Ok.. so if you are on the forum already we know your into it.. I have been waiting for a 40K lcg for SOOOOOoooOOOOO long..

But seriously FFG?

No Tyrinids?

No Necrons?

You know they gotta save something for the expansions. And no matter what they left out, someone was getting disappointed.

I cannot agree more. As usual, it's the same factions as always, and it's the same factions that get left out. Warhammer: Invasion never even got the Tomb Kings as a neutral faction. If this game introduces Necrons as a grey faction again, then I'm going to be even less interested than I am now.

And seriously... Tau? The Tau? The most ineffectual faction ever created? Why do they keep shoving these idiots in our faces? They can't possibly win, they're too tiny, they're the population of one planet expanding outward. That's all fine and good, but numerically, they represent less than 0.01% of the population of the known galaxy, including Chaos controlled space. It's ludicrous.

It's always the same people getting disappointed, though. If you don't like the main factions, it's a flip of a coin whether you're getting anything.

And I had the same thoughts on Warhammer: Invasion, look where that ended for all but six factions...

There is precedence for them to add 2 factions in the next set.. (W:I) and that would be awesome. Still Necrons and especially Tyrinids should be in this game. It would be a terrible error to not include them at some point.

There are some problems with adding new factions later though, it would throw off the current faction wheel.

Not necessarily. You could add them to the inside or outside of the wheel and draw connecting lines.

I'm looking at the 7 factions and I don't get it.

1. Both Eldar _AND_ Dark Eldar?

2. And Imperial Guard?

3. And no Tyranids or Necrons?

4. So Orck and Imperial Guard can be allies?

And when I think about adding Tyranid or Necron to that faction alignment wheel and I'm not sure how that will all work. I'm surprised there aren't two faction alignment wheels, one for CHAOS and one for ORDER?

It would be REAL nice if FFG could provide any confirmation that the game is not limited to these 7 factions.

Orks are and were known to act as mercenaries to human armies.

I am also disappointed that my two favorite factions aren't in the game.... That being said, I still have every intention of buying this game!

Orks are and were known to act as mercenaries to human armies.

Your correct, they can be allies of convenience. An ally matrix (like the 40k rulebook uses) would have been more flexible than this alignment wheel. I understand what they are doing, trying to give every faction two ally choices. Perhaps that's why Tyranids aren't here - they won't ally with anyone.

they shoulda did one imperial army so they could add grey knights and adeptus sororitas at convience. And while i like the tau i would much rather see the tyranids. Also that allainance wheel makes no sense ig and sm yea but y would eldar work with dark eldar?

If imperial guard and the space marines were the same faction I would have been upset.. but your right.. they could have been opening a slot for tyrinids or necrons.

They can always add a new wheel in the expansions and add new races.

Don't the Eldar and Dark Eldar hate each other with a passion? Like Space Marines and Chaos Space Marines level hate? I can see Orks being used as expendable mercenaries by the Imperium, but Eldar allying with Dark Eldar? One of them embraces Slaanesh values of pleasure above all else and the other feel rather embarrassed about bringing one of the Chaos gods into existence in the first place.

The Necrons and the Tyranids wouldn't ally with anyone. Necrons are soulless killing machines and Tyranids just want to consume everything. They'd have to be outside the faction wheel. The battlefield selection feels like "Blood Bowl: Team Manager" to me, but I've only played the "A Game of Thrones" and "Android: Netrunner" LCGs.

Don't the Eldar and Dark Eldar hate each other with a passion?

Yeah.. Elder and Dark Elder together is all sorts of wonky.. and in truth Orcs and the imperium is not cool either.. but not nearly as bad.

The battlefield selection feels like "Blood Bowl: Team Manager" to me, but I've only played the "A Game of Thrones" and "Android: Netrunner" LCGs.

I havn't played that but it reminds me of Call of Cthulhu. I am assuming the planet deck is separate to the players control.. as in the planet deck is a deck fully controlled by the game itself.. but it would be interesting to be able to build your own deck to function with synergies when battling on your planets and then on game day you mix your planet deck with their one to make the battlefield for the sector.

The Necrons and the Tyranids wouldn't ally with anyone. Necrons are soulless killing machines and Tyranids just want to consume everything.

There is no official lore of Necrons teaming up with Space Marines.. yeah I know.. a travesty. Still it is true that Necrons have gone though a major fluff change recently witch has reduced much of their awesomeness.

Eldar and Dark Eldar is fine, they don't hate one another, this isn't fantasy. They still think of themselves as one race (including the Exodites) that went down different paths after the fall.

What's more messed up is dark eldar (or any eldar actually) allying with chaos. Their entire existence revolves around avoiding Slaanesh, and now they are gonna team up? With the god that ate 90% of their race? Weird.

Umm... Dark Elder and Elder are not mates.. and they are closer to chaos due to the affiliation with slaanesh... that is right isn't it?

Another thing about the faction wheel; the Imperial Guard wouldn't fight Imperial Space Marines, and vice versa. They're both members of the Imperium of Man, they both fight for the Emperor of Mankind. Imperial Guardsmen would be scared to death to fight Space Marines, and Space Marines see Imperial forces as their fellow brothers in battle, however lesser mortals they are. Yeah, there might be tensions between the Guard and the Astartes (Space Wolves especially), but they don't go massacring each other... Khornate Knights and Adepta Sororitas excluded.

Don't the Eldar and Dark Eldar hate each other with a passion?

I havn't played that but it reminds me of Call of Cthulhu. I am assuming the planet deck is separate to the players control.. as in the planet deck is a deck fully controlled by the game itself.. but it would be interesting to be able to build your own deck to function with synergies when battling on your planets and then on game day you mix your planet deck with their one to make the battlefield for the sector.

The produce description indicates "10 planet cards" so it's probably right that they're separate like Cthulhu story cards. Mixing two different decks on game day would be a pain -- who owns which, different sleeves, etc.

BUT, it might be interesting if there's a mechanic like Decipher's LotR ccg where both player's come with their own planet decks, and the player who is behind deals out the next planet when a new one needs to be dealt. So you build a planet deck with synergy to your main deck, but you only get to take advantage of that synergy if you're losing.

Since there's only 10 planets, though, it seems likely that the planet deck is fixed, possibly subject to "block rotation," the same way the cthulhu story deck sometimes gets replaced by new big box expansions.

Umm... Dark Elder and Elder are not mates.. and they are closer to chaos due to the affiliation with slaanesh... that is right isn't it?

Dark Eldar also fear Slaanesh same as Eldar.

They have worked together so it's not outside the realm of possibility.

Orks have sided with Humans. There is an entire Clan based around Human culture.

Imperial organizations can and do end up in combat. Things get confused, orders mixed up, commanders corrupted by Chaos or Xenos.

No, they live in constant fear that She Who Thirsts will devour their immortal souls that's why they enslave and torture other species, it staves off Slaanesh, without making others suffer they wither and would eventually succumb.

The Eldar and DE aren't mates, more like a dysfunctional family that is always squabbling but would choose family in a heartbeat over primitive degenerate poo flinging monkeys (ie any non eldar race). The recent path of the eldar and psth of the incubus trilogies are a great look into all 3 eldar societies and how they view one another.

POSSIBLE SPOILER AHEAD

one of the best parts was when a captured DE incubus was allowed to join a war shrine of the striking scorpions. The exarch wanted to prove that the path of torture and suffering embraced by the DE wasn't the only way to escape Slaanesh

Umm... Dark Elder and Elder are not mates.. and they are closer to chaos due to the affiliation with slaanesh... that is right isn't it?

Thats actually completely incorrect. Their empire was pulled into the warp because their hubris created slaanesh. They live in the webway and extend their lives as long as absolutely possible to forever avoid the pull of slaanesh. This is also why they no longer use their psychic abilities, fear of its connection to the warp. Ultimately this is the only connection that doesn't make sense, every other connection has basis in the table top game and the fluff (maybe not Orks and Chaos but really Orks will ally with anyone they don't feel like killing).

I think that Necrons and Tyranids were probably left from the base game because of the way that they would mess with the ally wheel. No one allies with Tyranids... so that doesn't change the wheel at all. And Necron basically will ally with anyone who is convenient in that moment but only if absolutely necessary, so really they don't have allies.

I think the base factions make most sense. And also *ahem* Tau is a very popular faction that peaks the interest of many fans of the universe.

Tyranids and Necrons might make their way into the game via large box expansions with their own ally wheels.

Tyranids could be organized by hive fleet, for example, or possibly by some made up genetic lineage that represents the types of tyranids that have grown from certain genes (for example, allowing you to choose psychic tyranids but not tyranids stronger in melee combat).

Necrons, similarly, could be divided by tomb world. Or, as others have discussed, perhaps Necrons will have 1-way alliances with multiple other factions. IE. the Necrons can ally with Orks, Imperial Guard, Eldar, etc. but only if you've chosen a Necron hero. If you choose a hero of any other faction, you don't have access to Necron cards.

I think the point though, is that there's definitely options for FFG to explore that both incorporate these factions and don't mess up the ally wheel.

Tyranids and Necrons are the races that have the greatest problem with allying with others. Tyranids just eat your face off, and Necrons hate the living. Ok, the fluff has been altered somewhat since the last codex, but they are still one of the hardest races to justify allying with anyone. Makes total sense they have been left out at the moment. And of course, Expansion material is just what FFG want. I am actually a bit worried they seem to have gone with too many factions at once. What are the starter decks in the box going to even look like? Are you going to be forced to have alliances if you play out of the box?

Space Marines and Imperial Guard can easily be justified fighting each other. The most common foe for Imperial forces is implied to be rebellious humans, not xenos or chaos, though the Orks probably not coming a too distant second. Imperial Guard would make a good stand in for human forces in general in my mind (which is why I think Chaos/imperial guard makes more sense than Orks/Imperial Guard), so Space Marines (possibly with Imperial Guard support) fighting Imperial Guard makes total sense in my mind. Also, with the way that Imperial power is structured, and the very independent and proud nature of Space Marine chapters, Space Marine vs Space Marine even makes sense (see the Badab War, for example).

I would actually see Space Wolves and Guard as being one of the least likely opponents, as Space Wolves have had in their background that they have some inkling of regard and compassion for the "common" people (their outrage at the treatment of the survivors of the First War of Armageddon, for example).