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I currently play Chaos space marines and must say I dislike the army. I am not found of painting the models and dislike the newer models that just came out. I was thinking of switching armies and had two in mind but not sure how well they do on the table. First choice was to switch to imperial guard but have never played against a guard army and not sure if it would be a wise choice. The other army was Tau but same deal I am not to sure on how well tau are doing in 6th edition.

SO if any Imperial guard or Tau players wouldnt mind could you let me know how you have been doing in 6th edition?

As a tau player-6th edition is kind to us, many things changed in our favor and our FAQ is a godsend.

Now, we are not a top-tier army, but the fights got fair instead of uphill, sure there are some units that will disappoint you, and not many unit choises at all (even less after you count out the failing units) but you CAN play, and its unique and fun (altough some will say that the jetpacks are the most annoying mechanic in the game, but they are always on the other side of the table when they say it )

The situation of Tau these days is that it has some viechles that are REALLY hard to shoot down, an ok basic troop, highly verstile elites and some really neat heavy support options. (fast attack are a bit of a disappointment, but some have uses)
The army is not cheap to collect, even tough it is light on models. the crisis suits cost ALOT to get a decent number of (not to mention how pricy they get with the broadside upgrade.), but you also get a few drones along pretty much every single unit, and they can be fielding as a seperate unit (altough not a great one)

As for metagame issues-as the metamage shifted to more infantry heavy and heavy infantry, and far less tanks or cover-based units as they are technically weaker, but Tau's tanks and cover mechanics are even stronger then 5th edition (well, at 5th they were lame, now they are just "pretty good") they often go counter-meta and as such you are more likely to chatch opponents off guard, evening the playfield despite your pure stats being not as good.

Tau requries study though, not everything works as you would expect-and sometimes an option that seems infirior by intuition is actually mathematically superior, units often behave wierd and many pieces of equipment behave stagely according to the situation and its hard to predict their value (markerlight is the main troublemaker there), and the crisis suits are probably the single more verstile and multi-purpose equippable unit in the game, so you need to know what you are doing with them and how to mix-and-match them rather then slap the same generic obvious wargear options on every single one.

So far I'm having a blast with Tau whenever I win or lose, the mechanics are fun and responsive, you may have a few units, but many can be set up as multiple completely different units by simple gun, size and wargear changes, and even in-game you have much more decision to make then anyone else, and while it leaves far more room for mistakes, it also gives alot of room for master strokes.

Guard for the emperor tau suck yeah i know you want details but guard rule

Thanks for the info guys I will keep looking into both of them and would love to here more from other people.

I'm a guard player, and I'd like to say that I have been considering getting Tau for some time. I like a very shooting heavy army, and the Tau really play up that role very well.

So anyways, the IG. . .
The downsides are many. Our standard bread and butter troopers are squishy and not very effective at either assault or ranged combat. You probably won't end up with a super-duper winner if you choose the guard.

HOWEVER!! Many of those downsides become upsides when you actually begin to understand the mechanics. The Guard has these wonderful things called "orders" as you may or may not have seen. One order can multiply the shots a group of guardsmen fire by several fold. We also have the capacity to field some of the most lethal peices of armor in the entire game for marginal cost. Artillery makes hordes look like a joke (in some cases) and heavy weapon fire can easily cut down space marines or other armored troops.

The IG has the added bonus of being VERY modular. It's very easy to re-work your lists in no time flat to compensate for different expected conditions on the field.

I think you could have a whole lot of fun with either choice.

I use an airborne Guard allied detachment for my Grey Knights, and I have to say I enjoy the army. The infantry are cheap and can carry a good deal of firepower, the vehicles are inexpensive for their sheer durability and firepower, and the list is impressively versatile. Guard as a core list lack assault capability, but they can be very mobile using Valkyries/Vendettas and can be very tough through sheer numbers; the fun thing about the Guard is that most everything is so inexpensive that it's easy to cram a lot into a very small list.

My Tau army amounts to the contents of one Battleforce right now, but in my experience playing against the Tau they tend to be not particularly mobile and very bad at close combat, forcing you to rely on careful positioning and planning to win games. The top piece of advice I can provide there is to have a contingency plan in place for everything; you won't win by just throwing everything in the other guy's face the way MEQ armies play, you'll need to set up your force carefully to maximize your ability to make the other guy explode before he gets anywhere near you and your ability to get away if he gets too close.

Guard is probably to more well-written and versatile out of the two, codex wise. You can go with the drop-troops, the chimera armored company, massed infantry, small, hard-hitting veterans, or even field a wall of AV 14 with leman russes. Guard are nearly unparralelled in the sheer number of options they can take from their codex and still come out with a decent list, unlike Tau, which, while their crisis suits are flexible, it pretty much outshines any other elite choice they have.

While the basic troop isn't much, the guard codex is all about synergy and options. Take for example, the Company Command Squad, an HQ choice. This squadron consists of 4 vetrans, and one commander. By itself, it's weak, and will die easily under measly bolter fire; however, give a vetran the company flag and plop the CCS right behind a platoon and suddenly your platoon can re-roll any failed leadership test! If you want a more mobile, or hard-hitting command squad, stick them in a chimera and equip the veterans with plasma or melta. If the command squad is going to be yelling orders to the gunline, throw a lascannon on 'em and give them the Master Of Ordinance, allowing them not only to shout orders at the heavy weapon squads, but call down lasers from space on your opponent's forces. If you want a counter-assault unit, load the squadron up with special characters armed with powerfists, then throw an angry priest that carries an ap 2, armorbane chainsword and grants re-rolls to all the failed attacks.

Sheesh, and that's just the HQ choice.

That said, go with what you like most and will have the most fun with.

Both are shooting armies, I think Tau more so because of markerlights thus making them more effective but I'm partial. I've played them since 2001 when they came out. Guard tend to sit and shoot everything they got at you depending on their air support to move around the board to win. They can field a lot of tanks but have minimal movement with said tanks while still shooting. The tend to field mass amounts of troops that shoot low strength weapons, but auto cannons can hurt. Leman Russ/Hydras/ Vendettas seem to be the name of the game for them. Tau are a little less troop heavy but said troops can hurt you more and from further away. They have avg. BS but can be upgraded w/ markerlights to hit on 2's or take cover away. Tau tanks can move 12",shoot everything at full BS, and get a 3+ cover save in the open. Guard can't match that.. Tau also have the strongest gun in the game a twinlinked railgun that will decimate guard tanks and they can field up 9 of them in a single foc. It's really up to you, do you want a GI joe kind of army of a sci fi ish shooty army? They both have pros/cons. However w/ 6th edition Tau got a big boost and their new codex is approx. 6+/- months out. Best of luck!!

I have played both armies since 4th edition and still do, however, I play more Tau than I do my drop troop Guard (Thanks to Cruddace and the 6th Edition Victory Conditions...), and I can honestly say their both really fun armies to play:

Imperial Guard: An army with a very broad playstyle. It can boast horde-like numbers or small, powerful squads. It has the largest array of Artillery and Tanks compared to any other Codex. Both Mech and Foot Guard are very strong in this edition and Guardsmen can be given a variety of equipment to suit your needs; from special weapons, grenades, heavy weapons, and even power weapons (yet no Las Gun for the sergeants...)! Every aspect of the army is customizable. Its main strength is volume of fire and sheer numbers.

Tau: Playing ever since their release, I have always loved my Tau. Although their Codex is showing its age and alot of Tau units are either over priced or simply out dated (poor Kroot and Krootox), the Tau excel at shooting with or without Markerlights and sport the strongest weapons in the game. You can play them in two varieties; a gun line or a mechanized force. I play the latter, with enough mobile Dakka to make an Eldar blush, and they do surprisingly well in this edition (mainly because of their Disruption Pod vehicle upgrade...).


In short, the Imperial Guard have a very strong Codex right now compared to the Tau, who have yet to recieve an update. Guard have strength in numbers and guns. Tau have strength in their gun quality and mobile units like the Crisis Suit and Stealth Suit.