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So while Mech is largely considered to be dead, I can't help but admire the toughness of spamming several AV12/13 fast skimmers, all of which have 5+ cover saves, or in the case of the Tau vehicles a 3+ cover save.

In previous games I've brought a lot of ranged anti-tank along with a smattering of melta to try to deal with this but when you've got 8-9 hulls of these on the table I find it extraordinarily difficult to get good results. Between hopping around and hiding behind cover or staying out of range of static ranged assets, combined with their ability to get where they need to go in a hurry, I find this type of list hard to play against.

So how do you deal with high armor, high speed, cover save spam mech lists, Dakka?

Indeed, target saturation is key if you want to run a successful mech army.
Skimmers are now rather vulnerable in cc, since the enemy hits on 3+ or better.
Three hull should not be difficult to strip off. Say a Predator with lascannon sponsons needs to hit 3 times (cover save failed) and the precious Falcon or whatnot is gone.

 wuestenfux wrote:
Indeed, target saturation is key if you want to run a successful mech army.
Skimmers are now rather vulnerable in cc, since the enemy hits on 3+ or better.
Three hull should not be difficult to strip off. Say a Predator with lascannon sponsons needs to hit 3 times (cover save failed) and the precious Falcon or whatnot is gone.

In my estimation, it would take 15 lascannon shots to achieve a 67% chance to bring down a Wave Serpent that isn't moving flat out. It will take 11 lascannon shots to to achieve a 67% chance to bring down a Falcon that isn't moving flat out. Even with the AP2, lascannons will more reliably strip hull points rather than pull off an exploding shot.

Assuming 8-9 models sporting cover saves... I would doubt most armies have the firepower to deal with all those hulls unless they are able to get into close combat, as you've pointed out. Even that is difficult to accomplish, considering the speed of the vehicle. Against a good general, you'll get into close combat with a fast vehicle like that because they allowed you to.