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 shamikebab wrote:
Allies is just a terrible idea, we don't allow it in my gaming circle unless specifically requested (we might allow CSM and Daemons for example)

The only way Allies seems to be used is for horrifically fluff breaking, cheesy crap.

Wow you MIGHT let two armies who were in the same book before and fight on the side not ally. That is horrible and makes your group sound like trash. But I am sure you all don't allow flyer spam or riptide spam or anything dubbed cheesy or beardy. If it is allowed in the rules and the tournament's local And global it must be working.

Question : Have you ever played a doubles game before? That is lore/fluff breaking. My normal doubles partner is a die hard Nid or die guy and they are not allowed to ally with anyone according to the book. But my Tau and his Nids crush to the point where it hurts.

My .02 Tau cents/credits.

 Ovion wrote:

 Kain wrote:

 ansacs wrote:
Allies is great. Perhaps some tweaking needs to be done in what the levels of alliance do and which factions get what level but the inclusion of allies is one of my favorite parts of 6ed.

If D. Eldar were not BB with CWE then no one would be. Eldar literally consider every other race in the games as barbarous animals who cannot even be trusted to speak without trying to kill themselves or an eldar...D. eldar (as was said in another thread) are your drunken, drugged out, slutty sister or brother. They may be obnoxious and you may not always trust them but you still help them out when a stranger attacks them.

One word; Tau.

If you go by the shadowy hints in the fluff, then the Tau are like the Eldars neglected child - they see them as the best chance in the fight against chaos, and not half as backwards as the other races.

They are still primitives; barely above animals. Just because the eldar deign to use them doesn't mean that can be trusted. Additionally you do realize that there is at least some member exchange between the CWE, DE, corsairs, and exodites which can all breed with each other and still compose a singular species. There is no exchange of members between anyone else and the eldar.

Half as backwards as the other races means they are almost as good as a dog, trainable.

Allies is a mechanic to sell more models, just as dual FOC at 2000 points is. GW either does not care about balance or simply has other motivations or cannot design a balanced game. You can have horribly broken lists at 2k using the abovementioned rules. Allies lets you cherrypick the best units of another codex for extra FUN. The matrix is silly and slapped together. We can explain the connections if we try, but we shouldn't have to.

House rules like 1999+1 impose sense that improves gameplay in many cases. GW isn't in the business of making a good game, they're in the business of foisting more kits on people. Balance in 40k is the process of removing the game system from marketing.

I halfway agree with one of the major complaints about the allies rule, but I see it as a benefit.

Allies is just around to sell more models...

True, but there's another half of that:

...in smaller sizes and at more reasonable prices, allowing you to dabble in a new army without having to break the bank, all while still being able to play with your new toys.

This isn't a negative, it's a positive, in my opinion.

Furthermore, I LOVE the allies rule. It gives me the opportunity to use lots of things I would never have gotten the chance to before. I love the idea of the combo play, coming up with a new strategy that people haven't thought of before, and the allies rule gives so much more to work with on that front. Honestly, if I wanted a game where there was only one right strategy for each army, I'd go play Axis and Allies. I like that there's always a new, undiscovered tactic waiting around the corner in 40k, and the prospect of allies just expands that.

Ye i'm not very fond of allies myself since they just make som codexes a bit over the top with them not having any drawbacks anymore. For very little points (like my friend is doing now) you add an eldar psyker with psychic defence and can give two tau units twinlinked and then they add the slightly op bikes eldar has so they can stay gunline and then last turn just speed off anywhere on the table and contest or take objectives.

 Psienesis wrote:

SOB + SM? Perfectly in keeping, *especially* if Ally SM army is the Black Templars.

Ironically, Games Workshop got it wrong and made it be the other way around. Which makes no sense whatsoever.

Honestly dont care either or, Allies was added as a cheap way of adding variance to the game... tho i have the weird feeling it should gone more in the direction of the Warhammer fantasy direction where they had a chart of alliances for multiplayer play instead of mix and match.

I am really enjoying allies. I mean sure, I am a little tired of seeing army + the most powerful units in the Tau codex, or army + nob bikers, but that`s not everything.
Personally I love having an autarch, some rangers, and a squad of warp spiders in my Tau 1850 list. Basically, my army is infiltration and DS heavy, so rangers are perfect, and an autarch gives me realiability (that shadowsun`s strike force would have). And the new warp spiders are one of the most fun units I`ve ever used.

 washout77 wrote:

 Troike wrote:

 Veteran Sergeant wrote:
allies would be taken to "tell a story"

Problem is, it doesn't do this particularly well in some places. You've got Eldar and Dark Eldar as battle brothers, Black Templars being more willing to ally with xenos than Sisters and Space Marines as battle brothers to the Tau.

In regards to the Eldar/DE alliance, hasn't it been said that while they are the best of friends the DE are still willing to save a Craftworld if need be since they are all still Eldar? The only difference is how they go about not getting tortured by Slanesh.

I don't think that warrants Battle Brothers, but Allies of Convenience maybe

In the original fluff the DE and Eldar would be absolutely mortal enemies who would rather leap into the arms of Slaanesh than join forces. The DE probably don't care so much but the Eldar are the descendants of survivors who fled the Eldar empire in despair as those who were to all intents and purposes the DE destroyed trillions of their own race. The DE are literally responsible for the death of their race. They can only logically hate them and want to destroy them.

However, the new Eldar dex seems to retro-fit this to some extent by talking up the links between them, referring to them as offshoot of the same kin, etc. I think this is a deliberate attmept to mitigate what is obviously a stupid idea for a close alliance.

Also whoever says that Imperial forces being happier to ally with xenos than other Imperials is stupid is spot on. It has clearly been done to try and spike potentially strong combinations, to stop every flavour of SM having IG allies, etc. It's not fluffwise any sense at all.

Im a bit of a purist i guess. I dont really like Allies or Fortifications, and i play tau. I may take some allies some day, but i wont ever take a bastion or ADL, i think they are sooo cheap, like, why cater to gunline armies? make them deal with being a silly gunline instead of being able to manuever and command better. Dont make it easier for them to not have to play other than standing still rolling dice, thats not fun for most people and so I try not to play that way lol

I just don't get why Templars and Sisters don't get along when Sisters and Wolves do. It just makes absolutely 0 sense. They should be one of the strongest alliances possible and yet Templars would apparently rather ally with ELDAR?!