So one of my favorite parts of 6th ed is the new Allies rules. This is a great excuse to collect more awesome for my shelves. To reflect this, I'd like to repost a bit I offered about collecting from circa 2009.
"I got a large armoured reinforcement for my Imperial Guard over this most recent weekend. One of my gaming acquaintance who is leaving the 40k hobby sold them to me. I got six Leman Russ tanks with a variety of turrets, five Chimeras, four Sentinels, two Hell Hounds, a Thunderer Siege tank, a Laser Destroyer, a Medusa Siege gun, a Salamander scout, and an Earthshaker platform. Well now I'm not gloating (not too much), but this month's Standard Bearer in White Dwarf magazine was about the collection aspect of the hobby. With this new armoured influx, my collection of Imperial Guard now numbers over 40 vehicles, including a mighty Bane Blade. What do I do with them? Play Apocalypse games? Not really, actually. Right now I look for an out of the way place to stash them so they aren't underfoot or in reach of my toddler daughter. I am ever so slowly working through the process of painting and repairing them all, since most of them I have gotten in trade. This last batch I bought outright, but at a serious discount. Where was I? Collecting, that's right. Most of my friends in the hobby collect exactly what they need for their army and thats it. If they find a unit that works better, they replace something and shelf it from their army until it can be traded away or sold. My Imperial Guard collection has been growing since the release of the codex in 2003. I have Steel Legion, Cadians, Stormtroopers, and Death Korps of Krieg, and Adeptus Mechanicus models. There are lots of conversions in my army since I can't seem to leave well enough alone, and I expect it will be true of my Orks as well. I'm all about my collection. It's what does it for me about the hobby. I've played one whole game since the launch of 5th edition. I hope to play more with my Orks and I have high hopes for the new Guard codex release in May. More for me to add to my collection. I guess my point is, don't be afraid to collect the figures that you like from what ever you play. Even if you never use them, as long as they make you happy, go with it."
Since then around 99% of my hobby stuff was lost to me. I'm slowly working on my forces, but instead of collecting a pile of work that needs to be done, now I'm finishing the bits I have before collecting more. Getting into this habit has helped me follow the mantra some hobbyists try to achieve: one unit at a time.
Now everywhere you look on the web, people are offering different power lists made of the myriad of combos available on the new allies matrix. These are great for the competitive gamer, but I'm looking for something a little more fluffy. So besides thinking what I could add, I am also considering how I can cast it in the allies role. For example, Adeptus Mechanicus-counts-as-Space Marines.
