Allies Primer

[Reclusiarch Darius]

Hey guys. This is the Allies Primer, where we will be discussing our many alliances. Note that alliances with Chaos or xenos will not be up for discussion, as per general board rules. 

 

Space Marines:

- Red Hunters

- Ultramarines

- Allied vs Combined Arms

 

Blood Angels:

- Allied detachment

- Formations

 

Dark Angels:

- Ravenwing

 

Space Wolves:

- Thunderwolf Cavalry

- Rune Priests

- Long Fangs

- Grey Hunters:

 

Imperial Guard:

- Allied detachment

- Formations

 

Sisters of Battle:

- Allied detachment

 

Imperial Knights:

- Knight Household detachment

- Formations

 

Adeptus Mechanicus:

- Allied detachment

- Special detachments

- Formations

[Darkmagi]

Although it's pricy I'm a fan of the IK skyreaper formation using 3x errants they bring great anti-air to the mix as well as str9 sp1 large blasts and str D melee. Although using 3x galents would be rather hilarious.

[Reclusiarch Darius]

How much is that formation though? I'm assuming like 900pts or so?

[Zembar]

Errants are 370 I think, plus the cost of the anti-air cannons. Each. That makes the formation a lot more expensive than, say, 2x5 vanguard and 3 icarus onagers if you need anti-air.

[Darkmagi]

Yea the formation is pricey at I think 1200 for the errent the galents come in at just over 1000... I tend to play 2500 so it's not as much of a problem as at say 1500

edit: the errent with aa wep is 405 apiece or 1215 for the formation while the gallant is 365 apiece or 1095 for the formation.

[Bennicus]

I'm looking at bringing in some allied space wolves - long fangs for ranged anti-tank shooting, and perhaps some pods for purifiers.

 

If anyone is running something similar and would like to share how they are integrating SW into their lists (and if it's successful), it would be appreciated.

[jeffersonian000]

I don't normally ally, but when I do, I ally a Knight Titan.

 

To date, the Errant has been my go to Knight of choice, as it brings the thing we lack: AP1. The Warden, however, is looking pretty good with Hvy 12, Rending. On either, the Icarus is my preference going into a blind match, the Stormspear Rocket Pod if I know Flyers are not in my future (prescience pun).

 

I use to ally in Sisters, back in the day, or Marines as needed. These days, though, I rather go pure GK, or GK+IK.

 

SJ

[Zhukov]

I expect Cult Mechanicus to be a decent ally. Kataphrons benefit from an attached Libby or Brother Captain quite a lot I believe. The general mass of low Ap firepower Cult Mechanicus can provide fits pretty well with GK in general..

 

SW can make up for some interesting combinations, although I do not view them as overly competitive:

-Captain Stern with 4 SS/TH WG Terminators in a Droppod. He can give them a 2++ and S10 Hammers, while tanking a lot regular hits himself with his 2+ armour save including 1 re-roll per turn. With counterattack and WS5 (champions of fenris supp) on the WG, it makes for quite a nasty unit which clocks in at roughly 400 points. 

-Ulrik the Slayer or a regular priest is a nice IC to attach to a big footslogging terminator squad. They gain Fearless, Preferred Enemy and 6+ FnP this way.

-Blood Claws are incredibly cheap and get quite some attacks in the first round of combat, attaching a character with Hammerhand to them makes them quite dangerous. Crowe + 15 Blood Claws in a Stormwolf or LRC is pretty amusing for example (although obviously too expensive). 

[Lemon Legion]

As a general thing, I think it is better to choose an Ally that has what you don't. If you look at the Grey Knights we generally lack Dakka and bodies. So I would recommend either SM or IG. You could make the Ally get those Objectives while your Knights murder EVERYTHING. Space marines may make a better ally in my opinion because you can always trust a bolter :).

[Zembar]

As a general thing, I think it is better to choose an Ally that has what you don't. If you look at the Grey Knights we generally lack Dakka and bodies. So I would recommend either SM or IG. You could make the Ally get those Objectives while your Knights murder EVERYTHING. Space marines may make a better ally in my opinion because you can always trust a bolter .

Skitarii bring a fair amount of bodies and tons of dakka ;)

[Happy-inquisitor]

Not currently on the primer list but still the easiest allies to bring in in terms of fluff, putting a unified looking army on the table and low cost of entry are Inquisition.

 

What they bring are of course Inquisitors with a few handy tricks of their own.

 

Coteaz continues to be one of the best value HQ in the game and a useful  and unique defence against deep-strike threats and getting seized on. Generic Ordo Malleus can be kitted in TDA to deep strike in with Terminators and can do good work with a Psycannon or as a psyker, generally playing a bit like a cut-priced Brother-Captain.

 

Ordo Xenos inquisitors are a bit tricker to deploy with GK due to only having PA but the psychotroke and rad grenades can be hilarious. I will point out here that all inquisitors still get the old style psyk-out grenades so enjoy putting enemy psykers and daemons to initiative 1. Whether the plasma syphon is worthwhile or trash will depend on how your local group interpret plasma weapons - especially now that Skitarii are loaded down with crazy plasma.

 

Ordo Hereticus I have never really liked with GK or used much. There is probably something good here that i have missed.

 

Servo-skull work beautifully with deep strike and keep your terminator squads on target. So cheap they are almost free. They also remain a good cheap counter against Infiltrating/Scouting problems - this may matter most if you are leaving minimal units on a Comm Relay where an opponent being able to get in close with Grav guns (or similar) could ruin your plans.

 

When it comes to the warbands the real gem is the 10pt psyker - so, so cheap for a proper psyker with access to most of the good powers. They are fragile and die to perils quite easily but at that cost it is not such a big deal. I always take maximum numbers of these and even if they all roll terrible powers i think i have a bargain just for the extra dice for my GK to use.

 

As for the rest i find that you can build some really neat units that fill a gap in your list because they are so customisable. The risk is that they can get expensive if you go overboard with them and they are all still fragile by comparison with GK. A special mention goes to the fact that inquisition can still get psybolt ammo so the good old psyback still lives (for now). Melta or plasma henchmen in a psyback are still decent, they are not exactly hard for most armies to kill but then they are not exactly expensive either.

 

I have a personal liking for Crusader squads with Stern (or Domina Liber Librarian) for a highly affordable 2++ unit. If a priest with them can get prayers to work they are ridiculously hard to kill in CC short of D weapons or Stomps rolling 6s. It is neat enough but lacking rapid mobility or huge hitting power it typifies GK/Inquisition combos - fun and useful rather than crushingly unstoppable.

 

There are some neat combinations available here but nothing stupidly broken, so this is not really an alliance for players who cannot live with the thought of not making it to the top tables of every tournament they attend.

 

(edited for some more examples etc)

[Everon]

A few allied formations I prefer as they just seem to fit what we need exactly.

 

1. Raptors - assuming your meta allows forgeworld you can take issadon and his raptors. Issadon is a chapter master with no invul save or orbital strike,But he does allow you to manipulate you and your opponents reserves as well as free hits before the game starts. The raptors chapter tactics are the same as the ravens with having stealth turn one but the other benefit are bolt weapons have rending. Did I mention, with issadon, he is your WL even as an Allie, thus master of ambush is automatic.

 

I personally like to run raptors with scouts and camp cloaks in terrain as close as I can get and have a squad of devastators with las or plasma cannons nearby for turn one death.

 

2. Inquisition - they are cheap to man a coms relay, dirt cheap servo skulls for ds reliability and cheap troops.

 

I love using them when I know my opponent is massing grav weapons. I stick stern with a squad of 1 pysker, 5 plasmagun acolytes and 6 crusaders. While their wounding on 5s and I'm saving on 2++ I can ds all around them since they got greedy wanting an "easy" slay the warlord and cross fire the heck out of them with no ecscape except to melee me and lose. I have made white scars cry by cutting off half their army with this and interceptors /dreadknights on the other half of the field

 

3. Officio assassinorum - expensive but great at their professions. Anti melee, anti armor, anti pysker, and support.

-The Eversor aka captain skullf*%= is great at melee. The only ones who give him trouble are terminators, but shred and having the initiative plus higher weapon skill let him have the advantage of attrition tothe termies so long as they don't power fist his face. If they do he still gets a last laugh blowing up on them.

-The Callidus is great for support. Neural shock is great for hordes and opponents that have a higher toughness. The main benefit is rerolling initiative and forcing your opponent to roll a 6 or bust on first reserve roll. Melee she's good at with either poisoned rending blades or an ap3 phase sword that on a 6 means no invul save.

-The Vindicaire is your anti armor sniper. Got a tank you can't cap? His got it. Got a takyou need sniped? Got that too. Stormshields on termies pissing you off? Got them with a round straight through them. His got you covered on anything shooting.

- The Cullexus is all anti pysker. Has invisibility on 24/7 cancels all enemy blessings and can't be targeted by any spells. Can shoot both in shooting and pysker phase and is popping instant kills in melee with anything and everything pysker.

 

Do note they don't take your Allie slot and count as Come the aapoalypse

 

4. Imperial Knights- their big bad and got that D. They have different variants for different purposes. The crusader is perfect for much needed dakka with the gatling cannon having 12 rending ap3 shots and can bring either the 2 shot ordinance at str 8 ap3 or the 1 shot 36" Melta at str 9 ap1. And if you need more dakka can add barrage missiles, a 3 shot str8 ap3 missile, or some much needed anti air. If you need a mix i suggest the errant for a dakka melee mix.

 

Do note, these can be taken as a low due to new Dex change or can take as a special detachment of up to 3. I personally find them as my favorite to ally. Fixes everything the Dex is missing.

[Reclusiarch Darius]

Thanks for the contributions guys. I'll start adding some things to the OP

[Everon]

Added more to my first post

[Prot]

I think when we discuss Allies with Grey Knights, there should be a bit of detail.

 

In other words, I think if someone is reading this for the first time, it isn't actually clear why someone wants a particular ally mechanism in their army. For instance, instead of saying "Yea allying with army X is good."

 

Be more specific if you can. I've been exploring Knights a lot, and it's very obvious they are probably THE imperial Ally codex (similar to ours I suppose but maybe even more so with a choice of essentially.... 1 model!). But specifically why? Because it's big? Because it has a big gun? What config? Why is this better than going with some other alternative? Does it just work with a specific flavour of Grey Knights? What compliments your suggestion best? What are the downsides?

 

Also with Assassins. Excellent idea, I've been exploring the whole Assassinorum myself lately, but aside from saying the rules for them, what is their actual function in a GK army? What opponent are these guys going to be HUGE with? At the very least, a strong warning should be expected with a Celuxes Assassin with GK's (talk about a double edged sword).

 

I personally don't feel comfortable giving advice with Knights or Assassins because I feel I have to try something about... 6-8 times before I feel confident my advice is solid and tested true.

 

So please feel free to flesh out your advice.... it needs more context, and solid representation behind it. I'd recommend you assume that the person reading it does not understand the ins and outs of your recommended ally.

[Reclusiarch Darius]

Knight-Titans are rapidly becoming the crutch by which Imperials remain relevant competitively. GW pretty much built them as a 'sorry about power levelling xenos so hard, have some mini-Titans'. Even I've caught the bug. I'm taking a Knight Warden in my 2.5k list for the League (we're allowing 0-1 Lord of War at that level). The Avenger is everything we want, lots of shots, S6 AP3 handles infantry and MC's readily, it's got 3-shot krak launcher or AA autocannon on the dorsal mount, and it still has the D in melee. We offer a lot of support for a Knight-Titan ourselves, with our psychic buffs ('Sanctuary' or 'Forewarning' is legit on him for defensive tech, so is 'Invis', and you can picture how OP 'Prescience' is on him). Plus we offer melee clearance for lesser foes, so he can focus on ripping apart other big stompy things. What will even more absurd is that I'm taking Blood Angels as my secondary detachment, and they offer Sanguimancy. 'Quickening' is pretty absurd of a Dreadknight, and it's even crazier on a Knight-Titan. 

 

As for Assassins...I just feel like we're already an elite army. Adding 1-4 specialists kinda exacerbates the problem, instead of fixing it. I do love their rules, each of them has probably the best rules they've ever had (Eversor really needs AP2 melee but can't have everything I guess). But the most OP Assassin, the Culexus, has weird synergy with us (we power him up, but he shuts down our psychic prowess which is kinda half the point of playing GK). 

[Kruso]

We offer a lot of support for a Knight-Titan ourselves, with our psychic buffs ('Sanctuary' or 'Forewarning' is legit on him for defensive tech, so is 'Invis', and you can picture how OP 'Prescience' is on him). Plus we offer melee clearance for lesser foes, so he can focus on ripping apart other big stompy things. What will even more absurd is that I'm taking Blood Angels as my secondary detachment, and they offer Sanguimancy. 'Quickening' is pretty absurd of a Dreadknight, and it's even crazier on a Knight-Titan.

Just nitpicking here, but I don't think you can buff Sanctuary on IK, as you can not join a psyker with it to form unit. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

 

Otherwise that looks to be spot on.

 

-Kruso

[Prot]

Honestly when it comes to allying Imperial Knights, it feels like it could be its own thread. The feedback I get is quite varied and the new IK codex just adds to the possibilities. I'll have to try it myself and post my findings... once I find about 4 hours to put my kit together!

[Reclusiarch Darius]

Just nitpicking here, but I don't think you can buff Sanctuary on IK, as you can not join a psyker with it to form unit. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

 

No good catch, I thought it was 'target unit with 12" but it's actually psyker+unit. Oh well, can still put 'Forewarning' from Divination on him, which is kinda what he wants (4+ invul on the other facings helps keep him alive from flanking units). 

Honestly when it comes to allying Imperial Knights, it feels like it could be its own thread. The feedback I get is quite varied and the new IK codex just adds to the possibilities. I'll have to try it myself and post my findings... once I find about 4 hours to put my kit together!

 

It could, but we don't have to go super in depth. The melee Knight-Titans aren't of great interest, we kinda want some fire support as well. Errant has obvious synergy (anti-tank and anti-2+ save/multi-wound), as does Paladin and Warden. Crusader is nice but giving up the reaper is a big deal, it's half the point to bringing a Knight-Titan (they're like a more durable but slower DK that brings different firepower). 

[jeffersonian000]

Don't fear the Reaper.

 

SJ

[Reclusiarch Darius]

Haha yeah. The Thunderstrike gauntlet is incredibly lulzy if you smoke an MC or vehicle with it, but fighting at Initiative 1 is lame. Reaper is just so reliable. 

[Aethernitas]

Apart from fluff reasons or drastic point shortage I don't think there is a good argument to exclude a Inquisitor plus Servo Skulls and prescience from any list.

 

One of my favorite allied detachments is a AM Company Command Squad + Officer of the Fleet and two Veteran Squads - all in Chimeras. Equip with Melter/Plasma at will. I use them as very mobile objective holders and the Fleet officer is amazing as all my reserves come in first turn on a 2+ and starting turn 2 I can cockblock the enemies reserves by making them 4+ instead of the usual 3+. Getting the best of both worlds without giving up any advantage. The Company Command Squad with 3+ Plasmaguns combined with the orders and prescience is an insane elite infantry/monster/vehicle hunter. Rerolling a to hit rolls and all to wound and pen rolls is sick! I've also put the Company Command plus Inquisitor in a Raven with beacon to make sure they land where they are needed.

[Reclusiarch Darius]

Apart from fluff reasons or drastic point shortage I don't think there is a good argument to exclude a Inquisitor plus Servo Skulls and prescience from any list.

 

One of my favorite allied detachments is a AM Company Command Squad + Officer of the Fleet and two Veteran Squads - all in Chimeras. Equip with Melter/Plasma at will. I use them as very mobile objective holders and the Fleet officer is amazing as all my reserves come in first turn on a 2+ and starting turn 2 I can cockblock the enemies reserves by making them 4+ instead of the usual 3+. Getting the best of both worlds without giving up any advantage. The Company Command Squad with 3+ Plasmaguns combined with the orders and prescience is an insane elite infantry/monster/vehicle hunter. Rerolling a to hit rolls and all to wound and pen rolls is sick! I've also put the Company Command plus Inquisitor in a Raven with beacon to make sure they land where they are needed.

 

Yeah servo-skulls are very nice, they're like 3pt Scout squads that still cause D6 scatter (which combined with 'Rites' is basically like having none, because you can just Run back to where you wanna be and still Shoot). Inquisition is a strong choice, it's such a shame they got stripped out. 

 

One thing that is very subjective when it comes to Allying is the sources you're allowed. Obviously, for friendly games, you can take as many detachments and formations as you like. However, in competitive play, you've got some constraints normally. Commonly you see 2-source restrictions, which means bringing multiple Imperial factions isn't possible. That makes Allying more difficult but still possible. It's why I've tended towards Blood Angels. They do the job of Inquisition (a psychic TDA HQ to ride shotgun to Terminators, Deepstrike support that's in position Turn 1 for 'Rites' landings), bring empty FA drop pods (so Purifiers don't have to shell out for a Raven) and have the usual Marine support roster (Contemptors, Sicarians etc) we can slot in if need be. They're kinda the whole package. Imperial Guard are much the same, they bring very cheap psykers, the long-range firepower we so desperately lack, and tanks+bodies to hold ground (again a major thing lacking from a pure GK build). 

[Aethernitas]

One thing that is very subjective when it comes to Allying is the sources you're allowed. Obviously, for friendly games, you can take as many detachments and formations as you like. However, in competitive play, you've got some constraints normally. Commonly you see 2-source restrictions, which means bringing multiple Imperial factions isn't possible. That makes Allying more difficult but still possible. It's why I've tended towards Blood Angels. They do the job of Inquisition (a psychic TDA HQ to ride shotgun to Terminators, Deepstrike support that's in position Turn 1 for 'Rites' landings), bring empty FA drop pods (so Purifiers don't have to shell out for a Raven) and have the usual Marine support roster (Contemptors, Sicarians etc) we can slot in if need be. They're kinda the whole package. Imperial Guard are much the same, they bring very cheap psykers, the long-range firepower we so desperately lack, and tanks+bodies to hold ground (again a major thing lacking from a pure GK build). 

 

I think it's save to say that the general trend is towards 3 sources per list. Having said that I see more and more tournaments trying to counteract abuse using a different approach by restricting allying to Allies of Convienience and Battle Brothers or trying similar ideas down that lane.

 

Concerning BA I agree that they do similar thinks for us as Inquisition though in a different way. That could very well change soon as the newest SM codex rumours state that Drop Pods will stay FA choices but will be restricted to units from the codex itself. I do expect that GW will use that opportunity to FAQ all Drop Pods to work that way.

 

The other source of concern for me is that the Servo Skulls (in all but name) in the new AdMech codices work totally different from the Inquisition ones. Seeing as the equipment in the Inquisition codex isn't up to date at all and the fair chance that it will see a new hardcover version in the not too far future I fear for my Servo Skulls as the last real helping hand when it comes to deep striking. Then again we should have gotten some rules or equipment to boost our overall ability to DS beeing the Imperiums foremost teleporting army.

[Gentlemanloser]

 

Then again we should have gotten some rules or equipment to boost our overall ability to DS beeing the Imperiums foremost teleporting army.

 

For some reason, we can't be better than the Dark Angels at it. :(