Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Hey guys,

I am playing orks as a main army and (after much frustration) decided to add some Tau allies for the much needed AP2/1 firepower.
Currently I am running the following setup:

Ethereal (because its cheap)
1 team of FW (11 FW, 1 sushi and 2 drones)
pathfinders (10)
riptide (without drones w ion cannon and SMS)
Hammerhead (with longstrike)

Now I really have a hard time with fielding the pathfinder team.
It feels like they are not worth the points for such a small army.
Do you guys have any tips on filling the fast attack slot, should I leave it empty or are they still worth it?

Yea drop those pathfinders, and the ethereal, it only really helps one squad and drops an extra VP use a fireblade instead. Honestly the Tau FA is pretty weak IMO with my only regular pick being piranhas 8S5 shots 1 Av11 vehicle and 2 t4 4+ models for less than a hammernator is a pretty good deal.

If you do keep them 10 is massive overkill. And I'm also not a big fan of long strike (suffers from 1 shot syndrome) especially when there's stand out units like the broadside.

OP, for FA, maybe one Piranha. 50 pts with a fusion blaster. It can be a quick unit to gun down some vehicle. Or keep the burst cannon to hunt rear armor. A bonus is that it has two gun drones. The Piranha can dump them off and they can float about and harass the enemy. The drones can be deadly to rear armor as well.

My assumption is that the Ethereal will join with the FWs to give them his 10 leadership. If this is the case, dump your sushi and save the points. The Ethereal can take 2 drones and you won't need sushi's 8 leadership.

I personally think longstrike costs too much. His points can go towards FNP for the Riptide.

Is the HH rail or ion? IMO ion is better.

I would dump the Ethereal for a Fireblade Cadre. You won't have to worry about losing a VP if he dies. The Cadre can also take 2 drones. He's only 9 leadership though, not 10. His volley fire allows one more shot at max range and the Ethereal is only within rapid fire, but you have to remain stationary. Also, Cadre can split fire his markerlight shot elsewhere at BS 5 (support the Riptide).

I also agree about dropping the ethereal for a fireblade. His BS5 markerlight can be split in a pinch if needed. 3 marker hits is the sweet spot, as it will net +1 bs and strip cover, but one to increase BS is great for your riptide. Otherwise, you want to use the range, and not hemmorage a KP. Put drones here if you take any(I would not take any)

If you want more low AP, consider fusion blasters or plasma on the riptide. Early warning override is great for an iontide.

Pathfinders need an entire tau army to boost to be worth it. A prianha with a fusion blaster is good suicide AT for those tougher targets. Orks lack a lot of good options to take out heavy armor, and its more low AP.

I think longstrike is very worth it. BS5 is fairly reliable, and with tank hunters your almost always going to do something. Smart missiles at BS5, and the ability to overwatch also help. If you stick with a railhead, get submunitions to multi purpose, and disruption pods to protect the investment. You can also go without longstrike and just take an ionhead if you want.

If you want reliable markerlight hits, consider a squadron of marker drones joined by a crisis suit commander with a drone controller. BS 5 markerlights, fired on the move. Add shield drones for survivability. Only downside is you will need to do some converting to make the drones, unless you are willing to spend a fortune on kits for the right parts.

You pay a lot for the commander, but if you give him a Target Lock you still get to use most of his potential against targets of your choice. Fusion Blasters give you a powerful anti-tank option to make up for the orks' problems in that area.

I wouldn't bother with Fire Warriors; they don't add anything that orks don't already have. Kroot, on the other hand, are useful infiltrators (better than kommandos anyway) who give you massed sniper fire at a bargain price.

Personally, I think that Longstrike is overkill and a bit overpriced. For fewer points you can add three more marker drones to your drone swarm and increase your Riptide or Hammerhead's BS by 2 easily.

SMS and Ion Accelerator on the Riptide seems like an odd combination. With the IA, you want to be using markerlights to let you ignore cover anyway.

A unit of broadsides (with the missile loadout) would be a better use of your heavy support slot, I think.
If you run a buffmander with those guys, you almost don't need marker lights. All missiles ignoring cover and drones firing at BS 5. Throw the split fire upgrade on the 'sides for extra nastiness. You could even attach a couple marker drones to the buffmander so another unit can benefit.
Keep in mind this is a nasty unit that may not be appropriate for your setting. Mine got "banned" pretty quickly from casual games.

Tau commander with marker drones for bs5 markers - insures u're gona get those
Rapetide
Broadsides
Kroots

around 400-500 pts

That was an allied tau detachment for orkses that had great sucksess on ETC.

 Fafnir13 wrote:
A unit of broadsides (with the missile loadout) would be a better use of your heavy support slot, I think.
If you run a buffmander with those guys, you almost don't need marker lights. All missiles ignoring cover and drones firing at BS 5. Throw the split fire upgrade on the 'sides for extra nastiness. You could even attach a couple marker drones to the buffmander so another unit can benefit.
Keep in mind this is a nasty unit that may not be appropriate for your setting. Mine got "banned" pretty quickly from casual games.

Missile drones cant fire at BS5. They dont benefit from a drone controller. Unless you were talking about the broadsides taking marker drones

 Fafnir13 wrote:
A unit of broadsides (with the missile loadout) would be a better use of your heavy support slot, I think.

Eh, if your orks need more S 7 AP 4 long-range fire support, you're probably not running a very strong ork list.

Thanks for the clear replies!
I clearly have to reconsider my allied forces.

I am really not looking for deathstars cause I am only playing games among friends, but a bit more competitive than (solely)orks would be appreciated.

I would second the the Pirhana, for the same reason you want to keep the RailHead: Orks have terrible anti-tank.