>>96411873
>why not just make them regular units?
This jade fleet AoI has me fairly convinced that GW has decided each AoI must be tied to a specific grand army, and that any units from another army must be mercenaries. Looking back, even stuff like the border prince list took militia as mercenaries. The jade fleet would've been cooler (and worked better as a marketing tool) if it were an empire AoI with cathayan mercenaries.
I'm kinda disappointed by that, since I wanted some really mixed AoI lists. Stuff like a Sigmar list with priests of Ulric buffing marauder barbarians, or a Deachefels/Sauron style "dark lord" list with various evil minions. I guess the rumoured Dogs of War list will show whether GW is willing to do something like that. Hopefully it at least brings back Prince Ulther and other named mercenaries.
