What tactics can you recommend for Tau against Eldar?

Answer 1

A good tactic for shutting down a shooty army such as the Tau is make sure they don't have anything much to shoot at! Choose to keep some of your units in reserve to get get behind the infamous gun-lines. Not only does this prevent the Tau disabling your units before you get to use them but it also means you have a higher chance of appearing on the board close enough to engage in close combat (Which is of course the Tau weak-spot as most units have a meager WS2 and I2)

Deploy skimmers/Jet Bikes etc behind terrain as it will protect them from the first round of shooting if the Tau end up taking first turn and won't hinder the movement or subsequent shooting of skimmers as they are able to move over difficult terrain without penalty in most cases. (The Fire Prism is a notable exception. It has a range 60" for a reason! Just keep that sucker away from harm and be content to let it take pot-shots from max range.)

Pulse rifles tend to tear through foot-slogging aspect warriors like nobodies business and will generally get of one or two rounds of range 30" shots before you are able to bring your eldar weapons into range. To combat this use Wave Serpents moving at full-tilt to inject your forces into the enemy lines.

This is also especially effective considering that the stock-standard anti-tank rail guns are limited to S8 hits due to the force shields that come standard on Wave Serpents. It's also worth remembering that skimmers which move fast gain a 4+ Cover save incase you don't quite make it.

Shining Spears Jet-Bikes with the hit and run ability make short work of Crisis-suits and tanks. I use a squad of Howling Banshees in one Wave Serpent and Fire Dragons in other to hit key points in the Tau force in order to force the enemy to fight into it's own ranks and to draw attention away from the less mobile elements of my army. Also by having these units close to a majority of the guns it means that they will have to take leadership tests to direct their fire elsewhere due to the 'prioity targeting' rule.

I use my slower forces such as guardians to fortify important positions and capture objectives. When I can I like to keep these guys out of sight behind terrain etc. until the enemy notices them and then use them to hassle the enemy enough just to hold the objective or to draw fire away from my more essential units. BTW against Tau is one of the only times when I can recommend storm guardian squads. A ten man squad with a Warlock with Destructor and the two flamers can be devastating against fire warriors! Even as pansy guardians they are still going to win a slap-fight against the fire warriors (WS2 vs. WS3 =3+ to Hit +first strike!) esp considering the extra base attack for wielding close combat weapons.

Finally just as in any battle KEEP THE MAIN THING THE MAIN THING! Movement is the Eldar strength! For example, if your mission is just to simply get your units into a certain place, just get there and duck don't worry about taking heads. Watching the grin slide off the face of an opponent once he realizes that he has lost despite killing a lot of your stuff is priceless!

Happy Gaming.

Answer 2

it really depends on what they are using. i suggest that you get a few path finder teams with rail rifles at the back and dont bother with any kroot. if they have snipers dont go over to them because your guns are longer ranged than theirs if you dont move. use markerlights to light up their most threatening units so you can get loads of benefits when shooting them if they have howling banshees or striking scorpions trying to assault you walk backwards shooting because it increases you firerate. also get a hammerhead to destroy their armored vehicles. if they have large jetbike sqauds you might want to deepstrike crisis suits behind them with anti infantry weopons and use the jetpack move to get back behind cover after shooting. just stay out of close combat and always take out their most powerful unit first and mop the weak ones up later. for further help look it up on Google.