Check out this GW Player Packet for an upcoming event with allies…
BoLS unearthed this and I thought it bore sharing. The last page is where the really interesting data it. It is a chart for allies.
http://www.games-workshop.com/MEDIA_CustomProductCatalog/m2290501a_40K_Doubles_Pack_June_2012.pdf
That is a player packet for a doubles event, showing who can team up with who. This corroborates Tastey Taste’s information over at BoK.
So what does this mean? Perhaps allies rules are for multi-player games. The rules for Multi-Player games were in that leaked faux-rule set we saw earlier. Perhaps GW is including rules for games between more than 2 players, which would be really cool. Or, perhaps, we really will be seeing the return of allies to 40K.
That to me is more of a fun idea that something than actually makes sense from a game design perspective. It’s cool to think of Eldar and Grey Knights teaming up, but the first time you play against a Fortuned Draigostar, you’re going to want to kick the writer of that rule in the nuts.
Again though, we don’t know what the actual implementation of the rule will be, or if it will even exist at all. It may be something very toned down if it appears at all. Perhaps we’ll have reasonable rules. Perhaps not. Only time will tell, but I can say without a moment’s doubt, that allies can and will open the door to abuse in a big, big way. Each army was designed to stand on its own, and throwing in an entirely new rule-set(s) into them creates huge opportunities for breaking the game.
We’ll see what we actually get, but I know I am more than a little apprehensive about this. If we have Orks riding in Rhinos like 2nd ed, we’re going to be in for a loooong edition.