New BFFs apparently.

It's been in the lore forever. Ork Clan the Blood Axes is especially known for this and base their culture on parts of Human culture.

Yeah, the Blood Axes trade with and have acted as mercs for the Imperium before. Probably in exchange for some nice Imperium dakka. Give an ork something that does good dakka and he'll do what you tell him to.

They got along great on Armageddon on more than one occasion!

Orks are as likely to fight with as against Humans. They don't care they just wanna fight. It's like a race of Hulks.

I was mildly surprised that Orcs and Imperial Guard could ally at first, until I remembered Overlord Herman Von Strab's betrayal at Armageddon. This makes me wonder if we will actually be getting a Herman Von Strab character card that gives benefits to Orcs and Imperial Guard in some way?

Ork mercenaries etc have existed for a long time in the background, yes, but to me it is a much less likely match up than say Chaos/Imperial Guard (Traitor Guard & Lost and the Damned), or Guard & Tau (Human auxiliaries in Tau forces, or a temporary alliance, which seems more likely than a Space Marine/Tau one frankly, certain chapters aside).

Of course if they are using this circle method to tie up the alliances then they need to close the loop somehow, and I guess Ork/Guard it is.

I mentioned this in the other thread, but don't orks love to loot IG tanks as well?

Heck, every model that comes out gets a Ork looted variant online within days (ork knights?). By ork logic, any vehicle should be "allied" if you throw enough junk at it, and paint it red for the extra speed boost.

It's been this way since at least 2nd edition. Read the 2nd edition Orks codex.

I believe that this word alliance is being bandied about too literally. It doesn't mean that the Ork's and Imperial guard are sharing a beer nowadays...If you have an I.G. deck, it makes perfect sense that you could have Ork Freebooter Mercs as an alliance of neccesity. If you have an Ork Deck, makes perfect sense you have looted I.G. equipment. I guess it's how you theme your deck in the end.

Wouldn't be better to put chaos next to imps? And orcs under chaos? Chaos would take imps as slaves and make them fight. Orcs just want a good fight they fight each other all the time. Of course orcs have loot from all races and there not exactly hard to trick to get them to fight for a race. I think even dark elder would do that.

Of course if they are using this circle method to tie up the alliances then they need to close the loop somehow, and I guess Ork/Guard it is.

Do they? I don't think a line would have been entirely wrong. It would mean that both factions on the end get shafted I suppose.

Yeah. I think it would be fine in a wargame or something, but in a card game, where much of the point is what choices you make about your deck, it would be harsh to arbitrarily give some players a much more restrictive choice than others.

To borrow an example from the last of the Dawn of War II games, Ork Freebootas can be hired by just about anyone (for example, a rather desperate Inquisitor with a great hat), often for some very strange currencies (like battle against a specific number of enemies, at a time and place of a Kaptain's choosing). And, as others have pointed out, there's an entire clan based around interactions with humans. And even beyond that, there's the fact that orks love to fight; doesn't matter who, or why, just so long as they can get stuck in, and fighting alongside the Imperial Guard against something else is a **** good way to find a good fight. In light of these, the two are a pretty good match.

Conversely, IG and Chaos don't make a particularly good pair, since...well, any IG that pairs up with a set of Chaos is a traitor and is thus part of Chaos anyway. As for Chaos/Dark Eldar, it's a pretty unusual combination, but there are some examples of the pair fighting side-by-side (especially when followers of Khorne are involved). The only issue they have is with Slaanesh (who wants to finish the job of soul-devouring the entire Eldar race), which is why they hide in Commoragh (yes, I know I misspelled that).

The thing about the Blood Axes though is that the emphasis in their background has changed. Their original conception had them as the first Orks to meet humans, and the ones most commonly hired by humans as mercenaries, supplied with Imperial weapons etc, so ended up more "Umie" than the Clans. However, as far as I can tell, the idea has changed more to that they were inspired by human battlefield successes and started aping their tactics and copying (or stealing) equipment, rather than that they were engaged in significant business with them. Now, orks as mercenaries has not been completely overwritten, but it certainly has been downplayed from being almost common (hired by planetary governors to deal with some problem) to something that is largely limited to the fringes of Imperial society, used by largely only by those with much greater independence (Rogue Traders, Inquisitors etc).

This is a Game, and they have an idea that they are trying to make work. Within the box set comes a crap ton of cards, But only A few for each faction. I am assuming they did this as to let you play out of the box with whatever race you want and have allied in the other races to help fill your deck. That is why its a circle so no one has to be shafted and so every race will be playable out of the box. I don't know if you'll be able to have pure factions decks out of the box, I would hope so but I am sure by being able to pick to allied factions along with the original one will open up unique and creative ways to play the game. The reason for most of the allies is based off the allied matrix in the 6th edition rule book.