Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Any chance something like this could possibly work?

HQ:

O'Shaserra
175

Shas'El
-Missile Pod, Airburst, Targeting array, HW Multitracker, Gun Drone
107

Troops:

Fire Warrior Team
-8 Fire Warriors
80

Kroot Squad 1
-12 Kroot
84

Kroot Squad 2
-14 Kroot
98

Elites:

Crisis Team 1
-Team Leader w/ Missile Pod, Fusion Blaster, Targeting array, HW Multitracker, Gun Drone
-2* XV-8 w/ TL Missile pod, Targeting Array
185

Crisis Team 2
-Team Leader w/ Missile Pod, Fusion Blaster, Targeting array, HW Multitracker, Gun Drone
-2* XV-8 w/ TL Missile pod, Targeting Array
185

Crisis Team 3
-Team Leader w/ Missile Pod, Fusion Blaster, Targeting array, HW Multitracker, Gun Drone
-2* XV-8 w/ TL Missile pod, Targeting Array
185

Fast Attack:

Pathfinder Team
-4* Pathfinder w/ Markerlights
-Devilfish w/ Disruption pod and Marker beacon
133

Piranha
-Fusion Blaster, Targeting array, Disruption pod
75

Heavy Support:

Hammerhead
-Ion Cannon, Multi-tracker, Disruption pod, Burst Cannons, Target lock
135

Broadside Team 1
-Team leader w/ Advanced Stab. System, HW Target lock, 2* Shield Drones
-2* XV-88 w/ A.S.S
280

Broadside Team 2
-Team leader w/ Advanced Stab. System, HW Target lock, 2* Shield Drones
-2* XV-88 w/ A.S.S
280

Total: 2002 points, I'm over the limit a bit, so the list needs some work.

Six Broadsides, Shadowsun and ten Crisis Suits. It's Shadow Castle, gunline built around Shadowsun's leadership bubble. Something nasty comes too close to Broadsides, Shadowsun and the Crisis suits shoot them in the face.

I know the conventional wisdom is that Shadowsun sucks. But along with Ethereal, she is the only way to boost Tau leadership. Also why Ionhead? Well, in my experience, Tau tanks tend to be massive fire magnets. I don't have points for Railhead, plus I have six Broadsides which ought to be enough for most situations. If the enemy shoots my Ionhead, that's cool, it's pretty tough and not critical for my army. If they don't, it can put out nice amount of high-strength shots. Plus Ion Cannon is good against most MC's.

There are pitifully little troops...and only one transport. Also I don't have any Plasma rifles, that's a potential weakness. Shield Drones for XV-8's would be better of course, but points are lacking. It would be nice to have second Devilfish, but how to get it..any ideas?

One thing that sticks out is the Missile Pods/Fusion Blaster/Multi-tracker combo.

When will you use both weapons in one turn? Death Rains are supposed to pop armor from a distance. Also, I'd drop the Gun Drones for some more troops - you're pretty lacking from a 2k game

Shadowsun is just way overpriced. If you really really want a leadership boost take an Ethereal (maybe with some shield drones?) and stick him in with some droned up Broadsides. He'll be hard to take out, and you'll practically save a couple Crisis worth of points.

Other than that. The list really could use some more Piranha. You can get away with only a Piranha or two in a list if you are running fully mobile. Once you get more stationary by including lots of Broadsides also need lots of Piranha to block enemy movement to buy your suits time to kill stuff.

I'm still not sure what the point of the Ionhead or Fusion on the Team Leaders is. If you feel you really 'have' to fill your Heavy slots up, then take a Skyray or, even Sniper Drone teams instead, both are better choices in this type of list. The Ionheads rate of fire just isn't all that great, and the Skyray can give a boost to the whole army. Fill out that Pathfinder squad and you could hide the Skyray behind some big terrain and get off good side shots or gimp a Marine squad. Sniper Drone teams are nice when you have a bunch of Broadsides, you're already going to have to buffer/protect the B-sides so its not too much more effort to protect the Sniper Drones and get a bunch of nice AP3 firepower at the same time.

The Fusion on the team leaders just seems like bloat, not much reason to have them on those suits, save the points and drop them.

I'll explain some of my reasoning:

As is obvious, the whole idea of the list is to have craploads of XV-8 bodies protected by Drones, and Shadowsun to hopefully stop them running off when a Drone dies.

Fusions on Team leaders are kind of a backup. Sometimes nasty stuff gets close, in that case Melta or Plasma is usually better than Missile Pod. A Fireknife Team leader would probably be better, but I was short on points (I think going all Deathrain is too extreme, plus I want some ability for wound allocation). Gun Drones are ablative wounds. With all the Krak missiles flying around, I don't want first casualty to be an expensive Suit.

Ethereal would indeed provide cheaper leadership bubble than Shadowsun, but I feel he is also more risky as it will provide enemy a very obvious "lynchpin" which to target. I have no illusions about Shadowsun being great or anything, but I figure that against this kind of list, enemy will usually attempt to come to her.

Ionhead has always served me well, Sniper Drones never have. Ionhead is mobile and reasonably tough, Sniper Drones are neither. I don't want the list to be too full of static stuff, it gets annoying and difficult to deploy. I was thinking about Sky Ray, which indeed would be better choice, but also 20 to 30 pts more expensive. Of course, I could drop Ionhead and divide the Broadsides between 3 teams; then buy a FW team with a Devilfish.

Yes, second Piranha and/or more troops would be great. But I will have to drop something for that. I was thinking about giving up Shas'El. Kroot don't benefit from leadership bubble, so I also considered about replacing one team with Fire Warriors...though normally, that is probably viewed as a very poor idea.