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Hey guys Im looking to start collecting my first army and I'm stuck between Tau and Space marines..
Any advise about which to choose for a beginner with only a little experience painting miniatures would be muchly appreciated

Well, Tau are good at shooting, not so good in close combat. Space Marines are very well-rounded with a good mix of shooting and close combat. They have units to handle any situation. Tau are probably the more challenging of the two to learn with.

But, go with whichever you think is coolest. Lots of people play Space Marines, not so many play Tau, so if you want to be more unique, go Tau.

There are tons of painting tutorials out there, but in all honesty, there is simply no substitute for experience. Just get to it.

Get the marines. Not only do you get a modern, well-balanced codex, but you can also play them as any of the other marine armies if you get a few codex-specific units to support the core of your troops. Tau, on the other hand, are pretty much locked into a single "standard" list if you want to win, and are rumored to be getting a new codex early next year. Given the age of the current Tau codex, the new one is likely to involve major changes. The most likely outcome is that you play Tau for a while, struggle to win, and then the new codex comes along and makes all of the models you bought redundant.

Go with which ever models you think look the coolest imo. That advice has served me well

Thanks for the advise, I think I will go with the space marines. If I can fit it in with the fluff I could always have a small 'outcast' tau army that allies with my marines couldn't I?

Yeah, Tau can ally with Marines as well as other Imperials can - they're Battle Brothers together. They wouldn't even need to be outcast Tau, just regular Tau dudes.

I've decided on making a fanon chapter, going to name them thunder wolves. What colours would go well? I was thinking a black and orange colour scheme?

 Brother SRM wrote:
Yeah, Tau can ally with Marines as well as other Imperials can - they're Battle Brothers together.

That seems really odd to me - not just tau being battle brothers with codex marines, but also the fact that it's JUST codex marines, they're allies of convenience with all the chapters who have their own codexes.

Space Marines are geared toward starters but you will benefit the most from playing Tau.

I played Tau since 01 until earlier this year and I do not regret a second of it. Tau are challenging but learning the game with them will make you better with every other army in the game. Even if you go with Marines I wouldn't write off playing Tau. I would wait until the new dex but if the new dex is anything like the old one Tau will still be a challenge to play.

Pick the army that looks the coolest to you. IF you don't think the army looks awesome, don't get it, because 90% of your time in this hobby is painting the stupid things, may as well like them.

It's why I kick myself for buying cadians. Even though I got them cheap, I HATE the look of them. If I could go back, I would have bought any other IG line instead, even if it was more expensive. Don't make my mistake

With no other information other than "tau or space marines for a new player?" I'm also going to go with space marines.

Marines have been in every starter box since ever, and a lot of people play them, so it will be really easy to get miniatures for really, really cheap. They're also very easy to paint. They also get a new codex at the beginning of every rules edition, so they only ever become SO uncompetitive.

It is all preference, only you can make the choice. But I think mabye Space Marines for a starter is good cause they are well rounded and they let you have a good grasp of the rules with them.

I'm just going to go with space marines. Maybe after new tau codex is released I'll start to build up a collection. I've been told space marines are good for getting the basic grasp of the rules so I'll go with that