[Ni_rona]

Okay, so i have a friend who plays marines (guess what chapter) and the closest i've ever gotten to winning is distracting him enough to keep him from realizing he had to move one more inch to claim an objective. anywho, he loves his assault termies, drop pod, whirlwind, a commander that makes hitting him impossible in ruins (massive cover save), and he's said something about that massive marine tank (forgot the name). i have tried everything i can think of to wipe the table with marine's blood including ion cannon hammerhead but it is usually at least weaponless by halftime. oh, and my battlesuits just can't avoid his dreadnaught sandwitch tactic he's a big fan of. help a blue brotha out!
Edit: in case you can't tell, i play tau.

[Armadon]

It's either we have the same freind or they've met. Mate... I have the same EXACT problem. Amazing.. Here you go, Hammer Head with RAIL GUN in the back, always, don't even move it. If you have Broadsides, sttick em' in the back also. Any pinning weapons will charge the assault marines and shoot them hopefully before they get into close combat (I use rail rifle pathfinders, i recommend them). 've just realized it'd be a hell of a lot easier if you told me the troops you had... Blood Raven must die indeed.

[Ni_rona]

hq- commander w/ both special issue wepons and multitracker
elite- too many battlesuits to mention off the top of my head
about 10 xv25s
troops-18 kroot, 1 shaper, hounds (however many come in blister), 20(?) fire wariors, 1 devilfish
fast attack- 6 pathfinders w/ devilfish, 4 vespid w/ strain leader
heavy- 3 sniper drone teams usually put into one "squad" (and usually my MVPs due to their perfect weaponry and stealth field generator), 1 (or 2 if i sacrifice a devilfish) hammerhead with ion or railgun. oh, and 3 seeker missiles total. i'm sure i'm missing something. oh, i love my sniper drone teams because he gets so preoccupied with trying to remove them that i can try to be sneaky somehow. (hence the one draw)

[Ni_rona]

oh, i forgot, 3 shield drones, 3 marker drones, and at least 15 gun drones. hey, i just remembered, markerlights can reduce cover saves by 1 and they're stackable! there's one solution. i've also heard TL flamers aren't too bad against marines and at least it negates cover saves. can you tell what my biggest concern has been?

[Antisocialnerd]

Do this and victory shall be yours

http://tauofwar.blogspot.com/2010/09...-firebase.html

Though i would recommend getting rid the hammerhead for either broadsides or fire knives use as many fireknives as possible in fact

[Armadon]

Amazing force, i don't see the problem, ask antisocial he's more pro than I. xD

[Ni_rona]

lol, thanks for the compliment. but it's not the size of your force, it's how you annihilate the enemy. believe it or not, i'm still not done! at least one other kroot squad, two more firewarrior squads, broadsides, another commander, possibly an ethereal, skyray, pihranas, more pathfinders, well, you get the idea. back to the "two forces made from one," sounds like firing line. while i'm sure it works, wouldn't it make more sense to make use of their mobility? keeping jetpackers and vehicles moving while fire warriors and broadsides stand still could still work.

[Armadon]

Makes sesnse to me, use what you have to your advantage. I only have to deal with one drop pod so I don't know what it's like to be sandwhiched that quick unless it's by ground troops. Your force is to advanced for me to give you any useufull advice, sorry.

[Ni_rona]

actually it's a dreadnought sandwitch. and he only has one drop pod. somehow those two dreads only take minimal damage and he's smart enough to keep them out of view of my fusion blasters, missile pods, and railgun. it's re-donkulous.

[Antisocialnerd]

Ok there are two ways to play Tau Kauyon the patient hunter for which i gave perhaps the best tactics advice on the web or the Mont'ka killing blow which is fast mobile and hard hitting.

Generally speaking playing Mont'ka against an enemy like blood ravens is a bad idea because generally speaking they do it better probably the reason your losing i'm afraid.

because theirs a few armies that mont'ka better than tau but only one army that outguns us imperial guard it's a better idea to play kauyon.

What i would like to do right now is take a closer look at their codex for weaknesses particularly this guy that gives the huge cover save i have one in fact i have all of them but i'm trying to get a friend into warhammer so i lent them to him so he can pick an army i'll get it friday and start looking at it also any extra info on his list and playstyle would really help.

But right now based on what you've said and the fact you don't seem to want to play kauyon (which i really strongly recommend here ) is to use the pathfinders scout them into the center of the board in cover and use them to negate cover but more importantly use thier devilfish to guide deepstrikers use a suit spam list equipped with plasma and fusion balsters shield drones etc and just deepstrike the s&*t out of him deepstike some helios behind his dreadnoughts his land raider etc just deepstrike pop and run and make use of cover yourself take out his key units and try to pull his army in a load of different directions.

Without more info all i can do is give you general strategy suggestions to be honest so keep that devilfish safe remember it only has to see where your deepstriking to in order to reroll if you need to so keep it safe and out of the way.