new 40k player here

[cocoron]

hey im brand new to 40k but i have a very nice urak hai army from lotr so i have some experience in minitures. over the past couple of days i have been doing some extensive research into what 40k army i shall choose and have narrowed it down to either space marines or the tau. Now to help me choose i shall tell you what i want, basically what i want is an easier army to paint in my own distintive way, i want people when they see my paint jobs to go o thats input name here. So which army would that be.

Also i have a couple of reservations the tau dont seen to have that many different units or are there more variations that arent obvious to a complete noob and i read somewhere that space marines are very common and i really dont want to have an army that everyone else has.

so shall i choose the tau or space marines or an army of your choice any opinion and advice is greatly appreciated and sorry about the amount of text i just really want to make sure i choose the right army.

[Andrew283]

Depending on your skill level Tau woul be the better option. They are in desperate need of a codex update so will indeed have a lack of units/diversity an will generally be harder to play that the newer 5th edition armies. However the question bils down to, do you want to be part of the mass of generic marines or do you want that edge of exclusivity to your army?

[cocoron]

never played warhammer in my life but im not stupid so should be ok =) also i really dont want to be generic so i think im edging towards the tau but i also like the look of the marines. This is proving to be harder then i thought it would be.

[DrLove42]

As a Tau player I can say they are a good army to play, particularly if you like big guns. They do suffer from an old codex but are still playable. They don't have the flexibiltiy of the marines in play style or models but do have some very good looking models (see the ForgeWorld Suits - http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Warhammer-40000/Tau/TAU-BATTLESUITS-AND-DRONES?filter_reset=1). And as previously mentioned nearly everyone has marines so playing something different means your more likely to get games as people like a bit of variety!

Marines - Good armour, well rounded in shooting and assault, lots of flexibiilty BUT everyone does them
Tau - Excellent Shooting, Really Big Guns, Gorgeous Battle Suits BUT poor assault and little flexibility in competitive lists

My advice is go down to your GW, say your interested in 2 armies and ask if one of the staff can give you a trial game of marines vs Tau, thats how i decided on my Fantasy army.

[cocoron]

thanks a lot for your reply. i am going down today to start my new collection and i think i shall be tau due to the battlesuits and the big guns however if at my local shop there arent that many marines ill collect both since im struggling so much on which one to be.

[Beta_Ray_Bill]

Tau also have a dedicated forum, Advanced Tau Tactica. That will definitely help you get your chops up. If you like doing your homework like me. Visit that site; lots of good advice there.

[fuzzbuket]

whatever you like i play marines and ahve helped 3 people with tau armies and 3 with SM armys.

tau are fragile and MOST of there units arnt too Good IN CC however suits are the "jack of all trades" and the tau can out shoot most

marines are Diverse yes at the end of the day most of them ar marines with diffrent weapons but they give you chioce and variation beyond belif

its just what you like to paint and if your a motivated painter youll want to try out new stuff and have a lovley army (and people going "WOW nice army" is really demotivational :P

[Wolfshade]

See if your friendly local game store will let you trial playing the two different armies.
Both allow you to do original paint schemes so you can be as distinctive as you like, goatboy's Space Goats are an example of how a very common marine army can be made to be distinctive.

So it all comes down to which one you prefer the fluff of and suits your play style. SM are good all rounders and you can make an army to play almost any style with them, tau are more of a shooty army. Having played both, I think that the SM are by far the most forgiving if you make a mistake, but then tau with practise can be a very deadly adversary

[pughball]

I would do Tau, i saw a test game with my mate at our local GW, and one side of the table were 10 year olds with space marines...

[brody77]

I'm no expert by any means, but I've gone with Space Marines simply as I felt that the Assault on Black Reach box was a brilliant starter set for 40k.

However, I've still not decided on a chapter!!

[Hexx]

I'm no expert by any means, but I've gone with Space Marines simply as I felt that the Assault on Black Reach box was a brilliant starter set for 40k.

However, I've still not decided on a chapter!!
Make your own its fun :D

[fuzzbuket]

I would do Tau, i saw a test game with my mate at our local GW, and one side of the table were 10 year olds with space marines...

and your problem is?

as one of the under 16 minority i dislike the moaning that people do at the intended audiance.

good for them starting early: actually its older people that i dislike

some 6yr olds come in the store and gaze at my eldar and my mates sallies dukeing it out with tau support they look at the models but dont touch either

then some 23? ish yr olds pick up my models without permission, althought they were nice about it and said sorry i still dislike the fact that they didnt ask.

(but there was also some 10-12 yr olds who rumaged through my mates case which was unlockd >:(

its the person, not the age