Khador

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Khador is one of the eponymous Iron Kingdoms and one of the main factions in Warmachine. They are stereotypical "Russian" country, blending late Tsarist Russia with the Soviet Union. They like snow, bears, snow, men that act like bears, and heavy industry (like mining). Khador is a bitterly cold and icy land that is frozen five months out of the year, with few natural resources beyond metal and ore, where the land itself and the elements are likely to kill you. However this has strengthened its people, who are known to endure hardships that would break anyone else. They have a seething hatred of the Southern Kingdoms especially Cygnar, whom they believe are always plotting against them.

History

(A word of warning before we continue, Khador has a very self centered point of view. They are violently imperialist and see themselves as being in the right 99.9% of the time and sees most everyone who is not with them as plotting against them, and this article was clearly written by someone who took their self-aggrandizing propaganda at face value.)

Before the Orgoth came through and conquered the lands of Immoren and enslaved everyone, Khador was a massive empire with huge tracks of land, having fought and conquered many of its neighbors. Khador blames the south for what happened during the Orgoth invasion, as it was in their lands that they first took hold and began their invasion. Being the most powerful kingdom(Empire as it was) Khador fought the hardest against the invaders and as such received the largest brunt of their forces. After they were conquered Khador was subjugated the hardest for the stiff resistance they had put up. While the first rebellion occurred in Cygnar it was Khador that won the first true victories, wrestling back control of their city of Korsk, motivating the other Human kingdoms to rise up and form the Iron Alliance. This is where their grudge against Cygnar began.

When the alliance began work on the Colossals(titan sized warmachines), Cygnar was chosen as the sole construction sight, while the other kingdoms, allegedly, pushed Khador out of the debates. Rather then be left out Khador duplicated the plans in secret, building their own colossal. While the other colossal remained secret the Orgoth somehow discovered Khador's and turned their full attention towards them. Khador won thanks to a massive snow storm that froze them to death, however to this day they believe one of the other Human Kingdoms betrayed them. It wasn't until after the Orgoth were finally driven out that Khador really learned to hate the south. When the Kingdoms convened to draw up borders Cygnar and its allies moved that it would be easiest to maintain the lines set by the Orgoth rather then redraw the map. As a result Khador was greatly diminished and robbed of its old territories. Cygnar meanwhile saw Khador's old lands given to the new kingdoms of Ord and Llael. Khador remains convinced that Cygnar again negotiated its way to the best political position. Not only had its actions robbed Khador of its lands it had negotiated Llael and Ord's border so that it formed a literal wall between them and Khador so they could not reach them, while they grew rich and powerful off their newly received land. Since then Khador has hated all the southern nations with an icy passion.

For the next 100 years Khador would go to war constantly with its neighbors, however it was not until the crowning of Queen Ayn Vanar XI that Khador truly regained its place. Through careful planning she united all the peoples of Khador behind her, and thanks to the efforts of the previous reagent Khador's industry boomed. When Khador marched to war, this time against Llael, it crushed the country utterly, despite Cygnar's attempts to aid them. Afterward Khador swung down into Ord and though they put up more resistance conquered them to, putting them right at Cygnar's front door. At this point Queen Vanar declared Khador an empire again.

Unlike most of the other factions, Khador is not particularly advanced and has few cortexes to build warjacks. Most of these cortexes are used on massive heavy 'jacks. Instead of light warjacks, they have Man-o-Wars, which are basically elite warriors wearing steam-powered armour. The rest of Khador's army is primarily made up of the Winter Guard, a stereotypical "Russian conscripts" army. However, Khador doesn't just drown then enemy with bodies; in fact, the High Kommander nearly killed himself in shame for daring to think of his men as just numbers. Khador is winning the current war by fighting smart and adapting to Cygnar's tactics (as proven by the existence of the Assault Kommandos).

Khador is unique in that it has a very liberal approach to warcasters. Unlike other nations like Cygnar who have an established system by which they can test recruits for the potential to be warcasters, Khador has no such system. Because of this it can take awhile for new potential warcasters to present themselves, as such the High Kommand is willing to entertain behaviors that would see even the most distinguished warcaster discharged from any other army, so long as the warcaster does their duty. The best example of this is Orsus, who is known to literally lose his mind in battle, but is kept in command as he continues to produce results.

Unlike Cygnar and the Protectorate of Menoth, Khador has few religious tensions*. They put far more importance in national loyalty: it doesn't matter whether you worship the Twins (Morrow and Thamar) or the Old Faith (Menoth), as long as you were born and bred in Khador. This is because, unlike the other regions (which are largely ethnically homogeneous), the "Khadorans" are actually made up of a number of different races that don't have much to do with each other outside a common cultural basis. The concept of a "Khadoran" nation is relatively recent in their history, which is why it's so important to them.

• The exception is that they banned Hierarch Severius of the Protectorate. This isn't because he caused trouble or anything; it's just that, last time he came, he left with thousands of converts.

Crunch

On the table Khador is largely close combat oriented, with most units and jacks being geared for close quarters carnage, with many spells based around boosting damage and increasing durability. Khador is not as advanced as some of the other factions, and their weapons reflect this, focusing less on neat tricks and doing more direct damage.

While largely close combat oriented Khador is easily capable of dealing damage at range, though they will never be as efficient at it as Cygnar, focusing on AOE explosives that can hit multiple targets easier as a means of getting around their relatively low RAT.

Khador jacks are know for being the toughest in Warmachine, with high STR and ARM. However this comes at the cost of SPD, RAT, and DEF. Khador jack can have a problem hitting their targets due to their lower MAT and RAT, relying on the power of their weapons to compensate, dealing higher damage to counter their lower hit averages. Khador jacks have a somewhat inaccurate reputation for being slow, while they all have a SPD of 4' many of them have traits that allow them to run or charge without spending focus giving them unexpected maneuverability.

Characters

(Yeah the descriptions of the charcters are pretty long, they'll have to be until they can get their own pages)

Orsus Zoktavir "The Butcher of Khardov"- Orsus, or "the Butcher" as many call him, is a crazed bloodthirsty warrior, suffering from uncontrollable rage. Orsus got his title from an infamous massacre, where he attacked a rebel town and, in his rage, slew friend and foe alike. Rather then let Orsus be executed the newly crowned Empress gave him a pardon. He is despised by younger warcasters, and seen as nothing more then a weapon by members of the High Kommand. Orsus is a fun, simple to use Warcaster on the table, arguably the best one for new players due to his straight forwardness. He only has four spells but their buffs are nice, so its all good. While relatively weak at range, he is an absolute rape-machine in close combat. He has the highest MAT(Weapon skill) of any unit in the entire game, and the single most powerful non-warjack equipped melee weapon to boot. His feat, Blood Frenzy is simple and brutal, giving an extra die when rolling damage to all friendly units in his control area.

As Khador's wars went on however, Orsus's maddness only deepened, driving his rage to heights so great that the Angry Marines, Kharn, and Khorne himself noticed. In a moment of mad fury he led an unauthorized suicide attack on an enemy fortress where everyone assumed he died. Months later he returned as if nothing had ever happened, refusing to explain where he'd been or what had happened. When fielded as Epic Orsus he becomes the very embodiment of rage: his focus is determined randomly unless he kills something, when he makes a basic attack he MUST attack EVERYTHING in range (his range is 2 inches out from his base and he counts as having full 360 vision BTW). If a warjack starts in his control area it can charge and power attack for free. His Feat: Feel the Hate gives him rage point which he can give to friendly models for free attacks and moves. Because of how crazy he is he can only take warjacks and Doom Reavers(essentially Khorne Berzerkers).

Sorscha Kratikoff- The postergirl of Khador and during 1st edition the postergirl of what it means to be broken beyond broken. As a young girl Sorsha watched he father go off to serve in the Winter Guard only to find out he was one of the solders Zoktavir killed. She later enlisted and became a soldier in the winter guard, and during an intense battle her arcane abilities manifested, and she became a warcaster. Shes known as the Ice Queen to everyone but Prince Vladimir whom she is in love with. During the invasion of Llael she hoped to get revenge on the Butcher when she didn't help him as he fell to the enemy. Shes kept a wary eye ever since he returned alive, worried that he will try to get revenge. Sorscha is a control themed caster, with a range of spells to buff units, and damage enemies and hold them in place. Her Feat: Icy Gaze, causes all models in her control area that she has line of sight to to immediately become frozen, unable to move for one round.

Vladimir Tzepesci- The Not Dacurla of not Russia.

Irusk- Born to a prominent military family, and son to a retired soldier, Irusk's father taught him everything he knew about warfare and battle, giving him the knowledge, skill, and ruthless persistence that would make him into the military Kommander he is today. His childhood was spent learning Khadoran military strategy, and enlisted at the age of twelve. He quickly rose through the ranks, leading his men to victory after victory. So great was his genius that he published his work on tactical warfare, has become required reading at military academies throughout the Iron Kingdoms. Irusk has become the chief military advisor to the Empress, letting him begin to reinventing and modernizing the Khadoran military. During the Khadoran invasion of Liaedry his tactics and strategy decimated the enemy with such force that some parts of the country surrendered without firing a shot, earning him a spot among the greatest military commanders in history. On the table Irusk is a powerful infantry commander, focusing on buffing his units and warjacks. His feat, Undying Loyalty, gives a massive boost to infantry models in his control area for a turn. Giving them all a buff to their attack rolls, fearless, a 50% chance of not being killed when hurt, and immunity to being knocked down.

Aleksandra Zerkova- Born to a family with a long history as distinguished officers and servants to the crown, Aleksanda is Khador's resident mad scientist. Ahem, that is to say she is an occult researcher, archaeologist and historian, raiding old tombs and temples, looking for ancient secrets and artifacts that can be used against Khador's enemies. In addition to being a warcaster shes knows extremely powerful magic and carries a number of ancient artifacts augmenting her abilities. She once led a task force against Merywyn's Order of Wizards, where she obliterated them so thoroughly and efficiently that there wasn't even enough of them left for anyone to figure out how she did it. In game she is completely spell focused, with high focus(mana), and more spells then any other warcaster(as far as Khador's casters go anyway). However she is also the most fragile, with low HP, armor, and weak melee attacks. Her Feat: Howling Wind, prevents enemies from making ranged attacks(unless they have two), running, charging, making special attacks, giving or taking orders, or make special actions. To put it simply she opens a giant can of NOPE.

Karchev- Karchev the Terrible is a living warmachine, a century year old warcaster who's been given a second life after being entombed inside a warjack. Karchev was a veteran warcaster during the Thornwood war where his body was destroyed in a struggle against a Cygnaran warcaster. While he survived all his limbs were lost, rather then fade into obscurity Karchev demanded that he be given a machine body to fight again. Ten years later he got his wish, a massive new form built from the chassis of a Berserker mixed with life sustaining machinery in the form of a warjack. Karchev is unique in that he has all the abilities of a warcaster while himself being a warjack. While he is a living model he neither counts as a warrior or warjack model. He has a "body" system representing his living body inside the suit replacing the cortex, should it be crippled he is unable to allocate focus. Beyond that and a few other things he works the same as any other jack. Karchev is themed around running warjack heavy lists, what spells he has that dont focus on dealing damage largely being centered around buffing jacks. His Feat: Total War grants Pathfinder to all friendly models, allows them to turn before moving, and lets jacks charge or make power attacks for free.

Zevanna Agha

Strakhov- Strakov is the ruthless leader of Khador's Assault Kommandos, and the man the High Kommand goes to for their most dangerous missions. He has served the military for nearly two decades, however most of his career was spent in secret, carrying out secret missions and operations until the Llael invasion where his reputation could not be contained. During the first weeks of the war he assassinated the enemy's best commanders and warcasters, and later the archduke and his entire command in a single ambush. He was also so discreet that the duke's fate and whereabouts remained a mystery until resistance fighters found him dead among a mass grave. He later led his men to destroy the enemy munitions dumps just before Khador's final assault. After the war Irusk asked Strakov to help lay the foundation and later lead the newly founded Assault Kommandos. Strakov and his men excel at brutal shock attacks, hurling themselves against enemy positions, into trenches and foxholes, slaughtering the enemy before they can react. On the table Strakov's main strategy is to rush the enemy before they have time to set up. His Feat: Iron Fist grants a MASSIVE bonus to charging models in his control range, increasing their movement, and letting them ignore slowing terrain. Warjacks in his group can also charge and slam enemies for free if they are in his control range.

Harkevich- The Iron Wolf, Harkevich is Khador's head of the occupation of Llael and in charge of repairing all the wreck people like Orsus caused. Unsurprising he's not very happy about the mess his countrymen left as most of the infrastructure is in ruins and mass unrest form the local, also because he's a total bro and found it unnecessarily harsh. For the most part he's been extremely successful turning the land form a WWII ruin city to better than new, with many Llaels finding Khador's new rule a massive inproment. Also helps that he's made a stance on the Protectorate of Menoth :liberation" protecting refugees form the crazed zealots. Unlike most Khador's warcaster Harkevich is a range base rather than close combat, relaying more on Warjacks than troops, which is good since his main spell allows warjacks to fire a free shot.

Khadoran Military

Khador's army is broken down in these groups.

Assault Kommandos: Cygnar's main defense is trench warfare and these guys are design to counter this. Armed with Magtek nightvison goggles shields and guns with gas grenade launchers. They sneak in a trenchline and wreak havoc allowing for the Winter Guard to safely cross no man's land. They're immune to Fire and Corrosive damage, two of the other factions main element types, and ignore cloud effects.

Greylords: Greylords are Khador's order of wizards. After the end of the Orgoth war Khador was devastated and many of its people left seeking a better life and opportunities, and a number of them became wizards. When Khador's king called for Khador's people to return home decades after the end of the Orgoth war many Wizard of Khadoran descent answered, taking all the secrets they had learned and most importantly the secret of cortex manufacturing with them. These wizard went on to from the Greylord's covenant, specializing in ice magic and finding Orgoth artifacts to use as weapons against Khador's enemies.

Men-O'-War: Since Khador lacks light warjack they just put the best, strongest Winter Guard in steampunk power armor, THEY DIE IN STEAM! They're relatively expensive for a squad but each one has multiple hit points. They come in three varieties, Bombardiers who carry grenade cannons with chainsaws attached. Demolition Corps who carry giant freezing hammers, and Shocktroopers who carry giant axes and shields with built in cannons.

Iron Fangs: The oldest type of warriors hailing all the way back to the days before the Iron Kingdoms. Simply put they're heavily armored troops with spears, now they're used as anti-warjack units given spears with exploding tips. Come in cavalry form as Uhlans.

Winter Guard: The backbone of Khador's army. All men are conscripted while women are only volunteer, most aren't forced; they see this are a proud honor to serve their nation. Most of Khador's attempts to modernize it's army are here. Before Empress Ayn Vanar they were just armed with axes, now they're armed with outdated guns and axes, some of the more elite units are given better(actual) rifles. Winter Guard are known for a few things, how cheap they are, combining ranged attacks for more damage, and tar-pitting units in melee, earning them the nickname the "Winter Guard Deathstar".

Widowmakers: Khador's elite marksmen. Widowmarkers are themed after real life Russian snipers in WW2, and as far as the rules go they are the only true sniper unit in the game. They have high RAT and excel at being hard to hit with high DEF that's boosted while in cover. When they hit a target they can choose to do a point of damage instead of rolling for it allowing them to pick off enemy infantry through their armor. Despite this their armor is extremely weak meaning that if they get hit they're going to die, so they must be used carefully.

Kossite Woodsman: Conscripts from the fiercely independent Kossite Clans woodsmen use their superb hunting skills to act as scouts and ambushers, wearing motley clothes rather then armor and using archaic hunting tools as weapons. Woodsmen are a throw away unit. They have no armor, and despite supposedly being good hunters have a LOWER RAT score then the regular Winter Guard. The only thing that makes them remotely useful is their ability to show up on a turn and table edge(excluding the opponents) of their owners choosing. Long story short they're kroot from the old Tau codex.

Doom Reavers: Doom Reavers are Khador's best close combat unit(behind the butcher of course) and true beserkers. Running into battle bare chested with no armor these guy tear apart infantry like a chainsaw through tissue paper, but as you might expect from their appearance they die like flies when attacked. During an expedition the Greylords discovered a cache of Orgoth weapons. It was quickly discovered that the weapons were cursed, any man who held onto the blades for too long would start to go mad from whispering voices telling him to kill and go on a mad rampage. It was decided by the powers at be that the weapons were too good to pass up, forcing criminals, traitors, or anyone who slighted the Empire to carry them and become mad beasts. Doom Reavers are infamous for killing most anything with incredible ease due to their stats, abilities, and power of their weapons. They have a tendency to kill each other or friendly units before they can get in close but its off set by the fact that just a few getting the charge can still kill half of whatever unit they hit.

WARJACKS

Berserker: Berserkers are the closest thing Khador has to a "light" 'jack(excluding Agha's scrap jack). They are the oldest jacks being employed by any army. Due to their old age the cortexes in the Berserkers have become unstable. Because of this they are known to act erratically, charging without orders and attacking with savage brutality. Berserkers are cheap(by Khador standards) have respectable armor and weapons, and can run and charge for free making them very mobile. However if a Berserker spends any focus it is given there is a chance it will explode destroying the whole 'jack.

Decimator: Decimators were specially designed to tear through fortifications and destroy heavily armored targets. The Decimator is equipped with a Dozer cannon which fires oversized high impact shells that can knock back nearly any sized target while it advances towards it. Up close it has a massive Rip Saw which can tear through any warjack's armor. The Decimator is a mixed bag in game, on top of being a point sink its low RAT makes it largely in effective at range. The Rip Saw is good but needs focus to be used to full effect. In most cases a Destroyer is a better choice.

Destroyer: Another long serving warjack, the Destroyer is famed in the Khadoran military for its use as an artillery unit. For the exact same amount of points the Destroyer does everything the Decimator is supposed to do only better. Its cannon has an AOE allowing it to hit easier despite its low RAT. Its Executioner Axe doesn't match the damage the Rip Saw can do but on a critical is completely cripples any arm systems that takes damage. A solid choice in most games

Juggernaut: The workhorse of Khador's warjacks, the Juggernaut has one simple purpose, to be big scary and wreck things in close combat, completely eschewing ranged weapons. It has an Ice Axe which freezes its target on a critical hit, and an open fist allowing it to grapple with its target. For its cost, it's outright deadly, though its mostly used for tanking hits and kill other warjacks because its low MAT. Again a solid choice if you intend to do a lot of close combat.

Devastator: Designed to be even more armored then the Juggernaut, Devastators is one of, if not the most heavily armored jack in the game, to point where a lot of weaker weapons can't even damage. It gains extra armor when it does not attack with its shielded arms, but it loses armor when it does leaving it vulnerable. When it charges it can choose to fire its grenade launchers, making all models in B2B take an extremely powerful hit and half damage to all models within 3'.

Kodiak: After the costly Thornwood War the High Kommand demanded an all-terrain warjack capable of smashing through heavy foliage. The Kodiak has a heavy boiler engine, allowing it to run without spending focus, and pathfinder letting it to move through terrain without being slowed. As such, it's pretty mobile compared to Khador's other jacks. If its first two melee attacks hit it can make a pair of power attacks against the target. It can also create a cloud affect damaging all surrounding models. For two points more the Kodiak is an alternate version of the Berserker. While it cannot charge for free it ignores slowing terrain when moving. Where as the Berserk's chain attack only allows it to do a headbutt the Kodiaks allows it to make a pair of any type of power attacks.

Marauder: Marauders are Juggernauts who's arms have been replaced with ram pistons. When a Maruader successfully hit it can choose to knock the target back dealing increased damage and pushing it d6 inches away. This ability makes it good for displacing enemy jacks, messing with enemy coordination.

Spriggan: The most expensive non-character 'jack, the Spriggan is well rounded and versatile, armed with a shield, lance, and a pair of grenade launchers. The lance can punch through heavy armor with relative ease, the grenade launchers won't due much to jacks but does well against infantry. Instead of shooting the grenade launcher the controller can shoot a flare, creating an AOE that removes camoflage and Stealth to those inside and lets allies ignore cloud effects when determining LOS.

Beast 09: Beast 09 is a suped up Juggernaut with traits designed to make it tear apart infantry, possessing higher MAT and pairing it with Sorcha lets get an extra die when attacking living models. It can run without spending focus, when it takes damage it can make a full advance towards whoever caused it. During its activation you can spend a focus point to grant it an extra die of damage against all living enemy warriors. Beast has an Ice Axe with Reach and the ability to make an attack against all models in range.

Behemoth: The single largest jack in Khador's arsenal excluding its Colossal and the most infamous. For nearly half your army points the Behemoth comes armed with a pair of built in Bombard cannons, and two POW 12 open fists with armor piercing. While expensive, its two Bombard cannons are just as strong as a Destroyer's, so for its cost it's a much more efficient shooting unit. In melee, it's best at killing larger single targets due to its fist cutting medium and large based armor in half, its weakness are small base models with high armor. When first convinced the Behemoth was suspended due to the immense cost of making just one. The project was resurrected by the former regent when he discovered the plans, and through influence and his own fortune saw construction resumed. To this day the cost of construction has made sure that only one Behemoth has ever been made.

Draigo: The oldest warjack in service to Khador Draigo is a Berserker armed with a pair of Executioner Axes. Draigo's MAT is one point higher then standard Beserkers and should it hit with both its initial attacks it can make an additional melee attack against all models in range. It has affinity with Vladimir allowing it to ignore its unstable rule while in his control range. Draigo is the preferred warjack of Vladimir, having served all the previous warcasters of his family line.

Relations

Cygnar: Khador and Cygnar fight each other more often then nearly any other factions. Cygnar sees Khador as ruthless savages who would conquer the world given the chance. Khador meanwhile would like to see Cygnar with more axes to the face. While Khador plans to conquer Cygnar for the moment they have agreed to work together to fight Cryx.

Menoth: Menoth is currently on a crusade to conquer Llael. Khador has thus come into conflict with Menoth as they are occupying most of it. Menoth does not have any real problem with Khador beyond this. While not all Khadorans worship Menoth like the Protectorate wants everyone too, his followers are given equal rights and treated fairly so there cool.

Cryx: Seeing as the nightmare Empire wants to take over and destroy all life Khador has an understandable policy of destroying them where ever they find them. Realizing that Cyrx is a legitimate threat Khador has agreed to put their war with Cygnar on hold and work together to push them back.

Retribution: Khador is in something of a cold war with Ios. Officially the have no stance on the isolationist land of Ios. Unofficially the elves led an attack against Aleksandra Zerkova, freeing their sleeping god Nysor, whom she had found and was trying to pry secrets from. This revelation that Khador had one of their gods has caused the Retribution to view Khador with much more suspicion then before. Like wise Khador's High Kommand is preparing for an inevitable strike against them from the Retribution.