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This is my first Tau army. Chance that I'll ever actually play are slim, so the army is picked as much for fluff as for effectiveness, since I have no experience to relate it to. I do, however, want the army to stand a fighting chance should I ever decide to play with it, but I also want to avoid the lame "Three Hammerheads with Railguns"-like stuff.

Tau (1500 pts)

HQ

Shas'O 75
Plasma Rifle 20
Missile Pod 12
Shield Generator 20
Iridium Armour 20
HW Multitracker 5
152

Shas'El 50
TL Fusion Blasters 18
Targetting Array 10
HW Target Lock 5
83

Shas'Vre *2 70
Targetting Array *2 20
Fusion Blaster *2 24
Missile Pod *2 24
HW Multitracker *2 10
HW Targetlock 5
153


Elites

XV-8 Shas'ui *2 50
Burst Cannon *2 16
Missile Pod *2 24
Multitracker *2 10
XV-8 Shas'vre 35
Cyclic Ion Blaster 15
Airb. Fragm. Proj. 20
Targetting Array 10
HW Target Lock 5
HW Multitracker 5
190

XV-15 Shas'ui *3 90
XV-25 Shas'vre 40
Markerlight 10
Bonding Knife 5
145


Troops

Fire Warriors Shas'la *7 70
Fire Warrior Shas'ui 10
Bonding Knife 5
Markerlight 10
95

Fire Warriors Shas'la *7 70
Fire Warrior Shas'ui 10
Bonding Knife 5
Markerlight 10
95

Kroot *10 70
Shaper 21
Armour 18
Kroothounds *742
151


Fast Attack

Pathfinders Shas'la *448
Pathfinder Shas'ui 22
Rail Rifle (+ TL) *3 30
Markerlight 10
Bonding Knife 5
Devilfish 80
Targetting Array 5
Decoy Launchers 5
Disruption Pod 5
Smart Missile System 20
Seeker Missile *2 20
250


Heavy Support

Hammerhead 90
Railgun 50
Burstcannons 20
Disruption Pod 5
Target Lock 5
Decoy Launchers 5
Multitracker 10
185

Total: 1499

The general plan is to have a powerful firebase with my Shas'o, Crisisteam, 2 Firewarriors squads and Hammerhead. The Kroot are there to absord assaults, while the XV-8's are equipped to deal with lots of light infantery and heavy infantery and even light vehicles.
The Pathfinders operate ahead of the firebase, picking of targets of opportunity and marking out threats for the Seeker Missiles or Hammerhead. The Stealthteam fulfills a similar role, but focuses more on other scouts, while being able to mark as well.
the Shas'El and bodyguard can deepstrike and go tankhunting, or if there is a lack of tanks to take out, they can deal with heavy infantery and/or HQ units.

Should I ever expand to 2000 points, I think Broadsides will be in, together with Vespids and a Devilfish mounted Firewarrior team.

So, would do you think?

Personally, I'd drop the kroot in favor of maxing out the fire warrior teams. Though I do applaud your use of them, they are difficult to use correctly and end up usually just slingshotting a dedicated assault unit. Also, be careful with all the short range weaponry on the battlesuits, don't let the tau jet pack rules fool you, they are not fast and getting close enough to use an air burst frag or fusion guns usually leaves your very expensive suits vulnerable. That's why most people stick with the fireknife (PR, MP, MT) configuration. If you want to get suits stuck in on some vechicles, dedicate the squad to it and give them all a TL Fusion gun and either shield generators or drones. Then you stand a chance of doing something.

Thanks for the advice.
I'll paint up some more Fire Warriors, so I can easily switch. Like I said, the Kroot are partly there since this is a theme army.
I'll do, however, change the Shas'El team to three TL Fusion Blasters, some drones and/or a shield generator, like you said.
The XV-8 weapons are also chosen to have a nice mix, some of the more exotic weapons and some more shots. I do understand the general superiority of the Fireknife, though. On a sidenote, could you tell me where all the different Battlesuits are described, like the Fireknife type? I know there's mention of the names in IA3, but never a description of them. I know of a list on Advanced Tau Tactica, but I was rather thinking some in-universe fluff.
So, I'll remember to keep some Shas'la in reserve, should my Kroot prove to be a waste of points.

The battlesuit configuration names were player generated iirc. I think I remember seeing them printed in a white dwarf a long time ago but I'm not 100% on that and the names are definately not something the tau would use to describe their own suits I don't think. It just sounds cool.

No, the pattern-names are mentioned as fluff in IA3, on p.171. That's why I thought there was a novel or some other book that listed the names.

I also updated the army list: the Pathfinders dropped the rail rifles in favour of more members.

Crisis suit names:

http://uk.games-workshop.com/tau/battlesuit%2Dconfigurations/1/

As for your army, I'd:

Lose the iridium armor - feel free to model it if you have a cool idea, but don't use it in the game. It kills the suits best asset and lascannons still kill it.

Make the bodyguards a separate elite team.

Keep the kroot. i'd even recommend taking a second squad. But after painting 40 kroot...maybe not. I'm not a fan of painting huge numbers of the same thing.

I don't think pathfinders or their expensive devilfish are that great but people like them and you're going for a theme, so why not. They aren't the most competitive choice but they work ok.

As for the hammerhead...I can understand not wanting a cookie cutter list, but really, tanks for any army are 2+ or 0. I'd find a way to stick a second one in there or remove both and go with something like a broadside team. Vehicles are just too fragile when they're the only target of all the anti-tank weapons, even skimmers.

Hhmmm.

Why make the Bodyguards a second team? Currently, they're deploying alongside the Shas'El. What's the disadvantage of that? (This is an honest question, I'm pretty new, so feel free to comment.)
Losing the Iridium Armour would be a small change. I hadn't any particular ideas to model it, so it's just an administrative switch. Two more Firewarriors might prove useful.
If I had the points, I would include a Skyray. Together with Broadsides & Vespids, it will be one of the next additions.

Thanks for the advice!

They cost 10 more points each, and while you are getting them wargear you're really spending 40 points to make two suits go from bs3 to bs4...I dont see that being worth it

Also, the shas'el is an independent character without the bodyguard, which is a pretty useful ability for a crisis suit.

A sky ray instead of a second hammerhead would be fine, and work with your pathfinders. You just need two tanks . I'd cram the sky ray in right now, just make the pathfinder team 6 men, take all the upgrades off the devilfish, lose a couple fire warriors, the iridium armor and make the bodyguard a separate team and you'd have almost the points.

Also, while I like playing around with the AFP...it seems like a waste to give it to someone who has a BS of 4, since I think it shoots like ordinance.

Hhmmm. Very good point about the seperate team. However, since the Shas'El & that team will be deep striking, I don't see how he would benefit from being IC, since there's probably not other units in his vicinity. Maybe letting him join that seperate team?

If I downgrade that Devilfish to the bare minimum, I suppose it will only serve to prevent the Pathfinders from being assaulted?

I suppose I could also drop the Markerlight of the Stealthteam, since they're probably going to be more mobile than anything. Good idea?

In general the pathfinders are already expensive enough and if you are going to use the markerlights they can't be in the fish anyway so you might as well not worry about it. Being a dedicated transport unit it cannot score and being a skimmer it does not block los unless landed. What you can do with it is hover in front of the pathfinders and force target priority checks for units wishing to pass it up to shoot at the infantry. Similarly you can use it to do the same for another tank. It's also not a terrible fire support platform, and you can detach the drones to use as an assault screen for the pathfinders.

I would suggest you visit GW site and look at the GT circuit and look up Scott Simpson who was second overall in last years GT's and look at his lists. They are balanced and effective IMO.

Based on the above advice, I dropped the Targeting Arrays, stripped down the Devilfish and got a Skyray. I only gave it burstcannons, since the defensive upgrades hopefully won't be necesary, since I plan on keeping it behind cover. It will function mainly to launch its seeker missiles and mark out targets of opportunity. Here's the new list:

HQ

Shas'O 75
Plasma Rifle 20
Missile Pod 12
Shield Generator 20
HW Multitracker 5
132

Shas'El 50
TL Fusion Blasters 18
Shield Generator 20
HW Target Lock 5
93


Elites

XV-8 Shas'ui *2 50
Burst Cannon *2 16
Missile Pod *2 24
Multitracker *2 10
XV-8 Shas'vre 35
Cyclic Ion Blaster 15
Airb. Frag. Proj. 20
HW Multitracker 5
175

Shas'ui *2 50
Targeting Array *2 20
TW Fusion Blaster *2 36
106

XV-15 Shas'ui *3 90
XV-25 Shas'vre 40
Bonding Knife 5
135


Troops

Fire Warriors Shas'la *7 70
Fire Warrior Shas'ui 10
Bonding Knife 5
Markerlight 10
HW Target Lock 5
100

Fire Warriors Shas'la *7 70
Fire Warrior Shas'ui 10
Bonding Knife 5
Markerlight 10
HW Target Lock 5
100

Kroot *10 70
Shaper 21
Armour 16
Kroothounds *6 36
144


Fast Attack

Pathfinders Shas'la *7 84
Pathfinder Shas'ui 22
Bonding Knife 5
Devilfish 80
191


Heavy Support

Hammerhead 90
Railgun 50
Smart Missile System 20
Disruption Pod 5
Target Lock 5
Decoy Launchers 5
Multitracker 10
185

Skyray 125
Burstcannons 10
Targeting Array 5
140

Total: 1500

I wouldn't put the armor on the kroot, not worth the points, they sit in cover anyway if possible.

You probably want a multitracker on the skyray, even if you want to hide it it will eventually need to move and you want to be able to use the markerlights even if you arent using the burst cannons

The armour on the Kroot was too extend their Close Combat lifespan. Doesn't that matter? If not, I'll probably upgrade the Skyray.

i wouldn't put the armor, because 6+ armor is pretty much the same as no armor. you won't probably ever save more than 2 mdels per game with the armor. upgrade the sky ray.

Aye, aye, Sir! Upgrading the Skyray, Sir!

I know this thread is pretty old, but since it's about the same army, it belongs here.
I've finally started modelling this army, and I'm thinking of upgrading to 2000 pts.

For the current army, see five posts earlier.

What should I add with an extra 500 pts? 3 Broadsides are a must for me. (Still a sucker for Mechs.) But which support systems should I use? Advanced Stabilizers?
I'm also pretty sure of and extra 8-Firewarrior squad.

What should I do with the left overs?

Thanks in advance!

Make one of the three Broadsides a Team Leader, and give him a Bonding Knife and a Drone Controller with two shield drones. I'd stick with Advanced Stabilizers, as mobility is still important in 5th Edition.

I'd up all your Firewarrior squads to 12 models. I'm not a fan of the Markerlight (the Shas'ui is a 40 point model that is more vulnerable under the new casualty removal rules), but that's something that may work for you. I'd also beef up your Kroot squad, maybe even throw in a few Kroot Hounds.

Pathfinders are very useful now with the plethora of cover saves that you'll be seeing each game.

Good luck!

I haven't looked at 5th yet, so I can't base my decision on that yet.
Would a Krootox be a good addition to my Kroot squad?

Thanks!

I simply can't see Krootox Riders (that's the new name for the model) being effective for what you're paying for them. You're better off buying more Kroot or Kroot Hounds. The biggest reason for this is that Krootox Riders will take away your Infiltration ability, which can be REALLY useful in 5th Edition.

There are far better ways to get an autocannon into your army than krootox riders. Like deathrain Crisis suits.

A few things:
1) Shaper and Armour don't belong in any kroot squad, makes it far too expensive for not a lot of usefulness.
2) I don't know if it's fluff you're going for, but I would change the Shas'el from TL fusion blaster to plasma rifle + something. You don't want you HQ deepstriking beside tanks, that's what your other team of suits are for.
3) Personal preference, but I'd always take a hammerhead over a skyray, but to each his own.