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Just curious how this works out in practice. I really like the look of Necrons, and I have been playing Tau for years now. I figure the best way to "ease in" to another army is to get an allied detachment for the army I already have. I know Eldar is the more popular option these days, but to be completely honest I can't stand Eldar. At any rate I mostly play only semi-competitive (only one riptide, no farsight supplement, etc) so I don't have to worry about always taking the most optimal choice.

I guess the question is: how do I make Necron allies work for Tau? What strengths do they bring? I'm thinking about maybe a squad of wraiths for some quick close combat, a warrior squad in a scythe for some mobile resilient objective grabbing, and then I honestly have no idea what Necron HQ choices can do, but I like the sound of mindshackle scarabs... I guess the first step is buying the Necron codex though.

So, Tau and Necrons, discuss... thanks in advance for any advise.

Bringing the CC side from necron probably wont help much. in 6th edition you need a bulk of assault for them to achieve anything.
(and if you DO plan to go heavy into CC necron in the fueture, the "dark havest" list from IA12 is much better at it with buffed flayed ones in troops)

Things you CAN get:
Solar pulse from cryptek (destruction IIRC) that lets you force more night-time (as tau mostly ignores it anyway, pure plus for you)
Powerful aircraft to cover tau lack of (and with tau anti-air dominance, the fact necron air is awesome mostly anti-ground is not bad)
The undercosted annialation barrage is always a good add. that thing would have still been a good unit at 150% its price.
Stormteks give good anti-tank, but problametic range, so you would need a method to deliver.
Immortals with rezlords (or overlord with rezorb, bossibly some defensive upgrades too) could be good scoring units.

 dementedwombat wrote:

I guess the question is: how do I make Necron allies work for Tau? What strengths do they bring?

They bring the point for point best flyer in the game with hidden scoring units, a good to great CC unit, and the point for point most destructive heavy support choice in the game. In short, the common Necron detachment to any army that can take them as allies is a Destroyer Lord with weave and scarabs, 2x5 Warriors in 2 Night Scythes, 6 Wraiths, and an Annihilation Barge. If you don't have points to take them all in take the parts that you like.

I guess the question is: how do I make Necron allies work for Tau? What strengths do they bring? I'm thinking about maybe a squad of wraiths for some quick close combat, a warrior squad in a scythe for some mobile resilient objective grabbing, and then I honestly have no idea what Necron HQ choices can do, but I like the sound of mindshackle scarabs... I guess the first step is buying the Necron codex though.

If you want some cc unit, take 6 Wraiths led by a DLord w/ mss, weave.

Thanks for the advise. I think I might just buy that heavy bomber from forgeworld for my heavy support option. My Barracuda did pretty well in its trial run today, so having 3-4 pretty good fliers sounds like a good option (especially since my regular opponents don't seem to take much anti-air)

Also with the wraiths and destroyer lord, I was planning on just keeping them around in my lines and using them as a fast counter charge unit to jump the first thing to make it past my shooting. I would imagine that giant mob of orks or the blood angel assault marines would be a little more hesitant to rush in if the counter charge unit was sitting there grinning at them.

Oh, talking forgeworld is a whole other story.
With forgeword in the picture our airforce is actually decent between the super-killy barracuda and the sneaky remoras.

Also with the wraiths and destroyer lord, I was planning on just keeping them around in my lines and using them as a fast counter charge unit to jump the first thing to make it past my shooting. I would imagine that giant mob of orks or the blood angel assault marines would be a little more hesitant to rush in if the counter charge unit was sitting there grinning at them.

This is what Wraiths are able to. In the recent RTT I deployed them in front of my ABs to receive the charge against fast moving Daemons if necessary and it worked pretty well.

In my last game my Wraiths ate a Wolvesbane and a Lemun Russ Demolisher before succumbing to a rapid fire range First Line Second Line from a 30 guardsmen blob.

My Tomb Stalker ate a Land Raider and then proceeded to avenge the Wraiths by sweeping the Guardsmen blob.

Your wraiths always do more then they should.

Unless they die to a random drone bumping into them.

They seem to be a bit unreliable like that...once amazing another time fails horribly.

 BoomWolf wrote:
Your wraiths always do more then they should.

Unless they die to a random drone bumping into them.

They seem to be a bit unreliable like that...once amazing another time fails horribly.

They do their duty well, and being Roombas it isn't such a great loss for the Dynasty if a few of them perish in the process.