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I've had a written proposal for a themed mega-battle that I designed years before Apocalypse. The biggest problem, however, was finding a good way to allow Tyranid and Necron players the ability to join in without creating some bizarre justification for the side they were fighting on. Worse, I didn't want to make them a complete wildcard by allowing them to attack whomever they chose. Any suggestions?

This was going to be a moderated game with judges, hidden setup, "fog of war", and other crazy ideas to create a true, 40K-scale epic mega-battle.

Better to stick to the theme, and not let them play.

Or do a 3-way scenario with either one of them.

Otherwise, just do a free-for-all...

When it comes to justifying team games with my friends we always fall back to Genestealer Cults for explaining the Nids with the abnormal friendlies on whatever side. That makes one side Nids+ cultists, they just haven't shown mutations yet, vs the unified forces of the others.

Or.... there's always the option of including them on one side or the other as a sort of back-handed compliment... Example: If you're running Chaos and Imperium, you could pair off the Necrons with the loyalists, due to the fact that the forces of Chaos would more likely be a more immanent target for the necrons, as they are warp-tainted... conversely, you can write in some sort of story aspect that allows one side or the other to have some degree over the link to the hive mind, allowing/forcing the bugs to either outright ignore the side their fighting for or come under the control of whomever they're fighting for.

Thanks for the input, fellas. If it wasn't for the variety of FW models available to the Tyranids, I would be all for simply leaving them out. As for the Necrons, I doubt there are many players that actually have an Apoc-sized force of them anyway, so I can probably safely leave them by the roadside.

@Dronze: I rather like your idea about allowing one side or other to "control" the 'nids aggression. There could be an objective on the battlefield that dictates that the controlling side would be spared the attentions of the swarm. Or maybe one side or the other can have the option of a strategic asset like the Psi-Emitter form the original Starcraft game that attracts the 'nids. The Tyranids would have to secure the Psi-emitter as their sole objective, and whoever stands in their way will be the target of their aggression. Hmmm... definitely some food for tought!