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Made in se
Fresh-Faced New User






Greetings. So basically I am about to start a new army. I have three armies that I currently am thinking about,
And they are White Scars, Necrons and Tau. What I would like some help with from more experienced players
are some pros and cons for each army and maybe even some fun builds/tactics. I would appreciate it very much
guys. Oh and I know that Tau is just around the corner with new stuff but I guess that they can't get worse.

Thank you for watching and please leave a comment below.
   
Made in us
The Marine Standing Behind Marneus Calgar





Upstate, New York

White Scars are going to be a low model count, fast moving, hard hitting force. They are one of the stronger builds SM can put on the table. Painting white can be a massive PITA, the bike kits are ancient, and you are going to have to scrape together more special weapons then you want to think about. But they are fluffy and fun. I only have a dozen or so bikes I use in my marines force, and enjoy them.

This assumes you are doing WS because of the bikes. There are a few other tricks they can pull.

Necrons are very rugged. Want a wall of near immortal robots, backed up with death beams and some CC monsters? Like painting metal? Necrons can be for you.

Tau, as you note, are on deck for getting a new book. They are a massive shooty army, in a shooty edition. They get to ignore large chunks of the rules if built well, and have a lot of unit synergies. If you are considering them, I’d wait a month before doing anything. GW is not the best for balance, and while the last few codexes have been quite nice, who knows what’s in store for Tau. Plus “what’s hot, what’s not” tends to flip flop with new books, so old players have to grab new things.

   
Made in se
Fresh-Faced New User






I have not played a game with Tau since their first book and if I understand correct they are still facing the same problem. If
the enemy reaches you it is over. And that is something that would bother me. The whole idea of gunlines, to just to sit back and shoot would bore me. But still Tau are the army where my heart is. I love the look on them and Tau are the reason why I started 40k.

Necrons are the army that I played before I quit 40K. And I have nothing to really complain about. Back then I played Tesla spam but I understand that Gauss is the way to go this edition. I really enjoy their stayingpower and the mix of things you can have in the army.

White Scars are pretty much what you said for me aswell.
   
Made in us
Blood-Drenched Death Company Marine




You should always play the army that grabs your heart. I would recommend looking at the models available and make a list of what models you want to buy, don't look at rules. Just count up the model you want to own, paint, and play with. That is the army to pursue.

I haven't played Tau since 4th, but the thing I remember was if the Tau had a great game (your plan works) than your opponent will have a very bad game. Gunlines and Alpha Strikes suck to play with and against. If I was to play Tau again I would focus on short range firepower and mobility. In essence a White Scar style army. That could be fun.
   
Made in ca
Longtime Dakkanaut





Each of the armies you listed is massively varied in how they approach the game. As stated, you want to play the army that really speaks to you.


White Scars;
As you probably already know, they're the Space Marine bike army. There's two Space Marine armies; White Scars and Dark Angel's Ravenwing. White Scars are really mean, and the new codex allows you to take them not just as an all-bike army (their special rules are useful on lots of other stuff too). Generally speaking, you'll be taking these squads to have access to fast-moving special weapons, and a core force that can charge and Hit & Run to just pick your way through enemy forces. By being Expert Riders, you also don't worry about difficult terrain, which is a huge bonus and time saver! Whether playing casually or competitively, White Scars have the components to make both fun and/or strong armies.

Necrons;
The polar opposite of the White Scars. Necrons, usually, do a slow march across the board while not dying and then out-survive their opponents while slowly wiping them out. Their codex allows for just about any build, but all the builds are extremely durable, so almost every part of the preceding sentence can be changed with "unless you do this...". You can make Necrons fast with their transports, or not-so-slowly wipe them out with Destroyers and Wraiths. Right now people tend to have a raging hate-on for the Necrons because of how hard they are to put down. Used to be you killed a squad, then they couldn't come back. Now with their "Resurrection Protocols" being a 5+, or 4+, or 4+ (reroll 1's) Feel No Pain save that can't be ignored with instant-death weapons... well, wiping them out is next to impossible. If you follow the Necron codex and build a Decurion, you'll win almost any game against anything that's not a tournament-quality list. This makes them very good if you want to be competitive, but it's hard to make a fun casual list with them.

Tau;
They're about to get a new codex, and that will likely mean a big power boost considering the current string of codexes! The current main "builds" for them are the Gunline and Farsight Enclave Suits-Only. Expect this to change. In theory, the Tau are about rapid-response in a way similar to Space Marines, but do much more about attack & retreat tactics, while always staying close so they can support each other. There's lots of stuff in the codex that seems to suggest this is the way to go. Unfortunately, those builds tend to have little success. The ones that do enjoy success though face the same problems as the Necrons - it's hard to make a list that's both fun and strong without it becoming broken. We'll see what the new codex does to fix this. The people I know that really enjoy Tau enjoy them for the style of the models more than their rules. Do not make the mistake that Tau are a gunline-only army though. They almost always prefer a style where they let you come in, then "retreat" away by going around the enemy forces.

 Galef wrote:
If you refuse to use rock, you will never beat scissors.
 
   
Made in se
Fresh-Faced New User






Thank you for that Yarium. A very good read indeed.
   
Made in us
Daemonic Dreadnought





Eye of Terror

Other posts sum up the playstyle of these armies quite well.

Sometimes the best way to decide on an army is to decide the kind of weakness you are comfortable with.

Tau crumple when they get into close combat. They are about to get a new Codex, however, that purportedly will add a lot of guns.

White Scars are hard hitting but they can't bring a lot of models. It's not uncommon for them to lose half their army the first few rounds of the game.

Necrons are very durable but they have a hard time getting into position with their guns. If all tables were 24 inches long, they would dominate. Be ready for a lot of weapons that can't be used.

I personally get frustrated thinking about Necrons and Tau, based on those factors. Don't take that to mean I recommend White Scars, it's up to you.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2015/09/17 16:24:20


   
Made in se
Fresh-Faced New User






If I would base my choice on models only it would be very close between Tau and Necrons with a small lead for Tau because I love their anime look. White Scars have the least interesting models. BUT! It seems that they would be the most fun to play. But with Marines you are unique as a hipster in hipsterville...
   
 
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