Kharadron Overlords 2k list needing some advice

[Draffin]

Hey Team,

I'm coming back to Warhammer after an extended extended hiatus (like a decade). I'm kind of unfamiliar when it comes to actually playing with the rules but I have a basic understanding that pitched battles are now objective based. I'm keen to start collecting and building this list, but if you think there are any huge caveats in it then I'd love to hear your thoughts before I shell out the cash for these specific models.

Ironclad	440
em. 10 Thunderers	200
em. Endrinmaster	140
em. Khemist	100
3 Endrinriggers	120
3 Endrinriggers	120
10 Arkanauts	120
10 Arkanauts	100
5 Thunderers	100
Khemist	100
10 Arkanauts	120
10 Arkanauts	120
5 Thunderers	100
Khemist	100
	2000

 

The basic idea is that the army is split into three blocks.

2 blocks are made up of: 2 x 10 Arkanauts w 3 skypikes each, 5 Thunders w 5 fumigators, 1 Khemist. These are here to take objectives and hopefully hold them. There are enough wounds with the Arkanauts to soak up some damage. The thunderers provide close support and hopefully dissuade my opponent demolishing the Arkanauts. The Khemist buffs the most appropriate weapon.

The third block is the Ironclad (w the self healing hull) with embarked: 10 Thunderers (all with Aethercannons (maybe 2 fumigators...i'm still deciding), Khemist (to buff the thunderers), Endrinmaster (with the hull healing artifact) and 2 units of 3 Endrinriggers to support the Ironclad and provide futher healing:

Th idea being the thunderers are the shock unit to get dropped off somewhere useful and knock out the big nasties.

The ironclad roams around with the endrinriggers/endrinmaster just soaking up damage (it has 5 opportunities to heal each round) and being a general nuisance/transporting units.

I quite like the list in theory, but in practice I have no idea how it would handle. I also haven't decided on which sky-port to align to but having double buffs from the Khemists is currently pretty appealing. I think the biggest weakness here is battleshock, so trying to figure out how I can address that.

Look forward to your thoughts.

Cheers

 

[Dez]

Welcome back! I think you are going to love Age of Sigmar and the Kharadron Overlords.

After a lot of reading, theory crafting and now practical experience (my partner and I won a local tournament with team Kharadron Overboards) I'm not liking Aethercannons as much. Arkanaut Company Light Skyhooks do the same work, with more ablative wounds and they are battle line. Throw a Khemist buff on the Arkanauts (my unit of 20 was the bees knees). I'd go Mortars, and I'd also combine any units you can to be bigger so that you get more bang for your buck (literally) per Khemist buff. 

Gaming wise, I am super impressed with Urbaz. Double your Khemist buffs, free artifact, and the ability to have one of your units shoot in the hero phase once per battle is super powerful. So just imagine your unit of 20 Thunders with Mortars buffed to have say 4 shots per mortar and then that happens twice. That's 160 shots! Even if only 80 of them hit, and only 40 wound...multiply that damage by d3 saying the average is 2...80 wounds. 80! I'm not even doing real math, I'm under doing it just dividing in half. Forcing saves works!

I'm getting excited to use Ships, because one thing that Skyfarers need is mobility. Enginriggers combined with a transport are great, and if you are buffing their saws even better! Once again, bigger units and multiples if possible are best due to Khemist Buffs and damage output. The Saws are what make them the Boss, combined with their potential to just leapfrog all over the board. I've been working with a unit of 9 that have 3 Grappling Hooks, so I can just be anywhere I need to be on the board (just an fyi, I used the Grapple every game and only hit an average of once on 3 dice every time). 

 

[Zahaladune]

4 hours ago, Dez said:

So just imagine your unit of 20 Thunders with Mortars buffed to have say 4 shots per mortar and then that happens twice. That's 160 shots! Even if only 80 of them hit, and only 40 wound...multiply that damage by d3 saying the average is 2...80 wounds. 80! I'm not even doing real math, I'm under doing it just dividing in half. Forcing saves works!
 

This will definitely be impossible soon, most likely through the GHB2, so I wouldn't personally advise anyone to plan on keeping those stacked buffs for long; i.e. don't spend money around the idea or you will be sad.  This is just the communities opinion at the moment, but it's clearly OP to stack buffs like that, and is asking for a "Rule of 1" change in the new handbook.

[Dez]

Ah yes sorry I had meant to mention that. However it's still going to be very powerful for Barak-Urbaz and multiple units.

[stato]

Ive not played a game with them yet but bigger units seem to work better from what ive seen in reports, so your 2nd lot of thunderers, the endriggers and maybe some of the companies.  You might want 10 company in the Ironclad with the thunderers if you stick with thunderers in 10's, as it will give them some support when you drop out.

Also, your list is undercosted. You list 2nd company as 100 not 120, sorry.  If you havnt seen it consider using www.scrollbuilder.com to do army lists, prevents mistakes (mostly).

 

EDIT_ just realised its actually 2000, you just had wrong points shown for that unit.

[Draffin]

Hey all,

Thank you for the replies.

@Dez - Yeah i'm trying to avoid the mortar spam. It crossed my mind but as i'll mainly be playing casual games with some friends I don't really feel it'll be the best decision. It's also a good point from @Zahaladune that in the GHB2 that they might amend the ability so that you can only apply the bonus once per unit so I'd rather not commit to it for that reason either. So you think using units of 5 thunderers as support options for my Ark Companies is a bad idea? They were kind of there more as a deterrent otherwise I feel the companies will get eaten up pretty quickly by any opposing melee units. I've kept the endrinrigger units separate as it allows more chances to repair the ship.

@stato - Didn't quite get your point about having bigger units. Do you mean to combine the units that you mentioned? The idea is that the 2nd and 3rd units of thunderers will be in very different areas supporting different units. Which is why they aren't combined.

And thanks for the heads up on the points there, I was messing around with the regiment sizes at the last minute and must have just made a mistake.

 

Has anyone had any success with large units of Arkanauts just roaming around the table? Or do they tend to just get eaten up if they have no support?

 

 

[stato]

35 minutes ago, Draffin said:

 

@stato - Didn't quite get your point about having bigger units. Do you mean to combine the units that you mentioned? The idea is that the 2nd and 3rd units of thunderers will be in very different areas supporting different units. Which is why they aren't combined.

 

I was suggesting something like this, larger strike force in the ironclad, tougher blocks of foot troops.

But if you have an idea for a way to play multiple small units, either to manage objectives or particular enemy units, then certainly go for it.  What i was saying though is general feedback suggest Kharadrons output and durability seem to work best if they are in larger than minimum size units, especially if you are paying for Khemists to buff them. I love seeing people play different ways though, and i certainly wont be playing the static power-gun-line that seems to be becoming one of the strongest ways to field the KO.

Ironclad	440
em. 10 Thunderers	200
em. Endrinmaster	140
em. Khemist	100
em. 10 Arkanauts	120
6 Endrinriggers	240
20 Arkanauts	240
Khemist	100
10 Arkanauts	120
10 Thunderers	200
Khemist	100
	2000