Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Wanting to start 40k with one of these armys not sure what to go with.

Love the idea of Tau/Looks/Playstyle/

But Blood angels look really cool are apparently competitive.

Just i prefer more units on the field and like shooty more than cc so not sure who to go with

If those are the only two options, go Tau. They'll get a new book next year and you can just get Fire Warriors to paint and work on until you find out what's going to be good in the new book. If you don't like the Blood Angles playstyle, you won't like them as an army and the Tau will probably be as competitive as anything else when the new book drops.

However, if you like the look of the Blood Angels and you want to be competitive NOW, there are shooty Marines and they all look pretty much the same, right? It's just a matter of color scheme.

Tau can get fairly substantial numbers on the field since fire warriors are excellent troop choices but beyond that you're looking at small elite units like suits and broadsides for most of your firepower.

Tau is definately way more shooty, most shooty army in the game imo.

Tau are more competitive then people give them credit for. A solid Tau list, can handle just about anything. And with Disruption pods giving them a 3 up cover save just for moving, they probably have the sturdiest vehicles in 6th.

As much as I love Broadsides, Hammerheads are the better heavy choice, as they can take a rail gun, and shut sub munitions to use a template.

Well, I beg to differ on that last point.
Hammerheads are NOT better then broadsides, they are DIFFERENT.

Broadsides are epic anti-tank units, railgun hammerheads are good anti-horde unit with backup anti-armor option, not a dedicated anti-armor unit. (and the plasma head is a dedicated elite killer, with option to set his mind on light armor while the elites are not there.)

Best you can go is mix a broadside unit, a hammerhead (either rail or plasma) and wildcard the third slot (2 broadsides and 2 hammerheads or 2x2 broadsides and a hammerhead)


As for Tau or BA, if you favor shooty-go Tau. BA is an all-out assault army.
Do note, Tau are HARD to play, as you are squishy. it WILL be frustrating until you learn to properly use your units, and there is alot of information you HAVE to study before you can make a proper list (crisis suit setups and purposes being the bulk of it)

While I have started with Tau myself, I would not recommend it unless you are totally in love with the style of the army, both look and play, as it is very different then the rest, and requires alot of patience towards it. (and while the crisis suits apperance is so-so in my eyes, the firewarriors and the tanks are just an eye candy, and the trollish playstyle is just my thing. trollish in the fact half your actions are towards forbidding your opponent to play as he intends rather then following fixed and understandable battle plans.)

The idea of Infantry with Support/Transport is what i really like about Tau, the fact they hit hard and from distance.

But BA just look really cool aswell, just the idea of jumping kinda puts me off. If you cant tell im really picky with the little things

Blood Angels mech lists are very shooty and completely destructive if used right

If you prefer brains over brawn, go Tau.I personally think you'll be better served in the long run by picking a tactical army instead of a brute force army. As you play Tau you learn to think ahead of your opponent.

I'm not sure how the BA look and style can appeal to you. They look just like all the other SMs... But maybe it's just me.

They got all the vampiric and angeling themes in them, and when combined the make some wicked apperances at times.

BA are not like normal marines, they're like super fast hitting alpha strike marines

If you like the appearance, you can always invent your own chapter, and paint their models a bit differently, make up some background and use another Marine codex that doesn't weigh so heavily on jump packs.

why should you play Blood Angels?

Please don't make comments like this on Dakka. Thanks.Reds8n


Do it for the blood god.

Honestly, I'll advise Tau, but only because I got incredibly frustrated playing a SM-y army (I was interested in SW because of how Viking-y they were) because it seems like everybody plays space marines. Just for diversitu's sake I switched to orks and crons (back in the old edition before crons were everywhere) and I had a much better time. You'll be able to play units nobody else has, and I find that people over-prepare for SM just a little bit, enough to give non-SM players that tiny edge. You almost never see an army that doesn't take lots of ap3 and SM killing units, and that's massive overkill against non marines.