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As requested a list specifically built to take down Tau with Eldar.

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The pathfinders can infiltrate forward to keep in range of the Tau.

Dark Reapers outrange the Tau. The EML are good enough to take on the Hammerheads, and crack shot negates their save. Once you knock out the vehicles, you can take on crisis suits.

Eldrad fortunes the two reaper units.

Scorpions come on and if they survive the resulting firestorm, you roll the Tau up with them.

Just don't forget to move as far forward with the pathfinders at the start of the game as you can, and with the scorpions run them towards the Tau so they can't JSJ away effectively.

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1750 Pts - Eldar Roster

1 Eldrad Ulthran @ 210 Pts
Psyker; Doom ; Eldritch Storm ; Fortune ; Guide ; Mind War ; Divination; Fleet; Independent Character; Ghost Helm (GH); Rune Armour (RAmr); Runes of Warding (RofWard); Runes of Witnessing (RofWit); Spirit Stones (P:SpStn); Shuriken Pistol (Sp); Witchblade (WB); Staff of Ulthamar (SofU)

10 Pathfinders (Rangers) @ 240 Pts
Fleet; Infiltrate; Move Through Cover; Stealth; Ignore Difficult Terrain; Pathfinder Stealth; Scouts; Pathfinders; Shuriken Pistol (Sp) (x10); Ranger Long Rifle (RLRifle)

10 Pathfinders (Rangers) @ 240 Pts
Fleet; Infiltrate; Move Through Cover; Stealth; Ignore Difficult Terrain; Pathfinder Stealth; Scouts; Pathfinders; Shuriken Pistol (Sp) (x10); Ranger Long Rifle (RLRifle)

9 Striking Scorpions @ 212 Pts
Mandiblaster (Mb); Scorpion Chainsword (SCs); Shuriken Pistol (Sp); Plasma Grenades (PG)
1 Striking Scorpion Exarch @ [68] Pts
Shadowstrike; Mandiblaster (Mb); Scorpion Claw (SClaw); Biting Blade (BB); Plasma Grenades (PG)

9 Striking Scorpions @ 217 Pts
Mandiblaster (Mb); Scorpion Chainsword (SCs); Shuriken Pistol (Sp); Plasma Grenades (PG)
1 Striking Scorpion Exarch @ [73] Pts
Shadowstrike; Stalker; Mandiblaster (Mb); Scorpion Claw (SClaw); Biting Blade (BB); Plasma Grenades (PG)

9 Striking Scorpions @ 217 Pts
Mandiblaster (Mb); Scorpion Chainsword (SCs); Shuriken Pistol (Sp); Plasma Grenades (PG)
1 Striking Scorpion Exarch @ [73] Pts
Shadowstrike; Stalker; Mandiblaster (Mb); Scorpion Claw (SClaw); Biting Blade (BB); Plasma Grenades (PG)

4 Dark Reapers @ 207 Pts
Reaper Launcher (RL)
1 Dark Reaper Exarch @ [67] Pts
Crack Shot (CS); Missile Launcher (ML)

4 Dark Reapers @ 207 Pts
Reaper Launcher (RL)
1 Dark Reaper Exarch @ [67] Pts
Crack Shot (CS); Missile Launcher (ML)

Total Roster Cost: 1750

This may sound like a stupid question to you but, which of these units is going to take down the 6 - 7 skimmers the Tau will be bringing in a 1750 points game?

Hooray! This was requested by me.

Looks good! I have the same worries about the skimmers, but just for railheads. I have no fears for fish with this list.

I was thinking guardians with platforms to keep it on foot, but I dont know about it. They just arent reliable enough to down the two to three railheads that will be brought.

Stelek?

Not all tau bring fish of fury. It's a weak army unless the tau player is spamming tons of them. 6-7 isn't tons of skimmers.

The reapers are fairly reliable at killing fish, and since they are slow, you can afford to kill 1-2 a turn for 2 turns. It's not like the Tau are going to be trying to shoot the Dark Reapers dead, since they pretty much can't do so...and the reapers will rip up any FW that get out.

Also, Pathfinders can drop Devilfish. Not incredibly likely but not outside the range of possibility.

I'd never run guardians against Tau. Tau eat guardians for breakfast.

Those two EMLs that you're relying on for anti-tank will have a tough time cracking the AV13 that the Hammerheads have - glance on a 5 pen on a 6? With two shots a turn? Not great odds, but maybe eventually they'll get them all. It's a lot less anti-tank than I'd be used to playing with.

Great list, as always. Scorpions can handle both troops and tanks. However, they should go for troops in the first place.

Hammerheads become useless once you take the weapon off.

That's all you are aiming for.

Removing the tau's cover saves (which they rely upon) off their vehicles will make your dark reapers a big target.

Sadly, Tau don't pack close range AP2 or AP3 firepower so the reapers can sit at 48" and ruin your whole army and you can't do anything about it.

What's it matter if the Eldar win slow? Tau can pee up the 3+ reroll tree if they really want to, I know I'd be more likely to hope my kroot can dislodge them in CC than believe any of my shooting will do so.

When your disruption pods, torrent of fire ability, and markerlights suddenly become useless...what do you do as a Tau player?

Besides gnash your teeth, mutter cheese, and flail your arms?

wouldn't Tau drop their own S6 templates on the reapers with the hammerhead?
Also, wouldn't battlesuits do something about the guys lodged in the trees (for example, flamers are becoming more popular among Tau).
What would you do against those situations?

Yes, and Reapers have a 3+ save and should be spread out so you hit 3, wound slightly less than 3...and they save. Woo.

Battlesuits cannot deep strike in front of reapers, nor do flamers kill reapers (they do kill rangers, but so what?) since reapers have a 3+ save.

Reapers kill battlesuits, battlesuits do not kill fortuned reapers unless they are not in cover and the suits can drop plasma fire on them. A strong battlesuit attack with meltas and PG rapidfiring will probably gut a reaper squad even in cover and with fortune up...and there's nothing you can do about it. Except wonder how he's going to beat other armies, since that's a very unusual suit configuration and isn't suited to a all-round Tau army.

Stelek wrote:Not all tau bring fish of fury. It's a weak army unless the tau player is spamming tons of them. 6-7 isn't tons of skimmers.

The reapers are fairly reliable at killing fish, and since they are slow, you can afford to kill 1-2 a turn for 2 turns. It's not like the Tau are going to be trying to shoot the Dark Reapers dead, since they pretty much can't do so...and the reapers will rip up any FW that get out.

Also, Pathfinders can drop Devilfish. Not incredibly likely but not outside the range of possibility.

I'd never run guardians against Tau. Tau eat guardians for breakfast.

The missile launcher exarchs will kill 1-2 each turn? When I do the math they seem to kill way less.
5/6 * 1/3 * 1/3 = 5/54
So the exarchs will have a combined chance of bringing down 1 devilfish in a turn of:
5/54 * 49/54 * 2 + 5/54 * 5/54 = 0.177

This doesn't seem like 1-2 devilfish kills reliably per turn.
So all the tau will do is just ignore the reapers and kill the rest and win by claiming an objective.

An immobile Devilfish is effectively 'dead'. So is a 'stunned' one. Yes you have to shoot it again, and so what? Most Tau don't have more than 4 Devilfish. There are 5 turns. It's not that difficult to wreck 4 Devilfish.

When you say kill the rest, you mean the pathfinders because they'll be on the objective. Then you realize you are Tau, and you can't reliably kill those so you'd better be able to tank shock them off the objective.

Reapers kill battlesuits, battlesuits do not kill fortuned reapers unless they are not in cover and the suits can drop plasma fire on them. A strong battlesuit attack with meltas and PG rapidfiring will probably gut a reaper squad even in cover and with fortune up...and there's nothing you can do about it. Except wonder how he's going to beat other armies, since that's a very unusual suit configuration and isn't suited to a all-round Tau army.

Well this is a sort of strange point to make when you consider that this list is tailored to fight Tau. I certainly expect this list to do well the first time it fights Tau but the next time, the Tau player will tailor his list to fight it. That crisis configuration is definitely not an all-comers one but neither is this list. I'm not faulting the list, it certainly does what it is designed to do, just pointing out that it will probably only work once as list tailoring tends to promote list tailoring.

You are correct, ihockert.

I never tailor lists, but I was asked to so...there it is.

Strong non-mech tau lists usually don't have much more than a hammerhead. It's the battlesuits you have to worry about, and the pathfinders New and Nerfed Rending on the rifles will help a lot.

Good tailored list...

i like the list, a few questions about whether or not eldrad should be there but good list anyway

Eldrad's just the easiest way to get all of the wargear+powers+himself. Guide is obvious, and Eldritch is a good backup for Kroot that make their way too far forward. That's when you can afford not to Fortune as well - but the last thing you want is the Reapers tied in combat.

Personally, I would try to get up close as soon as possible.