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.

Looking at giving 40k another go. Both necrons and tau models look awesome just can't decide between the two.

How does each army play?

I know 7th is just around the corner but having never owned the rule book I'm not sure how much the core rules could change the way the army is played.

My only real requirement is the number of useful units. Don't really want to play an army that has a small handful of good units and the rest being rubbish and never used. I want to be able to change up my list without making it gimp.

Anything that could help or give me an idea of how these armies play would be awesome.. Thanks a lot =)

Both are solid armies with numerous good options. You might just want to either research their respective backgrounds to see what you like more.

Necrons are fun and easy to paint.

Also luckily the two ally with each other so you could start one now and the other one in the future then play both at the same time (some friendly robot and space commie party)

I like Necrons better than Tau. I can make some really good casual lists and I like the flying circus for Tournament settings.

I own both and I can say, tau is def better than necrons but necrons are def more fun to play (for both parties) haha. However jumping a riptide around the table is fun and also a joy to paint, however wraiths are about the coolest things in the game, especially with a destroyah lord running around to smack the gak out of things. ^^

Which army gives you the most interesting ideas for army lists and miniature painting/conversion/posing?

As for gameplay: Tau works as a gunline, a mobile gunline or hit & run. Abysmal in melee, so avoid it at all costs. Very sinergic, so use your units supporting others.
Necrons have very few weapons shooting farther than 24", so you need to close in. They are resistent enough to enemy shooting and melee. A lot of special 'toys'.

As for number of good units: both codexes have more good than bad units. Tau has 3-4 bad units from 25 selections, while Necrons have 5-6 from 31 selections (my estimative). Not even close to CSM levels.

What are the tau like to build? I have the necron battleforce that came before this recent one and they are a massive pain to put together, so many little parts to connect to little parts.. I put them together then when i put the next bit on it falls apart =/

wait for the new rulebook

if Unbound is true go Necrons

if not go Tau

I have a Tau army.
I can tell you the models are alright to construct and are fairly sturdy. However the models are a bit of a pain to get to stay on the bases. The small surface area of the feet is the issue here particularly Firewarriors; however most of the suits have this 2 toed affair which only has a small ridge that touches the base.

Necrons i haven't built but the green plastic bit seems a liability to me.

On the table Tau infantry will die a lot more because they're toughness 3 and 50-50 or less saves whereas Necrons are similar to Space Marine stats-wise and can get back up.

Tau are also a little bit disliked by the masses so there is that.

 Rune Stonegrinder wrote:
wait for the new rulebook

This. I consider all tactics questions pointless now that we know 7th edition is imminent, especially when talking about starting a new army. Unless you want to stick with 6th. Wait a few weeks and see how the armies will fit into 7th edition, for all we know Tau could turn out to be complete garbage in 7th due to some wonky weirdness cooked up by GW. I pray to the dark gods daily that my assault CSM will be redeemed by buffed CC in this new rulebook, but that would require good decisions to be made.

I agree wait for new rule book. Things could change a lot and then if you buy before the rule book drops you could be stuck with a gak army.

Or you could just go with an army background you like. Editions and rules come and go but the feel and looks of an army would stay approximately the same.

If you let the rules help you decide, you may get disappointed when 8th Ed hits and your army gets nerfed.