Assault Kommandos

Assault Kommando troops advance upon the enemy behind a wall of shields, opening fire with their carbines and poisoning the air with choking gas. Their masks protect them from the lingering effects of their own insidious weaponry while allowing their vision to pierce the fog of war. Brutal and effective, the Assault Kommandos are the edge of the Khadoran sword of conquest.

The life of an Assault Kommando who takes up the flamethrower may be short, but he can be sure that many of the Motherland’s enemies will die before him.

Basic Info

Abilities

• Entire unit
  • Template:Corrosion Immunity
  • Template:Fire Immunity
  • Template:Alchemical Mask

• Leader & Grunts
  • Template:Assault
  • Template:Shield Wall

• Flamethrower (WA)
  • Template:Gunfighter

Weapons

Leader & Grunts	Carbine File:Gun icon.jpg  RNG   ROF   AOE   POW  10 1 Template:- Template:Star Template:Attack Type Template:Carbine Template:Strangle Gas Gun Blade File:Sword icon.jpg  RNG   POW   P+S  0.5 3 9 Template:Brutal Charge
Flamethrower (WA)	Flame Thrower File:Gun icon.jpg  RNG   ROF   AOE   POW  SP8 1 Template:- 12 Template:Fire Damage Template:Continuous Fire

Theme Forces

• Khador
  • Template:Winter Guard Kommand

• Other Factions
  • Infernal players can use this unit in the Template:Hearts of Darkness theme, but only if Malakov2 is leading the army.

Thoughts on Assault Kommandos

File:AK Flamethrower.jpg

Weapon Attachment

Assault Kommandos in a nutshell

Assault Kommandos used to be an eclectic mix of special rules for too high a point cost. Since a massive point cost reduction in the October 2021 update, they're now an eclectic mix of special rules for nearly as cheap as basic Winter Guard Infantry (cheaper than Winter Guard Rifle Corps), giving them a solid place in the Winter Guard Kommand roster. They're equally suited for ranged duels, melee combat, or defensive duties. But with flexibility comes the need to ensure that they are used carefully or else these abilities will be wasted. Their immunity against fire and corrosion gives them edge against several opponents (most notably Legion beasts and Protectorate jacks) which makes them more survivable than most single-wound infantry, and they are suitable to take out light infantry, or even harder targets when buffed.

Of particular note are the Flamethrower weapon attachments, which at 1pt each are a real bargain. Spray attacks get around many ranged defenses (Stealth, Concealment, Cover) and because all of the Kommandos are immune fire, you can spray over or even target your own troops with no problems. Add any of the ranged attack fixers available in Winter Guard Kommand and you get extremely accurate, decent damage spray attacks for dirt cheap.

Combos & Synergies

• Strakhov1 provides them +1 to attack rolls (note that this does NOT stack with the bonus from Winter Guard Artillery Kapitan). Occultation and +4" of movement from the feat deliver them quite nicely.
• Irusk 1 and Irusk 2 are the prime infantry-support casters. Beside the spells and feats the former's Battle Plans and the latter's built-in Tactician and granted tough provides extra flexibility and resilience for them. Kommandos are perhaps the best targets for the excellent Battle Lust spell in the Winter Guard theme.
• Sorscha2 can give them an extra 2" movement, giving them 11" Shield Wall moves and Iron Flesh for ARM 20 under Shield Wall.
• Assault Kommandos are Winter Guard models and thus benefit from Kovnik Jozef Grigorovich's Speeches, Kovnik Apprentice Kratikoff's No Sleeping on the Job, and Veteran Leader from Artillery Captains.
• A Menite Archon gives the flamethrowers +2 to damage rolls.
• Vladimir1 - Signs & Portends on sprays is always effective.
• Vladimir2 - They are a decent Hand of Fate target and with the feat they reach a ridiculous statline.
• Butcher3 - He want to be delivered up the table and AKs are the best Sac Pawn targets for that against elemental shooting.
• Butcher1 - With Iron Flesh and in Shield Wall they can shrug of small arms fire and blasts. With the feat and possibly Fury they become menaces in melee.

Drawbacks & Downsides

• Shield Wall adds a lot of extra mobility with the additional 3" movement, while you cannot use Assault and Shield Wall in the same activation, they'll move 9" either way.
• They lack the hitting power to hurt big beefy guys and/or heavies with a charge, and will die to retaliation.
• They're only in one theme force, where they compete with Winter Guard Infantry and Winter Guard Rifle Corps for similar roles.
• Their gas effect won't work against many Crucible Guard units.

Tricks & Tips

• Got some Kommandos stuck in melee? Before getting straight into melee attacks, try using the Flamethrowers to spray, like, everywhere. The Kommandos won't take any damage but will potentially get unjammed, letting them shoot normally.
• Their carbines remove Tough and healing, without being Grievous Wounds, allowing for some tricky denial. Gargantuans, for instance, are immune to Grievous Wounds, but not other healing denial.
• There are several things that prevent you from targeting an enemy with your flamethrower (Madelyn's Parlay, Vindictus' feat, Hymn of Passage by the Choir, etc). In such case, you can walk a regular Kommando in front of the flamethrower, then have him torch him in the back. The Kommando will take no damage but you'll get to place the spray template exactly where you want it, over the 'untargettable' enemy.
• The Flamethrower model doesn't have the Shield Wall order on his card. He can still benefit from it if someone else issues the order, but he can't issue it if he somehow becomes the unit commander (which would require every Grunt model to die before him).
• They are fire and corrosion immune, meaning you caster can and should Sac Pawn shots with those tags to them to avoid damage completely.

Other

Trivia

• The unit (not including WA) was released in Warmachine: Superiority (2006)
• The WA was released in Warmachine: Khador. (March 2010)