Which Allies Would You Like To Include in Your Army?

[Veillotron]

Based on the information available to date, I really like the new Allies rule. For me it is the perfect opportunity to include in my army some models that I really love without breaking allegiance.

So, I wanted to know from the Community:

a) are you planning on including allies in your army? and

b) whatever the response for a), what would be your favorite model to include?

 

For my Stormcast army: a) I am not sure yet; b) the models I would really like to include are the General/Battlemage on Griffon  or Louen Leoncoeur. Since I have a few units of vanguard-palladors (gryph-chargers) and a Lord-Aquilor, I think that the Griffon would fit in well and would allow me to have a more imposing model to put on the board... The same applies to Louen, although the model is not as imposing. The only reason why I am hesitating is because I would have to change the narrative I have built for my army...

 

For my Tzeentch army: a) definitely; b) I will include some Varanguards. They are overcosted, but the models are so awesome, I really look forward to painting them. I am really happy to be able to include them without losing the 9 Destiny Dice...

 

 

 

[chord]

Eldritch Council as allies of my stormcast

[Davariel]

I'm mostly just waiting to see what allies are actually available to my Sylvaneth. I'm expecting Stormcast and probably Wanderers, but not sure if we're likely to get any others.

Of course, given that my army is themed around an alliance between a Sylvaneth clan and a high elf kingdom, I'd be over the moon if some of the high elf factions could ally with Sylvaneth (bring on the Phoenix Temple!)

Not expecting it to actually happen though

[someone2040]

Allies are a bit interesting. I've been struggling a bit with them, as 400 points doesn't actually allow for a lot in the scheme of things.

My current armies are as follows:

1. Slaves to Darkness with Be'Lakor and some Skaven Allies. It's unlikely that Skaven will be on the allies list for Slaves to Darkness, so I'll have to assess how interesting the Slaves to Darkness allegiance abilities are as to what direction I take the army. 

2. Free Peoples with some Ironweld Arsenal/Empire compendium. Mainly Free Peoples, just with some cannons and a Gunmaster. This again, could cause issues for allies because it's currently too expensive to take 2 Cannons and a Gunmaster in my allies. Unsure where the Empire Cannons are going to land also (Technically I guess they don't need allies, but unsure if Compendium will still be usable).

 

I've also been trying to look at what my next army might end up being, and how to fit allies into that. I really want there to be a strong thematic connection between a force and it's allies, so I don't want to throw in stuff hodge podge. I also don't want to throw in stuff the army can already do, no point throwing elite infantry into an army that already can have elite infantry.

I've recently got some Fyreslayers that I'm interested to fit in somewhere. They're a bit too pricey in the $ to points ratio at the moment for me to seriously consider doing a full army of them, so I've been looking to fit them in as allies. Something that definitely resonates is having a Dispossessed force with Fyreslayer allies. Thematic check. Can do movement tricks with a Runesmiter check. Already have quite a few Dispossesed I've inherited previously check.

That's where I'm currently thinking with the knowledge I have. But who knows what GHB2017 will bring. I've got older armies also waiting around that could potentially be rebased depending on what shows up.

[Freddy25]

- "Are you planning to include allies?"

Not for now, but of course I'm looking forward to hearing more about allies available for Seraphon armies

- "Favourite model to include?"

Well.... It's not easy to add a non-dinosaur character in a Seraphon force without making it seem out of the place!

I would probably choose a Medusae (but also try to convert it into a Basilisk) or an Assassin (simply because it's really funny to play and any infantry model at least a bit menacing can be a good Assassin "miniature').

[bottle]

All these ideas sound so awesome! I really think allies is going to be a breath of fresh air and increase the variety of armies a thousand fold!

For me, I just can't help but collect "soup" armies. I have Order Soup, Death Soup and Chaos Soup (with Destruction Soup in boxes), so I am looking at this the other way - I might finally be able to use allegiance abilities if I can get enough of one faction (1600pts for a tournie!)  

[Sheriff]

I have 3 factions in Destruction, I just wish the allies cap was more like 800 than 400. 

[Guest]

From what people are saying it seems there are restrictions regarding which factions can be allies - is this confirmed?? I assumed you could ally with any faction in your Grand Alliance (it's not much of an alliance otherwise, is it?).

My army is pure Bloodbound, but in my imagination it's an eclectic horde of mortal creatures. So allies are an opportunity for me to add Khorne-themed hounds, ogors, troggoths and gargants.

[Tzaangor Management]

@Jamie the Jasper, at the bottom of the Verminus unit list we can see the available allies listed. In this case rather than being all of the Chaos allegiance, it is just the Skaven clans.

[Guest]

Just now, Tzaangor Management said:

@Jamie the Jasper, at the bottom of the Verminus unit list we can see the available allies listed. In this case rather than being all of the Chaos allegiance, it is just the Skaven clans.

Oh, well that's... unsatisfying. 

And here I was thinking that the days of Allegiance Abilities stifling creative army themes were over. If allies are restricted to only the most basic and obvious groupings then the concept doesn't go anywhere near far enough for me.

WTF was the point of lumping Skaven in with Chaos in the first place then, if players are being strongly encouraged to keep them as separate from the rest of the Chaos Alliance as possible? What was the point of even creating the 4 alliance structure at all? It seems almost completely redundant at this point. Back to WHFB armies we go...

[Captain Marius]

Because in matched play you can still take an army of any units from within your grand alliance, using the allegiance abilities for the alliance. 

If you want mix in units from across grand alliances, play an open or narrative game, or find an opponent who will play you anyway. Personally ive found that just using points with no other restrictions or allegiance abilities has led to some much more interesting games.

I really struggle to understand the mentality of immediately looking for what you can't do rather than being excited for what you can do!

[Guest]

13 minutes ago, Captain Marius said:

Because in matched play you can still take an army of any units from within your grand alliance, using the allegiance abilities for the alliance. 

If you want mix in units from across grand alliances, play an open or narrative game, or find an opponent who will play you anyway. Personally ive found that just using points with no other restrictions or allegiance abilities has led to some much more interesting games.

I really struggle to understand the mentality of immediately looking for what you can't do rather than being excited for what you can do!

I won't dredge up the whole Allegiance Abilities debate again because I've gone into that in detail elsewhere, but if you check out the thread I've linked to below you'll perhaps get a better understanding of what my issues are with Allegiance Abilities, and why the new ally rules (as I now understand them) don't go far enough towards addressing my concerns.

 

If you're interested, you can read my arguments from this post onwards: 

It's not a question of what you can do vs what you can't do - that's an oversimplification and unfairly paints me as a kneejerk pessimist. It's a question of whether the ally rules do enough for the long-term health of the game and towards reaffirming the free-form AoS spirit. If you could ally with any faction within your Grand Alliance whilst still making use of the so-tempting-it's-impossible-to-justify-not-using-them faction allegiance abilities, which heavily restrict your unit options, then this would be a silver bullet solution for me. As it stands the new ally rules are a small step in the right direction but don't resolve the underlying problem of people being heavily incentivised to make competitive armies rather than creating themed armies or enjoying the benefits of having a diverse collection of models they love, when by allowing allies from any faction they could be better incentivised to do all three.

Of course, if the Grand Alliance allegiance abilities are significantly beefed up then this, along with the new ally rules, would be a much stronger solution. But I would still prefer to be able to ally with any faction from within the Grand Alliance (the clue is in the name).

And now I'll shut up about this and stop derailing the thread! 

[polarbear]

2 hours ago, Jamie the Jasper said:

Oh, well that's... unsatisfying. 

And here I was thinking that the days of Allegiance Abilities stifling creative army themes were over. If allies are restricted to only the most basic and obvious groupings then the concept doesn't go anywhere near far enough for me.

WTF was the point of lumping Skaven in with Chaos in the first place then, if players are being strongly encouraged to keep them as separate from the rest of the Chaos Alliance as possible? What was the point of even creating the 4 alliance structure at all? It seems almost completely redundant at this point. Back to WHFB armies we go...

I agree, and I've said it a lot, but I wish they would retcon/ditch the whole alliance thing altogether. It has never made much sense fluff-wise and limits army building. Fyreslayers are a classic example of an army who should be able to ally with almost anyone, or dark elves with chaos etc.

[BrAiKo]

I'm hoping Tzeentch can ally with Skaven Masterclan, then my 5-god greater daemon army with Tzeentch allegiance abilities can be a thing.  LoC + VL Warpseer to start (since the latter can't be summoned) then summon on the other 3.

[Sheriff]

Stormcast can ally with "almost all" Order allegiances. 

[wayniac]

For my Flesh-Eater Courts I'm thinking of allying in a "Court Wizard" (necromancer) or maybe I will be gifted a pair of "Angelic Warriors" (Morghast) to show my divine providence to rule.

[PraetorDragoon]

I bet Necromancers will be the most used allies. At least for Death.

[Galas]

Giants. I allready used giants in bot my bloodbound and greenskin armies. But now? Oh boy.

 

And Minotaurs. I have a blackfur with white armour minotaur/doombull from Mierce with a squad of 5 minotaurs that always use with my khorne army. And Now I'm gonna be able to do that without losing habilities!  

[Aeryenn]

None. I understand gameplay needs that will expand strategic possibilities. Nevertheless I always, in every kind of game prefer thematic mono factions. This is 100x more climatic than those mongrel-armies/decks/factions. 

[Galas]

1 minute ago, Aryann said:

None. I understand gameplay needs that will expand strategic possibilities. Nevertheless I always, in every kind of game prefer thematic mono factions. This is 100x more climatic than those mongrel-armies/decks/factions. 

A Chaos Horde of beastmen, daemons, barbarians,, mutants and monsters, warriors of every chaos god are very very thematic.

[Guest]

Just now, Galas said:

A Chaos Horde of beastmen, daemons, barbarians,, mutants and monsters, warriors of every chaos god are very very thematic.

As is a group of Stormcast supporting a civil defense force of Freeguild, and literally dozens upon dozens of other faction combinations. Combining factions isn't always about strategy @Aryann.

[Trout]

Gargants, trolls, and forgeworld monsters.

[Aeryenn]

Ok, I see your point. Maybe I'm over-reacting after playing LCG Conquest where Astra Militarum-Orkz was a legal combination. 

[TheNotebookGM]

I'm going to be splashing in some Seraphon with my Kharadron Mhornar infantry/balloon army (if I can). Not only do I like their models but a good friend is going to start playing them and I'm gonna get a few units and use them as slaves/chaff for my thunderers.

Failing that I'll probably grab a something from one of the KO alliances to grab myself a behemoth or monster without getting a KO ship (I've got a fluff thing that doesn't give me room to use them). 

[heywoah_twitch]

Beatclaw seems to lack cheap disposable units and wizards. Destruction abilities and items are way better than pure bcr, and people were already splashing a bunch of grots, so actually the new ally rules don't seem to matter much to me.

Being more of a fluffy player, I can't imagine a world where the Huskard doesn't just eat whatever horde units I'd ally with (grots, ruk, etc), so hopefully mournfang get a big point drop, and I can ally with one or two inedible wizards, like a ghost one that haunts the everwinter or something.