Overlords of the Iron Dragon is CL Werner’s third Age of Sigmar novel, and the first to ever feature the Kharadron Overlords. Taking place mostly in the skies of Chamon, it follows sky-captain Brokrin Ullissonn and the crew of the Iron Dragon, a ship with a growing reputation for ill fortune. When they stumble upon the location of a strike of incredibly potent aether-gold, Brokrin’s lieutenants are desperate to go all in and claim a fortune that could spell the end of their troubles. Brokrin, however, remains cautious and suspects that it might just be too good to be true.
A race of sort-of-steampunk duardin air merchants, the Kharadron are equal parts old-school Warhammer dwarven familiarity and sky’s-the-limits Age of Sigmar inventiveness. Sensibly, Werner doesn’t try to cram in too much information about the big picture of how the Kharadron operate on a macro level, instead focusing on a small selection of good characters whose adventures offer both a great story and a little insight into some of the specifics of the skyfaring duardin. The classic dwarven gold-lust is at the heart of the story, but given an interesting spin in context of the Kharadron’s mercantile way of life, as Brokrin has to constantly balance risk and reward both physically and financially.
Narratively it’s almost a straight-up adventure story, as the crew of the Iron Dragon battle their way through various dangers to seek their fortune, but it’s all wrapped up in Tzeentchian plots within plots and the growing tension amongst the Kharadron crew. Brokrin’s caution and pragmatism are nicely balanced by the avaricious logisticator Skaggi and the youthful sergeant Gotramm, amongst others, and while the Chaos characters are a touch one-dimensional they nonetheless make for entertaining antagonists, mostly pulling strings at a remove. Add in a dragon (because why wouldn’t you want a dragon in a story set mostly on an airship?), plenty of other monsters and daemons, and lashings of satisfyingly efficient duardin technology, and you’ve got a recipe for a fun, action-packed story.
And it really is fun. This is Werner in his element, writing about a faction which is fundamentally cool and getting to throw in pretty much anything and everything he wants to ramp up the madness. There’s even a quick glimpse of a grot sky-pirate ship! Thankfully it’s also a really good story, maintaining an fast, engaging pace that hooks you in and keeps you interested with lots of inventive action scenes alongside interesting characters and just enough about the Kharadron to feel like you’re learning useful information about them without having it shoved down your throat. While the ending is perhaps a little contrived, overall it’s an incredibly enjoyable book that shows what’s possible in Age of Sigmar when the reins are off and authors can have fun.
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