Age of Sigmar: Kharadron Overlords Finally Get Transport Rules
“But wait, didn’t they already have those?” Yes. Kharadron Overlords had them but not like this. And it’s about time!
Games Workshop is finally putting their foot down on how Kharadron Overlords Skyvessels work. For the longest time Kharadron Overlords and their transports used the Garrison rules that are part of the core AoS Ruleset. This always felt like a stop-gap and incomplete. Did they work? Mostly. But there were a few instances where more clarification was needed.
That’s not going to be the case moving forward as GW has finally created real Transport Vessel rules for Warhammer: Age of Sigmar.
“The mightiest ships of the Kharadron Overlords can ferry sky-mariners safely across the battlefield, and the new battletome streamlines the rules for these vital vessels. Arkanaut Ironclads and Frigates are now governed by the Sky-fleets rule, which covers all the intricacies of embarking and disembarking. “
Transport Vessel Rules (Finally)
Would you look at that! There’s a bunch of unambiguous rules bullet pointed out that explicitly state how these transports will work! Yes, they are on the battlefield, and are thus targetable. They are considered to be in cover and you still measure to and from the transport vessel. No, they cannot contest objectives and they cannot move while embarked. However, the vessel can move and the unit is considered to have moved.
These codified rules might not seem like a lot but this is going to help clear up a lot of the past arguments and allow for cleaner interactions overall. This is a great change and frankly took way too long to be added to the game.
On top of having new honest-to-Sigmar transport rules, the Kharadron Overlords are also getting additional tricks to use.
“All SKYVESSELS have become more flexible, thanks to Iron Sky Command Abilities that can be issued by the ships themselves. These encompass the Fly High and Disengage abilities that every Admiral knows by heart, allowing ships to hop around the battlefield and escape from disadvantageous combat situations. “
The downside is that using these abilities do cost command points but you don’t have to worry about if the ship is too damaged for these maneuvers. There’s also the new Combat Landings option which is going to make more combative crews cheer:
I’d like to read all the rules for embarking/disembarking as well and I do wonder if this new command ability allows for the riding units to override the restrictions for embarking/disembarking. That could allow for some serious movement shenanigans!
Command points are going to be a premium in the KO army. Luckily, the Admiral’s Flagship will have some free CP to spend on things.
If that’s not impressive enough you might want to consider and Ironclad in your list these days. With a carrying capacity of 22 Skyfarers, 20 wounds, and a boat-load of weapons they are looking to be the masters of the sky. Plus they can drop bombs on folks below them!
On the top end, that’s going to be 10 dice for the roll which is plenty to soften up any ground targets.
It’s good to see many of these changes for the upcoming Kharadron Overlords book. They are docking at a tabletop near you very soon!
Actual codified Transport Vessel rules…finally! Now, let’s see if other armies get similar rules later…
