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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?

I's say Space Wolves. They have drop pods, the best cc unit in the game currently and the best place on the ally chart of the three.

Go Space Wolves. you can ally in drop pods, which could give you some potential fun, and space wolves also have some useful melee options, and honestly make the most sense from a fluff pov

Space Wolves are what I thought as well, though he was arguing that taking the Necron Decurion Detachment as an Allied Detachment would be better.

Necrons bring stupid amounts of durability but I don't feel that that complements Tau very much. Plus, crons can do whatever the heck you want them to.

Raven Cowl wrote:
Plus, crons can do whatever the heck you want them to.

What do you mean by this?

You don't really want necron shooting as Tau since you already got your bases covered. That said, few CC units can compete with Wraiths for point efficiency , and they are fast enough to intercept most CC threats. They work best with redundancy though and spending about 500p on Wraiths then dealing with troop and HQ tax, that is quite a few points you are not spending on shooting your enemy dead.

One wraith unit might suffice with a token immortal + HQ unit camping some objective. I could also see a bigger warrior blob instead being a durable threat, although I think allying in a decurion is too much of a cost. And when not shooting at tanks, fire warriors are more attractive than necron warriors, even if they are less durable.

So basically, the Decurion is too expensive to actually be very worth it?

Never tried it, but my gut feeling says yes. Perhaps a minimal decurion and a canoptek harvest could work but that is a lot of points you are not spending on blue mans with big guns. What you really want from the necron codex is Wraiths, and I don't think a decurion and canoptek harvest is the best way to get a hold of them. I would rather take a minimal troop + HQ allied detachment and a unit of wraith. With perhaps a CCB.

So the safest bet would still be SW. It seems like they'd offer more anyway.

 the_kraken wrote:

Raven Cowl wrote:
Plus, crons can do whatever the heck you want them to.

What do you mean by this?

From what I've seen in batreps and on Dakka, Necrons can be built for shooting, melee, mobile harassment, an immovable object That. Will. Not. Die. even as a swarm list. I'm of the opinion that a good necron player with enough models never has to play the same style twice.

 the_kraken wrote:
So the safest bet would still be SW. It seems like they'd offer more anyway.

I don't know. My space wolf knowledge is not great. I don't think you really want much from the necron codex except wraith, but on the other hand I don't think you want drop pods either. A few pods with melta for anti tank is not awful, but neither is deep striking some suits doing the same. Neither will live long.

Ratflinger wrote:

 the_kraken wrote:
So the safest bet would still be SW. It seems like they'd offer more anyway.

I don't know. My space wolf knowledge is not great. I don't think you really want much from the necron codex except wraith, but on the other hand I don't think you want drop pods either. A few pods with melta for anti tank is not awful, but neither is deep striking some suits doing the same. Neither will live long.

My thinking was to use them for mid-range to CC support.

 the_kraken wrote:

Ratflinger wrote:

 the_kraken wrote:
So the safest bet would still be SW. It seems like they'd offer more anyway.

I don't know. My space wolf knowledge is not great. I don't think you really want much from the necron codex except wraith, but on the other hand I don't think you want drop pods either. A few pods with melta for anti tank is not awful, but neither is deep striking some suits doing the same. Neither will live long.

My thinking was to use them for mid-range to CC support.

Yup the cheapest allied detachment featuring Thunderwolf Calvary kitted for ID is 365 pts. It's 375 if you want the rune priest and to roll on sanctic.

Raven Cowl wrote:

 the_kraken wrote:

Ratflinger wrote:

 the_kraken wrote:
So the safest bet would still be SW. It seems like they'd offer more anyway.

I don't know. My space wolf knowledge is not great. I don't think you really want much from the necron codex except wraith, but on the other hand I don't think you want drop pods either. A few pods with melta for anti tank is not awful, but neither is deep striking some suits doing the same. Neither will live long.

My thinking was to use them for mid-range to CC support.

Yup the cheapest allied detachment featuring Thunderwolf Calvary kitted for ID is 365 pts. It's 375 if you want the rune priest and to roll on sanctic.

Geeze, that is pretty inexpensive. Would the Rune Priest be ideal to take?

I would, because a. One of Tau's biggest weaknesses is the lack of a psychic phase. b. Gate of Infinity to move the TWC around on top of what they're already able to move. Or, give him a bike or jump pack so he can keep up better and roll on Biomancy. This gives a nice mini deathstar to keep the opponent worried .

Raven Cowl wrote:
I would, because a. One of Tau's biggest weaknesses is the lack of a psychic phase. b. Gate of Infinity to move the TWC around on top of what they're already able to move. Or, give him a bike or jump pack so he can keep up better and roll on Biomancy. This gives a nice mini deathstar to keep the opponent worried .

That is brilliance. Any excellent suggestion sir, thank you.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Also, as a latecomer to the equation, how about the Dark Eldar?

Dark Eldar?

From a fluff perspective, half your surviving Tau get tortured to death.

From a tactical perspective, they've got some useful tricks for you, but I think SW would be better.

Bharring wrote:
Dark Eldar?

From a fluff perspective, half your surviving Tau get tortured to death.

From a tactical perspective, they've got some useful tricks for you, but I think SW would be better.

^ This. Dark Eldar don't really give a lot that Tau don't already have unless you go covens, which gets some awesome stuff but is a tad on the expensive side for allies in my opinion.

Raven Cowl wrote:

 the_kraken wrote:

Raven Cowl wrote:
Plus, crons can do whatever the heck you want them to.

What do you mean by this?

From what I've seen in batreps and on Dakka, Necrons can be built for shooting, melee, mobile harassment, an immovable object That. Will. Not. Die. even as a swarm list. I'm of the opinion that a good necron player with enough models never has to play the same style twice.

I can certainly agree with this. Necrons now have so many options with their book, and they're all good. Not many codexes can say that.

Raven Cowl wrote:

Bharring wrote:
Dark Eldar?

From a fluff perspective, half your surviving Tau get tortured to death.

From a tactical perspective, they've got some useful tricks for you, but I think SW would be better.

^ This. Dark Eldar don't really give a lot that Tau don't already have unless you go covens, which gets some awesome stuff but is a tad on the expensive side for allies in my opinion.

Comparably expensive to a Necron Decurion?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
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.

Decurion is too expensive to go alongside any other army.

Now, the little formations hae good stuff. Canoptek Harvest, Judicator Battalion, Destroyer Cult and Conclave of the... Old One (I think) with Mephrit all have good additions to Tau.

Even the normal CAD is good as well - infiltrating 20 Flayed Ones will do much more than 20 kroot (unless there is T8 on the other side), and deathmarks can help against MCs (saving you a heavy support slot going to the sniper drones)

http://www.torrentoffire.com/6650/anatomy-of-the-list-tauanids

An interesting take on Tyranids as Tau Allies.

I feel Flyrants add a lot to a Tau list:

- Psychic dice. The fact that pure Tau don't offer any Deny the Witch threat us a pretty big disadvantage
- FMC mobility
- Decent shootimg

Also, how concerned are you with fluff, and how concerned are you with effectiveness?

From a fluff perspective, why wouldn't the Tyranids just eat the Tau? Why are the Space Wolves always up for bailing out the Tau? How are the Dark Eldar consistently coming to the aid of a lesser race?

From an effectiveness/competitiveness perspective, what do you need from them? A front line to take the charge? Some pods to threaten their back line? Something fast to skirmish? Something brutish to push a flank? Different forces can do different things.

From a meta or collection standpoint, what other faction do you want to collect? Do you want to field them together? Do you want to be playing more than one force?

I actually have a couple different armies (SM, Tau, CW Eldar, Corsairs, and Harlequins), but the only ones I've ever fielded together are the Eldar subfactions. Most of the time, when I ally, its another player bringing the other faction.

Its not that common in my meta for players to bring non-Battlebrothers allies themselves, not because of the rules, but because our meta evolved to enjoy fluff-coherent forces for each player. The Tau and the Dark Eldar allied together, for instance, is usually two separate players, which makes things feel more... organic and right.

That said, several allies are very consistent, and so is much more "right". These are almost always Battle Brothers already. Tau/Farsight, Eldar of various walks of life. Marines arriving to save some Imperial Guard. Others, like IG-counts-as allying with CSM/demons (traitor guard), or allied with Tau (Gue'sava) are fluffy (if assembled/painted that way), but the rules really penalize (in a casual game, feth it, I'd let those be Convience, at least). But when you start seeing things like Eldar backing up Demons, or Comisars regularly leading loyalist IG defending Necrons from Space Marines, things get a little silly. I love how my meta does allies.

Tlr version, perhaps you should stick to one faction until you know the game better? If you want to pick up a second faction, perhaps play them in different games?

Bharring gives some good advice above. The coven units give a lot of durability and deep striking options. But, they aren't really worth it if you aren't able to get your meltas into wwps or similar.

Vector Strike - I'll have to take a closer look at what makes up the Decurion and do some research there. That being said, I wasn't quite for Necrons to begin with.

LordBlades - Thanks for the link, I'll have to check that out today. I'll look into the Flyrants as well. I was most interested in Tyranids and Space Wolves.

Bharring - Fluff is wonderful and I love W40K fluff, but I think effectiveness to be much more practical of an aspect to pursue in army building. From an effectiveness standpoint, I'm looking for units that can provide support mid-range to CC. The Tau list I'm building will be FE, lots of suits (eventually) and quite a bit of "artillery" for the long range work.

From a collection standpoint, I'd love to get any of the said factions, they're all very unique. However, I'd prefer to get one that can supplement my main army. That being said, I plan on sticking with one faction until I get a better feel for the game.

Raven Cowl - As always, thanks for the input. I still need to look into the Covens.

Out of that lot, I'd choose Orks.

Great as Mercs, easy narrative for the fluff, lots of great, cheap CC. A Warlord, couple of Mobz of Boyz and some Nobz will complement the girly shooty Tau perfectly.

 r_squared wrote:
Out of that lot, I'd choose Orks.

Great as Mercs, easy narrative for the fluff, lots of great, cheap CC. A Warlord, couple of Mobz of Boyz and some Nobz will complement the girly shooty Tau perfectly.

Cheap is great, but I'm looking for speed too. Hence why I'm leaning toward SW or Tyranids.

Trukks are 30 points a piece. Plus, call a Waaagh and get to Move, Run and Charge, with a re-roll on charge distance thanks to ere we go.
You know you want to.

Besides all of them being fluff abominations, I think only Tyranids fails to mesh well in gameplay terms.