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Hey dakka I'm trying to make a tourny ready ork/tau list and I'm looking for some critique. I wanted to try and the allies thing with 6th edition finally and it just so happens that I have a friend who plays tau that'll let me borrow his models to test out for the purposes of playtesting! So Ive got two lists that I think are pretty fined tune and am trying to decide between the two to play.

Before I got off on the lists choices I want to point out what Im trying to achieve here, to many times have I read on how people take allies for just one model in that armys codex, and then they have to grudgingly take an hq they don't want and a troop choice they hate. I'm really trying to avoid this, I picked tau actually out of all the orks allies of convenience because it seemed like the best marriage between two codex's. On one end you have orks, who have great, cheap, fearless scoring units mixed in with lootas; who do a good job on double duty vehicle destructing, light to mid armor on the ground and most things in the skys save for vendettas and helldrakes. You also have useful fast attacks on the orks side, or should I say flyers (I don't think the dakkajet is an amazing model but it is in comparison to the tau's) that could supplement tau quite well if played right.

On the Tau's side you have the best shooting infantry in the game and reasonably priced to boot might I add! You also have a actual heavy support tree with options outside of big gunz and the occasional Battlewagon, the broadsides and even the hammerhead are great choices for orks! Though I try to stay with the broadsides because of there smaller profile personally. You also have crises suits, and we all know that crises suits are in there heyday and help orks out with 2+ armor saves (Ive been testing them with Plasma Rifles).

All these things taken into consideration has led me to think that orks and tau should work great as an allied force. The only reason why orks are the primary detachment is that orks require redundancy out of there force slots, like taking 2 unites of 10 lootas, or taking two dakkajets, as to where tau really get a bang for there slots in the form of three crises suits in one slot or three broadsides in a slot; making it much easier to handle the allied detachment restrictions with them in my humble opinion.

So basically what I'm saying is that my lists are going to have a large tau detachment because I'm not just taking tau for broadsides, I'm taking tau because they seem like they'd be amazing for orks, and orks amazing for them. So here are my two lists!

ORKS

HQ: KFF Mek

Elite: 2x10 Lootas

Troops: 2x30 Shoota Boyz+Nob with bosspole and klaw in each unit

Fast Attack: 2x2 DakkaJets+Flyboss+Twinlinked Supa Shoota

Heavy Support: 1x3 Lobbas+One Ammo runt(Extra Points)

TAU ALLIES

HQ: Cadre Fireblade+2 Markerlights

Elites: One XV8 Crisis Suite Team+Twinlinked Plasma Rifle+Burst cannon on each of them+3 Markerlights

Troops: 11 Fire Warrior Team+Shas'ui+2 Markerlights

Heavy Support: One 3 man Unit Broadside Team+Twinlinked heavy Rail Rifle+Twinlinked Smart Missile System on each one+2 Markerlights

Fortification: Aegis Defense Line

So There it is! To save time my second list is basically this one minus the big mek and dakkajets for a warboss+3 Nobs and painboy on bikes, warboss and 1 nob with a klaw, the other two nobs with big choppas, I'm only throwing this idea around right now because I really don't like the big mek, but bikers are expensive so I dont know if its worth it. I think I have a sufficient amount of markerlights with my tau force and I have them spread out so in case one unit gets wiped I'm not devastated markerlight wise but I am new to tau so let me know what you think on the loadout choices.

I basically made a list to deal with all corners like in a tourny setting, I feel like the crisis suits will deal with deathstars, nobs with klaws heavy vehicles, broadsides for light vehicles or flyers, lootas the same thing, the boy squads for objectives and the cadre fireblade to make the firewarrior squad shoot more while also being a good cheap hq choice for an allied detachment, the big gunz are in there for flavor and for dealing with hordes, dakkajets for harassment and the light flyer. I really don't like the defense line because drop pod flamers laugh at it but I feel like my backfield might be 2 vulnerable without it, let me know what you think.

Ouch! Just got back online the day after I posted this and not even one response! That's cold!

I kid of course but I'm just surprised. Was it the wall of txt? :(

Couple of things:

The markerlights do not benefit the squad they are in.

The crisis suits will have a hard time dealing with a deathstar b/c there are only 3 of them.

Without velocity tracker, broadsides are not a reliable AA unit. VT and HYMP will do wonders.

Maybe something like:

Commander: CCN, MSSS, PEN.
Riptide: IA, TLFB, EWO
Kroot(10) + 1 hound
Broadsides w/ HYMP/SMS and VT.

Drop ADL.

Maybe split your Shootas into 3x20 for flexibility.

Now you are covering more bases with reliable AA, the Riptide gets buffed by the commander and can overcharge/nova charge to be a little more reliable against "star" units.

Orks don't need Tau Allies. Orks just throw more boyz at it.


Also. Depending on what you want the shootas to do, I generally don't run 30 boy shoota units with a PK nob in them. The PK Nob is a boss hoss and rips things apart, but I almost always find my shoota boyz spend all their time in cover near an objective laying fire into something. Just my two cents. Looks solid otherwise, lobbas are great, lootas are great, boyz are great, and I know I get my money's worth out of the KFF.

I dont know if i would take lootas and big gunz at all. For Orks they fill the gap of long range support, but long range support is what Tau does best. I would spend those points on more Ork Krumpiness, or more Tau long range support.

For orks you can add a couple battlewagons and a couple 20man boyz squads, or even a battlewagon almost full of meganobs.

For tau, maybe some more broadsides, the riptide the above poster suggested or a crisis team. But I agree that not every unit needs the marker lights. Maybe just the fire warriors.

I think the Ork/Tau alliance is a great one. ork for the up close threat to take the heat off of all that firepower coming from the backfield.