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I decided to pick up Warhammer after years of just reading fluff and the like, and I've narrowed down my army selection to four choices:

-Tau
-Necron
-Dark Angels
-Grey Knights

I have no experience actually playing the game, and the advice the people at my lgs gave me was to pick one I thought looked cool. Not an easy feat when I get to choose between zombie terminators, demons riding around on demonic robot pig monsters, or the Space Inquisition. I have the funds to pick up the rule book, codex, paints, basic tools, and one of the basic force boxes with some left over for some bells and whistles. So I'd like to hear what the community and more importantly, anyone who plays one or more of these armies has to say on the matter.

I'd also like to apologize if this isn't in the right thread, I just recently joined.

First off I 'd rule out DA, they're one of the weaker SM factions and unlike Blood Angels they're unlikely to get an update soon.

Tau are competitively very strong! Broadside suits, Crisis Suits, Riptides and fire warriors are the bee's knees right now . Cons: they're basically just shooting, and can get a bit boring as they have extremely long range and no durability so they tend to hide in the back and shoot.

Necrons are very fun! They are mid-tier, just below the big boys in terms of purely top level list building (big boys being tau and Eldar mostly). They're a great army to learn to play with because several of their kits can be used as either variant of what they are, and their "combo kits" of special infantry can make both special infantry types if you use spare warrior bodies+legs. If you're considering Necrons, a CCB/Annhi barge, 2 boxes of warriors and 1 box of immortals/Deathmarks gets you a neat little starter army for cheaper than the other guys. Don't glue the gun down and you can play with both barge types to see what you like! Gameplay wise Necrons are a short-ranged shooting army who are quite durable, and are at their best when they can unleash volleys of fire and their opponents can't quite get to them.

Grey Knights are similarly cheap to pick up. They are the most elite army in the game, get used to being heavily outnumbered! They are very strong

The advice to choose what you like best is really a good one. If you like your army you will paint it more quickly, play more often, get better and ultimately have more fun. IMHO even with a less competitive army you will have more fun if you like it than with one that's currently cheese but not really your cup of tea.

Also, power levels shift with the flow of time, so it doesn't really pay to pay attention to this if you don't wanna play tournaments.

Thanks for the advice. For the Dark Angels though, I thought you could play them with three different types of basic troops: Death Wing, Ravenwing, and standard tactical squads. Does that flexibility not make them a little more interesting, or at least viable depending on what you're fighting?

And if not, are standard Space Marines a better option than DA? Because I'll be honest, I'm mostly looking at them because they look badass, and I figure I could just play a space marine chapter that likes to wear pretty dresses as an excuse to use their models.

Edit: Also, are necron pariahs still a thing? Those were awesome in Dawn of War.

you need to figure out what your play style is most appealing.

How important are these things on a 1-10 scale to you?

Firepower
Mobility
Close Combat Ability
Heros
Tanks
Flyers
Mass Infantry

Once you figure that out, you can select an army that meets your play style.

Sadly, I don't have a playstyle, per se. I'm brand new to the game itself and not familiar enough with the rules to say which qualities I want. I'm not especially terrified of being bad at the game, I don't mind buying a new army if this one doesn't pan out, but I'd rather have an army that's decent to start with.

Necron Paraiahs we're removed with the new fluff (which is different from Dawn of War) and basically replaced with a unit called "Lychguard" which fills a similar role. If badly. Because they're bad, like Paraiahs were, sadly.

Everything the DA have just costs too much, and they don't get access to some of the best units that the space marines have, in addition the space marine chapter tactic rules are very good and da don't get them. The flexibility of Deathwing/raisinwing isn't great because both of those options are pretty awful in game. TBH the Grey a Knights and Space Wolves both have compelling reasons to take them over Marines because their unique stuff is super solid. DAs and BAs feel like regular marines but worse because their unique stuff is crappy.

Thank you all for your input. I think I'll just pick up the Dark Vengeance box, play the DA as regular Marines and give Chaos a shot. Or, when I get to the store, just pick up the necron box because I found this site that has heads for miniatures, and one of them looks like Ahnold. Thinking I'll slap it on a flayed one.

You don't have to worry about being bad at 40 k if you take a solid list. Strategy in this game is just as important as tactics, and it's best to start with an army that's pretty decent in game, and if you fall in love with something that's sub-optimal later, that's fine, because you'll know how to play it.

For Necrons (I play Necrons only out of the army you listed, so I'm speaking to them) they have a variety of solid units.

-Basic troops of Warriors and Immortals are good, along with their transports the Night Scythe and Ghost Ark.
-Canoptek bug units are all solid, including Wraiths, Scarab Swarms, and Spyders
-The HQ units Overlords and most of the named character overlords are solid, thankfully
Basically anything that shoots is strong, while anything designed for melee except the wraiths, scarabs and destroyer lord tends to be a bit weak. So if you started an army just avoiding Lychguard, Ctan, Flayed Ones and Tomb Blades you'd be fine and wouldn't have to worry about being "bad", because they're fairly straightforward and easy to use.

Well, I'm sold. I think I'll give necrons a shot.

I can only say that I like my Necrons But know this: there is a new Codex supposed to come in the next 1-4 months. This could mean you will have to buy another Codex at least and it might change the power level and which models you can use. Though that change will probably only affect the HQ units, in the last Codex revamp several characters were removed (Grey Knights).

Murenius wrote:The advice to choose what you like best is really a good one. If you like your army you will paint it more quickly, play more often, get better and ultimately have more fun. IMHO even with a less competitive army you will have more fun if you like it than with one that's currently cheese but not really your cup of tea.

Also, power levels shift with the flow of time, so it doesn't really pay to pay attention to this if you don't wanna play tournaments.

This, mostly.

The only thing I'd add is, as you've by now discovered, DA are the cheapest army to build right now. Go to eBay, and you'll notice all those units for sale for very cheap as well, and, unlike the chaos models, are ones you actually want.