[Pirate]

Okay guys,

At school today I was talking with one of my friends who is an Eldar player, and he said that the Eldar should be the Imperium's ally. I told him it would be kinda silly. The Eldar are too arrogant to accept help form the Imperium. And the Imperium wouldn't ever give help to the Eldar. He responded by saying that they were allied in the Eye of Terror campaign. I then tried to explain that gamewise, yeah. Fluffwise, not so much. Technically they were, but it was uncomfortable to say the least.

Later he showed me this: http://store.us.games-workshop.com/s...8392&GameNav=9

And said that they should be allies. Me? I think it would be stupid and ruin alot of the storyline.

Do any of you think that this would be bad? Do you think It would be good?!

[padric]

they are not allies but we have worked together against greater enemies.

[Wargamer]

The Eldar are not really allies... but not quite enemies. Their goals often match, and when they do they will join. However, only a fool would expect such alliances to hold for a second longer than needed.

[Shinsen]

I think it's covered in the fluff. The Eldar view the humans, much like any other race that is not Eldar, as a tool to be used when necessary and discarded when no longer needed.

But addressing the roots of your conversation, why does he feel that they should be allies? I believe that you hit upon the right points. The Imperium doesn't like alien races, and the Eldar believe that they should rule. I do think the Eldar would accept help reluctantly, but they would rather manipulate the events from behind the scenes, but if the need was dire I think they would do whatever they think it takes to survive.

In my mind, it would be hard to establish any kind of alliance lasting more than an engagement between a force that believes in exterminating the other and the other thinking the other is expendable.

[Yriel of Iyanden]

Originally Posted by Wargamer

The Eldar are not really allies... but not quite enemies. Their goals often match, and when they do they will join. However, only a fool would expect such alliances to hold for a second longer than needed.

WG really said it best here.

That's what I love best about the Eldar. You know in the movies- you have the traditionally "good" guys, the "bad" guys, and the main character caught in the struggle.

And then you have this mysterious, powerful being, you you can't seem to get a bearing on. Sometimes he seems as if he's just as scary as the bad guy. And then at other times he seems to be your ultimate saviour just at that most dire moment.

And just when you think you've got yourself an ally or a friend- he moves along as if you never existed at all. Because it was never about helping you- it was about serving his own motives.

[Falstead]

Wargamer and Yriel have covered it all pretty well, so I'm gonna comment on something else...

Is it just me or is the cover to that book hideously ugly. Like looking at that makes my eyes want to vomit.

[Pirate]

Originally Posted by Shinsen

But addressing the roots of your conversation, why does he feel that they should be allies? I believe that you hit upon the right points.

Well, he doesn't know as much fluff on the eldar like most players do. He doesn't think about the game or its details like me and my other friends. I have asked him how he plans to use his armylists and they revolve around a falcon and two wraithlords because they are "good". I don't want to sound to harsh, he is a good guy. I hope this answered your question?

[Shinsen]

Yeah, so he's trying to create an army list with both Imperium and Eldar units? Not generally used, but if he wants to play play friendly games with people he could adopt the doubles rules for allied races.

The rules from GW are located here
http://uk.games-workshop.com/tournam...0k-doubles.pdf

In the list the Eldar can ally with Imperial Armies under the "Distrusted Ally Status" with the exception of Witch Hunters and Daemon Hunters. However, using these rules means that he has to fill out two complete force organization charts. As for allowing a random eldar unit within an imperial army, i would think it would be allowed only in house rules games.

[SpacePuppy]

There's something in the new Space Marine codex about the Eldar helping SMurfs in a battle against a common enemy.

But, I think that the Imperium is a giant introvert that is happy just the way they are. When they need to ally, they will, but really they keep to themselves (in terms of allies of course).

[Kalamadea]

40K history is rife with instances where the eldar and imperial (IG and astartes both) helped each other as allies. It's also just as rife with wars between the two races. It wouldn't be hard to justify whay an Eldar army would work alongside imperials, especially if they were fighting chaos or necrons.