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Having briefly scanned over the new rules about alliances it states the two factions can ally with each other. I was wondering if this was considered to be a good combination? Possibly using CSM for CC and Tau for Artillery Heavy hitting i.e Broadsides? Or can you suggest any other tactics with these two races in mind?

The two forces in the rules, would work well together. Chaos has a lot of good assault units that can work well with taus heavy emphasis on long ranged attacks. However, fluff wise I don't think these two would work together.

A good alternate take would be using Guard. Guard have the best artillery and can easily be made into "The Lost and the Damned". Also with a rumored update coming soon it can become a powerhouse like the Tau currently are.

Run a list with helldrakes and riptides. Will make you totally *scrssshhh-static-noise*popular, results guaranteed.

 Kosake wrote:
Run a list with helldrakes and riptides. Will make you totally *scrssshhh-static-noise*popular, results guaranteed.

Yes! And film peoples' reactions to it on the battlefield, because that is something I have to see.

Convert them into Chaos-Tau!

I did it a few times... Peoples reactions upon you will be that of Scum below scum.

People don't like Heldrakes, and they despise Riptides. My GOD do they ever hate a combination of the two lol

 Crimson wrote:
Convert them into Chaos-Tau!

I did this and was met with no ill will, I have kit bashed "Crisis spawn" and I modeled a firewarrior to with the same pose as the cultist champion.
For the greater bloodshed!

Oh, the inhumanity!

Seriously, the only thing that has kept me away from this is the reactions I get from people when I talk about it. But imagine a CSM army with rail guns... scary.

 techsoldaten wrote:
Oh, the inhumanity!

Seriously, the only thing that has kept me away from this is the reactions I get from people when I talk about it. But imagine a CSM army with rail guns... scary.

You won't get bad reactions if your conversions are good, I speak from experience, even the original rouge trader fluff nut player at my flgs only has said nice things.

 R3YNO wrote:
T However, fluff wise I don't think these two would work together.

That could be said about pretty much every faction Tau can ally with.

To enlighten humanity, the Imperium must fall. For the Greater Good of humanity, death to the False Emperor. I have run this combination in the past and my justification is that the warband's sorcerer, acting on Tzeentch-blessed inspiration, lied to the cadre's Commander with the truth. They have a common enemy in the Imperium and a common goal in improving humanity. He just strongly implied that Chaos is another expression of the Greater Good. Lacking an Ethereal or Water caste diplomats to advise him, the Commander fell for it hook line and sinker. The presence of twisted reality-mocking horrors are starting to pierce the veil of innate Tau naivety, but for now the Commander optimistically hangs on in hopes of assimilation while the sorcerer delights in yanking his chain.

I personally feel that if you can't think of a reason for any two permitted allies in 40k to fight together, you aren't trying hard enough.

Iv always wondered what excuse to use to do this... riptides and misslesides, backed up by daemon prince and helldrakes... the tears i would see falling, id need big bottles to store them hahahaha

Riptides and Helldrakes. Because feth cover.

This is actually a pretty damn great idea. I'm surprised I've never seen/heard of this before. I'd probably go primary Tau. A few riptides, a healthy dose of markerlights, and some broadsides already do wonders. Then add in a cheap CSM troop and a Helldrake, maybe with a flying DP and/or the dataslate guy...

This is a recipe for crazy. And I can certainly see this happening in the fluff. Not all CSM are raving murderous lunatics. I'm sure the more-charismatic champions of Chaos could easily strike an alliance with the Tau. Hell, the Tau once tried allying with the old Necrons for crying out loud!

 R3YNO wrote:


. However, fluff wise I don't think these two would work together.
.

Fluff wise they could totally work together. A part of the Tau ethos is that they are somewhat unaware of the true evilness of Chaos. They see it as just a form of alien , or just a menacing looking faction. And so, a Chaos Warlord and some Tau could work together to win a battle: which is why a alliance of convenience makes sense.

Remember, the 40k universe is very diverse, so an outlying case if very popular, and for this, its not that crazy

As someone else said in another thread, the rule books alliance levels are considered a "best case scenario." Because while the fluff might strongly suggest that 9 times out of 10, two armies would be murdering each other, that ONE time they work together due to X and Y reasons in some story written by Graham McNeil or some other Black Library guy is justification in Allies matrix.

For how it'd run on the table, I'd be pretty scared. Tau with Chaos Marine allies. Chaos Marines would bring a Daemon Prince, cultists (just to skim as much on points as possible), and a Heldrake. Tau would do their normal Tau things, except now there's a Daemon Prince running around bashing in the faces of things you don't want assaulting your Tau guys, with his Black Mace and everything.

tyfus zombi some helldrakes, maybe oblits and tau with buffcmder , a riptide for him to hang around , some kroot snipers . Could be a fine list to play with .