But yeah, allies is a pretty cheesy rule, especially coupled with fortifications.
So my tau or IG static gunline is going to team up with a Flying Demonprince, some buffer cultists and ap3 template whoring flying-robot-chickens? And lets put an Aegis defense line in front of everything just to be sure?
Basically fortifications + allies means you can now cherry pick the most broken units in the flavor of the month codex instead of buying a whole new army.
Which is why everyone now has a million tau missilesuits, eldar warwalkers, guard valks/dakka tanks or whatever big flying MC is cheaper and better than what they have in their codex.
And lastly – the Allies Matrix makes no sense.
– Black Templars allies with Xenos? You mean those guys that go on 100 years xeno purging crusades?
– Necrons allies with… anybody? Weren’t they, like the nids, bent on killing everyone because they can? And out of everyone they could possibly ally with – why CHAOS MARINES? Didn’t necrons put the most work into canceling out the warp? Didn’t they build the anti warp pylons that somewhat keep the eye of terror at bay?
– Chaos Marines can’t ally with marines though, because making a traitor chapter for the fluff would be to much
– And lets not mention the lack of Genestealer Cults. Because fuck you Tyranids.
Sorry for the long post, but 6th ed made me never want to play in a tourney again, only friendly games with people i know aren’t dicks.
Why in gods name would IG ally with Chaos to get “buffer cultists”? You know, the guys that are basically just worse than guardsmen and don’t synergize with commands? Why would IG take a flying Daemon Prince, just so they have a single assault threat that can be easily neutralized?
I find people very often look at what allying can add to an army without considering where those points could have been spent on the original army.
I’m not sure where you play, but I go to a lot of local tournaments and I’ve never seen allied missile-suits or warwalkers. I’ve seen an allied daemon prince, but it was allied to a Daemons book that would have been better off with their own Daemon Prince (admitted by the user)
I definitely agree that the allies matrix seems strange and contrived with a lot of the options seeming to not make sense. I wish they had made it so that if you were taking ‘unconventional’ allies that there were significant consequences.
I’m really on the fence… I think it can be fair since everyone has access to it and you can see some refreshing lists, BUT it seems like it’s only ever abused to the point that if you don’t use allies you are at a disadvantage.
In other words, there’s nothing wrong with it in principle, and it SHOULD be a good thing for both casual and competitive play, but the allies matrix makes no sense either competitively or in terms of the background.
There are allies rules in the back of the WHFB rulebook as well – does anybody use those? The problem with allies is just like the problem with forgeworld – the theory is great but the application is so spotty as to actually break the game in many cases. I think problem is that if they hadn’t included the rules then folks would still be limited to the first 150 pages of the book (how many people regularly use the warzone traits or the archeotec objectives found in later pages of the BRB?). The allies matrix is (almost) clearly another place where GW has thrown their hands up & all but declared “this is not meant for competitive play!” – but we’re a fucking broken community & don’t listen.
I run a guard allied contingent with my chaos marines, of course they’re traitor guard allied in with word bearers – this gives me some heavy weapons & access to orders rather than running cultist with autoguns for the same price…. Simply adds flavor without needing to add a vendetta squadron to fly in alongside my heldrake wing….
I can’t actually vote as I don’t think either response available is correct – technically the allies matrix is included in the rules so it is meant for both fun & competitive play, however the way the question is worded is “fair for tournament play” – and clearly the allied distribution is not FAIR.
Jaded Gamercast 
But yeah, allies is a pretty cheesy rule, especially coupled with fortifications.
So my tau or IG static gunline is going to team up with a Flying Demonprince, some buffer cultists and ap3 template whoring flying-robot-chickens? And lets put an Aegis defense line in front of everything just to be sure?
Basically fortifications + allies means you can now cherry pick the most broken units in the flavor of the month codex instead of buying a whole new army.
Which is why everyone now has a million tau missilesuits, eldar warwalkers, guard valks/dakka tanks or whatever big flying MC is cheaper and better than what they have in their codex.
And lastly – the Allies Matrix makes no sense.
– Black Templars allies with Xenos? You mean those guys that go on 100 years xeno purging crusades?
– Necrons allies with… anybody? Weren’t they, like the nids, bent on killing everyone because they can? And out of everyone they could possibly ally with – why CHAOS MARINES? Didn’t necrons put the most work into canceling out the warp? Didn’t they build the anti warp pylons that somewhat keep the eye of terror at bay?
– Chaos Marines can’t ally with marines though, because making a traitor chapter for the fluff would be to much
– And lets not mention the lack of Genestealer Cults. Because fuck you Tyranids.
Sorry for the long post, but 6th ed made me never want to play in a tourney again, only friendly games with people i know aren’t dicks.
I think you’re really going overboard here.
Why in gods name would IG ally with Chaos to get “buffer cultists”? You know, the guys that are basically just worse than guardsmen and don’t synergize with commands? Why would IG take a flying Daemon Prince, just so they have a single assault threat that can be easily neutralized?
I find people very often look at what allying can add to an army without considering where those points could have been spent on the original army.
I’m not sure where you play, but I go to a lot of local tournaments and I’ve never seen allied missile-suits or warwalkers. I’ve seen an allied daemon prince, but it was allied to a Daemons book that would have been better off with their own Daemon Prince (admitted by the user)
I definitely agree that the allies matrix seems strange and contrived with a lot of the options seeming to not make sense. I wish they had made it so that if you were taking ‘unconventional’ allies that there were significant consequences.
I’m really on the fence… I think it can be fair since everyone has access to it and you can see some refreshing lists, BUT it seems like it’s only ever abused to the point that if you don’t use allies you are at a disadvantage.
I think that using allies is a totally awesome and thematic idea and also opens up lots of interesting options for both casual and competitive play…
Oh wait fucking Necrons can ally with Grey Knights. Good job guys.
In other words, there’s nothing wrong with it in principle, and it SHOULD be a good thing for both casual and competitive play, but the allies matrix makes no sense either competitively or in terms of the background.
There are allies rules in the back of the WHFB rulebook as well – does anybody use those? The problem with allies is just like the problem with forgeworld – the theory is great but the application is so spotty as to actually break the game in many cases. I think problem is that if they hadn’t included the rules then folks would still be limited to the first 150 pages of the book (how many people regularly use the warzone traits or the archeotec objectives found in later pages of the BRB?). The allies matrix is (almost) clearly another place where GW has thrown their hands up & all but declared “this is not meant for competitive play!” – but we’re a fucking broken community & don’t listen.
I run a guard allied contingent with my chaos marines, of course they’re traitor guard allied in with word bearers – this gives me some heavy weapons & access to orders rather than running cultist with autoguns for the same price…. Simply adds flavor without needing to add a vendetta squadron to fly in alongside my heldrake wing….
I can’t actually vote as I don’t think either response available is correct – technically the allies matrix is included in the rules so it is meant for both fun & competitive play, however the way the question is worded is “fair for tournament play” – and clearly the allied distribution is not FAIR.