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Since Kroot got somewhat nerfed into relatively poor melee/sniper... things, it's fairly obvious that if you want a melee defense, you're gonna have to take an ally. There are only a few armies that Tau are Desperate allies with, everything else is either Battle brothers or allies of convenience. Except Tyranids. No one likes tyranids.

Anyway, in a 2k point list, what is your optimal ally? I feel Orks would be up there, along with a mini-wraithwing Necron ally, or even Blood Angels if you want melee. I'm looking to go with the Necron mini-wraith, but I'm curious to see what other people will ally into the Tau force, if any at all.

Why not eldar?

Because I don't have any Eldar models, and the Eldar codex is the one I've read the least.

I disagree that thier melee defense got worse. With the kroot in front twenty strong to absorb a charging unit, you spread them out and any unit within six inches of them when they are charged can overwatch into them. The shear volume of overwatch fire you can pour out is insane, especially if you have a nearby hammerhead with longstrike. You are liable to clear out anything charging you and if any models survive the barrage, the kroot can probably mop up. I think they got many times better than they were.

That being said, having a farseer for psycic defense is what I'm looking at personally... Either that or greyknights.

Its always nice to have eldar to give the enemy psychers perils from runes of warding and guiding/ fortune/doom will just wreck armies and keep your alive.

Marines or IG.

IG because they add more artillery to go with the Riptides (IOW, your opponent will not have scoring units alive at the end of the game) as well as durable objective holders AND cheap meatshields AND a flyer the Tau can only dream of matching.

Marines because outflanking scoring terminators/bikes with a 2++ is a good way to convince your opponent not to just run straight at you with everything while a unit of Telion scouts on your quad gun gives you a T4/2++ objective holder and frees up your fire warriors to shoot things at midfield with their STR 5 spam.

Well, Necrons is a good choice: DLord w/ mss, weave, 6 Wraiths, 5-10 Warriors/Immortals in Night Scythe.

I've read little about the 2++ shenanigans, but I'm still unsure about how it works. Is it a cover save or 2+invuln? I've been considering a Necron force similar to what wuestenfux said.

 wuestenfux wrote:
Well, Necrons is a good choice: DLord w/ mss, weave, 6 Wraiths, 5-10 Warriors/Immortals in Night Scythe.

My flgs owner said nearly the exact thing to me last month.

I don't think you need another detachment of another army. Granted Kroot are not great at close combat but, they do make a nice speed bump that ties enemy troops up so you can use fire warriors to clear them out.

 McNinja wrote:
I've read little about the 2++ shenanigans, but I'm still unsure about how it works. Is it a cover save or 2+invuln?

Cover save. Shadowsun's stealth and shrouded USRs apply to the whole unit, so whatever you attach her to will have a 4+ cover save in the open, and a 2+ cover save if you have even basic cover (which should be pretty much all the time).

The seekers likely had thier demonic invulnerable save increased by a grimoire and a certain warpstorm result, neither of whichbis 100% reliable, though the grimmoire is much more reliable than the warp storm and give the bigger boost.

Really, no one has said Orks? How are Orks not the most obvious ally? Above average CC and great midfield presence. Tau/Orks can easily field 120+ bodies at 1850 and still maintain a really well-balanced amount of shooting (variable strengths and range bands).

I think Deathwing Terminators could work well, lots of deep striking TH/SS would hurt. A lot.

 Satan's Little Helper wrote:
I think Deathwing Terminators could work well, lots of deep striking TH/SS would hurt. A lot.

Meh, Deathwing got worse. Considerably so. I'd say that IG/Orks make the most sense for cheap useful bodies.

LValx wrote:

 Satan's Little Helper wrote:
I think Deathwing Terminators could work well, lots of deep striking TH/SS would hurt. A lot.

Meh, Deathwing got worse. Considerably so. I'd say that IG/Orks make the most sense for cheap useful bodies.

I do think that IG/Orks would work better for lots of guys, however I was just suggesting DW for if you wanted to land some heavy hits from deep striking.