sloane_paints_stuff

Had my first game using KO couple weeks ago to test vs Stormcast. Very shooty list consisting of 4 units of Raptors and a ballista. Also had some evocators, liberators and a prime and deep striked most of it. This is going to be stuff you most likely already know but here's a quick recap. I ran: Mhornar 2 khemists, 1 with earbuster, trait I cant remember Ironclad with last word on gatling Frigate 9 riggers with 2 grapnels 15 thunders, all with rifles 3 x 10 ark co (6 hooks, 3 gatling) The game was very shooting phase orientated. I got turn 1 and cleared out 2 units of 5 liberators, 1 from buffed thunderers, 1 from buffed riggers. Then it was all down hill from there. His shooting units showed up and out-shot my shooting, 5 evocators schooled the 9 riggers in close combat (had to charge them to tie them up and attempt an objective grab) and the ships basically deployed and sunk. He had magic and it hurt a lot. Key takeaways: Frigate is only good when they don't know what it does. He thought it would do damage (did 2 wounds before sinking) so focused on that and said if he'd known wouldve targeted thunderers instead. We have 1 chance to do damage, which is why Mhornar is so good. Get as much as possible into range and hope your guns dont miss. As soon as they get a turn and return fire/counter charge its all over. No mw protection meant his comet just erased the arkanuats, 1-6 mortal wounds then the rest ran away. Grapnels very situational, we can't go near a unit at all at any point in the move so I'd ditch them for drills or more saws. Ironclad is clutch. Still not worth it's points but did actually put in work. With the d3 mw footnote, the ironclad survived the turn 3 celestant prime charge and hit back killing it and protecting the back line. What i'd change: Replace thunders with more ark co. They didnt put much work in at all despite the khemist buffing them. a 30 man unit of Ark co wouldve done a lot better (I just dont have them yet) Ditch the frigate. It might be good in the battalion to one drop it all but still not that worth it, especially considering it could be another 6 riggers for same cost. I actually think an admiral and a navigator would be better than the 2nd khemists if it could fit. 2nd khemist buffed riggers once then they flew off and he did nothing more than buff 3 hooks, which ran away anyway haha. The admiral battleshock immune ca would actually be clutch if running more ark co, and the navigator unbind would also be nice because mws really hurt Ditch grapnels, 12" move is quite enough and they're too situational on terrain to be reliable now we cant fly over things Relying on shooting isnt good enough so I think some close combat will help. Thinking Brokk and frens Positives Fun to use for sure, I had to think very tactically and apply all I knew about deployment shenanigans to get the upper edge. Almost won on objectives till I was tabled on turn 4 lol Guns make them scared. He kept his heroes very close to units and behind things so never got them too involved and over committed to things like the boats because of potential threat. They look amazing! Thanks for reading

They are from last year, there are still some floating around if you look on ebay, maybe even the gw site still has them?

Yea there were some design flaws in them for sure. But I wouldn't give up! It's not unheard of for a faction to have a certain meta build at a time. Tzeentch had a time where all you played were skyfires and GW probably didnt intend for that hence the handbook changes. They want us to use a balanced list of ships so i'm hopeful we'll see some changes in times to come

Battleforce is definitely the way to go, i'd get one of them, 1-2 start collecting boxes, a khemist and 2 boxes of arkanauts. Then you can get an ironclad/riggers or another frigate depending on how you wanna go with the build. It's not as cheap as some other factions but certainly cheaper than some other too. Not to mention the coolest so there's that

I've gone with double supports on all my bigger ships but the hauler is so far so good!

I don't doubt skyhooks are the superior weapon choice, even the volleygun is probably better if buffed to hit. But i think there's a solid argument for a melee unit of arkanauts in the meta of things screaming across the table at you in lightning speed. Being able to hold your own or ward off a charge at your boat would be a handy trick up your sleeve. Being charged before you have the chance to use your skyhooks is a real possibility. So like you say, can screen with the melee unit and keep the ranged units behind is you need to be defensive. Or buff them with a khemist and just ruin a unit of your choice

I also think it would surprise a lot of people to have the arkanauts come to them in combat. It could also make use of the admirals CA if you went that way and from memory there a lot of untapped melee boosts from the other skyports that might even be better than mhornar in this scenario..?

What are we thinking of skypikes on arkanauts? I have lots left over from all the arkanauts and riggers and seems a shame to not use them. Going to be making a blob of 30 arkanauts and with 2" range, khemist, mhornar run and shoot, brok run and charge, alongside some riggers it'd be a very dangerous assault

Great review, a breath of fresh air to see some positivity! I personally think Mhornar trumps Urbaz because of the alpha strike potential being able to take out some key targets first turn, but there is a solid argument for the shenanigans of urbaz, especially in a longer drawn out game and in certain missions. Also seeing a lot more big units of arkanauts which makes me think I need to get some more haha! Just going to wait to see what January errata will bring for us before I go investing in any more haha would love to see thunderers as KO battleline Outside of KO artefacts have we seen any other great combos of realm artefacts? I've explored them for other factions like Ironjawz and Slayers, but i'm yet to dabble into the KO interactions

It's really sad, i agree, that the most viable way to play them is to do just this, khemist + riggers/skyhooks. Let's be real, most of us came for the ships and then to discover the ironclad is really a tinclad and the frigate and gunhaulers are fancy flying coffins. Really wish they got a slight buff in some way. It's like thats how they wanted KO to be played but didnt let the scrolls represent that goal

I'm of the mind that no distance is a safe distance anymore so getting 1-2 shots with your cannon before it's locked in combat is good enough. The gunhauler should be your screen for other units anyway in my opinion. Use it to block people charging your frigate or squishier arkanauts etc because it has the mines

Thank you so much ☺️☺️☺️

Ah awesome! that's most of the hard yards all done! Well on mine i used a lot of rust and verdigris on my hull and in and around all the metal bits and bobs as well as scratches and dents. It helped me to get through and finish it while still enjoying it

Oh its definitely a big project! My tip (if it's up your alley) is abuse some weathering. I found it kept it fun and took the pressure off such a big thing. I also did the crew seperate, the balloons too, and just tried to do as much in smaller instalments as possible. All the best mate! Its worth the effort!

Yea there are options if you really want to push it into magic but honestly there's not a lot that we'd want from a spell caster outside of clutch dispells. We get a lot of buffs on our own as is It's hopeful and probably clutching at straws but rumours abound of new tomes keep my fyre stoked haha It's not going to stop me finishing my 2k fyreslayers list though of course!

So you think it's more a case of "its a faction you can see a mile away with no new tactics, very predictable and any competitive person would know how to counter in a tournament setting" rather than the usual "we have no magic so we're useless this meta"? Because I definitely am inclined to agree with you! I don't think on paper slayers are all that different to how we were last edition, its more just a case if you want to win a tournament (and B&G is a big deal tourny for competitive types) you'd take the more competitive factions. As someone who has played a fair bit of competitive games run by a smart company i'm no stranger to revolving meta to up sales and what not but oh man do I hate it! haha i'm a romantic at heart and just want to run my beloved dwarfs and not feel like i've handicapped myself by running them despite taking the most tactical list I can formulate. Maybe narrative is for me haha

Only one Fyreslayers player at Blood and Glory... why no representation? Is the uphill in 2.0 that steep for us?

Just finished my first Ironclad! OMG they're so much fun!!! I have another one, and I think it's silly to run 2 in 2,000pts, but just try and stop me!! Help me make a list with with 2 ironclads that won't suck hahahaha hope you like it btw!