New Race! The Kharadron Overlords Come To Age Of Sigmar
March 15, 2017 by brennon
It looks like it's not just the world of Warhammer 40,000 getting a big update from Games Workshop at GAMA. Additionally, we also got to see the new race for Age of Sigmar known as the Kharadron Overlords who are a different breed of Duardin (Dwarf) soaring through the skies into the Mortal Realms.
It is stressed in the fluff for these fellows that they're nothing like their Duradin fellows who hid in the mountains or the berserker Fyreslayers that rampage across the lands. These Duardin thrived in the new world of the Mortal Realms and took to the skies in some rather fascinating looking machines of war.
Take To The Skies
A new collection of airships leads the way for this release of models providing you with a mix of the Steampunk and the Fantasy on the tabletop. Take a look at some of their creations here including the Arkanaut Ironclad...
...and the Grundstok Gunhauler plus the Arkanaut Frigate.
There is very much the feeling that these creations aren't just powered by the kind of technology that we'd be used to when it comes to these creations. There is something aether-like and magical to their collection of ships and while I was immediately put off by this clash of aesthetics I actually really like it!
And no, not just because they're Dwarves (although that might have a little something to do with it)!
Deckhand Duardin
Manning these ships will be a host of new troops who will fight on the ground, and indeed in the air, alongside their marvels of technology. See what you think of the likes of the Arkanaut Company.
This looks to be your port of call when it comes to a Battleline unit in the game. Armed with plenty of 'ship' based weaponry like harpoons, cutlasses and big guns they seem like they've mixed the best of being sailors and Dwarves. Maybe this is what they've been talking about when they mentioned Man O' War in previous teasers?
The Grundstok Thunderers then look to be your ranged option with all manner of interesting guns at their disposal. If you wanted to imagine the Squats had come back to Warhammer 40,000 this might not be a bad force to add to your collection.
Whilst I like some of the gun designs some of them seem a little crazy for the 'Fantasy' world of Age of Sigmar. Guns have always been part of the mix in Warhammer Fantasy, the Empire and the Dwarfs for example, and I guess they had to take the next big step here, but it still feels a bit odd.
The Skyriggers (seen above) then finish off this first bunch of previews for the Kharadron Overlords when it comes to troops. They look great and you could imagine them floating around the ships doing some maintenance work but as one friend pointed out, how on earth are they meant to compete with the other flying units out there like the Prosecutors of the Stormcast Eternals? They don't look particularly fast!
Characters Of The Kharadron
It wouldn't be a release without some characters and we start off with the main named one from the release, Brokk Grungsson.
If you needed any more of a nod towards the influence of Steampunk on this faction then look no further than that tophat and twizzled moustache. Once again, an interesting model, which feels almost on the edge of Sci-Fi rather than Fantasy. He's even holding a chainsword!
Brokk is joined by some other unnamed characters to help him command his forces including the Aether Khemyst...
...and the Aetheric Navigator. Once again we're seeing this fascinating design across their models which shows not a single scrap of flesh. They have had to cover up to protect themselves from the magical energies that flow through the skies above the Mortal Realm.
This does make them a faction that catches my attention as I utterly hate having to paint skin! With these guys, plenty of metallics and a few washes should do!
The more martial heroes also popped up in the preview including the Arkanaut Admiral here who is carrying around a rather deadly looking hammer. I love the design for the armour here which has something of the old school 'diver' about it. The ornate beard armour looks great too.
We finish off the look at the Kharadron Overlords with the final character from the mix, the Endrinmaster, who seems a bit squat but appears to have carried a forge and anvil around with him on his back.
Something which might have influenced this design choice for the Kharadron Overlords is the Dwemer from Elder Scrolls. They were masters of machines and a lot of their designs follow the aesthetics that we're seeing here. Of course, this has been given its own Age of Sigmar edge but there are parallels.
Are They For You?
So there we have it. A new 'race' for the world of Age of Sigmar ready to rain down death from the skies as they come to show off their marvellous technology.
Importantly I now want to know if they are the faction for you. They certainly have some awesome looking models but is their aesthetic too much of a clash with what already exists for Age of Sigmar? Is it good that we're seeing this twist on a tried and tested format?
Drop your thoughts below and have a natter!
"These Duardin thrived in the new world of the Mortal Realms and took to the skies in some rather fascinating looking machines of war..."
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"They have had to cover up to protect themselves from the magical energies that flow through the skies above the Mortal Realm..."
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Those are some pretty snazzy dorfs. Not gonna lie, I like them a lot more than gun-vikings from WFB.
I think they’ve knocked it out the park with those airships!. I can’t think of anything that comes close in terms of the aesthetic. I think I’ll definitely pick one of these up.
I did notice the dwarf cogsmith in the Hamerhal set that I glued together yesterday was very steam-punky, but didn’t think much of it. Looks like I already have one of these guys!
I don’t understand. It’s new models from GW that I don’t dislike on an instinctual level!
They’re still a bit too busy, but definitely a huge step forward!
Well, they do have the odd scent of Confrontation and Rackham… 😉
I had a look through the former Rackham ranges, but could see anything that looked similar to these models – was there any particular ones that you were thinking of?
The Tir Na Bor dwarves. Apart from the proportions (Rackham made their heads huge) they’re the exact same concept, down to steampunk backpacks, round shapes and bronze armors.
Not too keen on the masked faces but otherwise loving the steampunk influenced dwarfs and the air ships in particular.
Possibly a third wing to my dwarven forces!
I want to like the ships more than I do, but they’re still pretty good. Not so keen on the troops.
I love these .. I love them to bits…. I love them so much that significant people in my life should be slapping me across the face. These look fantastic they are trying for a steam punk sky dwarf and they hit the mark. Now I love fantasy Tolkeinesq dwarfs, there are many other threads where I positively gushing and fawning all over models in that style, however this is something different and to be brutally honest something which GW needed to do to put their own stamp on the race and create something the same yet different. Like cannibal… Read more »
^ This 1000 times.
Or should that be 1349?
.Heh ….. 1349 🙂 Very catchy 😉
What about Warhammer Underworlds: Shadespire. small video teaser at the bottom of the WC article. Mordheim?
Yeah mate I’m dying to hear more about that too … sheesh I’m going to be broke
Will be talking about that later today. Make sure we don’t have too much of a GW overload this early in the morning 😉
Does look interesting though!
Imagine what GW could have achieved if they hadn’t kicked 40K Dwarfs to the kerb in the early 1990s? (*bitter? I’m not bitter… No not at all …. Not in the slightest ….. *sniff)
The range wasn’t selling, and I’m pretty sure nobody working at GW at the time, had the passion to sort it all out. There are space dwarfs still around (just not squats), as I’m 99% sure they made an appearance in battlefleet gothic, so who is to say that if this range sells well (and I don’t see a reason why not, it looks awesome) that GW won’t start to think about 40k Dwarfs making a return. That said, I always thought Skaven sold pretty well, so it was always a bit of a surprise to me that they never… Read more »
No mate, you are wrong. According to Jervis Johnson’s now fabled interview (you can find it online if you look for it), they were selling, it ‘s just that they didn’t know what to do with them …. which is what makes me scratch my head, because I am hardly Mr Ultra Creative and I’m sure I could have came up with something. The Battlefleet Gothic Demiurge (you are right they are space dwarfs) are allies of the Tau but not haven’t bought into the whole ‘Greater Good’ shenanigans. Yeah and I liked it when the Hrud were basically written… Read more »
I think we can agree, that when it comes to the hobby, you can’t just design something you have no interest in. To be honest, with this new lot of Dwarfs, I reckon you’ll start to see a lot of “squat” armies start to appear, using another factions rules. I think one of the biggest hurdles of getting a dwarf faction back in space, is down to how many factions there currently are in 40k; maybe putting some factions under “one roof” would help (eg; sticking all Eldar in the same book). 2 years ago, I’d have said “fat chance… Read more »
When it comes to GW, you design what they tell you to design 😉
Sticking all Eldar in the same book? Gah! Why repeat the same disastrous mistake of AoS? Blasphemy!
If they’re going to stick all Eldar in the same book, then it should be the Eldar who go over to the Dark side, ha-ha!
Gathering Storm IV – Squats vs Tall hats ?
Yep. I’ve still got mine – both 40k and epic.
you lucky sod … I gave all of mine away when I “grew up” ……(I got better)
As i was reading through my first thought was of BOW Ben’s Banks manager planning a extra holiday while laughing manically….. but I think my bank manager may be doing the same as they are really nice.
I’m trying to convince myself that I don’t need them as they’re too Steampunky and I have a Stormcast army to build and paint…
…but then again they have beards, axes, magical armour and airships. So…well, shiny syndrome might take over. I’m at least going to buy the Arkanaut Admiral to paint up.
April may be expensive.
Give in to your desire’s young Ben … I have …. life is better on the “Dwarf Side” anyway 😉
Honestly, I really like the range (that is a dwarf, with a monocle, a steel top hat with a swag beard right?); my dream would be that we have this yin of Dwarf Steampunk, and that it would be followed up by the yan of Skaven Steampunk, but if anything I’m happy to see another Fantasy race get a whole bunch of new models, and excited to see future releases for the other old races (Elves, Skaven, Undead, Goblins, etc…)
I like them and price depending they are an army for me. I love the newness, what they add and how they flesh out the world more. I like them out of the re-imagined races rather than the retconned ones (not that I am giving out about Beastclaw raiders or Flesheater courts, far from it) because its fresh and ‘new-new.’ The image, look and concept really hit all the right spots for me.
These guys, the Sigmarines, and the Tzeentchy stuff says – Games Workshop really coulda knocked out a “complimentary to Warhammer” Steampunk game, in the mold of Warmachine, set in a new (or furthered timeline) world.
Some nice models in there – some very cool ideas and sculpts.
There is a phenomenal amount of balls on display though…
Is that not what AoS try to be, it is not your dad’s or granddads fantasy world it is set in … There is a fair bit of Steampunk in it
I just want to see Steampunk elf, just to break the mold
I’m really trying to control myself but it looks like April could be an expensive month.
Pffffffft! Control…… who needs it? 😉
I’ve never bothered with it 🙂
This is the only time I’ll be interested in Warhammer. Those ships and inventions look amazing.
@lancorz Did I hear an unspoken “so far” in there?
Like them a lot, although they do remind me of the old 40k techmarines a bit but those airships are great even if I don’t game with them ever I would have a few for my shelf or hanging from my ceiling
*cough – Tir-Na-Bor dwarves – cough*
*cough – Rackham concept redesign – cough*…
But lovely minis nonetheless.
I like the Rackham Dwarfs – does what’s available here represent the full range of models?
https://cadwallon.com/rackham-confrontation/dwarves-of-tir-na-bor
I might pick up a few from the range.
Seeing a picture of one of the Rackham packaging photos describing a model as a ThermoPriest with a War hammer made me smile.
Yes, I believe it’s pretty much all there is, barring limited editions… you’ve even got new releases that were WIP when Rackham closed up shop. The Rackham range as a whole was amazing, and still is a model of visual identity ! It’s left a huge mark on the industry as a whole.
I better finish my Ironjaws and Bloodbound, these are next!
Completely sold on these they are completely over the top and ridiculous and I love them. Fingers crossed on a good price.
Lol.
I’d settle for land raider money for the airships – wish me luck.
AWESOME!!!!
I want the Arkanaut Ironclad for In her Majesty’s Name :).
I wan’t crazy about the gun dwarves from Old Fantasy already. Throwing Steampunk Dwarves into an even more overtly magical setting just doesn’t do it for me.
I think these are the first Age of Sigmar models that I have really liked. Having said that, I do feel like a lot of the high fantasy nature of the original Warhammer is getting edged out somewhat in the new stuff.
Still, I might well have to pick up some of these and finally give the game a go on my return.
In the fluff of the new Warhammer Quest game one of the Charcters is a Aelven Reaver Sky Captain. I hope this means we see Skyships from other races. I like them alot. While I have liked AoS none of the new factions have really excited me except the recent disciples of Tzeentch and I really didn’t really want to do another chaos army yet. I was going to wait to see what they had planned for regular human or Aelf but I might not wait and jump in on these. Unless I hear more about them coming out with… Read more »
Aelf Vs Kharadron Sky Pirate Man O’War sound good to you as a boxed set on the horizon then @barretem30 ?
Now that could be a lot of fun with some boarding actions and high flying risky adventure.
Oh yes …. This 1000 times
Funny you say that @brennon because thats exactly what was going thru my mind as I was typing the comment =)
In the fluff there is also an Ironjawz faction that have airships.
The only problem I have with these is that they’re in the wrong system; they really should be in 40k as a revival of the Squats 😉
……. yes ……. *sob
And there was me trying to save for Salute and Expo.
Wow these look great. And yes…they have that Packham feel to them.
They are definitely NOT of my taste! Give me back longbeards!^^