Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Right, so i played a game on tuesday night against a different opponent than usual (i'd expected eldar) and to my surprise he had a fantastically painted tau army; i'd never played against them before and thought that it would be fun. we played 1750 points each and i got absoulutely massacred.

in summary: i destroyed a Hammerhead and a squad of Pathfinders and he pulverised everything of mine

heres my close combat-themed list

HQ
1x Avatar of Khaine, the wrath of Sphynx and Scourge of Iyanden (sorry bit carried away) 155
E
5x Wraithguard; w/spiritseer (enhance, singing spear) 224
6x Striking Scorpions; w/exarch (biting blade, Shadowstrike) 133
T
10x Storm Guardians; w/flamer, fusion, spiritseer (enhance, singing spear) 141
12x Defender Guardians; w/brightlance platform, spiritseer (singing spear) 160
8x Dire Avengers; w/exarch (shimmer shield and power weapon, defend, bladestorm) 153
8x Dire Avengers; w/exarch (shuriken pistol and dire sword, defend, bladestorm) 148
HS
1x Wraithlord; w/shuriken cannon, flamer, shuriken catapult, (wraithblade) 110
1x Wraithlord; w/twin linked brightlances, flamer, flamer, (wraithblade) 180
1x Fire Prism; w/ shuriken cannon (holofields, spirit stones,) 170
TRANSPORT
1x Wave Serpent; w/ twinlinked eldar missile launchers, shuriken cannon, (vectored
engines, star engines, spiritstones[for the storm guardians]) 175
---------
1749

how do i destroy tau with eldar? i need help. ill update with all my units if anyone feels nice enough to make me a list

Sadly, your army is a pretty good one for Tau to face. The Scorpions are quite an isolated unit for HTH, and are likely to get shot down quickly. Wraithlords and Wraithguard will always suffer against Tau due to the sheer number of S5 shots they can put out somewhat negating the benefits of their high Toughness.

I think, unfortunately, it's the way you've done your list. Getting into a shooting match with Tau, unless using Tau yourself is never a great idea, for obvious reasons, and sadly that seems to be your main option with this list. The Storm Guardians are probably his main worry, as mounted in the WaveSerpent, are swift and expendable enough to make a mess of his lines.

I think your Avatar is the main weakness here. Slow and somewhat ponderous for Eldar, he is easy meat for the Tau guns, whereas a Farseer can enjoy the protection of unit, and his psychic powers ought to prove very useful. For example, using Guide and Doom can beat the Tau at their own game, or at the very least allow you to really capitalise if you catch his suits in a bad position.

Eldar do not like tau. Eldar really like maneuverability, but for an army that really doesn't move all that much, speed and agility will not help you, unless you can break their battle line. You can do this with any infiltrating units.

Mass them on one flank. He reforms his line to kill your infiltrators, to do this he will have to move. Even if he is really good at movement/positioning, his movement will give you the opportunity to use speed to your advantage.

Infiltrators are fairly weak against Tau though. Nippy as they may well be, the tendancy they have to be lightly armoured makes them natural prey for any model of Battlesuits, barring of course Broadsides.

Add in the copious amounts of no LOS required SMS, and Infiltrators will find themselves cut to ribbons before long, with no need for the Tau player to alter his firebase.

And of course, there is always the utterly disposable Kroot to throw at them if need be.

hmm interesting. should i use my 14 rangers and 3 warwalkers next time?

ahh infilrtration! so obvious!

thanks. keep em comin!

You have a few issues of concern. Your Avatar is big, moderately scary, and slow. Are to absolutely in love with this guy, or do you think you could consider going with the Autarch of Iyanden, Prince Yriel? He's quite different from the Avatar, doesn't scream "SHOOT AT ME" when he's on the field, and can fit in a transport, all while still being a beast of a close-combat expert. His Eye of Wrath can butcher quite a few Kroot or Fire Warriors, too.

Also, nothing breaks up a tau fire fest like deep strike units, I don't know the new eldar codex so I'm keeping my comments general. However, I agree with the general consensus about the Avatar. I think that more striking scorpions would be better.

Do you have any CC infiltrators? Or guys that could kill tanks... or the farseer?

Ok... so... if your opponent deploys along the board edge, infiltrate within range of the farseer. Then shoot him dead. If tau still have that rule where they have to retreat d6" whenever the farseer dies, then you've killed about half his army. (I loved that trick in the old codex hehe...)

Again, deepstriking units aren't all that and a bag of potato chips against Tau. Useful, yes, but in a limited way.

It's always been my experience that anyone deepstriking against Tau soon gets shredded by lots of rapidfire Pulse Weapons, essentially giving the Tau a free kill. However, if you are ruthless enough, you can use this to cover your advance for a turn, as most guns will be used to molest the newly arrived unit before it can return the favour to the Tau units,

Exactly

Tau are asy to annoy... everyone's suggestions hav ebeen pretty much spot on. The thing with Eldar is that farseers are almost mandatory. They add so much to the list in terms of being able to guarantee that you can (when you absolutely have to) kill that must die unit. Also, the Tau have no way to counter his psychic powers.

The next is fairly obvious...CC. Tau stink at it. Get some even mildly decent HTH units into combat and you will disrupt the heck out of his line. Even storm guardians an do this for you.

ender502

when you say farseer you mean the Ethereal right?

well, i'll revist my list :s

LOL... oops.... sorry. And yes I do mean ethereal

(shame)