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I don't care about my post count holy feth answer don't I don't give a gak

 Peregrine wrote:

 SabrX wrote:
And if you had read the battle report, you would notice 2 squads of 60 Shoota Boyz. Ork provides horde element to Tau.

Ok, let's review:

You: nob bikers are awesome.
Me: no, they suck, take more boyz.
You: you're wrong, boyz are awesome.
Me: that's what I said, you take lots of boyz.
You: you're wrong, look at this battle report where I used lots of boyz.

See the problem here yet?

No, I posted, "Alternatively, a strong shooty army can enhance Tau's fire power. Imperial Guard or Eldar adds a huge boost and synergies well with Tau's long range weaponry." Don't take my words out of context. Check out the definition of enhance and synergies:

Read your own sentence.

You said that a strong shooty army can enhance the Tau army. My point is that being a "strong shooty army" is worthless for Tau, you want allies that can provide meatshield hordes/AA/scoring units/etc, IOW things other than shooting. If all you want is allies that are a "strong shooty army" then just bring more Tau.

I've had wonderful success running Nobz Bikers with my Tau. I find they suit many situations that my Tau would struggle in. If you think Tau don't need a CC Deathstar and would be better off focusing on more bodies and Fire Warriors, then that's your style, not mine.

In the case of IG, they provide high strength low AP large blasts, which Tau lacks.

A single large blast is not worth screwing around with allies.

(And no, you can't take more, since you never squadron IG tanks.)

Psshh, I can squadron IG tanks whenever I feel like.

On a serious note, fellow Dakkalite Kingsley has had some success running two SM Vindicators with his Broadsides. Railguns and high strength/low AP large blasts is great against all sorts of targets.

In the case of Eldar, Eldrad enhances Tau's shooting through prescience.

And prescience is not cost-effective compared to Tetras or buying more guns. Yes, you cast it to make your psychic defense carrier do something useful when he's not countering enemy psykers, but it's insane to take allies specifically to get prescience.

He provides psychic defense

I already said that this is the valid reason for taking Eldar.

he makes 2 Tau units' shooting much more effective,

And he costs as much as an entire unit. Think about it this way: prescience adds 50% more shooting, but only on a unit that doesn't have twin-linked weapons already. So you're pretty much limited to Fire Warriors and fireknife crisis suits. So, here are your choices:

2 units + Eldrad = 2 * 1.5 = 3 units worth of shooting.

3 units = 3 units worth of shooting.

Except the 3 units option doesn't depend on a psychic test, doesn't depend on keeping a character alive, doesn't depend on not having twin-linked weapons already, and probably doesn't cost as much as Eldrad so you're really talking about 3 units worth of shooting vs. more than 3 units worth of shooting.

Oh, and a Tetra squadron will make a fireknife unit BS 5 (better than the 50% increase from prescience) for a lot fewer points than Eldrad's weaker boost.

he can joins Tau units and soaks up wounds for the Tau squad he joined.

So you're using your prescience carrier and only psychic defense as a shield drone? How exactly is this a good idea?

He's decent in assault.

So what? Tau don't care about being good in assault, feed the assault unit a squad of Kroot and shoot it to death next turn.

In regards to Eldrad, It's the entire package of providing supporting, unlocking Eldar Jet Bikes, Psychic Defense, not easy to kill that I think Eldrad is a wonderful addition to a Tau army. He generally has no problem successfully casting his psychic power and provides a lot of utility. Having shots re-roll to hit for an entire turn for both shooting and assault can be very beneficial. Plus there's also the other two psychic powers, which could be 'Perfect Timing' (no cover saves and re-rolls to hit?), Misfortune, or Forewarning (4++ Kroots?!).

I really don't see how Tetras is better than Eldrad. Furthermore, as you mentioned earlier, I tend to stay away from Forge World units (not legal is most tournaments I play in) and because Deathrain has fallen in favor of more anti-infantry configuration. Fire Knife and Fire Storm are becoming popular. Some people are even going back to Stealth Suits. Therefore, having re-rolls to hit is beneficial. While you do have a valid point that points spend on Eldrad could be better off spent on more shooting, it's the force multiplier and everything Eldrad provides that I view him as a valuable asset and strong addition to a Tau army.

 Noob9405 wrote:
Can't you solve that in pm

You wanted to know if Tau are good, fun to play, and "usual tau army configurations."

If you want conventional purist list (I don't count tetra or Forge World as usual, but to each their own), then forget what I've said in all my previous posts.

 SabrX wrote:


On a serious note, fellow Dakkalite Kingsley has had some success running two SM Vindicators with his Broadsides. Railguns and high strength/low AP large blasts is great against all sorts of targets.

One heavy support slot per Vindicator. One heavy support slot max for allies. Wut?

 AlmightyWalrus wrote:

 SabrX wrote:


On a serious note, fellow Dakkalite Kingsley has had some success running two SM Vindicators with his Broadsides. Railguns and high strength/low AP large blasts is great against all sorts of targets.

One heavy support slot per Vindicator. One heavy support slot max for allies. Wut?

It's an SM list with Tau allies - one slot of Broadsides (usually standing on top of a Bastion).

I think that people get more from Tau as allies than they can using Tau with allies. Being able to take two squads of three crisis suits, a minimum squad of firewarriors in a devilfish to hide on an objective, and a unit of three broadsides can augment an armies firepower a lot.

All of the good armies have a strong troop choice. Taking Tau as allies reduces their inheirant weakness to one unit while bringing three good ones.

from what ive heard, Tau with Ork allies are pretty nasty since Orks just provide that massive meat wall to keep the Tau gunner safe.

Been tempted to buy some ebay deals cuz of this. Ive found some things for Tau on ebay for wicked cheap.
However i know nothing bout the numbers in their codex lol so i dont know which models i should be hunting for.

3 elite crisis suits with twin-linked missile pods, 2 flamers, and have night vision are well under 150 points.
HQ squad with plasma and missiles, BS4, and has night vision runs about 260 points
Three broadsides with two shield drones and night vision is just under 250.
Add in minimum squad of firewarriors at 60.

So you have 6 XV-8s, 3 XV-88s, and 6 FW costing just under 700 points and it gives you a huge amount of firepower.

If you went down to 2 HQ suits, 2 Elite suits, 6 firewarriors, and 2 broadsides it is just under 500 points.

Tau are easy to throw in because Broadsides are an amazing weapon platform, suits are fast enough to get where they need to be to add their firepower to the mix, and can act as a good last resort AA unit.

What bothers me is when people say Tau and Orks work well. Of course they do. Orks are a decent codex with good troops. It works with any army because it has a strong base to work with. Would Necrons work good with Tau? Of course they would, because they are a stand alone good army.

A good army has good troops that can hold objectives or deal with a variety of threats. Tau Firewarriors are very limited in what they can do and are fragile on top of that. Tau take allies because they lack the back bone of having a strong troop base. Other armies take Tau because they want +1 lascannons.