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I play a pure Skitarii army, for the aesthetics, so I'm forced to use a pretty shoddy warlord. The many options go all the way from a troop choice Alpha and extends to.... you know... an elite choice Alpha.

So I run an infiltrator Alpha, because he looks the meanest and the most fit to fill the role. With his 2 wounds and FNP, he's about as tough as a Skitarii gets, even though with his 3 Toughness, he'll basically get Instant Death'ed by anyone that can do ten pushups.

So with all this in mind, why is my Alpha restricted from using warlord traits 4-6?

The surprise isn't that there is something I can't have. There are a lot of things I can't have. But in this case someone had to make up extra rules to add restrictions. This isn't laziness. It's deliberate. And it's cruel in its pettiness! It's not like the Alphas were some kind of just barely balanced beasts, where the presence of those three warlord traits would push them over the edge. They were already thoroughly underwhelming, but someone had a bad day, blamed it on a ruststalker or an infiltrator and went "you know what? You can't have these." Like he was denying half a handout to a pauper, just to show he could.

And that's what grinds my gears. Only the Omnissiah understands the reasoning of GW.

Understanding is the True Path to Comprehension.

Its fluffy, the skitarii are machines run by protocols and programs, its simply a case of where these particular protocols prevent X warlord from having X trait

 Deadshot wrote:
Its fluffy, the skitarii are machines run by protocols and programs, its simply a case of where these particular protocols prevent X warlord from having X trait

Then why are lesser Alphas allowed better protocols than Elite Alphas? According to fluff, Skitarii are rewarded with more and better augmentations as they gain rank. Here it seems the opposite is true. It doesn't make sense in a fluff sense.

 Purifier wrote:

 Deadshot wrote:
Its fluffy, the skitarii are machines run by protocols and programs, its simply a case of where these particular protocols prevent X warlord from having X trait

Then why are lesser Alphas allowed better protocols than Elite Alphas? According to fluff, Skitarii are rewarded with more and better augmentations as they gain rank. Here it seems the opposite is true. It doesn't make sense in a fluff sense.

Maybe the writers thought those protocols were better fluffwise. Just because they are higher numbers doesn't mean they are the "best" results

 Deadshot wrote:

 Purifier wrote:

 Deadshot wrote:
Its fluffy, the skitarii are machines run by protocols and programs, its simply a case of where these particular protocols prevent X warlord from having X trait

Then why are lesser Alphas allowed better protocols than Elite Alphas? According to fluff, Skitarii are rewarded with more and better augmentations as they gain rank. Here it seems the opposite is true. It doesn't make sense in a fluff sense.

Maybe the writers thought those protocols were better fluffwise. Just because they are higher numbers doesn't mean they are the "best" results

Well, I mean, they quite clearly are the "best" results though. A whole unit being able to overwatch at BS4 is pretty damn mean. Reroll Feel No Pain on only the warlord himself when you are T3 is absolute trash.

Fluff-wise, "emotionless clarity" doesn't sound like something that is obviously fluffy for a guy with a radiation gun, but disallowed for the sicarian infiltrators that are described as calm in the midst of anything, while listening to their codestream that sounds like the repetition of the canticles to them.

As it is, I use the BRB for warlord traits as the results are better by far. Very fluffy.

Where in the fluff does it say princeps have ultimate authority over alphas? It'd be like a sergeant that's an army ranger or MARSOC taking orders from a staff sergeant that's in charge of the chow/mess hall. Technically, he still holds rank over them, regardless of their elite-ness. Now whether they'd actually do what he says... ha

...not that that has anything to do with the warlord table...

OT, I use a vangaurd alpha on a 5 man arquebus team way in the back in cover (sometimes out of site if I can) and roll on the strategic traits table. I even have a tech priest using the dominus maniple and use coteaz, but ive lost my WL less usin that alpha.

I dont bother with the skitarii table after my arqebus alpha got BS4 over watch and rerolled for master crafted wep. I won the game, but not much thanks went to my WL with his master craft rad rifle 6" from my table edge all game.