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I haven't played the last couple of editions, but 8th has me very interested. I am on the fence with what army to begin but I am really interested in tau. I've read as much as I can find so far and it seems a lot of people are saying tau have been nerfed so hard that they are in a bad way for the new edition. I have also seen posts that say players will simply have to change they way the army is played. I'm not an overly competitive player but I don't want to invest in an army I will never win with. What are your opinions? I played chaos through 6th and I know next to nothing about tau. I am really lost on army building with them right now. But I do have some things i like. I would like to include shadowsun and fire warriors. I just like the models and I like kitbashing so I am thinking about a human auxiliary army. Can anyone give me some advise and/or guidance? Thanks

Using Imperial Guard and giving them Fire Warrior Weapons (and a bit of Fire Warrior Armor) basically creates "Gue'vesa". Which is considered fairly proxy-able in the place of standard Fire Warriors.

As far as what is good in 8th...
Monat Suits (Commanders)
Fire Warriors and Gun Drones
Railsides and Hammerheads
Vespids
Bomber
Stealthsuits

I think that all the armies are going to be playable and potentially competitive in 8th edition. That said, as a Tau player myself I have accepted that there will have to be fundamental changes to Tau lists in order to remain competitive. Things that were really strong before (like the Riptide and Stormsurge) are not nearly as good, but the humble Fire Warriors are suddenly a lot better, and even Vespid Stingwings now have a place. Many other armies are in the same boat, with lists being kind of all over the place. So, if Tau interest you, I'd suggest getting one or two Start Collecting boxes (they'll give you plenty of infantry, Crisis Suits and drones as well as a couple of Ethereals) and go to town! After you try a few games, you can figure out what else would work with your play style and plan your next purchases accordingly.

Incidentally, you mentioned conversions. I've got an acquaintance who built a beautiful Tau army made up of alien auxiliaries (various Fantasy races and others in Fire Warrior uniforms), so it really is a good concept.

Talamare- thanks for the help. I need it. Just trying to make sense of all these tau terms I'm reading about
Zerg- thanks for the detailed response, it helps. Good to hear about your friend. I have a few ideas I'm going to try out. I read that the get started box sets are good deals