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.

So what are the differences between each one?

Why would someone choose one over the other?

Tau - High strength guns, lots of nifty gadgets and hardware

Guard - Masses of infantry and/or tanks.

Why would someone choose one over the other? You'd probably need to ask them

Personally I have both

Neither. Go Orks.

I went for IG because i'm a highly xenpphobic person like i was told to be by the good old priests of the Imperial cult.
Plus I like mechanised warfare but I do like the Technological superiority of Tau.

I chose Tau because I secretly yearn to live in a Utilitarian state whilst living and working in one of the most Capitalist cities on the planet...Plus battlesuits are cool!

I chose Imperial guard because normal humans against all odds was more interesting. But i have always liked the Tau aesthetic.

The IG because human, Tau is my 2nd favorite army.

Guard deals in volume of fire from infantry, and has arguably the most powerful tanks in the game.

Tau has fewer shots, comparable or sometimes longer ranged weapon with high strength and good Armour piercing capacities, reliant more on mecha than tanks. They're also worse in close combat, probably the worst close combat race in the game. They're also dead-killy against aircraft, and can ignore cover better than almost anyone.

You said more mecha thank tank?

I thought Mecha was tank.

Ermm no, there's a pretty strict definition on what constitutes a tank, and it excludes vehicles with legs.

J0kerrMT wrote:
You said more mecha thank tank?

I thought Mecha was tank.

tank:



mecha:

My bad...I just kept hearing people say that they run a mech army when talking about imp guard...and they don't have gundam models.

It is simple:
- Tau: tricky big guns
- Imperial Guard: lots of big guns

Quality is the same, but one of them favors "method of operation" (Tau) and the other favors quantity (Imperial Guard).

when they say mech, they're referring to "mechanised" the guardsmen being mounted in chimeras. when they say mech about Tau, its more the mech suit sort of thing

 sierra 1247 wrote:
when they say mech, they're referring to "mechanised" the guardsmen being mounted in chimeras. when they say mech about Tau, its more the mech suit sort of thing

Note that we said Mecha, not mech.

Tau are an army built around precision and the application of the right firepower at the right point. Lots of maneuver. A higher than average number of higher than average quality weapons with the excellent ability to enhance them make sure they're where they need to be and that obstacles are removed.

Imperial Guard are built around putting as up a wall of guns and simply blasting anything in front of it into a greasy crater, and having a big enough wall such that even if you kill part of it and another part misses, something still gets through. If someone brings a big gun, the IG bring a bigger gun and two extras just in case.


As for choosing, Tau are a very "fidgety"/"tricksey" army, they allow people to use lots of little shennanigans and fiddly bits and feel like they're taking advantage of a synergy built into their army. Imperial Guard are very...blunt, they've got more firepower than their opponent and they know it and when fully deployed they look very intimidating.

Guardsmen are competitive right? I am thinking infantry backed by big tanks and ordinance.

Are they getting a new book soon?

J0kerrMT wrote:
Guardsmen are competitive right? I am thinking infantry backed by big tanks and ordinance.

Are they getting a new book soon?

Probably not getting a new book too soon. 5th ed. guard is still one of my favorite codexes and is very internally balanced while still having some "throwaway units" that you can have fun with.
I don't play 40k anymore, but from what I can tell, Leman Russ' got nerfed in 6th ed. Vendettas seem to have gotten even better. ymmv.

The two main reasons people play one army over another is:
a) they like the models
b) they like the fluff

Fluff and models is good...winning is good too.

I picked IG because my friend picked Tau before I could ^_^

Also because I really like Russian stuff, and Guard seemed perfect to make a themed Russian army. They have Commissars, so its a dead ringer.

Also, TANKS. I love tanks!

Guard are for fans of Saving Privet Ryan.

Tau are for fans of Anime.

 DeffDred wrote:
Guard are for fans of Saving Privet Ryan.

Tau are for fans of Anime.

My favourite anime has no giant robots in it at all, and not a single character with a vagina between their eyes.

Funny, that.

Also, I've never seen Saving Privet Ryan. Is it a bit like the horticultural version of Saving Private Ryan? 'cause I don't do horror, but watching Vin Diesel get shot ignominiously in the head was pretty cool.

Tau are good if you don't like 6th edition rules, because they get to ignore a lot of them. They're also good if you want to play fast games, because the most obvious play-style for tau doesn't involve you moving any of your models, and you'll never see an assault phase.

Guard are good if you like the idea of taking a brutal thrashing and still standing tall at the end thanks to huge numbers of dudes and plenty of tough tanks. They're also good if you like a little more variety with your army, because, under the surface, there's more than just that one kind of tank and just that one basic infantry model. With more different kinds of guns along with some basic close combat ability, it's a better codex all around.

Of course, if you're pitting the two against each other, tau will win 9 out of 10 times, and that one loss will probably be because of pity. Foot guard is nearly pointless against tau, as their default infantry, as far as you're concerned carry around heavy bolters that ignore cover saves. Meanwhile, they can shoot down fliers plenty fine without skyfire, and they have a special tank that is BS5 with preferred enemy Imperial Guard that shoots S10 Ap1 rounds.

 Kain wrote:

 sierra 1247 wrote:
when they say mech, they're referring to "mechanised" the guardsmen being mounted in chimeras. when they say mech about Tau, its more the mech suit sort of thing

Note that we said Mecha, not mech.

Haha, didnt see the "a"

 Ailaros wrote:
Tau are good if you don't like 6th edition rules, because they get to ignore a lot of them. They're also good if you want to play fast games, because the most obvious play-style for tau doesn't involve you moving any of your models, and you'll never see an assault phase.

Guard are good if you like the idea of taking a brutal thrashing and still standing tall at the end thanks to huge numbers of dudes and plenty of tough tanks. They're also good if you like a little more variety with your army, because, under the surface, there's more than just that one kind of tank and just that one basic infantry model. With more different kinds of guns along with some basic close combat ability, it's a better codex all around.

Of course, if you're pitting the two against each other, tau will win 9 out of 10 times, and that one loss will probably be because of pity. Foot guard is nearly pointless against tau, as their default infantry, as far as you're concerned carry around heavy bolters that ignore cover saves. Meanwhile, they can shoot down fliers plenty fine without skyfire, and they have a special tank that is BS5 with preferred enemy Imperial Guard that shoots S10 Ap1 rounds.

Thats strange, I don't seem to have any problems with Tau at all. And I run (according to what people normally say is) the most inefficient type of IG list, hybrid foot/mech.

At 1500 points I run a single platoon, with the PCS in one Vendetta with 4 Flamers and 2 bare infantry squads that I sit in front of my tanks/chimeras to give them a 5+ cover save.
2 Vet squads, 1 with plasma and the other with melta, along with 2 Exterminators kitted out and 1 Demolisher, Marbo and a couple suicide storm trooper squads with melta, sometime I give one plasma.

Tau have an incredibly hard time against AV14 without railguns, and the Tau player I play against often even has Longstrike. He always hits, but its still a 50/50 chance to penetrate, plus if your playing against Tau correctly, your forcing the player to split his firepower, especially markerlights, so alot of times your losing cover saves on units that don't need it.

Even if one of my tanks gets taken out, he can only take one or two (depending on how many railheads he brings) per turn. He can either concentrate on my tanks, or concentrate on my Vendetta(s), if a Tau player tries to ignore either one, he's annihilated by the other. If he tries to take out both, and brings Railheads and skyrays, then its too slow to take out enough of either.

Maybe I'm just getting lucky on my dice rolls, but I've noticed that not alot of Tau players bring railheads anymore to tournaments, they just want the riptide, and the riptide can't do to AV14.

Can't wait to see what a forge world Beast slayer round in a vanquisher can do to Riptide...

 Furyou Miko wrote:

Cause I don't do horror, but watching Vin Diesel get shot ignominiously in the head was pretty cool.

Reminds me when Orlando Bloom unceremoniously broke his neck 15 minutes in Black Hawk Down