It is that time once again: Another Battletome review for Age of Sigmar. I was actually very pleasantly surprised when opening this one up due to the incredible number of changes that have been made since the faction pack. As most usual, a thank you to Games Workshop for sending a review copy over ahead of time. I’ve also reviewed the new kits which you can find here.

Much to my surprise, points have not actually changed much throughout this army and the new units are cheaper than I anticipated, where points do change at all I’ll call that out throughout.

Kharadron Overlords might be the faction that has changed the most since being released. It feels like every single set of rules they get is a back-to-the-drawing-board exercise in trying to make this army work. Maybe it’s because they’re a shooting-focused army in a fantasy setting or from having the only transports in the entire game system. Regardless, they are duardin/dwarfs/dawi and I love them simply for that reason and this Battletome might make them very fun to play both with and against. Maybe. I think you can now reasonably create a combined-arms approach with some melee punch that was lacking before; yes Skywardens and Endrinriggers existed, but that’s not quite the same thing as what they have now.

What’s Different?

Well, quite a lot actually. This and the Blades of Khorne book we are also reviewing today are easily the most-changed of any Battletomes for fourth edition we have seen. I can’t speak to the Khorne one, that’s not an army that I’ve played with or really even against much, but there are a number of changes here that I really like. Some of the top changes:

• Weapon profiles merged. Gone are the days of arguing over the harpoon or the cannon.
• Ships with better saves. Health is down slightly on these but they all have a 2+ save, much more befitting a massive metal bulwark.
• New Battle Formations. Three of the four are just completely new, replacing ones in the faction pack, while a fourth stays the same.

Faction Rules

Some of these are going to be very similar for returning/existing players while others are wholly new. Very glad to see that Skyvessel Cover stays the same, giving infantry some protection while in the shadow of Ironclads and Frigates; alongside Flying High and Descend from the Clouds being the same as well, letting you put a ship into reserve and have it drop down mid-game.

On the other side, Transport Skyfarers now only works during the Kharadron player’s movement phase. That’s pretty big since it means you won’t be able to cart around units during Redeploy or Power Through moves drastically decreasing the transport’s use of protecting infantry. Gone are the short-lived days of slingshotting units in front of your boat to redeploy-slingshot them back behind it five minutes later. That’s probably a good thing overall; when reading this I thought this was too large of a nerf for the army, but then kept reading and saw the other stuff the army gets and think that it’ll be ok. The real hurt here is that you can’t pick up units that are in combat so they’ll have to retreat first, fortunately a Codewright can help them do that without taking mortal damage now.

The Flagship rule is wholly new and acts as a way to give one of your ships a Great Endrinwork enhancement and also interacts with the Admiral’s Warscroll which has been changed to match this. What’s nice about this is it’s a Deployment Phase ability so you don’t have to commit to your flagship until after everything is set up. That feels odd, narratively, but I expect most people will already know exactly what they plan on taking regardless.

Battle Formations

The only one that stays the same here is Endrineers Guild Expeditionary Force allowing a hero to take an artefact during the deployment phase. Other than this one, the other three that you knew and (maybe?) loved are all gone. Instead we have:

Pioneers and Scavengers

All of your Vongrim units get a 6+ ward while contesting an objective. Adding any amount of staying power to these glass-cannon type units is just nice to have. I do wish it would also work on Skywardens and Endrinriggers however. There’s likely to be a lot of play for these new units and if you’re taking more than a couple of them then this is probably the “right” pick.

Rapid Redeployment Squadron

Gunhaulers in your army can transport two units instead of just one and up to six models instead of five. That seems like a very minor upgrade but in practice it means a hero can tag along with a small unit or, more importantly, a reinforced unit of six Skywardens or Endrinriggers can hop in if you need them to, especially to get them out of a combat they don’t want to be in without taking retreat damage!. Gunhaulers seem fantastic now so in an MSU style army this is a great pick.

Veteran Ground Troops

Once per turn at the start of the Battle Round you choose up to three of your Arkanaut Company units. So long as they aren’t set up or moved all incoming weapons suffer a -1 to their Rend. That’s all attacks including shooting and combat. Basically you plop down blobs of twenty Arkanauts onto objectives and have something closer to an anvil in your army while the rest of your stuff keeps shooting. Considering that’s a reduction to rend and not an increase to save you can also boost a unit’s save further with All Out Defence making one unit very hardy against an attack that would normally remove them from the table; getting to have a 4+ save against Rend -2 is nothing to sniff at.

It’s all very list dependent but this is the one I’m looking at most, personally, I just think it’s great and gives the army something that it’s generally been lacking in.

Heroic Traits

I hope you didn’t rely on or like any of the old Heroic Traits, they’re all gone. All three of them. Removed and replaced. Shrewd Oppurtunists allows this hero and two non-hero Infantry units in your army to make a Normal Move during the Deployment Phase. Best used on the faster infantry, and I think this has some great play with new Vongrim units specifically. If your army is lower-drop and you know you’re going first (by choice) then you can make one hell of an alpha strike with some precision melee. On the other hand you could use it to trick your opponent with your deployment, putting a couple units up on the front lines to move them swiftly back into more relative safety before the game starts. This is easily the best pick of the three unless you’re fielding an Oops All Boats army.

If you want something simpler then Bold as Brass just adds +5 to the hero’s control score boosting it to a total of seven for anyone that can take it. Or, make your hero a Combat Grifter letting them fight twice once per game with Strikes-Last on the second swing. The former is aggressively fine and might help swing an objective to your favour on occasion, combining it with one of the Great Endrinworks so that just your hero and ship have a total score of seventeen might be amusing enough to see play. The latter however is just pretty bad since typically none of your heroes are going to survive being attacked to make use of the second swing and giving up either of the other two abilities is not worth the attempt; the only time I can see this being used might be on a Null-Khemist due to doubling damage against Priests, Wizards, and Manifestations but even then the attack profile just is not good enough to take a heroic trait for.

Artefacts of Power

One of my biggest gripes about Kharadron artefacts was that they were all (until Scourge of Ghyran) once-per-game abilities. Well, one of them still is, but you get some choices now that you can keep using! To be clear you still have access to the Scourge of Ghyran artefacts, the ones below are only replacing the original Faction Pack artefacts. One of them hasn’t changed, either, the Voidstone Orb giving you a onc-per-game automatic unbind. Definitely still useful.

Now the Celestium Burst Grenade sees a return but works during your shooting phase every turn not just once per game. It doesn’t even require a roll of any kind! Simply pick an enemy unit within 12″ and they can’t use wards for the rest of the turn. That’s incredibly powerful. Most armies have at least one unit that relies on their ward save and straight up removing that for the whole turn means both your shooting and melee will be far more effective.

Lastly is Blazebeard and Sons Bamboozling Flakgun and before I talk about the rule, I gotta say that I actually love the name. It’s ridiculous. Once per turn after your opponent has declared a charge within 12″ of the wielder of this flakgun you pick one of the dice they rolled as part of their charge. You then roll a dice and if it is equal or more than the dice that you chose it’s removed from the charge roll. It also works on counter charges which, more than anything, might just entirely put your opponent off attempting a counter charge, which is even better then them doing it and you need to try and roll dice well. The timing on this is a reaction to your opponent’s declaration, which happens of course after they roll their charge, and is after they decide whether they’d like to re-roll the charge or not. This will literally save your units from death and is the one I expect to see being taken most often between these three.

Great Endrinworks

First off this is a little awkward. These fall in line to be basically the same thing as Skyvessel Upgrades from Scourge of Ghyran but they have a different name and work a bit differently. At time of writing you can, as written, have both but that feels really dumb and I expect it to be patched over fairly quickly. Don’t expect to be able to take both but in the meantime go hog wild, I guess. These are enhancements so you get to have one as standard on a ship during list building and then your Flagship also gets to have one as well or if it already has one then it gets to take a second one. Being able to take an extremely kitted-out Ironclad is incredibly cool.

Hegsson Solutions ‘Old Reliable’ Hullplates – grants a 5+ ward against all shooting attacks all the time. Considering your ships fly and so cannot be obscured like your Arkanauts or Thunderers they’re prime targets to be shot at, adding some extra protection to help get up the board is great. Maybe best on a Frigate with less health so you can help make sure it crosses the board and charges in.

Gruksson Wide-Bore Cylinders – a very simple +2″ move for the ship. Also probably best on a Frigate to cross the board, especially with the loss of other move bonuses.

Coalbeard’s Collapsible Bombrack – a boost of +1 the dice roll when rolling for your ship’s bomb racks ability making those mortal wounds go off on a 3+ instead of a 4+ in most instances. An Ironclad gets to roll 10 dice for these and that could be a hefty amount of mortal damage happening. Unfortunately this is the one rule that probably sees the least amount of play due to combat range restrictions and generally slower ships.

Tracer-Fire Rounds – when this ship shoots in your shooting phase, if all of its weapons target the same unit, it ignores all negative modifiers to hit rolls. Just very good. Combine with the Admiral and All Out Attack and you’ve got a ship with an extra shot on all guns, +1 to hit, and ignoring any and all negative modifiers. Expect this to be seen on Ironclads predominantly but kept back as the Flagship upgrade to only be taken against armies that have negative to-hit modifiers against shooting attacks. Being able to slap that on as-needed is incredibly strong.

Grandiose Fuselage – a nice little +5 to control characteristic. As mentioned above pairing this with a hero that also has +5 is very amusing and can make for some very control-heavy models flying around the table nabbing objectives. It’s a fine enhancement and if you don’t “need” any of the others then it’s a solid choice.

Nullstone Galvanisation – at the end of every turn inflict D6 mortal damage to a manifestatin within combat range. Fantastic. Kharadron generally lack ways of removing them outside of the Navigator’s unbind, the new terrain piece, and simply attacking them so having more ways of dealing with them is great. Every army (except Kharadron Overlords) have manifestations so you can choose this as part of your list and probably not be upset about it.

Warscrolls

A lot of changes here and I’m not going into excessive detail here; this is a review not a Faction Focus, which will be coming later after I play more games with the book. The bulk of the units haven’t changed in what they do so much as they’ve been tweaked in some way, while others are just completely overhauled. The only Warscroll that has not changed at all is Brokk who stays exactly the same in all ways; clearly a perfect Warscroll, or so the rules team seem to believe. Everything else has had at least a minor change of some kind.

Heroes

Null-Khemist: The new hero gives a 12″ aura of 5+ ward for all Skyfarer units against mortal damage from Spells, Prayers, and Manifestations. I’d have liked to see this also work against the normal damage attacks from Manifesations since most of those just attack units instead of relying on mortals. It opens up some weirdness too where you kind of hope that any manifestation with Crit Mortals rolls the Crit so that you get a ward instead of making what would likely be a poor save. Also, double the damage of the Null-Khemist’s attacks against Priests, Wizards, and Manifestations. That would be a lot cooler and better if his ranged attack was more than 8″ range I think, but if it is in range then doubling to two damage with 3D6 shots is pretty solid against any of those targets. His clamp melee attacks are fine but nothing to write home about. Will help you lift annoying manifestations, at least. Overall I’m not sure you take him over another hero that does more for your army especially at 130 points.

Admiral: Abilities swapped out to work with the new flagship rule better, now one flagship within 12″ can re-roll a hit of 1 during the phase and any Skyvessel within 24″ can have +1 attack on each ranged weapon during each of your own shooting phases. That’s a massive range that keeps your Admiral more flexible on the table. He does take a ten point increase for that added flexibility, though, but I think is probably worth it.

Drekki Flynt: Now an even better monster hunter with his skyhook ability happening in the combat phase and if it goes off (a D3 roll of 2+) the monster subtracts 1 from all wound rolls for the turn. Nice little buff but still difficult to make Drekki want to be in combat. He’s also the only points drop to be seen, which is fun, with a ten point discount.

Endrinmasters: Attacks and stats for the both remain the same as before but get new abilties. The dirigible suit variant no longer helps Endrinriggers heal things better and instead gives himself and one unit of them Crit (2 Hits) during any combat phase. The on-foot variant no longer requires a dice roll to give a ship the ability to retreat/run and shoot while not taking mortal damage from retreating; that’s a really nice change having the ability simply work. Both can use their Heal (3) ability on the new terrain piece as well as ships, which is nice, but does need the 2+ roll to work. You’re likely going to have a foot hero sitting next to the terrain piece so having it be an Endrinmaster to also heal any chip damage that comes to it could be nice. They do, unfortunately, each see a ten point hike to pay for their new abilities but that’s probably fine.

Aether-Khemist: He gets to keep his really stupid 3D6 shotgun which honestly just rules. Unfortunately he’s been demoted and now only increases the Rend characteristic of Arkanaut Company ranged weapons instead of any infantry unit. His other ability has been replaced and now forces a -1 charge roll for any enemy unit within 9″ as a passive making him a great candidate to hold the Blazebeard and Sons Bamboozling Flakgun above. Making enemy units -1 charge and also possibly removing 1D6 from that roll means that they’ll have a maximum range of 5″ and a solid chance of just completely failing.

Aetheric Navigator: Still the only character giving you an unbind, and it is just the one. I really would have loved to see him also be able to attempt a Banishment as well but that’s not here. Read the Winds ability is entirely changed now allowing you to teleport a ship or Auto Endrin (those are the three little things that come with the new terrain, more below) anywhere on the board along with himself. That ship will not be able to transport any other units, however, and cannot start in combat either. Both aspects of that make this very limiting and I don’t particularly see a massive amount of room for when you’ll be doing that. Maybe with a Gunhauler.

Codewright: This guy came out in late third edition and I just haven’t really liked any of his rules enough to field him yet. Maybe that has now changed. His only ability works in your hero phase, has you pick three Skyfarer units that he can see, and roll a dice for each. On a 3+ each one can pick one of three abilities: gain +5 control score, add 1 to run and charge rolls, be able to shoot after retreating without taking mortal damage. That last one especially is what you’re wanting him for. Flexibility. Of course +5 control score is solid, too, especially if you mix with some of the other positive modifiers to control score in this book; having an Ironclad toe onto a point with a control score of 15 is pretty amusing and probably even somewhat good. These effects only last for the turn though so you’ll lose that bonus when it comes around to your opponent’s turn.

Units

Your bread and butter. Or weevily bread and rum? Ale and taters?

Arkanaut Company: This humble unit has come a long way over the editions. Their volley guns and skyhooks are now simply “privateer heavy weapons” which fire off at 15″ range, two shots each, with a point of rend and two damage; a solid profile considering a reinforced unit will be getting four of these weapons. Otherwise their weapons and stats are unchanged. Their ability is replaced with Grizzled Buccaneers allowing them, on a roll of 3+, to shoot as if it were your shooting phase during the combat phase with aforementioned heavy weapons gaining Shoot in Combat. Now, that’s a combat phase ability which means it happens before any fighting actually happens. Unfortunate that it’s on a 3+ dice roll but very, very, good when it happens. In the right set up these guys will be sitting on an objective with twenty models, ignoring a point of incoming rend, with an extra point of rend on ranged weapons. I really like the look of these but if they end up costing much more than they already do it could be hard to justify multiple large units.

Grundstock Thunderers: This unit feels a bit odd and are more support than sheer damage output. Their weapons are still split as before but decksweepers/fumigators no longer have any rend and aren’t Anti-Infantry any more either while mortars/aethercannons are simply flat two damage. The former makes those weapons far less effective and even means you might want to just skip them entirely for longer-ranged aethershot rifles, while the latter being a consistent damage two makes them more reliable and less swingy. Their ability is replaced and is Once Per Turn (Army) during your own shooting phase, so you can’t use it during Covering Fire or with multiple small units across the board either. Specialist Grundstock Ammunition lets you remove Ward rolls from a unit until your next turn or reduce the enemy’s total control score to a maximum of one. Both are great but you have to shoot with your whole unit at a single target and then roll a D6, adding the number of damage points inflicted, and roll over the unit’s control characteristic. That’ll be dead easy on massed infantry units with a low control characteristic but much harder on larger monsters, while being all but impossible against mega gargants. I can see one unit still being taken with no fumigators or decksweepers, so that all guns are 18″ range and have some rend at least because that control-changing ability is definitely strong against the right units.

Skywardens and Endrinriggers are two sides of the same coin and that coin now has a 3+ save which makes them a bit tougher, which is nice to see. Unlike Arkanauts their ranged weapons stay separate and the heavy weapon is even still D3 damage, why one unit changes and these don’t is beyond me. In both cases you’re still not likely actually taking any special guns because you’d rather they just have their (very good) pistols and be armed with a decent melee weapon. The former loses Crit Mortals in exchange for +1 Damage on the charge making them better at clearing out things with not-great saves while the latter’s saws lose a point of rend, go to flat two damage, and gain anti-charge +1 Rend instead. That’s a shame because Endrinriggers aren’t really a unit that you expect to survive a charge long enough to fight back, but maybe that better save will help; getting to have Crit (2 Hits) on those saws from an Endrinmaster as above is great, though, and might be what keeps them as the better melee unit still.

The Vongrim units are both brand new built from the same dual-kit box and are both much cheaper than I expected them to be coming in at 90 for the Harpoon Crew and 100 for the Salvagers; they can be reinforced for units of 10 models at a very low cost.  They both move 12″ and have two wounds each with a 4+ save as you might expect.

Vongrim Harpoon Crew: Your more punchy and shooty choice between the two, they don’t do anything special or buff anything, you can just send them off on their own and be OK with that, preferably hunting after Monsters probably (as one could expect, they have massive harpoons). At 12″ range they make two shots each that hit/wound on 3+ with a tick of rend and just one point of damage, with an extra tick of rend against Monsters. In combat they’re less impressive with two attacks on 4+/3+/-1/1 only. They’re really cheap to take and can be reinforced too which acts as a nice little harassment unit. In every combat phase if they’re in combat they can move 2D6″ with the only restriction needing to end in combat; so they can leave whatever they’re fighting to go fight something else, potentially making them a nice scalpel type unit to get over screens.

Vongrim Salvagers: Less impressive in shooting, slightly better in melee with the same profile but an extra attack each with Crit (2 Hits), but act more as a support unit. Their combat phase ability (any combat phase) lets them pick an objective within 9″ and roll a dice, on a 3+ all Skyfarers get +1 to hit with combat attacks against units contesting that objective and all Vongrim units also get an extra tick of rend against those units too. So, suddenly your Salvagers are slapping with three attacks each with Crit (2 Hits) on 3+/3+/-2/1 which is a lot better. What’s really nice about this is it’s not Once Per Turn so every unit of Salvagers can attempt it and if you have multiple within 9″ of the same objective then you can have each one try it in case you fail that 3+ roll. I don’t think that you could make it stack for even more Rend, though, since it would mean units are benefitting from the same ability multiple times. I’m sure the comment section will correct me.

 

Ships

Alright this is what you all really care about. And hey: Same. One thing is shared across all of the boats: They have 2+ saves and weapon options are non-existent. It does not matter which gun you’ve stuck on your boat, it’s the same profile regardless. Very sorry to those that liked the massive gatling gun on the Ironclad; it is a thing of the past.

Ironclad: Need to start with the biggest, of course. It’s down to eighteen wounds but with a better save that works out in its favour against anything that’s not mortal damage. It’s new main gun is Great Sky Ordnance and fires at 24″ range with six shots at 4+/2+/-2/3 which is pretty solid. With an Admiral and other means that very easily becomes seven shots and flat three damage is never something to sniff at. Its torpedoes have picked up two additional shots as well but are otherwise the same as before. Unfortunately the Aethershot Carbines are completely gone and have been relegated to a Combat Phase ability if it has been charged to inflict D6 mortal damage on a 2+ roll. Transport capacity hasn’t changed but it no longer has the choice of taking a Great Endrin Work off of its own Warscroll, those are all gone. Overall this feels like a downgrade for the Ironclad.

Frigate: The mid-sized assault boat keeps its role in the army and only loses one wound, down to 14. This one’s main gun is now its only ranged weapon with four shots and otherwise matching the profile of the Ironclad. It still gets to charge and transport units into combat, now inflicting D6 mortal damage on a 2+ when it does, which is a nice boost; that’s only Once Per Turn Army, though, so don’t plan on taking multiple Frigates to inflict mortals with. Overall this is fine. Thankfully it’s the same cost since it’s not really lost much here and its shooting has in some ways just gotten better.

Gunhauler: Of the three ships, this one has changed the most in role; you still have the choice of the Scourge of Ghyran one of course too. Its main gun is only one less shot than the Frigate with the same profile but only at 15″ range so is a bit more limiting. At a 14″ move and keeping ten health with the upgrade to a 2+ save it’s spritely and surprisingly tough. It gets to transport one unit of up to five models (or two units and up to six in the battle formation) and can pick up Skyfarers that are in combat. It shares a similar rule to the Ironclad but rolls a 2+ on a D3 to deal mortal damage against an enemy unit that charged that turn, effectively replacing its Aethershot Carbines. The big downside is no longer giving a 6+ ward to ships nearby meaning you’re not using it as an escort any longer but free to fly around. If this Gunhauler can be reinforced then that would actually be fantastic due to a pair being able to pull up to ten (or twelve) models out of combat across a few units. It likely won’t be since it’s a single model unit but the Ghyran version can and it’d be great to see.

Terrain

I really did not think they’d do it but here we are. I am shocked that this terrain piece is free, actually, because it is fantastic and there’s no reason not to take it.

The Zontari Endrin Dock comes with three Auto Endrins each has a unique role. The Dock sets up during the Deployment Phase as normal for terrain and then its Deployment Phase ability unleashes the three Auto Endrins within 6″ of it within friendly territory, so they don’t get to go outside normal deployment rules really. To start with the Dock, it can repair a Skyvessel within 3″ of it during your Hero phase, a roll that’s made easier with an Endrinmaster next to it making it a 3+ instead of 4+. That could be an easy six health back to a ship between the Dock and Endrinmaster, a third the health of an Ironclad. It also gets to re-release an Auto Endrin that’s been removed earlier in the game on a 4+ during your Hero phase, or a 3+ if there’s an Endrinmaster nearby, which is pretty neat.

You get one of each of the three Auto Endrin models: Nullifier, Stuncloud, and Grudgeblast. Each one moves 12″, has five health, and a 4+ save with no ward. They have a maximum control score of -, cannot be affected by non-Core abilties used by other friendly units unless Auto Endrins are specified, when destroyed does not count as being destroyed for the purposes of any other rules, and are fully ignored for any battle tactics for either player. What they do is fly around, wanting to get in combat, and activate their Combat Phase abilities; which of course happen before any attacks are made making them nearly guaranteed to go off before they can be attacked and destroyed! The abilities are optional to use but they don’t do anything else so you might as well use them but if you do then the Auto Endrin is immediately removed from play.

• Nullifier: Make a banishment roll of 3D6 against each enemy Manifestation in combat range. This is just fantastic. A 3D6 roll averages 10 which is well above the needed Banishment roll for any Manifestation making it incredibly good and hoovering them up and giving Kharadrons some much-needed anti-Manifestation play.
• Stuncloud: Roll a dice for each enemy unit within combat range. If the roll is equal to or lower than the target’s Health characteristic, subtract 10 from its control score for the rest of the turn. Against any unit with more than five health this will automatically go off and can be the difference between taking an objective and scoring more or not.
• Grudgeblast: Even simpler than the others. Each enemy unit in combat range takes D3 mortal damage on a 2+ roll. It’s not amazing but it’s some free damage so it’s fine and the other two are great so it’s hard to complain about. Plus you can just bring it back and recycle for more mortal damage.

Armies of Renown

I have been exceedingly cold on Armies of Renown since they became A-Thing. I like the idea of them, the concept, but they’ve always just fallen a bit short of being cool in practice. This just isn’t true this time around and  I think they might both actually see some play.

Remember that in Armies of Renown you don’t get any of your normal Battle Traits, Formations, or Enhancements. Instead only getting what’s listed under that Army of Renown and they heavily restrict what units you can take too. That means that your ships won’t be doing any transporting!

Pioneer Outpost

In a slightly strange Kharadron army the only ship you can take is the humble Gunhauler; no Frigates or Ironclads. Other than that you’re allowed Admirals, Navigators, Endrinmasters (but only with Endrinharness), and any Infantry units. You still get to take the Endrin Dock but can’t take any Regiments of Renown.

Battle Traits

There are six battle traits which is just insane, they just keep going. First off in every one of your hero phases each of your Auto Endrins get to move 2D6″ and can’t finish that move in combat. So if they got stuck in combat with something they didn’t want to then they can just leave and go hunt after what they’re good at instead; otherwise it’s just extra free movement which is never a bad thing, it’ll help your anti-manifestation one get to where it needs to be especially. Then you’ve got five traits that are keyworded “Code” as in the Kharadron Code which is cool as hell. These all have the same stipulation that they cannot be used if any other Code ability was used that turn and have a term that needs to be met before you can use it. The bonus you get lasts for the rest of the battle, which is fantastic. These are done at the end of any turn so you can stack them up quickly!

Settling Accounts: Only usable if an Auto Endrin was destroyed by an enemy unit, which means not if it destroyed itself, but since melee attacks are not optional super easy to set up to happen. After this, each time an Auto Endrin is removed from the table (regardless of how!) each enemy unit within 3″ suffers D3 mortal damage.

Aggressive Acquisitions: You need to have a Pioneer unit in each table quarter and be more than 6″ from from any other table quarter while also not in combat. And no, Auto Endrins cannot be used for this. After you’ve used this Code enemy units cannot be set up within your territory or within 9″ of any objective you control. The added board control on this one is insane and probably something you’ll easily unlock turn one in most games.

Secure Investments: If you kill an enemy unit while it is within 3″ of your Endrin Dock you get to use this very very good Code. Your Gunhaulers are immune to Rend of combat attacks for the rest of the game. That’s insane that these floating technicals sit on a 2+ save in combat turning them into some of the best roadblocks in the game for things like Varanguard. Incredible. Of course it’s not the easiest to set up since the Dock can’t move but if it’s pumping out Auto Endrins that are dishing out mortal wounds every turn it’s not something that can be ignored either.

Hostile Takeover: Kill an enemy hero with shooting attacks. Easy. From then on all shooting attacks against all of your stuff (yes including terrain!) suffers a -1 to hit penalty. Not going to come up in every game but really solid when it does.

Market Dominance: Control every objective that is not wholly within enemy territory. Relatively easy in the early game probably. Your Dock will replace Auto Endrins on a 3+ from now on instead, which is a 2+ while there’s an Endrinmaster next to it. Combine this early on with your Auto Endrins exploding for extra mortals and you’ll be doing a shocking amount of chip damage with them every turn.

This will take a few games probably to work out what the best order is to get these going, there’s a couple easy ones to get in the first turn depending on how you set up and what battleplan you’re playing and they’re all just really solid abilities. I’d imagine you’d want to try and get the extra mortals from Auto Endrins first to start doing extra damage and then the to bring them back easier in the next turn. If you’re playing against an army with a lot of deepstrikes or teleports then gunning for Aggressive Acquisitions will be key and really mess up your opponent’s plans giving some insane board control.

Heroic Traits

Two to choose from and neither is very good.

Copper Fingers: Once per battle when wholly within 9″ of your Dock, instead of rolling to bring back an Auto Endrin you get one back automatically. It’s simple and with the extra mortals they’ll be dishing out it’s fine.

Territorial Trailblazer: Subtract three from the control scores of enemy units while in combat with the hero. Kharadron Heroes don’t last very long in combat and it’s not where they want to be, just take the other one.

Artefacts of Power

Two here as well, and they’re solid at least.

Rockbuster Charges: Pick a terrain feature the hero passed across and each enemy unit within 1″ of it suffers D3 mortal damage. This works in every movement phase so a Redeploy will get you some extra mortal damage too, which is great, especially considering against your shooting army enemy units will be hugging Obscuring Terrain features.

Thorgsson’s Universal Automation Actuation: I really do love the silly long names these things get with Kharadron Overlords. While Auto Endrins are wholly within 6″ of this hero they add 6″ to their movement characteristic. That’s a passive effect so you can move your hero around to affect multiple Auto Endrins with some ease so they can move 2D6″ in the hero phase and then shoot across 18″ to where they need to be to cause issues. I like this one a lot but both are solid choices.

The Magnate’s Crew

As the name implies, this Army of Renown is for Brokk and company and only has units that can fly. No, really; you’re simply not allowed to take any units that don’t have fly, so all those foot heroes, Arkanauts, and Thunderers are sitting this one out. The coolest part of the army is if you do not include Brokk then one of your Ironclads gets to be your Warlord and gains the Hero keyword giving it access to Heroic Traits and Artefacts of Power, which could actually be pretty solid. You also can’t take the Endrin Dock or any Regiments of Renown, and the Dock I think will be missed here.

Battle Traits

Kharadrons really do love Battle Traits, don’t they? This one also has six.

Loyalty to the Magnate: This is the reason that you’ll be taking Brokk probably anyways. As long as he’s wholly within 3″ of another friendly Infantry unit then both he and those Infantry units gain a 5+ ward which is just very good. It’ll be easy to keep him right in the middle of two reinforced Vongrim units where he’ll be giving them extra bonuses in combat and much tougher to kill now too.

Pay Your Debts: Pick an enemy to be “indebted,” giving all of your army +1 to wound against them in combat. Simple and solid, taking your melee attacks to 2+ wound rolls in most cases.

Bold Moves: A Core Move ability you can use Once Per Battle allowing you to choose any number of Infantry units that are in combat to move 3D6″ as part of an “emergency launch roll” which lets them move through enemy unit combat ranges (and just through units since they all have fly) and have to end outside of combat. They can’t make any Charges later in the same turn but they can still shoot and won’t have suffered any mortal damage like a normal retreat! I’m sure this will at some point come up in game but I’m not too certain how often, it seems aggressively fine as a rule but that 3D6″ move is going to be incredibly swingy and not charging after is a massive downside but still in a better position than simply retreating if that’s something you were going to do.

Cutting-Edge Endrinpacks: In every one of your movement phases D3 Infantry units wholly within 9″ of a Skyvessel get to double their Move characteristic. This sort of replaces the transport rule since your boats aren’t doing that in this army and that extra movement is very good but D3 of them is a bit rough and not something you can plane too well for all the time. But when you do roll that big number three turn one and just launch Brokk and two units straight across the board it’ll be very amusing. For you, that is, much less amusing for your opponent probably.

Invictunite-Lined Hull: Another Once Per Battle one used during your Opponent’s Hero Phase this time. You choose a ship, roll a D3, and for the rest of the turn all attacks against that ship subtract rend from their attacks equal to that D3 roll. That’s fantastic. The ships are already tougher on 2+ saves and this will make one nigh on invincible the turn you really need it to live.

Constant Barrage: Once Per Turn (Army) during your own Shooting Phase pick an enemy that had any damage points allocated to it in that phase. Until the start of your next turn each time that unit moves within 10″ of a friendly unit they suffer D3 mortal damage on a 2+ roll. This is OK. Your opponent can choose to attempt a 10″ charge with a unit or suffer some mortals before getting closer but it’s only a couple points. That’ll be when they finish a move and then their charge unless they have other ways of moving during their own turn but if they take the double then it could happen up to four times, which is certainly amusing.

Heroic Traits

Two to choose from and remember that if you have an Ironclad as your Warlord it can take one.

Master of Discipline: Whenever an infantry unit wholly within 12″ uses Redeploy you can re-roll the dice. Fine and solid enough, the better of the two probably and on an Ironclad is a massive aura.

Flanking Fire: Ships add 1 to hit rolls when shooting at enemies in combat with this hero. It’s fine but it’s not a place you want to be really to start with since Kharadron heroes don’t last too long in combat. If you have an Ironclad warlord then it could be an OK choice to help clear space for your Ironclad. Really though this isn’t why you’re taking this Army of Renown.

Artefacts of Power

Again, two, and these are actually much better than the Heroic Traits. Once again an Ironclad Warlord can have one, which is maybe the best case to be made for doing that.

Aerodynamism: If the model moved this turn subtract 1 from all hit rolls against it for the rest of the turn. You’ll be spending that command point to Redeploy for certain each turn then but having an Ironclad be -1 to hit is fantastic and worth the command point. Less good on an infantry hero, though.

Guns for All Occasions:- At the end of every turn, one unit in combat with this hero suffers D3 mortal damage. If you’re going to be in combat you might as well be dishing out some extra mortals.

Regiments of Renown

Similarly with Armies of Renown, the vast majority of Regiments of Renown have just fallen a bit flat for me but I think these are both very thematic and actually decent to consider in another army. Probably in a list that otherwise lacks the high speed mobility or ranged attacks that these offer. I do like that these are cross-grand alliance at least a little, playing into the privateering nature of Kharadrons.

Drekki’s Privateers

Just Drekki, 10 Arkanauts, and a Frigate (the Aelsling, of course). You can take this with:

• Cities of Sigmar
• Daughters of Khaine
• Fyreslayers
• Idoneth Deepkin
• Lumineth Realm-lords
• Seraphon
• Stormcast Eternals
• Sylvaneth
• Ogor Mawtribes

It’s probably a great pick for Ogors, actually, and is at least very amusing to sling a boat and some dwarfs alongside them. It does come in at an even 500 points which, for some armies, could be competing with a Mega Gargant for that space.

You can set up all the units in reserve and deepstrike them together, bringing in the ship first and setting up Drekki and the Arkanauts next to it and still more than 9″ from enemies. The whole regiment gets +1 to hit and wound rolls for shooting attacks against enemy units that are within 6″ of an enemy holding an enhancement which is just fantastic. The Aelsling has a health of 17 but as printed it says “17 instead of 15” while Frigates now normally have 14, not 15, so I’m not sure if it should be 17 or 16; until any kind of FAQ play it as 17 if you’re taking this.

Sky-Port Profiteers

A Codewright and two units of five Thunderers. Simple. You can take this with:

• Cities of Sigmar
• Daughters of Khaine
• Fyreslayers
• Idoneth Deepkin
• Lumineth Realm-lords
• Seraphon
• Stormcast Eternals
• Sylvaneth
• Ogor Mawtribes
• Ossiarch Bonereapers
• Soulblight Gravelords

This one’s a bit strange because each of the three abilities are all commands so it costs you one of your few, precious, resources to do anything special with these guys. Given their relatively short movement I’d recommend building the Thunderers so they just have 18″ ranged weapons, forgoing the Decksweepers and Fumigators which are also just not very good. One unit, of course, can switch off Wards on an enemy unit which is never a bad ability to have at a 22″ threat range. You’ll be paying 290 points for the privilege. Those abilities you an pay to use, however:

Supplies Don’t Come Cheap: Pick a terrain feature within 18″ and visible to the Codewright in the Hero Phase and roll a D3 for each friendly unit within 3″ of it. On a 2+ Heal as much as you rolled for each unit. It’s fine but spending a command point to potentially do nothing never feels good, would have much preferred this to be a flat D3 roll without the 2+ part.

No One Rides for Free: During your Movement Phase pick a friendly (doesn’t have to be Kharadron) Infantry unit with up to 10 models wholly within 9″ of the Codewright and not in combat to teleport anywhere on the table more than 9″ from all enemies. This is just fantastic. Imagine teleporting a reinforced brick of Stormcast infantry somewhere very inconvenient, or a blob of Ironguts. Probably the ability you’ll use most of the three.

Long-Range Support: During your Shooting Phase pick an objective within 15″ of the Codewirght that doesn’t have any friendly units contesting it. Roll a dice for each enemy unit contesting the objective and if you roll over their health characteristic then inflict mortal damage equal to the roll. It’s a bit to set up to make sure your Codewright is in range and you’re probably only getting the chance to use it if you’re going second during the first battle round. Strangely restrictive and most often times probably not worth a command point either.

This one I like less than Drekki’s but there might be some niche scenario when one of those armies wants exactly this mix of Kharadron units as support. If you have an idea of where this is going to be very good or taken often then I’d love to hear it.

New Spearhead

If you haven’t given Spearhead a proper try yet then you’re certainly missing out. I was genuinely surprised how much I liked it when I first played and then went on to be invovled in a long-running league after. As with other Battletomes this is a new Spearhead that does not replace the previous one but just gives Kharadron Overlords a second choice and assumedly will be coming with a box set as well. In composition you get:

• Endrinmaster with Dirigible Suit
• 5 Grundstock Thunderers (one of each special gun)
• 1 Grundstock Gunhauler
• 3 Endrinriggers (one volley gun and one skyrigger heavy weapon) with Reinforcements

It’s unfortunate that the only would-be melee unit in the spearhead is forced to take two guns, replacing their aethermatic saws, but at least they’ll come back to the table once after being killed and are fast. All in all it’s a very shooty Spearhead that’s going to want to stay at range as best they can and use the Gunhauler to take the brunt of charges while infantry run around doing tactics and shooting.

The Gunhauler Escort Battle Trait makes all of your infantry -1 to be hit while wholly within 6″ of the Gunhauler. A really simple but very good bonus in Spearhead where there are often no ways of adding positive modifiers to hit rolls. You get a choice between Rapid Relocation to teleport your Gunhauler or Endrinriggers once per game in your movement phase or Propeller Downdraught forcing a -1 on all enemy charge rolls within 9″ of your Gunhauler. Both are great, the former because placement is key in Spearhead for scoring even though the board might look small and the latter because there are so few ways of re-rolling a charge that an extra -1 could mean the difference between victory or defeat against a melee-focused force.

The Endrinmaster can take one of four enhancements. A once per game Strikes First, +2 Control Score (for four total), taking one less mortal damage when retreating, or turning off wards in the combat phase on a 3+ roll. All are pretty solid and you get to pick this after knowing what you’re playing against since it’s Spearhead so don’t have to lock in. While his melee attacks aren’t amazing being able to Strike First when being charged could wittle down an enemy unit enough that he can survive while extra control score can be the difference between taking an objective or not; these are probably the best two between the bunch since you don’t want to be in combat in the first place.

The units themselves aren’t too different from their “normal” counterparts with abilities being replaced instead. The Gunhauler is not able to transport models and the Endrinmaster heals the ship but for D3 health on a 2+ instead. Thunderers pick an enemy unit that they damaged with shooting and subtract D6 from their control score which is very good in this scale of game, lasting until the end of the turn. The Endrinriggers get to roll a dice and on a 3+ move during the enemy player’s movement phase and get to move their full 12″ when they do which is incredibly strong but on a 3+ roll not something to be relied on!

Avast Ye, Me Grudgings

Kharadron Overlords continue to be the most-changed army from edition to edition and I think that they have finally landed in a place that is both fun to play with and not overwhelming to play against. Unless they’re far too cheap but that can be ammended later.

This army can play as a sort of combined arms with solid shooting as ever but now with some actually-decent melee options as well. If you want to lean in on any element I really think you can and have fun with it. I’m very glad to see some Armies of Renown that you might actually consider taking, personally I’m very interested in Brokk’s army.

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