Best Allies for Tau

[Carrelio]

Title says it all.  There's lots of talk of allies going around these days.
Tau have battle brothers with marines and eldar.  Eldar give us some well needed psychic defense (runes of warding some of the best ways to shut down a psycher in the game), and their own psychic powers (yay divination) synthesize really well with our shooting heavy army.
Marines on the other hand give some hard troops to stand on objectives (something neither Tau nor Eldar really have).  They benefit from lots of our special rules, and we from theirs if we get into swapping independent characters between armies.
Orks and Guard, with their massive numbers work really well as meat shields.
Necrons can manipulate night fight, making them the best friend of blacksun filter spam Tau.
And much more!
Who do you guys think makes the best allies for Tau and why?

[BigToof]

I'd have to go with IG.
They offer solid anti-air with underpriced Vendettas and have tons of cheap bodies that can replace the Kroot.
Granted, they're not anything to really write home about in hand to hand, but if you want disposable cover for your suits to jump behind, you can't go wrong there.
Plus, they are fun from a fluff point of view

Eldar are ok, but really overcosted for what they give you.  They really only help with heavy psychic armies (such as GK), but the Tau do well without them.

Space Marines are sort of anemic, not too bad, but far from great.  More durable, but not necessarily what Tau need.

Orks are also decent, cheap meat shields that can do some hitting, but IG offers more bodies for cheaper.

Best,
-BT

[knightperson]

I've seen a lot of Tau / Eldar alliances in my area, and I admit it makes sense. Eldar can provide psychic ability that the Tau desperately need, and I've been kicking around the idea of a full squad of Wraithguard as an allied Troop choice. They're slow and expensive, but they are an extremely tough Troop scoring unit, which the Tau desperately need. They're also one of the few ways to Instant Death things like Toughness 6 Monstrous Creatures.

Somebody also suggested an "alliance" with some Chaos Daemons. They're Desperate Allies, which is usually a bad idea, but the Daemons all Deep Strike, and you could drop them in on the far side of the field: far away from any risk of One Eye Open, or whatever that rule is called. Of course, that would make a Misplaced result on the Mishap table fairly horrific!

[Narric]

Eldar may give Tau a Psychic edge, but do our tactics really need that?

IG, in my mind, is a better fit. They don't 100% require every unit to have a specific mission/target. IG offer the Anti-flyer support that Tau do need, to give our Railguns more chance to take out the ground forces.

[Carrelio]

Keep in mind the psychic edge that eldar grant us also includes psychic defenses, which in this edition is something no army should go without.

[Narric]

This may sound cliche, but the best Defence is a good offense.

If I know my opponent has a Psyker, or Psyker unit, then I'll make that model/unit a priority target.

The Psychic Defense Eldar offer, is probably best suited for when you know you're facing Grey Knights.

[Chicop76]

I now can run my O'Shova themed list a bit better. The ally option help flush out the restrictions the list have. The 7 man body squad would be a good pick do to all 7 are characters. If O'Shova can handle someone he could chalege them. If not one of the bod6 guards can to save O'

[Unusual Suspect]

I now can run my O'Shova themed list a bit better. The ally option help flush out the restrictions the list have. The 7 man body squad would be a good pick do to all 7 are characters. If O'Shova can handle someone he could chalege them. If not one of the bod6 guards can to save O'

The FAQ disagrees that all 7 are characters.

Page 32 - Crisis Battlesuit Bodyguard Team.
Change Unit Type to Infantry (Jetpack).

This contrasts with the Infantry (Jetpack, Character) Unit Type given to the Commander, in the live just above it.

Worse, the commander loses their Independent Character rule when part of the bodyguard, so loses his 2+ Look Out Sir roll, retaining only the normal Character 4+ roll.

[Chicop76]

I now can run my O'Shova themed list a bit better. The ally option help flush out the restrictions the list have. The 7 man body squad would be a good pick do to all 7 are characters. If O'Shova can handle someone he could chalege them. If not one of the bod6 guards can to save O'

The FAQ disagrees that all 7 are characters.

Page 32 - Crisis Battlesuit Bodyguard Team.
Change Unit Type to Infantry (Jetpack).

This contrasts with the Infantry (Jetpack, Character) Unit Type given to the Commander, in the live just above it.

Worse, the commander loses their Independent Character rule when part of the bodyguard, so loses his 2+ Look Out Sir roll, retaining only the normal Character 4+ roll.

The big expesive book says they are characters.

[InsaneTD]

Rules hierachy; FAQ overrides Codex, Codex overrides BRB. They aren't characters.

[crisis_vyper]

I'd have to go with IG.
They offer solid anti-air with underpriced Vendettas and have tons of cheap bodies that can replace the Kroot.
Granted, they're not anything to really write home about in hand to hand, but if you want disposable cover for your suits to jump behind, you can't go wrong there.
Plus, they are fun from a fluff point of view

The Blob with body and lots of heavy weapons, The Vendettas, Manticore and Hydras......the things most coveted by others when they pick the IG. These tactics complement well with the Tau general tactics.

[Chicop76]

Rules hierachy; FAQ overrides Codex, Codex overrides BRB. They aren't characters.

I seen the Tau FAQ and it is not there while the BRB says they are. IM0 it wouldn't make sense to not do so since Sargents, Nobs, wolfguard, palladins, etc are all characters. That would mean the only characters for Tau would be ICs. A Shas'vre in the back of the BRB says they are characters. I'm just asking where it says they not.

[Carrelio]

Shas'vre in a bodygaurd unit are not considered characters.  This is discussed in the FAQ which specifically differentiates between shas'vre and team leaders in a crisis battlesuit squad and Shas'vre in a bodygaurd crisis battlesuits squad.

However, if you are looking for Farsight shenanigans (would you believe that I was?), might I suggest tossing a Shas'el with vectored retro thrusters into the unit?  Now the whole unit has hit and run at Farsight's initiative!  It's like the failsafe detonator trick from 5th edition, but without costing you a battlesuit.

Between forgeworld units (such as tetras to provide markerlights) and allies (such as guard to provide meat shields, anti-air and road blocks), Farsight is entirely viable in this edition.

[Will's on Fire]

Rules hierachy; FAQ overrides Codex, Codex overrides BRB. They aren't characters.

I seen the Tau FAQ and it is not there while the BRB says they are. IM0 it wouldn't make sense to not do so since Sargents, Nobs, wolfguard, palladins, etc are all characters. That would mean the only characters for Tau would be ICs. A Shas'vre in the back of the BRB says they are characters. I'm just asking where it says they not.

As much as I don't like calling people foolish... It doesn't really matter what makes sense, this is games workshop we're discussing here.

If the FAQ says they aren't characters then the FAQ has corrected the rulebook. It makes taking drones with that sort of squad all the more important. I think drones with crisis suits will definitely be the way forward if you're trying to deep strike them in. Surrounded by drones means a lot more shots will have to be fired to get to the juicy centre.



My personal first thought was eldar, for the farseer with guide and runes of warding but the more you follow this path the more it seems like there are probably better options, the problem is with the troops squads you need to take to make the ally legal.

Space Marines however could be an interesting ally, throwing in some TH/SS termis could be an interesting thing. Stand them near the front lines and march them out when something scary gets close, preferably charging. Maybe with a chaplain to make them that bit scarier.

- Will

[Matt1785]

I run mine with SM allies, although I use the Tau as the allies at the moment... which may change soon...

Eldar are cool, guiding units is always a plus, especially if you want to cheese it up with Eldrad and guide all sorts of units... but then again, Markerlights can get you almost the same affect.  I must say that Eldar and Tau are similar in the fact that their vehicles are nice but overpriced and their troops are squishy when they get out.

IG is cool because of the firepower options and body count.  50 more guardsman on the table with some special weapons mixed in can sure do a lot of good.  Plus as was stated, helps a lot with the anti-air angle of things, which is a must until someone comes up with something to kill those darned things save for another flyer.

I like Space Marines because it gives a tougher troop unit to hold down objectives, and although I haven't quite perfected the way the list works together, I am getting better.  Was close to a victory in my last game.. but as of now I haven't won a single of 6 games... but I'm having fun with it.  Just have to keep experimenting with the list.  I will admit that the Space Marine Codex is proving its age to me every time I face Blood Angels or Space Wolves.