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Tau Allies: Who's best for the Greater Good?

Started by BigToof, May 19, 2013, 03:38:23 PM

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Who Rolls with Your Tau?

Nobody.  Pure Tau all the way.
0 (0%)
Eldar.  Mind-bullets and Wards FTW
4 (80%)
IG.  More Dakka!
1 (20%)
Crons.  Metal and Mecha unite!
0 (0%)
Someone else... (let me know below)
0 (0%)

Total Members Voted: 5

BigToof

Hi All,
Just wanted to make a case for my rankings for allies for the Tau.

Some players are purists, but I love the whole allies concept (if only for the fluff), and I think there's a certain "tier" system for the allies that becomes more obvious the more I look at them.

1.  "S" Rank: Eldar Necrons
I like to think of this rank as the "Superior" rank, as the allies offer units that either give the Tau something they sorely need and/or can be devastating enough by themselves without a loss of points.

A.  Eldar
Eldar are the most obvious choice, as they are Battle Brothers, meaning that your Support Fire ability works on them, and they offer three things that Tau need.

First, is Psyker defense.  Many of the Tau units can be crushed and/or made useless with a bad set of powers (i.e. JAWS, hallucination, terror) as our low leadership and initiative hamper us both in making attribute saves and our inability to escape reliably from assault.  So, shutting down as much shenanigans is a great benefit, and the Farseer can do that in spades with their Runes of Warding.

Second, is fast Troops.  One of the problems the Tau has, is the lack of mobility without shelling out for Devilfish, who are pricey and often will not be mobile at the end of the game.  Jetbike Guardians are cheap, fast (48"!) and can get to objectives even on the other side of the board for a great last turn denial.

Third, is Fire Dragons.  I made them their own category, as a Fire Dragon Exarch on Quadgun is still, point for point, perhaps the best anti-armor in the game.  Plus, they have 3+ armor and each have a BS4 meltagun, which can put a crimp in the plans for any rampaging Dreadnaught, Dreadknight or Land Raider.

For all these reasons, Eldar get my "S" grade.


2.  Necrons
Love 'em or leave 'em, nobody can deny that Necrons are a solid army, perhaps the best out there at the moment.
They have many abilities that the Tau would love to have, and compliment them well.

A.  Fast, cheap Fliers with Troops!
The Night Scythe (Croissant) is barely more expensive than a Devilfish, has decent armor and more importantly, can drop Warriors on Turn 5 anywhere on the table.  Insanely great for their points, and offer substantial benefit for the Tau that lack cheap mobile troops.

B.  Wraiths
The Tau have no fast "speed bumps" and a big unit of Wraiths (though pricey), fit the bill nicely of tying up a Death Star and taking it out of the picture for a number of turns.  Fearless, Rending, 3++ invul save with 2 wounds makes a very nasty combination with Jet Pack mobility.

C. Mind-Shackle Lords
THE best duel master at the moment, with the ability to take your opponent's power and use it against themselves.  Again, great for mitigating powerful ICs (i.e. Draigo, Mephiston), who will give your Lord (and thus your front line), breathing space, giving the Tau room to work.


2.  "A" Rank: IG, SM
I call "A" Rank any army that gives you options, but are just a hair (or so) shy of being S Rank.

A.  IG
The Guard give you cheap, numerous troops, and the option for them to be mechanized.  Decent S9 Lascannons as well.
The Vendetta and Manticore are also cheap for giving you a flying Lascannon dispenser and multi-S10 pie-plates.
Their only problem is that as allies, you can only get one Valk or Manticore and if you don't have a lot of other vehicles around, your opponent can sink their shots into them until they fold.  Chimera-Vets are powerful, but take away valuable points from the Tau side of the equation.  Also, Tau LOVE shooting at Vendettas as even AR12 gives you so much protection versus say... a Missile-Side or so.

B.  Space Marines
The Marines are Battle Brothers, and they have that amazing 3+ armor save and lots of options, but in the end...  How much are you willing to pay for that?  A Tactical squad is less shooty (and more expensive) than a Fire Warrior squad, and not choppy enough to pull people off of objectives.  Terminators are solid, but also pricey.  Which is really the Codex's main problem as an ally.  It offers some support, but many of their help seems either redundant or overpriced.


3.  "B" Rank: Orks, Chaos
Good choices, but have some problems

A.  Orks
The greenskins can give you cheap bodies to get in the way, but that might also be a problem as a savvy opponent can tie up the blobs and kill them slowly, blocking your movement while preserving their units until the late game.   Bit of a gamble that you can lose if you're not careful.  Lootas are great, but have the same Leadership problem as the Tau and are VERY squishy.  Battlewagons are getting the same AR14 buff as many anti-AR14 guns are being switched out for plasma, but with Ork allies, you can only get a few and they are pricey.

B.  Chaos
Right.  So you want a Helldrake and maybe some Oblits?  Sorry for the sarcasm, but that's how I see it.  A single Drake though, isn't all that powerful and can be taken out after enough shots.  Oblits are interesting, but are expensive and Tau can do things better for less points (arguably).

So, this is my opinion.

What's yours?

:)

Best,
-BT
BigToof Points:

Cammerz: 8
Waaaghpower: 1
The Man They Call Jayne: 3
Mabbz: 6
Archon Sharrek: 3

Chicop76

Remember Eldar is coming out in like 15 days, so that might change a lot.