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So I am thinking of starting a purely Ally focused army to add to my Space Marines and the new Tau look really cool. I like the battlesuits a lot and would like some help planning out purchases so I can start planning. My goal is to go Battlesuit heavy. I like the look and feel of plasma rifles but Fusion blasters are cool too as are burst cannons. I want to avoid missiles in all forms as well as flamers because I feel they are more primitive.

I am also unsure of how to go about organizing my army and how to build it. Bearing in mind it is purely for Allies I only want a few choices and want to maximise suit units.

My question is whether there is any possible way to get suits as Troops? XV8, not Stealthsuits? Yes or No answer is acceptable.

Furthermore, would Tau be good as Allies to Vanilla Marines. I really want a Battlebrother army but I don't like IG and already have 3 MEQ armies. New Tau and Eldar look promising as far as modelling goes and I would prefer Tau of the 2.

My current plan is this

Battlesuit commander (in Enforcer Armour if possible)
Crisis Suits maxed out in Troops if possible. If not, Fire Warrior squad.
Elite will be Crisis Suits. Riptides are out of my price range.
Pathfinders.
Braodsides with Heavy Rail Rifles. They look awesome.


Any suggestions as to loadout and support systems would be fmgood. My local Meta is currently 1 Flyer per player and I already plan for Skyfire on the Broadsides. Anything past that and I'm lost.

No way yet to get crisis or stealth troops. Maybe in the Farsight supplement.

Tau make a good ally force because they are cost effective and easy to make a small self contained unit to fit in at just about any point cost.

What I would recommend running.

HQ: Commander with DC, dual missile pods, and Target lock.
1 Bodyguard with dual missile pods and target lock.
bring a couple marker drones to lend some help to the elite suits. Should end at around 222-246.

Elite: 2x Crisis suits with dual plasma and advanced targeting system to give them precision shots.
A third suit with dual fusion and target lock allows you to shoot at one tank or aid the unit in taking down MEQ/TEQ.
Total around 167 somewhere.

Troops: I suggest Kroot. Cheap sniper rifles that can infiltrate or outflank. a full unit with a hound for acute senses runs 145 and it's actually pretty decent firepower.

Total cost ends up at around 534-558. Not too bad considering you're getting 4 BS5 missiles, 2-4 BS5 markers, 20 BS3 snipers with infiltrate, and 4-8 BS3 plasma + 2 BS3 fusion shots.

If you want to throw in some Broadsides, I'd probably suggest the advanced targeting system again. It's cheap and gets an easy chance to pick off some special weapons. Make it easier to charge into units knowing all the lightning claws and stuff are gone.

Can I ask a couple of questions?

First, would it be feasible to swap the Missiles on the commander for plasma or fusion? Preferably plasma? Or would it be completely overpriced and worthless? I simply don't like missiles on Tau is all.

Second, would Fire Warriors be viable in that list at all? I really dislike the feel of Kroot.

I prefer missile pods on commanders because they require less support. Generally you won't need to remove cover and 4 BS5 shots should be fine on their own.

What you could run instead:
Commander with dual plasma
2X elite suits with dual plasma
1 elite suit upgraded to Shas'vre with the two support items.
This gives you 2-4 BS5 plasma and 4-8 BS3 plasma that re-roll to hit and ignore cover. Ends up around 270.

This still allows you to take two bodyguard suits. I'd take two suits with dual fusion, one with target lock, the other with Nueral Web System Jammer to give one enemy unit "Gets Hot". Ends up around 130.

Firewarriors would be fine. I just figured that sniper rifles that infiltrate/outflank would offer a bit more versatility than S5 shooting.

A squad of 12 is just 108 points. Total we get just over 500 points.

That looks perfect for me, now its just a matter.of "logistics."

What and how many of each particular kit would I need? I definately want the Enforcer Commander but am unsure of whether there is enough of each weapons in the boxes.


For the firewarriors, what is the recommended loadout?

Paulson games has plenty of bits for weapons that look a lot better than what you get in the Crisis suit packs.

You're only going to need 6 suits and the Finecast commander just doesn't appeal to me. Honestly I'd just say get two of the three pack suits and give one a different head and call it a commander. That will come with 12 total drones as well. somewhere around $150.

Firewarriors are one box with another two drones. About another $30. Overall shouldn't spend more than $200 with a couple extra weapon bits.

If you get a broadside, it comes with plenty of bits to distinguish your commander. also, mangets. A riptide does aswell. The come with heads that are instantly recognizable.

Oddly I've found the Riptide heads look better on commanders and the commander heads look better on Riptides.

Oops, my post didn't upload.

I deinately want an Enforcer Commander, I love the look. I think I'm going to go with the list Savageconvoy suggested and get the following kits

1x Tau Commander in XV8-05 Enforcer Armour £25
1x Crisis Suit squad 3 pack £40
2x Crisis Suit single pack £32
1x Firewarrior squad £22
Codex Tau £30

Total is £150


The question is if between the 4 suit boxes is there enough parts to have 6 plasma ifles and 6 fusion blasters?

Secondly, what would be an optimal loadout for the Fire Warrior squad? Basic Pulse Rifles or should I upgrade to Burst Cannons or Carbines?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Also like I said, Riptides are just a little out of my price range at the moment and I love it but don't think it would work as an ally. Takes too much attention away from the Space Marines.

Firewarriors only get pulse rifles or carbines. Generally you're always going to want pulse rifles. There is only a 3" window where the pulse carbine is getting more shots than a pulse rifle and they both can shoot a target. Pulse rifles however get a 12" window where the carbines can't even reach. Keep them bare. Their transport won't do much good. The EMP grenades won't be much help. That's about it for their options.

For the suit boxes, you're getting 1 of each weapon per suit. I'm not sure of the commander, but I think it only has a few weapon options and I think one may be a plasma rifle.
From the 5 suits, you'll get 5 plasma (three plasma rifles short, 2 short if the commander has one) and 5 fusion (1 more than needed)

For the extra bits I can't really help. I only tried Paulson Games and they get a bit pricey for shipping outside the US.

Hm. Maybe I can change it up an go for the Commander's Ion weapon that comes with him, along with the Plasma Rifle that comes with him (just checked the GW page).

The other suits, maybe 2 Bodyguards and 2 regular suits, each with a single dual plasma and dual fusion. Then take the Crisis suit leader (Shas'El?) and give him Plasma/Fusion?


So it would look like

Crisis Commander with the Ion Weapon and Plasma Rifle, Target Lock and other gizmos.
2 Bodyguards (1 dual Plasma, 1 dual fusion) with their gizmos

3 Man Crisis Team
1 dual Plasma, 1 dual Fusion, Leadet is split Fusion Melta

12 Rifle Fire Warriors.

Make it fushion/ plasma on the body guards, that is more helpful.

Oh, I totally forgot what I wrote. You're getting 6 total suits, and only three suits will have double plasma. The Team leader in the elite suit unit will have two pieces of equipment to grant rerolls and ignore cover if he gives up shooting. So you're fine on that as far as weapons are concerned.

I'd also suggest against giving suits split weapons. Suits can split their fire, so if you're bringing plasma and fusion it's better to give one dual fusion and the other plasma. That way you can shot at the most desireable unit.

But if you run commander with the three elites, you get a unit with enough cover ignoring plasma to absolutely decimate a MEQ/TEQ unit. If you really want to make things fun, for an extra 9 points you give the suits Precision shots and the commander gets precision shots on a 5+. If you fail to take down the unit, you can at the very least remove it's fangs.

The two fusion suits are meant to deepstrike or just move across field and can either focus fire or hit two tanks. Either way they can do some essential damage. With the item to make a unit's shooting "Get Hot" then you're also providing a bit of interferance I find valuable. I always prefer to try and use it on units with blast templates since it's an easy way to prevent them from firing, giving an extra point of failure.

I'm not too keen on the Team Leader giving up his shots. I prefer to have my models do damage personally rather than help others. Though in saying that maybe Tau are the wrong army :lol:.

It does seem like a bit of a waste. But consider this.
2 BS5 shots, 1.67 hits, 1.38 wounds, factor in cover of 4+ and you get .7 unsaved wounds, vice the 1.38.

6 shots from the elites at BS3 without twin-linked: 6 shots, 3 hits, 2.5 wounds, and 1.25 unsaved wounds.
With the support upgrades:
4 shots, 2.67 hits, 2.22 wounds and no cover.
Total without support suit: 1.95
total with support suit: 3.6
Almost doubling the effectivness of your shooting.

The key thing about Tau isn't overwhelming firepower. It's about effective firepower.

Hmmmm. It does sound promising. But still it seems...wrong almost. It just doesn't have the same feel to it?

If you aren't familiar with Tau, I understand that.
I started with Tau and have gotten used to taking several units that serve no other purpose than making my other units shoot better.

To put it in easier terms: Why bother taking armor save denying weapons if you're going to allow a coversave anyways?

I guess but it still doesn't seem right. I'm a player where things need to feel right and be a certain way and having a passive model doesn't compute with me.

You could always give it dual flamers for overwatch purposes.

If you don't like the support suit, then I'd suggest the missile pod varient. Being able to put out 4 shots per suit at 36" to me seems more effective than taking plasma, since they are getting a save anyways you may as well just pour on S7 shots and flood their armor.

Don't get me wrong, I have nothimg against support systems just as long as there is a weapon. Thinking about it maybe 1 Missile suit would be useful.