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Stole some ideas from torgoch, but couldn't give up the Railheads...

HQ
Shas'el - Plasma Rifle, Fusion Blaster, Targetting Array, H/W Multi-Tracker, H-W Drone Controller, 2x Shield Drone : 137
2x Bodyguard - Plasma Rifle, Fusion Blaster, Multi-Tracker : 144

Elites
3x Fireknife - Team Leader, Bonded, H-W Multi-Tracker, Targetting Array : 206
3x Deathrain w/ Targetting Array - Team Leader, Bonded, H-W Drone Controller, Shield Drone : 199
3x Stealth - Team Leader, Bonded, 3x Drone Controller, 6x Gun Drone : 160

Troops
6x Fire Warriors    
10x Kroot

Heavy
Ionhead - Smart Missile System, Decoy Launchers, Multi-Tracker, Target Lock : 145
Railhead - 2x Burst Cannon, Decoy Launchers, Multi-Tracker, Target Lock : 170
Railhead - Smart Missile System, Decoy Launchers, Multi-Tracker, Target Lock : 185

Points: 1471

The HQ units have the best WS of any Tau unit, so they seemed the most likely to get Fusion Blasters.  Since they're going to be at risk, I thought Shield Drones might be a good fit too.  Not sure how I like paying 35 points for a Bodyguard Crisis that is really not much better than a 25 point Elites Crisis, but that's the only way to get more Crisis suits on the table.  Should I give the Commander a Cyclic Ion Blaster instead of a Plasma Rifle?  Seems like it could be fun, and with his BS???

Fireknives are still a no-brainer, IMO, and like torgoch was saying, the Targetting Array is a steal for the team leader.  Makes him more valuable than the Bodyguards, but for the same cost.

Deathrain seems like its worth a try, especially with Targetting Array.  Three BS4 Autocannons that can move-shoot-move?  Not bad.  I put the Shield Drones on the unit, but I'm not particularly attached to them.  I don't see this unit being at much risk.

I think torgoch's Stealth and Gun Drone team is a great idea.  There's nice firepower overlap between Burst Cannons and Pulse Carbines, and 3 Gun Drones are significantly better shooting than 1 Stealth Suit, for the same cost (T-L BS2 being better than BS3, plus the Drones can pin).

Troops are...  Well, mandatory.  I might go with another 6 man Fire Warriors team just to free up 10 points and have a more "pure Tau" theme.

I agree with torgoch that the Ionhead is a steal, but I can't see giving up the Railheads.  Seems almost like a gimmick to do so, they're just that good, and that obvious.  Hence, three Hammerheads.  I'm tempted to give them all Disruption Fields since they're only 5 points, and tanks get stunned often enough...

All in all, leaves me with 29 points to fix whatever mistakes I made in building the list, and I can free up 30 more if I dump the Deathrain Shield Drones.  The model count is low, but I like the blend of firepower, I think it's got something of everything.  S4-S10, AP5-AP1...

Somebody just say something. Rate it 1-10. Validate my miserable existance.

um...7? 8?

It looks like it would do decently. I especially like the deathrains - I personally experienced the amazing effectiveness of just one 2-man squad against light armor the other day. I also agree with you on and Torgoch on the stealth/gd thing...so overall i think its a good idea.

As to the whole railhead thing...against guard and infantry-heavy marines (las/plas, anyone?) hammerheads don't tend to last very long. And they are disturbingly inneffective against armor. More shots > big strength. My railheads very rarely come through for me when I need it most. For that reason I like the cheapness and higher number of shots of the ionhead. Good on armor 12 and can often manage to get side shots on leman russes and the like. I'm definitely going to try taking more of them in the near future.

So in the end, I guess what I'm trying to say is that I like your list.

Oh and one other thing before I close - personally I wouldn't take the pr/fb on the hq. Just a matter of taste, but I would prefer to use the hq either as a source of mpods or cib/plas for marine popping. Then I would probably deepstrike them. In any case, figure out what you want to do with them. Termie killing? Keep the plas/fusion. Popping meqs? Go CIB/PR. Anti vehicle? Take fusion/mp (deepstrike and hit side or rear armor? /ok/gg). Don't try to make a multipurpose suit.
Anyway that's just my $0.02, sorry if I went a little off-topic in that last paragraph. -___________-;;

Looks good, very good actually.You'll probably be called a powergamer if you turn up to a friendly with that, but at a tournament it should hurt.

The only thing I do not like is the HQ squad. Sure against MEqs it will really hurt, but if you come up against any GEq army you'll have a problem there.

And SuiMa is right. I'd change the HQ unit for two IC HQ suits and use the points extra to change the BC Railhead into a BASS team, they're really worth it as they cannot be killed by one lucky lascannon shot.

Ok, I'm considering a little revision. Not ready to give up the Railheads yet, but I did rework the HQ, a bit.

HQ
Shas'el - Plasma Rifle, Fusion Blaster, Targetting Array, H/W Multi-Tracker : 97
1x Bodyguard - Plasma Rifle, Fusion Blaster, Targetting Array, H-W Multi-Tracker : 82
Shas'el - Plasma Rifle, Missile Pod, Targetting Array, H/W Multi-Tracker : 97
1x Bodyguard - Plasma Rifle, Missile Pod, Targetting Array, H-W Multi-Tracker : 82

Elites
3x Fireknife - Team Leader, Bonded, H-W Multi-Tracker, Targetting Array : 206
3x Deathrain w/ Targetting Array - Team Leader, Bonded : 169
3x Stealth - Team Leader, Bonded, 3x Drone Controller, 6x Gun Drone : 160

Troops
6x Fire Warriors
6x Fire Warriors

Heavy
Ionhead - 2x Burst Cannon, Decoy Launchers, Multi-Tracker, Target Lock : 145
Railhead - 2x Burst Cannon, Decoy Launchers, Multi-Tracker, Target Lock : 170
Railhead - Smart Missile System, Decoy Launchers, Multi-Tracker, Target Lock : 185

1498 points

I had to move some points around to do it, but I've gone to a pair of Shas'el's with single Bodyguard. One pair are Fireknives. I also gave the Bodyguards Targetting Arrays, which is an option I just noticed they had (to take wargear).

To free up the points I dumped all Shield Drones, went to two 6-man Fire Warrior squads, and gave the Ionhead Burst Cannons instead of SMS. The net result is one more Crisis suit in the list. It's softer now, those Shield Drones are a bunch of pretty difficult wounds to knock off, but I don't think they'll matter much if the unit is locked in CC, and that's how they'll die anyway.

I like the new list (8? 9? out of 10). A few questions/problems:

Why the deathrains? Unless this is for a metagame reason, the big reason to use them before was to counter the rhino rush. I'd say to just stick to more fireknives.

Depends on if you care about footprint and the IC status of HQs, but you can drop the second 'el's bodyguard, use him as a regular fireknife, and use the extra points for more stealths and drones.

Put the Kroot back in. The pushback ability with infiltration is worth 10 points extra.

I'd consider reconfiguring the first 'El and bodyguard's weapons. You already have two railheads and plenty of missiles/ion elsewhere in the list, so I don't see the use of a fusion blaster, especially when the range limitation means it's going to be operating solo. I could suggest you drop the bodyguard in lieu of more stealths+drones, but I can see why you want more plasma in the list.

I agree, you need the Kroot, and Fireknives are better than Deathrain in most cases. If you do stick with the 3 Deathrain, then at least give the Team Leader a Target Lock, makes them more flexible.

Maybe drop the Bodyguard on the Fusion 'el for 11 Kroot, then you'll also have the 5pts for the Target Lock.

Deathrain: I agree that Fireknives are a great setup, the best single choice by far, but they can't be the whole army. I've not played Deathrains yet, but I know a guy that does, and he's a fan. The thing is, there's only so much terrain to work with, and a Fireknife's range is limited. With their range, Deathrain suits can use less "prime" real estate and still fully participate in the fight.

I'd rather have a Deathrain team and a Fireknife team both shooting, than one Fireknife team shooting, and another looking on approvingly.

Fusion Blasters: As you can see from my changes, I think three is overkill. But two, I like. There's several reasons...

First off, inside 12", they're much better MEq killers than Missile Pods. 50% better, in fact. This meshes nicely with the Rapid-Fire range for Plasma Rifles. And I face a lot of MEqs.

Second, a BS5 model with a Melta weapon is a very statistically predictable piece of shooting. If you put him 6" from a tank, you can be pretty sure he'll Penetrate it. The Bodyguard with his own BS4 shot makes it a very safe bet. To put it in perspective, those two suits have a 79% chance to Glance or Penetrate AV14.

Lastly, I like having a weapon that can come out of cover to threaten armor. People tend to hide from Railguns, and I don't want to have to get over-aggressive with my Railheads to make use of them.

If you do stick with the 3 Deathrain, then at least give the Team Leader a Target Lock, makes them more flexible.

This would certainly be worth 5 points, no question.

Maybe drop the Bodyguard on the Fusion 'el for 11 Kroot, then you'll also have the 5pts for the Target Lock.

Again, not a bad suggestion. He's 82 points I could use to turn one FW squad into a largish Kroot squad, maybe increase the other FW squad to 10. More models and more shooting volume could be good.

Cool, glad I could help. I cannot stress how good a 10man Kroot unit is. Against infiltrating armies like Alpha Legion or some SMs you just place them in the middle to deny as much deployment as possible.