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I will soon be getting a 1700 point chaos space marine army for 185 bucks, my best friend plays tau and he is annoying as hell, he knows how to use them, previously I have tried using my guard army but every time I get slaughtered. I hope Chaos can change that, I don't think going over what I will get will matter as I plan to expand and get most of everything for Chaos. Some tactics for Chaos vs. Tau would be spectacular I can never get around the fact that Tau can move in the assault phase UGH!

As a unit Tau hate Chosen they outflank and are really annoying. As well as Termies. Those are units I would look into. Stay away from CSM Landraiders you will be railed to death. Zerkers are a good choice for your troops since they can cut through Kroot walls and make work of Suits. Use plague marines to hold objectives.

Just don't get into a shooting war, but I am sure you already knew that.

Zerkers and DS Termies. Melee the crap outta him and he's done... and watch for that nasty Railgun.

Do you have issues with Tau in general or does your friend play a specific type of Tau such as gun line Tau, Ninja Tau etc.

Personally in terms of tactics in general, assault him and limit the effectiveness of his key units. Try not to leave your units vulnerable to heavy shooting, be quick and decisive.

Swamp in CC, simple and repeated, but it is the best. As a former tau player, I hated it, when I had to engage in CC. Even with kroot, it is not a pretty picture for the tau. Chosen with meltas are good, as are termies. Also use terrain and get cover save from the plasma rifle which is the tau's main ap2 weapon. Plague marines are very hard for the Tau to shift out of terrain. Also the defiler's battle cannon will intas kill battle suits. Same with the demolisher cannon on the vindicator.

Oh yeah, definitely use the Defiler and nuke his units from afar. If possible, you could wreck him in CC if you get it close enough without getting blasted by the Railgun

Forget zerkers anything and everything you have can chew through tau and even kroot in CC. Mech Tau are the ony Tau chaos needs to worry about, and when you run into mech Tau you're going to need as many melta guns as possible. Zerkers don't carry melta guns.

There is a simple 2 step solution for dealing with Tau.
Step 1: Lash Pathfinders.
Step2: Kill Pathfinders.

Without pathfinders Tau are a very weak army.

As a rule, Tau hate

-Fast units which can engage in CC
-things with Feel No Pain
-Monstrous creatures

As it is, CSM codex has sufficient options there.

Well here is what my friend has, A hammerhead with Railgun and whatever other guns it comes with I honestly forgot (but really the railgun is the only thing that matters), he has two sqauds of fire warriors(24 total) with 4 drones, a devilfish with 8 fire warriors and two drones. A pirana, a Stealth team, a battlesuit commander (I hate 2+ invul saves!) 4 battlesuits in a squad an etheral that goes with the warriors in the devilfish, a broadside (I hate twin linked railguns!), two sha sui and pathfinders

To beat Tau with guard use this simple formula:

Manticores + LoS blocking terrain / bigger tanks = win.

For Chaos I can tell you I hate chosen, termies aren't bad but chosen suck to deal with.

I don't know as much about chaos as I should, but I know that, from a Tau perspective, I hate CC (obviously) hate units that I can't see, and I hate not having enough battlesuits. So, concentrate on getting into CC, eliminating his battlesuits, and staying out of sight of his longer ranged weapons (railguns, markerlights, single-fire pulse rifles).

Also, I'd be careful where you send your dedicated assault units. Don't think for a second Tau can actually win in CC, but some units (Broadsides, commander) can tie you up for three turns or more if you don't have any kind of power weapons or other good CC weapons. Just some food for thought.

Well here is what my friend has, A hammerhead with Railgun and whatever other guns it comes with I honestly forgot (but really the railgun is the only thing that matters), he has two sqauds of fire warriors(24 total) with 4 drones, a devilfish with 8 fire warriors and two drones. A pirana, a Stealth team, a battlesuit commander (I hate 2+ invul saves!) 4 battlesuits in a squad an etheral that goes with the warriors in the devilfish, a broadside (I hate twin linked railguns!), two sha sui and pathfinders

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well...this doesn't seem like a very strong list. What tactics does he use against you that are effective? What units do you have? (so more specific tactics can be formulated)

As a rule, Tau hate

-Fast units which can engage in CC
-things with Feel No Pain
-Monstrous creatures

As it is, CSM codex has sufficient options there.

Actually all of these are easy to deal with as tau, it seems like the answer to all of these are plasma rifles, which can cut through feel no pained marines and MCs.

I would say that you should mech up with marines with meltas, and pop smoke while rolling up to his lines. While you are doing this I would deepstrike a squad of assualt termies near his line as a bait. I can tell you from experience that the player with try to wipe these off the face of the planet. With this distraction you should keep moving your transports up into melta range and destroy high priority targets such as the hammerhead and broadsides. After that, assault assault assault.

A tactic that i used is running up with a DP w/ wings and winds of chaos. use him to assault and take out mechs while running up with a LR filled with zerkers. all the while my defiler shoot off his cannon, if you can get first turn you can do some damage