600 point matchup vs Tau

We do not use allies, so his list will be pure Tau.

Haemonculous /w Fleshgauntlet and LG
4 Incubi
all in a Venom with splinter cannon

10 KW w/ dark lance  in raider with dark lance

5 wracks /w LG in a venom /w splinter cannon

3 reavers /w cluster caltrops

Small army engagement, we will likely use a 4 by 4 table.  I intend to engage primarily in hand to hand, with some AI support fire from the venoms, and my AT (such as is needed in this size of a force) will be with the raider and KW.  The dark lances can also help with any MC's/2+ armour he may have.

I have a suspicion the reavers will die quickly, but hopefully with good use of terrain I can get one or two bladevane passes.  I have never used wracks before, so this is a bit of an experiment.

Also, I should add that not only am I new to the DE, but I am still pretty damn new to 6ed.. I stopped playing around the time when 4ed came out.

This list has only 1 anti tank gun which will be his no1 target, also tau have some evil over watch!! Flesh gauntlet is only good vs multi wounded characters, venomblade much better for smaller games.

my 600 point list :

1 Haemo (liquidfier gun, venomblade) - 65
3 wracks  - 30
venom (extra cannon) - 65 (160)

5 wyches (haywire grenades, hekatrix, pgl, venomblade) - 85
venom (extra cannon) - 65 (310)

2 ravagers  - 105 each (520)

1 beatmaster (venomblade) 5 khymerae - 77 (597)

this gives me decent melee capabilities in wyches and beasts, even the wracks but they mainly for objectives.  2 3dl ravagers at this size will scare the hell out of most armour, while your venoms are still putting out 24 poison shots.

You will need to wittle down the tau before you get into charge range or a sneaky tactic I do if poss vs them is focus fire if the end of a squad is out of cover making the gap between units more than 6" so they cant help with overwatch

Thanks! Actually I have two AT weapons in the list. I know that the chances of my opponent fielding tanks at 600 points are almost nil, though. I know he will quite likely field some MCs, however.

Splinter spam is fine against MCs. I'd not worry yourself too much with changing your list dramatically, but I'd change some things around.

As mentioned, take venom blades on your haemonculus. I'd swap out the dark lance for a blaster and splinter cannon - its worth the cost of both items which are far more useful since you can shoot if you move. I'd swap the reaver cluster caltrops for a blaster and use them to target rear armour/crisis suits.

Thanks! I took your advice on the venom blade, and I am glad I did, as my haemi's venom (with the Incubi) got shot down, and they had to footslog it to the foe, never quite reaching anything before being shot to pieces. Actually, the list got owned by the Tau. My opponent brought a SM list to the game too, so I played his SM right after this game. I added a blaster to the Reavers, kept a DL on the Raider and in the KW squad, and managed to recover the DE honour by defeating the SM 5-2 vp. All he had left were two dreads, which I just kept out of range of (my remaining DL and blaster never quite getting rid of them).
Tau are... tricky. I need cover, and speed. Melee is where the game is at with them, but getting there can be rough.

Oh you have no idea how brainless Tau are to play as against most Dark Eldar players. Markerlight, point and click, congratz you've wiped half the Dark Eldar players models in one turn.

Tune in and watch some battle reports that involve Tau - you learn something new from every single game

I have been a long time Tau player who just recently got into Dark Eldar, and after skimming the book, reading tactica, and building a list or two, I could not help but realize that my Tau list could destroy a Dark Eldar Army.... Your best bet against Tau is to charge flanking units to minimize the amount of overwatch and hope for Dawn of War Deployment...

Tau has a weapon system that ignores line of sight, ignores cover, Str 5, and twinlinked.... And to add insult to injury, Riptides, Broadsides, and all tank variants can take this weapon....

Your best bet is to try and alpha strike the markerlight units (Pathfinders, Markerdrones, or Tetras), then target those with the Smart Missile System (the weapon mentioned above). Use night shields to stay within range of your Splinter Cannons but out of range of his MARKERLIGHTS, High Yield Missile Pod Broadsides, Heavy Burst Cannon Riptide, all variants of Crisis suits, and Firewarriors. All of the above have a range of 36" or less. You can surprisingly win a shooting match against Tau if you play your cards well enough.

Dirtydeeds wrote:

I have been a long time Tau player who just recently got into Dark Eldar, and after skimming the book, reading tactica, and building a list or two, I could not help but realize that my Tau list could destroy a Dark Eldar Army....  Your best bet against Tau is to charge flanking units to minimize the amount of overwatch and hope for Dawn of War Deployment...

Tau has a weapon system that ignores line of sight, ignores cover, Str 5, and twinlinked.... And to add insult to injury, Riptides, Broadsides, and all tank variants can take this weapon....

Your best bet is to try and alpha strike the markerlight units (Pathfinders, Markerdrones, or Tetras), then target those with the Smart Missile System (the weapon mentioned above).  Use night shields to stay within range of your Splinter Cannons but out of range of his MARKERLIGHTS, High Yield Missile Pod Broadsides, Heavy Burst Cannon Riptide, all variants of Crisis suits, and Firewarriors.  All of the above have a range of 36" or less.  You can surprisingly win a shooting match against Tau if you play your cards well enough.

^

Exactly this. Dark Eldar can win this shooting match up if you do it on your terms. Firstly, your units are twice as mobile as Tau ones. Very few Tau units can move and shoot as well as Dark Eldar ones can.

Play just outside of their range, and engage small portions of their army at a time. For example, after deploying relatively spread out, you can completely abandon a flank and move everything to the other side, just out of range of his guns. On his turn, he must sacrifice the quality of his shooting to move into range, and this will often take him out of the position he chose for himself.

On your next turn, you can target the units that are deadliest - markerlights are a really big priority, as stated above, and so are missile broadsides and deathrain crisis teams (dual missile pod crisis teams). Your dark lances should focus on suits if you can.

The most important thing to remember is that Riptides are op but can be ignored if you take away his supporting units. Killing crisis suits or infantry, or just legging it for objectives is sometimes far more achievable. If he has any drones in a Riptide unit, poison weapons can kill one and make him take a leadership test

This is all good stuff. Thanks!
I am painting up a unit of Scourges, and will be working on my Trueborn next. And a Ravager. My group has also allowed me to use a Reaper from Imperial Armoury, so that might be a thing I do sometime in the next year.
I also realized something: DE, when focused on melee, need to be played balls to the walls. I was too cautious. So I will also try another tactic.. MSU Wyches on Venoms. In as fast as I can, unload, and splinter cannon as much as possible, while using a ravager and scourges from a distance.

Some day, GW will make codecii that are all balanced. As in, any codex can be played to win in a tournament, so long as the player knows how to play their list, and makes a good list. And has a bit of luck on their side.

Riptides are not OP. Well priced and effective yes as well as providing things the tau can't get elsewhere. That why you see them in every list.

Massaen wrote:

Riptides are not OP.

Add to that: as soon as GW releases an FAQ that states they can't be joined by an independent character.