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Once more into the breach...
A lot of the v4+ list work, like the AHMC was designed heavily under the influence of IA3. Footslogging (as opposed to mechanized) infantry do not, repeat NOT, attack in the desert environment (see also North Africa in WW2, and every rumble in the sandbox of the Middle East since). They hold ground against enemy attacks. On Taros, the Tau had 2 non-mechanized infantry forces out there: Kroot forces operating independently as either (a) 'Pickets' to slow the Imperial advance, or (b) deep raiders to disrupt the supply lines; and what amount to conscripted humans that were holding their homes/mines/whatever.
Fire Warriors were highly mobile, operating either as mechanized infantry or as Orca/Manta-borne rapid deployment forces.
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While a direct conversion from 40k to E:A could be done (I believe it was done back for the first edition of the list), you end up with some really strange artifacts about 40k. For example, 12 Fire Warriors will do horrible things to 10 Space Marines, until the Marines actually get close enough to assault the Tau. Comments about the Pulse Rifle needing to get dropped to 15cm range, however are seriously missing the point. A Pulse Rifle is nearly the equal of a Heavy Bolter: 30"range instead of 36", both are Strength 5, and AP5 versus AP4 for the HB.
Running the averages: Tau go first and shoot at a marine Tac squad 30" away, because the canny Tau player did not deploy his FW at the front edge of his deployment zone, while the agressive Marine player did (on a 48" wide table, 12" deep deployment zones make for 24" between DZs). 6 of 12 shots hit, and 4 wound. One Marine goes down, with a 1/3 chance of a second. Marine Turn 1, marines advance 6", with NO return fire to the Tau. Tau Turn 2, Tau shoot at the Marine squad 24" away. 6/12 shots hit, 4 Wound, another Marine goes down, another 1/3 fatality. Marine Turn 2, Marines advance another 6", but have no return fire. Tau turn 3, Tau shoot at Marines 18" away. another 6/12 shots hit, with 4 wounds. another Marine Bites the dust, and this time there's a very good chance that there's another one down, too. Marine turn 3, the Marines finally advance into rapid-fire range of the Tau and open up: 12 shots, 8 hits, call it 5 wounds (rounding up), just to make it painful for the Tau let's say 3 FW die (morale check). Assuming that the Tau pass their morale test for the time being, the Tau proceed to rapid-fire the stuffing out of the Marines (L4 would call this point 'final defensive fire') during Tau Turn 4: 18 shots, 9 hits, 6 wounds, 2 more of the Emperor's Finest go down. That's 6 Marines dead, and the 4 survivors would then assault the FW. Assuming my usual defensive FW stance (FW in cover, with Photon Grenades), and that the assaulting Marines have Frag Grenades (meaning this close combat is simultaneous instead of Tau striking first), Marines have 5 attacks, and get 4 hits. 2, maybe 3 wounds, so one, maybe two dead Tau. Tau get 10 attacks, 5 hits, 2 wounds, so there's a decent chance of a Dead marine. That makes 7 dead Marines, and the squad was incapable of holding an objective after Turn 3. Too bad the Tau "Lost" the CC round and need to make a Morale check. Time for the Ethereal to do his Fearless thing again. Tau Turn 5 is when it gets ugly to be a fish-head, when the Marines strike first with their whopping 4 or 5 attacks. 3, maybe 4 hits, another 2 or 3 wounds, another 1 or 2 dead Tau (more likely one, considering all the rounding I'm doing, but I'll assume 2). Tau get 8 attacks back, 4 hits, and one, maybe 2 wounds. Might get another Marine this round of combat, but probably not until Marine Turn 5. Tau lost combat. Again. Fearless, again. This cycle repeats until either a Marine with a power weapon shows up to squish Tau, or until the 2 forces have beaten themselves down to the Last Man Standing (probably a Marine).
to translate that out to an E:A Engage order, the Tau FW would have wiped out half of the Marine stands in the FF before the CC, but one stand of Marines would kill 2 stands of FW in CC, getting killed itself in the process.
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Now, I think I'd proposed the 'Networked Drones' upgrade to the Tanks about the same time that Spirit Stones was getting bounced around for the Eldar, and for the same reason: It was very hard for an E:A Tau armor unit to stay combat effective for more than one Turn. the AHMC's 6 (7, counting the nearly obligatory Skyray) units are a little more robust, but still are combat ineffective after 2 turns. Marines need 8 BMs to break (4 with 2 dead tanks, right? haven't played E:A in a looooong time), and have a Leader as a cheap option to shed BMs as well. Orks have another special rule for leadership. so did Eldar (since I think they have removed Spirit Stones as a 'Leader' replacement). IG had large units, Leaders, and Commissars. Tau didn't have anything, and a highly mobile force has to have good leadership and discipline to be able to work.
The Tau style of warfare is essentially Blitzkrieg fire and maneuver, or the old Mongol horse archer circle. (which both rely on excellent leadership for success, because the individual unit is NOT equal to the typical opponent, it's the synergy of all the individually lesser units into something FAR more powerful than the local opposition that is the hallmark of true maneuver warfare) They shouldn't need any unit to sit on objectives.
One of the more common 40k Tau forces is Mechanized FW, with just enough Crisis suits for tankhunting (or Piranhas, but that's a different discussion). it operates very much like Tau do in Epic: usually 2 squads of FW in devilfish drive up to a single enemy squad and proceed to blast the stuffing out of it at close range (12" in 40k, 30cm in E:A). Ideally, this squad is out on one flank of your opponent, and your FW will be out of range of CC retribution of the enemy (a classic E:A 'clipping assault'). The Crisis suits are there to attack the more dangerous targets that the FW can't handle for whatever reason (either armor or too well-guarded).
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I could certainly be persuaded that Hammerheads are a little too cheap, as they're currently faster than a LRuss with nearly the same weapons load (the seeker missiles have a better range than the LC, but the Smart Missiles are only equal to ONE heavy bolter, and the Railgun is roughly equal to a battlecannon). Last I checked, a LRuss is 65 points, and I know that I'd much rather have 10 HHeads than 10 LRusses even if all the HHs were in one formation, and I'd much rather have 2 AHMC than one Russ company, even with the extra 50 points for the networked drones.
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"For the Lion and the Emperor!"
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