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I'm still new to the game. Just started back up a week ago again and got a small 1,000 list together and entered a double tournament today with a friend. Was super fun.

Anyways, I'm looking to supplement my 1,000 pt list and go up and was originally going to do just Eldar but I'm seeing a lot of lists using Tau to supplement Eldar. Also vice versa. I really want my Eldar to be my primary though, so with that being said...
1) Can anyone please enlighten me as why Tau are great allies to Eldar?
2) What is it that Tau provide? What do they DO for Eldar?
3) Lastly, what "key models" are usually used to aide and make a mostly Mechdar list better. (Wave Serpents, Fire Prisms, etc.)

Most of this is my lack of knowledge with Tau and their new updates/models/rules. (Last time I played with them was in 5e)

I really appreciate any input. Thanks ahead!

Sky Ray is great anti air, it can choose skyfire meaning if it doesn't move it can land 2 marker lights on a flier and then launch all 6 missiles at it. Benefits over the eldar air superiority fighter it is harder to kill (+1 cover save = 3+ in ruins/behind aegis) and you don't have to worry about it arriving early / late and having nothing worthwhile to shoot. Disadvantages are that once it has blown up one aircraft it won't do much except provide 2 marker lights.

Shadowsun gives Stealth and Shrouded to any unit she joins and she has 2 fusion blasters (halfway between a multi melta and a regular melta) which she can shoot at different targets. If you have a unit you want a 2+ cover save on shes more reliable than rolling on the psychic chart of fun.

Firewarriors are just generically good back field units with a 36 inch rapid fire gun with S5

Riptides are also generically good, being 2+ save monstrous creatures with decent firepower, they benefit from divination quite a lot.

Missile broadsides put out a lot of high strength shots at a reasonable price and they ignore cover.

Allies is about either about fluff or about competativeness. If you are interested in competativeness then just cherry pick the best stuff from the codex. Can't think of much that Tau can do that Eldar can't except perhaps for providing generic solutions to problems (most Eldar untis are good at one specific thing). You might find that a few solid Tau units provide you the versitility in an all comers list that you might otherwise lack.

Consider what happens if you take Fire Dragons and your opponent has no vehicles? There are no situations where 12 x S7 + 12 x S5 missiles per turn aren't useful (broadside missile spam - add missile drones for even more shots).

wtnind wrote:
Sky Ray is great anti air, it can choose skyfire meaning if it doesn't move it can land 2 marker lights on a flier and then launch all 6 missiles at it. Benefits over the eldar air superiority fighter it is harder to kill (+1 cover save = 3+ in ruins/behind aegis) and you don't have to worry about it arriving early / late and having nothing worthwhile to shoot. Disadvantages are that once it has blown up one aircraft it won't do much except provide 2 marker lights.

Shadowsun gives Stealth and Shrouded to any unit she joins and she has 2 fusion blasters (halfway between a multi melta and a regular melta) which she can shoot at different targets. If you have a unit you want a 2+ cover save on shes more reliable than rolling on the psychic chart of fun.

Firewarriors are just generically good back field units with a 36 inch rapid fire gun with S5

Riptides are also generically good, being 2+ save monstrous creatures with decent firepower, they benefit from divination quite a lot.

Missile broadsides put out a lot of high strength shots at a reasonable price and they ignore cover.

Allies is about either about fluff or about competativeness. If you are interested in competativeness then just cherry pick the best stuff from the codex. Can't think of much that Tau can do that Eldar can't except perhaps for providing generic solutions to problems (most Eldar untis are good at one specific thing). You might find that a few solid Tau units provide you the versitility in an all comers list that you might otherwise lack.

Consider what happens if you take Fire Dragons and your opponent has no vehicles? There are no situations where 12 x S7 + 12 x S5 missiles per turn aren't useful (broadside missile spam - add missile drones for even more shots).

Yup, this is for the competitive level

This is a VERY helpful post! That' really helps clear some stuff up about Tau and what they can do that Eldar might be interested in using. Thank you so much!

I'm sure that is just scratching at the surface, so if anyone else has any input on what Tau bring for Eldar I'd love to hear about it.

I agree with the above poster on what tau bring. But one clarification.

Broadsides do not ignore cover. Thier S5 smart missiles do, but not thier S7 missile pods.

Unless he was just referring to tau in general with marker light support or with a specific load out commander.

I love my broadside unit. With its missile drones and a buffing commander: Its a 36" unit of death that has 24 shots at S7, are all twin linked, tank hunter or monster hunter, and ignore cover. (Note this is with a commander with all the buffing chips.)

wtnind: Pulse rifles are only 30 inch range, not 36.

Thanks guys!

Can anyone explain some additional questions I've come up with while reading up on Eldar+Tau:

1) Why do some Eldar (like the one that won NOVA) take 1x Troop choice of Kroot + 1 Kroot Hound over Fire Warriors? Fire Warriors can get you Market Lights...

2) Like the NOVA winning list (provided below), why are there no market lights? Isn't this a huge boost for Tau? Why would you NOT take them o_o? I'm assuming it's just not worth it unless your primary is Tau instead of Eldar?


The list I'm referring to:
Farseer on Jetbike with Singing Spear
Tau Commander with Multi spectrum chip, Puretide chip, onager gauntlet, retro thrusters
5 Dire Avengers in Wave serpent with scatter lasers, shurikan cannon, holofields
5 Dire Avengers in Wave serpent with scatter lasers, shurikan cannon, ghost walk matrix
5 Dire Avengers in Wave serpent with scatter lasers, shuikcan cattapult
3 Eldar jetbike squad
3 eldar jetbike squad
10 kroot with kroot hound
5 fire dragons in Wave serpent with scatter lasers, shuikan cannon, holofields
Riptide with Ion cannon, smart missiles, velocity tracker, early warning override
5 warp spiders
5 warp spiders
2 broadsides with high yield missile pods and smart missile systems with early warning override and 1 missile drone

Probably because a single kroot does more damage due to sniper rounds than a single firewarrior, and btw the markerlight on firewarriors is wayyyy overcosted and its not a Networked markerlight so it doesnt help THAT unit, but rather the next one.

Dont get me wrong i would love to have the random markerlight buff so i can have consecutive shootings be BS4 instead of BS3, but its only doable on firewarriors, crisis suits, or stealth suits and it costs a fortune to do it on FW/Stealth and crisis suits are either no drones or all gun drones for the dakka.

Thanks guys!

Can anyone explain some additional questions I've come up with while reading up on Eldar+Tau:

1) Why do some Eldar (like the one that won NOVA) take 1x Troop choice of Kroot + 1 Kroot Hound over Fire Warriors? Fire Warriors can get you Market Lights...

Lots of current Tau lists don't take a ton of Markerlights. There are only so many that you really need per turn. 2 Skyrays give you 4 at BS4. Add in 6 Marker drones in a Broadside unit with a Commander and drone controller, and that it another reliable 5-6 hits.

As for the troops, Kroot can hide in reserves and reliably outflank onto a far objective. Neither Kroot nor Firewarriors do all that much (unless you take a ton of them), but at least Kroot aren't getting nailed from turn 1.

2) Like the NOVA winning list (provided below), why are there no market lights? Isn't this a huge boost for Tau? Why would you NOT take them o_o? I'm assuming it's just not worth it unless your primary is Tau instead of Eldar?

In that particular list, only the Riptide really benefits from Markers. The Tau Commander is the best singular model in the game. He allows that unit to ignore cover and gain a particular rule (Monster/Tank Hunter). The Sides are already twin-linked, have decent BS, and ignore cover. No need for Markers.

Additionally, the Riptide can be joined by the Farseer or Tau Commander if it really needs Ignore Cover. Remember, the Farseer can put out Guide and Prescience a turn. It can also roll Ignore Cover from Divination. Markerlights are simply redundant in this list.

 JGrand wrote:

Thanks guys!

Can anyone explain some additional questions I've come up with while reading up on Eldar+Tau:

1) Why do some Eldar (like the one that won NOVA) take 1x Troop choice of Kroot + 1 Kroot Hound over Fire Warriors? Fire Warriors can get you Market Lights...

Lots of current Tau lists don't take a ton of Markerlights. There are only so many that you really need per turn. 2 Skyrays give you 4 at BS4. Add in 6 Marker drones in a Broadside unit with a Commander and drone controller, and that it another reliable 5-6 hits.

As for the troops, Kroot can hide in reserves and reliably outflank onto a far objective. Neither Kroot nor Firewarriors do all that much (unless you take a ton of them), but at least Kroot aren't getting nailed from turn 1.

2) Like the NOVA winning list (provided below), why are there no market lights? Isn't this a huge boost for Tau? Why would you NOT take them o_o? I'm assuming it's just not worth it unless your primary is Tau instead of Eldar?

In that particular list, only the Riptide really benefits from Markers. The Tau Commander is the best singular model in the game. He allows that unit to ignore cover and gain a particular rule (Monster/Tank Hunter). The Sides are already twin-linked, have decent BS, and ignore cover. No need for Markers.

Additionally, the Riptide can be joined by the Farseer or Tau Commander if it really needs Ignore Cover. Remember, the Farseer can put out Guide and Prescience a turn. It can also roll Ignore Cover from Divination. Markerlights are simply redundant in this list.

Perfect explanation! Thank you guys! This is really helping me out A LOT.

One more thing... between Kroots and Fire Warriors... is it really that much better to take the Kroots? I much prefer the Fire Warriors looks and their hang back and camp an objective but also have 30" S5 shots so they will generally be helping a bit too. With my Mechdar I am generally moving a lot of my Troop+Wave Serpent guys up to take things centrally and I have Jetbikers that take things later game to contest far off objectives. (48" total movement)

Kroot are there as a min troops choice, so they're the cheapest option. With a Kroot Hound you can also outflank them for sneaky objective grabbing.




Automatically Appended Next Post:
I don't advise blithely copypasting the Nova winner's list, come up with something of your own.

Asmodai Asmodean wrote:
I don't advise blithely copypasting the Nova winner's list, come up with something of your own.

The only reason he posted the list is because he had some questions regarding it.

"This is what the winner brought. Why did he bring this? Why did he not bring those? What is the point of that?"

He's trying to understand the winners army.

 Happyjew wrote:

Asmodai Asmodean wrote:
I don't advise blithely copypasting the Nova winner's list, come up with something of your own.

The only reason he posted the list is because he had some questions regarding it.

"This is what the winner brought. Why did he bring this? Why did he not bring those? What is the point of that?"

He's trying to understand the winners army.

Exactly this

I think I'm going to do fire warriors. Outflank sounds awesome. I might end up doing a squad of kroot then, but I really dislike their models.lol