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Been thinking of hunting Ebay for some Tau deals since ive been having pretty good luck finding ork ones. Ive heard from many sources tau and orks go together very, very well.

My issue is noone i ever play uses them, so i have no idea what they got lol.

What models do you think i should be aiming to get my hands on, if i plan to use an orky horde for a meatshield and just use tau rather than lootas/sag/dakkajets?
EDIT: Trying to refrain from buying a tau codex atm because most of the reaaaaally good deals were coming with one too.

The Allies FOC kind of limits what you could bring. I could see a bare bones HQ and minimum troop choice and as many broadsides as possible with maybe some Pathfinders (I don't know what FOC slot they occupy) as being helpful to Orks.

For allied Tau you are probably looking for long range anti-tank right?

I would go crisis suit commander, 12 firewarriors, and 3 broadsides. Then if you want more add a squad of crisis suits.

1 shas'el with 2 body guards

3 crisis suits for elite

6 firewarriors

1-4 tetras with TA, TL, BSF (if you want marker lights)

3 broadsides

Pretty much the broadsides. They have some sweet guns to reach out and say hi to those annoying AR:14 things.

Markerlights dont help orks. They cant use them.

markerlights help the tau allies though.

The markerlights can only be used by Tau. The only way any ally MIGHT be able to benefit them would be lowering LD for pinning checks, but Orks don't have anything that pins. I'm not sure if this would work, don't have my codex in this country (someone want to check that?).

Tau FOC REQUIRES 1+ Crisis suit commander, and 1+ squad of FW. If you take a Tau allied det, you MUST include those two units.

The only use for Pathfinders are markerlight support (which only your Tau can use), and as Rail Rifle sniper teams (which they aren't particularly good at).

As for what else to take, it depends on the role you're trying to fill.

You need a tank? Take a Hammerhead.

Need ANTI-Tank: Take broadside suits. You can put three in a squad, and their primary weapon is 72" twin linked, S10 AP1. You can also get wargear upgrades so they can all shoot at different targets. This means you can potentially kill three LRBT in one turn. All three Broadsides can also be potentially used to take out fliers.

Need deepstriking/backfield harassment? Crisis suits.
Need something to take out TEQ? Also Crisis suits. You can put out 3 melta, and 6 S6AP2 shots at 12", and with markerlight support up that to BS5 and no cover saves.

Take a look at your Ork list, and figure what you holes you need to fill. Tau are very synergistic, which makes them hard to use, but once you get used to it are very awesome.

im just gonna wait till i find some on ebay NIB and still a deal, since i just chucked out 750 for NIB orks (1260 normal price) lol kinda need to back off for a bit.
I think the anti-tank thing would be very very beneficial since unless i can get in melee range, orks have a severe issue with AV13-14. Lootas can kill 13s but only barely and im usually aiming at something trying to charge me than the support vehicles in the back.

Also, Dakkajets cause pinning tests, but i doubt i'd want to run them if i have tau allies just because of point limitings. I'd probably use more htan half my points for the orky meatshield as it is.

Having played Tau with Ork allies, I can say that for the reverse it all depends on what the Orks are bringing to the table.