Warjack Profile: Marauder

The 'other' cheap jack that costs exactly the same as the Juggernaut, yet generally sees far less table time, which in my opinion is quite a shame as this jack is brilliant when supported and especially in scenario play. Whilst it's stats remain the same as the regular Khadoran jack stat line once you start looking past that you start to see the true value of this beast.




In the background this jack was developed for mining, basically smashing solid rock to get to valuable materials, in the game it plays pretty similarly, just replace solid rock with enemy warjacks and valuable materials with caster or squishy hard to hit units that won't appreciate a jack squashing several of their number. At first glance the Marauder's Ram Pistons look a little pillow fisted, and against most heavy jacks you will need to boost to do anything more than just rile it enough to turn round, smash your jack then run after then next annoyance. However this is where the Marauder's special attack comes in, Combo Smite, as previously mentioned with the Eliminators the P+S of the attack gains the POW of the second Piston while sacrificing that attack, meaning straight damage against basic Khadoran jacks, but thats not the best bit, as when the attack hits the target is slammed D6 inches directly away from the Marauder meaning that not only have you just opened a fairly big charge lane (or if your opponent is using the jack to screen their caster, potentially dealing them some hurt), you also knock down the slammed model and any other moved it contacts, especially nice against casters such as Ashlynn or most of the Crxyian casters as once you get their DEF down with a charge lane open chances are the game is pretty much yours.

Good support models for this jack would be the Kodiak as it's vent steam attack can provide a cloud to hide behind as well as forcing your opponent to take on another Khadoran jack before getting to the Marauder and due to it's heavy boiler it's not going to be using up much focus either. another good choice would be anything that can make it easier to his the opposing model, which Khador has in spades, i.e Full Throttle, pSorcha's feat, Greylords with Ice Cage, Greylord Outriders, Superiority, etc. if you do decide to take the Marauder I must stress that in higher points you should consider taking a unit of mechanics to ensure that any crippled arm systems aren't crippled for long.

Good Casters for this jack include pButcher (Full Throttle + Fury + Feat + Combo Smite = Ouch), most Vlads (Signs and Portents), pSorcha (Feat), Zerkova (excellent scenario caster, so she will love this jack), Old Witch (same as Zerkova) and possibly Karchev, though pIrusk would work with the Marauder I feel he only really wants one jack and that jack needs a gun to provide cover for his infantry hordes, hence why I feel Behemoth is a great jack for him to be taking.

Overall this jack is worth taking, inspite of most forums I've read deriding this jack, it is useful in scenarios and if used correctly it's a very potent assassination tool that can ruin a casters day with just a little shove.