DavionStar

I feel like doing some more theory crafting. This isn't a "This is my list of ways to save the balloon dorfs", but more of a thing for my own entertainment. So here are some changes, and one new unit. It might not be fully balanced, and it's not my intent to make anything OP. So if anyone wanted to, you could suggest adjustments to make my updates more reasonable. Brokk Grungsson: - If this unit is a General, Skywardens become a Battleline Unit Note: The betophatted dorf is good as is, but I like the idea of him allowing his Balloon buddies to become Battleline. Arkanaut Admiral: - If this unit is a General, Arkanaut Marines become a Battleline Unit Notes: Same as Brokk but the Admiral would get my new unit seen below. Aetheric Navigator: - Aetherstorm: If the Navigator uses this ability, the Move of enemy fliers is halved without a roll. In addition, on a roll of 4 or more, any enemy fliers that move while this ability is in effect take D3 Mortal Wounds. - Aetherboon: (New Ability) Any friendly Skyfarer units within 12" of the Navigator gets +1" to Move. Skyfarers with Fly get +2" to move. Notes: The Navigator I think could use a boost. Making Aetherstorm more reliable and also possibly do damage would increase their use. And a general speed up to the army as a whole would be helpful as well. Aether Khemist: - Atmospheric Isolation: Increase range to 5" - Deny the Winds: The Khemist can unbind a spell in the Hero phase. Note: Just an increase to debuff range to allow them to stay a touch further away and to give another Unbind option. Endrinmaster: - If this unit is a General, Endrinriggers become a Battleline Unit - Change Save to 3+ - My Baby!: (New Ability) The Endrinmaster gets +2" to move if moving towards a SKYVESSEL Notes: I think the master could be slightly more beefy. And the ability...I just thought it'd be funny, tbh Arkanaut Company: - Aim and Fire!: (New Ability) In each of your hero phases, you can use this ability. When using this ability, the Arkanaut Company rerolls 1s on Hit and Wound for Missile attacks, but they lose the ability to Charge or Run. - Yarr, wazzoks!: (New Ability) In each of your hero phases, you can use this ability. On a successful Charge, Arkanaut Company models get an extra attack with their Arkanaut Cutters and Skypikes. Notes: I'd love to see our company units play more on their strengths of having guns and blades both. So this way they can focus for a turn and get a bonus. But you have to pick at the beginning of your hero phase. You can't do both. Arkanaut Ironclad: - Change Wounds to 20 - Change Save to 3+ - Add Move reductions to the Wound table Notes: A general 'beef' upgrade to make the Ironclad take more damage. But if it does, well, it ends up being an almost stationary gun platform. Arkanaut Frigate: - Change Save to 4+ - Evasive Maneuvers (New Ability): In each of your hero phases, the Captain of an Arkanaut Frigate can give this order. If they do, after recieving wounds (not mortal wounds) from an enemy unit, the Frigate may move D3" away from the enemy unit. If it does so, it cannot fire this turn. This ability can not be used in the same turn as All Hands to the Guns Notes: Up the save cause it's a metal boat for Grungni's sake. The new ability increases its survival at the expense of not being able to fire. Grundstok Gunhauler: - Do an Aileron Roll! (New Ability): The Gunhauler may re-roll saves against Missile attacks - Evasive Maneuvers: Same as Frigate Notes: I figure if the Gunhauler is supposed to be a 'fighter' it should be able to dodge ranged attacks better. But if there are enemies in its face, it's another story. Grundstok Thunderers: - Drillbill: Same as before but if the unit is 10 or more, the enemy charging unit takes D2 mortal wounds on a 2+. 20 or more, D3 mortal wounds on a 2+. Note: Just something to boost the humble attack birb in larger Thunderer units. Endrinriggers: - Endrinriggers can choose 2 of the same special weapon per 3 models in the unit. - Rapid-fire Rivet Gun updated to 3+ to Wound - Aethermatic Saw is updated to 4+ to Hit and 3+ to Wound - Aethermatic Volley is updated to 3+ to Wound. - Endrincraft: if the Endrinrigger unit has 9 or more models, the Skyvessel heal is increased to 2 Wounds healed. Notes: This is an attempt to make Riggers more of a ranged unit, and in addition make having a large unit be more beneficial to help healing ships. Skywardens: - Increase to 3 Wounds each model - Skywardens can no longer wield Aethermatic Volley Guns or Drill Cannons. They can still carry Skyhooks and Grapnel Launchers. - Aethermatic Hammer (New Special Weapon): 1" Range, 2 Attacks, 3+ to Hit, 3+ to Wound, -2 Rend, 2 Damage. - Skymines: Causes mortal wounds on 5+ Notes: This is an attempt to make Wardens more of a melee unit, and boost their anti-charge abilities. Arkanaut Marines (New Unit): - 100 cost - Comes in units of 5 or more - 2 Wounds, 4" Move, 7 Bravery, 4+ Save - Arkanaut Battleaxe: 1" Range, 2 Attacks, 4+ to Hit, 4+ to Wound, -1 Rend, 1 Damage - Security Officer: The leader of this unit is the Security Officer. A Security Officer makes 3 Attacks rather than 2. - Honor Bearer: Models in this unit can be Honor Bearers. You can re-roll battleshock tests for a unit of Arkanaut Marines that includes any Honor Bearers. - Aethermatic Buffer: Arkanaut Marines have, as a part of their armor, a device that provides a temporary shield of Aethermatic energy. If this unit has been charged and receives wounds or mortal wounds this turn, roll a die. If the result is 6 or higher, the wound is ignored. If the unit had 10 models at the start of the phase, add 1 to the result. Notes: A dedicated tanky unit and Battleline if you take an Admiral. Pure melee and gets extra protection if charged.

It's not a very good photo, but here's my first company complete! (There's really no room in my house with good lighting.)

Has anyone ever Mathhammered the effectiveness of our anti-charge damage? Bomb Racks, Skymines, Drill bills, etc?

Excellent to see some positive KO talk! I've got all the models for my 1k army now. Gonna finish painting my first company tonight and get a bunch more assembled this week! Learning more and more from all you guys and hoping I can find a place to actually play this. XD My local shop seems to mainly do 40k, but there is a GW store not terribly far away

These are amazing~

I think an unfortunate reality for us right now is we need allies to help us out a lot. I think Fyreslayers are in a similar boat from what I'm reading. Well, 'need' may be a bit strong but they REALLY help right now. Hopefully we get some changes and new units where we won't need it in the future. Until then, well, kitbashing is always an option. I've seen a few cool Duardin Stormcast bashes out there. At least they won't have to be tall humies that way. Or just like, give a Navigator a staff and boom. Wizard hero. (As long as the base is the same size.) At any rate, we're a brand new army. We have room to grow.

It begins!

@cofaxest That's a very interesting list. I think I'll hold onto it for now, but I'm going to go with the modifications to my last list that @Baron Wastelands helped me with. Partly because it'll require the least amount of new purchases on my part. XD And I really want to try it out. But I'll definitely save yours for later. In short, here's the new list. I combined the Thunderers for more chances to get buffs off of the Decksweepers from the Khemist maybe? Barak-Zon: There's No Trading With Some People Admiral (General) Rising Star, Aethersight Loupe Endrinmaster Khemist 10 x Arkanauts with Skypikes 10 x Arkanauts with Volleyguns 10 x Arkanauts with Volleyguns 30 x Vulkite Berzerkers with Warpicks and Slingshields 20 x Thunderers, with Decksweepers, Aethercannons and Mortars 6 x Riggers with Volley Guns and Drills 1 Frigate with Sky Cannon and Self-healing Hull

@Baron Wastelands Ah, I thought you could put a small number of units on a Gunhauler for some reason. But I think with that set up it won't matter cause then the Riggers could just go with the Frigate then and won't take up space. The two ships were gonna work in tandem anyways. So, hmm. I could put the Riggers in one unit, that's not a problem. I'd need points to put the Khemist in...maybe swap out the Battlesmith. If I take out the Gunhauler I can get 30 Vulkites. Put them in one big unit instead of separating. That'll help out with their "I'm too angry to die" rule as well. Or say no to the Vulkites and get 40 Dispossessed Warriors instead like said above. (Though if I do that I might just get 40 Vulkites and have them be Warriors in rules, but fluffwise they'll be Fyreslayers cause of some story plans I have)

Alright. Thanks everyone. I've finally thrown together a new 2k list. I think it's better than the last one I tried. Though no one said anything in favor of it, I've included some Fyreslayer allies. Allegiance: Kharadron OverlordsSkyport: Barak-Zon- Additional Footnote: There's No Trading With Some PeopleLeadersArkanaut Admiral (120)- General- Trait: Rising Star - Artefact: Aethersight Loupe Endrinmaster (120)Battlesmith (120)- AlliesBattleline10 x Arkanaut Company (120)- 3x Skypikes10 x Arkanaut Company (120)- 3x Aethermatic Volley Guns10 x Arkanaut Company (120)- 3x Aethermatic Volley GunsUnits3 x Endrinriggers (120)- 1x Aethermatic Volley Guns- 1x Drill Cannons3 x Endrinriggers (120)- 1x Aethermatic Volley Guns- 1x Drill Cannons10 x Grundstok Thunderers (200)- 2x Decksweepers- 2x Aethercannons10 x Grundstok Thunderers (200)- 2x Decksweepers- 2x Aethercannons10 x Vulkite Berzerkers (120)- War-Picks & Slingshields- Allies10 x Vulkite Berzerkers (120)- War-Picks & Slingshields- AlliesWar MachinesArkanaut Frigate (240)- Main Gun: Heavy Sky Cannon- Great Endrinworks: Incredible Self-healing HullGrundstok Gunhauler (160)- Main Gun: Drill CannonTotal: 2000 / 2000Extra Command Points: 0Allies: 360 / 400Wounds: 124 So this is the idea. Squad A: One unit each Company with Volley Guns, Vulkites, Thunderers. Admiral for support and killing. Vulkites provide first 'shield wall' with Arkanauts being the backup. Thunderers loadout tries to take advantage of Finish Them. Squad B: Same as A but gets the Battlesmith instead of Admiral to help his fellow mohawk bois. Squad C. Gunhauler, Frigate. Each boat gets a Riggers unit. Frigate gets the Skypike Company and Endrinmaster as well. The Skypikes can charge straight out of the boat thanks to Barak-Zon. Riggers stay by the boat to repair and do ranged damage. Hero goes where he's needed or kills stuff. Priority of repair goes to Frigate. I hope this build could theoretically work. I want to keep boats involved somehow, and having the Fyreslayers let's me use some of their models without having to make a full army. (I was gonna kitbashe a Fyreslayer trying to jump on my Frigate anyways)

Sorry for the double post, I've been waiting for others but it's quiet (and I'm too excited about this new hobby to shut up *cough*) Someone brought up that we do a lot of theory crafting and talking about what we want. Myself included. But let me move from talking about what I want to working with what we have. What ally units could we bring in to fill in the gaps in defence? Vulkite Berserkers with sling shields? Ironbreakers? Maybe Stormcast Liberators or Protectors? I've seen a couple of places that suggest using Lord-Ordinators to help the boats/flying metal bawkses. Also, since this has been a point of confusion. What do we lose from not having a full KO army? Other than most if not all of our buffs are for Skyfarers only?

@Dekison Thanks. ^^; I just had that pop into my head and nerded out and got embarrassed. @cofaxest And yeah, that's true. I just pretty much said that's how it would work in principle. In action? It needs a LOT of work. But I feel like there's potential.

Ok, I think I finally get it. If this has already been brought up I apologise. But I was watching some KO battle reports yesterday and something clicked. A lot of us, myself included, have talked about wanting units that can basically tank. But the thing is, we actually do. ...sort of. People have explained how our boats can be walls, but end up being too squishy. But that is not how KO is designed to tank. We don't have shield walls to soak damage (that is, reroll or improve saves). We punish charges with explosives. Every ship has an ability to do mortal wounds against charging opponents. So basically instead of holding back opponents, we just blow them the hell up. Can't damage me if you're dead. Now, the effectiveness of this in practice is...not great. And maybe our anti-charge bombs need a little buff. But I do like it in theory. It's different. On this line of thought, Skywardens are NOT the murder cavalry I thought they were. They're our tanky unit. In that they have anti-charge mines. They should probably be used in defensive positions. Maybe putting them on an objective so the arkanauts can cap it. Then the Riggers are kinda versitile. Equip with volley guns for ranged defence while healing boats. Equip standard for close range defense and repair. Or equip with skyhooks to give them more charge potential to be aggressive. We've got so many neat tools in this army. I just think they need to be used right and probably get some minor buffs. And maybe another unit or two wouldn't hurt. Or maybe I'm just dumb. I dunno. But I wanted to share these thoughts.

I can respect that. But having only the one hero be able to unbind (unless you're running Barak-Nar or at least the Trust Aethermatics, Not Superstition Amendment) makes us a touch weak compared to other armies since the Navigator doesn't have a ton of use. I forget if Fyreslayers have ANY unbinding option, but I don't think they do. If the Navigator is going to be our not-Runelord...make them a proper one at least. Or let the Khemests unbind as well. Just like. Spray the wizards in the eyes or something. While I'm here I also have another question. When taking a group of Thunderers, is it worth it to take a couple special weapons to benefit from Pin Them, Shred Them or Finish Them? At least if either 1) I have enough total rifles to benefit from a Khemist or 2) they're straight up not hanging out with a Khemist?

This looks awesome! I love that dark bronze.

*whispers* Let Navigators cast not-spells. Or at least make Aetherstorm and Read the Winds better. The Navigators look silly awesome and I want to field one. I'm probably gonna get one anyway even if they are on the bigger boats. BTW, I've got my first Arkanaut Company assembled! Even kitbashed one. Just need to get my paint scheme figured out so I know what to buy. I might start assembling my Riggers to keep me busy until then.

There's a couple of issues I see with KO that could use a bit of help. 1 - A new unit of sturdy, melee only fighters. So many of the KO units have both melee and ranged options. Which makes them pretty good at both...but not excellent at either. Also they're kinda squishy. It'd be nice if we could get some kind of Hammerer or Ironbreaker analogue specialty unit. 2 - Given that, if I understand the rules right, you can't move, then disembark in the same turn, it makes it so we have to give up a chunk of our points just to make use of the transports. Also makes any embarked units vulnerable. So what would help is if embarked units boost or even add abilities to the boats. Like adding to the boat's attacks or adding totally additional ones. Like: Thunderers can shoot, maybe at reduced range Riggers and Wardens can Melee (Skypikes get reduced range though) Companies can melee but only on retaliatory strikes. And maybe alter/buff what heroes can do while embarked. Just to make it so those units aren't "gone" for that turn while they're moving. Maybe to balance, only one unit and one hero can have their effect be active or something.

Almost got all my models for my 1k army. The old order didn't get placed at my local store so I have to wait longer. Oops. But my practice work on an old set of Space Marine models is going well. I might see if I can kitbash some non helmeted dwarf heads from DnD models on a few of my Arkanauts for fun. Also, I'm working on a new 2k army idea based on previous suggestions. Wonder how many volley guns I can throw in for maximum dakka...

@Beliman Thanks for the insight! I'll take your comments and see what I can do to improve my goofy army. (Honestly as long as I can keep a few boats and Skywardens I'll be happy. Gunhaulers are cute boats.) @GrandAdmiralAutumn Grats on your games! I'm so happy to hear about KO doing well at tourneys. And to everyone else here I just wanted to say it's awesome how friendly and welcoming this forum is. I can't wait to get my first army going so I can contribute more rather than just asking questions.

I'm still waiting for my order of models to come in, so I'm entertaining myself by throwing together a 2k sized army. It is probably bad! But I threw it together for fun. Take a look if you like. Allegiance: Kharadron OverlordsSkyport: Barak-Mhornar- Additional Footnote: There's No Reward Without RiskLeadersArkanaut Admiral (120)- General- Trait: Fleetmaster - Artefact: Aethercharged Rune Endrinmaster (120)Aether-Khemist (160)Battleline10 x Arkanaut Company (120)- 3x Skypikes10 x Arkanaut Company (120)- 3x Skypikes10 x Arkanaut Company (120)- 3x Aethermatic Volley GunsUnits3 x Endrinriggers (120)- 1x Aethermatic Volley Guns- 1x Drill Cannons9 x Skywardens (360)War MachinesArkanaut Ironclad (420)- Main Gun: Great Sky Cannon- Great Endrinworks: The Last WordGrundstok Gunhauler (160)- Main Gun: Sky CannonGrundstok Gunhauler (160)- Main Gun: Drill CannonTotal: 1980 / 2000Extra Command Points: 0Allies: 0 / 400Wounds: 109 So the idea is, the boats act as artillery, firing from a safe distance, the Gunhaulers acting as escorts using their Escort Vessel ability. The Endrinmaster, Riggers and Volley Company stay back to keep the boats healed and provide fire support. The two Skypike Companies and the Admiral try to hold the line. The Skywardens seek out targets of opportunity. Khemist hangs out on the line and buffs to help take out specific targets I need to be not there anymore. I do also already have a Brokk Grungsson model that I bought at a convention recently, so I wouldn't mind finding a spot for him. But the idea behind this is that I like the boats, and I think Skywardens are cool (I like spears, what can I say).

Thanks again so much! I think that answers everything I had questions about for now. I'm looking forward to building up this army and sending my balloon dorfs into glorious battle where they will die gloriously since I have never played tabletop before and I'll probably lose a lot. But it'll be fun as I learn. And don't forget Furu up there, they still need help.

@Baron WastelandsSweet, thanks for letting me know. And forgive me but there's another points I'd like to clarify. (I'm totally new to Warhammer tabletop so any inferred rules will go over my head) Are the 9 Riggers all in one squad (with one Mizzenmaster) or 3 squads of 3? What's a good weapon for the Frigate? What Sky-Port works well with this build? I just kinda need a starting point to judge and after that I can experiment. ^^;; Also @Furuzzolothat is an awesome kitbash. I want to see if I can find some good scaled dwarf heads for some of my unit leaders and heros. So thanks for the inspiration!

Hey there. I was planning on building my starting army with the above plan that I found in this forum. (And thanks so much for that post I was looking for recent builds for days) But I had a question. What should I equip the riggers with, or do I keep them all to their standard loadout? Thanks~