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.

Hi, i just wanted some opinions and the goods/bads to both the tau and chaos armies. im starting a new army with some friends at new years and i need to decide which army im going to play.

Tau is getting a new codex in 2013 so you may want to wait as they will hopefully get new mini's and a good codex.

Chaos deamons or CSM?
Cause I play Tau with CSM allies. So far I like both. I have been running Tau as my main army for a while and just started collecting CSM as allies. My suggestion? Both. I think they compliment each other very well.

Currently I'm having fun running broadside teams and a maulerfiend for heavy support choices. Maulerfiend is hilariously fast and can dish out a bit of hurt when it gets into CC. Using Suits and Broadsides as fire support really helps it getting it where it needs to be. Heldrake gives a great AP3 weapon that I don't really find available in the Tau army.

I could talk about the plus of both sides if you'd prefer. But I'm not sure how to rank them against each other.

If you could give plus's and minus to both armies that would be great

Chaos marines, not daemons

tau-dakka focused, basic infantry have the longest ranged weapons of any basic infantry, weak armor, absolutely suck massive amounts of warp in close combat. they're communists

CSM- choppa focused, also has some very good dakka options, basic infantry has 3+ armor save. lots os spikes

Tau have an easy build. Twin-linked Missilepods with flamers and a team leader with black sun filter gives an amazingly strong unit in elites.
Firewarriors are a bit over costed, but otherwise strong.
The Forgeworld tetra is the best FA choice, giving a huge number of accurate markerlights.
Broadsides and hammerheads compete for HS.
Hammerheads have a nice template and get a good cover save, but are somewhat overpriced.
Broadsides give an extremely powerful anti-tank option that can ignore night fighting. It's infantry so can fit into bastions and a unit on top.

CSM I'm not too familiar with. But the Heldrake, autocannon havocs, and Nurgle bikes are current favorites. The boon table is a fun bonus, but not essential. Many themes, many good choices, and lots of options for most units. Oblits are basically a Swiss Army knife version of Broadsides,

Out of all of the current codices, Tau have are the most reliant on shooting. They arguably have the best basic infantry weapon in the game (S5, 30 inch range Rapid Fire) and decent armor. They also have crisis suits, broadside suits, and the Hammerhead, all of which are extremely good units. They are also fairly mobile, not extremly so like Dark Eldar or Biker Marines, but more mobile than many armies. However, they suffer in quite a few areas. They are one of the oldest codices, meaning that they don't have as many options as newer armies, many of their choices are over-costed (partially due to power creep, partially due rules changes since 4th edition when they were last updated), and several of their wargear choices have been obsoleted completely (they had several pieces of wargear which reference the out of date 'Target Priority' rule, for example). They are also the weakest army in the game when it comes to combat, having extremely low WS, S, and I. As an additional note, rumors point to an updated Tau Codex being released sometime during 2013, so they will probably have a number of their structural flaws (lower unit diversity, outdated equipment/costs) accounted for.

Chaos Space marines are generally considered to be middle of the road since their new codex was released, not as strong as the power armies (Necrons, Guard, Wolves, Daemons with the WD update, and to a lesser extent GK), they field a lot of medium infantry and have a wide range of choices available to them. They are more flexible than Tau, able to play both the close combat army and the midrange army, but don't do nearly as well at long range. They also have better armor than Tau (with the exception of cultists everything has a 3+ or better) and far more options in terms of units. However, despite having some mobile units, they are far less mobile than Tau as a whole.

So in summary, I would go with whatever army you like the look of the most. You are going to be devoting a lot of time and effort into these models, so stick with what you like. If you are more concerned with gameplay than aesthetics, I would say go with Tau if you prefer shooting and mobility, and go with Chaos if you are more attracted to durability and melee combat.