When I originally started using Khador I used pButcher as my caster as he is arguably the caster that embodies Khador, hard hitting, tough and very in your face, but very slow. To counter that I toyed with Kayazy, finding them to even feel a little slow and vulnerable, then I used Strakhov, let me just say that if ever you find someone call Khador slow, take this guy and show him what this speed demon can do.In terms of stats Strakhov is somewhat average, barring his above average DEF, meaning that he is somewhat like Sorscha, except he is no melee assassin, if you try to use him like Sorscha he will generally end up dead, due to his slightly low armour and the fact that given his average focus and the cost of his spells, he isn't likely to be camping focus.
Strakhov's feat is, with the right army build, absolutely horrible for anyone under the illusion that Khador are slow. Giving +4 inches of movement and pathfinder to friendly faction units/models charging at a model/unit in Strakhov's control area and allowing jacks to charge or slam for free is awesome. this makes your jacks charge further than they can run, most units become able to charge that unit that last round was taking pot shots at them and in the case of cavalry they become able to strike halfway across the board. The points to note here is that your models don't need to be in your control area to benefit, just the target, also it only applies to friendly faction models, so if you plan on using Nyss, bring Valachev. Also remember that pathfinder doesn't give LOS through forests, you still need to see your target to charge them. This feat makes Strakhov, he himself isn't an assassin, but his feat makes his army an army of assassins then throws them all forwards.
With Strakhov being the AK (Assault Kommando) caster, he shares their abilites, immunities to Corrosion and Fire (excellent when facing Menoth or Cryx) and also hands out Pathfinder to them as his Elite Cadre. On top of that Strakhov himself has Pathfinder, Alchemical Mask (Cloud effects don't block LOS) and Sprint (when Strakhov kills something in melee he makes a full advance, very nice for killing solos or unprotected officers).
The weapons Strakhov brings to the table are interesting to say the least, first is his Cinder bomb, a short ranged, high POW 'gun' which leaves behind a small cloud, which has a chance of causing models hit to be set on fire, this comes with the special rule Cumbersome, meaning that like with the WA for the winterguard you can't shoot with his bomb and his other gun in the same turn. His Riot gun is in my opinion one of the best warcaster guns we have (not counting Karchev's gun because he's in a warjack suit, so his is going to be pretty horrible anyway), with the opportunity to potentially assassinate most casters on a lucky roll, as it makes D3 shots, whilst being only medium range and POW a careless caster in the open is likely not to survive being hit 3 times even with average rolls. Finally there's Strakhov's Trench Knife, as I mentioned earlier by no means should Strakhov be having to use this much, it's Brutal Charge gives a slight buff to damage on the charge, however it's not going to do much to anything around ARM 17 apart from then, it is still a Magical Weapon though so gives a melee option for getting rid of those pesky Incorporeal models, it's best used when you want a little extra movement and can kill a solo to trigger sprint.
As I mentioned before Strakhov makes his army into an assassination tool and his spell list builds on that in many different ways. Battering Ram is a medium Pow spell that upon hitting a model pushes it back a few inches, great for breaking up shield wall, creating a charge lane or breaking Strakhov out of a combat he doesn't want to be in without having to worry about free strikes. Occultation grants a unit Stealth, which is very useful given that most units you'd look at taking in a Strakhov list tend to be fragile and need a little help getting close without being shot up, alternatively this allows Strakhov to be played more upfront and not worry about being shot by models like the Defender or Long Gunners. Rift is a short ranged medium AOE spell that does damage and creates rough terrain in the AOE excellent for protecting important units/models from any non-pathfinder models/units that would other wise be able to charge them, though it'll likely not phase anything with Reach. Sentry is a very nice spell to have as it allows any Friendly Faction model to take a shot at a model that advances close enough to it, especially nice if you take Torch (Strakhov's character jack) and place him near a unit that you expect to be charged, the threat of losing most of the unit before they get to hit something is a often good deterrent. Finally there is Superiority, a jack buff spell giving a SPD, MAT and DEF boost with immunity to knockdown (great against pKreoss or Ironclads/Old Rowdy) and Overrun, allowing a jack in your battlegroup to make a full advance when a nominated jack destroys another model, this works brilliantly with Superiority as you cast it on the jack you want to Overrun with and if your jack destroys a model it can effectively move as far as cavalry (just short, but still short of Full Tilt it makes Khadoarn jacks very fast, even more so with the feat).
In conclusion Strakhov is all about getting your army and throwing it into your opponent's army before they have a chance to react. This means he wants fast hard hitting melee units, as anything else will be left behind. Good units that work with Strakhov are anything Kayazy, if taking Eliminators take two squads though, Doom Reavers, Advance Deploy, Reach and Spell Ward + UA means if all goes to plan they will be at your opponent turn 2 happily, his pet Assault Kommandos may be worth a look if you feel you need some light infantry killers, though I've not used them yet so my experience is limited with them, Iron Fang Ulhans and Fenris would also be worth a look in as given their SPD and Strakhov's feat again engaging turn 2 is quite likely. In terms of Jacks I'd suggest only taking two jacks at most, I can't recommend Torch enough, he works brilliantly with Strakhov and can be bonded to him (haven't used the bonds yet, but they may prove interesting), the other Jacks I'd recommend would be the Beserker and Kodiak as both are very focus efficent, not requiring focus to run, also I'd put forward the Demolisher and Marauder as two other options as the Demolisher would work brilliantly with Sentry and to protect the Kayazy from blasts, the Marauder simply needs one focus to work well and both can be used to set up charge lanes (Marauder using Combo Smite, Demolisher using Bulldoze) which works really well for Strakhov's whole game plan.
The only issue I find with Strakhov is he only has the one trick and once your opponents start to figure that out and learn how to stop it you'll be facing an uphill battle trying to win with Strakhov although it is worth saying he is a very fun caster to use and is still one of my favoured casters when I get the chance to play against (coming a close second to pButcher, because he is a pure in your face killing machine.
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