AB40k Maintainers

Firstly I want to start out by thanking the Maintainers for the work they have been putting in. Secondly I dont want this topic to be viewed as something that is me ranting that the program doesn't work right or I am complaining that the rules are being done wrong. Technically the process works but it is displaying the big red ! validation error and it just got me thinking there must be a way to fix it. This is just a Brain storm/Wish list for away to deal with the inevitable rules creep to come. All in All I really like the way the base Allies are handled, it seems clean to me, it wasn't until I tried

Here is what I am doing:
Primary army eldar - works great
allied Army Dark Eldar - also works great

here is where AB is throwing Validation errors
include the optional Imperial Knight Detachment - When I do this the dark eldar units trip a roster validation error. From what I have deduced it is because they are no longer my selected ally. If I go back and select Dark Eldar as allies the Imperial Knights generate the Validation error. So is there a change to the way allies and "detachments" are handled that could alleviate this issue? I guess this also plays into a future problem of data slate formations too.

Things I have considered:
Seperate tab at the top where the formation, and fortifications are: since as of right now all the special detachments that I know of are just a few units at most it wouldn't be to cumbersome to just list them all there. This seems like it could be the "quickest" from my outside prospective which means it will be very difficult I am sure, also if this really becomes the norm for all the "mini Dexs" it would become very clunky in the long term.

My second idea for this would be to use the rules filter to have a check box in the allies area, or just its own separate rules area to turn on special detachments, or just individual detachments if that seems like an option, a lot like how the Battle missions book is handled. This way you could got and select Imperial Knights, and it would modify the force org with a new column, and add reveal the Imperial Knights in the appropriate location to be added to your army. This feels the most elagant as far as UI goes but I am sure is Huge pain in the a** to do.

I am happy to hear questions or comments about this, in the mean time I am going to go back to ABCreator and see if I can get either of these to work.

Thanks for your time

As maintainers we are struggling with Allies. GW has gone at them whole hog. Allies as they are in Army Builder are no longer robust enough for the system. We are weighing several options right now. I think the leading candidate is as follows:

Primary Army: as is with HQ, Troops, et al.
Allied Army: reduce to a single FOC and track composition separately
Detachments such as Knights or Inquisition: reduce to a single FOC and track separately

Homer

Yeah, it is a tough problem for sure. I figure the maintainers would be out in front of this already. I look forward to seeing how you guys deal with it. Thanks again for all the great work.