Kharadron Overlords

[Guest]

Been eyeballing the "Kharadron Overlords" at Guardian Games for a bit now. I really like about half of each model. Love the boats, hate the devices at the top that make it "fly." Been debating them for months. Finally bought their Battletome and an Arkanaut Frigate kit, just the other day. Not sure if I'm making an entire army or just one boat, but I really like most of the kit. 

 That said, after opening it and doing some dry fitting, I'm torn at how to proceed. As I see it, I could do this model in two ways: 

1) A pirate ship. Would need to make a mast and mount it on the ship, with sails and so forth. Pretty sure I could paint the metal plating to look wooden. I'm confident I could do it, but I'm less confident about putting it in water (clear resin) to make it seem afloat.  

2) After opening the kit, I noted that the included dwarves remind me of NASA space suits, like those orange jumpsuits. Ship looks like I could convert it into more of a space ship, which I do think would look nice. Thinking white with that blue NASA logo, except have it be DASA (Duardin Aeronautics Sciences Administration).

3) Not really on the list, but I could also just build either of the above and make them Undead versions, since I do already have undead and then just call it a black coach or something like that. It's a very nice model. 

Regarding the kit, the one disappointment is that it isn't designed where you could make it into a ship in a bottle...The main hull sections are just too wide. 

EDIT Oh, I'm asking for help deciding. 

[PourSpelur]

DASA, safety-orange suits, copper metals.

Fully awesome.

[Guest]

Hmm...should I bother with space helmets for the infantry, or keep the heads as is? Presently, the kit includes odd beard-encompassing helmet which I'm not sure if I like or not. The design is odd because it's pretty clear based on the shape that either they don't ever remove the helmet, or that these are cleanly shaven dwarves wearing beards only as part of their helmets.

And, on subject with infantry, what sort of weapons would NASA wield....? Lasers and such for ranged, sure, but what about melee weapons?

[PourSpelur]

Re-purposed tools? 

[Guest]

On September 11, 2017 at 10:16 PM, PourSpelur said:

Re-purposed tools? 

Was thinking about that, but what sort of tools does NASA use that are heavy enough to use as makeshift melee weapons? I suppose it doesn't have to be heavy to be a weapon, but never seen NASA using anything close to a weapon. There was that James Bond that had laser battles in space, but I don't recall any melee weapons.

I suppose I could paint them as some sort of "holo" weapon, so as to imply they lacked weight. Maybe paint a grid on them...

Anyway, back to the ship. Measure twice, cut once. I'm thinking I could add "jets" to the sides, but it would end up looking like a varient of Enterprise. Not a problem, but it does make me wonder if I shouldn't go with a star trek theme. I suppose I could do both. hmm.

[PourSpelur]

Alternative scheme.

Paint the suits a utilitarian blue/grey and weapons in safety orange. I'm thinking they'd have plenty of hammers, big wrenches, picks and crowbars.

[Guest]

Okay, wow. Picked up the Arkanaut Company, which is the only battleline for the Kharadron Overlords. Seems like they had the same idea as above (DASA) because one of the melee options are axes built into tools. Like a wrench with an axe head on one end. Not sure I'm going to need much in the way of conversions for this army, at least for the infantry.

Kit is great, by the way. Includes 10 Torso+leg single pieces in various poses, all of which have generic mounts for arms and a head. Would be super easy to mix with SM arms/heads to make squats. Heads will probably not mount on SM PA torsos, but would fit on plastic terminators, due to the way the neck mount works. Box includes 20 left handed melee weapon arms (10 axes and 10 swords), 10 right handed pistol arms, 2 heavy weapons (assault cannon looking thing and a harpoon gun) and 1 2-handed spear. Also includes 2 right handed melee weapon arms (Pick and sword) and 2 left handed pistol arms (3 barreled and single barreled) for the unit champion. They also have an air tank looking backpack bit. I'm very happy to see this kit has lots of modular potential (unlike a lot of the newer GW kits).  EDIT: oh, includes 12 helmeted heads.

Also purchased some Orange and Copper paint pots (Model Color Hammered Copper and Clear Orange). 

[Guest]

Still tinkering with options and deciding how to do things. That Battletome I got, the one for Kharadron Overlords, is really great. Has a larger array of "chapter tactics"-like options for the army and quite a bit of customization in rules alone. Still have barely read it. On the other hand, this means it will take me longer to decide what to do.

As for general army construction, it's a wierd army for AoS in that it's got transports and lots of range, but not a whole lot of melee or fast units. Many of the abilities are focused around getting out of melee, or penalizing enemy units that charge this army. Kinda reminds me of the Tau for 40k, but I think these guys fit in the fantasy setting better than tau do in 40k (not really an accomplishment...). Not terrible in melee like tau, but they lack dedicated melee units and all of their "behemoths" are really just transports with ranged weapons and light melee.

Mechanically, the transporting ability is odd because disembarking is a hero phase thing while embarking is a movement phase thing. So no disembarking after moving on the same turn. There's also no fire points or open-topped rule, so units embarked really do nothing and add nothing to my army. Plus there's no light transport option. The Frigate is 280pts and the Ironclad is 440pts. Transport Capacity is also a variable, as each has a base value, which can then be exceeded by reducing movement speed, and then additionally, there are units that do not count for transport capacity. 

Regarding list creation, looks like I've got 500pts between the Frigate (280pts), the Company (10 models, 120pts), and an Aetheric Navigator (dwarf with telescope that came as crew for the frigate, 100pts). Technically need another battle line for a pitched battle, but it should be enough to try against other "getting started" armies.  That Aetheric Navigator can unbind spells, so he presents a good entry level hero. 

[Threejacks]

 Been doing escalation games with my "High Cirrus Raiders"(yes,Kharadron Overlords) over the -past month or so.We started at 500 pts and are now at 1k..next weekend ill be fielding a 2k point build at Food for the Blood God so I should get a solid feel for how they do in the more competative settings after next week.

  At 500 points I have been running 2 units of company,one with 3 skyhooks,one with 3 Volley guns,,a Khemist and one unit of 3 Endrinriggers stock.With this build im at 2 wins and 2 losses,,we played one week using the open war cards and one week with matched scenarios..each week was one win and one loss per session so I think its probably about as balanced a build as they come.The 1k build has had only one game but was a win...I added in Barak Grungson,10 Vulkite Berserkers and a Runesmiter(Fyreslayers),used the Fyreslayers to come up into the opponents backfield and wrecked some [big bad swear word]..major help to the army.Grungson is 300 points but sheese,,hes on par with most all melee monsters at that point value,,though with only 8 wounds behind a 3+ and no way to buff that within the army,he is a bit weak.He will wreck other heros and monsters though until hes dead,,and hes fast and can fly..I was planning originally to run my frigate instead of him but sadly,the mathhammer on the Frigate and Gunboat really dont work at all in competative play,,especially the Frigate,,it has piss poor damage output for its point cost.Its transport ability is nice but I will be using an Ironclad in my larger lists.The Ironclad is low in output for its raw damage but has some nice perks and a large transport capacity so its more on par overall with its cost.

 

   Pax,,as far as a direction to go with this army,,myself im too much of a hobby gamer to pursue any of these list suggestions,and im sure you are more into the hobby side as well but heres what ive been reading on forums and facebook about the KO`s.

 Probably the most popular build is the "party boat",,,that is an Ironclad dropping in loaded with mobs of Skyriggers,most of those being Endrinriggers,,then with 2 units of company and 2 or more khemisist on board to buff select skyrigger units for a first turn alpha strike.This can be a 2 drop army with the other drop being a unit of company starting on the board,,then give the other player first turn,drop the boat in,,blast stuff,charge stuff...think Tau Farsight bomb of sorts.
  My 2k list has a similar party boat possibility but not nearly as many Skyriggers to make it a true alpha strike list.

 Other builds ive seen are Company spam lists with mobs of 10-40 models all with 3 light skyhooks per 10 models,,then Khemists to spread the augmentations around.Now I can see this working but to me is totally not acceptable from a hobby standpoint as these models are fairly detailed and that painting part would just be brutal,,not to mention its not fluffy in any way.I can however attest to even just 3 Skyhooks getting 6 shots per shooting phase is very nasty,especially to elite class troops,heros and monsters..from a mathhammer perspective its a highly efficient use of points.

   Balloon spam,,these lists use masses of Endrinriggers backed up by a couple of Khemists to buff up the saws,,its very similar to the "party boat" above but can include Barak Grungson instead to give them all run and charge in order to get into combat fast.The backfield units would be units of 10-20 company all with the full alotment of Skyhooks of course.

 What doesnt work,sadly is lists that have 3 or more of the boats in them,,sadly they are just too expensive for matched play,,though in open play or even narative games that can go for several turns they can be useful to rescue units and redeploy them elsewere,,kinda like units that shine in Apoc games yet blow in regular 40k.

 

  Oh and yes,,the army in any form reminds me alot of playing Tau in 40k:)

 

 

 

[Guest]

Interesting. Yeah, many of the same conclusions on my end. And yeah, the hobby end is definitely more important. 

I think the Grundstok Thunderers unit is probably the most powerful unit availible, but I suspect it hasn't been tested as much due to it not being a battleline and (I suspect) it only comes with one of each weapon type (meaning you'd need 5 boxes for a mininmum squad with the same weapons).

Regarding this faction, I suspect that the 2017 General's Handbook allowing allies within alliegences is going to make a lot of Order armies feature these as allies. I think these are mainly balanced by lacking melee and not having any wizards, so allies will certainly break them.

Oh, tried the Skypike any? You know, on those Arkanaut Company Squads. Any good?

 

[Threejacks]

 The Thunderers were clarified to only be able to take up to one each special weapon per 5 models now,,this was the original intent as per their description of "bringing a varied arsenal of weapons".The base rifles they use arent bad,,but for 20 points per model it really doesnt pan out well,,there are better choices in the army.Still though they do have some interesting abilities like their retreat effect,,this could work in larger units of them,,10- or 15 possibly,,pull them back as your first activation when you know you will have initiative next turn and throw out some nasty shooting.

 I like the Skypikes and will be running a unit of company with 3 of them,,,they can put the hurt on stuff and have a 2" range to boot.The best use of them though is on the Skywardens,,just finished building a unit of 6 to use next week:).

[Guest]

6 hours ago, Threejacks said:

 The Thunderers were clarified to only be able to take up to one each special weapon per 5 models now,,this was the original intent as per their description of "bringing a varied arsenal of weapons".The base rifles they use arent bad,,but for 20 points per model it really doesnt pan out well,,there are better choices in the army.Still though they do have some interesting abilities like their retreat effect,,this could work in larger units of them,,10- or 15 possibly,,pull them back as your first activation when you know you will have initiative next turn and throw out some nasty shooting.

Shoot. Guess I need to check the FAQ. 

EDIT: Checked the FAQ, no update. The downloadable PDF for that unit is also the same as my book. I did a search online and found it, but seems unique to the *optional* rules expansion of the general handbook 2017.

[Threejacks]

The updated warscroll for the Thunderer`s is only seen in the new GH2017 ..not even updated on the AoS app as yet.

I ve been spelling the named boss first name wrong,,its Brokk Grungsson,,durr

 

[Guest]

42 minutes ago, Threejacks said:

The updated warscroll for the Thunderer`s is only seen in the new GH2017 ..not even updated on the AoS app as yet.

I ve been spelling the named boss first name wrong,,its Brokk Grungsson,,durr

 

I knew who you meant. Since GW went to copyright-able naming, it's been hard to spell anything.

Regarding the update, as I understand it, the entire general's handbook (either version) is technically a supplement and while most gamers will be using it, it remains technically optional. That said, I'm not suggesting I intend to defy it, just pointing that out. 

Thinking about it more, looking at the codex and the list, might be hard to make an army I want to play out of this. I hate playing cheesy armies and I dislike the Tau. Thinking about making this into a Chaos or Death army, as that would grant me superior conversion options. Aside from the Battletome, I'm not overly invested in this army yet.