Decimator - Tactical Supremacy and Escort alleviate RNG 10" on the gun, which is otherwise quite good. Knock down sets up easy to hit Open Fire targets.
Starting a 25 point Brawl list
In 2020.11 Phillip Melvin, one of the LOS authors, put together this list for the Brawlmachine format. It was then updated for the 2021.10 errata. He even wrote about it's playstyle and expanding it beyond 25 points, which you can read here.
Theme - Hearts of Darkness (Infernals)
- Malakov2: [+28 WJP]
- Greylord Adjunct: [3 pts]
- Grolar: [16 pts]
- Kodiak: [12 pts]
- Umbral Guardian: [Free] (6 pts)
- Yuri1: [4 pts]
- Koldun Lord: [3 pts]
- Howlers (Min unit): [8 pts]
- Kossite Woodsmen (Min unit): [7 pts]
For more Brawlmachine list ideas, see Category: Brawl List
Other
Trivia
- Released 2016.10 ... ish.
- Andrei's last name might be a reference to the "Battle of Malakoff", fought during the Crimean war between French-British and Russian (under Tsar Nicholas I) forces, which the Russians ended up losing.
- There is also a famous Russian TV personality named "Andrey Malakhov."
Video Battle Reports
- Infernal:
- Khador:
- See also Category: Video Battle Reports for more casters with videos.
Other Khador Models
Rules Clarifications
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Rules Clarification : Feat: Poison Pill
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Rules Clarification: : Magical Damage (Edit) |
* The "Damage Type: Magical" is not inherited by "secondary" damage from a weapon. That is, stuff like arcs (Electro Leap) or hazards (Scather). (Infernal Ruling)
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Rules Clarification: : Warcaster (Edit) | ||||
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Rules Clarification : Battle Plan (Edit)
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Rules Clarification : Fighting Dirty (Edit) |
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Rules Clarification : Sneak (Edit)
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Rules Clarification : Throat Cutter (Edit)
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Rules Clarification: : Sacrificial Pawn and/or Sucker! and/or Grim Salvation (Edit) |
Differences
From here down, the terms Sacrificial Pawn, Grim Salvation, and Sucker! are interchangeable
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Rules Clarification : Parry - None yet. (Edit)
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Rules Clarification : Discombobulate (Edit)
Important: Discombobulate only lasts one turn, so everything said above wears off pretty quickly. |
Rules Clarification : Escort and/or Battle Host - None yet. (Edit)
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Rules Clarification : Open Fire and/or Relentless Barrage (Edit)
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Rules Clarification : Tactical Supremacy (Edit)
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Rules Clarification : Veil of Mists (Edit)
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- Khador
- Model
- Does have Mk4 rules
- Warcaster
- Parry Feat
- Anti-Knockdown Feat
- Battle Plan
- Fighting Dirty
- Sneak
- Throat Cutter
- Sucker!
- Magical Damage
- Discombobulate
- Escort
- Open Fire
- Tactical Supremacy
- Veil of Mists
- Armored Korps
- Jaws of the Wolf
- Legion of Steel
- Winter Guard Kommand
- Wolves of Winter
- Hearts of Darkness
- Brawl List
- Video Battle Reports