Wrathbaby wrote:It doesn't make sense to me that the aelves are all in different factions.
It's probably best to view the AoS Grand Alliances as the equivalent of WHFB armies, and the AoS subfactions as the equivalent of
themed armies.
So, in WHFB we had DE as a unified army with units from six different cities as well as the wilderness regions of Naggaroth and the Black Ark fleets. You had Black Guard from Naggarond alongside Executioners from Har Ganeth, Shades from the Black Spine Mountains and Corsairs from the Black Arks. We also had followers of two rival religious cults (Khaine and Slaanesh/Atharti). And they could all be fielded together, usually around a core of City Guard regiments.
But lots of people played themed armies, taking only units that fit that particular theme. Corsair armies, Cult of Khaine armies and so on. Because these themed armies had to be fieldable from the same army book, they made units like Witch Elves, Corsairs and Dark Riders core.
In AoS, our 'army book' is not Dark Elves (because fluffwise there's no such category any more) but
Order. An Order army can have units that used to be DE, alongside other (A)elves, humans, stormcast etc. It's all one army.
If you want a themed army, then you go for one of the subfactions.
Under the new fluff, Aelves don't usually fight as whole armies by themselves. They fight as contingents within an Order army. For example, a regiment of Phoenix Guard and an Anointed alongside a Freeguild army with artillery support from the Ironweld Arsenal. Or a coven of Sorceresses and their loyal Black Guard bodyguards to provide magical support to a Stormcast strike force. And an Order army gets no less than 24 different Battleline units to choose from if you don't want to take Bleakswords/Dreadspears/Darkshards.
If you want to take all DE units but don't want to have to stick to a single subfaction, then you can take 3 units of 10 Darkshards each for only 300 points, and that's all the Battleline you need in 2000 points (Dreadspears are cheaper, but 10 shooters is way more useful than 10 basic spearmen). So that's like only having to spend 15% of your army's total points on Core, which is a heck of a lot more flexible than WHFB ever was! Yeah, it sucks that you can't field a Black Ark landing party with an Assassin lurking amongst them, or a Cult of Khaine army that includes Executioners any more, without having to also take those Darkshards. But, thinking back, whenever I fielded either of those in WHFB, I always included some Darkshards (Repeater Crossbowmen as they were called then) in the army anyway.
The way I see it, going single-subfaction is only worth doing in 1000 point games, where having to spend 200 points on Darkshards would otherwise screw up the army's theme. For 2000 and 2500 point games, having to take 30-40 Darkshards isn't a big price to pay for being able to field only DE models. But fluffwise an Order army of that size would be expected to consist of more than just Aelves anyway.
There's also nothing stopping you from taking other subfactions' Battleline units but making them fit your DE theme. Freeguild Guard could be human slave-warriors. Wood Elf Glade Riders could be mounted Shades who prefer bows to rxbs. Stormcast Liberators could be golems crafted by a coven of Sorceresses. Dryads could be... well, evil Dryads - paint them like twisted Bristlecone Pines and they'd fit in a Naggarothi DE army no problem.
Does anyone know how compendium units work with the grand alliances? Are ellyrian reavers part of grand alliance: order, or would taking anything from compendium remove your alliance bonuses if you're in a situation where you have to follow the rules to the letter?
All the Compendium units have the correct Grand Alliance keyword except for Harpies. Ellyrian Reavers are every bit as much an official Order unit as Phoenix Guard.