Last night Games Workshop lifted the veil of secrecy on their newest army for Age of Sigmar, the Kharadron Overlords, and wow, what an army it is! These guys are unlike anything we have seen so far and it's safe to say I am thoroughly impressed.
I love the idea of these guys. Nautical themed duardin that fly the skies of the Mortal Realms. It takes the concept of the Gyrocopter and takes it to the nth degree, really infusing it with the high fantasy setting. If you had asked me what I thought was coming for the Duardin I definitely would not have guessed this. Just check out that cover art, it's awesome!
I knew there was something coming for the Duardin and expected to see some more airborne units since it's been hinted at in the lore, but I never expected it to be an entire army or flying stunties. I really like the ships themselves. This one appears to be named the Arkanaut Ironcald based off the file name of the picture. I can just imagine a whole flotilla of flying ships coming across the table at me. This is a truly impressive centerpiece model too.
I'll be interested to see the rules for these units. How will large vehicles with a crew and, I'm assuming for at least some of them, the ability to carry troops be handled in the game. I'm assuming they will just have rules similar to large monsters, but it could really be anything at this moment. This could be the introduction of vehicle rules for AoS.
I'm also curious to see if some of these heroes come with the larger ships, kind of like the Magmadroths for the Fyreslayers. I could see the Ironclad coming with one or three heroes which you could either put together on the ship or build seperately. Either way, they all look awesome and there seems to be a good amount of variety in heroes.
The steampunk aesthetic on the Overlords is amazing and something completely unique to AoS so far. I really love how far they pushed it on these models, and although they painted theirs in all metallics, I could see these looking excellent in matte colors as well. I think red armor would be really cool. At the same time, the fact that they are completely covered in metal and with so much texture means they should be fairly quick to paint with just a metallic base coat, a wash, and a quick drybrush if that's what you want to do.
You can't get more steampunk fantasy then this guy right here. "I don't always chainsaw orruks, but when I do I make sure to wear my top hat and monocle." The absurdity of it just makes it work. It looks like he also has some kind of gun sticking out of his mustache. Just let that sink in. Not only do I think these will be a huge hit in AoS, but I can see a bunch of 40k players converting them over to be Squats.
I'm really curious to see how they play in the game. They obviously look like they will have really powerful shooting, which seems to be the way a lot of the newer armies are going. I think they will also have a pretty good save and I wouldn't be surprised to see two wounds a model on the basic guys. I hope they are a smaller elite force.
I can't wait to read the background on the Overlords. These guys are something completely unique and I'm super excited about what that may mean for the future. First off, it doesn't look like these are the Steamhead Duardin we have been hearing about, so there may be a third new faction of duardin coming out at some point down the line. Alternatively, Steamhead Duardin could just be another name for them, kind of like the Astra Militarum/Imperial Guard thing in 40k. Secondly, if they were able to make the duardin this awesome and steampunky, just imagine what's going to happen to the Skaven once they get redone! Clan Skyre in particular. I can just see them really going to town on the crazy mechanical contraptions the rats will be using. Now I really have almost zero guesses on what the reimagined aelves will look like either. I feel like it could be almost anything.
This is one of the things I was really hoping to see once AoS came out. With a brand new setting with almost no rules on what can appear in it I really wanted to see some stuff completely different from what we had in the Old World, and these guys definitely fit that bill. If they are able to reimagine an existing races to be this new and unique, just imagine what they could do with a brand new race. I remember back when the Tau first came out for 40k. It was super exciting to have a brand new race in the game. Not something that had been talked about before but had no models, but something completely unseen and unheard of. I would love to have that in AoS. Maybe we'll see a Fishman army in Warhammer finally, I know I would be all over that, especially with the excellent job I'm sure the design studio would do with them. It could be something even more unconventional than that though.
I feel like the possibilities in AoS are endless and the Kharadron Overlords shows that GW is willing to explore those possibilities and really push the setting. After seeing these models I am beyond excited for April to come around so I can get my hands on them, or at the very least crack open their book and explore their backstory. They could be something brand new on the table too, a fast moving, heavily armored gun line. I think these are definitely a home run for Games Workshop. Now, to figure out how I can make these guys fit a desert setting...
What do you think of the new Kharadron Overlord models? Which aspect of them are you most excited about, the new models, the new lore, or how they'll play on the table? What do you think this portents for future armies in AoS and considering what they were able to do with the duardin here what would you like to see them do with some of the other armies yet to be released? Let me know in the comments below!
Be sure to check our even more pictures of them and a pretty sweet video on the Warhammer Community site.
Until next time,
Tyler M.
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