Do you like dwarves/duardin/dwarfes? Do you like steampunk and fantasy with a side of technology?
Do you like outwitting your opponent with units that can strike anywhere on the battlefield?
Do you prefer ranged combat over melee fighting?
Do you like painting metallics?
Then the Kharadron Overlords might be the right Age of Sigmar army for you.
This guide covers the following aspects of playing, collecting and painting the Kharadron Overlords:
- Lore
- Playstyle
- Warscrolls
- Allegiance abilities, subfactions, traits and artefacts
- Strategy: 3 lists for 1000 and 2000 points
- Allies
- Hobby tips
- The overall pros and cons of the army
- The Kharadron Overlords in other GW games
I suggest you go ahead and bookmark the page, as it is quite long!
A note on the artwork
In this article, I have used the amazing artwork from the Kharadron Overlords faction battletome.
I have done this to convey the right aesthetic and feel of the army.
All rights for the images are reserved by Games Workshop and the very talented artists that have made them (and I hope they will not get mad by me displaying the army artwork here).
Lore of the Kharadron Overlords
Duardin of the Skies
In Age of Sigmar lore, the Kharadron Overlords are the descendants of some of the last duardin to be conquered during the Age of Chaos.
When the forces of Chaos took down the last duardin strongholds in Chamon, the Realm of Metal, the duardin escaped in their airships into the Chamon sky, where they hid from their enemies for the rest of the Age of Chaos.
The first Kharadron engineers learned to use the mysterious substance Aether-gold to power massive floating fortresses called Skyports, which soon developed into the aerial equivalent of the mountain kingdoms of traditional duardin culture.
To survive in the often poisonous outer atmosphere in Chamon, the Kharadron reached a level of technological development that most other cultures in the Mortal Realms can only dream of.
They wear suits and helmets that let them survive in the harshest environments, fly in aether-powered Skyvessels that can carry goods and troops, and wield an arsenal of powerful guns, explosives and chemical weapons to fend off their enemies.
Merchants and Mercenaries
Unlike most other armies represented on the tabletop in Age of Sigmar, the Kharadron Overlords aren’t really a military force.
Many of their units, such as Arkanauts and Endrinriggers, are just as much well-armed sailors and mechanics as they are soldiers, and most of the Kharadron Overlord culture’s interaction with other factions is a matter of trade rather than war.
The only strictly militaristic branch of Kharadron Society is the mercenary Grundcorps, which has an office and garrison in most Skyports.
They are elite riflemen and pilots who are hired as escorts by Kharadron trade companies, so while they are an actual army, they are also a commercial enterprise just like everything else in the Skyports.
Kharadron society with all its different Skyports, companies and expeditions, is loosely held together by two institutions:
1. The Kharadron Code
After the first civil wars between Skyports, the Kharadron held a conference on the floating island of Madralta, where they agreed upon a set of rules that would govern their way of life.
In the beginning, these rules were relatively simple and concerned with fair distribution of income and loot from expeditions, and with preventing internal conflict.
Since then, an endless list of (often disputed) amendments and footnotes have been added by the various Skyports, so that the Code is now a very flexible and confusing system that leaves plenty of room for creative interpretation.
This suits most Kharadron duardin just fine, as it lets them be opportunistic and morally flexible (in order to make a profit), but when the looseness of the Code leads to conflict, their other great institution steps in.
2. The Geldraad
The Geldraad is an assembly of the leaders of all the Kharadron Skyports. The wealth of each leader determines their status in the assembly, and how much their vote counts when settling a dispute.
The current Lord-Magnate of the Geldraad is Brokk Grungsson from Barak-Nar, and while he doesn’t have the final say in Kharadron matters in the same way as a duardin king of old would, he is the closest the Skyports have to one person who represents everyone else.
If another Kharadron duardin were to attain more wealth than the current Lord-Magnate, they could challenge his position.
Religion and Mythology
While the Fyreslayer duardin worship their dead warrior god Grimnir, and the Dispossessed duardin of the Free Cities revere both the smith God Grungni and their ancestors, most Kharadron are more than a little skeptical of religion and the supernatural.
The duardin god of the forge, Grungni, used to be the patron of the Kharadron when they were still living in their mountainholds, but when the Forces of Chaos attacked, he left the duardin to fend for themselves, so that they would innovate and grow under the pressure of war.
The Kharadron don’t deny the existence of gods as such (the world they live in is too weird for that, after all), but with the exception of the Skyport of Barak-Thryng, the Skyports have no organized religion, and one of the articles of the Kharadron Code says “trust aethermatics, not superstition”, meaning that Kharadron society has forsaken the worship of, and trust in gods and magic in favor of faith in progress and technology.
Duardin religion and mythology still lives on in everyday Kharadron language in proverbs, curses and rude sailor language, but it carries about as much religious meaning as it does when a modern person says “damn you to Hell”.
All this being said, this does not mean that there’s no magic in Kharadron society. Aether-gold itself is also called “The Breath of Grungni”, and it is rumoured that it is a gift from the duardin god himself, and recently Kharadron Khemists have figured out how to bottle the spells of their enemies and use them against their own foes.
The Kharadron Overlords Playstyle
On the tabletop, the Kharadron Overlords are mainly defined by their excellence in two aspects of the game:
1. Movement
While the basic infantry of the Kharadron Overlords are just as slow as you would expect from a unit of duardin, the army has access to some of the best flying movement in the game.
The Arkanaut Frigate, The Arkanaut Ironclad and the Grundstok Gunhauler are all flying gun platforms with high Move statistics.
Both the Frigate and the Ironclad are able to transport other Kharadron units, so even though part of the army looks slow on paper, a Kharadron force is defined by its ability to outmaneuver almost anyone.
On top of this, all three ships are able to use the ability Fly High, which lets you remove the model (and everyone using it as a transport) from the battlefield and set it up anywhere more than 1 inch from a terrain feature and more than 9 inches from enemy models.
Basically, your entire army can teleport around the battlefield!
The last group of units for the Kharadron Overlords is the cavalry-like Skyriggers, duardin with their own little jetpacks.
These units, which come in two variants, Endrinriggers and Skywardens, have great movement, and while they can’t garrison inside ships, they can hitch a ride when a ship uses its Fly High ability.
2. Shooting
Everyone in a Kharadron army can shoot, and most models have more than one shooting attack. This means that you will most likely roll a terrifying amount of dice in any shooting phase.
The Skyvessels each deal a lot of shooting damage on their own, but units being transported in ships can also shoot (and be shot at) in the shooting phase.
Kharadron guns don’t necessarily have the longest range in the game, but this doesn’t matter so much, since you can use your ships to get you shooting in range of anything anyway.
What you don’t have as a Kharadron player is a lot of survivability or melee combat damage. If the enemy gets close to you, you are at a disadvantage.
If you take both your movement and shooting advantage into account along with your melee disadvantage, the Kharadron Overlords playstyle can be summed up as:
Surgical:
A Kharadron player has to find out what enemy units she needs to kill, and find a way to kill them fast and get out of range again before the enemy can retaliate.
A good way to do this is to plan and assault that brings as much of your shooting in range of the target as possible, and preferably have a plan for all of those shooting units to leave again via the Fly High ability.
This playing style also applies to taking objectives: you might not be able to hold all the objectives for very long in melee, but you can often clear an objective with gunfire, teleport you objective holders in with Fly High – and if the enemy gets in range again, you have chance to pack up and leave for another objective.
– Advanced:
You can’t win many games with the Kharadrons if you don’t use all the tricks available to you.
Just charging in (or digging down in a defensive position) almost always puts you at a disadvantage, so you have to have a plan that takes advantage of your maneuvers and shooting, as well as your many subfaction bonuses and unit abilities.
It’s still a fun army to play even if you don’t win, since you always have options for any situation, but there’s a lot to learn and practice.
– High Risk:
Kharadron strategy relies on all those shooting dice actually hitting something, and on how good your enemy is at countering all your movement tricks.
If the enemy is also good at surgical strikes and you lose, say, your Ironclad, the game can be over in the first couple of turns.
As a Kharadron player you have to have a plan – but you also have to pull it off, or you’ll lose more often than not.
Get your copy of the Kharadron Overlords battletome
Warscrolls of the Kharadron Overlords
Aetheric Navigator
The Aetheric Navigator is the closest the Kharadron come to having a Wizard on board.
He can unbind spells and endless spells, he can buff the run and charge rolls of your units and debuff the Movement of 1 enemy unit.
Aether-Khemist
The Aether-Khemist has a pretty strong short-range Missile weapon (with 3d6 attacks!), but is most often used for his Aetheric Augmentation ability, which lets him give 1 SKYFARERS unit the ability to reroll wound rolls of 1 for all its attacks for one turn.
Arkanaut Admiral
The Arkanaut Admiral is a strong melee hero with a 12 inch bubble aura that lets units within it ignore battleshock tests.
He has access to 4 (!) command abilities that can let a unit run and shoot in the same turn, re-roll hit rolls of 1 for shooting attacks if it is a Skyvessel, add 1 to hit rolls in the combat phase for both a Skyvessel and its garrison or re-roll charge rolls.
If you’re playing Barak-Nar, which has easy access to extra command points, he can be a very valuable general.
Arkanaut Company
The Arkanaut Company is the only unit in the army that can fill the role of battleline unit no matter what faction or general you choose.
They have both a basic shooting and a basic melee attack, as well as access to three special weapons: The Skypike, Aethermatic Volley-gun and Light Skyhook.
A good use for the Arkanauts is to place them on objectives, as they gain a +1 to battleshock tests and hit rolls when they are within 9 inches of an objective.
Arkanaut Frigate
The Arkanut Frigate has the ability Flying Transport, which lets up to 15 friendly MARINE models garrison inside it, while it can still move and use its abilities.
These models gain cover and can still shoot from within the Frigate.
It can also Disengage in combat, which means it can retreat from combat and shoot in the same turn.
Its Fly High! ability lets you remove it from the battlefield instead of makin a Move, and then redeploy it anywhere more than 1 inch from terrain and more than 9 inches from enemy units.
On top of all this, it can carry various loadouts of strong shooting weapons.
Arkanaut Ironclad
The Arkanaut Ironclad is the superpowered version of the Frigate.
It can carry 25 models, and has a lot more firepower.
Otherwise, it works much like the Frigate.
It is the greatest single-model source of attacks and damage in the Kharadron arsenal, and an impressive centerpiece to any fleet.
Bjorgen Thundrik
Bjorgen Thundrik is a Named Character version of the Aether-Khemist, but his Aetheric Augmentation lets a unit reroll hit rolls of 1 instead of wound rolls of 1.
He must be taken alongside his retinue unit Thundrik’s Profiteers if you want to include him in your list.
The only the way to get him is via the Underworlds Warband Thundrik’s Profiteers.
Brokk Grungsson, Lord-Magnate of Barak-Nar
Brokk Grungsson is the leader of the Kharadron Overlords forces (as long as he’s the richest as well), and he is a Named Character.
He is strong in both melee and ranged combat, and has great Movement for a Kharadron hero, but his charge roll re-rolling command ability only works on units with the BARAK-NAR keyword.
The Endrinmaster with Dirigible Suit is probably a better choice as flying hero for any other Skyport than Barak-Nar.
Endrinmaster with Endrinharness
The Endrinmaster on foot is a strong melee Hero who can heal your Skyvessels and buff the healing of your Endrinriggers.
Endrinmaster with Dirigible Suit
The flying Endrinmaster is a more shooting-focused, airborne version of the Endrinmaster with Endrinharness.
His main use, however, is that he makes Endrinriggers and Skywardens battleline units if he is the general of your army.
As of writing, you can only get this guy via the Aether War box set.
But the characters from other sets have been released later as a single purchase option, so look it for when that will happen to those flying duardin.
Endrinriggers
Endrinriggers is a flying infantry unit that can heal Skyvessels, carry a number of dangerous missile weapons, and tag along when Skyvessels teleport via their Hitchers ability.
Their melee weapons are very strong but have only 1 attack each.
Grundstok Gunhauler
The Grundstok Gunhauler is the army’s smallest Skyvessel.
It has some excellent firepower for its point cost, both at long and short range, and can deal mortal wounds in melee.
It doesn’t transport units (except with one specific artefact), but it can disengage and Fly High! just like its larger cousins. It’s basically a really fast piece of artillery.
If you’re playing as the Barak-Urbaz skyport, it can even fill one of your battleline slots!
Grundstok Thunderers
Grundstok Thunderers is the elite shooting infantry unit for the Kharadron Overlords.
They have good range and attacks, and work well both with their standard rifles (which are a good target for an Aether-Khemist’s buffs) and their wide array of special weapons. Surprisingly, they can also survive an extended melee better than most Skyfarers, since they have 2 wounds per model and gain +1 to missile attacks when an enemy unit is within 3 inches of them.
Skywardens
Skywardens can’t heal ships like their Endrinrigger brothers, but they have a stronger melee profile and can deal Mortal wounds against enemies in melee when enemies charge them, and when the Skywardens themselves retreat.
This makes them reliable hit-and-run melee units. They can be equipped with the same array of special weapons as Endrinriggers.
Thundrik’s Profiteers
The retinue unit for Bjorgen Thundrik.
Since it is originally designed for Warhammer Underworlds, it’s a strange mix of melee, ranged and flying models, but they can all add 1 to hit rolls and re-roll battleshock tests while they are wholly within 9 inches of Bjorgen, so they are useful as a screen for Bjorgen (since you have to take them along to field him, anyway).
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Allegiance Abilities, subfactions, traits and artefacts for a Kharadron Overlords army
Aether-gold
Aether-gold is a resource that you can use in any phase to activate a Triumph for one of your units (with 10 or more models), heroes or Skyvessels.
Triumphs are reroll bonuses from the core rules that are usually applied if your army has fewer points than your opponent’s:
They let you either reroll failed hit rolls, wound rolls, charge or save rolls for one unit, or use a command ability without spending a command point on it.
Each hero, skyvessel or unit with 10 models or more starts the game with one share of aether-gold.
If a unit uses a share of aether-gold, it must subtract 1 from its Bravery statistic, which leaves it more vulnerable to battleshock tests. Luckily, the Kharadron Overlords have a few ways to skip Battleshock tests entirely.
Stick to the Code
A Kharadron army can choose 3 bonuses when starting the game, one from each of three tables:
- Artycles
- Amendments
- Footnotes
Artycles are ways to gain rerolls on attacks.
Amendments can give you extra aether-gold, let you run and shoot in the first turn or improve your Bravery at a distance from the enemy.
Footnotes let you improve movement in several ways or heal one of your Skyvessels once per battle.
These bonuses can all be useful, but the alternative to picking them, which is picking a Skyport subfaction instead, is mostly much better:
Skyports (subfactions)
Barak-Nar, City of the First Sunrise:
Barak-Nar is the hero-focused, anti-magic Skyport.
With Thunderers as battleline it lets you combine great bonuses to heroes and command abilities with serious infantry firepower.
Notable features:
- Can use Grundstok Thunderers as battleline units
- All Heroes can unbind spells with a +1 to the roll
- Can roll for extra command points in the first hero phase. For each hero in your army, roll a dice, and on a 4 or more you receive a command point
Barak-Zilfin, The Windswept City
Barak-Zilfin is for generals who love ships. Your entire army can be made up of ships and heroes if you want, and they can move faster than those of any other Skyport.
Notable features:
- Can use Arkanaut Frigates as battleline units
- When running, you add 6″ to a unit’s movement instead of rolling a dice
- Your Skyvessels reroll hit rolls of 1 against flying units
Barak-Zon, City of the Sun
Barak-Zon is the Skyport for stubborn duardin who insist on getting stuck in melee in spite of the fact that they are a shooting army.
You get bonuses to attacks when you charge , and your traits and artefacts lets you build a pretty terrifying melee general hero who can lead the charge.
Notable features:
- +1 to wound rolls for any Skyfarers unit that has charged in the same turn, and +1 to hit rolls for Skywardens’ melee weapons if they charged in the same turn
- Heroes reroll hit rolls of 1 against Heroes or Monsters
- If your general is slain for the first time, he can revive on a roll of 2+ and regain D3 wounds.
Barak-Urbaz, The Market City
Barak-Urbaz is the aether-gold subfaction. They don’t get any disadvantage from using it, and can gain it in several ways.
Their Aether-khemists are also better than those of other Skyports, so if you plan on having one as your general, the Market City is the way to go.
Notable features:
- Using aether-gold doesn’t subtract 1 from a unit’s Bravery
- You can gain extra aether-gold for D3 of your units from the start of the battle, and once per game a Skyfarers unit that has fought in the combat phase can gain one as well
- Your Aether-Khemist (if he is your general) can buff 2 units instead of 1 with its Aetheric Augmentation ability (reroll wound rolls of 1)
Barak-Mhornar, The City of Shadows
Barak Mhornar is the alpha strike subfaction. They can redeploy a ship in the first turn, run and shoot in the first turn and do a -1 to Bravery debuff of enemy units close to your own. If you want to bet it all on a devastating attack in the beginning of the game, these Code-defying pirate bastards are the way to go.
Notable features:
- -1 Bravery 6″ aura bubble around all your units
- Run and shoot in the first turn
- The general’s command trait lets you redeploy 1 Skyvessel before the first battle round. It can’t move in the first battle round, but can get within shooting range of the enemy in that way.
Barak-Thryng, City of the Ancestors
Barak-Thryng is the traditionalist Skyport. They play a bit like more classic duardin, with a focus on stubbornness, grudges and melee-capable duardin allies.
Notable features:
- 1 in 4 of your units can be a DUARDIN unit from any other faction. It gains they BARAK-THRYNG keyword.
- You can pick up to three enemy units that you can reroll hit rolls of 1 against each battle
- On a +4 roll, your slain units in melee can fight before they are removed from play in the combat phase. Your general can do the same on a +2.
Command Traits and Artefacts
Each Kharadron Overlords hero type has its own table of traits and artefacts. On top of that, each Skyvessel also has a table of artefacts called Great Endrinworks, and one ship in your army (+1 for each battalion) gets one.
Here are 5 of the most interesting traits and artefacts from across the army (outside of the Skyport-specific ones):
1. Grudgebearer, command trait (several different heroes):
Choose one enemy hero after army setup. Your general does double damage against that hero.
2. Svaregg-Stein ‘Illuminator’ Flarepistol, artefact (Aetheric Navigator only):
‘First time the Navigator’s ranged attack scores a hit on a unit, you can reroll hit rolls for other friendly Kharadron units that target that unit in the same phase.
3. Phosphorite Bomblets, artefact (Endrinmaster with Dirigible Suit only):
In 1 shooting phase, pick one unit within 6″ of the Endrinmaster, on a roll of 2 or more, that unit suffers 1 mortal wound.
You can keep rolling until the target dies or you roll a 1.
4. Spell in A Bottle, artefact (Aether-Khemist only):
You can pick 1 Endless Spell from any faction in the game, pay the points for having it in your army, and cast it once per battle automatically.
It can’t be unbound. One of the craziest artefacts in the entire game!
5. Coalbeard’s Collapsible Compartments, Great Endrinwork (Grundstok Gunhauler only):
Allows the Gunhauler to garrison up to 5 models within it, which makes it a very cheap transport unit and gives a potential battleline unit a new role to play in your list.
Strategy: Principles and 3 lists for the playing Kharadron Overlords
You can build a good Kharadron army list in many ways.
With the right Skyport, most units can be battleline, and you can make both shooting-heavy Aether-Khemist-buffed gunline armies and harassing, teleporting Skyrigger flying squadrons.
One thing to keep in mind no matter the army you build, is how to take advantage of the movement abilities available to you.
No Kharadron army can survive just trotting up to the center of the board and duke it out with the enemy in melee.
You have to out-maneuver your opponent!
This means that any good Kharadron list is made with a plan for which unit goes with which Skyvessel, and what their role will be.
A way of approaching this is to think of your army as consisting of a number of squads.
1. squad could be an Ironclad with a couple of Arkanaut units and an Admiral, ready to go to an exposed objective, shoot the opposition out of the way, take the objective and survive the counterattack as best they can, ignoring battleshock tests and letting the admiral swing his hammer.
2. squad could be a Frigate full of 10 Thunderers with an Aether-Khemist to buff their rifles (if you plan on deploying them), or simply 15 Thunderers to shoot out from within the Frigate.
3. squad could be a squadron of Gunhaulers for artillery suppport with Skyriggers, either Wardens or Riggers, and an Endrinmaster with Dirigible Suit hitching along for a nice combo of melee charge and gunfire.
The list of squads could go on, but the main takeaway from it should be that you should think of your army as several smaller armies rather than a big blob of models that most enemy armies will chew through one way or another.
If you are in many places at once, and all of your units can shoot, you can control a very large area of the battlefield.
For inspiration, I have asked the Facebook Kharadron Overlords community to share some of their favorite lists, and here are 3 of the best:
3 cool Kharadron Overlords Lists
David Nguyen’s 2000 point list:
“I use this list because I found it fit especially against enemy models like Stardrake or behemoths, heroes with an artefact of power named Ethereal Amulet from realm of death etc.
Also like the balloon boys with skypikes.
Skywardens of Barak-Zon are the best for using their weapon reach so they could fight as a second line behind Arkanaut company so its my sort of counter attack when my Arkanauts are hit by melee units.
Then I have a Gunhauler close to Skywardens in order to use fly high! and be able to escape from close combat and shoot and charge where I need.”
David’s list:
Skyport: Barak-Zon
Endrinmaster with Endrinharness (100)
-General
-Command Trait: Bearer of the Ironstar
-Artefact: Aethersped Hammer
Endrinmaster with Endrinharness (100)
10x Arkanaut Company (90)
-1x Skypikes
-1x Light Skyhooks
-1x Aethermatic Volley Gun
10x Arkanaut Company (90)
-1x Skypikes
-1x Light Skyhooks
-1x Aethermatic Volley Gun
10x Arkanaut Company (90)
-1x Skypikes
-1x Light Skyhooks
-1x Aethermatic Volley Gun
6x Skywardens (200)
1x Grundstok Gunhauler (150)
– Main Gun: Drill Cannon
1x Grundstok Gunhauler (150)
– Main Gun: Drill Cannon
Arkanaut Ironclad (510)
–Main Gun: Great Skyhook
–Great Endrinwork: Zonbarcorp ‘Dealbreaker’ Battle Ram
Arkanaut Ironclad (510)
Main Gun: Aethermatic Volley Cannon
Leigh Edwards’ 2000 point list:
“This is the list I’m planning to run once lockdown is over, it has multiple sources of mortal wounds from the spell, phosphate bomblets and and 3 endrinworks.”
Leigh’s list:
Skyport: Barak-Zilfin
Aether-Khemist (90)
-General
-Command trait: Collector
-Artefact: Spell in a Bottle
Aetheric Navigator (100)
– Artefact: Staff of Occular Optimisation
Endrinmaster with Dirigible Suit (220)
– Artefact: Phosphorite Bomblets
20x Arkanaut Company (180)
10x Arkanaut Company (90)
1x Grundstok Gunhauler (150)
– Great Endrinwork: Zonbarcorp ‘Debtsettler’ Spar Torpedo
6x Endrinriggers (200)
Arkanaut Frigate (250)
– Great Endrinwork: Malefic Skymines
Arkanaut Ironclad (510)
– Great Endrinwork: Zonbarcorp ‘Dealbreaker’ Battle Ram
Iron Sky Command battalion (130)
Endless Spell: Darkfire Daemonrift (50)
Daniel Sanchez’ 2000 point list:
“This list has worked very well for me. The threat of the Ironclad, Purple Sun, Thunderers, and two Gunhaulers make for some impressive firepower.
I can be all over the entire map and lay waste to most things on the board.
I use Urbaz because I just want to ignore the bravery minus thing.
Wasn’t a big fan of that when it was released so this is nice to be able to just go ham on using gold shares.
The Riggers follow the Ironclad and at least one Gunhauler around for healing.
With the Ironclad’s self heal, Endrinmaster and three Riggers I’m rarely ever without fly high.
With this list as well I don’t care about deployment.
I deploy way off in a corner or behind a bunch of scenery screening my Ironclad with the Gunhaulers and Arkanaut Company”
Daniels list:
Skyport: Barak-Urbaz
Endrinmaster with Dirigible Suit (220)
-General
– Command Trait: Tough as Old Boots
– Artefact: Phosphorite Bomblets
Aether-Khemist (90)
– Artefact: Spell in a Bottle
20x Arkanaut Company (180)
3x Endrinriggers (100)
Grundstok Gunhauler (150)
– Main Gun: Drill Cannon
– Great Endrinwork: Breath of Morgrim
Grundstok Gunhauler (150)
– Main Gun: Drill Cannon
Arkanaut Ironclad (510)
– Main Gun: Great Sky Cannon
– Great Endrinwork: Ebuillent Buoyancy Aid
15x Thunderers (360)
Grundstok Escort Wing Battalion (140)
Endless Spell: Purple Sun of Shyish (50)
Allies of the Kharadron Overlords
Wondering how allies work?
We have a small guide on it here.
The Kharadron Overlords can bring allies from the following factions:
Dispossessed:
One of the most popular uses of Dispossessed as allies for this army is to bring one or more units of Ironbreakers or Longbeards to use as screening units.
They have good saves and aren’t that expensive points-wise, and they help a Kharadron army make up for its lack of survivability in combat.
The downside to bringing shield-carrying allies like this is that they don’t get access to transportation in your Skyvessels.
This means that while the rest of your army is teleporting around the battlefield, shooting and taking objectives, your Dispossessed allies have to traverse the board on foot with their 4″ move, so you can only really use them for guarding objectives on your own side of the board.
Fyreslayers
Fyreslayer units fill out much the same role as Dispossessed in a Kharadron army:
They fight well in close combat, can take a beating (not because of their saves but due to them having 2 wounds per model), but can’t come along when your ships fly high.
They do have a couple of options for dealing Mortal wounds, though.
Vulkite Berzerkers and Hearthguard Berzerkers are great for this, and if you can bring a Runesmiter along, you can even teleport them around a bit.
Ironweld Arsenal
Ironweld Arsenal is the umbrella keyword for artillery in the Cities of Sigmar faction.
Since they specialize in shooting, they don’t really help you cover any tactical holes in your army list.
One slight exception is the Gyrobomber, which can deal mortal wounds to units it flies over.
It has the Movement to keep up with your army, and mortal wound output is always something you can use.
Stormcast Eternals
The Stormcast Eternals have so many different warscrolls that they can be used for almost anything you can think of in your army – as long as they can keep up with your maneuvers around the battlefield.
If you are planning on running a ship heavy army, a good choice could be the Lord-Ordinator:
He lets friendly Order War Machines wholly within 9 inches add 1 to their hit rolls.
That’r pretty deadly if you can get more than one Skyvessel in range of him (perhaps 2 Ironclads or a battleline of Gunhaulers?).
Barak-Thryng Allies
The Skyport Barak-Thryng has the option to take 1 unit with the DUARDIN keyword for every 4 units of Kharadron in their armies.
These duardin allies (which could be Dispossessed, Ironweld Arsenal or Fyreslayers) then gain the BARAK-THRYNG keyword, which gives them access to the skyport’s traits and abilities, but not to transports, aether-gold and other Kharadron allegiance abilities.
Kharadron Overlords and Cities of Sigmar
In the Cities of Sigmar battletome, the subfaction Tempest’s Eye can take 1 Kharadron unit for every 4 other units in their army.
These Kharadron units gain both the TEMPEST’S EYE keyword and the CITIES OF SIGMAR keyword, so they gain all the benefits of being part of a Cities of Sigmar army.
So if you like both the Kharadron models and units from the vast list of old and new models that is Cities of Sigmar, Tempest’s Eye could be a good way to put it all in one army.
Hobby Tips for the Kharadron Overlords
The Kharadron Overlords can be one of the most satisfying armies to collect and paint.
There is great variety within the army – you will be painting both large war machines and (very) tiny details on duardin infantry.
The Kharadron Overlords are also prime candidates for interesting colour schemes, since all models feature a combination of metals and cloth surfaces/painted surfaces that lend themselves well to distinct colours.
All that being said, the Kharadron are also great for anyone who would like to paint something a bit less fantastical than the rest of the Age of Sigmar armies.
You can, for example, paint Kharadron Overlords just like you would paint most Warhammer 40,000 armies or historical World War 2 armies.
I painted my own army with a lot of inspiration from naval colours during the First World War in Europe.
The Kharadron Overlords is also an army where you have to paint a sum total of zero skin and zero faces, so if those have been giving you trouble, look no further.
If you go to youtube you will find a lot of quality articles on painting the ships and the duardin.
The Battletome for the army has plenty of tips on how to paint your duardin in the colors of the various skyports, but in this section I will try to include a few things the battletome doesn’t mention:
1. The flying stands for the Skyvessels are not a sustainable solution.
If you want to use an Ironclad or Frigate for playing rather than just for display, you should invest in some clear resin rods to give them more stability (see the image below) or build a base with ruins or trees that will support the ship.
The stands for Skyriggers and the flying heroes work okay.
2. It’s easy to convert your units and allies with bits from your ally factions, since most of them are duardin-sized like the army itself:
The Dispossesed kits especially work well with Arkanaut and Thunderer bits.
You can see two of my favorite Kharadronized Dispossesed allies below:
My Kharadron Diplomat (Warden King) and Skybreakers (Ironbreakers)
3. Your main battleline unit, the Arkanaut Company, are extremely detailed for something you will often paint at least 30 of.
Decide for yourself whether every little clock, bottle and tool is going to have line highlights and different colors before you end up spending a month on something that would take you a week painting for another army.
4. You can paint your Skyriggers without subassemblies, if you cover the transparent flying stands in cellophane or similar when you do your spray undercoat.
It’s easy to remove afterwards, and the models are easier to glue to the flying stands if you do it before they get undercoated.
You should do some subassemblies on the Skyvessels, however, or they will be as good as impossible to paint.
I never do subassemblies otherwise, but had to do them here.
Pros and cons of a Kharadron Overlords Army
PROS
- Great shooting at both long and short range
- Excellent mobility with transports and redeployment through the Fly High! ability
- Subfactions and artefacts that lead to very different playstyles gives you a ton of options when building lists
- Very detailed and complex models that can look amazing if painted well
CONS
- If the combat phase is your favorite phase, this army might not be for you – few options for melee damage and low survivability
- Most battleline choices are locked behind specific subfactions or heroes
- Requires a lot of micromanagement to do well in games
- Very detailed and complex models that can take forever to paint and get on the table (could also be a plus for you).
Overall verdict on the Kharadron Overlords Faction
Want to know what got changed last time Overlords got updated?
We get a review of the Kharadron Overlords Battletome here.
The Kharadron Overlords is a fast-moving, teleporting, gun-toting army that plays like nothing else in the Age of Sigmar.
They are definitely an army for the player who likes to have a very detailed, micro-managing playstyle, and the same goes for collecting and painting the intricately detailed models.
With the latest battletome, the army has gotten so much better, and especially the new ship rules and the many game-altering artefacts make sure that no two Kharadron armies have to play in the same way.
While very powerful in the movement and shooting phase, the few powerful melee heroes among the sky-duardin can’t make up for the fact that the army still lacks combat power and survivability.
They can’t just stand around and take a beating, but that doesn’t matter if you like the more maneuver-focused playstyle the Kharadron are designed for.
The Kharadron Overlords are not one of the strongest factions in the game, but they are in a place right now where they are immensely fun, different and challenging to play, and that’s a very good reason to collect and play them.
The Kharadron Overlords in other GW games
Warhammer Underworlds:
In GW’s deckbuilding/board game hybrid Warhammer Underworlds, the Kharadron Overlords are represented by the warband Thundrik’s Profiteers.
The warband is led by an aether-khemist, who is joined by a Skywarden, a Grundstok Thunderer and two Arkanauts.
They are, unsurprisingly, a warband focused on shooting and claiming objectives, which is how they gain Inspiration in the game.
Warcry:
In the skirmish game Warcry, Kharadron Overlords is one of the latest factions to be added to the game.
You can choose between a great number of fighters since every weapon option for the faction’s infantry units is represented.
The warband is generally slow, with the exception of Skyriggers fighters, but also has some of the best shooting in the game.