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Don't you have any friends/players in your FLGS that play these armies? What you can do is ask to play games with them or, if no player available, do a proxy army to test the rules and see how it goes.

I've started with CSM, changed to SM and now I'm with Tau (I think I have found my army). Everytime I think about the money I spent with those 2 armies I'm not playing anymore... don't do the same

Tau have 'septs', which are more like AM regiments (they're way bigger than SM chapters).

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Tau_Sept#.U-4CtfldXTp

But you can paint them any color you want - make up your own sept! As septs are much less known than chapters, none will be nitpicking about it that much

regarding SW... as they're marines, they can do a bit of everything. They have better melee skills and Psychic Support (you can grab SIX Rune Priests with SW's special Detachment) than the others, and the new planes gave them an edge they lacked before (they only had some FW flyers).