Let me start an explanation by looking at things that are really scary to Tohaa
1. TAGs
It's typically hard to Alpha strike Tohaa because key pieces have multiple wounds and symbiomates, are imbedded in links, and are protected by quality snipers. The thing that typically annoys people about those snipers besides b2 for being in a link team is that they have a symbiomate and 2 wounds, which means that eventually they will get a lucky win in the face-to-face and your spetsnaz will be kaput. Not so for TAGs, they don't give a shit about that 1 time you managed to win the ftf. They just keep firing. TAGs also have the speed to rush your DZ after they've cleared out your snipers and cause carnage. There isn't much you can do to slow them down because you've got no hackers. Best you can hope for is to throw B2 eclipse to get out of jail, and then manage some kind of melee assault on your turn.
Which brings us to the other reason why TAGs are terrifying - you don't have effective guns against them. My builds relied on a BS12 gao rael spitfire and a sakiel with viral combi to do most of the killing. I had 1 missile launcher, no E/M, no AP etc. A TAG in cover and suppression is basically invincible to all of this. My best chance is to get a Makaul or Symbiobeast into melee, but then some of the high end TAGs are really quite okay in close combat, so that's no guarantee of a kill. The other tactic is to lob a nimbus grenade (-6 to dodge against attacks through it) and then heavy flamer through the template. TAGs then dodge at -9, so they take the hit, but I'm only B1 (because of Nimbus and not having a second target to split burst) and the ARM 8+ TAGs will shake off a heavy flamer most of the time.
All this applies to HI link teams as well. They were super scary to me. The only time I managed to knock them over without too much trouble was when my opponent split them up, leaving behind the 5th man with a missile launcher (just eclipse past it). Without the BS bonus, my overwhelming B on active turn could usually dust them (especially when I could get them out of cover), or I could get a nimbus + flamer off with a split burst so that both templates land and even PH14 won't save you then (you're -6 to dodge 2 DAM15 flamers).
Remember that the Tohaa snipers (the Gao Rael's at least) tend to be pretty average against a no frills HMG that can get up after taking a hit. The most cost-effective way to kill them is just to put marksmanship on a TR bot and keep firing. Every time you die just engineer it back up - sniper rifles only ever do 1 wound. It won't take many orders to dead that sniper, and Tohaa lists often don't have doctors to pick those snipers back up.
I managed to avoid these things at CanCon in large part because the mission mix lent itself to high order-count armies spamming LI. These guys died horribly to my snipers. The one I was in danger of being run over was when Tariq sauntered over with his 2W and B5 and proceeded to apply crits to my snipers. I got quite a bit of satisfaction out of knowing that my army was only good against high order count lists and would crumble to an Avatar, but nobody brought an Avatar because supposedly high order count lists are the "best".
2. SPEC FIRE
Tohaa suck at dodging. Your most elite dudes have PH11. Your response to template weapons is to take the hit on a symbiomates/symbioarmour and shock out the attacker. This is unsustainable against spec fire because you can't kill the shooter. It's double bad because you're trying to stash a link team in cover without exposing anyone, which means the template can often hit 2 guys. The Squalo or Lizard with HGL is basically an auto-win against Tohaa, as is the E/M lgl with x-visor in Druze. The Montessa with LGL can't really get to my snipers, but it locks down the midfield.
This leads us into a general tactic:
3. THINGS THAT CAN BREAK APART LINK TEAMS
Link teams are what make Tohaa tick. We have some nice loner units, like the Chaksa and Nikoul (not the Rasail Boarding Team - they are much worse than a Sakiel + Makaul, especially when there are saturation zone missions in the mix), but the real bright lights come from the link teams. They are a massive force multiplier, especially as far as your defence is concerned. If someone can pop your links on the cheap, they've probably won, especially because they're often hard to put back together as your 2 remaining dudes are isolated far from a buddy.
How to do this? Some thoughts:
a) cheap warbands laying chain rifles into the Makaul or the specialist in a link team (one of the main skills to develop when playing Tohaa is how to channel attackers into your 2W badass in suppression and thereby protect the weak units in the triad who can always do clean up). This one is hard to do until the snipers are dead, especially against Gao Raels because they give no shits about smoke (which is, incidentally, why they are my preferred sniper in Tohaa).
b) spec fire
c) Marker-state units with boarding shotguns. It is hard to assassinate the primary pieces in Tohaa because they have 2 wounds and mates so they shrug off the surprise shot and then have the same B as the attacking shotgun unit. But the chump Kamael Forward Observers can be taken out no trouble, and then you have a B advantage thereafter.
d) TO camo snipers. Wait for the rear of a triad to be exposed and then pick off the third man. The primary attack piece is now weakened to the point where it doesn't have a great ftf against your sniper (again, this is part of why I prefer the Gao Rael to the Sukuel HMG - on its own, the Gao Rael is much more efficient at killing TO camo snipers and the camo dudes that threaten to pick apart your link teams).
e) AD troops. Tohaa tend to be pretty effective against AD because the weaker units can guard the flanks of the triads and the snipers cover a lot of entry points, but if an AD troops does get into the thick of things you can pop link teams with abandon.
f) fast things that can go the long way around to get behind my triads. A bulleteer is a good example. You need the snipers to be dead for this to be order efficient, but it is effective.
4. E-DRONE with EXILE
The combined army EVO remote has a hacking program that breaks link teams and isolates the target. This thing is savage against Tohaa because it destroys all your force multipliers and can target anyone in a link team, even your unhackable LIs. It is double savage in transmission matrix because the whole table is a repeater web.
5. TARIQ "SO HOT RIGHT NOW" MANSURI
Crits go straight through your symbiomates, and Tariq has a spare wound to shrug off a sniper rifle hit. He is a dead-set menace to Tohaa. Also because he has the speed and maneuverability to skirt around cover and get a good position to pick apart your weaker dudes.
A GENERAL TAKE ON HOW TO BEAT TOHAA
Get a HI with a HMG, the Kriza is a great example, or just a TR bot with marksmanship, and kill the Gao Raels and Nikouls and then go into suppression down a narrow channel. Not the most efficient first turn but if your snipers are still alive you've now got board control. Your 7+ ARM and the -6 MOD from cover and suppression will protect you from anything but a Makaul, and as long as you have picked your spot well a Makaul will have to spend a lot of orders to get you.
Now chill and wait for Tohaa to come to you. They are slow, so a whole turn of orders will get them just over to you. Counterattack with your warbands into the weak units, or spend orders to get your fast or camo units around the back where they can take out the weaker guys in the triads first. Do not engage the main attack pieces if you can help it until after the triads are broken. Clean up.
Note that Tohaa tend to rely on turn 3 to claim objectives, so if you can delay them enough to strip enough economy out of the link teams, you can often win off the back of a turn 2 lead on points.
TL;DR: All you really need to beat Tohaa is a big stompy thing that you know how to play.
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