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My friend and I had a dispute over which of these two races outnumbered the other, and I wanted to get a larger consensus on this question. The Eldar are an ancient, but dying, race that was once numerous and now scattered across the galaxy on Craftworlds, Exodite worlds, and fleets. And so it's obvious that they're no longer what they once were... however, the Tau only inhabit a small part of the galaxy, but are arguably in their prime as a civilization. Still, they're still quite small in the grand scheme of things.

So I submit to you, if we took every Tau and every Eldar and counted them one by one... who would outnumber who?

If you like in the new rulebook, it has a galaxy map of both Eldar and Tau territory. Just by looking at the map it's easy to see that while the Eldar are dying, the Exodotes still populate many worlds on the outer fringes of the galaxy.

True, but they are small populations. Tau move onto a planet and begin colonization. And from IA3 and all the other fluff I have read they don't really do things "small" in terms of conquest and colonization. They commit and they commit big. Hence my vote.

Tau are more numerous because there are more 12-32 year-old animetards playing them

This isn't to say there aren't f**king ancient Tau players either and I'm not trying to bash them

What about 32 year old Anime tards??? Hey, Robotech was the reason I got into anime...AND the reason I started a Tau army.

Okay I've edited my post so you'll feel better

Tau 63% [ 5 ]
Eldar 38% [ 3 ] weird it said this after i voted lol

Just wanted to note, that I didn't mean models, armies, or the number of players playing these... I wanted answers based on actual warhammer lore.

Those of you who did this, thanks for your input.

Tau... eventually.

Tau planets are still way less populated than most human cities are.

Meanwhile the Eldar have craftworlds, the maiden worlds, and Commorragh.

There are a lot of maiden worlds, and the craftworlds and Commorragh are probably populated pretty densely.

I'm inclined to go with the Eldar on this one, although I don't know how you could tell for sure.

It could easily be Eldar, if they wanted to.
But doing so they'll probably spawn another chaos god
strong enough to wipe out the galaxy.

Are we counting Dark Eldar as Eldar, or just plain "good" (for lack of a better term) eldar?

I would have to say the eldar because the 'nids are taking huge bites out of the tau "empire" although the eldar have had there issues with them

Tau based purely on the fluff.

No wishful thinking about Tyranids devouring the Tau or the exodites contributing to active armies. Just actual comparison of craft worlds to sept worlds the only ones that have any real basis as to numbering for they are the only ones specifically named.

If we're talking about as races, then surely dark eldar would tip the scale?

Maybe eldar.
Tau are more a "confederation of xenos", so eldar bases/worlds could have lower population than Tau bases/worlds but still superior numbers of eldar. Also 8 main sept (Tau) vs 11 eldar craftworlds. + 8 minor sept (Tau) vs 17 maiden worlds.

I do believe it is more likely to see eldar win this

The question was Eldar vs Tau, not Dark Eldar. Throwing them in balances it out overall, but it wasn't the original question.

Eldar still outnumber Tau for now.
It all depends on whether the Tau are still able to expand their borders. Eldar are dwindling away but Imperial maps only show the known Craftworlds, exodite planets etc...

Good thing for the Tau that the Imperium is preoccupied with its other problems. Otherwise the Tau would have a lot more problems to deal with.

do you mean tau as the species or the tau empire (kroot, vespid, tau)?

Okay, for clarification I mean Good Eldar, and the entire Tau empire.

Thanks for the input.

Howdy all, im the other guy in this friendly dispute, and as you saw my vote is for the Tau. The terms "growing" and "dwindling" even on a galactic scale still means something to me in terms of swaying my opinion. Yes Eldar have their craftworlds, but the craftworlds in themselves are just giant ships that are roughly the size of a small world, and some (Iyanden for example) are almost extinct of Eldar.

And what Eldar that did vacate to the Exodite worlds im sure dont come close or at least tie the average Tau world. And though the Tau as an empire consists of a small part of the galaxy, it's still a part, still several systems with many worlds, each populated by anywhere to a few million to a few billion Tau. In my opinion the area of space the Tau empire takes up is too expansive to leave much doubt to the fact that even though the Eldar have their "dwindling" Craftworlds and their Exodite worlds they do not have the numbers to outmatch the Tau as a whole.

Thanks for listening Daakites, Waagh! and such

It's pretty close, but I say the edge goes to the Eldar, simply due to their elongated lifespans. They don't die off as quickly as Tau

Aren't the Eldar on the edge of extinction? And don't the Tau have a massive flourishing empire?