AoS Kharadron overlords

I think the Kharadron Overlords are great - am looking forward to getting some to actually start AoS with. I may ally them with my Lizardmen/Seraphon to cover up some of their weaknesses...

 

It's got a weird aesthetic going on right now where they are trying to create their own unique universe. Tree elves, nudist barbarian dwarves, steampunk dwarves, big buff Chaos dudes, and what are essentially Space Marines.

 

Steampunk element was always there indeed and I liked it a lot. But I definitely do NOT want to see it overwhelming the rest characteristics. Kharadrons are really nice but they should be the only ones being THAT steampunked

 

Remember they had the nudist barbarian Dwarfs (Slayers!) and big buff (not to mention overpowered) Chaos dudes before AoS. They also had almost tree-elves which looked less ugly, although the Kurnoth Hunters are practically revamped tree-kin.

 

To me yes, fantasy is swords and bows and magic, steampunk is another genre ( a nice genre that I enjoy but not one I want mixed with fantasy).
It's an internal realism breaker for me. Historically pit an age of steam army vs an age of swords and bows, who wins? (think British Redcoats vs Zulu Impis.)
An arquebuss I can just about deal with, it is on a par with a bow in effectiveness. but bows vs gatling guns has one outcome.

These kharadons look to me like an attempt to cash in on the steampunk movement.

 

I had a chance to photograph an assembled sky ship Tuesday.


How big is it, really?

The small sphere is a ping pong ball. The larger sphere is a 3 inch diameter Christmas ornament ball.

The weird reflections in my photo are due to the store being **closed. This was taken through a window.

I think this is its own genre. Magickpunk. Steam power is insufficient to explain this craft.

 

At least they are original, which is more than can be said for some certain forest spirits...

Also, the Zulus defeated us British at Isandlwana, which remains the most crushing defeat we ever had against a native force.

 

(**cf: my previous post, that store is only open Wednesday to Saturday.)
____

Now that I have seen this guy I think scratch building a Skyship would be feasible. The thing to do about power creep, and unit-upsman-ship (aka: buy the latest b/c it's the greatest syndrome) is to build exactly the same thing but for the army you have.

Co-opt the raw numerical stats.
Build something that looks all LM.
Change the fluff for each weapon:
Sky bombs ==> become ==> Snake-bomb clusters (or whatever, but the numerical damage effects are identical).

TLDR Version:
Anything the OpFor can have, your force can have also. This is what real Armies and Navies did in history. And it is also absolutely, perfectly fair, and point balanced.

 

A friend of mine, a day or two after their models were properly released, went into hiding for about a week and a half. When he reemerged, he bore a fully painted 2500 point army of Kharadron overlords. When we asked, amazed, why he'd bought so many so quickly, he replied only with a half mumbled, cryptic, "Squats"

 

How on earth did he get such a large force done in just a week and a half? It takes me at least a couple of years to get that much done!

 

Although Squats were more allied towards the Imperium and used Imperial Weapons. The Kharadron remind me more of the Demiurg, a Dwarf-like race who serve as mercenaries for many factions including the Tau. Their mercantile nature is certainly very similar to the Kharadron. Perhaps Mantic Games Forge Fathers are closer to Squats...

 

In fairness, that'd depend on their range. A gatling gun with limited range, say 50m, would still not be superiour against proper a warbow that could reach 200m in every situation. Not to mention other negative aspects of the gatling, like overheating, cost, likelyhood of exploding in your face, noise etc. Steampunk and swords/bows/magic can definitly mix. But it's true that it only works as long as the steampunk remains relativly rare & ineffective. And the kharadron are indeed pushing it a bit.... their technology seems a tad too advanced and mass-produced.