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Yes, they had seen a preview of the Tau Empire codex. The question is, did they play the original games of the campaign under the 3e rules, or the 4e rules?
If they used the 3e rules, that explains some of the oddities of the battle write-ups. Firewarriors are most effective when transported by devilfish in 4e, and there was a serious lack of DFish in the example cadres used in the book (and the historical refight scenarios). This was a desert war, which favors tanks and mechanized/air-assault infantry. There was some air-assault (Orca- or Manta-borne) infantry, but very little mechanized infantry, even in the scenario where the Tau were counter-attacking an Imperial position.
In any case, this is a tangent off of what we need to be discussing.
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A much better question is how can we make an army that weakens the opponent with long-range direct fire (followed by a close-range shootout) fun/interesting to play against, and not just be a slog into the teeth of defenses and taking the casualties?
I think everyone here agrees that Tau should have good ranged capabilities. Right now, they are slightly outgunned by the IG if you include superheavies, while that should the reverse (Tau slightly outgun IG at range). 90cm AP4+/AT5+/MW5+ Guided Missiles that can only be fired at markerlit targets would change the dynamic considerably. The Scorp'fish would be completely useless without ML support, and Stingrays would be limited to 30cm. This *could* also be coupled to a change to the aircraft stats, adding a ML to those units that carry one in 40k (AX10), and forcing the aircraft GMs to have a spotter on the ground (increase range of affected missiles to 45cm) if the aircraft doesn't have a ML to allow aircraft GMs to be used at all.
This forces the Tau player to take Tetras (6xLV5+), Pathfinders (2xAV5+, 4xINF5+), and Stealth teams (6xINF5+), all of which have to be within 30cm of the enemy at the end of their movement, and which are relatively fragile. Formations of 6x units with a 5+ save get broken/destroyed quickly. Also, Stealth teams cannot call a Co-fire, which pushes even more emphasis onto the Tetras and Pathfinders. Further, if I was the Tau's opponent, I would actively target the Co-fire capable units, because that will dramatically reduce the effectiveness of the Tau army.
If you wanted to smash a Russ Company, you'd need to Co-fire, starting with a unit of Tetras, doubling them forward, stopping just outside the ZoC of the Russ Company (to maximize #s marked), then advance and fire with two AHMCs (preferably popping up): 1 BM from the Tetras, one BM and 7 hits from each AHMC+Skyray. 14 hits = 3.5 kills on 4+RA, let's say 4 kills since the Tau were lucky. 1+1+1+4 kills=7 BMs, on a unit that was 11-strong before this. With a bit of luck, I just barely broke a 700-point LRuss company (assuming the obligatory Hydra) after hitting it with at least 1075 points of Tau. Additionally, I sacrificed a unit of Tetras to do try to break the Russes, because any unsuppressed Russ (and the Hyrda) will chew up the Tetras.
If I'm going artillery-hunting, I need a Stealth team to teleport in (and not get broken in the process) and either a successful retain on a GM unit, or for the Stealths to survive standing next to the artillery for an activation (or two, in case the IG retain). Then I can rain GMs on the Artillery's head (Stingrays + Skyray). 1BM for the Stealths, and 1BM + 2 hits from the counter-battery. 2 hits on AV5+ is 1.67 kills, and that's 3BM (4 if I'm lucky), not quite enough to break a Basilisk battery+Hydra (unless IG has bad dice for armor saves). 575 points of Tau to probably break a 300 point artillery battery with attached flak.
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"For the Lion and the Emperor!"
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