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Roughly a month ago, I played against fellow Dakkalite Centurionpainting using my Tau + Eldar against his Traitor Guard. Contrary to what you might think, there were no Chaos Space Marines or Daemon detachment. He brought a beautifully painted chaos themed Guard army. It was opponent's first game of 6th ed. It was also my first game using Eldar as a detachment for my Tau.

Army List

Traitor Guard (codex Imperial Guard):
-CCS, Power Sword, Vox, 3 Plasmaguns
-Lord Comissar
-PCS, Vox, Plasma Gun, Autocannon
-Infantry Squad, Plasmagun, Autocannon, Vox, Chimera, Heavy Flamer, Multi-laser, Extra Armour
-Infantry Squad, Plasmagun, Autocannon, Vox
-Special Weapons, Meltagun, Plasma Gun, Demolition Charge
-PCS, Missile, Vox, Plasmagun
-Infantry Squad, Plasmagun, Missile Launcher
-Infantry Squad, Plasmagun, Missile Launcher
-Heavy Weapon Squad with 3 Missile launchers
-10 Vets with meltaguns, Chimera, Heavy Flamer, Multi-laser, Extra Armour
-10 Storm Troopers, 2 Meltaguns, plas pistol
-Sentinals, Lascannon
-Sentinals, Lascannon
-Basilisk
-Leman Russ, 3 Heavy Bolters

Shadow Cadre (Tau):
-Shas'el, Plasma Rifle, Missile Pod, Multi-tracker
-2 Crisis Suits, Plasma Rifle, Missile Pod, Multi-tracker
-3 Crisis Suits, Plasma Rifle, Missile Pod, Multi-tracker
-3 Crisis Suits, Plasma Rifle, Missile Pod, Multi-tracker
-12 Fire Warriors
-12 Fire Warriors
-18 Kroots, 1 Kroot Hound
-Broadside, Advance Stabilization System
-Broadside, Advance Stabilization System
-Broadside, Advance Stabilization System

Detachment:
-Eldrad
-5 Rangers

Link to slideshow
https://picasaweb.google.com/101004510049334313538/1500ptsTauEldarVsImperialGuard?noredirect=1#5770849967404442050

Post-Game Analysis:

This was brutal!

Eldrad + Tau with no marker lights seems to be very strong! I wonder if this or a very similar list can be used to win a large tournament in the 1500-1850 point level!?

Thank you for taking the time to write the report, it was most enjoyable to go through it!

I really like the slideshow format you used to give a blow by blow of the battle. Amazing your kroot made morale tests to stay around so long (or is that some Eldar trick I don't know about?). Thanks for taking the time to post it.

 Grey Therion wrote:
This was brutal!

Eldrad + Tau with no marker lights seems to be very strong! I wonder if this or a very similar list can be used to win a large tournament in the 1500-1850 point level!?

Thank you for taking the time to write the report, it was most enjoyable to go through it!

Thanks!

Eldrad's double Prescience makes Tau shooting twice as deadly. I'm not sure how this combo will perform in trounaments. Even with re-rolls to hit, flyers are still tough to counter.

I actually lost against Janthkin's Necrons a few weeks ago. One thing my list doesn't do well against is horde. Perhaps Hammerheads will become popular against thanks to their high front AV and natural jink save.

Forterix wrote:
I really like the slideshow format you used to give a blow by blow of the battle. Amazing your kroot made morale tests to stay around so long (or is that some Eldar trick I don't know about?). Thanks for taking the time to post it.

My opponent was rolling well. Shame Avatar doesn't make non-Eldar units fearless. 100 Fearless Kroots around an Avatar will be a sight to behold!

Glad you enjoy my format. Slideshow is easy to implement and easy to present.

Good battle report. I like your slideshow format.

Regarding the battle, there were 2 mistakes made in the game which I think you are probably now aware of.

1. Cannot mix-&-match psychic powers from the codex and rulebook. It's either all from the codex or all from the rulebook.

2. You opponent could not use Deny the Witch if the power wasn't targeting his unit.


And BTW, Janthkin's necrons are just too fast. They're beatable but they can put a lot of pressure on your army all at once. You only get perhaps 1 turn of shooting at them before they are on you like flypaper.

Also enjoyed the format - very easy to follow.

I don't take eldrad but eldar allies - esp farseers - have given the Tau a new dimension. Not just psychic powers beating pathfinders with markerlights, but LD10 is amazing.

Also on your other point - I have started taking Hammerheads in 6th ed now as they are so much better!

ps jy2 is correct re: mixing deck/codex powers - not allowed sadly. I get round this by running an eldar primary detachment - one farseer gets eldar powers, one gets divination!

I already mentioned both mistakes in the battle report. Neither made a difference in this game. My list had a lot of synergy and my opponent's dice weren't hot.

In my game against Janthkin, I learned Tau just doesn't have enough fire power to take on a horde of Scarabs backed by 5 Spyders, Doom Scythe, and 2 units of 10 Immortals disembarking from 2 Night Scythes. Janthkin overwhelmed me in that game. My Fire Warriors got a taste of their own medicine after being shot by Str5 gauss weapons.

Really liked the battle report slideshow. It really was easy to understand.
Beautiful battle report, sad that renegades didn't win but that's life.
As for tau+eldar it seems that it is a bit powerful but still I want to see it against a list more competitive.

Nicely done saberx

I'm just now getting into Tau as well as a bit of eldar myself. I honestly forgot that eldrad can actually buff 2 different units a turn though he is damn expensive in the list.

From your experiences so far, do you think it's better to use like pathfinders to hold down an aegis defense line and have farseer shoot the gun?

or

maybe use jetbike seer + guardians on jetbikes for ablative wounds and mobility to do last minute contests/keep runes of warding alive?

 avedominusnox wrote:
Really liked the battle report slideshow. It really was easy to understand.
Beautiful battle report, sad that renegades didn't win but that's life.
As for tau+eldar it seems that it is a bit powerful but still I want to see it against a list more competitive.

I faced against Janthkin's Necrons and lost. Part of it was due to random river granting granting FNP and a piece of terrain being low enough for his scarabs to craw under out of TLOS. Though the real reason was Janthkin's stellar generalship and his list being both resilient and mobile.

 sudojoe wrote:
Nicely done saberx

I'm just now getting into Tau as well as a bit of eldar myself. I honestly forgot that eldrad can actually buff 2 different units a turn though he is damn expensive in the list.

From your experiences so far, do you think it's better to use like pathfinders to hold down an aegis defense line and have farseer shoot the gun?

or

maybe use jetbike seer + guardians on jetbikes for ablative wounds and mobility to do last minute contests/keep runes of warding alive?

I don't own any jetbikes. On paper they seem perfect fit with Tau. They are mobile, MEQ like stats, and cheaper than rangers or pathfinders. There's a couple competitive players that have success running jetbikes.

In that game, I had rangers shoot the Quad Gun. Choose the lease effective unit that has a good ballistic skill to man the Quad Gun.

The Aegis is great for providing Fire Warriors cover saves.

While Eldrad is expensive, you can expect he will definitely makes his points back. He's better than Tau Pathfinders being able to buff two units with the same power and use a third.

To all you Tau players out there, I suggest you buy Eldrad + 3 Jetbikes or a small unit of rangers/pathfinders. You don't need a full Eldar detatchment. A bare minimum detachment compliments Tau well. It provides psychic defense, increase shooting effectiveness, and provide either a mobile scoring unit or one with good cover saves.