Age of Sigmar/Tactics/Order/Kharadron Overlords

Grand Alliance Order Kharadron Overlords

Top hat, robotic monocle, curled mustache guns, and steam technology; the true essence of steampunk.

Lore Tactics General Tactics

Get ready to play some Dwarf Fortress in the sky! The Kharadron Overlords is one of the first truly new factions introduced to Age of Sigmar since the Stormcast Eternals, and are also one of the most radically different from other AoS armies in play style, with a big focus on vehicles, guns, and tech.

Why Play Kharadron Overlords?

PROS:

• Because you want to bring mad science and a lot of guns to the Age of Sigmar swords and sorcery fight.

• Because you want to laugh maniacally while you bomb melee armies to oblivion with an air navy, while the passengers fill the survivors with lead.

• Because you've waited over 20 years for Squats, and you're gonna take what you can get.

• Because you enjoyed the Iron Man films, but thought they'd be better if Tony Stark was a 4-foot-tall sky-pirate.

• Because you love your Imperial Guard, and want to play essentially the same thing in the Age of Sigmar. Only with flying Baneblades.

• You Love to be the Strongest Shooting Faction. Your shooting is not only accurate, every single model in your army has some form of shooting attack, from your crummiest Arkanaut Company to your biggest, angriest ships, and almost all of it has rend -1 or better. In fact, Kharadron are one of the best anti-armor factions simply because almost every attack they care about has rend. Maggotkin, Ossiarch Bonereapers, Stormcast Eternals, and any other army that relies on their heavy armor to protect them will be very sad when your bullets just penetrate straight through.

• If you use your Fly High and Disengage abilities, you're fucking FAST. Any Skyvessel that's above roughly half health can just leave combat anytime and redeploy via deep strike, and then shoot. The Frigate and Gunhauler have a 12" move, and the mighty Ironclad has a respectable 10". Your jump troops have move 12" as well, meaning that they can be where they need real damn fast. Get in an annoying fight with fast skirmishes hoping to tie you down while the real threats sprint up? Just leave combat while still shooting all your guns.

• You like playing with Transports in Fantasy games, and they have gunports. Every ship that can transport troops is effectively Open-Topped, meaning that everyone inside gets a lovely day at the shooting range while they get scooted around the board. Even if the ship flies out of combat, both the ship and the people inside can still shoot no problem.

• Because (and this is the important one) they are steampunk power-armored sky pirate dwarfs.

CONS:

• The average steam-dorf absolutely SUCKS in melee. For some reason, using knives and gun butts against daemons or giants in magic suits of armour isn't quite cutting the mustard. Despite your greatly improved armor across the board, a 4+ ain't gonna save you if you get charged by Blood Warriors or Ironguts.

• Even with some of the best mobility options in AoS, you'll always be in danger against fast units or faster-than-average factions like Nighthaunt, Beastclaw Raiders, some of the Legion of Nagash units, etc. You can't run forever, and if you spend the game trying all you'll end up doing is giving the opponent the run of the board. Also, if you ever get in melee with flying enemies, you lose your ability to Disengage, but you can still Fly High, since only the Disengage rule checks to see if there were flying units around.

• Even if you have the best shoota, other armies' ranged weapons can be really dangerous, especially if they have artillery with heavy rend. You'll see that battleship going down hard in no time.

• If you can't cheat on movement, you're actually somewhat slow. Any dwarf caught shuffling on foot has a piddly 4" move, and if your Skyvessels take damage they not only lose their ability to redeploy via deep strike, they also get reduced movement, and a ship that can't bail on a bad fight is a dead ship.

• No wizards for you, although you do have a lot of spell unbinding options, and with the introduction of the Sacrosanct Chambers, Stormcast allies can fill this hole. You'll still struggle to keep dangerous debuffs off your troops, and any Endless Spell that creates a LoS-blocking wall or grants cover will but a crimp in your perfect gunlines.

• Your mortal wound output is mediocre to poor. Few things put out mortals, and you can't really spam mortal wounds like heavy magic armies or the Stormcast can. That being said, your rend makes up for it most of the time, but when you're fighting Nighthaunt or that one dickhead who brings an Akhelian King on Deepmare with the Etherial Amulet, you'll wish you had more reliable mortal wounds to pass out.

• Your armor is way better now! But your defense against mortal wounds is nonexistent. There's maybe two things in the book that give any sort of protection against mortal wounds, and one's a situational buff granted by Gunhaulers, and the other's a middling artifact for Admirals, and they both grant 6+ feel no pains.

• Being this elite is a double edged sword. Every model has high quality armor, weapons, and abilities, but you're paying for that quality, and the only real exception is Arkanaut Company, who are still 9 points per model. Even at 2000 points, you're probably unlikely to break 50 models, and will have a very hard time challenging hordes for control points unless you just kill them all. Almost any game you play, you'll have a 2-to-1 ratio of enemies to skydorfs.

Rulebooks

Faction rules and abilities: Battletome Kharadron Overlords (2020)

Latest Matched play points: Battletome Kharadron Overlords (2020)

Core rules: here

Matched play rules, battleplans and expansions: General's Handbook 2022-23 Season 2, plus the battleplans from the Core Book.

Supplement all the above with any Errata and Designers' Commentary from the FAQs.

Allegiance Abilities

Battle Traits

An army that has KHARADRON OVERLORDS allegiance can use the following rule:

STICK TO THE CODE: When you choose a Kharadron Overlords army that isn't a Sky Port (more on that in a bit) Can choose an Artycle, Amendment, and Footnote from the tables below, Alternatively you can roll a dice for each table.

Artycle:

1. Honour is Everything: You can re-roll hit rolls of 1 for attacks made by friendly Kharadron Overlord Heroes that target a Hero or a Monster.
2. Master of the Skies: You can re-roll hit rolls of 1 for attacks made by friendly Skyvessels that target a unit that can fly.
3. Settle The Grudges: After armies are set up but before the first battle round begins, pick 1 enemy unit. You can re-roll hit rolls of 1 for attacks made by friendly Kharadron Overlord units that target that unit.

Amendment:

1. Always Take What You Are Owed: Pick up to D3 different Kharadron Overlord units in your army. Each of those units starts the battle with 1 share of Aether-Gold in addition to any they normally receive.
2. Prosecute Wars With All Haste: On your first turn, friendly Kharadron Overlord units can run and still shoot later in their turn.
3. Trust To Your Guns: Add 1 to the Bravery characteristic of friendly Kharadron Overlord units while they are more than 3" away from enemy units.

Footnote:

1. There's No Reward Without Risk: Once per battle, you can re-roll a charge roll for a friendly Kharadron Overlords unit.
2. There's No Trading With Some People: Once per battle, a friendly Kharadron Overlords unit that have run and/or retreated in the same turn can still shoot and/or charge.
3. Without Our Ships We Are Naught: Once per battle, you can heal up to D3 wounds allocated to a friendly Skyvessels.

AETHER-GOLD: Each Kharadron Overlords Hero, Skyvessel and Kharadron Overlords unit with 10 or more models starts a battle with 1 share of Aether-Gold. Once per phase, you can say that 1 unit from your army that has any shares of Aether-Gold will spend 1 of them. If you do so, subtract 1 from that unit's Bravery characteristic for the rest of the battle, but you can pick a Triumph it is eligible to use and immediately apply its effect.

• Alright this is where all gets tricky. The negative effect does affect greatly the capacity for the Kharadron in exchange for a situational benefit. It doesn´t mean its bad, its just handy for your units to have an extra punch or survivability.
• Mind when you choose any triumph to be applied immediately to consider the odds of such benefit vs the penalty for the bravery (or just play Barak-Urbaz and don't worry about that). On the good side, this army won't lack on the capacity to have things like: re-roll to hit, re-roll to wound, re-roll save rolls, immunity to battleshock or a cheeky command ability for free. (think of all situations where these might come handy and you´ll see how greatly improved the units will be for a short period of time.

Command Traits

A KHARADRON OVERLORDS General in a KHARADRON OVERLORDS allegiance and has chosen to take the KHARADRON OVERLORDS abilities can choose one of the following command traits.

All leaders (save for the Navigator) share the first three traits. Navigators have the first two.

1. Wealthy: Gain 2 Aethergold instead of 1.
2. Tough as Old Boots: +2 wounds
3. Grudgebearer: Pick an enemy hero before the first round, and your General deals double damage against them.

Lords of the Sky: Arkanaut Admiral Only

1. Cunning Fleetmaster: one Skyvessel can make a normal move, or a non-ironclad can Fly High before the first round. Lets ships claim objectives first turn, or bring your FLYING TRANSPORT into broadside range.
2. War Wound: roll a dice each hero phase, 1s: -1 to his hit rolls until next hero phase, else gain a CP. Don't need to explain how Admirals like more CP.
3. A Scholar and an Arkanaut: your army can take 2 footnotes instead of one.

Senior Endrineers: Endrinmaster Only

1. Grandmaster: General heals Skyvessels an extra +1W.
2. Great Tinker: Endrinmaster's Gaze of Grungni now has 3 attacks. This can be combo'd with Barak Zilfin's artefact that gives a +1 on the bearer's ranged weapon pretty interestingly, giving you 3 attacks that hit on 2+ and do D3 damage each.
3. Endrinprofessor: Once in each of your hero phases, this general can use his warscroll command ability for free.

Reader of the Guiding Winds: Aetheric Navigator Only

1. Stormcaller: you can reroll Aetherstorms, to help guarantee an enemy flyer gets slowed or fish for mortal wounds.
2. Ride the Wind: A Skyvessel with this general in its garrison gains +3" Move.
3. Skeptic: +1 dispel/unbinding.
4. Diviner: After both armies are set up, pick 1 terrain feature or objective. Kharadron units wholly within 12" of that terrain feature or objective don't take battleshock tests.

Alchemical Innovators: Aether Khemist Only

1. A Nose for Gold: Each hero phase, Aether Khemist gains Aethergold on 3+.
2. Genius in the Making: Aetheric Augmentation has a range of 18" instead of 12".
3. Collector:If this hero gets an artefact, you can give one to another hero as well.

Artefacts of Power

One HERO in your army (+1 per battalion) can take a relic from the following tables:

Perks of Rank: Arkanaut Admiral only

1. Masterwrought Armour: Ignore wounds and MW on 6+. Solid and good, even if the Admiral doesn't really have the sheer health pool to really notice this a lot.
2. Hammer of Aetheric Might: One melee weapon deals an additional MW on an unmodified hit roll of 6. Your hammer doesn't have a ton of attacks, so it's unlikely to net you big returns, but melee is where your Admiral wants to be so sure.
3. Gattlesson's Endless Repeater: +2 attacks to volley pistol. 5 Shots make you put out almost half as much firepower as a minimum squad of Thunderers, at half range! Kinda alright, but there are more impactful artifacts.
4. Rune of Mark: Before first battle round, pick an enemy Hero. If they are slain the 3 closest Kharadron Overlords units gain one Aethergold share. Weird and surprisingly good. There's essentially no range requirements on this, meaning that you can pick an enemy hero hiding in a corner and if he dies, whatever three closest units, even if they're all the way on the other side, get the Aether-Gold. Do you like gold? Of course, you do, now shoot that Chaos Sorcerer to death.
5. Flask of Vintage Amberwhisky: Once per game during the hero phase, Admiral can heal 2 wounds or gamble with d6 wounds. Big healing potion, either take the safe 2 heal or risk a big ass full heal. You'll be unlikely to live at 1 health, but if you roll that 6 you're probably safe for the rest of the game.
6. Proclamator Mask-Hailer: Once per round, Admiral can use one CA without using a CP. This one's fantastic, as the Admiral's got 4 different command abilities and wants to use them all. The Kharadron aren't really that command-ability centric, but this makes their biggest command point sink (the Admiral's wide array of CA's) much more efficient.

Aethermatic Instruments: Aetheric Navigator only

1. Cyclonic Aethometer: +1 to Aetherstorm rolls. Piss off every flyer your opponent brings by being 83% reliable on the slowing effect, and 33% reliable on the damage. Still reliant on the opponent bringing flyers in the first place, but if they are, you'll punish the shit out of them for it.
2. Svaregg-Stein Illuminator Flarepistol: The first time the bearer's Pistol hit something, reroll all hit rolls for Kharadron Overlords against that unit for rest of phase. Note that this is the first time this weapon hits ANYTHING EVER, meaning that you can't hold on to it for later while still firing that dinky ranging pistol. Save your markerlight for the perfect moment.
3. Voidstone Orb: Once per battle, can auto-unbind/dispell using Aethersight. Hey, the Dispell Magic scroll from Warhammer Fantasy battles escaped into the Age of Sigmar!

Ingenious Gadgets: Endrinmaster only

Endrinmaster with Endrinharness:

1. Cogmonculus: Once per turn, you can reroll a single hit, wound, or save roll for the bearer. The Footslogging E-Master gets Master-Crafted everything. You like rerolls? You get tons of them. Make 'em count!
2. Aetherquarz Monolens: Increase range of Gaze of Grungni to 18". Turn that lovely short-ranged shot into a long-range one! This lets an E-Master shoot out of a ship from long distance, as he's unlikely to have the range on anything he's not in melee with already without this artifact.
3. Seismic Shock-gauntlets: After charging, one enemy takes D3 MW on a 2+. Cool, deal some mortals during a boarding action. Make that Frigate with 10 Arkanaut Company and your E-Master actually a threat!

Endrinmaster with Dirigible Suit:

1. Aether-injection Booster: When retreating, the user has the Disengage and Fly High ability.
2. Phosporite Bomblets: once per battle in the shooting phase, pick an enemy unit within 6" and roll a dice, on a 2+ inflict a mortal wound and roll again, stop when you roll a 1 or target unit is destroyed.
3. Miniaturised Aethermatic Repulsion Field: ignore the effects of spells/endless spells on 3+. The E-Master in balloonsuit is expensive as hell, and burning to death under a torrent of arcane flame or shriveling under the weight of a vicious curse isn't a great way to die. Ensure he lives with this handy powerup.

Aether-Gold Inventions Aether-Khemist only

1. Emergency Ventplates: Once per battle, during the enemy shooting phase, all friendly units wholly within 6" are -1 to hit. Note that you can use this while in a garrison, so if the opponent's bringing great firepower too you can protect the ship you're on.
2. Caustic Anatomiser: Once per battle, each the start of combat, each enemy model within 6" suffers an MW on a 5+. Like the Ventplates, nothing says you can't use this while garrisoned, so fart out that caustic cloud from the frigate's giant base size when you're charged by a big horde of infantry and cut their numbers down a bit.
3. Spell in a Bottle: You can take an Endless Spell from any faction that can’t be unbound (but can still be dispelled in a subsequent turn) and can only be used once per battle. You still need to pay the point cost for the spell but for all the utility this can provide, it is very much worth your time. The endless spell ignores any of its normal casting restrictions, so feel free to pick the Stormcast Everblaze Comet, Skaven Warp Lightning Vortex, etc. (how you throw a bottle on the ground and a comet appear 5 kilometers away is everyone's guess). If you use it to cast Burning Sigil of Tzeentch, you can hypothetically end up with a Chaos Spawn of Tzeentch in your army. Not sure why you'd do that, but it's probably just as planned.

Great Endrinworks

One Skyvessel (+1 per Battalion) in your army can be equipped with the following endrinwork:

Ironclad Major Installations: Arkanaut Ironclad only

1. The Last Word: When enemy ends charge within 3", it can shoot its main gun at it. This is so fucking good. The main guns on the Ironclad are already its best weapon and letting them shoot for free before the charging unit gets to actually fight makes them seriously scary to approach.
2. Hegssons Solutions 'Old Reliable' Hullplates: +2 Wounds. Basic as shit, but making a supertough and easily healable ship have even more health is always good. Plus, nothing crushes the enemy's spirit like 20 wounds on a 3+ save backed up an Endrinmaster or two.
3. Ebullient Buoyancy Aid: Ignore Garrison Limits for using Fly High or disengage. Become King of the Clown Cars! Hold truly impressive numbers of Bioshock dwarves and huck them into the meat grinder of war even faster! You probably don't want to have this many eggs in one ship-shaped basket, but if alpha strikes and the idea of redeploying 800+ points around the battlefield at will sounds fun, go for it.
4. Prudency Chutes: If destroyed, you don't need to roll to see if the passengers die. Impossibly boring, and probably a waste of a Great Endrinwork. Bringing items that only affect minor things when you die is usually not great. Instead, bring something that makes the ship tougher or more dangerous!
   • Alternative take - sometimes it's hard to foresee bad stuff happening, and as each model is rolled for individually when a vessel is destroyed, this could potentially save a character or a unit's special weapon from an ignominious death.
5. Magnificent Omniscope: +2" Move. Basic as shit again, but on a ship as slow as the Ironclad this is still respectable.
6. Zonbarcorp 'Dealbreaker' Battle Ram: Ogre charge. roll dices equal to charge roll, one enemy suffers MWs equal to each 4+. "I charge the Bloodthirster," you say. Your opponent smiles. You fool, he whispers, melee is exactly where I want to be! You smile back, "I roll for charge, adding two for my Great Skyhook. That's a total of thirteen, now to roll for impact hits." Your opponent isn't smiling any more.

Frigates Refittings: Arkanaut Frigate only

1. Magnificent Omniscope: +2" Move. Still basic as shit, but a little nicer than on the Ironclad as this makes you superfast, rather than turning a mediocre speed into a good one.
2. Prudency Chutes: Same as for the Ironclad. Still boring as shit and probably a waste. Just unload your troops before the ship dies, Admiral.
3. Malefic Skymines: Once per battle, at start of combat phase, one unit that can Fly within 6" suffers D3 MW on roll of 2-3 or D6 on 4+. I sure hope you fight a lot of flyers that want to charge you! Otherwise this thing's totally worthless.

Gunhauler Modifications: Grundstok Gunhaulers only

1. Iggrind-Kaz Surge-injection Endrin Mk.IV: Add +d3" to its normal move, or +2d3" but suffers a MW on doubles. Quite good, honestly. Worth the risk of mortal wounds because of the easy access to healing that the Kharadron have.
2. Zonbarcorp 'Debtsettler' Spar Torpedo: Once per game, after the first charge move, one enemy within 1" takes D6 MW on a 2+. Deal some mortals on the charge, plus your bombs for some fairly reliable mortal output. As far as once-per-game artifacts go, this is pretty good.
3. Coalbeard's Collapsible Compartments: Gunhauler can Garrison 5 models. Better in smaller games to move heroes or get buffed by admirals, or deliver a 5 man Thunderer squad with all special weapon options (giving them +1 to hit) right onto some poor unsuspecting cluster of enemies. Or plop a beefed-up Admiral loaded down with Aether-Gold to spend inside for a nasty melee punch.

The City-Ports

Alternatively, a player with the KHARADRON OVERLORDS Allegiance can instead choose to represent one of the Six Major Sky-Ports. Each one has their own fixed interpretation of the code, however, the player is given access to:

• A unique ability
• A unique command trait and artefact (now mandatory)
• The <Sky-Port> keyword
• some Ports unlock additional battleline units

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Barak-Nar: Specializing in unbinding, passing battleshock, generate CP, and spamming Thunderers

• Artycle - Respect Your Commanders: re-roll battleshock test for Barak-Nar unit wholly within 12" of a Barak-Nar hero.
• Amendment - Trust Aethermatics, not Superstition: Each Barak-Nar hero can unbind +1 spells each turn.
• Footnote - Through Knowledge, Power: +1 unbinding roll for Barak-Nar Heros
• Ability: Scholars and Commanders: At the start of the battle, roll a dice for each friendly Barak-Nar Hero on the battlefield or garrisoned. For each 4+ you receive an additional command point.
• Command Trait: Champion of Progress: (General must take) Do not take battleshock for friendly Barak-Nar units while they're wholly within 12" of this general.
• Artefact of Power: Aethercharged Rune: Once per battle you can change either 1 hit roll for an attack made by the bearer or 1 save roll for an attack that targets the bearer to the roll of your choice.
• Barak-Nar unlocks Thunderers as battlelines.

Barak-Zilfin: A Skyvessel specialist port, with Speed, extra endrinwork, and destroying sky rivals

• Artycle - Master Of The Skies: Re-roll hit rolls of 1 made by Skyvessel against flying units.

• Amendment - Don't Argue With The Wind: Running Barak-Zilfin units add +6" instead of rolling +d6".

• Footnote - There's Always a Breeze if you look for it: Once per battle during hero phase, one Barak-Zilfin unit can make a normal move (can run, retreat or Disengage).

• Ability: Magnificent Skyvessels: You can choose 1 extra Skyvessel in your army to have a great endrinwork.

• Command Trait: Master Commander: (Arkanaut Admiral only and must take if the general is one) Each time you spend a command point to use a command ability on this general's warscroll, roll a dice. On a 5+, you receive 1 extra command point. Given your Admiral is going to be spending command points like they're on sale in this new book, the value of this Command Trait cannot be overstated.

• Artefact of Power: Staff of Ocular Optimization: Pick 1 of the bearer's missile weapons. Add 1 to hit rolls for attacks made by that weapon.

Barak-Zilfin unlocks Arkanaut Frigates as battleline.

Barak-Zon: Turn SKYFARERs into better fighters. Makes Skywardens really good.

• Artycle - Honour is Everything: Barak-Zon heroes re-roll hits of 1 against Heroes and Monsters

• Amendment - Leave No Duardin Behind: +2 bravery to SKYFARER if wholly within 12" of Skyvessel

• Footnote - Show them your Steel: Once per battle, in the hero phase, one of your units that are garrisoned in a vessel can immediately disembark. However the disembark is only 3" and must be more than 9" from any enemy which rather badly limits its effectiveness. Sure it has its uses - you can disembark an Aether-Khemist and still use their abilities, and most of your troops will get an extra 1" of movement that turn as they should be able to move in their movement phase too - and if you are running them that turn, the extra movement may be considerable - but generally you won't get a huge amount of extra flexibility from this.

• Ability: Deeds, Not Words: +1 to wound rolls if a SKYFARER and add +1 to hit for Skywardens during melee if they charged that turn. Gotta make sure that alpha strike hurts!

• Command Trait: Bearer of the Ironstar: (General must take) first time general is slain, on a 2+, he is not, heals d3 wounds, and remaining allocated wounds are negated.

• Artefact Of Power: Aethersped Hammer: One user melee weapon gains 2 attacks.

Barak-Urbaz: They are swimming in Aethergold and you should be spending some every phase

• Artycle - Seek New Prospects: Barak-Urbaz units re-roll battleshock while wholly within enemy territory.

• Amendment - Always Take What You Are Owed: At the start of the game, D3 Barak-Urbaz units gain +1 Aethergold.

• Footnote - Where There's War, There's Gold: Once per battle, at end of combat, one SKYFARER unit that fought gains an Aethergold.

• Ability: The Market City: Ignore the -1 bravery penalty for using Aethergold.

• Command Trait: Khemist Supreme: (an Aether khemist General must take this) The general's Aetheric Augmentation effects two units.

• Artefact of Power: Breath of Morgrim: During the shooting phase, pick an enemy unit and roll a dice for each model within 6" of this unit, inflict a MW for each 6.

Barak-Urbaz unlocks Gunhauler as battleline.

Barak-Mhornar: Blitzers, getting right into enemy faces to decimate them.

• Artycle - Seek New Prospects: Barak-Mhornar units re-roll battleshock while wholly within enemy territory.

• Amendment - Prosecute Wars With All Haste: During the first turn, Barak-Mhornar units can run & shoot

• Footnote - Who Strikes First, Strikes Hardest:Once per battle, a Barak-Mhornar unit can fight at the start of combat phase instead of normally.

• Ability: Fearsome Raiders: -1 bravery for Enemy within 6” of a Barak-Mhornar unit. Awesome.

• Command Trait: Opportunistic Privateers: (General must take) the Skyvessel the general is in can redeploy anywhere (more than 9" from enemy units and more than 1" from objectives) before the first battle round but can't move or disembark that turn.

• Artefact of Power: Galeforce Stave: (Navigator only) At the start of enemy charge phase, halve charge roll for one unit within 12".

Barak-Thryng: The most Dawi port, having grudges, revenge killing, and having classic dwarf units + Magmadroths.

• Artycle - Chronicle of Grudges: pick up to 3 enemy units before the first battle round, Barak-Thryng re-roll hit rolls of 1 against the chosen units.

• Amendment - Take Help Where You Can Get It: 1 in 4 units can be any DUARDIN unit, (become Barak-Thryng units, can't be general, don't count for battleline). Very flexible and are a lot of different DUARDIN units to pick.

• Footnote - Honour The Gods, Just In Case: Once per battle, in any phase, hit rolls of 6 by 1 Barak-Thryng unit score 2 hits.

• Ability: Incredibly Stubborn: Each slain SKYFARER model within 3" of an enemy can fight before being removed on 4+.

• Command Trait: Supremely Stubborn: (General must take) Incredibly Stubborn triggers on 2+ instead of 4+

• Artefact of Power: Grudgehammer: (Skyfarer only) +1 to hit for one melee weapon, and unmodified wounds rolls of 6 with that weapon against a Grudge target also inflict D3 MWs.

Warscrolls

The common keywords for these warscrolls are: ORDER, DUARDIN, and KHARADRON OVERLORDS

Leaders

• Brokk Grungsson: (SKYFARER 240pts) 240 points of angry, overpowered dwarfen pain. Eight wounds, a 3+ save, three guns, and with a flying movement value of 12" he's much faster than most of your other heroes who can only footslog 4". He can hit hard in melee - four attacks at -2 rend d3 damage, inflicting d3 MW on a 6 to-hit instead. His command ability lets all your nearby Barak Nar dudes reroll charges. Interesting to note is that while he's the Lord-Magnate of Barak-Nar, feel free to run him in whichever Skyport you like (you just won't get their port abilities for him).

• Arkanaut Admiral: (SKYFARER, MARINE 140pts) His melee weapon has good hit and wound rolls (with re-rolls of 1 against heroes or monsters), 3A, -2 rend, 2 Damage. His attacks are quite reliable. While he has a ridiculous four Command Abilities, only one of them can be used on foot, letting one Skyfarers unit re-roll a charge. The rest require him to hide in a Skyvessel to boost it (letting it run and shoot, re-rolling 1s to hit with the ship's guns, or letting the ship and anyone inside it add +1 to hit in combat). Putting him on an Ironclad is going to see that expensive ship punch even harder. Also useful is that he lets all friendly units within 12" ignore Battleshock, and those within 3" with at least 5 models can must also be used as bodyguard fodder on a 5+.

• Aetheric Navigator: (SKYFARER, MARINE 100pts) He has the ability to cut the movement of one enemy flying unit within 36" into half, there is also a 1 in 6 chance they suffer D3 mortal wounds. He could be handy to mess with enemies like Nighthaunt, and big flying monsters will hate you. The Navigator is also a source of spell and endless spell unbinding without the use of a relic or Code amendment, and he allows Skyvessels to re-roll run or charge rolls if he didn't use his Aetherstorm ability. He also has access to a pretty good selection of artefacts, all of which make him much more useful than he was in the previous book.

• Aether-Khemist: (SKYFARER, MARINE 90pts) The main reason you take this guy letting a Skyfarers unit re-roll wound rolls of 1. The Khemist has a defensive ability too - in melee, enemy models within 3 inches of him suffer -1 to hit with any attacks. He'd rather not be in melee though. Lastly, his shooting weapon is 3d6 attacks on average hit and wound, and -2 rend, a brutal anti-infantry weapon, and just all-around nasty to approach. Stick him in a Skyvessel with some Thunderers and laugh at your opponent's tears. (You can't use his abilities while on a skyvessel though)

• Endrinmaster with Endrinharness: (SKYFARER, MARINE 100pts) A foot engineer that can heal a Skyvessel for D3 wounds every hero phase, a nice addition to any Ironclad. Besides that he's a decent combat character with a respectable hammer that can deal 3 MWs if he rolls an unmodified 6 to hit and d3 Damage at -1 Rend otherwise. His command ability also lets a unit of Endrinriggers re-roll their chances to heal. Between his hammer and gaze of grungni, an Endrinmaster can put out up to 12 wounds with -1 rend a turn, not bad for 100 points.

• Endrinmaster with Dirigible Suit: (SKYFARER 220pts) Now you have a stuntie on a man-sized hot air balloon. This gives the guy a straight upgrade, repair now heals a straight 3 wounds and has two new weapons (a rapid-fire weapons suite and a stronger Aethercannon), as well as a saw that's got a better rend than the hammer, but lacks the chance for MWs. What he gets instead is the ability to hitch a ride with any Skyvessel when they Fly High, making him way more mobile and thus more useful as a direct support HQ.

• Bjorgen Thundrik: (SKYFARER, MARINE 140pts) The Shadespire Warband but is legal for use in AoS too. You get Bjorgen and his unit of four Profiteers. Bjorgen is similar to a regular Khemist but his buff gives re-roll 1s to hit, not to wound. He has one extra attack with his melee weapon over a normal Khemist, but he's still not good in melee. More importantly, he is a named character, so he can't be given an artefact or command trait.
  • His Profiteers are a unit of four: you get a motley crew of one (single wound) Thunderer with a buffed up aethershot rifle, one Skywarden with skypike, and two Arkanaut Company dudes one of whom has a volleygun. Given that a standard Aether-Khemist is 90pts, you're basically paying 50pts for this unit of four mismatched dudes. They and Bjorgen do fit neatly in a Gunhauler with the collapsible compartments endrinwork if you want to have some fun with that (they are all marines so even the skywarden will fit inside).

Battleline

• Arkanaut Company: (Battline; Skyfarer, Marine Min:10 Max:40 90pts) Always battleline no matter which skyport or who the general is. They're rather average in combat and human Bravery, but are a reasonably cheap option for holding objectives since they reroll battleshock and get +1 to hit if wholly within 9" of an objective (and not in a garrison). Their pistols are okay, although short-ranged, and you can also include one of each following heavy weapon per ten dwarfs - Skypike (2"/2/4+/4+/-1/D3), Light Skyhook (18"/1/4+/3+/-2/D3), and Aethermatic Volleygun (12"/6/5+/4+/-1/1).

• Grundstok Thunderers: (Conditional battleline: Barak-Nar Army; Skyfarer, Marine Min:5 Max:20 120pts) Unless going all rifles for the decent range, Thunderers rely on the synergy between the special weapons to do their damage at a 12" range - having at least one cannon, mortar and decksweeper gives those weapons +1 to hit. The unit still puts out a respectable weight of fire, and if everything clicks they can shred pretty much anything that doesn't have a 3+ base save. Their defenses aren't amazing, with a 4+ armor save and 2 wounds apiece, but honestly, it doesn't matter because they're not supposed to be in combat, but if they do they gain +1 attack to their ranged weapons if they risk sticking it out and having Fumigators will help them survive.
  • They are good candidates to have min unit armed with only Aethershot Rifle backfield or placed in skyships with mixed weapons to give them more firepower, as it will get them within 9" (but unit bonuses won't work when garrisoned).
    • Combine the -1 to being hit from the fumigators with the -1 that the Khemist provides and this guys will be durable enough in CC to make use of their 3" ability. It's something worth considering.

• Skywardens: (Conditional battleline: General is Endrinmaster with Dirigible Suit; Skyfarer, Min:3 Max:12 100pts) DUARDIN warriors with a balloon strapped to their backs. Are armed with Vulcaniser Pistol (better Arkanaut pistols with rending) and skypikes (2"/2/4+/3+/-1/D3d). Skypikes' 2" range lets you fight in two ranks, so you can bunch up and present a narrower frontage to the enemy, maybe taking fewer attacks back from them. They can also be armed for shooting with 1 in 3 can get a Volley gun and 1 in 3 can get a Drill Launcher, Grapnel Launcher or Skyhook (all hits hard and either: have extra rend and could deal MW, prevents enemies from fleeing, or add +1 to charge rolls). Skywardens also inflict MW when they retreat or get charged by flyers. Amusingly, it doesn't matter if you only have one left in the unit, their skymines will still roll to damage every enemy model in the unit. Most importantly, like other Balloon DUARDIN, they can redeploy with a ship when it Flys High to get into charge range first turn (Skyhook will help with this of course). They may not be that survivable with 2W and 4+Sv but are good shock assaulters especially when they pop an Aethergold and they can potentially inflict a lot of damage with their 2 attacks that deal d3 damage.
  • Skywardens are melee specialists, so loading them with ranged weapons may not be the most effective use of units with normally 2 attacks, though the mortal wounds they can cause may help discourage enemies.
  • take a unit of 6+, with Grapnel Launcher and Skyhook, charging and holding in melee is easier.
  • Having one surviving Skywarden retreat from combat can potentially hit every close by enemy unit for D3 mortal wounds. If you're reduced to one model in melee, it may be worth burning a command point or aether-gold to auto-pass battleshock just for this chance.

• Endrinriggers: (Conditional battleline: General is Endrinmaster with Dirigible Suit; Skyfarer, Min:3 Max:12 100pts) They ensure that your boats stay up in one piece, and are armed well enough to discourage the enemy - each Endrinrigger has a 12" range 3 shot pistol, and Aethermatic Saws which, compared to the skypikes, are 1 attack but has better to-hit, wound, and -2 rend, making it easier to land those attacks and better statically better than skypikes when fighting 4+Sv. Endrinriggers would prefer to stay near boats and may range it out by taking the same 1 in 3 option as Skywardens. You may want to range things out and stay with the boat with a Rapid-fire Rivet Gun, Drill Launcher and Aethermatic Volley Gun. So broadly speaking, you have two good ways to run this unit: either kit them out for melee, keep the saws and maybe add a grapnel launcher for elite fighting, or tool them up for shooting by giving one-third of them drill cannons, another third of them volleyguns. This will give you a very mobile unit with 24" range guns. Finally, as their main role, Endrinriggers have a chance for each model to repair a wound on a skyvessels if the unit is within 1" of the boat.

• Grundstok Gunhauler: (Conditional battleline: Barak-Urbaz Army; War Machine, Skyvessel, 150pts) A supporting corvette for your airfleet, has a good damage output and movement value and neither are affected by wounds taken, which is good because this thing can negate damage on any other non-Gunhauler Skyvessel within 3" on a roll of 6 (subsequently drawing the fire). It can be armed with either a Skycannon (a rapid fire or big accurate shot option) or a Drill cannon (36"/1/3+/3+/-3/D3d, and on a 5+ to hit will inflict 3 MW), both are equally good choices so just pick whichever you think your army needs most. Like all other SKYVESSEL, they have MW bombs thrown at an enemy that tries to tie it down, able to retreat from anything without fly and still shoot, and they can Fly High, redeploying anywhere 9" away from enemies.

Behemoths

A note on garrisons - the rules for garrisoned units are... lacking in detail, but consider the following. According to the core rules, garrisoned models "can attack or be attacked, cast or unbind spells, and use abilities". Notably lacking from this description is if they can be affected by spells or abilities. In particular, certain spells and abilities require you to check how many models in a unit are within a certain range, which is impossible to check with a garrison. RAW therefore seems to indicate they cannot be the target of spells or abilities unless specifically stated - such as the admiral's Repel Boarders! command ability (although even that ability targets the skyvessel rather than the garrison). Possibly to make up for this, several Kharadron abilities state they can't be used by a garrisoned unit. However, the FAQ's say that, unless stated otherwise, all ranges that would normally be measured to and from a model are instead measured to and from the vessel they are garrisoned in, and confirms that the Look Out Sir rule does apply (although note that is a rule, not an ability) - so does this mean that as long as part of the skyvessel is within range then every single garrisoned model also is within range? This seems to be the way it plays at the moment, but it could definitely be clearer.

• Arkanaut Frigate: (Conditional battleline: Barak-Zilfin Army, War Machine, Skyvessel, 250pts) The bulk of any Skyfleet, a basic transport, and gunboat. It can carry up to 15 Duardin, but going over 10 halves its movement, heal one wound each hero phase, and reroll run rolls. Armed with hull-mounted Aethershot Carbines (12"/4/3+/3+/-1/2D). And it can take a heavy weapon on its forecastle, you can choose between a Heavy Skycannon (have a horde killing and monster-slaying option), and Heavy Skyhook (same as Heavy Skycannon's monster-slaying shell except for shorter range, but also add +2 to charges, so your passengers can drive closer and hit them with their swords and then pull back to rapid-fire them). With Sky High, it can relocate 9" from any enemy models and because Garrisoned units can shoot, you can let several contingents of Grundstok Thunderers devastate first turn with their 12+" weapons. Getting into close combat isn't as much of a death sentence as it has been before. It has six 4+/4+/-/1 attacks and it can generate D3 mortal wounds every close combat phase (so twice per round), and now has a shiny 4+ save. Sure, its not a close combat monster but this and the attacks from the crew inside should be enough to survive until your own movement phase, where you can just disengage and start blasting them!
  • Note that the frigate and Ironclad can only disengage and fly high if they haven't taken too much damage. An Endrinmaster or some Endrinriggers can offset this as they get to fix a skyvessel before it moves, and of course they get a built in heal of one wound a round nowadays too, but don't get cocky, kid.

• Arkanaut Ironclad: (War Machine, Skyvessel, 510pts) A flying Baneblade. This ship has everything: guns, armour, health, troop capacity, this ship makes the Adeptus Mechanicus shit themselves in envy. Carries up to 25 infantry in its hull, with 16+ models slowing it. Of all the clown cars the Kharadron have, this one is the slowest (only a 10-inch move, degrading with damage), but also the toughest and hardest hitting armed with Torpedoes, Carbines and one of three choices of hull-mounted turret: either the Great Sky Cannon, as above, the Great Skyhook, as above, and the Aethermatic Volley Cannon, essentially a minigun Cannon, with 4D6 shots hitting on 3s, wounding the same, and rend -1, a fantastic dakka option. The great skycannon also has its use. Unlike its smaller cousin on the frigate, the one on the Ironclad always hits for 6 damage. 30" range and -2 rend means you can threaten those squishy backfield wizards. GW finally realized that something called "Ironclad" shouldn't die to a stiff breeze and gave it a 3+ save.
  • This beefy motherfucker can party down with the baddest things the enemy can throw at them, and barely feel a scratch. Mangler Squigs, Slaughterbrutes, Gryphons, Manticores, the Ironclad will kick the shit out of all of them and hardly feel the tickle of their ineffective claws. Hardly any of this monster's combat capability is decreased by taking wounds, and it loses absolutely none of it's artillery firepower, meaning it can sit there firing all five hundred and ten points of guns at anything it damn well pleases until it's lost every wound.
  • The Great Sky Cannon is probably the best overall option as it's the most versatile with two firing modes. The Single-Shot cannonball is useful for popping those tiny, shitty heroes that sit in the backline, and for pretty much everything else, the Grapeshot Mode will mow down opponents. It's notable that the Cannonball has a 30" range, and the grapeshot has 24", so fire away from long distances without fear.
  • The Great Skyhook does just as much damage as the Sky Cannon's Cannonballs, but has only a 24" range and adds two to charge rolls instead. Most ironclad probably don't care about charging into melee (having pretty mediocre melee attacks) but if you bring the Zonbarcorp 'Dealbreaker' Battle Ram, you can live a truly hilarious meme. -For lolz add a few Endrinmasters for self-healing and mortal wound output and go demon hunting.
    • Another little thing in favour of a Skyhook since this thing can be garrisoned this can be an effective way to get a big squad into combat faster since they can fight from inside the Ironclad, thus turning two separate charge rolls into just one with +2 to charge. Something to consider.

Battalions

Grand Armada

(90pts, Min: 3090pts Max:) 1 Arkanaut Admiral or Brokk, 1 Iron Sky Command, 1 Iron Sky Attack Squadron, and 1 Grundstok Escort Wing.

"Constitutional Experts", Keep your Admiral/Brokk Hero from this battalion on the battlefield you can re-use your footnotes once per battle.

Grundstok Escort Wing

(140pts, Min: 810pts Max: 2780pts) 2-3 Grundstock Gunhaulers; 1 Arkanaut Frigate or Ironclad; 1 Grundstock Thunderers, & 0-3 units of Skywardens.

"Focused Fire", at the start of your shooting phase choose an enemy unit. Re-roll 1s to hit for this battalion against that unit when shooting this phase.

Iron Sky Command

(130pts, Min: 1100pts, Max: 3100pts) 0-1 Arkanaut Admiral or Brokk Grungsson; 1 Arkanaut Ironclad; 3 heroes in any combination (Aether-Khemist, Aetheric Navigator, and either Endrinmaster); 1 Arkanaut Company; 1-3 units of Endrinriggers

Kharadron Overlords wholly within 18" of the Arkanaut Ironclad from this battalion does not take battleshock tests.

Iron Sky Attack Squadron

(120pts, Min: 800pts Max:) 2+ Arkanaut Frigates & 1 Arkanaut Company for each frigate in the same battalion.

When an Arkanaut Company disembarks from a Frigate from the same battalion it can decide to leave before or after the vessel has moved. In addition, roll 3D6 instead of 2D6 when charging for Arkanaut companies that disembarked from Frigates of the same battalion in the movement phase during the same turn.

• For what is worth this Battalion might be extremely important for a few reasons.
  • 1- Got frigates that are worthy vessels to take in for their point cost.
  • 2- Gives the Kharadron the much-needed flexibility of moving around and disembark wherever the winds take to profit from the maximum use of the boat speed + the capacity to: disembark and take objectives, allowing the short-range weaponry to be within range. And as of last resort, you can make quite some impressive charges that despite Arkanauts not being ideal shock troops, it hurts no one if that charge help finishes some unit off to allow your Arkanauts to capture points. (probably this is the main reason this battalion is really good).

Intrepid Prospectors

(110 points, Min: 680pts, Max: 680pts) 1 Endrinmaster with Dirigible Suit, 1 unit of 3 Endrinriggers, 1 unit of 3 Skywardens, 1 Grundstok Gunhauler (This Battalion is not in the book, but is in the Aether War box set.)

After armies have been set up but before the first round begins, you can move friendly units from this battalion up to 6".

• Actually really good. This battalion's cheap as hell and contains all good stuff. The only real downside is that you can only take the minimum size units of Skywardens and Endrinriggers, but still provides a good package for protecting what is likely your general, and gives you an extra command point, artefact, and a Great Endrinwork all for the low cost of 680 points, and gives all the units inside it a nice vanguard move. Simple, effective, and (I cannot overstate) fuckin' cheap.

Tactics

General Tactics

• The name of the game is mobility and objective taking. With the ability to take an entire army that flys and flies high every turn, it is possible to be anywhere you want, whenever you want to be there. Combined with some wargear and tactics that help to slow your opponent and the long(ish) range of some of the weapons in the army, you should be able to wear down your opponent and grab objectives when you need them most.
• Learn to love your clown cars. You can stuff a surprising number of duardin in each vessel. Stuff 15 thunderers in an ironclad will give you at will deep striking and a wall of dakka to anything within range. Garrisoned units don't count toward holding objectives, but you can still land all over the board, open up the clown car, have the shooty soldiers pile out with the skyvessel between them and their enemies, and freely shoot through your own vessel because it's flying, while being nice and safe from charges, who will have to go through the tough skyvessel first, essentially a less shitty and unbalanced version of the Fish of Fury. (note: units cannot disembark after a ship has flown high unless otherwise stated by a faction ability or artifact; so counting those models toward an objective would be delayed a turn)- with the exception of Iron Sky Attack squadron.(see above)
  • As a sub-note, bringing empty ships is an option, but even stuffing a single squad of min-size Arkanauts or Thunderers into a ship immediately improves the ship's overall performance, especially in melee. The ships have far better range than your foot soldiers, but enemies will be wary of approaching your ships too close or risk being unloaded on by pistols or Thunderer special weapons. No one wants to take Aethercannons to the face.

Barak Nar Tactics

• All heroes may unbind spells, which they do with a +1. Once per game, all heroes may unbind an additional spell. Goodbye spell-casting; if I don't have any wizards, my opponent isn't gonna have any either!
• May also bring additional navigators, which is of dubious usefulness.
• Plenty of abilities that enhance your Battleshock tests, too. This makes Barak-Nar one of the better Skyports for never failing battleshock tests. You're still probably better off blasting your opponent into quivering jelly before they even get a chance to force Battleshock tests on you.
• Best models for Barak Nar: Heroes of any type (They get to freely try to dispell, and they gain leadership-enhancing auras), and big blobs of Arkanaut Company.

Barak Zilfin Tactics

• Aetherspheric Endrins lets you essentially Deep Strike an Ironclad. Fill it with Thunderers, a Khemist, some Arkanauts to be their meatshields and probably some Endrinriggers because this thing is going to be target priority number 1.
• There's Always A Breeze If You Look For It then gives you the ability to move another Skyvessel up the field incredibly quickly to support your Deep Striking Skyvessel (Bringing a Gunhauler 24" up to support your badass Ironclad seems like a good plan all around). Alternatively, you can use this to get your important ship way the fuck out of danger, or into a better tactical position. Never underestimate the power of rocketing your Frigate across the board to somewhere your opponent thought they were safe. Models can also Disembark after TAABIYLFI normally, making it great for quick tactical jumps from which your Endrinriggers can hop out and fuck some shit up.
• Zilfin is the thinking man's Barak. None of Zilfin's powers directly increase your army's survivability, only their mobility, making Zilfin incredibly fast, to the point that most people won't expect it.
• Best models for Barak Zilfin: Any Skyship. All your powers revolve around them.

Barak Zon Tactics

• Show Them Your Steel: Once per battle, in your hero phase, one embarked SKYFARER can immediately disembark and attempt to charge as if it were the charge phase. Not sure why this rule even exists, really - why not just move first and then charge in the charge phase?
• Barak Zon's abilities all revolve around aggression. Their heroes get to reroll 1s when targeting Heroes or Monsters, you reroll 1s to wound after a charge, and you can take a magic item that gives you Always Strikes First.
• Best models for Barak Zon: Endrinriggers, Arkanaut Company with Skypikes, Arkanaut Admirals, and Endrinmasters.

Barak Urbaz Tactics

• Using Khemists Supreme, This lets your Khemists double up on their buffing, making them very useful in a gunline. Sit him next to 20 Arkanauts and 10 Grundstok Thunderers. Buff them both, and let the monster-killing shots fly while anything in range gets shredded. If you like Gunlines, this is the Barak for you, as even in the biggest armies you'll probably need no more than 1 or 2 Khemists to buff your best units.

• You can also completely forgo the Khemist since his nerf and you wont be that bad off without him. One of the great thing about this city is that you don't have to use the master khemist command trait (wether you have a khemist or not, you only are forced to use it if your general is a khemist) and there's no forced artefact either, just an exclusive underwhelming great endrinwork).

• Seemingly the generalist Barak, almost anything works well with extra no-drawback Aethergold.

• Best models for Barak Urbaz: Aether Khemists, Thunderers, Arkanaut Company, Gunhaulers.

Barak Mhornar Tactics

• Make sure you're getting the most out of Opportunistic Privateers. In your shooting phase you select one enemy unit and any of your units who target that unit and are within 3" of your general can re-roll misses. This ability is amazing. It makes weapons that seem underwhelming such as Volley guns much more viable. For example, your Arkanaut Company targets a hero or Monster giving them +1 to hit (now on 4+) then re-rolling those misses with the command trait and suddenly your 18 shot -1 rend 1 damage are going to do some serious damage. This translates well to other units, of course, Skyships normally have weak to-hit rolls, but rerolling misses makes them more reliable, and Thunderers get much more reliable if you take the full weapon array or even just Rifles.
• Our Artycle Seek New Prospects allows you to re-roll battleshock tests while in your opponent's territory. This ability is very dependent on what you are facing. Against other ranged armies, this may be useful as you move up or if you need to secure an objective on the other side of the board. Most of the time, however, it will not be very useful. Luckily we are the only Barak with access to These are Just Guidelines allowing you to swap your Artycle in the hero phase. Some people are saying you must roll for it while others say you may pick so its a bit up in the air at the moment. Either way, it gives you the opportunity to potentially get something more useful.
• Prosecute at all haste allows your units to run and shoot in the first turn. Add in an Iron Sky Squadron battalion for +1 to the attacks of all missile weapons on the frigates. You now have 2 frigates with the firepower of 4 for a turn. Add in the command ability from your general and you have some reliable and dangerous shooting for a turn.
• Best models for Barak Mhornar: Aether Khemists further your Alpha Strike and Target Deletion style very well, letting you enhance your unit's weapons with both an extra attack and rerolling failures to hit against your target. Thunderers, Skyships, and Endrinriggers all get a ton out of this.

Barak Thryng Tactics

• Settle Your Grudges lets you pick an enemy unit after everything's been set up, and for the rest of the game, you reroll 1s to hit against it! Hey look, we have a Grudge to settle with Nagash/Archaon/Alarielle/Celestant Prime/Morathi/That forty man blob of Tzaangors. Great for helping troubleshoot that one thing you know will be really obnoxious, but obviously makes you a little less flexible, and if the enemy knows you're going to bully that one target, they can simply hide it all game and deny you your power (whoever wrote that said it like it's a bad thing)
  • Oh wait, you thought you could only pick ONE target for Settle Your Grudges? Log of Grudges lets you pick 3 GRUDGES INSTEAD! I'm sure that one of those 60 zombies bite off the finger of my grand-grand-grandfather, while that freeguild general refuse to pay a bet after he loses at dices and that fucking cygor is looking mean at me!
• GYROCOPTERS! Always thought that those diabolic and insecure skyvessels make the ancestors grumbling? Go back into the skies with proofed and secure gyrobombers or gyrocopters. Quite perfect for kharadron armies, these little guys moves fast, shoot good and have a really terrifying possibility for deal a lot of mortal wounds. Grab 6 bombers for absolutely flat everything in your way, and finish the rest with frigates and heavy firepower.

• Fyreslayers are also useful. Especially with that deepsteike trick. Note that you need at least eight units to get a combo going which can suck in low level games (not quite true. You can still use Ally points to take the runesmith). All those melee tricks become heinous in the hands of teleporting Hearthguard.

• Honour The Gods, Just In Case: ... This is a little gem. Once for battle, in any phase, you can activate this footnote and for the rest of that phase every unmodified hit rolls of 6 deal two attacks instead of one. Really good for make your shooting phase even more shooty, but considering that you can bring some really good brawlers (like a warden king with a unit of hammers or ironbreakers, that deal 3 attacks each this way) can be useful to use it in the combat phase too, especially for the...
• supremely stubborn: If a SKYFARER model dies, roll a dice. On a 4+ he can attack if he is at 3" from an enemy. This makes the footnot even more dangerous, because you will attack again in the phase when you activate it, making your dwarfs dangerous even if dying.
• Lastly, you get the unique Artefact: Grudgehammer. This lets the hero it's equipped to add +1 to hit for one melee weapon, and unmodified wound rolls of 6 with that weapon that target a Grudge target also inflict D3 MWs. Pretty nice on an Admiral or an Endrinmaster, but probably a little weak on anyone else.
• Best models for Barak Thryng: Barak Thryng doesn't really specialize in any one thing, and is a decent all-arounder who's power isn't necessarily enhancing certain units. Play what you like with this one.

Allied Armies

• Cities of Sigmar: Tempest Eye allows Kharadron units to be part of their army, However we can only ally with units from the Dispossessed and Ironweld Arsenal. The Dispossessed has access to a very solid melee and the Runelord can help counter MORE magic. Meanwhile the Ironweld Arsenal provides cheaper artilery and flyers, as well as the occasional steam tank to help protect those gunlines. Battlemages can be good too, with their generic lore's spells for making your units faster/more durable or just deal mortals wounds.
• Stormcast Eternals: They have Spellcasting, elite melee troops, and can help fill in some gaps in your army. The Sacrosanct Chamber in particular has access to some powerful spellcasting and solid melee troops
• Fyreslayers: Not only can you get some good melee troops, but you can force your opponent to choose between the looming Ironclad or the assive Magmadroth coming straight at them.

Mercenary Companies

• Blacksmoke Battery: You get extra cannons and Gyrocopters, which may or may not be as great depening on how you compare them to our ships.
• Greyfyrd: Fluff-wise, Barak Thryng actually has Fyreslayer allies. Crunch-wise, they provided the melee power that your guys sorely lack. A Doomseeker or Runeson on Magmadroth is a perfect DISTRACTION CARNIFEX for your dorfs.
• Grugg Brothers: Fun and strong, two gargants (if you play in serious formats where the mercenary occupy the allies slot you can't bring the whole trio) that reroll 1s to hit, you can slot this bad boys in the middle of a full sized company of arkanauts and watch your enemies reduced to a pancake by their charge. In the worst case the gargants fall before they can make contact with enemy lines, but this means the other threats of your army are safe and sound. A great hammer for your anvil of steampunk duardin or a great distraction to keep you guns safe the first turns of the game the brothers get a thumbs up.
• Gutstuffers: Are you a melee sky port? Are you tired of your arkanauts not deleting from existence everything they charge? Some ogors will do the trick just fine. The vampire do the job better i think but maneaters are just very fun models and you can make some very good costum jobs, so if you want some fluf friendly and fun models this company is a yes in my book.
• Nimyard’s Rough-Riders: Pistoleers got a nice upgrade with Cities of Sigmar, so if you want mobile and cheap cavalry, might be worth the investment.
• Order of the Blood-Drenched Rose: By god this guys hit hard, and i mean REAAAAAALY HARD. You want a armored wrecking ball just going nuts in enemies frontlines take this. if your list needs some extra oomph in your combat phase don't look further, or just take it for the fun factor,trust me, they are worth every penny.
• Rampagers: Changed from a tarpit to a bulldozer. Not really what you want but this can give you another way to clear a unit turn one so not bad overall.
• Skroug’s Menagerie: A fun option but not exactly what a KO army needs. Sure the Furies can be a great vanguard and hit hard, but in the end you have better ways to soften up your enemies and the other two choices are pretty bad (chaos spawns being VERY random in their damage capabilities and warhouds being weak), sure the chaos gargant is a fun addition, but this group doesn't offer anything KO need or can't do better themselves.
• Sons of the Lichemaster: KO need something to keep their gunline safe, so tarpits are very good and a list would kill to have something to defend ther Thunderers, so a death mercenary group seems very good right? Well, actually the necromancer is needed and with is high point cost you can't bring as much stuff as you would like, adding to the problem the necromancer is useless without the summonable he brings so if the tarpit is destroyed (and trust me, it will) you have flushed 130 points down the drain. The summonable you can bring aren't good to begin with so this is a hard no, look elsewhere.
• Tenebrous Court: You get these guys for the same reason you'd get Greyfyrd Lodge, They have access to magic and also fast units that can catch up with your ships and flyers. Special attention drawn to the Grymwatch, who make excellent monster hunters.

Building an Army

The 2020 Battletome gave these guys a much needed update that makes building an army much easier.

Originally the Start Collecting box wasn’t an overly useful place to actually begin your own fleet, but now with the arrival of conditional battlelines for the various Skyports, this box now serves as a decent starting point for your army. You’ll most likely build an army around one of the aforementioned ports, but as a good rule of thumb, Arkanauts and Frigates will be your best friends and you can’t go wrong with having a couple of them in your fleet.

Age of Sigmar Tactics Articles
General Tactics	Tactics Realm Of Battle Malign Sorcery Path to Glory Skirmish
Order	Cities of Sigmar Daughters of Khaine Fyreslayers Idoneth Deepkin Kharadron Overlords Lumineth Realm-Lords Seraphon Stormcast Eternals Sylvaneth
Chaos	Beasts Of Chaos Blades of Khorne Disciples of Tzeentch Hedonites of Slaanesh Maggotkin of Nurgle Skaven Slaves to Darkness
Death	Flesh-Eater Courts Nighthaunt Ossiarch Bonereapers Soulblight Gravelords
Destruction	Gloomspite Gitz Ogor Mawtribes Orruk Warclans Sons of Behemat
Others	Monstrous Arcanum Legends Old Rules