Mahut - Sorcerer Kings Guide (english)

Mahut

The Mahut is a powerful statue in the form of an elephant, capable of engaging in both melee and ranged combat.

Cost: For 240 points, I usually expect more from a regiment in this weight class.

Strengths:

• Oblivious: Taking only one damage for every two failed Resolve tests is good. Unfortunately, it's rounded up, but it remains very helpful.
• Hardened 1: Opponents reduce their Brutal Impact, Cleave, or Armor Piercing value by 1, to a minimum of 0, against us.
• Arcane Conduit: If the monster is in a zone at the end of the round, it gives us a Ritual Marker.
• Stable: Almost everything with the Sorcerer Kings has Defense and Resolve 3. This is not bad, but it’s not outstanding either. The Mahut additionally has Hardened 1, Oblivious, and 20 wounds, making it probably the most stable choice in the faction. It remains a rather average anvil, but it doesn’t get better than this for us.
• Cleave 1: In melee, we reduce the opponent’s armor by 1 with a Clash attack.
• Linebreaker: With Clash and Impacts, the Mahut ignores the opponent’s Bastion and Shield special rules. This does not apply to a character on the Mahut or to the shooters.
• Impact 5 & Brutal Impact 2: On the charge, if we get it, we have 5 impacts with minus two armor for the opponent. Sounds cool, except for Clash 2.
• Trample 5: At the end of the activation, an opponent in the front takes 5 auto-hits without special rules that not require Resolve tests. That’s nice, nothing more.
• Free Volley Action: The Mahut can perform a free Volley action during its activation and can even shoot in melee when in contact with an enemy regiment.
• Barrage 10 with Range 20": Dhanur sit on its back, shooting just as decently as regular Dhanur.

Weaknesses:

• Low Hitting Power: For its points and weight class, we have a fair number of dice overall, but with only Clash 2 and Volley 2, we rarely get to take full advantage of them.
• Limited Mobility: As a “Heavy,” Movement 6 is not good. Since the Mahut also lacks Vanguard or similar abilities, it lags behind the already slow Sorcerer Kings army.

General Tactics:

If the Mahut were a medium monster, I might consider it. As it stands, I personally don’t find it very appealing. While it does offer the faction something it generally lacks (stability), the strange mix of melee and ranged options (which don’t always synergize well) and its low mobility make it unattractive in my eyes.

There’s also the "Favored of Hormus" option, which allows a Maharajah to ride the Mahut. In this setup, the Mahut loses its Volley stat (which is usually more of a trap anyway) but gains Terrifying 1 and Flank. The advantage here is that the Maharajah can almost always have line of sight to cast its attack spell at the opponent. If it had more range, this could actually be a solid option in my opinion. As it is, though, I don’t really like it (although there are players who find this setup quite interesting), especially now that two Arcane Conduits are cumulative.