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I love the Kharadron Overlords. They were the first models I've seen from GW in years who made me go "wow, I absolutely have to have these!" I think the last kit to do that was the Mordhiem starter set. But sadly, I don't think that their rules match up with the kits. They were passable for starters, but they've now been nerfed (twice?) whilst newer releases have surpassed them. So what to do? Here's some of my thoughts;

First of all, of the ships need to have 4+ saves. 5+ simply isn't enough for an armored warship, especially when there's so much Rend knocking around and they're too big to use cover. The Ironclad could probably stand to become 3+ too, but I'm not completely sure.

Second, make sure that all of their firearms have -1 Rend. That includes all varieties of Privateer Pistols used by the Arkanauts. I think all other firearms in the game have it so they should be no different. Plus, I think Arkanauts need to be real glass cannons to workk; powerful attacks from their advanced weaponry but balanced out by them being very much mortal, dying easily to attacks. They do the former well, but not the latter.

Reduce the costs of the ships. Even with these improvements, they're overpriced. As are the battalions. As it stands, there's no way to fit a battalion into a 2k list while keeping it competitive. The original prices (80 for the Iron Sky Squadron for example) were perfectly OK. Let's go back to that. Let's see, that's 800pts for a minimum sized squadron. That seems fair.

Finally, I've been experimenting with ways to let the troops fight from the ships. I replaced the current rules with the garrisoning in terrain rules, and it really works. The troops on board can now shoot and fight from the ships, and in turn they can be targeted as well. It really alleviates a couple of core weakness in the army but doesn't go over the top. The only two issues we have are battleshock tests (still take them) and what to do when the ship is destroyed. I like it to say it's a 6" disembarkation range with an automatic D6 wounds, but my opponent prefers the current 3" disembarkation with a slain model on a roll of a 1.

There's also the issue of what we can take as battle line, and thunderers weapons. But anyway, what would you guys do with the Overlords?

I don't have many games under my belt, but my KO has been doing very well in my local group. Maybe no one is a tournament power gamer (Stormcast, lots of Ironjaws, Ogres, Old dwarves), if thats what you are going against.

KO seem to hit hard and can shift quickly around the board with range or strong melee and focus down immediate threats. I can never take a punch back however. It doesn't feel like "traditional" dwarf play. Its nice and new.

My issue is the battletome is very light, and there is very little flexibility in list building. Every list will have 30 arkanaught, and after some seemingly obligatory sky ships and hereos, its basically a question of do you want a big unit of warden/riggers or thunderers. I think it might be interesting if "duardin" was a battletome and you could freely take KO, Fyreslayer, or Dispossessed without Ally or losing faction bonus.

To mix it up abit I usually take 400 points of Ironweld Artillery or Helos, and sometimes old Duardin Miners.

Any consensus on how Grunstock Thunderers should be kitted out?

The mix weapon team does a bit more damage, but you give up range to do so. Certainly anything not killed by the mix weapon team can hit back, not necessarily for an all Rifle team.

The mortar seems like the real stinker of the bunch.

MegaDombro wrote:
I don't have many games under my belt, but my KO has been doing very well in my local group. Maybe no one is a tournament power gamer (Stormcast, lots of Ironjaws, Ogres, Old dwarves), if thats what you are going against.

KO seem to hit hard and can shift quickly around the board with range or strong melee and focus down immediate threats. I can never take a punch back however. It doesn't feel like "traditional" dwarf play. Its nice and new.

My issue is the battletome is very light, and there is very little flexibility in list building. Every list will have 30 arkanaught, and after some seemingly obligatory sky ships and hereos, its basically a question of do you want a big unit of warden/riggers or thunderers. I think it might be interesting if "duardin" was a battletome and you could freely take KO, Fyreslayer, or Dispossessed without Ally or losing faction bonus.

Ah, I envy you. I’ve got many games with KO under my belt and it is in a tournament power gaming atmosphere even when it probably shouldn’t be, you know what I mean? Friendlies are just an excuse to test out list for the next tournament. Hence the appearance of things like the Star Drake with staunch defenders put on it. And thus my win/loss ratio is like, 10%.

 KiloFiX wrote:
To mix it up abit I usually take 400 points of Ironweld Artillery or Helos, and sometimes old Duardin Miners.

What artillery peice would you recommend?

MegaDombro wrote:
Any consensus on how Grunstock Thunderers should be kitted out?

The mix weapon team does a bit more damage, but you give up range to do so. Certainly anything not killed by the mix weapon team can hit back, not necessarily for an all Rifle team.

The mortar seems like the real stinker of the bunch.

Which is a shame because in the beginning it was the star of the show.

I would have to recommend an all rifle set up, purely on the basis of range and maximum benefit from the aether khemists boost. Which reminds me, the current profiles of the thunderers special weapons were ok when they could be spammed, but now that they’re limited, they don’t really work so much anymore. I’ve got 2 solutions, either boost their stats, or change the Aether Khemists ability to affect all weapons in a unit rather than just one type. I think a mixture of both would be best.

Have you tried countering with KO tourney lists?

The Barak-Zilfin Eatherspheric Ironclad "Clown car" dropping off a big unit of thunderers and riggers seems like a crippling first strike. I've never used it. Like I said, my meta is not deploying things like that, but if it is, you got to use cheese too.

Maybe another gripe, but for our batteline unit, the skyhook is by far and away the best option, but because of the box load out, I think most of us run a unit with the repeater and the skypike. A tourney list is probably running 9 skyhooks. Probably adds a bit to first strike potential.