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So, here is my dilemma. I've Had a 1,000 pts. Tau army a long time ago, but traded it in for more IG. I've also had a 1,000 pts. army of orks that I gave to my friend when he started the hobby. My problem is that I haven't played a 7th ed. game yet, and i want to know what army I should build, Tau or Orks. I like the Lore for both, leaning towards the orks, I love the models for both sides, and I like both of their play styles. I've already built and sometimes play an IG, Black Templar, and Grey Knight army, it's just that now I look back, my IG bore me, I HATE the inquisition and the current GK codex, and most space marine lore just bores me. So, I guess my quesition is , which is doing better at the moment, and what you prefer and why.


EDIT: Question, since im getting in a gameday warboss, do orks and Tau ally well?

Tau are quite powerful army nowadays, however in some ways they play VERY different compared to the old days and depending on what aspects of the Tau playstyle you liked in the past, the current book may not be to your tastes.

Orks just got a new Codex. I think the verdict is that it's not the most powerful one, but playable. New Mob Rule is quite annoying, but other than that, well, they're Orks. Dakka dakka, waaagh and all that.

 Brennonjw wrote:
I like the Lore for both, leaning towards the orks

So...what exactly the question is?

TO WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH! or to be fish... the answear is simple.

To play against, I much prefer Orks. They're a fun, bonkers army to face.

ShaneTB wrote:
To play against, I much prefer Orks. They're a fun, bonkers army to face.

+1 orks are a crazy force and it can be a laugh taus a bit more serious ive had both and I love em just as much hence my sw army is huge

 Brennonjw wrote:
So, here is my dilemma. I've Had a 1,000 pts. Tau army a long time ago, but traded it in for more IG. I've also had a 1,000 pts. army of orks that I gave to my friend when he started the hobby. My problem is that I haven't played a 7th ed. game yet, and i want to know what army I should build, Tau or Orks. I like the Lore for both, leaning towards the orks, I love the models for both sides, and I like both of their play styles. I've already built and sometimes play an IG, Black Templar, and Grey Knight army, it's just that now I look back, my IG bore me, I HATE the inquisition and the current GK codex, and most space marine lore just bores me. So, I guess my quesition is , which is doing better at the moment, and what you prefer and why.

"Both." - tom Kirby

Seriously. If you like them both, then play both. Don't worry about which is doing better (Tau) and focus on what you like painting and playing.

^ This guy gets it. At the end of the day, it's a hobby. You're going to have to look at them on the table every game, and you're the one painting them. Doesn't really matter how good of an army it is, if you like it, then collect it!

Bojazz wrote:
^ This guy gets it. At the end of the day, it's a hobby. You're going to have to look at them on the table every game, and you're the one painting them. Doesn't really matter how good of an army it is, if you like it, then collect it!

Yep. As you like both, I'd suggest starting with the less represented faction in your meta.

Funnily enough I am in the same boat as the OP.
I currently collect Eldar and they are going to be my main force for a while but I also want a side project to mix the painting and collecting up a bit and eventually build it into my second army.
I like the madness and the look of the Orcs and it could be a nice change of pace to throw groups of green skins at targets but I also like the long range accurate style of the Tau, plus the battle suits please my eye.

I have a day off on Friday and I'm going to head over to a Games Workshop so it might just come down to which side has the best starter army box set.

 kronk wrote:

 Brennonjw wrote:
So, here is my dilemma. I've Had a 1,000 pts. Tau army a long time ago, but traded it in for more IG. I've also had a 1,000 pts. army of orks that I gave to my friend when he started the hobby. My problem is that I haven't played a 7th ed. game yet, and i want to know what army I should build, Tau or Orks. I like the Lore for both, leaning towards the orks, I love the models for both sides, and I like both of their play styles. I've already built and sometimes play an IG, Black Templar, and Grey Knight army, it's just that now I look back, my IG bore me, I HATE the inquisition and the current GK codex, and most space marine lore just bores me. So, I guess my quesition is , which is doing better at the moment, and what you prefer and why.

"Both." - tom Kirby

Seriously. If you like them both, then play both. Don't worry about which is doing better (Tau) and focus on what you like painting and playing.

I want to eventualy, But what one should i build first is really my quesiton I guess.

I play both, and let me tell you from experience they are dramatically different armies. I picked up orks first because they physically appealed to me (though that ended up pissing me off until the new dex dropping since 6th really neutered orks). I grabbed Tau purely because i wanted an army that was the polar opposite to my assaulting orks - a shooting army that DIDNT require a tankline to actually function as a shooting army (looking at you IG....). I actually got them a month before their new dex and never even knew they were getting one lol.

New orks can be shooty but theyre still a totally different ball game than tau shooty. And they still have an element of assault, so theres that.

Biggest question to ask yourself: which one draws your attention more? im speaking of the models themselves here not the rules or playstyle. Play an army that you love the models for, dont be one of those guys that go "I absolutely hate this model but the rules are so awesome...." because theyre just as annoying as "That guy" - least to me they are.

EDIT: Also my sig is off, i havent bothered to calculate what i actually have now lol. Probably double that many orks and scraping 4k pts for tau.

Despite many people might claim, orks are rather complex from a tactical point of view.

There are 2 main rules that need to be followed:
- Timing is VERY important.
You have to plan your list and gameplay for a simultanious strike. If you come in waves, your mighty ork's punch that crushes the enemy becomes a couple of lowly grot's nervous kicks that don't do a thing.
- Chop the shooty, chop the shooty.
Your units are designed to thrive on weaker foes. A good and easy to understand example is a squad of meganobz. They're gona totally evaporate anything that doesn't rock ap2. They'll destroy almost any vehicle - even LOW - if they get there. But the moment they meet someone like assault termies or a biker chaptain with a stormshield + fist, they're gona vanish, having done almost nothing in return. And this applies to all of your units. You have to play smart to get in the fights that are best for you.

Those things are harder to pull of in actual gaming than it could seem but the fact that ork codex and supplements provide you with a vast ammount of options, that are rarely worthless, opens a possibility for fun awesome gaming experience with a ton of possible builds. Tau are more straightforward here and are easier to play.

If it's important to you that you have a fully painted army and painting isn't your favorite thing to do, do not play Orks. Painting a decent sized Ork army is a truly daunting task in my opinion...

I will agree with Kroooaei about ork tactic. They arent easy to use anymore, even the Green Tide takes a bit of planning.

My tau lists generally go like this:
"I wanna run this, that, and this. OK i have this many points left....hmm...yeah i can afford these and that OK theres my army"
And it works lol. Ive brought some rather unusual tau lists and they still function because tau.

Making an ork list i will literally sit here for like 40min devising a tactic and theme for the points i got. Tau can bring random crap because they had the points, orks cant. Warbikers, deffkoptas, buggies, and the planes are probably the only unit that if you can only afford to bring one youre fine to bring one, but literally everything else you seriously need two or similar-behaving units to accommodate them.

Which one do you want to paint more. Painting is very time consuming so pick the force you think you will enjoy painting the most.

The tau are the only species that are good. The Orks well... Dakka, dakka, bam, shoot, gun, gun, kill and all that. Feral things that like to be killed.

lliu wrote:
The tau are the only species that are good. The Orks well... Dakka, dakka, bam, shoot, gun, gun, kill and all that. Feral things that like to be killed.

They're "good" relative to the rest of the grim dark armies! They do some pretty messed up stuff themselves though.