Malcador Assault Tank

The Imperial Malcador heavy tank is a venerable pattern of armoured vehicle that predates the Leman Russ tank in the Imperium of Man's service. It is not widely used by Imperial armed forces at the present time and is in fact little known even within the Imperial military. In many regions of the Imperium, the Malcador passed out of common service many millennia ago. The few Malcadors that remain in the Emperor of Mankind's service have been relegated to the Departmento Munitorum's strategic reserve, to the arsenals of second-line Planetary Defence Forces or are maintained in active service only by a few units of the Imperial Guard due to ancient tradition.

The Malcador was designed to fill the role of a main battle tank for the Imperial Guard, though the standard Malcador pattern is somewhat larger and heavier than the Leman Russ pattern that replaced it as the standard tank of the Guard. The Malcador has considerable durability as a result of its sheer bulk and the heavy layers of armoured plating that it is warpped in and it is well-armed for its size with a Battle Cannon mounted in a limited-traverse turret embrasure. This main weapon is supplemented by a hull and 2 additional sponson heavy weapons mounts that can carry attached Heavy Stubbers, Heavy Bolters, a Lascannon or an Autocannon. The Malcador does possess some limitations, however, especially when compared to the lighter but more versatile Leman Russ tank. The overall shape of the tank because of its heavy armour plating and reinforced weapons mounts reduces the traversing range of its sponson and hull weapons, producing a limited arc of fire. Its immobile main turrent can also prove to be a problem in a chaotic engagement where the lines of battle interpenetrate and the foe's infantry or armour units can take advantage of the Malcador's vulnerability. Experienced commanders minimize these problems by combining other armour variants and infantry support alongside their squadrons of Malacadors.

However, the tank has another major problem, the vulnerability of its engine. The Malacador's main engine plant, a thermic combustor design that is a variant for military use of a common pattern used in industrial and agricultural machinery, is underpowered in relation to the Malacador's sheer size and mass. This reduces its performance and provides very poor fuel efficiency. This problem has often plagued the Malcador pattern and its variants and has been the primary reason why this pattern of heavy tank has bneen relegated to second-line status amongst the Imperial military forces.

History
The Malcador and its various replacement parts are produced on very few of the Adeptus Mechanicus' Forge Worlds, though M'Khand Secundus in the Segmentum Pacificus is one rare exception. The exact origin of the Malcador's pattern is a mystery even within the Mechanicus. It is commonly believed that the pattern itself is named after Malcador the Sigillite, the shadowy figure who was an immensely powerful psyker and who served as the Regent of Terra and the Emperor's closest advisor during the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy. This attribution may hold the key to the pattern's origins, as the time immediately after the end of the Heresy was dangerous and uncertain. During this ancient era of Imperial history there was a great need for new strateguc resources because so much had been lost during the terribel battles of the Warmaster Horus' rebellion against the Emperor, including technical knowledge and production capacity. For example, it was during this time that the valuable Land Raider pattern was first reserved for the exclusive use of the Adeptus Astartes and that patterns like the Malcador may have been recovered or put into mass-production to fill the need for a heavy tank for the Imperial Guard with the Land Raider now off-limits. However, like so much from that war-torn period of Imperial history, the truth has long since been obscured by myth and legend.