Tau Allies

[Panxer]

I seek suggestions for Allies for my 3rd sphere renegade Cadre. This is what I have been thinking

SM: Captain/Chaplain, x2 squads of scouts with sniper rifles, and a full squad of jump marines with power swords, melta bombs, and plasma pistols.

Guard: Commander with command squad, master of ord, and fleet officer, x2 units of veterans w/ chimeras and meltas, Manticore(?) and a full squad of storm troopers.

Eldar: Not interested (Yes I know they have awesome psyker abilities, warp spiders, and jet bikes...I don't care)

Any other suggestions would be hot...

[Tynskel]

I would make the assault squad a vanguard squad.

[Learn2Eel]

My general advice with Allies is to take ones that are either fluffy or help to cover up weaknesses in your army list/codex. In terms of Tau, durable Troops are a good bet, as are some fast moving, useful assault troops. Being Tau, you don't lack for quality or quantitative shooting. An army with ready access to flyers would also be good. Imperial Guard are a great bet, as nearly anything you need to help out the Tau you have can be had.

[Panxer]

Right. I was trying to shear up the Tau being woefully weak in close combat...hence the space marines... Now, Tau ALSO have no real sniping capability (yeah we have sniper drones *w/ 2+ cover and sniper rifles, but they are only AP3, they don't pin, the don't rend, and don't have the sniper special rule) So, if you have 2 scout sniper squads (maybe throw in Tellion), an HQ (Chaplain with a jump pack maybe) or Lysander, AND a full squad of Jump marines with meltas, bombs, and power weapons, and you have something that can hand out some serious damage in hand to hand as well as supplement the Tau being able to pinpoint targets around the board with the rending rule...

Sound sound?

[Aegwymourn]

Really I am not a fan of assault marines, I'm with Tynskel that you should upgrade them to vanguard. That said I don't know why you would need/want sniper rifles, not to mention for really good ones you discounted eldar that have some of the best out there. Personally I have been using the following sm allies: librarian TA; TH/SS terminators; Tac squads; Devastators with Plasma Cannons. Was a really fun to play with some of my more standard tau units bringing a lot to the table. You have a super durable smashy close combat unit. a little psyker defence, and null zone is amazing. and you get a lot of AP blast template death. It becomes a lot harder for armies to try and assault you when they can't clump closer together to get around terrain/change directions.

[Tynskel]

Tau have awesome fliers, and do not really need flyer support.

[Panxer]

Agreed. I have a Remora I made from a skyray kit. They're neat to psyche out the enemy and are good for sky fire, but nothing an aegis defense line couldn't do for less and for a better bs skill and range... I'm thinking of going with a couple squads of scouts w/ sniper rifles or two squads of marines w/ drop pods, and commander w/ either termie armor or some such equivalent... I don't expect my marines to do anything really other than tie up cc units which I don't want to advance on me in short order and snipe at key targets to supplement my rail rain.

Now, can marines benefit from marker lights being as they are bloodbrothers?