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I've been having some discussions with a buddy of mine over which faction out of Necrons, Space Wolves, or Tyranids would make the best ally for the Tau. Does anyone have any experience allying Tau with any of these armies? If so, what did you do?

Well that depends on what you need your allies to do. I'm currently testing them with DE(who need AA and AT badly, so FBSC is a godsend).

Out of the three...I would say SW. They can provide Melta for AV14 and can hold their own in combat (TWC being a good example). Even Grey Hunters with CCW can dish out some pain.

Necrons would probably be next after them, no clear way for AV14 (aside footslogging Warscythes andmass Gauss) but they are very mobile with Nightscythes, Tomb Blades and others so are great for Gunline in terms of objectives.

Tyranids provide Psychic abilities through Flyrants (you take nids for Flyrants). They also give you the ability to tarpit with cheap troops (but with Tau, you might be able to just shoot everything off the board). Again, AV14 is a problem and the only real way to deal with it is EGrubs and Carnifexes (and Warp Blast if you roll it).

Space Wolves was what I thought would be best as well. His main argument was for taking the Decurion Detachment as an Allied Detachment with Necrons.

Shooting is not Tau's weakness. CC is where you need help at. TWC or Wraiths would go well together with Tau.

Would anyone maybe have an example of a good list for an Allied Detachment of SW versus an AD of Necrons?

To make a good Decurion you need at least 1000pts, if not more - leaving you 850 or so for Tau in most tournament cases. Cad could work though.

I think I would take a 10 man Grey Hunter squads with 2x Meltaguns and combi-melta on the sergeant in a Drop Pod so you can destroy that landraider / equivalent and get the troops with your Tau. Rune Priest for prescience to ensure it hits lol.

Following that, maybe Thunderwolf Cavalry and an Iron Priest on Thunderwolf with Cyber Wolves for Ablative Wounds? I'm not a SW player so I can't optimise it but that would be what I might take for an ally.

 Frozocrone wrote:
To make a good Decurion you need at least 1000pts, if not more - leaving you 850 or so for Tau in most tournament cases. Cad could work though.

I think I would take a 10 man Grey Hunter squads with 2x Meltaguns and combi-melta on the sergeant in a Drop Pod so you can destroy that landraider / equivalent and get the troops with your Tau. Rune Priest for prescience to ensure it hits lol.

Following that, maybe Thunderwolf Cavalry and an Iron Priest on Thunderwolf with Cyber Wolves for Ablative Wounds? I'm not a SW player so I can't optimise it but that would be what I might take for an ally.

The SW suggestions sounds like it would be a pretty solid set up.


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Also, as a latecomer to the equation, how about the Dark Eldar?


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Another addition: Any other armies besides SW that would be a good match up? Obviously Farsight Enclaves due to their (Battle Brothers) status, but it will already be an FE army.

Frankly, why not take 2 Culexii and call it a day?

 carldooley wrote:
Frankly, why not take 2 Culexii and call it a day?

What exactly is a Culexii?

 the_kraken wrote:
What exactly is a Culexii?

sorry, 2 Culexus Assassins. Personally, I use Lictors as 'counts as' for 2 reasons: I got them in a trade, and getting my paws on one or two has proven to be next to impossible.

 carldooley wrote:

 the_kraken wrote:
What exactly is a Culexii?

sorry, 2 Culexus Assassins.

Not a problem. I haven't actually looked into those at all. What would be the attraction?

While they are rather expensive pointwise, there are several reasons to take them in a Tau Army. 1. Psychic Powers don't work in an aura around the model. 2. It is an imperial assassin, with a sky-high WS & I and rather survivable with an Invisibility analogue on it continously. 3. Each is its own CAD, so you can run multiple detachments, with each assassin as its own detachment.

There are drawbacks though as well. As an Imperial model it is a Desperate Ally so it will need some space from the rest of your models to function properly (though its infiltrate mitigates this somewhat). There are rundowns and explanations elsewhere for just what you would be getting, and I can't get any more specific without violating forum rules.

 carldooley wrote:
While they are rather expensive pointwise, there are several reasons to take them in a Tau Army. 1. Psychic Powers don't work in an aura around the model. 2. It is an imperial assassin, with a sky-high WS & I and rather survivable with an Invisibility analogue on it continously.

There are drawbacks though as well. As an Imperial model it is a Desperate Ally so it will need some space from the rest of your models to function properly (though its infiltrate mitigates this somewhat). There are rundowns and explanations elsewhere for just what you would be getting, and I can't get any more specific without violating forum rules.

It's cool, I know about the Ally rules and such. I'll have to look into that a little more though. I haven't looked at much of the Imperium aside from Space Wolves. Was looking for mid-range and CC support.

any assassin will get you out of a jam in CC, but I prefer a dedicated suit with VRT and a couple drones.

 carldooley wrote:
any assassin will get you out of a jam in CC, but I prefer a dedicated suit with VRT and a couple drones.

I will have to take that into consideration as well. I want more suits, I just don't know what I want them all doing yet.

Look at the standings from LVO. 10th place was a Tau/nid army. The list is solid in concept and his execution was pretty good. I believe there is a detailed article about it and his BatReps on bloodofkittens.

Sorry, what is LVO?

 the_kraken wrote:
Sorry, what is LVO?

Las Vegas Open - was won by Tyranids

Nice, I haven't heard much about Tyranids since I got started. They seem pretty cool though.

They're all coll and nice neighbors and everything. Until they get hungry. Then they eat you.

Except that they are always hungry.

(A ravenous swarm, with no recognizable social constructs. And a solitary shared hivemind.)

Fluff-wise at least.

 the_kraken wrote:
Would anyone maybe have an example of a good list for an Allied Detachment of SW versus an AD of Necrons?

I dont know about SW, as they don't seem like a great Tau ally to me. If you play gun line then drop podding some SW onto the enemy is just handing a juicy target to the enemy while it advances, without the alpha strike ability of a full SW army. But maybe I'm missing something as I don't play SW.

For Necrons, you are probably best off picking one of the many many formations now available to them. If you want CC take a canoptek harvest. If you want awesome jet bikes, take a decurion and load up on Tomb Blades. If you want a nasty little death star take a conclave of the burning one. It really depends what weakness you want to rectify in your army. You can make an allied detachment work if there is one particular unit you want, but usually the formation bonuses are worth getting.

Tekron wrote:

 the_kraken wrote:
Would anyone maybe have an example of a good list for an Allied Detachment of SW versus an AD of Necrons?

I dont know about SW, as they don't seem like a great Tau ally to me. If you play gun line then drop podding some SW onto the enemy is just handing a juicy target to the enemy while it advances, without the alpha strike ability of a full SW army. But maybe I'm missing something as I don't play SW.

For Necrons, you are probably best off picking one of the many many formations now available to them. If you want CC take a canoptek harvest. If you want awesome jet bikes, take a decurion and load up on Tomb Blades. If you want a nasty little death star take a conclave of the burning one. It really depends what weakness you want to rectify in your army. You can make an allied detachment work if there is one particular unit you want, but usually the formation bonuses are worth getting.

From what I've been hearing, a Decurion would be expensive points-wise as far as an Allied Detachment goes. The idea with the SW that I most liked was to take a unit of Thunderwolf Cavalry and a Runic Priest. It seemed rather promising.

Also, while Decurion durability is scary good, that your Tau units are just as fragile. That kind of durability means more when it applies to the whole army.

If you do SW, are you thinking more Pods, more Wolves, or possibly a more Devs style? Or a mix of all 3?

 the_kraken wrote:
I've been having some discussions with a buddy of mine over which faction out of Necrons, Space Wolves, or Tyranids would make the best ally for the Tau. Does anyone have any experience allying Tau with any of these armies? If so, what did you do?

Space Wolves - have had a ton of success with this setup. Not sure if you can take this detachment with a CAD detachment of another faction. Rules are fuzzy to me about that right now. If not, drop a dread, and take a base unit of grey hunters with a rhino for similar price. Change to an allied detachment. HQ gets regular SW relics list - ups his price but give the helm of durfast and the other relic that gives furious charge and rage. but you loose shooting which is no big deal.

Company of the great wolf detachment
HQ
Wolf lord - Runic armor(2+armor), shield(3+ invuln), wolfclaw(+1 str, ap3 reroll wounds), Thunderwolf mount, Felclaws teeth(reroll hits in cc), Frostfury(4 shot (storm bolter?) with helfost rule)- 240pts
Elite
2x Venerable Dreadnoughts with Shield and Great Axe - 290pts
Fast Attack
TWC unit - 3+/3++ 2 wounds, 4 attacks base, rending, all three have a shields and wolf claws and melta bombs. - 240pts

770pts of which
480 gets you a fast moving, super tough (T5, S5) deathstar that reroll Wounds, drop 20 attacks on the charge, WS6/5(due to detachment bonus), Str 6, rending

And 2 hard to kill dreads with 3++, str10 ap2, 3 attacks on the charge master crafted axes, with ws5.
Dreads are a great distraction and av14 killers,
Wolf Cav kill everyone else

Tau for killing at range and AA.

Bharring wrote:
Also, while Decurion durability is scary good, that your Tau units are just as fragile. That kind of durability means more when it applies to the whole army.

If you do SW, are you thinking more Pods, more Wolves, or possibly a more Devs style? Or a mix of all 3?

I was planning on bringing some in for mid-range/CC support. At the present time I'm thinking a unit of TWC and a Rune Priest.


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Naaris wrote:

 the_kraken wrote:
I've been having some discussions with a buddy of mine over which faction out of Necrons, Space Wolves, or Tyranids would make the best ally for the Tau. Does anyone have any experience allying Tau with any of these armies? If so, what did you do?

Space Wolves - have had a ton of success with this setup. Not sure if you can take this detachment with a CAD detachment of another faction. Rules are fuzzy to me about that right now. If not, drop a dread, and take a base unit of grey hunters with a rhino for similar price. Change to an allied detachment. HQ gets regular SW relics list - ups his price but give the helm of durfast and the other relic that gives furious charge and rage. but you loose shooting which is no big deal.

Company of the great wolf detachment
HQ
Wolf lord - Runic armor(2+armor), shield(3+ invuln), wolfclaw(+1 str, ap3 reroll wounds), Thunderwolf mount, Felclaws teeth(reroll hits in cc), Frostfury(4 shot (storm bolter?) with helfost rule)- 240pts
Elite
2x Venerable Dreadnoughts with Shield and Great Axe - 290pts
Fast Attack
TWC unit - 3+/3++ 2 wounds, 4 attacks base, rending, all three have a shields and wolf claws and melta bombs. - 240pts

770pts of which
480 gets you a fast moving, super tough (T5, S5) deathstar that reroll Wounds, drop 20 attacks on the charge, WS6/5(due to detachment bonus), Str 6, rending

And 2 hard to kill dreads with 3++, str10 ap2, 3 attacks on the charge master crafted axes, with ws5.
Dreads are a great distraction and av14 killers,
Wolf Cav kill everyone else

Tau for killing at range and AA.

My primary detachment of Tau will already be at about 1000 pts (when I get done with the list) so 770 either needs to get closer to another 1000 or down to around 500, but with enough manpower that it's still able to provide support.

 the_kraken wrote:

Bharring wrote:
Also, while Decurion durability is scary good, that your Tau units are just as fragile. That kind of durability means more when it applies to the whole army.

If you do SW, are you thinking more Pods, more Wolves, or possibly a more Devs style? Or a mix of all 3?

I was planning on bringing some in for mid-range/CC support. At the present time I'm thinking a unit of TWC and a Rune Priest.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Naaris wrote:

 the_kraken wrote:
I've been having some discussions with a buddy of mine over which faction out of Necrons, Space Wolves, or Tyranids would make the best ally for the Tau. Does anyone have any experience allying Tau with any of these armies? If so, what did you do?

Space Wolves - have had a ton of success with this setup. Not sure if you can take this detachment with a CAD detachment of another faction. Rules are fuzzy to me about that right now. If not, drop a dread, and take a base unit of grey hunters with a rhino for similar price. Change to an allied detachment. HQ gets regular SW relics list - ups his price but give the helm of durfast and the other relic that gives furious charge and rage. but you loose shooting which is no big deal.

Company of the great wolf detachment
HQ
Wolf lord - Runic armor(2+armor), shield(3+ invuln), wolfclaw(+1 str, ap3 reroll wounds), Thunderwolf mount, Felclaws teeth(reroll hits in cc), Frostfury(4 shot (storm bolter?) with helfost rule)- 240pts
Elite
2x Venerable Dreadnoughts with Shield and Great Axe - 290pts
Fast Attack
TWC unit - 3+/3++ 2 wounds, 4 attacks base, rending, all three have a shields and wolf claws and melta bombs. - 240pts

770pts of which
480 gets you a fast moving, super tough (T5, S5) deathstar that reroll Wounds, drop 20 attacks on the charge, WS6/5(due to detachment bonus), Str 6, rending

And 2 hard to kill dreads with 3++, str10 ap2, 3 attacks on the charge master crafted axes, with ws5.
Dreads are a great distraction and av14 killers,
Wolf Cav kill everyone else

Tau for killing at range and AA.

My primary detachment of Tau will already be at about 1000 pts (when I get done with the list) so 770 either needs to get closer to another 1000 or down to around 500, but with enough manpower that it's still able to provide support.

Don't play any 1850 games? Only 1500 or 2k?

Anyway wolves do seem like they could be really strong as allies for Tau. Company of the Great Wolf detachment (from the Champions of Fenris supplement) is almost surely the way you wanna go here. It's got 1 HQ and 2 Elites as its mandatory slots and a bunch of optional Elites and a few Troops, Fast Attack, and Heavy Support slots.

Above poster got it about right, but I'd change up the Wolf Lord a little bit. He doesn't need the relic bolter thing and he's probably better off without a SS. He should definitely take the Krakenbone sword since it is AP 2 at Initiative. Iron Priests on TWolves are also THE TITS. For 165 points you get a T5 2W 2+/6++ IC that moves 12" a turn, is fleet, and puts out 5 S10 AP1 attacks on the charge. The best part is, that 165 points includes FOUR cyber wolves (FAQ'd to be T5 now) that can be used as ablative wounds for the WolfStar and can also split off with the Iron Priest should you have multiple things that you would like to punch in the face. For a 1k force, here's what I'd do:

Wolf Lord: 210 (7 S6 AP2 I5 attacks on the charge)
Krakenbone Sword, Runic Armor, TWolf Mount

Iron Priest: 165 (5 S10 AP1 attacks)
TWolf Mount, 4x Cyber wolves

Iron Priest: 165 (5 S10 AP1 attacks)
TWolf Mount, 4x Cyber wolves

10x Grey Hunters: 2x Melta, Drop Pod

Thunderwolf Cav: 1x SS/CCW, 1x SS/CCW/Meltabomb 1x SS/PFist, Sarge w/ SS/Wolf Claw (10 S5 rending, 5 S10/9 (depending on how you rule it), and 5 S6 AP3 shred attacks on the charge)

You can add more melta via deepstriking suits in the Tau portion if you like, but it's not all that necessary as you have two dudes that can get down field quickly and are capable of punching just about anything's lights out. Not many things will live to tell the tale of a day the WolfStar assaulted them. Just blast the biggest threat to the wolves with your Tau and watch out for big fearless tarpits.

 astro_nomicon wrote:
Anyway wolves do seem like they could be really strong as allies for Tau. Company of the Great Wolf detachment (from the Champions of Fenris supplement is almost surely the way you wanna go here. It's got 1 HQ and 2 Elites as its mandatory slots and a bunch of optional Elites and a few Troops, Fast Attack, and Heavy Support slots.

Above poster got it about right, but I'd change up the Wolf Lord a little bit. He doesn't need the relic bolter thing and he's probably better off without a SS. He should definitely take the Krakenbone sword since it is AP 2 at Initiative. Iron Priests on TWolves are also THE TITS. For 165 points you get a T5 2W 2+/6++ IC that moves 12" a turn, is fleet, and puts out 5 S10 AP1 attacks on the charge. The best part is, that 165 points includes FOUR cyber wolves (FAQ'd to be T5 now) that can be used as ablative wounds for the WolfStar and can also split off with the Iron Priest should you have multiple things that you would like to punch in the face. For a 1k force, here's what I'd do:

Wolf Lord: 210
Krakenbone Sword, Runic Armor, TWolf Mount

Iron Priest: 165
TWolf Mount, 4x Cyber wolves

Iron Priest: 165
TWolf Mount, 4x Cyber wolves

10x Grey Hunters: 2x Melta, Drop Pod

Thunderwolf Cav: 1x SS/CCW, 1x SS/CCW/Meltabomb 1x SS/PFist, Sarge w/ SS/Wolf Claw

You can add more melta via deepstriking suits in the Tau portion if you like, but it's not all that necessary as you have two dudes that can get down field quickly and are capable of punching just about anything's lights out.

I'm not as familiar with most of these SW units yet, but I'll have to do some reading. That being said, this sounds like a solid set up as well and I'll definitely be looking into it further today. Thanks for the advice.

One you contemplate how you can use the Iron Priests and what you're getting for the points I think you'll reeeaaallly like them lol.

 astro_nomicon wrote:
One you contemplate how you can use the Iron Priests and what you're getting for the points I think you'll reeeaaallly like them lol.

Well, from what I see so far, it looks like a pretty sweet deal.


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I don't suppose Fenrisian Wolves can be proxied for Cyberwolves can they? That set up will get pricey fast.