Using Allies in Warhammer 40,000
by Erik Setzer
In times of war, military forces often make an alliance with another force, working together for the greater good. These alliances can often find two armies working on the same battlefield, side by side. It may be Chaos Marines fighting alongside Orks, or Space Marines fighting alongside Imperial Guard.
Anyone who's played the second edition of Warhammer 40,000 will remember that in every army list or codex there was a section that listed the army's available allies. This list gave the player an idea of what armies or races his chosen army could pick forces from.
In the third edition, no rules were given about how to use allies, nor were their guidelines on whom could ally with whom. But there were rules for using multiple armies using multiple Force Organization Charts. Jervis Johnson gave a name to these multiple armies, calling them "task forces". These rules can be found on page 131 of the Warhammer 40,000 rulebook. To sum up, a player may take multiple armies using multiple force organization charts, as long as he fulfilled the requirements of the force organization chart for each army. These task force rules were later used to provide players with a method of using allying armies in their games. But there will still no guidelines on who could ally with who.
The solution to the problem is rather simple. Have a look through the Warhammer 40,000 universe's history and find out the relations between races and armies. However, this is time consuming and the average player will not want to dig through his library of books to find this information. So I've done the hard work for you, and collected together the following notes on alliances between armies.
Space Marines: Space Marines hold the
"typical" Imperial view of other races: They are untrustworthy Heretics
who should only be regarded as subjects for conquest. However, Space Marines also
have a history of looking down their noses even at other military forces within the
Imperium, regarding Imperial Guard and Ministorum forces as "only human".
Even so, Space Marines will work with other Imperial forces, as all are fighting for the
best interests of Mankind.
When circumstances dictate, Space Marines will sometimes fight alongside Eldar or
Ork forces, especially in times of war against the Chaos forces. While it is
degrading to the average Space Marine to fight alongside such heretical filth, it is
sometimes necessary to do so in order to protect their Emperor.
Imperial Guard: Imperial Guard
soldiers are trained to disregard other races as being unfit to coexist with, much less
fight alongside. They will almost always fight alongside other Imperial forces, in
in the event that the force they are being asked to fight alongside is thought of as a
slight danger to the Guardsmen themselves.
There have been times when Imperial Guardsmen have had to fight alongside members
of another race. In the interest of self-preservation (and that of the Imperium, of
course), Imperial Guard forces will fight alongside Ork or Eldar forces.
Some Imperial Guard regiments rebel against the Imperium and begin fighting for the
Chaos Gods. In this event they will ally themselves with Chaos, Genestealer
Cultists, Eldar, Orks, or other renegades, but never loyalist Imperials.
Sisters of Battle: Sisters of Battle have the same outlook on alliance with other forces that Space Marines have, except that the Sisters do not look down upon Guardsmen, nor do they see Space Marines as a level above them. The Sororitas find working alongside aliens to be a disgusting and heretical act, preventing most of them from forming even the most temporary of alliances with an alien force. However, some of the Orders have a more relaxed view of these alliances than others. If an alien force can aid them in the protection of Impeiral citizens, so be it. In the end, it is the protection and safety of the Imperium that matters.
Planetary Defense Forces: Imperial
PDFs are always trained to do what is necessary to protect their world. This usually
means working alongside other Imperial forces, most often the local Adeptus Arbites
precinct and Ministorum forces. Occasionally, an Imperial PDF will find itself
having to make a temporary alliance with members of an alien force in order to protect
their world.
Sometimes, a PDF will become angry at the Imperium and rebel. This makes an
alliance with Orks or Eldar more likely, and an alliance with other rebels is a frequent
sight. Some of these rebel PDFs will turn to the forces of Chaos for help, or a
local Genestealer Cult who is trying to undermine the local government.
Adeptus Arbites: Adeptus Arbites are fanatically loyal, and will ally themselves only with other Imperial forces, unless the situation is dire enough to require that they enlist the aid of an alien force. Under the most threatening of circumstances, an Arbites force may find it necessary to accept the aid of Eldar or Ork forces... at least temporarily.
Dark Eldar: Dark Eldar are, at best,
naturally evil. They take delight in torture and destruction. Dark Eldar will
fight alongside Chaos Marines and other Chaos forces, as well as the occasional alliance
with Orks. Even so, Dark Eldar will never fight alongside Slaaneshi forces,
preferring to destroy the minions of their race's doom rather than aid them or along
themselves to be aided by those minions.
Despite these occasional alliances, Dark Eldar most often would rather fight
without the unwanted aid of others, and so usually do not ally with other armies.
Dark Eldar have been known, on occasion, to work alongside their kin, the Eldar.
The only occasion which has been determined to cause such an alliance has always
been the presence of a Chaos force threatening one or the other people, usually a
Slaaneshi force. It has been noted that the Eldar known as Harlequins are almost
always present in these alliances, and it has been theorized that they act as a unifying
factor between the two factions of their own race.
Eldar: Eldar are a vain race who
prefer to believe that they do not need the aid of others. This usually prevents
them from allying with any other armies. However, there are times when they will use
other races to do their work for them, helping them avert a future disaster. The
Eldar find this distasteful and disgusting, but they all agree that anything that can be
done to save their people must be done.
Eldar are also known for manipulating other races into an assault with no
involvement from the Eldar, using their "sacrifice" to save Eldar lives.
If just one Eldar life is saved at the cost of a billion non-Eldar lives, then it has been
worth it.
Eldar have been known, on occasion, to work alongside their darker kin, the Dark
Eldar. The only occasion which has been determined to cause such an alliance has
always been the presence of a Chaos force threatening one or the other people, usually a
Slaaneshi force. It has been noted that the Eldar known as Harlequins are almost
always present in these alliances, and it has been theorized that they act as a unifying
factor between the two factions of their own race.
Eldar Harlequins: The Harlequins are a
mystery, an enigma even to the highest members of the Inquisition. Their goal seems
to be the reunification of the Eldar race, helping to strengthen the bonds between
Craftworld Eldar, Dark Eldar, and the Exodites. They will always work alongside
another Eldar force, especially if they can find a way to use their alliance to strengthen
their races' bonds with each other.
The Harlequins also are devoted to the destruction of Chaos in all of its many
forms. This has led them to aid non-Eldar forces on a number of occasions. It
has been observed that the Harlequins will ally themselves with any forces, as long as its
goal is the destruction of Chaos. Naturally, this does not include Tyranids,
Necrons, or Chaos itself.
Chaos: Chaos forces work well with any other forces that revel in destruction and slaughter. This makes Dark Eldar and Orks prime candidates as allies for Chaos forces. Genestealer Cults, by their very nature, work well with Chaos Marines and Cultists. Chaos forces have been known to work with renegade Imperial forces (represented by Imperial Guard and Planetary Defense Force armies) as well.
Orks: Orks like fighting. They
usually have no set goals, they just like fighting. They will ally themselves with
anyone who will ally with them, so long as they can have some fun and be involved in a
good scrap. This means that they will work often with Chaos. Orks (especially
those of the Blood Axe clan) occasionally ally themselves with Imperial Guardsmen to fight
a threat that could be endangering both the IG and the Orks. Under the same
circumstances, they may find themselves as the unlikely allies of a Space Marine army.
Orks don't ally often with Eldar, as the two races have too many differences.
However, if the pay is right (or under the most dire of circumstances, such as in
the face of a Black Crusade or a Tyranid invasion), Orks will work with Eldar. Dark
Eldar are slightly preferable for the Orks, as they revel in slaughter. However, the
slave-taking nature of Dark Eldar has some Warlords wary of allying themselves with Dark
Eldar, as they would just as soon take a few Orks as slaves...
Tyranids: Tyranids, by their very nature, do not work well with other races. Their natural instincts are to absorb the genetic code of anything that isn't another Tyranid. This includes their own Genestealer Cults, whom they absorb into the Hive Fleet as soon as they make contact with one.
Genestealer Cults: Genestealer Cults work to undermine the government of a world and prepare it for invasion by the Tyranid Hive Fleets. To this end, they will enlist the aid of renegade Imperial Guard forces, renegade PDFs, Chaos Marines and Cultists, or even Orks.
Necrons: Necrons do not seem to deem it necessary to ally with another race. Their motives are unknown, and it is doubtful that they ever will be. However, it has been theorized that the C'tan may use other races to help pave the way for a coming resurgence of the Necrontyr Empire, and it is uncertain when (or if) an alliance with another race may take shape.
Notable Exceptions:
Though the above paragraphs cover the general feelings of each race/army allying with another race or army, there are some exceptions that have occurred throughout the history of the Warhammer 40,000 universe.
Space Wolves and Dark Angels: These two Space Marine chapters do not work well with each other, as they have a long-standing feud going back to the days of their Primarchs. But this feud is always put aside in the face of a dangerous foe. However, it is not forgotten. Before battle, one Marine is picked from both chapters to act as a "champion", and these two champions fight a duel in memory of the duel between their two Primarchs, so many years ago.
Flesh Tearers: The ferocity of the Flesh Tearers has earned them a vicious reputation, and as such no Imperial force will willingly work with the Flesh Tearers. However, not even a Space Marine Chapter Master or an Adeptus Sororitas Canoness will always get their wish. While it is clear to many that the Flesh Tearers are damned and likely tainted by Chaos, many others regard these tales as simple rumours, and still others work to keep these tales silent and from the ears of others.
Dark Angels/Black Templars: Dark Angels and Black Templars have always been extremely anti-alien, refusing to work with them even in the most dire of circumstances. Though most Space Marine chapters will ally themselves with alien forces if the needs dictate such an alliance, these two chapters will never work alongside any force that is not human.
Imperials and Chaos: In the lowest depths of the Imperial Records, buried beneath seventy nine layers of security, lie records of the most secretive sort: Records of the few alliances between Imperial forces and Chaos forces. Though the Imperium does its best to combat Chaos, it has more than once had to work alongside Chaos to combat an even greater threat, such as that posed by the Tyranid Hive Fleets. After every such alliance, the participating members are rounded up and killed, save the members of the Adeptus Astartes, whose memories of the alliance are burned from their minds. The records are sealed to prevent any from knowing of their existence.