6th Edition, Dark Angels and Allies
7 July 2012 | 6th Edition
Time to digest the implications of 6th addition, first in terms of allies, upon the Dark Angels.
Of all the changes wrought by 6th Edition 40K (how they impact on the Unforgiven will be examined in more detail in subsequent articles), the use of allies has for me been the most dramatic. First, because I feel that quite possibly 'pure' armies using the Dark Angels Codex might well become a thing of the past for many gamers. And second, due to this, the relevance of single-Chapter sites like this is possibly being called into question — an issue I need to think over and work on going forwards in order to keep content at the right pitch.
It is after all now perfectly possible for someone's 'Dark Angel' army to consist of Belial and two or three Deathwing squads with the rest being made up of, well, pretty much anything you fancy apart from Dark Eldar, Chaos Marines / Daemons or Nids in order to make good the shortfalls of the DA Codex.
Similarly, the best of what we have will be appearing in an army right across the table from you: the Deathwing for instance are being examined as being pretty good potential allies supporting a wide range of armies. Seems we've gone from villains to heroes overnight. This is all leaving me both nervous and excited at the same time and I'm sure I'm not the only one. As far as gaming goes the whole landscape has now changed and everything will need to be rethought.
On using allies
It'll be very interesting to see how widely the use of allies goes. I'm talking die-hard DA here. For many people they already have second or even third or more armies that they can press into use on the tabletop without too much additional financial outlay. I'm in that post ion, I have Grey Knights and my eldest son plays Necrons. I used Grey Knights as allies at the tail end of 4th Edition and loved the mix of styles and scope.
For many the very idea of the Dark Angels using allies will be anathema — our current Codex forbade it until the 6th Edition DA FAQ showed up. There will need to be a change of mind set to accept this for some so take up might be slow. While for others I'm guessing there'll always be dogged resistance against it. Many will readily embrace it without a second thought for the potential it offers.
Assuming a new Dark Angels Codex sometime early in 2013 (possibly sooner) I wonder what, if anything, will be changed in terms of our existing character to accommodate this new environment. Perhaps when we are allied to someone our ally has to test each turn to make sure we don't melt away from the table to go hunt some Fallen. Now that would be fun.
Despite my obvious slight pessimism for the DA in their pure form, DA as allied detachments for others might be the making of us. For instance Games Workshop might offer an even more expressively 'Dark Angels' Codex to make us worth the bother to ally with. Or they might not. After all, think of all the additional Codexes and models that could potentially sell on the back of allies experimentation.
Perhaps the whole allies thing is just too new and raw yet think clearly about at present, who knows. But I would like to know what your own plans are for your allies, whether that be using Dark Angels as allies within and existing force, or allying your existing Dark Angels with something else. Comments always welcome.
Allies rules — the most important one
It is worth stating here that as per the BGB (the 'Big Green Book' being the 6th Edition rulebook) it does quite clearly state that you can't have an allied detachment that uses the same Codex as the main part of the army. So no, no two Belials or Sammaels running around I'm afraid. I'm surprised that I've seen and heard this being suggested in many places — I'm guessing by those who don't own the new book yet.
This place and allies
For me any new edition means a lot of work updating Tacticas, Tech Reports and other articles which is all part of the evolutionary process of the site. This might take some time. How far allies make inroads here is the great unknown as of yet, but probably not far in the short term. Looking forward, great allies articles and army lists will feature here too I am sure, I need to keep up with the times after all.
But ultimately it'll always remain a site for the Unforgiven. Any allied talk will be by way of enhancing the Unforgiven as a prime force within this game edition and of preaching to the as yet unconverted out there who fancy a detachment of Dark Angels with their (insert army type here) army.
Until the Sword is Reforged, as they say.
