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So this I know is kinda of an odd idea, I am still bran new to tau. Like two games with my buddies models new. However I have been obsessing over their models and painting them, and haven't enjoyed modeling and painting this much then when I started my orks. Now this thought process is exactly why I came on here to ask for assistance. My goal here is to continuing paint tau models and such. But in still building an army for them. I would really like to run tau with the ork bully boyz formation as an ally. I was thinking something like the retaliation cadre to go with them. So all that rambling, I'm new to tau. Have my mega nobs that a scratch built and love and would think it would be really cool and different to bring my mega nobz and tau to the next event in my local area.

For anyone who doesn't know what the bully boyz formation is....


ALL MODELS ARE FEARLESS AND +1 WEAPONSKILL

5 mega nobz-235
Trukk
RaM
5 mega nobz-235
Trukk
Ram
5 mega nobz-235
Trukk
Ram

So anyone who could think of 1145 points of tau to go along well with this would be a tremendous help. I'll be on later I hope with some ideas for the tau portion of the army!

It depends how you want to play etc etc but here are some examples

playing up close and personal

dawn blade contingent

retaliation cadre

buff mander

crisis team w/ cyclic blasters or plasma 4-5 suits that go with the commander

crisis suit x1 - fusion blasters

crisis suit x1 - fusion blasters

broadsides 2-3 suits with 3-4 missile drones
(hymp + EWO)

riptide with IA/EWO

auxiliary formation - drone network

markerdrones 4x4

this entire formation can go in reserves and auto arrive via deepstrike on turn 2.

you get 2 melta throw away suits, 2 deathstars (crisis+buff and relentless broadsides, and a riptide)

if you need to, start the whole formation on the table and you get interceptor on the riptide, broadsides, and marker drones.

this should come out around 1150 points.


if you want something more sit back and shoot/move and shoot

I'd go with a riptide wing and a CAD of some variance.


riptide wing - 590

Burst tide - Velocity tracker
Burst tide - velocity tracker
Ion tide - EWO

this gives you tremendous flex in shooting at anything in the game especially with hail fire.

for the other 555 points you could throw in a cheaper throw-away retaliation cadre with lots of fusion suits etc.

but I'd go for a CAD with some marker light options either tetras or a mark'o commander with missile pod crisis suits and marker drones.

then throw in some broad sides with interceptor if you really like the models. The only issue is the lack of mobility.

CAD

Commander - go with tank upgrades (iridium, stim injector, shield gen) and then either grab 2 missile pods or just get the buff gear (control node/puretide etc)

crisis team x2-4 - I'd go with missile pods for the long range and start them on the board (relying on reserves rolls for a 300+ point unit is too sketchy) and put the commander with these guys. if you go with buff'o I'd go with 4+ suits. if you go with tank'o + shoot'o I'd go with 3 or less suits.

crisis team x1 - fusion blasters (i'd include 1-2 seperate units of this)

now you should have 100-200 points left over so throw on some tetras if you have them, if not you need to take marker drones with the commander and give him a drone controller. (I don't like this because it makes his unit a very high value target)

you can look at adding maybe a Y-tide from forgeworld or some broad sides etc depending on how many points you spend on the commander/crisis suit set ups.

Fantastic input, also makes me happy that my idea for the retaliation cadre was very similar to yours. I messed around with some numbers and came up with something very close. Two major things are. I don't have any marker lights, yet. How crucial will they be with all the twin linked I have for the tau so far? And target locks on the crisis suits would seem optimal to me. But here is a rough draft so far roughly 100 points shy.

Tau and orks

RETALIATION CADRE-1031

Commander-160
Iridium
Cc node
Pure tide chip
Multi-spectrum

6 Crisis suits-312
Double plasma

Crisis suits-52
Double fusion

Crisis suits-52
Double fusion

3 Broadsides-210
HYMP
smart missiles
EWO

Riptide-235
EWO
Heavy burst cannon
Stim injectors
Missile pods
Velocity tracker

BULLY BOYZ-705
5 manz-235
Trukk
Ram
5 manz-235
Trukk
Ram
5 manz-235
Trukk
Ram

marker lights wouldn't be too crucial because your units will all get +1 BS on entry, and your main unit here is your plasma suits with the buff mando, who is already giving them rerolls and ignore cover.

So no marker lights with this list is very doable.

I'd suggest giving your commander a shield generator and even stim injectors. you're for sure going to want an invuln on him and feel no pain makes him a riptide with T5. you just sit him in the front of the squad and he will tank anything thrown at him all day long. just don't be caught by anything str 10 and get doubled.

I'd also think about giving him vectored thrusters so they don't get stuck in assault.

points for wargear are freed up by dropping suits from 6 to 5.

also I'd make the formation FSE, costing you a few points in bonding knives but making your crisis suits OBSEC.

Commander - 205
Iridium
Cc node
Pure tide chip
Multi-spectrum
shield gen
stim injector
vectored thrusters

5 Crisis suits - 265
Double plasma, BKR

Crisis suit - 53
Double fusion, BKR

Crisis suit - 53
Double fusion, BKR

Broadsides x3
HYMP, EWO, BKR
Missile drones x3

Riptide - 205
EWO, Velocity Tracker, BKR
Burst cannon/SMS


total - 1028

note - the riptide you listed would cost 240 points

So the burst tide is good if it's your source anti air but just remeber 12 shots becomes 6 with only BS3. IA relies much less on BS when your throwing the pie plate. I also like doing a IA + TL plasma combo to get 7 ap 2 shots off when deepstriking in and nova charging the plasma gun at bs4.


I dropped the stim injector on the riptide because he's the beefiest unit on your board so I wouldn't expect him to receive too much fire.

I instead invested in 3 missile drones for the broadsides who shoot at BS3 when deepstriking and with 3 drones and 3 broadsides grav will have to wound on a 4+ instead of 2+ when shooting at them.

just some more thoughts,

hope it helps!

If would make a buffvre instead of a commander because you lose an Awesome bs5 and a vre can do the exact same as commander for buffing

in that case

commander
plasma x2, iriduim, stim injector, shield gen

shas'vre
Cc node
Pure tide chip
Multi-spectrum

x4 crisis suits
x2 plasma each

commander still tanks in the front and the shas'vre sits in the back and buffs.

This is excellent I do not own the farsighted supplement, but if I use that I don't have the retaliation cadre bonus yes? Which is okay because I don't want to reserve the entire list leaving the orks so exposed. So this is new to me! Along with an upgraded crisis suit that can take the buff upgrades is that also in the supplement I don't have?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Sorry for the scatterbrained response! But I'm still very new to tau. I did think of another question.... One of the units I painted is a ghost keel. Now using this supplement for crisis suit troops, and have a buffed up squad does that leave me with a possibility of using a ghostkeel in my tau portion of the list? Not sure if that is a good idea or not xD. Thank you!

Here are the changes I made, was able to figure out about giving the shas'vre the buffing systems. I love that idea a lot. One big thing obviously is if there is still a book to make crisis troops? That I am unsure of and if that is the case obviously this doesn't work. But if it does work here is what a cad allied with the orks would look like.

Tau and orks
1851
FSE suit troops?-964

Commander-155
Double cyclic ion
Iridium
Shield generator
Stim injectors
Target lock

4 Crisis suits-208
Double plasma
+ 1 shas'vre-82
Cc node
Pure tide chip
Multi-spectrum

2 Crisis suits-104
Double fusion

2 Broadsides-140
HYMP
smart missiles
EWO

Ghostkeel-140
Cyclic ion raker
Fusion

Riptide-205
EWO
Heavy burst cannon
Missile pods
Velocity tracker

4 marker drones-56
4 marker drones-56

BULLY BOYZ-705
5 manz-235
Trukk
Ram
5 manz-235
Trukk
Ram
5 manz-235
Trukk
Ram

Almost seems like it would be a pretty in your face army to an extent even with the tau!!