Slitherine

A suggestion for next season (hopefully there will be one)
How about try it with 'no allies'. Could mix it up, some seasons with allies and some with no allies.
I think this would bring more varieties to the armies used, particularly for some of us who have been playing since back in the days of the DL. Obviously if you are fairly new to TDC then the choice is still fresh.
There are some combinations that appear over and over again:
Libyan + Sea People
Seleucid + Parthian
Hannibal in Italy + Samnite
Spartan + Roman (does anyone ever use the late Spartans without Romans)
Bosphoran + Roman
Macedonian + Greek
Ancient British + Roman
Arab (City) + Sassanid
Khorasanian + Dailami
Viking + somebody
German + Free Canton
berber + andalusian
It is clearly advantageous to use some of these combinations, often you get more variety to choose from. But in practice it ends up with less different army lists being chosen.
Maybe if TDC went with alternating Allies or not then could do the same with the HOML and more variety in both leagues.

Right, I second it. Go with no allies!

great idea tyrone

I'm with no allies too!
Also I would like to see "Silk Road" armies in the mix!
You could see some interesting matchups!!!

No allies is fine as it also makes it simpler to set up.

But, you would find the same problem because some armies would be better with only the base build.

From the fury of the Skirmisher Horde deliver us, O Lord.

One benefit I can think of would be some relief from extreme numbers of skirmishers. Armies with a lot of skirmishers is one thing, a combo that allows 15 plus is tedious in the extreme.

I like the idea to switch things up, i agree with Mr Mark Leslie I hate massed skirmishers a royal pain in the ass

With only two seasons under my belt, I can't speak to army fatigue, but I will point out that I really like that the community tournaments (TDC, HOML, Little Wars) have very different army rules.

Also, one unintended (or perhaps intended) consequence is that certain armies would become virtually unplayable. HOML handles this by playing mirror matches, but I suspect army quality or unit diversity of a list would become more determinative in TDC without allies.

We appreciate your feedback.

The coordinators are discussing the idea and will respond in the next week or so.

Regards,

Karvon

I've created this forum and moved relevant posts to clean up the rules forum a bit.

After some discussion this past week, the coordinators voted unanimously to continue army selection with allies as an option.

Reasons included:

1. Tradition. Allies have always been an option dating back to the original Digital League, which we succeeded.

2. Fewer viable lists. Some lists are simply not very viable for tournament play without allies to make up for deficiencies in the list. This would significantly narrow the number of lists likely to be used. While it's true some combo's are popular, they are not always used together as some players have different preferences for what they want.

3. Event variety. There are events, such as HOML, already excluding allies, so this is one way we differentiate ourselves from other events.

4. Current restrictions. Players are not allowed to use the same list in consecutive seasons, so this helps break up the overuse of popular lists a little.

Regards,

Karvon

"1. Tradition. Allies have always been an option dating back to the original Digital League, which we succeeded."
This isn't true there wasn't Allies in the DIgital League at least from 2018

More, in the Digital League not all the lists were permetted!

4. Partially true. The problem is tha with allies in a division you con have lists that are specular for example it can be a list Magyar 1000 with German 1000 and the German 1000 with Magyar 1000 and then German 800 with Magyar 800 and again Magyar 800 with German 800, so the rule that can be only one List of a specified period is broken
In this way allies are used to go around the rules. There are many more examples.

My two cents