Grand Alliances

[Gitzdee]

Do u think Grand Alliances should be anything more than just a name in the future? Or would u like things to stay the way they are now? 

Some kind of Orruk Warclans Big Waaagh! rules to mix and match some greenskinz and build some fun lists would be awesome. Using all the nice Destruction stuff i own and maybe finally buy myself a Mega Gargant and some Ogors in the process. 

Cross alliance goodness also seems interesting to me. Some kind of Orruk that uses some artifact to summon undead or an Alliance of Gobbos and Duardin vs Skaven. 

[Neil Arthur Hotep]

I definitely think that having Grand Alliances helps structure the game. Even if GA: Order and GA: Destruction kinda feel a bit blurry around the edges sometimes. Order is generally OK: They are city builders, they are opposed to Chaos and they are generally governed by the Order pantheon. It's just ironic that the alliance with Order as its name is probably the most internally fractured one. Destruction has the problem of kind of feeling like GA: Other a lot of the time. Plus the fact that you can't set them up in opposition to Death like you can Order and Chaos is a bit of a pity.

I would personally like more cross-GA support. There are a few natural opportunities for this. We already have the mercenary Gargants that will fight for anyone. But something like an alliance between a City of Sigmar and Deathrattle kingdom don't seem impossible. Neither does a group of Chaos-aligned Orruks. But if we get the option to play mixed armies like this, I would want them to have long time support. Nothing is worse than starting your fluffy mixed force passion project and being told that your list is illegal a few year down the line, possibly before you fully finish it. Because chances are, you will end up with two separate, unplayable armies in that case which would both need a significant commitment to become usable. 

 

[Baron Klatz]

I absolutely loved Grand Alliance armies and how they traded Battletome buffs for a versatile army(Khornites protecting Skaven artillery while Slaanesh cavalry flanked) but unfortunately I get why GW cut it for this edition. They’re much more competitive focused and balancing around all that was gonna be rough as shark skin.

Made sense to just cut it from Matched Play rather than water it down to account for the constant influx of new armies, gods and spells until nobody used the Alliances anyway because of all the nerfs.(and why the multiplayer ally matrix was shot down)

Coalitions make a fine enough consolation prize. 
 

Otherwise I say keep Grand Alliances as they are for the game and setting structure. It’s just too useful in organizing everything for both GW, Cubicle7, the various videogame & magazine creators and for newbies to look at a faction and get an idea of what they’re about like not being confused why Daughters of Khaine look evil with all the blood as they see them with Order(and surrounded by dead chaos bodies) and know from DND they’re Lawful Evil which leads them to read why they have temples in almost every free city and indeed helped establish civilization in the first place.

As mentioned with Behemat I’d just like to see mercenary rules return with the proper factions like Flesh-Eater Courts, Fyreslayers and possibly become even a Keyword for certain units so Freeguilders, Darkoaths, Kruleboyz and Deathrattles can find themselves working for other factions & Grand Alliances while keeping it simple enough to easily balance around.(plus keeping it only a handful of units means if they cut it later too then no one wasted a lot on them and can just turn them into a new Warcry warband)

 

Edited August 10, 2022 by Baron Klatz

[Gitzdee]

I like the idea of mercenaries. It would also be great to get the neutral monsters back at some point. If any edition would be a great fit it would be this one, but i guess the incarnate kind of counts.

Edited August 10, 2022 by Gitzdee

[Maddpainting]

Yeah, i kind of miss them honestly, I know they were more of a stepping stone and a way to organize everything, but I would love to play all my chaos together in a weird massive ugly horde. Real chaos on the table! 

[Neverchosen]

I think with the Grand Alliances are actually a really nice concept that could be expanded upon in interesting ways.

Namely I think with the introduction of Auxiliaries the ally system can be reworked to make Grand Alliances important and also allow armies to ally outside of their Alliances. I think that allies should be allowed to be taken from any army in your grand alliance no matter how much they hate each other to represent a shared goal despite antagonism. However, I feel like Auxiliaries can only exist between armies with shared history and cultures but can exist independent of Grand Alliances. 

I also think that Grand Alliances really should make their way into a more cohesive set of allied games. Even if it was a small as sharing a grand alliance you can choose to share command points. 

[Popisdead]

Didn't one of the GBHs have GA support for a general army?  or was that V2 rulebook?

 

I think a grand Waaagh would be pretty cool.  

 

I would like to see a mechanism to make an alliance soup without it being nullified in an edition change as well as support for a general structure of it.  I think CoS did a good job getting the ball rolling but it could be better.  I would think a more loose open "wood elf" army would be such a trip to play again.

[EntMan]

I have a suspicion (but can't currently quote any examples) that with the newer tomes abilities etc seem to being moved from warscrolls to alligenences, which if I'm right means a nerf on coalition units as they loose their alligenence abilities etc but don't gain those of their 'new' army. 

Edited August 22, 2022 by EntMan

[Baron Klatz]

I mean that’s just been fair for balancing. Coalitions are already Allies+ and counteract weaknesses like Clans Pestilens swarming in for Nurgle’s elitish Maggotkin and Cities of Sigmar getting beefier demigod troops & monsters(like Stormdrakes).

If they got all the big armywide buffs too it’d make things go screwy quick.

That way it’s just like a more controlled version of the Grand Alliance Forces where you could either go all in on one army and get their trait buffs or mix-and-match and lose the traits but get all that versatility with exotic units. Coalition’s are the middle ground.

 

On 8/10/2022 at 11:33 AM, Gitzdee said:

I like the idea of mercenaries. It would also be great to get the neutral monsters back at some point. If any edition would be a great fit it would be this one, but i guess the incarnate kind of counts.

It’d be nice if they linked them to what Realm your army is from so choosing that trait has a purpose besides flavor.

Like this guy did a Narrative Path to Glory and gave his Celestial Vindicators a Cockatrice which looks great and works thematically because they’re all from the Realm of Metal.

 

Unlocking cross-alliance monster allies via your army being from a Realm(Aqshy Ironjawz paying for a Magmadroth merc or Hyshian NightHaunt able to attune to the spirit hearts of Lumineth mountain/wind spirits) would be really fun.