In this series of entries, I will attempt to examine how the Kharadron Overlords have changed in 4th edition, and what kind of playstyles will be needed to succeed. While it is too early to have any reliable data on Kharadron’s success rate, we do know that it is among the least popular armies, with only Bonesplitterz having fewer recorded tournament battles. In these few battles, Kharadron’s winrate is in the mid-30’s. That’s what we know. What does it mean? It doesn’t mean they are weak. They might be, of course. Or, it simply means that those few people who have played at a tournament have not figured out how to make the most of our new tools.

My approach is an essay format. I am an average player with decent but not stellar tournament results. If others read this, I hope that it proves useful not just for Kharadron players, but for anyone who wishes to rethink how they play their army.

Part One: The Problem

These 4th edition journey posts will come in non-sequential order. I played my first 4e game with Kharadron two days ago, lost handily, and I’ve been thinking about it ever since. This entry is to help put these thoughts into written form. But before I played Kharadron, I played twelve games with the Disciples of Tzeentch in 4th edition: four practice games, followed by eight tournament games at the GW Open in Tacoma. While the Disciples of Tzeentch are my main army, I took Kharadron to my three final 3e grand tournaments in Spring 2024.

At the close of 3rd edition, Kharadron felt like they were in a good place, and I felt comfortable playing them. For my first 4e game, I decided to take as similar a list as possible to the one I closed out 3rd edition with at the GW Open-Dallas. I knew the army had gone through significant changes, more than most, and believed the best way to gauge and think about new KO would be to run a similar list and just see what happened. I would do my best to win, but the goal was to learn.

As a side note, putting the goal for my non-tournament games onto learning rather than winning has helped me liberate myself from a need to win in my home game environment. It feels healthier than the attitude I took before I played in tournament games: since my most competitive games were simply any game I played, it felt more important to me to win. Now, I think I appreciate losing more, because losing spurs me to think. Winning simply makes me proud and lazy. At best, it is confirmation that my list is working. But it can be poor confirmation.

So here is my first 4th edition list that I put through a game, my 3rd edition Dallas army converted to 4th edition:

“Dallas in 4th”
Battle Formation: Aether-Runners (Sky Vessels add 2″ to move characteristic)
General’s Regiment
Arkanaut Admiral…180
-Heroic Trait: Cunning Fleetmaster (Skyvessels wholly within 12″ uses “Redeploy,” roll two dice and use the highest).
-Artefact: Celestium Burst Grenade (Once per game in the shooting phase, select an enemy within 12.” That unit cannot make ward rolls for the rest of the turn.)
Aetheric Navigator…130
Arkanaut Ironclad…500
-Great Skycannon
10 Thunderers (Reinforced)…280
-All special weapons
Grundstock Gunhauler…200

Regiment 2
Endrinmaster with Endrinharness…130
Grundstock Gunhauler…200
6 Endrinriggers (Reinforced)…260
10 Arkanauts…110

Total Points: 1990

This list rarely hit especially hard, but it had a lot of movement options. And in all my armies, this is the way I prefer to play. I never won a GT, but I managed to go 4-1 twice and 6-2 at Dallas. In 3e, my Endrinmaster had a dirigible suit too, but I downgraded him to make the point cut. However, this army did not end up performing well in my first 4e foray. I’ll attribute it primarily to reduced firepower, reduced/changed mobility, and some poor decision making on my part. Overall, I did not factor in the changes very well and was punished for it. As I should be!

1. Reduced Shooting Range and Power
Firepower in general has been toned down and ranges decreased. I frequently put myself into positions expecting to do a certain amount of damage, and got much less in return. As a prime example, I was losing going into the 3rd round, getting hammered by Skaven artillery. I saw an opening to move up my Ironclad and the Thunderers inside, then open fire on the Jezzails and Warp Lightning Cannon. Foolishly, I split fire, believing I could destroy both units, removing the major irreplaceable threats from the battlefield. The Thunderers targeted nearby clanrats, because I believed they would erradicate the rats. Instead, I brought the WLC down to 1 health, and only did 2 to the Jezzails. The Thunderers ended up killing just a few clanrats, and they quickly replaced their numbers. At the next opportunity, the Jezzails rallied back to full, the WLC did 10 MW to my already damaged Ironclad, and soon thereafter a little chip damage destroyed the Ironclad. I’ll note that the Skaven had their Bell of Doom nearby, meaning all of my attacks were -1 wound. I didn’t want to waste shots to destroy something that could be quickly summoned back. But in hindsight, that was probably the play, or focusing fire on the WLC, which doesn’t benefit from the Bell.

2. Mobility has changed.
Mobility has been greatly reduced and changed, although new options open up. Kharadron are no longer a teleporting army, but a movement trick army. A level of my mind was still playing 3e KO. My Ironclad’s captain kept trying to push the “Fly High” button on his dashboard, but a mysterious “Error 4e” message would be the only response he received. So I put myself into positions that I normally would have had no problem escaping, only to find myself stuck. The whole point for taking the Aether-Runners battle formation (+2 move) was to help mitigate the new mobility limitation, fly over units and reposition behind enemy lines. But since Skyfarers must now be deployed outside the boat, the boat’s footprint with infantry is huge. I could not find a place to land my Ironclad behind enemy lines without abandoning my troops. Granted, the large numbers of Skaven made this a bigger problem than it might be against some other armies.

3. Scoring Victory Points
In my games with Tzeentch, I often finished the round behind in points, and then catch up later. This has often been the way of things for my Tzeentch games, and now I would be rewarded for it with Underdog bonuses. So I was not initially worried when my Kharadron game began similarly. We were playing Border War, which only has 1 objective in friendly territory. Unfortunately, I found myself struggling to make inroads on the two flanking objectives as hoards of Skaven moved in, supported by ranged firepower in their rear. I also realized I did not have a good plan for battle tactics, with my opponent taking advantage of round one/turn one to place troops on the flanks and near the center. With killing power reduced, I was not bold enough to get into combat for battle tactics like “Do Not Waver” or “Attack on Two Fronts.” I ended up scoring 1 vp on primaries for the whole game until I was tabled, and only luckily eaked out a few battle tactics.


A hint at solutions:
Kharadron’s mobility has been changed, but they got something in return with the Transport Skyfarers ability. This reaction can activate whenever a skyvessel declares a non-Charge Move ability, allowing you to remove a number of infantry units wholly within 6″ of the ship, move the ship, then set those units back up wholly within 6″ of the ship. Move abilities include Normal Move, Run, Retreat, Redeploy, and Power Through. In addition, Frigates can do something similar in the Charge Phase with their unique ability Assault Boat. It is in this single ability that Kharadron will find their great power, if it exists. But it is a strange new ability that requires a paradigm shift in how to play. We’ve seen some small examples of similar abilities in Endless Spells, some Nighthaunt abilities, and most closely the Lofnir Drothkeepers Army of Renown. But never before has it been the core ability of an entire army.

In short, playing Kharadron requires a major shift in how to think about this army and our approach to the game. In future posts, I will take a close look at the various aspects of gameplay, and eventually, I hope, make some progress in how I play Kharadron. As the season rolls on, I have a couple tournaments in August and September in which I am bringing the Disciples of Tzeentch, but I will be playing Kharadron periodically at home as well.