Warhammer Kharadron Overlords New Battletome and Codewright Preview

When the going gets tough, the tough take to the skies! Such was the fate of the Kharadron Overlords, the subset of the Duardin (aka dwarfish) that decided to stop mining minerals in the earth and fly their giant ships high into the air. Now this faction of daring bombers swoop into action with a new Battletome and a new unit, the Codewright, and Games Workshop provided us with a sneak peek of both. So whether you're looking to update your Kharadon Overlords army, or thinking of building a new force, follow along as we preview the updates to this army.

What's New In The Kharadron Overlords Battletome?

The Kharadon Overlords battletome includes new rules for building your army, including rules around the various Codes that your army adheres to, a new way to issue Commands to a ship in your army, updates to disembarking options, and a reworking of the classic Frigate, along with a warscroll for the new Codewright. Let's take a closer look at each of these new updates.

Kharadron Overlords: Updates to Codes

Kharadron society is ruled by a series of complex (and often misunderstood) rules which make up their constitution, known as The Code, but each group of Duardin hailing from a different Skyport interpret The Code differently. Previously, when playing a Kharadron Overlords army, you'd have to choose between selecting a Skyport or crafting a custom Code for your army. Now, you can select a Skyport and mix and match from the Artycles, Amendments, and Footnotes of the Code, offering new levels of customization.

These aspects of The Code are truly powerful, with Artycles allowing you to return slain models with the Rally command on a 4+ roll (instead of the usual 6), adding 2" to the Move characteristic of your Skyvessels, or pick one enemy unit to "Settle The Grudge," which adds 1 to wound rolls for attacks made against it. The Amendments and Footnotes are powerful too, allowing you to roll 2D6 on a run roll, re-roll hit rolls of 1 in your shooting phase (once per turn), and roll 3D6 to attempt to charge enemy units within 18" of you, to name a few.

Kharadron Overlords: The Admiral's Flagship and Iron Sky Command Abilities

Another new rule in the Kharadron Overlords Battletome is the Admiral's Flagship, which says that if you pick an Arkanaut Admiral as your general, you can now nominate either an Ironclad or Frigate ship in your army to be your flagship. With this nomination, you can issue your Flagship one extra Command every turn.

You can now also choose from three Command abilities you can issue to your flying ships, which now cost a command point but include the very spicy ‘Combat Landing’, which lets a unit embarked on a Skyvessel disembark after the Skyvessel has moved. This is usually not allowed, but choosing this Command ability allows for quick and reflexive movement around the battlefield.

Kharadron Overlords: Updates to the Frigate

The Kharadron Overlords Arkanaut Frigate also got a makeover in this new Battletome, including the powerful Assault Boat ability. This ability essentially states that after you finish a charge move with this unit you'll roll a number of dice equal to the ship's Ramming Dice value (which starts at 8 and decreases as the unit suffers wounds). Any rolls of 4+ inflict 1 mortal wound on the target enemy unit being charged. Also after using this ability, you can freely disembark any embarked units on the Frigate, and they get the Strike First ability in the next combat phase.

Kharadron Overlords: The Codewright

The Codewright is an invaluable new addition to the Kharadron Overlords army, as they are the keepers of the Code and know every artycle, amendment, and footnote by heart. They have decent weaponry (including the hilariously named Battletome), but they should really be thought of as a crucial command-adjacent addition to your army. Their "Advisory Role" special ability allows you to, at the start of the Hero phase, roll two dice if you're within 6" of another friendly Kharadron Overlords Hero. For each roll of 4+, you gain 1 additional command point. This could be huge in issuing the commands you need to turn the tide of war.

Their other (again, hilariously named) special ability "I Think You'll Find" allows them to substitute a normal heroic action with a special one that lets you roll dice to potentially swap out a current amendment or footnote you selected for your army with a different amendment or footnote, which offers a much-appreciated flexibility to your Code. The model also looks absolutely stunning, bearing a whole library shelf on his back and screaming out orders while thumping on his Battletome.

These are all the major changes to the Kharadron Overlords Battletome, but you'll find plenty more tweaks inside, as well as updated lore about how the Kharadron Overlords have reacted to the return of their god Grungni. To learn more, check out the new Kharadron Overlords Battletome as it hits preorder this weekend.

The products used in the creation of this preview were provided by Games Workshop.