With the new general’s handbook GW introduced allies to matched play where in a standard 2000-point game, 400 of it can be from your “allies” pool.
This allows you to add some flavor to your armies while maintaining your allegiance ability. Along with this cool new mechanic they also released some alliance boxed sets. So, let’s break these down these boxed sets and see if they are a good deal, and how they might work on their own or as an addition to your army.
Collegiate Arcane Mystic Battle Wizards ($40): Contains 4 different battle mages (bright, death, heavens, and gold).
Trav’s take: Four different battle mages is pretty cool, even if chances are you will never use all 4 at the same time. At 100 points each and taking up a leader spot 1 or 2 could be useful if your army is light on magic. That being said Collegiate Arcane has no battle line units so it is impossible to field an alliance of just them so you’re always just going to plug one or two of these guys into other armies. Still if you need 2 wizards at 100 points each they fit most armies, so with a price point of $40 it would be worth it. Conclusion: Conditional Buy, if you’re going to field 2 or more battle mages otherwise just pick up one on eBay.
Daughters of Khaine Blood Coven: ($100): Contains 10 Witch Aelves and either a Cauldron of Blood or Bloodwrack Shrine.
Trav’s Take: At 100 bucks, I have a hard time with this one as its not nearly as good as a deal as some of the other start collecting boxes and is more expensive. If you bought these pieces individually it would be $135 so the savings is $35 total. The Witch Aelves take up 100 points, while the Shrine is 140 points and the Cauldron of Blood is 200. Both take a Behemoth Sport and the Cauldron of Blood takes a leader spot. If you go with Cauldron of Blood you can put the Bloodwrack Medusae on foot for another 120 points. Otherwise if you go shrine you can add a Death Hag on foot for another leader spot and 60 points. Not a huge fan of this one as it doesn’t really help non-Daughters of Khaine units and takes up a lot of your limited slots. If you do want to use it your will go with the shrine, death hag on foot, and then buy another 10 Witch Aelves to add your unit of 10. Conclusion: No Buy, at $100 already, not a fan as you need to spend even more the benefit and it won’t help the other 1600 points in your army.
Slaves to Darkness Harbingers of Ruin: ($80) Contains 2 Chaos Chariots (regular or gorebeast) and 5 Chaos Knights.
Trav’s Take: A nice thing about Slaves to Darkness is that they can take a Mark of Chaos and receive a lot of the nice buffs that hero characters can dish out. They basically fit into any non-Skaven chaos army well and this little unit can add a lot of speed that an army like Nurgle might be lacking. If you build both Chariots as Gorebeast Chariots it fill up 360 points without taking any leader or behemoth slots. Price point at 80 this is a pretty good deal as 2 Chaos Chariot kits will run you 80 so the 5 Knights is a bonus. Finally, this is a great build on army or add too because both the Regular Chariots and the Chaos Knights can be battle line units if you choose Slaves to Darkness as an allegiance. Conclusion: Buy, this set as it can be built upon, and by taking a mark with these units they can synergize with the rest of your army.
Aleguzzler Gargants Colossal Crushers: ($75) Contains 2 Aleguzzler Gargants or Chaos Giants.
Trav’s Take: Giants are cool models and are powerful enough that they can be a force on their own without buffs. Also, a fun fact in that every destruction alliance with battle line units can ally with Aleguzzler Gargants. Looking at eBay you can get an older giant model for around 40-50, so if you want 2 this is for you. The one downside is that it will take up 2 Behemoth slots and run you 340 points. For chaos, it is all the same information, minus that Skaven allegiances cannot take them as allies. Conclusion: Buy, if you have the behemoth slots to fill, getting two for 75 bucks is a good deal and they can hold their own without needing buffs.
Warherds Bloodfeast Gorgers: ($75) Contains 3 Bullgors and wither a Gorhon or Cygor.
Trav’s Take: This is another pretty decent deal in that for $75 bucks you are getting some heavy hitters that do not need buffing. You are getting 380 points worth of models with 1 behemoth unit that can do some damage on their own. Also if you choose to add on and want to make a “Warheards” army you could buy another one and use the 2 units of Bullgors as your Battle line units, the Cygor and Ghorgon as 2 behemoth choices and then a Doombull as your leader and general all for 880 points with 120 left for allies. Cost wise it does save you money but not much ($25 total) so there is better deals out there. Conclusion: Mixed, Buy it if you want to eventually extend out into a Warheards army or if you want some standalone damage dealers in your chaos army so Brayheards, Slaves to Darkness, etc. No Buy, for an army that relies on synergy to buff other units like Blades of Khorne or Daemons of Nurgle.
Deathrattle Barrow Lords: ($65) Contains 5 Black Knights, 10 Graveguard, and a Wight King.
Trav’s Take: Your getting $90 dollars worth of models for $65, so there is some savings involved. As an allied faction you could probably do better as these models are slow and generally wont hit that hard without buffing. However it you buy this and add it to a start collecting Skeleton Horde and choose Deathrattle allegiance your in pretty good shape. Doing so would get you 10 Black Knights (battle line), 10 Skeletons (battle line), 10 Grave Guard (battle line), Wright Lord (leader) then Arkhan the Black (leader and behemoth) as an ally you have a good chunk of your death army done for you at 920 points. Conclusion: Conditional Buy, I would only purchase this if I was also getting a start collecting Skeleton Horde and going with a Deathrattle allegiance.
Spiderfang Grotz Venom Clan: ($65) Contains 1 Arachnarok Spider and 10 Spiderfang Grot Spider Riders.
Trav’s Take: If you want a Arachnarok Spider in your army you might as well as get this box because that spider standalone is $58. For another 7 bucks your can sell your 10 Grot Spider Riders on ebay for 25 bucks and make some money back. For an ally, there pretty good as a standalone force in another army, able to ally with the other Greenskin allegiances. By placing a shaman on top, you can cast magic and buff a unit of Grot Spider Fangs. However, you will only be able to use 5 of your 10 Grot Spider Riders because you hit 380 points out of 400 allowed. Also, the Arachnarok Spider is good but 2 Aleguzzler Giants is better… Conclusion: No Buy, unless you want a Arachnarok Spider then get it and sell the Spiderfang Grots.
Nighthaunt Tormented Spirits: ($55) Contains 3 Spirit Hosts, 1 Cairn Wrath, and either 5 Hexwraiths.
Trav’s Take: With a savings of $20 so its not that great of a deal. Coming in at 340 points total they really don’t hit hard enough to be a standalone portion of the army. However, if you go Nighthaunt alliance then those ‘meh’ units become amazing battle line units. Add this to a Start Collecting Malignants (double check and make sure you can build a Coven Throne instead of Mortis Engine out of the kit) and you are in good shape. You will have your battle line covered with 6 Spirit Host models and 10 Hexwraths that you can build 3 battle line units out of and a general with your Cairn Wrath. Add in the Coven Throne, which is a leader and behemoth, but it does very well on its own so it fits into your allies’ slot nicely. Coming in at 880 you will be able to expand on this list easily. There is also the Nighthaunts allegiance abilities in the new General’s Handbook that adds a lot of mobility to this army. Conclusion: Conditional Buy, I would only purchase this if I was also getting a Start Collecting Malignats (and that I could make a Coven Throne instead of Mortis Engine) and going with a Nighthaunts allegiance.
There you have it some of the allies boxed sets I believe are a good deal, see Aleguzzler Gargants and Slaves to Darkness. While couple of the others not so much, looking at you Daughters of Khaine and Spiderfang Grotz. They can all mostly be slotted into any army and sit at under 400 points and give the army some much needed variety or just be there to look cool.
Check out more “newbie” tips for the Hobby
About the Author: Travis Perkins
An avid homebrewer and Detroit sports fan (yes even the Lions). I am new to the world of wargamming and very much enjoying the journey. If you have any suggestions or comments feel free to comment on the article or email me at perki116@msu.edu
