Tau warhammer strategies?

Question

I nearly always lose as Tau. I have two squads of fire warriors and a commander but I nearly always lose. Can I have some strategies please?

Answer 1

I wil give you a lethal line up, her we go:

HQ: Tau battle suit commander with cyclone ion blaster and plasma gun with hard wired muiltitracker + 2 bodyguards with twin linked plasma guns and 1 with shield generator and 1 with target lock.

Ellites: As many cris battle suits as you can with twinl inked plasma pistols they are strength 9 and cut out almost all armour saves!

Troops: tau fire warriors with their normal wepons

Fast attack: pathfinders with markerslights and drones to pinn the enemy with after using markerlight from the pathfinders

Heavy support: 1 or 2 broadside battle suits with sield drones and a hammerhead is always fun.

Answer 2

Do not get pathfinders.  They are very difficult to manage, and even harder to manage in a small game.  You won't get the full benefit of using them without very many deepstriking units anyways, and it appears you have none.  Gun drones are a better place to get those pinning carbines going.  And they deep strike, and they're virtually inexpensive, and a great unit to throw on in fast attack (in my opinion, better than a single pirhana).

What you may want to try is the "fish of fury" tactic.  This is flying Devilfish transports (get them, they're very handy) and dropping off your Fire Warriors behind them within rapid fire range, and shooting under the Devilfish.  Though, they can't assault you through the D-Fish, so they'd have to go around, and you can board it and fly back away during the next round.  That will keep you from getting tied up in assault (very, very bad for Tau) and let you get off 20 shots from a squad of 10 guys.  It can take some practice, but it's a good tactic.

You should also look into playing larger scale games.  This is where you get that Hammerhead with the str7 large blast template that can really wreak havoc on most armies.  Stealth suits are very mobile and strong, and they work very well.  5 or so (NO FUSION BLASTER) and a bonding knife are a brutal combination.  You should look into www.40konline.com.  It's a great reference for beginners, and has helped me quite a bit in my time since joining (I'm Z3R0 on the boards).

Answer 3

Well, from that little force you've got, there are a number of ways you could take your army.

First, you could bolster it's firepower.  This is often a wise move in Tau armies.  A Barracuda with a railgun is a good investment, as would be a squad of three Broadside suits.  Personally, I just love the stealth suits and sniper drone squads.

Second, I suspect that the reason you lose is as a result of your firing line being swamped by enemy troops.  Pretty much anything beats a Tau in close combat - even an Imperial Guardsman!  So you might like to look at ways of protecting your vulnerable firing line.  This could either be done with a squad of drones (effectively acting as a meat shield without the meat) or with an assault squad of Kroot that can counter-charge your enemy assault line.

The third option, of course, would be to make your firing line less static and more manoeuvrable.  This would mean buying your Fire Warriors and Devilfish troop carrier per squad.  This will allow you to "pepper-pot" your squads, with one moving to a new firing point while the other fires on the enemy.  Once the first squad has disembarked, the second gets onto its own battlefield taxi and flanks the other way.  This will also serve to split your enemy forces; plus, Devilfish come with some respectable firepower of their own.

A variation on this fourth alternative would be to instead purchase a couple of Pathfinder squads - but this is most effective when you have Broadsides with smart missile pods that your pathfinders can guide to target.

Answer 4

What heavy weapons do you have?

What does the commander have?

What point level are you playing?  400pts?

Tau is a very shooty army with weak HtoH.  Get some anti-horde heavy weapons in your fire warriors squad.  At the level that you are "probably" playing you really don't need to worry about tanks, that much.

Try 40k forums for these types of questions.  But answer the question I have for you first because they are going to ask you the same questions.

I'm not at Tau player,but I do play against them.  Not much of an answer but it's a start

-Edit:  Don't worry about losing, learn from what you squads is for and what they can and can't do.  There are certain situation that on "race" will have an upper hand another "race".  Read the forums for advice, I think there is a forum that is tailor for Tau, here you go  http://www.tauonline.org