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'Ere we go!

HQ
Shas'el: cyclic ion blaster, plasma rifle, multitracker - 90 pts

ELITES
Stealth team: 6 stealth suits - 180 pts
Stealth team: 6 stealth suits - 180 pts

TROOPS
Fire warrior team: 12 shas'la, devilfish, decoy launchers - 205 pts
Fire warrior team: 12 shas'la, devilfish, decoy launchers - 205 pts

FAST ATTACK
Pathfinder team: 8 pathfinders, devilfish, decoy launchers - 181 pts

HEAVY SUPPORT
Hammerhead Gunship: railgun, burst cannons, multitracker, decoy launchers - 165 pts
Hammerhead Gunship: railgun, burst cannons, multitracker, decoy launchers - 165 pts

I think this comes to 1361 pts, leaving me with 139 pts to spare.  I was thinking about possibly picking up a squad of snipers or something, although I'm hesitant to do that because I kind of want to keep this army entirely mechanized.  Alternatively I could pick up a broadside, but this would also violate my mechanized desires.  Any thoughts on what I could do with this?

As to my thoughts on how this would play - pretty much standard mech tau strats here (this is just a variation of the 1000 pt list I use often) with emphasis on a symbiosis between the pathfinders and the stealths.  With the two working in tandem, they can expect to wipe out a full squad of guardsmen in 4+ cover each turn (10.81 wounds on average) which is good for me as my primary opponent plays IG and to this day I have never really been able to inflict serious casualties on his gunline (he has always got them behind irritating 4+ cover save walls and stuff).  I figured this would go a long way towards helping me do that.

Thoughts?  Advice?  Criticism?  Alternate strats?

Thanks in advance.

The easiest way I could see spending a bit of points would be on a bodyguard suit for your Shas'el - you can't mechanize him either, but if I'm on the other side of the table, the Shas'el seems like free victory points if I can get the right units stuck in with him. I'd at least give him one friend just in case.

The idea behind the monat shas'el is to gain independant character status.

Also, battlesuits count as mechanized because they don't walk places; they can use their jetpack to get around. Mechanized basically means no straight-up walking infantry. So no firewarriors without a devilfish or broadsides or anything like that. Kroot are okay because they can infiltrate, but I don't have that many kroot and have never really run into a situation where I wished I had them.

I have never had trouble with fielding the shas'el as a monat - the only possible changes I had seriously considered on him were giving him twin-linked fusion blasters and going tank hunting and putting the saved points into something else, or giving him a targetting array to make him about as useful as a shas'o. I also considered going back to fireknife or trying out the airbursting fragmentation thingie.

How about adding some Piranahas or another Shas'el to the force? Piranahs are a cheap option that can be used to hunt armor, or herd fleeing units off the table. Another Shas'el wouldn't be a bad idea, and you could beef him up a bit more so that you could play with some of the new wargear. Another option might be to add a 2 man Crisis suit team to the army, 2 fireknifes would only cost you 124pts. As for the targetting array, I say go for it, for only 10 points your commander gets to hit on 2's for 15 points cheaper than a Shas'el.

I don't really like how the pathfinders fit in with this list. You could drop them and add another hammerhead.

Instead of 2x6 stealth, why not go 3x4? Some numbers, same cost, but more flexibility and scoring units.

Could buy another HQ suit with the remaining points, or keep the 2x6 stealh teams and grab a pair of crisis suits for a squad.

What is it, exactly, that you don't like about the pathfinders? I was thinking that they would nicely complement the stealths and having maxed out stealth squads means that each markerlight counts for more.

Okay so I sort of redid the list...here's what it looks like at 1498 pts:

HQ
Shas'o: t-l missile pod, plasma rifle, h-w multitracker - 118 pts
Shas'el: CIB, plasma rifle, targeting array, h-w multitracker - 100pts

ELITES
Stealth Team: 4 stealth shas'ui - 120 pts
Stealth Team: 4 stealth shas'ui - 120 pts
Stealth Team: 4 stealth shas'ui - 120 pts

TROOPS
Fire Warrior Team: 12 fire warrior shas'la, devilfish + decoy launchers - 205 pts
Fire Warrior Team: 12 fire warrior shas'la, devilfish + decoy launchers - 205 pts

HEAVY SUPPORT
Hammerhead Gunship: railgun, burst cannons, decoy launchers, multitracker, disruption pod - 170 pts
Hammerhead Gunship: railgun, burst cannons, decoy launchers, multitracker, disruption pod - 170 pts
Hammerhead Gunship: railgun, burst cannons, decoy launchers, multitracker, disruption pod - 170 pts
______________
Total: 1498 pts

Some of you may be wondering why I put the disruption pods on.  There are several reasons why I chose to do that.  The first is this: what the hell else am I going to do with 17 points?  I thought about dropping a multitracker or something on a fish, but then decided that was dumb.  I also thought about trying to drop some more mods on my HQ, but decided against that too.  The other reason is that the disruption pods will increase first-turn survivability on those alpha- and gamma-level missions where I might not (and probably actually certainly won't, if past results are any indication XD) win first turn.  So that I have to worry less about having to get those hammerheads out of line of sight of the forest of lascannons looking at me.

So how does it look from there?

er...any suggestions?