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So, my brother wants to start a new army. He has his eye on the new Tau. I'm a long-time(not as long as some people around here, for sure, but since around the mid 4th edition) Eldar player and I thought Tau was a great choice, since they synergize so well with each other as allies.

What would you recommend he starts out with? I'm talking from both the perspective of a good Tau list(I know absolutely nothing about Tau) and the prospect of allying with Eldar. What are the good combos to use? Which units complement each other well?

Thanks in advance.

Well you want fire warriors as your core units. You can never have too many but 2 squads of 12 will be very effective. You will want a crysis-team as well. To start with, you could get a cheap HQ choice but the battlesuit commander is very effective. You always want to take a hammerhead as well so stick one in your army.

An army list could go like this:
HQ - Battlesuit commander
ELITES - 3 crysis suits
- 3 stealth suits
TROOPS - 12 fire warriors
- 12 fire warriors
FAST ATTACK - Piranha
- Gun drone squad
HEAVY SUPPORT - Hammerhead with railgun

I think the battleforce is a good way to start (the units have been included into the list above). You will only have to buy a hammerhead, commander and another box of fire warriors to have a great army.

Cant help with Eldar im afraid :(

Build your self a core as above stated then build the rest around it.

Fire warriors are still good though generally have low moral and a 50/50 save.
Kroot now have a use and can bring some excellent deployment tactics and have cheap access to snipers. they have low moral as well though.

for HQ.
Battlesuit commanders are ok though expensive can be kitted out to do just about anything like all crisis suits (my favorite is tool belt that jumps around different squads giving them excellent buffs for the turn)

Ethereals are cheap though relatively fragile, but is a force multiplier like no ones business. he fixes the taus low moral problem in a 12" bubble and can be used to increase dakka or even run and snap if need be.

you cant go wrong with the battle force box as it is literally playable out of the box.

Eldar Allies though: for the most part tau can do what eldar do except for super mobile late game objective grabbing/contesting, that eldar jetbikes do like no ones business. probably should start there

Thanks for the replies. I was wary of buying a battleforce, since you never know if everything put in there will be good for your list, but seems the Tau one is a good buy.