Tau w/Space Marine Allies 1.5k

[ElectricPaladin]

Here's a thought.... and I have the spare Space Marines to pull it off.

HQ
• Crisis Suit Commander w/Missile Pod, Multi-Tracker, Plasma Rifle, Shield Drones x2

Elites
• 3 Crisis Suits w/Missile Pod, Multi-Tracker, Plasma Rifle

Troops
• 10 Fire Warriors, Shas'ui w/Bonding Knife in a Devilfish w/Gun Drones & Sensor Spines
• 10 Fire Warriors, Shas'ui w/Bonding Knife in a Devilfish w/Gun Drones & Sensor Spines

Fast Attack
• 2 Tetra Scout Speeders

Heavy Support
• 3 Broadsides
• Hammerhead w/Burst Cannons, Railgun

HQ
• Librarian

Troops
• 10 Tactical Marines, 1 Meltagun, 1 Multi-Melta, Power Sword Sergeant, in a Drop Pod

Basically, the Space Marines are a distraction. I can drop them right up in my opponent's face. Meltaguns can take on heavy armor or threaten vehicles, while rapid-firing boltguns are pretty damn good at shredding infantry. The Librarian drops with the Tac Marines and gives me the possibility of canceling out enemy Psykers. While my Space Marines are distracting my opponent or stubbornly hanging on to an objective, my Tau have a chance to maneuver into position, assault objectives, and otherwise get **** done

The only thing I'd love to scare up the points for is a pair of shield drones.

Anyway, what do you think?

[Chexmix282]

Hmmmmm. I like it. IT gives Tau an option that they did not have (turn 1 deep strikes).

The only think I would suggest is giving the SM sergeant Meltabombs and a Combi-Melta instead of the Power Sword... That extra Melta shot will help considerably on the turn they come down, and they likely won't be seeing any combats that they can win (as the charges will be on your opponents terms; they have to sit around for a turn).

Hope that helps :)

EDIT: I'm not sure wat powers you have chosen for your Librarian, but Null Zone would work really well with your Plasma and Railguns,. Food for thought.

[Lemt]

Just a though, but why not pull the spesh mahrins from the wolves? The same thing with Grey Hunters costs a few points less. 2 meltaguns instead of meltagun and MM, but the "librarian" is much better.

[ElectricPaladin]

Just a though, but why not pull the spesh mahrins from the wolves? The same thing with Grey Hunters costs a few points less. 2 meltaguns instead of meltagun and MM, but the "librarian" is much better.

Space Wolves can't ally as closely with Tau. Part of the appeal is that the Librarian can use his psychic powers on nearby Tau units.

Also, I had another thought. If I replace the second Devilfish team with a Kroot Squad, I can put a pair of shield drones on my Broadsides and blacksun filters on my Fire Warrior leader, one of my tetras, and the hammerhead. And then I still have another 79 points left to play with. Not sure what to spend those one - maybe something from Space Marines? Any suggestions?

What I like about this idea is that with the addition of Space Marines I already have two units of hard-to-crack infantry (Fire Warriors in a transport and Space Marines with their freaking 3+ saves). Now I can support my deep striking Marines with outflanking or infiltrating Kroot.

And 79 points worth of... something else.

[Tauownz]

Hey EP, I like your thinking. I'm running Van SM allies too. And run a similar list but w/o the devilfish. I'd suggest the kroot as well. My last game I infiltrated a 20 man sqd. and dropped a pod of 10 tacs nearby and it was a major distraction and something my opponent had to deal with right away. Also you don't need a bsf on your tetra and btw nice to see a couple in your list. I run tetras as well, they are killer. I'd maybe use that extra 79 points on more troops ie: a 8 man FW team. Firewarriors got a big boost. Best of luck!!

[ElectricPaladin]

Hey EP, I like your thinking. I'm running Van SM allies too. And run a similar list but w/o the devilfish.

I'll have to try that out, but tbh, I love my Devlifishes. They are graet for keeping my Fire Warriors alive long enough to reach objectives. Without them, I find that they die in droves.


I'd suggest the kroot as well. My last game I infiltrated a 20 man sqd. and dropped a pod of 10 tacs nearby and it was a major distraction and something my opponent had to deal with right away.

That's the plan!


Also you don't need a bsf on your tetra and btw nice to see a couple in your list. I run tetras as well, they are killer.

I'm looking forward to it. The Tetras are going to be fun!

And, of course I don't need a bsf on them. Why did I have them there in the first place? You can't take a cover save against markerlights... dur... thanks.

[Lemt]

Consider the Thunderfire Cannon. It's a great anti-infantry unit, and now is even harder to kill.

[Vashtek]

What's also good about standard marines rather than wolves is that they can use combat tactics to retreat from combat when you want to so that your tau get to shoot them. Wolves can get bogged down and act as a block to your shooting.

[ElectricPaladin]

Consider the Thunderfire Cannon. It's a great anti-infantry unit, and now is even harder to kill.

I will consider that, though I've got to tell you, I'm a bit scared that this will lead to me developing a third army... Codex Marines.

Frankly, it's gotten pretty bad. I never should have picked a Chapter for these Marines (Blood Ravens) or started reading their fluff (psychic heavy? mysterious? potentially descended from the Thousand Suns?), because it sounds pretty cool. I'm guessing that this will eventually expand to form a smaller, secondary army.

Damn you, GW!

Anyway, at 1.5k I don't think I want to sacrifice any more Tauness to field more Space Marinety. However, in at 2k I could see adding a Thunderfire Cannon in another Drop Pod. I do have a second spare Drop Pod that I'm unlikely to use for its intended purpose. Given that I want to take advantage of Descent of Angels in my Blood Angels army, and for everything that I hold in reserve I need to have one thing on the table, things that begin in play are at a premium, and Drop Pods are a liability.

[Seirin]

While the idea of a distraction is all well and good, I personally don't much like the idea of a suicide brigade. Marines are only marines and essentially you'll be handing your opponent both a kill point and a spring board (charge + advance).

In my opinion, allies should offer an army something they don't already have. Libby aside, a tactical squad offers standard firepower - something Tau already have a lot of. If you were going to use this method, I would honestly keep the libby with your tau so you can prescience them, rather than sacrifice it with your tacticals.

On another note, have you considered allying GKs to tau? For the same price as 10 tacticals, libby and pod you could get 5 terminators and a better libby with a few points left over. This gets you both a distraction unit and a very solid close combat unit - something tau absolutely lack.

[ElectricPaladin]

While the idea of a distraction is all well and good, I personally don't much like the idea of a suicide brigade. Marines are only marines and essentially you'll be handing your opponent both a kill point and a spring board (charge + advance).

In my opinion, allies should offer an army something they don't already have. Libby aside, a tactical squad offers standard firepower - something Tau already have a lot of. If you were going to use this method, I would honestly keep the libby with your tau so you can prescience them, rather than sacrifice it with your tacticals.

On another note, have you considered allying GKs to tau? For the same price as 10 tacticals, libby and pod you could get 5 terminators and a better libby with a few points left over. This gets you both a distraction unit and a very solid close combat unit - something tau absolutely lack.

I talk about the marines as though they were a suicide squad, but that's really not what I mean. What they are is a fork, in the chess sense. The goal is to put my opponent in a "a difficult position in which he cannot counter all threats" (thanks Wikipedia!). When the Space Marines drop on turn one, my opponent has a choice. He can divert firepower at the Marines, which is a bad choice because 1) Marines are very hard to kill and 2) it allows my Tau time to maneuver into position (Devilfish advancing on objectives, Kroot and Tetras outflanking, XV8s deep striking... whatever). Alternately, he can attack my Tau, which is a bad choice because 1) there are a bunch of rapid-firing Marines firing their boltguns at his face!

Whatever he choses, I have the opportunity to seize the advantage.

I'll consider messing with Grey Knights, though to be honest, I am quite put off by their fluff, look, and reputation. I guess I could try assembling and painting them as Exorcists... that would help a little.

Like I said, I'll consider it. However, the other advantage that this strategy has is, as I pointed out above, it gives me something to do with the tactical marines I have lying around and am unlikely to use in my Blood Angels army. The same can't be said for the Grey Knights. I investigated the idea of using my leftover models to start a small Exorcists Chapter force some time ago, but the Grey Knights Codex is weird - doesn't seem to use a lot of standard Space Marines models - and I'd have to buy more plastic.

And that is something I avoid whenever possible :p.

[Seirin]

Fair enough on the GK point, though I find if you don't use any named characters then the fluff is plenty acceptable.

As for marines, to call them 'very hard' to kill isn't right. TH/SS termies can be HARD to kill, but basic marines die in droves quite easily. If you play them then I would suggest two things - 1; use them to target back-line stuff (this means if the opponent charges them he/she can't 'springboard' towards ur tau, and u can kill tanks with melta nicely) and 2; write them off and be pleased if any survive - I know I for one would see it as an easy 1/3ish of your army to destroy in one easy turn.

[ElectricPaladin]

Fair enough on the GK point, though I find if you don't use any named characters then the fluff is plenty acceptable.

As for marines, to call them 'very hard' to kill isn't right. TH/SS termies can be HARD to kill, but basic marines die in droves quite easily. If you play them then I would suggest two things - 1; use them to target back-line stuff (this means if the opponent charges them he/she can't 'springboard' towards ur tau, and u can kill tanks with melta nicely) and 2; write them off and be pleased if any survive - I know I for one would see it as an easy 1/3ish of your army to destroy in one easy turn.

Well, they're harder to kill than my Tau, anyway :o.

I'll keep your tactical notes in mind. They seem accurate.