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Ok, the Mawloc is a very controversial unit so far... I've seen a lot of people say it's the best buy in the book, and others laugh it off as pure garbage.

Here's my thoughts: The mawloc isn't worth it for the Deep Strike alone, because reburrowing means you'll likely only get two shots with it, 3 at best. 2/3 templates isn't that great. But, if you use it once, then start smashing things, it has pretty decent damage output. Less than a Trygon sure, but it can easily mulch a vehicle or tie up any troops squad. I think the Mawloc is much more worth the points if you do not "reburrow" it. As part of a "rush/MTO" list I think it'd be great for popping up, killing guys, and then assaulting ASAP.

What do you guys think the best way to use the Mawloc is, if at all?

In the old codex I would buy Adrenal glands for my Mawloc...so you know where I am at. I think you can mix and match, a late turn could be turned around by a infantry unit getting munched on...

While I like the look of the Mawloc, and very much wanted it to be awesome.
I don't like it and I won't be taking it in my Army.

The two main problems I have with it is 1) it is unreliable, 2) it is Heavy Support and there are so many very tantilizing options in there (Biovores, Exocrine, T-Fex, C-Fex).
The answer to its unreliablity is taking a Lictor for 50 points, or going as far as even taking the data slate Death Leaper brood.
Death Leaper - 130 points
5x Lictors - 250 points

The problem I have with these solutions to make the Mawloc competitive is you have to spend more to use it at its full potential.
And once you've spent more, you realize, hmmm I could have bought a Trygon or Exocrine or T-Fex or C-Fex and still had some points left over with some.
Bang for buck, I think the other Heavy Support choices are better.

They're not bad, really. Not super-reliable, but come on, in wh you roll d6 to see if you can roll d3 to roll another d6 and if you get something awesome without a chance to mishap - it's called cheeze. U got to accept that sometimes a unit will fail just cause of a dice roll. It's cheap and tough. And can be used in different wayz. Generally you want to deepstrike them. Than you just place a large blast over a target withhout good invuls and watch the squad of something like broadsides disapear. Than depending on situation you can burrow again or just remain there and annoy the opponent.

Deepstrike hopefully do some good damage.
Anny juicy target nearby?
If yes, Smash it to pieces. If No, reburrow and return later to kill more/contest a objective.

People worry massively about them and often make deployment errors as a result, so you often gain even if the Mawloc does nothing.

The real question on how to use it is if you keep it off the board and rely on reserve rolls, or start off on the table and then burrow so you at least know when it will arrive. If you get the second template attack off it really pays for itself - only the one and the equation is a little more equal. For people who hide lots of troops behind an aegis it is invaluable.

ruminator is very right. my friends and I all play very competitively and they all have top tier armies, atm my friends are petrified of my mawlocks and have made mistakes out of fear. also in my experience you just have to be clever with your deepstrikes to make it more reliable, so placing it in a position where if it scatters it is likely to either damage another unit or be in a tactical placement remembering that they are the cheapest t6 mc wounds in the dex so they are a cheap fire soak.

I run them in a fast moving CC army together with lictors. Normally most of my units get into CC in turn 2 and I want the mawlocs to hit a bunched up unit in the following turn. Therefore I start em on the table and run towards the enemy. If he has decided to kill all the lictors instead of the other threats, I wont burrow them most of the times. If the lictors are still standing in turn 2 I ll borrow the mawlocs and deepstrike them into CC.

I think the big benefit of the mawloc is that his double template doesnt follow the normal ranged combat rules. There are no cover saves allowed and wounds are allocated from the center, perfect to snipe out special targets.

Exocrines can fire every turn and scatter less, but they cant fire into bunched CC units which means that they are normally hitting less targets with one blast and they also dont ignore cover.

Amoras wrote:
Deepstrike hopefully do some good damage.
Anny juicy target nearby?
If yes, Smash it to pieces. If No, reburrow and return later to kill more/contest a objective.

This is another thing, they are perfect contesting units.

To be honest - I'd say it depends on the Warlord Trait - if you get Strategic Genius then by all means, the Deep Strike-Burrow spam approach is the way forward as rerolling failed or successful reserves rolls is fantastic. If you get anything else then Mawlocs tend to be a bit haphazard in what they do.

Though for me - I will not consider them. Perhaps at some point but for now they're competing with Carnifexes, Biovores and Exocrines - not to mention T-fexes for those who like them.

I'm 97% sure Mawlocs automatically come on the next turn if they Burrow.

 PrinceRaven wrote:
I'm 97% sure Mawlocs automatically come on the next turn if they Burrow.

Thats true, but it means that your first blast comes on turn 3. If you keep them in reserves you might get it in turn 2. If you want them to come on turn 3 like me, everything is fine and you dont need that specific arlord trait.

 PrinceRaven wrote:
I'm 97% sure Mawlocs automatically come on the next turn if they Burrow.

They do, but you can't burrow turn one. So start off on the board, burrow turn two and know you come in on turn three. Or you start them off in reserve and they might come in on turn two, but then they might not ...

If walking an army up the board, the Mawloc joining may be useful as fodder before he burrows turn 2. But if he's fodder what is he protecting, cause he's used up a heavy slot....

But you only need the one. Maybe the army takes the bait, maybe they don't.

Then there's always the miss. While we're thinking a miss is bad news, the enemy is thinking, what if he does hit my valuable unit twice with S6 AP2 ignoring cover, i'm dead.

Despite mathhammering, you can't deny probability also does always sit with 50/50, either does or it doesn't. We've all had our high str weapons do nothing for that lonely single Termagant to take down the Terminator single handed.

Competitive, beats me?, fun and good, for sure. I'd certainly not say the Mawloc is junk. In a small point game, 2 or 3 are easily affordable. Quicker and tougher than the Carnifex.

I think the idea with the Mawloc is just to have a cheap MC in the opponents zone, acting as fodder, smashing, with the chance of really ruining the enemies day.

But i suppose they can contest as how i see it, they can run after deepstriking, because the rules state that's what they're doing.

Also with the sniping, wounds are allocated outwards from centre. So hits 6 models, that's 6 hits on the middle guy.

Good for hitting anti-aircraft/heavy weapons batteries in the backfield. I'd use them as CC from that point except for:

1) if they are likely to die next turn to enemy shooting, go ahead and burrow to protect them, denying the kill point
2) on the next to last turn, burrow them so on the last turn you can try to hammer your opponent's objective holders or contest an objective

My armylist got:

Two flyrants with devourers
2 Hive Crone
bastion with venomtrope and comm
3 mawlocs

keep mawlocs in reserve and a unit (guants) next to the comm for reroll reserves. Let all the flyers fly off the board or make sure the flat out near the bastion to get a 2+ jinx-save and when the crash the should drop in terrain. All depends on the enemy, psychic powers, nightfight etc..

Second turn the all fly forward and Mawlocs decide if the want to drop onto enemy units or just deep strike in the open and run into terrain. For 140 points you got 6 wounds 3+ save MC in the enemies face and thats a big deal! You got to make the following decision:

* Do I got an enemy that I really need to destroy? (Tau Broadsides).
* What happens when the scatter (which other units are near)?
* Whats the mission? (try to drop them onto an objective at turn 5).

Dont forget that you only need the space to deploy the mawlocs base upon the large blast without getting in to base to base contact with an enemy model. So you can try to snipe a few models from the enemy unit to make sure you can always place the mawloc if you score a "hit".

Put them into reserve and deep strike them in turn 2. Assault turn 3 if there is something squishy they can kill, if they are going to die to enemy fire then burrow them again.

Comm's relay is your friend...When you place that template in the middle of a unit and roll that hit... man it feels good.

I have a question.. due to the nature of the base there might be an instance where you can place the mawloc one way but not another way if the base is rotated. Can I rotate the base so the mawloc can not be placed and then gain the extra template? or do I HAVE to rotate it so it can fit?

Really situation dependent.

If you got a good target for a charge, you should charge. if not (or got sent to the other side of the board due to mishap), by all means borrow.