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While Warhammer 40K is dramatically changing and nothing is clear, let’s go into Age of Sigmar. We have a lot of new stuff here – a whole new army of Kharadron Overlords. Let’s see, what’s so special about them.

The first unusual thing is that you can attribute your army to one of 6 biggest cities of Kharadrons. Each one interprets the Kharadrone Code in its own way, so there’s a difference in tactics. It works similar to Space Marines chapter tactics – you just need to choose the city and get bonuses for free. They all are kind of useful and will affect the way you play – fastening of sky vessels, improving close combat skills, new artifacts, and abilities, etc. You can adjust your army for the particular enemy by simply changing the city – so it’s better to paint your models in colors of a random city to get the possibility to change it.

But if you don’t like any of the cities’ presets, you can generate (or choose) your own set of bonuses. There are 3 groups – Article, Amendment, and Footnote – you can combine abilities from each of them and create your own interpretation of Kharadron Code. It’s really interesting unique and it makes gameplay different each time you play Kharadrons.

Another unusual thing is that there are special upgrades for all sky vessels in addition to standard artifacts for your warlord (there are even 2 sets). It makes Kharadron army really versatile and demonstrates how their technocratic society depends on different technologies.

There’s only one unique character, but he’s awesome! Brokk Grungsson, Lord-magnate of Barak-Nar. This guy flies fast, shoots far (even with his moustache-blasters), and hits hard. And if he overcharges his harness… Also, he lets his allies to charge after running. This is a versatile character, useful for any army.

Non-special characters are useful in their own way. Admiral is a typical leader, who buffs his unit and is relatively good in close combat; Navigator fastens your flying units and slows enemies’, etc. I really liked Khemist – the guy who upgrades his allies’ attacks and lowers attacks of the enemies. Also, he has a magnificent gun with 3D6 shots and rend -2. All the characters can find their role on the battlefield and are quite balanced.

Arkanauts, basic infantry for Kharadrons aren’t really interesting – standard troops unit, badly protected and armed. You will have to take them, but they won’t be your favorites. They can be improved with 3 special weapons like harpoon or volley gun, but they are hard to shoot.

Grundstok warriors are far more dangerous. They have a huge variety of guns, each one capable of destroying the whole squad. Considering the small amount of shooting units in AoS, they can change gameplay greatly. However, they are not imbalanced, since all weapons have short range, and they risk to be caught just after the shooting.

The real danger is flying units. There’re two of them. They differ in stock wargear and abilities, but have many things in common. They both are great in shooting and in close combat, fast, can attach to sky vessels and so on. They are likely to be the tip of your spear in every battle.

And the most important… Sky vessels. There are 3 – Ironclad, Frigate and Grundstok Gunhauler. This is the main feature of Kharadron’s army. All vessels carry an apocalyptic number of long-range weapons, can transport troops and fly really fast. Besides they are allowed to enter the game via Deepstrike. These flying fortresses can make any opponent cry. Good thing – if you’ve chosen Matched play, you won’t be able to take too much of them. They are quite expensive and have Behemoth type. But even a couple of such monsters is a pain in the neck for your enemy.

There are few formations, and they are more thematical than powerful – command squad (with 3 heroes), arkanauts on frigates, and Grundstok warriors escort. Also, there’s an Armada, joining these 3 formations together and really interesting cooperation with Stormcast Eternals.

Al in all here’s a really interesting and unusual for Age of Sigmar army. Its key point is mobility – half of the units can fly and the others can embark upon flying transports. Also, it’s one of the best armies in shooting which makes it stronger than close combat oriented armies. But it’s balanced by short range and vulnerability in close combat. So, is you want to succeed with them, you have to maneuver and think about each move in advance. Warhammer 40K Dark Eldar players know this very well. Another key feature is adaptability – by choosing different interpretations of Kharadron code you can adjust your army to any situation and strengthen your weaknesses.

Considering that the army is totally new, it’s gone great. Interesting background, connected to the rules, unusual tactics. This army has its own face and I really want to play it. Let’s wait for new units and expansions!

Find more in our blog: http://warzone40k.com/kharadron-overlords-review

Nice review, thanks.

Do the big Ironclads and Frigates come with crew options? For example we've seen the Ironclad pics in the battletomb with a dwarf on the bottom of the boat. Does he come with the model itself or do we have to convert him from a box of infantry?

 Gamgee wrote:
Do the big Ironclads and Frigates come with crew options? For example we've seen the Ironclad pics in the battletomb with a dwarf on the bottom of the boat. Does he come with the model itself or do we have to convert him from a box of infantry?

None of the GW images have any conversions, if they do it will specifically say so. The guy on the bottom is the 'tireless endrinrigger' that gives the self-heal rule.

The crew are fairly flexible too, a good thing since they can stand basically anywhere on the ship with different poses. A good combo with the oil cans from the Skywardens kit. If you go for the guys with the lances, on board crew for the big ships get some parts to play around with.

Aside from issues of altitude and such, is there a fluff reason for the masks?

 joseph_curwen wrote:
Aside from issues of altitude and such, is there a fluff reason for the masks?

I think it is purely because of the altitude, but they wouldn't look very steampunk without them. I mean, no sky dwarf is without his mustache helmet!

 joseph_curwen wrote:
Aside from issues of altitude and such, is there a fluff reason for the masks?

Apparently There are some areas where the atmosphere can be toxic or corrosive as they search for Aether-gold. Also their helms contain an array of lenses and headlights that are Aether powered.

In partictular, the Aether-Khemist (the guy with pipes in his beard) apparently uses the mask to locate the Aether-gold, which is usually invisible to the naked eye, by Smell, as well as identifying other minerals that can be mined in the clouds (cloud mining is a lucrative business apparently)

Other than that it's probably stated somewhere in the Code that they need to wear it at all times during operations.

The City Barak-Thyryng in partictular is known to melt the weapons and armor of their ancestors and incorporate them into their runes and masks. So obviously they care about their masks more than other cities.

Anyone got their own interpretation of the Code yet?

 Future War Cultist wrote:
Anyone got their own interpretation of the Code yet?

I've tried going around the rules and I've thought of this for all-comers:

- Artycle: Settle The Grudges
- Amendment: Don't Argue With The Wind
- Footnote: There's No Trading With Some People

The Idea is to capitalize in the Alpha Strike more or less. Since Kharadron aren't as tough as their cousins, you kinda want to hit them as hard as you can before going in for the kill.

I thought about running the following:

Artycle: Respect Your Commanders
Amendment: Trust Aethermatics, Not Superstition
Footnote: There’s No Trading With Some People

To me Kharadron Overlords are great addition to the game.