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Hello Friends!
Basically I think this looks like a fantastic hobby that I could really enjoy i'm just having a really hard time choosing a race I want to play, I know I have to make the decission in the end but any advice would be appreciated, I will now go into some deitail of my dilema.

Firstly I'm still at secondary school so I cant get an income for 2 years sadly so I need to be careful with what I spend my cash on so my army isn't crappy. I've had a look at several armies includeing chaos space marines, Tyranids, Space marines, eldar and tau. I have brought some taster packs (snap fit boxes) of these armies and really reasearched their lore and origin I have managed to come up with a toss up between Orks and Tau due to me loving the origins and look of the races (the others were either not my cuppa tea or too fiddly to paint ).

I have reaserched Tau and discovered they are currently a really weak army at the moment but there may be a change to this and also they are un-skilled at close combat which is really gonna suck if I miss most of my shots at an enemy good at close combat and I'm preety defenseless. However I like the fact that they work with kroot which I think you can use to defend the fire caste warriors. I like the whole "greater good thing" aswell, most importantly they look awesome to paint! Being a arty/ creative guy I imagine they are awesome to paint! On the other hand Orks are great to paint and I love the way orks talk nd the way they fight (admitidly I learnt that from the WH40k: Space Marine Game) I love the wargear the use as well and the (Crappy) tech they use that works due to the belif that it works!
I do prefer tau armour and wargear but love ork style!

Please give me some pros and cons of both races and any experiences you have with them to help me make a decsion.

Lastly sorry if this is in the wrong area I am completely new here this is my first post !

While I don't play either race I have played against them and I can tell you this.

Tau
Tons of shooty death
Your guns are stronger and better than almost everyone's
Tau is a perfectly valid army to play
I hear that Kroot aren't that good now but what I hear could be wrong.
Less models so less expensive

Orks
Strong CC awful shooting
Competitive
Great style and you get to talk like one.
More models so more expensive.
Both are good looking armies with Painting and Modeling opportunities. So pick which army is your favorite to look at and to play. If you like vaporizing your opponents from a foot away take Tau. If you like cutting their head off and jumping on it take Orks. But do what you will like for a long time.

Welcome to the hobby, and welcome to Dakka!

Some good points already made. The Orcs are a more expensive army money wise, as you need a lot more models to field such a horde list. Tau have very modern tech which gives them longer range even for their standard troops. The Crisis Suits are very cool too, and can be kitted out in a variety of ways. I have a soft spot for the orcs in my heart because the models are so neat. I already play Guard and Tyranids so I can't do another horde army.

Rumors abound that the Tau will be getting a new codex in the coming months, which very likely means they'll get new models too. I obviously don't know for sure if that's going to happen, but it would be great to get into them as new models and a new codex come out.

Thanks, I think seeing as I dont have an income tau are the way forward now I just need to plan out my list! What is the general set up of an army is it something like this:
One HQ
Two Troops
One Heavy
Two Fast

Thanks for the advice.

EvilTea,

Welcome to dakka and a great hobby. I'm going to approach your original question from a different point of view. These are the aspects you discussed:

- Fluff (background of the races)
- Playstyle (shooty vs choppy. mech vs footy. etc)
- Modeling (the aesthetics of the army)
- Income (or lack there of).

So having limited funds for this very expensive hobby is an important consideration for a lad such as yourself. Adult players (such as myself) have more disposable cash to spread around and can get into cheap point armies... like orks (which I play). For this game you can pretty much rely on the indirect correlation with points cost vs financial cost.
That is the cheaper the army is in points, the more expensive (in money) it is to collect.

So I would consider all those facets for your coming collection. But realize if you choose a horde army like orks or tyranids or potentially IG that your income will limit your participation in the hobby. My advice to someone like you is choose first by your pocket book for the first army. Then once your sure you like it. Go full bore into that second army. Perhaps they could even be allies!!!

When I helped my step-son choose his army I knew that I would not want to spend all my time meticilously painting (and paying for) an army if he ultimately didn't want to play. We opted for Necrons. Expensive in points (cheap in cash) and very easy to paint to a table-top quality. The result is that he collects and plays occasionally with me and he can field a pretty large force of varied units.

Just keep $$$ in mind.

DrG

Thanks, Ive observed that tau are considerabley cheaper than orks so I think I will go for the tau, Like you said income is important so I will go for a cheap option in this case tau ( I say cheap...) My army will be built really slowly so I will be less experienced on the table I think but meh...
I really look forward to the hobby!

Hi,

Welcome to Dakka

Hello, welcome to Dakka, based on what has been posted earlier Tau would be easier on the cash end of things. Enjoy the hobby.

For the Greater Good!!!!!! haha but welcome to the hobby and I hope you have fun The tau are a very fun army to play as, crisis suits especially since they are so flexible. My brother plays orks and if you aren't a good painter, I don't recommend them as you will have a few hundred models that you dont want to look at, a waste of money :(

For fluff there isnt much cannon with the tau but orks have plenty of fun material.

Orks are easier to play, if not neccessarily better. Tau takes a more experienced player. Like any army, both can be weak if you use the wrong units when building your lists. It really comes down to playstyle. If you like in your face close combat, go with orks, that is where they win. If you prefer stand back and shoot, go with Tau, because that is where they win. Orks have more conversion options, but have more models to paint. Tau have an easier paint job and less models. People may argue that orks are easier to paint, but in my experience they are harder because of all the different colored straps, buckles, armor, etc. Hope that helps a bit

I think the most important thing is to find the army that jumps out at you. Read the fluff and look at the models.

1) see if ur flgs sells 2nd hand models, my one does and oh god does it help out
2) ebay for parts
3) conversions, lots of them, but only really works for chaos and ork armies since all the other races have too much a centralized theme

I'd go for orks if i were u, you can convert one of ur old toys into an ork vehicle with skill, plasticard and greenstuff. orks are also extremely good ebay sells (aobr) and their pretty versatile(ish).
You can always get an ork army and ally them tau or vice versa.
Cost-wise id do ork with pulse-rifles and railguns, cool-wise if do tau with 60 boyz, big mek.'
Up to you.

I know of some good necron armies that ally with orks so I think Tau might get a boost from them in the same way. Mostly see an objective unit (some boys or something) along with a bigger blob of death.

Hello and welcome to Dakka Dakka!

Welcome.