Goatboy’s 40k – Allies Are Crap!
Goatboy here again on another lovely 40k Monday morning. Today I want to go into what I think is really causing some “boring” games in 40k – Allies.
The Problem
When was the last time you saw an Ally added to an army for fluff reasons? Now I am not going into the whole converting, building, and creating a unit look to somehow fit into your armies fluff. I have seen a lot of these and while I appreciate the modeling effort I really just want to tell the player – look stop with all this trying to sugar coat your army choices in layers of beautiful paint/green stuff and just tell people you wanted to make an army kick ass. I don’t care how many times I have to see a “Tau/Eldar” conversion that is explained away by saying the Tau were doing some kind of AI/Technology/BS to create this Psychically enabled unit. Trust me I have seen it a ton and everytime it is like – ok so you took the farseer, 2 squads of bikes and maybe a Wraithknight? What part of that small Ally is even at all designated to be fluffy?
Or how about those armies that somehow fit in a “robot” commader that gives you all these awesome abilities. I have seen that a few times where someone fits in some Tau bits for robotic fluff reasons instead of just admitting they took the newest hottness to beat face. It doesn’t help you added some doodads to a model and called it a good conversion to help sell your beat face army.
How many times is the Ally just there to get some scoring units? I know straight Tau, while brutal, are hurt by their weak troops. The Eldar add on is all about giving them some faster, sturdier troops to get across the table top. The CSM/Daemon add on was all about getting another abusive MC with a very cheap troop choice and maybe a Dragon. Heck I used Orks in my Crons to give me some back end support to help keep the backfield safe. It always feels like the Ally idea was neat but when you deal with a ton of different rules all mixed up it just becomes a pick the best rules to make the best army.
Look at the armies doing well and see how many of them have allies? I know Darkwynn won a recent tourney with a straight Eldar which is awesome. A lot of Daemon players do well but their army is set up to not even get the benefit of battle brothers by not allowing units to join up with others. Sure being able to cast spells on each other is great but the real power comes from those allies that somehow allow Aliens to lead them. Look at the lovely new Death Star of doom list with the Seer Council nonsense getting Hit And Run because they are lucky enough to ignore the creepy hobbies of the Baron. Or how about how Eldar are totally cool with seeing skulls, bones, and other gross trophies to allow them to reroll their leadership. I guess the whole fluff of them not really liking the Dark Eldar way is thrown out the window when someone wants to win.
A Sticky Situation
So would removing allies be a benefit? Well that new Inquisition book would be dead in the water. If you can’t add them or just allow them while others can’t have those allies would be unfair to a lot of armies. Oh wait there is already an army who can’t ally. What about the Sisters book that needs some help with filling out other rolls in their lists. I think the issue is that the “extra” rules armies give out really become a problem when they can give them out to their battle bros.
A deathstar is dealt with by bogging it down. Screamer Star is a pain but when you get a way to lock it down (Wraithknight, bugs, etc) you can deal with it as there is a ton invested in it. There is no way to give it Hit and Run so a smart player can play around it and keep it at bay. The Seer Council, by itself is another one of these lock down units. It is when you mix an ability the Eldar book only has on a few units does it become an issue. When you add in rules the Army was supposed to lack is when it becomes an issue.
Books are “designed” with strengths and weaknesses. This is how things try to balance out. It is one of the building blocks into designing a game with different options that still somehow work together. We all know certain things are powerful but when you mix in the ability to pick and match up your army to have no weaknesses it starts to make a very lack luster game. I remember when Magic the Gathering had a real stagnant time when one Deck was just too good. It became a game of finding some way to murder that one deck even though a lot of the time you couldn’t even stop it. Do we want 40k to continue in this direction? Look if we just want to play mirror matches all day then we can just continue to make “jank” armies.
I won’t even go into the nonsense there is with allying with yourself. We had that already in the game – it is called 2000 point games. Adding it in lower point limits just does one thing – give you an extra Forge Org choice that was supposed to be only allowed at larger point limits. So why even add that with these lower missions? I know some of these Mini Dexes are not exactly awesome without the ability to add in it’s parent. Heck the only one that feels alright is the Iyanden one because the Eldar book, while good, really finds its points set up to not need the double org to cover its bases. The fact the Farsight book would even have a chance to hang out with the regular Tau book makes no sense as Farsight is supposed to be an enemy for going against the Greater Good.
So with that in mind can we fix it that Allies are not an issue with the game? Should there be limits or rules placed against them? Should we just create a ban list that says you can’t do this to try and keep the Events diversified? Here are some thoughts – add your own in the comments or flame away at me if you want.
Some Solutions
1. IC’s can’t join units that are not part of their original Army Choice. This lets you do the ally with yourself you just can’t join IC’s units they have no right to be a part of. Or allow you to make super units as you combo up with the extra slots you get. Chaos Space Marines and Daemons are friends to the end but they can’t join up with each other. It would limit some of the insane-combos that occur when units gain rules they are not supposed to have – Hit and Run, ATSKNF, Stealth/Shrouding.
2. Minimum amount of points have to be spent on an Ally choice. If you take an Ally in 1850 you have to spend say 500 points on that Allies choices. I am not sure if this would work but hey it is an idea.
3. Change their Force Org – instead of 1 HQ 1 Troop make it 1 HQ 2 Troops. Forcing other choices might limit their options. Or just make the Ally an HQ and Troop options. No heavy, FA, or Elites allowed.
4. Complete change to the Ally chart to remove some options out of there. Why do Tau love everyone (New models to buy obviously) and Eldar are friendly with non Eldar units. I thought Eldar hated all non Eldar. Heck why would you let a Space Fish Cow lead your unit? Why would their technology even work with your Technology? How do Magnets work?
5. Create a ban list like other competitive games do. Monitor it, watch it, and change things as needed. There are enough TO’s that can get together, see what is causing issues, and try to mitigate it and allow people to have fun still.
I know this is a rehash of some thoughts I have brought up before but it is just something I keep seeing. It’s frustrating when certain armies are design with very specific weaknesses to help mitigate their effectiveness and that is thrown out when you add in a set of options that feel untested. I want people to play with whatever they want but I also want to have fun when I get to the table top. I want to play tough games where the good player has to out play you – not out roll you in dice or abilities. It isn’t a win when a rule makes it where the other player just doesn’t get to play. I win every Gold Fish game I play!
You can ask any Tourney Organizer, the people they want at their event are not the hard core players. They are going to go to most events, usually don’t buy all the extra stuff, and are not who you sell these events too. You want the player who is getting out of the house for the weekend, wants 5-6 decent games, and telling their friends how much fun they had. You don’t want to make their weekend away from the family full of games where it just wasn’t worth coming down from the room and pulling your toys out on the table top.
So give me your thoughts. I know there are Allies that make sense, add to the army, and don’t break the game. I just don’t see them anymore. It doesn’t help that I am a competitive minded player so that is the group I talk to, hang out with, and discuss this game. I am just sad when I see good players just running through the motions. This game needs both sides removing units, playing to the end, and one side barely pulling it out via good dice/tactics/luck.
~Lets hear from you
