Work it Harder, Make it Better
Last week I wrote up an article on using Killhammer principles to work up a Tau army list. If you haven't read it or want a refresher, you can find it here. I'll be using the army listed there, but the same principles hold true for other Tau armies and most shooty armies.

The List
For a quick review, here's the list...
97 Shas 'El Commander: PR, MP, TA, HWMT
97 Shas 'El Commander: PR, MP, TA, HWMT

201 Crisis Team 1: 2xPR/MP/MT, 1xTm Ldr w/PR/MP/TA/HWMT
139 Crisis Team 2: PR/MP/MT, 1xTm Ldr w/PR/MP/TA/HWMT
139 Crisis Team 3: PR/MP/MT, 1xTm Ldr w/PR/MP/TA/HWMT

170 6x FireWarrior in Devilfish w/TA, Disruption Pod, SMS
70 10x Kroot
70 10x Kroot

150 2x Piranha: TA, Disruption Pod, Fusion Blaster
150 2x Piranha: TA, Disruption Pod, Fusion Blaster
150 2x Piranha: TA, Disruption Pod, Fusion Blaster

270 3x Broadsides: all with Adv Stabilization, Tm Ldr has HW Drone Controller and 2 Shield Drones
270 3x Broadsides: all with Adv Stabilization, Tm Ldr has HW Drone Controller and 2 Shield Drones

1973pts
Last week, I went over how to deploy this army, now let's look at various ways to use it to it's fullest.

Alpha Blocking
The Piranhas in this list are primarily to zoom up and block transports, helping to delay their movement. Zip up 24" and get right in their grill. Don't worry about protecting them, stopping as much movement as possible is much more valuable. Because the movement phase comes before the shooting phase, they won't be able to shoot you before they have to move. (The one exception I can think of is the possibility of ramming you, but to do that, they have to have space to move toward you, so if you are close, it's nearly impossible.) Since they cannot come within 1" of your models (aside from the ram option, which really doesn't work) they'll have to go around. If you space your pairs of Piranha 4" apart, you should even be able to angle them inward, meaning the transport will have to "back up" before it can start going around you. This should limit them to only a few inches of forward movement. That, in turn, means it'll take them an extra turn to get to you. Remember, every turn that it takes them to get there is one more turn you have to shoot them. (Heck, if you can delay them enough, the game might end before they get there, even if you can't kill them all with your shooting.)

When your Piranha die, use any surviving drones to move in front of any infantry firebases (such as Devastators, Longfangs, etc.) If the unit shoots the drones, it's not shooting the important bits of your army. If it doesn't shoot the drones, they'll provide a cover save for any of it's targets and will be able to do the same again next turn. They can also fire some S5 pot-shots at the back armor of vehicles. (Not something to be relied on, but it doesn't cost you anything and sometimes it works.) Any Piranha that survive the first turn can drop off their drones for more of the above-mentioned shenanigans, then move to block again and use their Fusion Blasters.

Note that if you need to block Jump Pack troops, you need a little different placement. First, they can assault you, so make sure you are moving more than 6" where possible (no sense making it easy for them.) When you move up, move so that you are 10.5 inches minus the length of your Piranha from them. They won't be able to jump over your model and land on the other side, since they can't land within 1" during the movement phase. (Note that if they are in a formation more than 1 deep, you can move an inch closer and still keep them from jumping you.) While this will allow them a few inches of movement, it keeps them from using their full speed, making them no longer Fast-movers.

Bubblewrap
Bubblewrap is what you use to protect your important things. In this case, the Kroot are used to delay an assault unit in hitting your important units. Kroot are fantastic for this. Put the squad or squads half in cover and spread them out to cover all the approaches to the unit or units (usually your firebase, but see below) you want to protect. (Of course, wooded terrain is much better for Kroot, but any cover will do here.) Any enemy unit that wants to assault your protected unit has to hit the bubblewrap unit first. If it's a small unit, particularly with relatively low leadership, they will lose combat and flee at the end of the enemy assault phase, allowing you to shoot them on your turn. Multiple bubblewrap units can be effective this way, but make sure that enemy units cannot engage more than one of them at a time. (Do this by having the second unit behind the first, in sort of concentric half-circles.) You can also use bubblewrap units around important vehicles if you are worried about deepstriking meltas. Put them just far enough out that units cannot safely deepstrike next to the vehicles, but will be outside of bonus range for the meltas. (Or force them to be more than 12" away from the vehicle if you can.) As a nice side-effect, this will also give your firebase cover from shooting, leaving the enemy trying to decide whether they should shoot your important units (with cover) or try to strip away the cheap Kroot screen (which also has cover.) If you really want to get trickier with this, you can move them (just slightly) out of the way of your shooting during the movement phase, then let them Run back to position at the end of your shooting phase.

Target Priority
Transport vehicles and fast assaulters are your main priority. Your first priority is to de-mechanize any troops and get them on foot to slow them down. You may need to use your various Crisis units to help take out light transports. After you have slowed them down, you can hop around and pick them off at your leisure.

Sample Army Usage
I'll put it all together here against a sample Space Marine army list. (Note, I know this isn't a fine-tuned Space Marine list, it's more to show how to handle various elements. Similarly, the specifics of each unit aren't important, just the general type.,
TH/SS Terminators in a LandRaider
Rhino w/Tactical squad (Pfist, flamer)
Rhino w/Tactical squad (Pfist, flamer)
Rhino w/Tactical squad (Pfist, flamer)
Assault Squad and Commander w/Jump Packs
Devastator Squad
Predator
Predator

First turn: Alpha Block the LandRaider, the Assault squad and a Rhino. The Broadside teams each target a non-blocked Rhino. (They should shred them both, but if you fire the Broadsides first, you can use a commander or Crisis team to bat clean-up in case they don't.)

Second turn: You'll probably only have a couple of Piranha left. Any surviving Drones should jump in front of the Devastator squad, to give everything cover, or at least soak their fire for the next turn. Surviving Piranha (after the Drones jump ship) should move to block/nuke the LandRaider. Broadsides hit the surviving Rhinos. (If they didn't get to do so last turn, they will have popped smoke this turn, so you'll probably only kill one of them.) Everything else that has the range will start working over the Assault squad.

Third turn: All Piranha should be gone, and the Drones should be down as well. Broadsides will continue smashing transports (all should be down by the end of this turn, though.) Everything else will be hammering the Assault squad and Commander until they fall, then start in on the closest infantry unit. When the Devilfish comes in from reserve, you can use it to block assaults as well. Make sure to move it over 6" so that they can only hit it on 6's. This will make it nigh-invulnerable to most any assaulting unit.

Fourth turn and beyond: If an infantry unit gets close to the lines, let the Kroot take the charge. They'll likely die in that initial charge, which will allow you to shoot the offending unit on your turn. When you don't need Broadside firepower to repel infantry assaults, they can start in on the Predators and will eventually combine with the Crisis Teams/Commanders to shoot the Devastators.

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