Warhammer is normally a clash between two mighty armies, striving for dominance upon their chosen battlefield, but this doesn’t mean that it is a game solely for two players, oh no! By combining several players’ armies into alliances, it’s possible for any number of players to join the battle. Games involving allies will often trigger all sort of bizarre alliances, depending on the armies available to the players. You may wish to invent a narrative to explain the reasons behind the alliance, or simply decide not to worry about it and get stuck in the game. It’s entirely up to you

To forge your alliances, split the players into two teams. The teams don’t need to have the same number of players, but if you’re playing a game that uses points values (see the Choosing Your Armies chapter) it’s best to give a little thought to the relative sizes of the players’ collections when assigning teams, so that you can be happy that the balance of the game is as you wish it to be. The players can now pick their armies and begin to play.

For example, five players (including the humble author) decide to play a multi-player game, with 5,000 points per side. Phil collects Ogres, Alessio has Skaven, Jervis has a Tomb Kings army, Jeremy has Orcs & Goblins and I collect Wood Elves.

We want to create a story to explain how this battle come about and decide that the Tomb Kings army represents the Undead warriors of an ancient barrow-king that was buried at the edge of the forest of Athel Loren – home of the Wood Elves. Coveting the warpstone artefact that, according to legend, was buried with the barrow-king, the Skaven have bribed an Orc tribe and hired an Ogre mercenary band to sack the burial grounds. However, the Skaven have not counted on the hostile reaction that their presence so close to Athel Loren would inevitably cause in the Wood Elf inhabitants.

Based on our narrative and the size of each player’s armies, we therefore agree that 2,000 points of Skaven, 2,000 points of Orcs & Goblins and 1,000 points of Ogres will be on one side. On the other side there will be an unlikely alliance of 2,500 points of Tomb Kings and 2,500 points of Wood Elves.