The Bissler wrote:
Interestingly, the Core Rulebook suggests a way around my problem. Page 13 on Unique Cards:
"You may take one of a Unique Card (such as the Snakebite Ork Clan) for every full 3,000 points in your army, though personalities (such as Commissar Yarrik) may never be duplicated. Unique Cards usually count as Special Cards."
I'm certain it is not the way the game should be played, but by implication, for a battle of 4,000 points, I could buy 2 Bad Moon Clans without having to bother about what other Ork clans there are.
That is an odd reference. Looks like the person who wrote that did not communicate with the person who wrote the 'No Duplicate Clans' rule in the Ork Codex. In the Ork Codex, the Clans are never referred to as being 'Unique' cards, as they are not. Limited yes, but not Unique (like the Commissar).
Actually, just a ways before that quoted bit is another relevant bit that weighs in on this issue. The last sentence of the second paragraph after the "Putting an army together" heading: "Special rules found in an Army Book generally supersede those found here..."
In my opinion, the latter part of that sentence (not quoted) should be dropped, as should the word "generally" from the quoted part, as Special Rules in a Codex should always override general rules. Leaving it to the discretion of the players might mean that different players in the same game are using different rules.
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Just saw Primarch's reply. Perhaps the wording in the core rules needs to be cleaned up a bit.
First, the Clans are not 'Unique'. Perhaps a new entry for 'Limited' or 'Restricted'. The Commissar is Unique, and thus should not have duplicates regardless of army point size.
Second, perhaps change the wording to: "Once your army equals or exceeds 6000 points, you may take one additional 'Limited' card per full 3000 points of army." Or something along those lines that specifically mentions 6000 points.