Allies - Likey or No Likey?

[Nabterayl]

The first example is of an autarch who seems to have conquered or crippled an Imperial world for no real reason, acting as a reaver or plunderer. To imagine that such a character would have Dark Eldar ties or assistance in some manner is easy to believe. Hardly the kind of alliance that Battle Brothers is suppose to be demonstrative of, wouldn't you say?

Well, no, I wouldn't. Gnosis Prime is claimed by Saim-Hann as an eldar world. We've had this story from at least two different sources now (Codex:Eldar and Planetstrike), and the whole campaign was clearly planned with the assistance of the dark eldar from the beginning. That definitely says "battle brothers" to me.

The second example is also another kind of lesser, momentary alliance. The Dark Eldar Kabal and the Cult in question must have gained something by their assistance of the Iyanden force -- perhaps unconsciously pushing them towards further necrotic research, or even a descent into the hedonistic ways of Commorragh.

That's entirely possible, but they still fought "alongside" the forces of Iyanden. The allies matrix describes levels of coordination, not motives.

I've always felt that Blizzard does a really good job of illustrating the thinking that I believe underlies the allies matrix. The underlying question is not, "How much do you like each other?" but, "When a third party threatens both you and someone you hate, how do the two of you respond?" Consider the Mists of Pandaria trailer. The orc and the human do not like each other. They are survivors of a sea battle, shipwrecked on an unknown land, and they immediately begin to hunt each other. When an unknown third party enters the fight against both of them, they stop fighting. That elevates them to Desperate Allies, right there. They proceed to fight against the third party together, though they don't actually coordinate their attacks. That's Allies of Convenience. When that doesn't work and they realize that **** has gotten real, the human hands the orc his makeshift spear and they attack in concert. That's Battle Brothers. But they're still going to go back to fighting each other later.

[phreakachu]

I like allies , i really do. Just wish it was a bit more restricting on who could ally with who. Like there should not be necrons and grey knights. I just with more people made armies that made sense. Or actually tried modeling in a theme. I hate seeing chaos then completely normal guard walking with them.

Indeed. Space wolves should have "Desparate Allies" bit with ANYTHING inquisition... Grimnar simply does not like those dudes, and vice-versa.

[Blackcloud6]

I like the Allies concept very much. It allow one to get a lot of different things on the table and you can build a complimenting force.

[Aspire to Glory]

I'd have put this choice in the poll: "Good -- but needs to be more fluffy." That's my view. Here's what the Matrix would look like, in my mind, if they tried to be as close to the fluff as it could be.

[url=http://imageshack.com/a/img585/3939/zhg4.png]Crazy Fluff Allies Matrix Idea[/url]

I noticed that you kept the TauDar best bros haha

[Katharon]

I noticed that you kept the TauDar best bros haha

Of any two separate races the Tau and the Eldar seem the most likely to cooperate on an (almost) even playing field.

[YorkNecromancer]

By cooperate, do you mean "ruthlessly exploit" versus "naively acquiesce"?

"Oh, absolutely, we Eldar are all about the Greater Good. By which we mean the survival of our race. If you'd like to send all your wonderful meat shiel... I'm sorry, where are my manners? You highly trained, professional soldiers off to face those Tyranids? Oh, we'll absolutely back you up."

Eldar. Manipulative *******s without exception.

[Nabterayl]

Well, to be fair, they'd probably trip over each other trying to get the other to be their meatshields. When the Tau say you can serve in the armies of the Empire, they don't mean you can be part of the fire caste, or that you get fancy battlesuits, or even necessarily Tau gear to fight with.

"We're glad to hear that you share our conception of the Greater Good. Now, seeing as your forces excel at close quarters combat, why don't you just deploy ... oh, here. We'll be back here. What? Oh, providing fire support, absolutely. Of course."

[YorkNecromancer]

I like this idea so much, I almost want to run it. It kind of needs a converted HQ of a Tau Commander and a Farseer linking arms and smiling forced grins and giving the thumbs up for the sake of the PR campaign.