Revision as of 22:51, 17 April 2019

"FOR THE MOTHERLAND!" - Khadoran Battlecry

Khador is an aggressive, expansionist nation, constantly threatening its neighbors and seeking to reclaim ancient lands it sees as rightfully Khadoran. Most recently, Khador has conquered over half of Llael and attacked Cygnar directly.

Khador is one of the main factions of Warmachine. They have the most durable warjacks and can field Man-O-War, the most durable warriors in the game. (They have normal troops too.)

If you want an army of weather-bitten, ill-tempered expansionists wearing heavy armor, firing a blunderbuss as they close into melee where they'll apply the biggest axe they could get their hands on directly to your opponents forehead... you've made it to the right place.

So proceed Kadet, read on, study hard and battle well. And most of all: BRING GLORY TO THE MOTHERLAND!

Khador for beginners

Aesthetic

Heavily portrayed as pre-Soviet Russia, with a fair amount of Soviet-era tossed in.

Ice and wind magic are part of the faction identity, and Khador is generally better at melee combat than at range or magical combat.

The motherlands warjacks also exemplify the Khadoran virtues of pragmatism and preserverance. It's they only faction to only feature heavy and colossal warjacks. This is because Khador builds its jacks to last, the metals needed for new cortices are rare in Khador, so they must be protected by thick hulls in order to be salvaged in one piece from wrecked jacks. In terms of weaponry Khadoran jacks are also very straight to the point: Axes, rip saws, or bare fists for melee and huge cannons, grenade launchers or flamethrowers for ranged combat. Simple, efficient and devastating.

Playstyle

They rely on infantry assisting heavy warjacks to crush their enemies. On the table, Khador features heavily armored, plodding warjacks and elite armored warriors backed up by hordes of expendable troops, powerful wizards and stealthy assassins.

Just as Cygnar has spells that improve its low armor scores, Khador warcasters bring speed to their plodding armies making them deceptively quick. Khador can be built for speed, resilience, high damage shooting output or heavy magic.

    Warcasters    
Khador has a caster for every style, but overall they tend to specialise in aggression. Khador is home to some of the most up-in-your-face aggressive warcasters in the game. This concept is exemplified in the various incarnations of Kommander Orsus Zoktavir (aka The Butcher) who not only is a capable front line fighter, but CRAVES the front lines. Beyond that we have midfielders like Sorscha1 or Vladimir1 and support casters like Irusk1 or Zerkova1. Khador is also home to the infamous Karchev the Terrible who is half warcaster, half warjack.

    Warjacks    
Khador is home to some of the biggest, stompiest warjacks in the game. In the backstory Khador lacks resources to produce many cortexes (warjack brains) so the ones they do have they install in the heaviest chassis possible. They do not use light warjacks at all, viewing them as puny. Lastly, they keep using their older warjacks long past their use-by date, to the point they're unstable and may literally explode mid-battle.

The majority of their 'jacks are expensive and without buffs they're incredibly slow. Luckily Khador has many movement shenanigans at their disposal; most of their casters come with some form of movement buff and certain solos can also speed them up.

    Warriors    
Khador loves infantry. They love infantry so much that they use Man-o-War super-heavy infantry instead of light warjacks. Khador has a unit for every occasion and frequently a unit-specific solo (or two) to back them up.

Khadoran infantry have some of the best (unbuffed) stats. Khador has a number of great solos and unit attachments that are not only capable in their own right, but synergies well with the main combat units to make them even better.

Starter Sets

Mk3 Battlegroup Starter Set

Mk3 Battlegroup Set

Contents: Lord Kozlov, Viscount of Scarsgrad warcaster, Decimator heavy warjack, and a Juggernaut heavy warjack. Plus a bunch of peripheral stuff (see picture).

Anyone looking for the most affordable and effective way to get into Khador should strongly consider buying the Battlegroup Starter Box and going from there. You have all the materials you need to get started contained within the box, and Lord Kozlov has a fine battlegroup in the Decimator and Juggernaut heavy warjacks. Kozlov and these 'jacks are easy for new players to become familiar with to learn the ropes of the game without feeling like they're underpowered or in over their heads. For most players, it makes sense to start with the Battlegroup Starter and build from there.

Armored Corps Starter Set

Theme Force Starter - Armored Corps

Contents: A 5-man unit of Man-O-War Demolition Corps plus their character command attachment, Sergeant Dragos, a 6-man unit of Battle Mechaniks, a 2-man character unit Kommandant Atanas Arconovich & Standard, a Greylord Forge Seer solo, and a Man-O-War Suppression Tanker solo.

This one is designed to be an add-on to your existing collection, rather than be a complete starter by itself - you'll note it doesn't include a warcaster or any warjacks. It is roughly 35 points.

2017 All-In-One Starter Set

2017 Khador Army Box (limited availability)

Contents: Irusk1 warcaster, Grolar heavy warjack, Juggernaut heavy warjack, Black Dragon Pikemen with Officer & Standard Bearer 12-man unit, Iron Fang Pikemen with Officer & Standard Bearer 12-man unit, Iron Fang Kovnik solo, and a War Dog solo

You may not be able to find this any more, as it has gone out of production. This box unleashes the whole rulebook upon you - from units to power attacks and solos. Its 50 points limit is slightly behind the most popular 75 pts tournament formats, but prepares you well for such a challenge.

Beginner-friendly additions

Initially, it is wise for players to limit themselves to so-called "battlegroup encounters" consisting of a Khadoran warcaster of their choosing and a selection of warjacks that ideally cost a combined amount of points close to or equal to that warcaster's "WJP" (WarJack Points) value.

Warcasters
Speaking more generally, Khador has a total of three warcasters that are comparatively easy to learn and work well when played with only their battlegroups:

• Orsus Zoktavir, the Butcher of Khardov: "The Butcher"--as we often lovingly refer to him--is the first of three incarnations of Orsus Zoktavir, the embodiment of Khadoran aggression. He's an exceptional battlegroup warcaster that's easy to learn.
• Lord Kozlov, Viscount of Scarsgard (currently not available outside of the Battlegroup Starter Box): Lord Kozlov is Khador's Battlegroup Starter warcaster and he is indeed a powerful 'caster that happens to be easy to learn the game with. Beyond that, he's a great warcaster to grow you forces with because his tool kit applies to both his battlegroup warjacks as well as Khadorans that march with him.
• Vladimir Tzepesci, the Dark Prince: All three recommended starting warcasters are melee powerhouses, but Vladimir's toolkit skews entirely to mixing things up in melee. Casting big spells with hugely powerful effects that scale into larger armies perfectly, he's also an excellent pick.

Warjacks
Khador has many excellent warjacks new players can pick from beyond the recommendations made below. For the purposes of learning the game it tends to be wise resist the temptation to buy unique aka "Character" warjacks and Colossals because these can be more difficult to learn, niche and/or very expensive. Khadoran warjacks aren't the most nuanced in Immoren but it's typically best to first buy warjacks that you're almost guaranteed to continue using no matter what play style you prefer.

• Decimator & Juggernaut from the Battlegroup Starter Box: The Decimator and Juggernaut are powerful warjacks that happen to be great for learning the game, but they have the added benefit of adding up to a cost of exactly 28 WJP, which is the same amount available to not only Kozlov, but the Butcher and Vladimir (not to mention several other Khadoran warcasters) as well! Buying the Battlegroup Starter box and one or two extra warcasters makes for an easy way to vary your play early on, without incurring a lot of costs.
• Berserker/Mad Dog/Rager Heavy Warjack Kit: For new players that (for whatever reason) aren't interested in the Starter box or prefer a "quantity-over-quality" approach might instead consider getting three kit boxes of these archaic warjacks instead. A Berserker/Mad Dog + 2 Ragers cost a combined 28 points and while presenting a higher financial cost up-front, these warjacks see a lot of play in a lot of different lists and happen to work impressively well with the three recommended starter 'casters. While the Mad Dog doesn't become as useful until facing enemy infantry, the Berserker and Rager loadouts love the global benefits the warcasters provide, and having three warjacks rather than two tends to be a big advantage. It is advisable to look into "magnetizing" these warjacks' arms so you can swap their loadouts as you need to.

Other worthwhile early purchases

Evergreen Faction Models
Due to the prevalence of Theme Forces (see below) there are very few Khador models that are useful to new players in general. However, there are a few that can be fielded in many army lists and have almost universal utility:

• [1]: The Greylord Adjunct is a warcaster attachment that bring's something to the table for almost every warcaster in the faction. Wether it's a free upkeep, extra range on spells, Guidance or a cloud you will always get something out of it every turn which more than justifies its point cost.
• Battle Mechaniks: Battle Mechaniks are Khador's resident, well, mechanics whose job it is to keep your war machines up and running even during combat. They don't cost a lot of points and--because every army you field has warjacks--they're almost always useful.
• War Dog: The trusty War Dog accompanies and protects your warcaster in battle. It can be played regardless of warcaster or army build and there are very few Khadoran warcasters that don't benefit from it, it is just simply inferior to the Greylord Adjunct.

Evergreen Mercenary Models
Khador has a lot of spells and abilities that only work on non-Mercenary models. Beyond that, Khadoran theme forces don't allow more than 1 Mercenary unit and 1 Mercenary Solo per army, so new players should avoid over-investing in these before they know what they're doing and several themes aren't even allowed to include some of the Mercenaries listed here. It pays looking into these theme restrictions, and an easy way to go about it is by getting familiar with the Conflict Chamber online army builder. The following Mercenaries are powerful in any Khadoran army that can take them, and are considered evergreen Khador Mercenaries:

• Eiryss, Mage Hunter of Ios: While expensive, Eiryss is an invaluable solo huntress and assassination-enabler. Her skillset is valuable in just about any army that she'll agree to work for.
• Gobber Tinker: For those pesky cases where you just can't seem to fill in those last 2 points, the Tinker provides utility and an objective-contesting body.
• Kell Bailoch: Kell is an elite sniper capable of taking out aspects/systems on warbeasts/warjacks and especially mowing down slippery warriors turn after turn.
• Ogrun Bokur: Both impressive as an attacker and a defender, you can save the hides of key models in your army time and time again with a Bokur or two.
• Orin Midwinter: Useful both for protecting your models from magic and dishing out devastating blasts of lightning himself, Orin is one of the most popular Mercenaries in Khador, a faction lacking in arcane protection.

Utility Mercenary Models
It is very likely that a new player will face very particular challenges they will have trouble overcoming without the help of some specific utility models that are designed to address specific issues. These should only be considered after players have seriously attempted to find solutions without relying on these Mercenaries, but they're there when they need them:

• Eilish Garrity: If you're having trouble with enemy upkeep spells that Orin can't resolve sufficiently, Eilish packs the ability to dissolve them.
• Gorman Di Wulfe: Gorman's box of grenades can bring just the utility you need for a variety of goals.
• Lady Aiyana & Master Holt: Khador is cursed by a dearth of magical weapons to deal with incorporeal foes, Aiyana has just the abilities to alleviate that.
• Saxon Orrik: Some Khadoran armies can be low on ways to traverse rough terrain, and Saxon is perfectly placed to help them navigate it.
• Ragman: The inscrutable Ragman brings down enemy ARM for those cases where your melee fighters need just that bit of extra damage to do their job.

Starting a Theme Force

Players can use the Theme Force rules to construct their army list once the game size reaches 25 points. Themes restrict which models from your Faction you have access to, with different models being "locked" into different themes. In return, playing a theme force gives you multiple benefits in return. Also, models in a theme force normally have natural synergies with each other - synergies they can't use if they're paired with models from outside the theme.

Themes are considered the default way to play Warmachine and Hordes (although technically they're optional).

Regardless of whether you're starting at 25 points or lower, as a new player you have two options:

1. Ignore themes to begin with, buy a couple of things you like the look of, and later on figure out if they work together in the same theme.

   With this approach you run the risk of buying models from a hodge podge of different themes. At some point you'll end up choosing one theme to use and expand, and shelving your models that don't fit the theme.

2. Figure out which theme contains models you like the look of, and limit yourself to just buying models from that theme.

   This approach has the benefit of not shelving any of your purchases and you're more likely to have models that have natural synergies with each other (even if you buy things completely at random).

Khador Theme Forces

Armored Corps

With a hiss of steam and the tread of iron, the heavily armored infantry of Khador march to war with heavy warjacks at their side. Though Khador lacks the light warjacks of other nations, they make up for it with a dedicated corps of soldiers who go to war in steam-powered armor. Few opponents possess the weaponry able to chew through so thick a wall of armor, allowing the Man-O-War to crush enemy emplacements.

The Armored Corps (or Korps) is all about Man-o-War troops in heavy steam-powered armor lumbering across the field, crushing their targets after closing the distance. Man-o-War have access to a suite of combined arms weaponry, advanced tactics and devastating heavy cavalry but are short on skirmisher unless reinforced by Mercenaries. If you like small but elite forces of warriors on 40mm (Medium) bases clad in the heaviest of armors, start building for an Armored Corps.

Flame in the Darkness

This theme is shared with Cygnar and Mercenaries - it allows you to mix models from all 3 factions. Although it doesn't allow you to take a Cygnar or Mercenary warcaster, your warcaster will get access to their warjacks.

This theme represents the Thamarite and Morrowan forces putting aside their ideological differences and teaming up to fight off the Infernal invasion.

Important Note: The only Khador caster available in this theme is Zerkova (as of 2019.04)

Jaws of the Wolf

The deployment of warjack-heavy forces to eliminate hard targets is a standard response to military threats. A common Khadoran tactic involves augmenting such forces with a contingent of scouts who venture ahead to ensure the slow and steady column of Khadoran steel reaches its target intact. Once engaged, the warjacks rely on overwhelming strength and raw firepower to batter the enemy into submission.

Jaws of the Wolf is Khador's warjack-centric theme (if you like large groups of warjacks, this is where you want to be). It is augmented by a number of irregular warriors to create a very mobile skirmishing force backed up by heavy-hitting warjacks.

Legion of Steel

The brotherhood of the Iron Fangs maintains traditions arising from ancient warriors who battled the beasts of the north armed only with spears and the indomitable courage all true Khadorans possess. Iron Fang assault forces are tasked with breaking enemy lines regardless of whether those lines are composed of towering warjacks or masses of infantry. Surrounding a hard center of warjacks, an Iron Fang legion marches in lockstep behind a wall of shields, supported by swift and brutal cavalry to protect their flanks.

If you prefer a medieval-style army you need look no further than the Legion of Steel. None of the Iron Fangs carry ranged weapons and instead they're armed with spear tipped with explosive warheads.

Warriors of the Old Faith

This theme is shared with the Protectorate - it allows you to mix both Khador models with Protectorate ones. Although it doesn't allow you to take Protectorate warcasters, your warcaster will get access to their warjacks.

This theme is heavily focussed on Cavalry.

Important Note: The only Khador caster available in this theme is Kreoss3 (as of 2019.04)

Winter Guard Kommand

The ranks of the Winter Guard are the patriotic backbone of the Khadoran Army. Hardened by a rigorous training regimen and driven by their love for the Motherland, these soldiers march against the enemies of the empire. They make every effort to see the will of the empress done, whether pushing deep into hostile territory under the cover of withering artillery fire or giving their lives to defend Khador from those who would threaten its sovereignty.

If you prefer a quantity of warriors over quality, Winter Guard conscripts might be the type of cannon fodder you're looking for.

Wolves of Winter

The Greylords Covenant does not shrink from using any weapon at its disposal, no matter how horrifying. This fact is seldom made clearer than when a task force of Greylord arcanists goes to battle with a retinue of blood-mad Doom Reavers bearing profane fellblades, cursed objects based on the weapons of the Orgoth slavers. Greylords will not hesitate to unleash their insane soldiers upon any foe, with little regard for the collateral damage they may cause.

Greylords are the magical R&D department of Khador. Their most successful experiment to date is chaining convicted felons to cursed swords that drive the weilders insane, and then escorting the frothing result into battle. So, yeah. Greylords aren't known for their strong moral compass.

Khador Models

Unreleased Models

Last Updated: 2019.04

• Theme - Warriors of the Old Faith

Warcasters

Warjacks

Tip ! Khador does not use puny light warjacks.

Mercenaries that Work for Khador

Refer to Who works for Whom and/or Category: Khador Mercenary

Other

Designer's notes

Just before the launch of the mk3 ruleset, the game developers did a series of Insider articles about what they saw as each Faction's "Core Identity". Although it's a little dated now, it is still an interesting insight to how they view Khador 2016.05 Khador Preview.

Official Short Stories

• The Better Part of Valor written by Matt Goetz in 2018.04 starring Sergeant Dragos Dragadovich.

Khador Deep Lore

Following the iron rebellion that overthrew the Orgoth occupation of the Khardic Empire Khador was formed as a nation. Due to the heavy losses and many atrocities that took place in Khardic lands the fledgling nation of Khador was forced to cede the regions of Umbrey and much of what would become Ord during the negotiations of new borders following the war.

The new royal families of Ord and Llael were awarded lands based on their military achievements to expel the Orgoth; laying claim to the lands they had occupied and establishing their dynasties. This diplomatic annexation of traditionally Khardic lands bred resentment which would simmer in the form of intermittent border skirmishes between the neighboring nations, particularly along the borders shared with Cygnar. These skirmishes would erupt into full scale war several times in the following centuries, but none so large as the military occupation of Llael by Khador in 604 AR.

Empress Ayn Vanar the XI declared the reconquest of Llael as a national reunification of the Umbrean state under Vladimir Tzepesci, and a return to Khardic lands.