That's why my two first instincts were SM and CSM. Because while Eldar have the best psykers they lack the 'meaty' units that would add resilience to a Tau army. If I went Eldar I guess Dark Reapers aren't bad, but like I said, I hate a stationary approach. Rangers are better in this regard since you have to have a troops choice, but right now they are past the threshold of how cheesy I can be per my personal morals. That leaves jetbikes which are fairly resilient compared to much of my Tau choices, and a natural choice of unit for a farseer to join.

However, I went and had a look at a different forum where people were saying guide does not actually work on allies. If this is true the whole thing falls apart. But as of now, it's word against word. I personally could not in a brief amount of time find absolute clarification anywhere.

As for marines, Scouts are very similar to Fire Warriors because of their armor save. The only reason I went looking at them was because of the Land Speeder Storm, but that would be kind of a flimsy reason to ally in the first place.

Thus, I am tempted to test scout bikes with a librarian on bike. Mostly because, as I read it, the Tau allies can use the no-scatter beacon for deep strikes. That is immensely valuable to Tau. As for troops, nobody ever complained about tactical marines, and I see no reason to overthink it.

The optimal solution would be Blood Angels with Assault Marines as troops, but strangely, they are not battle brothers and thus any scout bikes wouldn't contribute with their beacon.

As for Chaos Marines, I've yet to gain a clear eureka moment on what else to take than a psyker. Plague marines not even being able to be troops really lowers my willingness to try, even. I'm thinking CSM/Tau would work better if Tau were the allies of the CSM's primary detachment. Unfortunately.

Lastly (for now) - Necrons. The Necron fliers are very, very tempting. With wraiths to provide that vital resilience and assault denial. With the amazing HQ you get in on the deal, makes Necrons look like the ultimate option, which to me is a bit sad, since they are considered the best army on the field right now. I was really hoping synergy with a different race would be even better than just "necrons, because they're necrons".

I'm probably going to have to take a look at orks soon though

At least assault marines only scatter d6". I've also still run them in Razorbacks with much success despite not being able to assault out. Is there a points limit that you have in mind? I've been rolling around BA ally lists for a while now between Tau and Necrons, but some of the ideas get up to 1000 points.

How has no one suggested Orks? They act as meatshields for your nice Crisis Suits and can launch pretty brutal assault if you so require.

HQ:
Big Mek (Kustom Force Field, Eavy Armour, Cybork Body, Power Klaw)

Troops:
30 Shoota Boyz (Nob w/ Power Klaw, Bosspole and 'Eavy Armour)
30 Shoota Boyz (Nob w/ Power Klaw, Bosspole and 'Eavy Armour)

Elites:
12 Burna Boyz... lol

(Maybe) Fast Attack:
some Warbikers... not really necessary

You get the picture. Lots of bodies, lots of dakka, lots of fire. WAAGH!

It's true that guide does not work for allies, but the rulebook's prescience does! Simply take guide, and replace it for the primaris power on the divination table and you have a 12" range guide that works on allies too!

If you don't want a static approach (remember, just because you have a defense line doesn't mean you have to keep all your units behind it).

If you want a more mobile approach you could take a jetseer council, or an autarch with shining spears and jetbikes as your troops. I only suggested what i did because i tend to have a static element to my army (pathfinders, broadsides, et cetera), so the pathfinders and dark reapers just sit back with them. the dark reapers are your AP3, which are what tau lack, and the pathfinders are your durable objective holders and BS4 quad gun shooter, which is also what tau lack.

I did mention Orks... Well, I did mention that I was getting around to them eventually!

There has been some funny Tau + Ork horde armies floating around the web that look wacky fun... Once. But I'm sure if I had to move that many models around on a regular basis for hours at a time I'd go absolutely insane, especially Kroot, that get STUCK on EVERYTHING!

But yeah, those lists are invariably full of boyz and kroot, hording it up. And they seem to do well but on a casual level. I'm not sure how well it would work beyond that.

I especially wanted to get orks for some fast attack, if viable. Which is what this thread is intended to inspect. Bikes or koptas could work, you reckon? I do already have plenty of koptas lying around from the previous starter set, and I've read that they've become a lot more resilient and (more importantly) viable against medium tanks now. True/ False?

Exploring Orks as an option is certainly a good idea.

What would be good HQ to get? Because I'm completely Orky-HQ illiterate. What's the wording on a Big Mek bubble, can it help Tau?

Ah, I see. I often too have a less mobile component in my army, but I just like to keep it to a minimum. I read about a recent almost-success for a Tau player in a tournament who went 4-1 using 2 squads of 3 jetbikes as objects of attrition, and 3 War Walkers with Scatter Lasers. No doubt, scatter lasers are great, but no matter how good they are, the last thing Tau need in my opinion is more anti-horde/ anti- light vehicles.

I am a big fan of stealth suits for that, after they got updated to almost be worth their points cost. A stealth blob with maxed out gun drones is something I rarely run without now except when I have to plan for more than one game. Then I'd rather have more XV8 with Fireknife. In that case, War Walkers do become rather alluring. I just feel that against most armies, the WWs and the Hammerhead will kind of step on eachother's turf, as Submunitions are really good, especially now with the blast buff.

But I'm off on a tangent now. Thanks for the insight on the Farseer trick, this really cleared my confusion right up.

Right now, I see the mentioned armies so far as:

Eldar = Necrons > Space Marines > > Chaos Marines
Orks... In progress

Well, hopefully this thread will be helpful for more than just me! Hehe. That said though, me and my group usually hover around the 2000 point mark. Oddly, for some reason, I think our most often played value is 1850. I would however like Tau to be the majority of the army in at least model count.

Oh snap! I just got the Space Marine FAQ, and the wording of techmarine/ MoF changed to repairing VEHICLE HIT POINTS? That is shocking. It also can repair any friendly vehicle. Since I always run 3 Hammerheads, this is really mouthwatering.

Could it work? How do Techmarines/ MoFs fare in pure SM armies currently?


Edit: Sorry for the double post.

Alright, the original post has been updated with findings so far. I've also tried to clarify what it is exactly I'm looking for here.

Do note that I'll be playtesting any strong ideas that come up in this thread as I have access to pretty much any units we can ally in as Tau.

Im kind of in the Eldar allies camp idea too, sad bout Guide
How about Doom though? Same shit? Cos thats always nice too, even more so since Tau can fix their own BS with markers.

Regarding units I would go to something like Harlies and a Rap...eh Wraithlord and some kind of troop to add to that.

Harlies have a boatload of rending which is a lot better with Doomed targets and survivability against shooting and the rap...Wraithlord can bog down certain units eternally which is good.

I'll have you know that Magpie is an outstanding member of this community and has even gone as far as earning the "Crest of the Wise" award.

The fact that he called you a knob/wanker is no different from you calling him a little douche (also the fact that you don't know how old he is). If you are going to go and insult someone back, don't criticize them for doing it, especially when it is someone who has contributed more than you to this forum.