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I've come to be quite irritated by the way 8e-9e handles army building; it's an awkward set-up where you in theory toss together an army and then see what benefits you qualify for, but in practice everyone is obviously working to qualify for specific benefits. Every unit in your Army has to share at least one Faction keyword or be Unaligned, and your army is made of Detachments, and every unit in each Detachment has to share at least one Faction keyword that isn't one of the special soup-able ones, and if every unit in your army is from the same specific Faction you'll get Army Benefits, and if every unit in a Detachment is from the same specific Faction you'll get Detachment Benefits, and if every unit in a Detachment is from the same specific Sub-Faction you'll get Sub-Faction Benefits...

Space Marines are relatively simple, and they still have about five or six "checks" to go through: Is every unit in your army ADEPTUS ASTARTES? Is every unit in a Detachment ADEPTUS ASTARTES? Do you have any Detachments in your army that are all ADEPTUS ASTARTES, despite not every unit in your army being ADEPTUS ASTARTES? Is every unit in a Detachment <CHAPTER>? Is every unit in your army <CHAPTER>? Is your Warlord ADEPTUS ASTARTES or <CHAPTER>?

It seems like it'd be much simpler if we just reversed the order of operations: pick a Faction, adhere to that restriction for that your Army/Detachment, and get benefits. That's taken us from 6 "checks" down to a 2-step process with no room for confusion. Drukhari did something similar with Kabal Detachments, etc.

Here's how it'd look, let me know your thoughts:


Army Faction and Detachment Factions
When you muster a Battle-forged army, select a single Faction keyword (e.g. IMPERIUM, TYRANIDS, CHAOS) to be your Army Faction. All units in your army must have this Faction keyword. If a unit does not have your Army Faction keyword, it cannot be included in your army. Some Faction keywords offer special benefits when selected as your Army Faction; these are referred to as Army Abilities.

A Battle-forged army will contain one or more Detachments. When you build a Detachment, select a single Faction keyword to be the Detachment Faction for that Detachment. All units in your army must share that Faction keyword. If a unit does not have that Detachment Faction keyword, it cannot be included in that Detachment. Some Faction keywords add special Command Benefits and Restrictions to a Detachment when selected as its Detachment Faction; these are referred to as Detachment Abilities.

Exceptions

• Units with the UNALIGNED keyword can be included in any Battle-forged army, regardless of its Army Faction. However, UNALIGNED units are not treated as part of your army for the purposes of Army Abilities, unless otherwise stated.
• Units with the INDEPENDENT keyword can be included in any Detachment, regardless of its Detachment Faction. However, INDEPENDENT units are not treated as part of that Detachment for the purposes of Detachment Abilities, unless otherwise stated.
• Units that are added to your Battle-forged army during a battle can be added regardless of your Army Faction. Such units do not join an existing Detachment, unless otherwise stated; treat each unit as a new Auxiliary Support Detachment with a Command Cost of 0CP, ignoring the usual maximum number of Detachments in an army.
• Auxiliary Support, Super-heavy Auxiliary and Fortification Detachments never gain Detachment Abilities regardless of their Detachment Faction.

Examples
Army Abilities: ADEPTUS ASTARTES

• The Combat Doctrine ability applies to units with that ability.
• You can select secondary objectives with the ADEPTUS ASTARTES keyword.

Army Abilities: BLOOD ANGELS
This army gains all ADEPTUS ASTARTES Army Abilities. In addition:

• Units with the Combat Doctrine ability also gain the Savage Echoes ability.
• You can select secondary objectives with the BLOOD ANGELS keyword.

Army Abilities: DRUKHARI

• The Power from Pain ability applies to units with that ability.
• If every Detachment in your army is a Patrol Detachment, change the Command Cost of those Detachments to 0CP.
• You can select secondary objectives with the DRUKHARI keyword.

Army Abilities: DEATH GUARD

• The Contagions of Nurgle ability applies to units with that ability.
• You can select secondary objectives with the DEATH GUARD keyword.

Detachment Abilities: ADEPTUS ASTARTES
This Detachment has the Company Command Restriction. In addition:

• Troops units gain the Objective Secured ability.
• You can use ADEPTUS ASTARTES Stratagems.
• If your Warlord is part of this Detachment, you can select ADEPTUS ASTARTES Relics and Warlord Traits.
• In a Crusade force, you can select ADEPTUS ASTARTES Agendas, Requisitions, and Battle Honours.

Detachment Abilities: BLOOD ANGELS
This Detachment gains all ADEPTUS ASTARTES Detachment Abilities. In addition:

• All units gain the Red Thirst ability.
• You can use BLOOD ANGELS Stratagems.
• If your Warlord is part of this Detachment, you can select BLOOD ANGELS Relics and BLOOD ANGELS Warlord Traits.
• PSYKERS in this Detachment can know all of their psychic powers from the Sanguinary discipline instead of the Librarius or Obscuration disciplines.
• In a Crusade force, you can select BLOOD ANGELS Agendas, Requisitions, and Battle Honours, and all units gain The Flaw ability.

Detachment Abilities: DRUKHARI
This Detachment gains the Bitter Rivals Restriction. In addition:

• Troops units gain the Objective Secured ability.
• You can use DRUKHARI Stratagems.
• You can upgrade 1 CHARACTER in this Detachment into a Lord of Comorragh.
• If your Warlord is part of this Detachment, you can select DRUKHARI Relics.
• In a Crusade force, you can select DRUKHARI Agendas, Requisitions, Battle Scars, and Battle Honours, and you gain the Territorial Dominance ability.

Detachment Abilities: <KABAL>
This Detachment gains all DRUKHARI Detachment Abilities. In addition:

• All <KABAL> units gain the Drukhari Obsession ability.
• You can add <WYCH CULT> and <COVEN> units to this Detachment, as though they were INDEPENDENT.
• You can use <KABAL> Stratagems.
• If your <KABAL> Warlord is part of this Detachment, you can select <KABAL> Relics and <KABAL> Warlord Traits.

Detachment Abilities: REALSPACE RAID
This Detachment gains the Wicked Partnership Restriction. It also gains all DRUKHARI Detachment Abilities, and all Detachment Abilities for 1 <KABAL>, 1 <WYCH CULT>, and 1 <COVEN>. In addition:

• All DRUKHARI units in this Detachment gain the REALSPACE RAID Faction keyword.
• If your Warlord is part of this Detachment, it gains the Raid Mastermind ability.

Detachment Abilities: DEATH GUARD
This Detachment has the Diseased Minions, Infernal Jealousy, and Foetid Virion Restrictions. In addition:

• PLAGUE MARINES and POXWALKERS gain the Objective Secured ability.
• BUBONIC ASTARTES units gain the Inexorable Advance ability.
• You can use DEATH GUARD Stratagems and select Deadly Pathogens.
• If your Warlord is part of this Detachment, you can select DEATH GUARD Relics and Warlord Traits.
• In a Crusade force, you can select DEATH GUARD Agendas, Requisitions, and Battle Honours, and you gain the Spreaders of Disease ability.

Detachment Abilities: <PLAGUE COMPANY>
This Detachment gains all DEATH GUARD Detachment Abilities. In addition:

• You can use <PLAGUE COMPANY> Stratagems.
• If your Warlord is part of this Detachment, you can select <PLAGUE COMPANY> Relics and <PLAGUE COMPANY> Warlord Traits.

Detachment Abilities: GELLERPOX INFECTED
This Detachment gains the Twisted Warband Restriction. In addition:

• The Vulgrar's Followers ability applies to units with that ability.
• If your Army Faction is DEATH GUARD or NURGLE, units in this Detachment are considered UNALIGNED when mustering your army.
• You can use GELLERPOX INFECTED Stratagems.

Maybe I'm just too used to building armies with the current rules, but I'm not seeing how this is different from what we currently do. Isn't this basically just another way of thinking about the current rules?

Wyldhunt wrote:
Maybe I'm just too used to building armies with the current rules, but I'm not seeing how this is different from what we currently do. Isn't this basically just another way of thinking about the current rules?

That's about right, yes. It's a shift in presentation and framing and organization, rather than how things actually work on the tabletop.

At the moment, Army/Detachment Factions are passive/descriptive. You throw together whatever units you want, and then check which benefits it qualifies for. A Detachment is an ADEPTUS ASTARTES Detachment if it includes only ADEPTUS ASTARTES. This leads to weird, awkward ways of phrasing and presenting these bonuses, and scatters them across a bunch of different decision-points that only avoid impacting play because they all take place in the list-building stage.

This version makes Army/Detachment Factions active/declarative. You pick which benefits you want, then build within the listed restrictions. An ADEPTUS ASTARTES Detachment can only include ADEPTUS ASTARTES. This makes it much easier to tighten up wording and parse phrasing, and concentrates all those checks and qualifiers into one simple decision (Army/Detachment Faction) right at the start of the list-building stage.