Two very good choices. I’d say if you want a more competitively powerful army, go Tzeentch, because while Kharadron were very strong when they first came out, they received several hefty nerf-bats from GW (I like to think that Daughters of Khaine were the original targets of the nerf-bats but GW did a Stormtrooper and missed their true target). However, if you want an army that looks truly and thematically awesome, I would still argue that Kharadron are better (even though I also love the Tzaangors).
As for army lists, there’s this one for Kharadron:
Allegiance: Kharadron Overlords - Mortal Realm: Chamon
LEADERS
Endrinmaster (120)
- General
- Artefact : Alchemical Chain
Runelord (100)
- Allies
UNITS
10 x Arkanaut Company (120)
- 1 x Aethermatic Volley Guns
10 x Arkanaut Company (120)
- 1 x Aethermatic Volley Guns
3 x Endrinriggers (120)
- 1 x Aethermatic Volley Guns
WAR MACHINES
Arkanaut Frigate (240)
- Main Gun : Heavy Sky Cannon
- Great Endrinworks : The Last Word
Grundstok Gunhauler (160)
- Main Gun : Sky Cannon
- Great Endrinworks : Incredible Self-healing Hull
TOTAL: 980/1000 EXTRA COMMAND POINTS: 0 WOUNDS: 61
LEADERS: 2/4 BATTLELINES: 2 (2+) BEHEMOTHS: 1/2 ARTILLERY: 1/2 ARTEFACTS: 1/1 ALLIES: 100/200
I’ve left the sky-port blank for you to choose, but otherwise I would say that this would be a good starter list. It consists of a SC box (for an easy economic start) plus a Frigate (so you can have fun with a larger skyship and pour out horrendous amounts of firepower), two boxes of Arkanauts (who are required as battleline choices) and an allied Runelord (Kharadron have no defences against magic on their own, but can ally with Dispossessed who have the Runelord). I’ve also assigned your Endrinmaster general an Alchemical Chain as his magic item as it allows him to unbind a spell every turn like the Runelord or a wizard can, so you have two unbinding dice to use every turn, which should be enough in a 1000 pt army. You’ll also have some spare Grundstok Thunderers from the SC box who you can sub out the Gunhauler for if you want - you’ll have to play battles using both combinations and see which is best. The Gunhauler can take shots for your frigate and regenerate them with the self-healing hull, and you can fit your Endrinmaster and a unit of Arkanauts on board the frigate to transport them wherever you want - the Endrinmaster can repair D3 wounds on your big ship and if you hitch the Endrinriggers onto the side they’ll be able to repair another wound. If you sub out the Gunhauler for the Thunderers, you’ll lose your escort for your frigate, but you’ll be able to fit the Thunderers on board the frigate if you leave the Endrinmaster with the remaining Arkanauts and Runelord on the ground and they’ll be able to support your embarked unit of Arkanauts with a lot more firepower when you disembark them, and you’ll also get an extra command point as the build with the Thunderers in place of the Gunhauler comes to 940. Regardless, both builds will be able to dish out a huge amount of mundane firepower that you’ll be able to use to shred melee armies as they come for you and fight back against other missile armies.
And here’s a sample list for Tzeentch:
Allegiance: Tzeentch
LEADERS
Tzaangor Shaman (180)
- General
- Lore of Fate : Shield of Fate
UNITS
10 x Tzaangors (180)
10 x Tzaangors (180)
3 x Tzaangor Enlightened on Disc (140) 3 x Tzaangor Skyfires (200)
3 x Tzaangor Enlightened (100)
TOTAL: 980/1000 EXTRA COMMAND POINTS: 0 WOUNDS: 79
LEADERS: 1/4 BATTLELINES: 2 (2+) BEHEMOTHS: 0/2 ARTILLERY: 0/2 ARTEFACTS: 0/1 ALLIES: 0/200
Note: I’ve left the Mortal Realm and other options out so you can equip the Tzaangors with whatever suits your preferred way of fighting - I’ve just laid the groundwork as I don’t know so much about Tzeentch gameplay.
Of course, Tzeentch has a lot more flexibility because it can take WoC units as well (how boring) but in this list it’s all about the birds! Alas I couldn’t fit a Lord of Change in there without the army becoming horrifically outnumbered (although you can do this if you wish), so I thought a Tzaangor Shaman would be the best general because he synergises so well with all the other Tzaangor units - he can replenish your regular Tzaangors with Boon of Mutation and he buffs both Enlightened and Skyfires and protects your units with the assigned Shield of Fate. He and the other disc-mounted birds can zoom about the battlefield making nuisances of themselves while those on foot can better guard objectives. Also these chaps all benefit from the new Beastmen Warscrolls making them bang up to date. The thing about Tzeentch in general is that they’re better at magical shooting - arguably more dangerous to those who can’t unbind, but less so to those who can. Also they’re arguably better at spamming out Mortal Wounds.
Of course you can choose what you want in your army, but I hope these lists help.
. However, it will be likely that Kharadron get a new book in a year or two so hopefully you won’t have to wait too long before they become strong again.