Anyone considering Tau as allies?

Yes, desperate allies, I know. But I have a bunch of tau in a box somewhere and it would be a good excuse to get a riptide, so I've been turning the idea over in my head and I think there might be some merit.

In an allied contingent you could get:
A crisis commander and bodyguard (so basically a souped-up crisis team)
A riptide
A squad of firewarriors, perhaps in a devilfish
A flier
A squad of broadsides

Now... that's a lot of firepower, and could be long-ranged enough (broadsides), mobile enough (crisis, firewarriors), or both (riptide, flier) to avoid being within 6'' of the main force. It contains some good elements that we tend to lack, namely AA. Anyone else been considering this?

No, but now, maybe.
They are awesome looking models.
I wonder when they will get a new battleforce (kroot/vespid did get removed didnt they?)

Nope, both Kroot and vespid are in.

I would go a cheap hq, min unit of fire warriors and then a unit of broadsides... Awesome AA option that will survive almost all air attacks

Hmm, wonder what the implications are for the rumoured allydex

I have to confess, I'm looking at a min FW squad in Devilfish, Riptide (could use some converting, but), Broadsides (gorgeous new models), and then... a Farsight crisis bomb.



I can't help it, guys. I'm addicted to mecha. It's a sickness.

Recently, I decided to dust off my old Shas'O battlesuit, a testament of my beginnings in 40k as a Tau player and did a small proxy allied detachment, consisting of a Shas'O, three plas/missile suits and mandatory six fire warriors. I was playing against Necrons.

I placed Fire Warriors somewhere out of the trouble, while the commander and suits were going to deep strike behind the enemy lines, putting much of my force in reserve as well. It worked as a wonderful lure - the enemy advanced into my deployment zone and nearly wiped out my force in first turn (an incredibly risky and heart-pumping decision from my side, I was seriously biting my fingernails before my second turn), but then the reserves came and they came down hard. The Crisis squad plopped down deep into the Necron territory, wiped out six out of ten Immortals and, failing their leadership, Nemesor Zandrekh left the table, scared and confused at the audacity that the rebels displayed by learning to fly. The Necron force was now divided and the suits wreaked absolute havoc as half of the enemy army had to focus on them, while my main force was able to withstand the Immortal strike from a Night Scythe.

Really, I was considering a Tau deep strike, seek-and-destroy squad for quite a while in eager wait for the new codex, and I was pleasantly surprised how well they worked even in their old version. I am really eager to try them out in the new one!

Farsight Bomb with Broadsides and some cheap troops (since you must take one unit) might be good. Also Farsight is probably the only Tau list that would really fit the fluff as our allies, as according to the very first Tau codex his forces sometimes act as mercenaries.

I'm intending to get some of the new Tau models for a small allied force of Broadsides with minimum troop and and HQ plus some Pathfinders for markerlight goodness.

What do you think about Iridium Armoured Puretide engram-skyfire (and probably Interceptor) commander with MP/Fusion or cyclic ion blaster?

he might join Broadsides, or stay on his own. With Tankhunting, Missile Pods can bring down even AV12 flyers (exarch quad gun effect), and he is much harder to take out then single quad gun (T5 2+ 4W).

for troops, take krootz! probably 2 squads of krootz with those nasty infiltrating autocannons.

I havnt read the codex yet, but heard that is not that excellent, just mediocre?

Anyway also heard they would make good DE allies? Now I am going to start a new army this summer, going to buy in a 1850pts force, was planning for Necrons or CSM. But might consider Tau as I am going to buy Eldar when it comes aswell, then have DE/Tau/Eldar might not be bad having at home

Before the new models was released, I had always thought that if a version of Fil Dunn's XV202 would be created, I wouldn't be able to restrain myself. And just look at that Riptide. What is that, if not inspired by Fil Dunn? No, I will have to get it, sooner or later.

Im considering doing what Massaen suggested. Infact these are the first guys Im really liking as allies. Take a fireblade, some firewarriors, and some broadsides and call it a day.

Massaen wrote:

Nope, both Kroot and vespid are in.

I would go a cheap hq, min unit of fire warriors and then a unit of broadsides... Awesome AA option that will survive almost all air attacks

This was my plan as well.

Get a cheap Commander with a decent-enough weapon (I was looking at the cyclic ion blaster), Skyfire, a pair of crisis suit bodyguards, and shield drones all around for an HQ, pay the minimum in troop tax, and get a broadside as well.

The bodyguards are important because they wil automatically pass Look Out, Sir! tests, giving the unit 4 additional wounds to burn through before anything hits the Commander. I added the shield drones because they give 4+ invuln saves to the model that take them, providing some additional protection against high strength/low AP fire.

The best way to deploy them would be on opposite ends of my deployment zone, preferably in a location with good LOS. It may even be a good idea to invest in a bastion to ensure your allies have not only a clear shot at incoming aircraft, but also provides interlocking fields of fire and enough distance from the rest of the army to avoid One Eye Open rolls.

It works out to be about 500 points without the bastion, but if your local meta is really heavy on fliers (like mine is), this seems like an ideal (if expensive) way to negate flyer spam and level the playing field.

I just read through the Codex now myself, and I have to say I really like it. It isnt OP or anything tho, just a good codex imo.

I can see how this is a Allied to consider. I mean, I think alot of armys will go with tau as allied in the turnements to come tbh. But I think many will make what they take to "uncompetitive" tbh, just to many traps to go in to, as in our codex. Anyway going to try out a game in near future with som proxy against a friend and see how I like them on the table...

Well, as my FLGS was offering to trade in old GW models I decided to take advantage of this and buy myself an allied force of Tau. Cadre Fireblade, box of Fir Warriors, box of Pathfinders and 3 Broadsides. Still got a load of old models to get rid of so might grab some more Tau or beef up my Eldar allies.

I have considered it. the firepower that you can get from a unit of missle broadsides is great.

prob take a cheap fireblade commander dude, 12 fire warriors and 3 highyield missle broadsides.

OR
Tau commander with some guns for AA perhaps (missle pod and cyclic ionblaster?), Irdium armour to tank shots for the unit. and the purtide engram chip (give tank hunter) and under the rules in the BRB for Tank hunter it says that if 1 model in a unit has tank hunter then the whole unit benifits from it. and maybe give him the multi-spectrum chip (if the commander does not shoot then the unit's shooting ignores cover).
3 boradsides as above. not sure if I'd prefer giving them interceptor or target lock.

either 12 fire warriors or 10 kroot w/ 3 kroot ox and a hound. that's 6 autocannon shot within 24' the unit infiltrates. may use to outflank. the hound gives acute senses

I would probably field a DE allied forced next to my tau army

Getting some extra poison attacks in and a good assault unit such as Incubi is never a bad idea

I don't use my Tau as allies to my DE, as they have nothing I lack or depserately need in my DE force.

Stricly seen tau oushoot Dark Eldar, but DE still pack a nice punch with their guns, after Tau, they are one of the most shooty armies in the game, at least they do have very nice access to some massive amount of very effective firepower.

Tau do need the close combat, but like I said, firepower, no don't need. Stating poison is just funny, because a basic infantry with S5 guns with an insane range don't really need poison weapons, as they wound most infantry on 3+/2+

I don't want Tau units in my DE forc,e because the playstyle is too different, I have both armies, but I dont mix both, though it's possible I guess, but Tau need more DE than De need Tau.

I dont think they add much , Rip tides are expensive for what you get .

Tau have 2 advantage 12 " mass shooting from fire warriors and long range STr 10 AP 1 which is better than our lances vs AV 14. DE huge advantage is 36" fire and movement via scatter cannon .

Eldar or Guard make better allies

I have a very large Tau army and have used these as DE allies, however under the old rules before the new Dex was released. Regardless, I ran 3 suits with Plasma/Fusion for tank hunting and backfield slaughter, which they excel at, a squad of fire warriors and 3 Broadsides for long range AT. If nothing else the Tau make an excellent distraction as other armies have to pay attention to them, particularly a 3 man broadside squad sniping their tanks.

If they weren't desperate it would be a lot better, but the Tau can be a good complementary force for a DE army. Very expensive though.

How about a Commander with those upgrades that make other battlesuits twin-linked and the one where they ignore cover with a group of crisis battle suit armed with plasma rifles/ missile pods and several flamers and a fire warrior squad behind an aegis? That way you have the long distance shooting tau are knowned for, anti-flier and even some midstregth shooting dark eldar lack. That's about 450 points and about 350 without the aegis if you already have anti-flier covered. its also about 80 dollars cheaper than the 3 Broadsides variant.

No one asked me, but I saw "Tau" and my tunnel vision demanded I post.

So as I see it, you have three "flavors" of Tau allies: Kroot heavy, Crisis Suit heavy, and 'screw it, I actually just want a Riptide and/or anti-air.'

Kroot Heavy
Obviously, you don't want to overspend on allies. I mean, what's the point of allies if you spend enough to bring an allied army? Toward that end, the Kroot are an amazing deal: they're inexpensive light infantry (120 points for a squad of 20) that can infiltrate, move through cover, and gain stealth in forests -- and if you buy one Kroot hound, they also gain Acute Senses. Furthermore, at one point a model, you can upgrade all of them to have sniper rounds. So you've got a cheap harassing unit that can hide in forests and hurt monstrous creates. Also, the Kroot are barbaric mercenaries, so "hiring" them is even a little fluffy.

The main problem with hiring Kroot is the need for a Tau commander. The cheapest choice is a Cadre Fireblade at 60 pts., though his benefits are almost completely lost on a squad or two of Kroot. He explicitly buffs pulse rifle and carbine fire, and his split fire and markerlight are wasted on just one squad.

Your next choice is a Tau Crisis Suit commander, which can be a great jack-of-all-trades character. But 1) the shiny do-dads on a suit can get hella expensive, and 2) a lone Crisis Suit is just begging to be murdered.

Crisis Suits Heavy
If you want the bring some of the Tau's Crisis Suit versatility to your Dark Eldar raiding party, then you should go red and go Farsight. Again, Farsight is something of a renegade mercenary, so it sorta makes sense to have him or his forces in your army. More importantly, the Farsight Enclaves count Crisis Suits as troops, so you've got badass scoring suits. To keep the cost down, I'd recommend against taking the man Farsight, and instead taking a conventional Tau commander with a team of three Crisis Suits. Four Crisis Suits can get expensive, but you'll have some cool toys. (Though, importantly, you won't have all the cool toys that the Empire can bring.)

Screw it, I actually just want a Riptide and some anti-air
Honestly, bringing the Tau for their nasty goodies could go well with either of the above approaches, though past a certain point you're starting to run the risk of, well, actually playing the tau. If you're want to bring a Riptide, I'd recommend: go Enclaves and get a Riptide with an Earth Caste Pilot Array. The wargear is expensive and drops the suits weapon skill to 1, but it makes Nova Charges and shooting much more accurate -- a very good thing, since you don't have markerlights to call on.

Riptides, especially ECPA-upgraded Riptides, are expensive. To minimize the cost, I'd recommend bringing a Cadre Fireblade as your HQ choice, and a minimized squad of Tau Fire Warriors. Clocking in at 114 points, this is a small but effective firebase that puts out a surprising amount of shots. (Frankly, I think that the Fireblade was designed to be an allied-contingent leader.)

As for anti-air, Tau "Missilesides" -- Broadsides with high-yield missile pods -- are a fantastic choice. Equipped with the Velocity Tracker (Skyfire) or Early Warning Override (Interceptor), you can deal with some aircraft. Not necessarily enough to take on a Necron Flying Circus -- they'll get you on target saturation -- but some. Again, a Cadre Fireblade would be a good choice to minimize the commander tax.

What about an ethereal to run with the kroot? Do any of their new buffs benefit the Kroot as well? They are pretty cheap and worst case if he gets killed no great loss...

One big problem with Tau allies in Dark Eldar force - unfortunately, they seem to have not taken kindly Urien Rakarth's cultural exchange and are Desperate Allies which cannot score. So really, the only thing a Tau alliance has going for us is lots of firepower which means battlesuits - Kroot just aren't going to cut it except maybe for a cheap mandatory troops choice for a minimalistic alliance of a battlesuit commander and a Crisis team or Riptide.

Siticus the Ancient: doink, I'm an idiot. Curses, the Tau should be Battle Brothers for everyone! Making Kroot non-scoring definitely takes away a lot of their charm.

the_dukes_scion: The Ethereal's most often used power, Storm of Fire, does affect Kroot's pulse rounds, and the Ethereal is cheaper than the Fireblade. However, the Ethereal gives up two victory points if killed, so I was hesitant to recommend any aun for hazard duty.