Anti Eldar tactics

[Panxer]

I'm a staunch Tau enthusiast (take a moment to giggle and get over it), and I'm wondering what kind of special anti eldar tactics anyone has out there.

This is what I have so far: Even the most basic Tau weaponry can bypass most eldar armor saves. Most eldar vehicles can be defeated by missile pods. The only real weakness that the eldar can exploit is the fact that they're tau (wa wa), seriously, anything close combat related tau (kroot or vespid included) can be defeated by initiative 5 and 6. The psychic powers are brutal. But the Tau don't rely on the warp, and thus don't have to worry about perils rolls, but our morale is weak is subject to "skinned knee, run away!" syndrome.

Any advice out there?

[Saint_Anger]

Don’t know how much experience you have with Eldar, I only have few but a significant mec Eldar list. Smart Eldar player will try to flat out their wave serpents in the first turn. Then their 2 farseers (either comes with a squad inside wave serpent or comes with bike-warlock squad) will cast Fortune on those wave serpents. Cover saves that can re-roll + Energy Field of wave serpents make them very hard to be destroyed. And then they’ll get close to you in the next turn if you can’t slow them down.

[Mr.Pickelz]

If your having trouble with melee, then add in a sacrificial unit of Kroot, they can work wonders and force the opponent to charge another target, one they can easily wipe out, and then give you another round of shooting. Have a small unit of Kroot move as close as possible to the enemy unit, lets say Banshees. then in your shooting phase, blow the ever-living(or not everling) stuffing out of them or ignore them and pound on something else, and then after that Run your kroot for the extra reach so you can wrap your kroot around that enemy unit so the only options your opponent has is to either blast through that unit, meaning they can't charge another or move backwards/around (this stalls their advance) giving you another round to deal with that unit.

[godsvendetta777]

Eldar are specialty-based. you have to play "counters" with them. if it shoots, assault it with overwhelming numbers. If it assaults, hit it up with fire power. the big problem with eldar for Tau is their speed+ the toughness of their vehicles. remember that your str 10 rail guns become fancy missile launchers against wave serpents, so you need to make sure you have plenty str 6 and str 7 in your army (since i know that's one thing that tau can pump out). keep fire warriors "tanked up" so they can't get blasted by the initial assault.

eldar focus on specific targets to win. Know their end game and avoid it on a unit per unit bases (like how fire dragons will go for target X, so i'll protect in using tactic A [cover].
eldar can play quite aggressively against tau, but if you can with-stand the the "alpha strike" you should be able to put enough fire power to break them down.

as far as leaderships go, I think it's bonding knives (correct me if i'm wrong) that make you able to regroup under 50% strength, take 'em. well, on fire warriors at least. I've yet to play an opponent who hates them (on fire warriors).

well, i hope i was helpful and didn't just say a bunch of nonsense you already knew about.

[Panxer]

No no! Very helpful!

That was basically where I was going with it anyway. Lotsa Suits with Burst Cannons, Missile Pods, and Multi trackers

Outflanking or screening Kroot with lotsa hounds

Firewarriors with bonding knives, carbines, and EMP grenades, all hidden in tanks

Maybe a team of broadsides with plasma and shield generators (maybe an ethereal attached)

Drone squadrons to run as initiative 4 assault screens

Hammerheads with Ion Cannons, Flechettes, Disruption Pods, Multi-trackers, and Target Locks

Tetras with Target Arrays

Maybe a drone sentry turret or two to protect the broadsides

[Forgottenhero]

Being an Eldar player myself, I can say that his advice is perfect. The only tricky thing is when Eldar armies spam certain units (i.e. Fire Dragons, Dire Avengers). This is when its tough to discern which unit will be performing which action. Like he said, the answer is str 6, 7, and 8 weapons. Rail guns are only really effective versus Falcons in our list... and this is the time of the serpent. Falcons are rarely seen anymore.

Focus on destroying the vehicles first. Eldar are nothing without their long legs to get them to their objectives. Also, if your opponent is like me, you should watch out for Night Spinner tanks. Their large blast forces any unit it hits (not wounds) to take difficult and dangerous terrain checks the next time they move. This can seriously hamper counter-charges with kroot and other units. It can also hurt those fragile fire warriors fairly easily as it can slow them down if they're not in the optimal firing position.

Basically you're just gonna have to deal with Mechdar. However, any other list you should have no problem with. Ghost warrior armies are frankly a joke versus any Tau army (for pretty much any army actually...) and Footdar can get shot to pieces if you focus on one flank at a time.