Allied forces etiquette?

[Mr Mystery]

Afternoon.

Just read a thread about a specific allies situation, where a Dark Angel player wants to field Centurions.

Having contributed to that specific instance, I want to explore peoples general attitudes to the fielding of allied contingents, including your local 'do's and dont's'

Personally, I have't used allies. No real reason for it, other than I just haven't got round to really figuring out the rules for it. Plus, as a Necron player I don't feel I need any.

But I know many gamers do use them, and just as many see the whole thing as a bit of an abomination.

How about you? Is it case dependant? Does it matter whether the allies are fluff based, or just power based? Does it depend on the gaming environment? Would you rather see the concept just binned?

Just one caveat. Yes Tyranid players, we know you can't ally. Yes, it does suck. But no reason to go on about it in a thread discussing something which sadly your army can't do.

[Wolfshade]

I don't have an issue with them per se. But there is a problem with space marines allied with a different sort of space marine.

The trouble comes where the allies are all the same colour and have no discernable differences, so it is very hard to know if you are dealing with blue ultramarines or blue salamanders as what chapter tactics the units have. And it can be asy to lose track of it from both a controlling player and the opponent, especially when it comes to choosing target priorities.

The thing with the fluff is that in most cases there is an example, my own bane is common place look at Armageddon 2 & 3, the black crusades etc.

I sometimes thing that the armies have a specific strength and weakness to balance them. Consider the Tau, arguably the best ranged force in the game. Point and click it is often described as, yet get in to CC and they crupple, so imagaine if they could ally with the undesputed masters of CC, tyranids. *shudder*

I think Nids are unable to ally because they are so good at CC the only thing that makes them balanced is their "weakness" in ranged shooting.

[YorkNecromancer]

Love allies. Think they're great. Don't care if they're fluff or power based, because it reminds me of old-skool 40K where everyone could ally with everyone. I love the idea of themed armies, especially the bonkers ones that make no sense (like IG with Blood Axes) because coming up with reasons why these factions who hate each other have allied is great fun. If someone doesn't get why it's fun, fair enough. If you don't like it when Judge Dredd shows up in Gotham, that's your perogative; no judgement here.

If everything's the same colour scheme, well, again, just be clear so everyone knows what is what. My Deathwatch do look spectacularly similar to my Iron Hands, and have the same colours as my Sisters of Battle, so it can be confusing.

As for no Necron allies; madness. Use IG and run an SG1 themed army! Go'auld FTW!

As for Tyranids, the problem to me seems that for reasons unknown to me, people don't do 2000 pts games any more, so Tyranids can't benefit from the double Force Org, which would really help them out a lot. Six Elites units for Tyranids means they don't need Allies ever again.

[Denzark]

In tournaments I expect to see power based combinations. I don't like it, but i expect it - I just prefer people not to try and give some bonkers fluff reason for it. You have taken that combo (in the vast majority of cases) to enhane your wins. You just don't get a bunch of nob bikers following a necron army around. Ever. Neither would imperials ever take stock with xenos unless against some hideous threat - ie chaos or tyranids.

As to colours, I think you saw a thread recently about GW making a guy play his Ravenwing as Whitescars becuase fo the paint scheme. They are being quite clear at their own events that counts-as is verboten. DA in random made up colours is good, DA as an absolute identical codex authorised Whitescars paint scheme is confusing (allegedly).

I think that is fine. The ability to represent mixed imperial forces is however quite good and yes I like tio harken back to 2ed.

I guess best allies ettiquette is be honest. Blood Axe with IG is clearly human bond troops. Nob bikes with 367.5 doom scythes is power gaming.

[euansmith]

The appropriate etiquette is, "Tau always dress to the right".

With the new supplements coming out I think 40k may finally collapse in to a grey goo where all armies are the same, with no weaknesses.

[Popsical]

GW couldn't care less for etiquette of that kind, as it would limit sales. Expect the allies matrix to become more lax over time to accommodate more sales.
They simply let the gamers themselves decide what is acceptable. This is fine in principle but allows for disagreements in groups that can fester and cause bitterness, afterall not everyone can just walk away and find another group. Us hobbyists are just impossible to please it seems.
Personally the allies idea is great for me but the matrix is far too open. Id prefer a far more limited choice. The 2000pt second org is just another sales gimmick also, as GW realised few people wanted to buy 8 troop choices to get a second set of elites etc. Sadly these two things benefit power gamers far more than other types of hobbyists.

[SON OF ROMULOUS]

i personally do not mind the concept of allies i do not always want to have to make a full collection just to be able to field a few squads of a particular army. I like that i can ally with an imperial guard to represent my auxilla. Now certian armies are painted with that criteria in mind so on the battle field my auxilla and SoR match up paint scheme wise but you can tell one is a guardsmen and the other is a space marine. Now when you get into combo's to each their own while it will annoy me at times this is a game that literally has aspects that work for everyone. you can be the collector and painter the casual gamer or the competetive gamer. So while i loathe the tau eldar combination i cannot hold it against some one for using them. i just know you wont see my marines allied with dirty tau maybe eldar corsairs but thats even highly unlikely lol.

[Chris Copeland]

It's case dependent. I fully expect to see allies for powerful combos at tournaments. I'm less interested in playing such combos in friendly pick up games. That being said, I LOVE playing against fully painted armies... so if I have a chance to get in a game against someone with a fully-painted army it's unlikely that I'll turn up my nose at anything...

I also love a good narrative. I think a lot of my mates around here feel the same way. It's cool to see an allied force that has a good story behind it (and is fully painted). Examples might include a Sisters/Gray Knights force, a Blood Angels/Dark Angels force (harkening back to the old Angels of Death codex), or even a Tau/IG force (maybe one where the humans have gone over to the the side of the Tau and marked their uniforms and gear as such). I can think of a LOT of allied combos I'd love to see and play against.

[Deadlift]

Going to the original question. I think if someone were to use allies, but wanted to take the time and effort to convert and paint these allies in the same theme as the rest of their army. More power to them. I'd love to see a Dark Angels version of Centurions. Especially if they were painted like Deathwing or had robes, or what ever. If it's a unique conversion but I can still tell what it is then who cares. Its far better to see cool painted stuff, then dodgy grey plastic and if it's done a bit differently. Even better.

[Aventine]

You just don't get a bunch of nob bikers following a necron army around. Ever. ..... Nob bikes with 367.5 doom scythes is power gaming.

I don't know... a Warboss and a Destroyer Lord have pretty similar prerogatives...