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I have about 20 windows open trying to figure this out, and I'm sure this is overly posted but if this was an easier decision I'd have made it by now. It's hard to be sure which army to pick when you have to throw down $100+ for a small army just to start, but for that reason I just want to be sure when I pick one.

I have it narrowed down to three.

1) Tau, because I love ranged combat. Archer/Ranger is always my first go to for any game.

2) Tyranids, because they look bad-ass as hell.

3) Dark Eldar, because they look cool and I read they're rangey and super aggressive which is something else I like.

Preference would probably be the cheapest army to get functioning without breaking my wallet, but I suppose if I'm worried about that I shouldn't play this game in the first place.

I don't really have any other preferences as far as I can think of. My friend just told me to pick one that looked cool and go with it. In which case I'd probably go with the Tyranids since they look the coolest imo. I've been hearing a lot of good things about the Tau as far as their ass-kicking power as of late. Though that kind of just pushes me away from them since I don't want to win just because I have a cheap army. Ironically that's why I usually like being ranged in games, but it sounds pretty broken at the moment.

In all honesty I'm equally stuck between the three of them, though I may have more pros or cons for one over the other as far as deciding which one I want.

I guess what I'm looking for here is pros and cons between the three, and any opinions/tips/information anyone would be willing to provide that I might not find so easily if I were to try to google it. Maybe the type of gameplay they have so I can choose between that instead. That, or maybe what might be easier or more fun for someone starting out, to be willing to pursue the pricey hobby. Mind you I only have about $100-200 to start out.

I chose Tau, bugs and DEldar have a pretty big learning curve in comparison...

I would say Tau since you like ranged combat and are pretty easy to play compared to the other two options. Simply put start off with Tau than in the future when you have more experiance in the game you can start another army such as Nids or Dark Eldar

Otherwise...some ranged fire supported by very angry/combat-y troops and elites.

Look into Space Wolves.

I would not pick a faction because they're easy to play. it's much more satisfying to learn a more challenging faction and do well with them.

Dark Eldar are great! As I have them, and love them! However, they are a glass cannon and can be unfriendly to new players. But great overall!

Tau! A little more forgiving, and lots of different ways to play! If you look to get into tourneys, they can be a great start. Also, who doesnt like a bunch of mechs on the battle field.

Nids.... Just got a new codex.... very mean and nasty.... I recently played them with marines and my buddy with necrons. We both got swamped and swarmed. Also, if you like seeing a lot of big mean monsters on the field, that could be a play style too!

I would say go with the army that you like to build and paint the most. Because that's really what will get you in to it.

When I first started looking at getting in to 40k I at first started planning Chaos Daemons, then I got really in to Dark Eldar, then I got really in to Black Templar, then I bought an Ork battleforce. And Orks are awesome! But now I am getting back in to the Black Templar thing and loving it.

So if you think the coolest looking army is Tyranids, then go for it. I have been considering getting them for my 3rd army since they do look pretty awesome. They also have some really good deals with that swarm bundle. And as far as painting you really only need like 4 colors and some wash.

That's true, when I started, I wanted swordsmen, knights.

So I had a choice Templar or Grey Knights...While Templar looked cool, GKs look bad@ss...and so I spent the next half a year getting my face kicked in with the Daemonhunter codex.

And now it's my favorite army.

I would recommend going with Tau followed by Eldar for the reasonings you listed. Dark Eldar stand off well at moderate ranges, but Eldar are more satisfying with their firepower.

The Dark Eldar have a steep learning curve, but they are by far the most fun army to play.
I started with Dark Eldar myself and have never regretted it.
Tyranids are really expansive because you need so much models, and it is a huge effort to paint all those hundreds of bugs.
You shouldn't take Tau because gunline armies are boring to play and other factions have good ranged combat as well. The Tau also don't look nearly as cool as the Dark Eldar.
You should take Dark Eldar because they have a very fun, fast paced aggressive playing style and they have the best looks of the entire 40k model range. They are not very expansive to pick up either. An Archon with Incubi and a few groups of Warriors in Raiders will get you a nice start.

Dark Eldar vil be a hard learning curve to the point that you think you can never winn. (Until you start to do.)

Tyranids are very different then every other army in 40k (only DE are more specialised.) I would recomend playing Tau. All 3 armies have amasing models, but tau should have a desent learbning curve and be easy to paint.

I would personally go with Dark Eldar. It's been said that they are one of the most difficult army to play with since they're fragile but can be very deadly with some finesse. I also don't see very many people playing Dark Eldar in my area as opposed to Tau and Tyranids which are a dime-a-dozen at the moment.

That being said, Tau are probably the most powerful out of those three in my opinion.

Going with Dark Eldar is playing 40k on hard mode. Which means I think that it's a really good idea to take it as your first army. Sure, things will be Dwarf Fortress hard while you're trying to figure the game out (and this is a very over-complicated game that will take a long while to figure out), but in the end you'll be a better general.

When you're first starting off you're going to lose a lot, regardless of what army you're playing (this is, of course, assuming you're playing against people who already know the game). Eventually things will click and you'll start learning how to handle your force. And Dark Eldar will teach you a lot more about how to win than Tau (durr, I shoot moar!).

Also, I've played Tau before and their not only frustrating to fight, but also really, really boring to play, in my experience at least.

I will take this from a none bias view since I have got tau and had dark eldar, and thinking about tyranids.

First tau, they have amazing long range fire power, great HQs and lovely battle suits. But I got dull at times when versing army that are similar to tau, or tau itself as you will both have the same tactics, this is unless you get tons of battlesuits and make a farsighted bomb, but this is not a cheap option since farsighted costs a ton for just himself. They are great for beginners but just beware, that in order to spice up your games you will need a very unpredictable army to Allie with tau. But they are still a great army and I still love playing with mine, just don't make any auto win lists.

Dark eldar, they have tons of poison weapons, lots of cheap units, some great suicide units and awesome looks. I loved them but for a beginner they aren't the best, but if you like to learn the hard way and like a hard challenge then they are for you. Awesome looks, awesome fluff and awesome rules to mess with your opposition, but they are a glass cannon, one wrong move and you will lose the game, well 60% of the time unless you have the dice gods on you side! then you can pull it back. The people who like to experiment on each other, are a great way of a tough unit to back your T3 guys but don't guarantee they will with stand every thing.

Tyranids, haven't seen the codex but I don't need to from the looks of them. They look badass, from what I have read they have taken a hit, but I think they are still good but it will take a while for people to realise this. Although they are an army that needs lots of models, if you get two swarm boxes from a cheaper retailer than GW, then you can get almost 200 models for a cheap amount of money (warhammer wise), all you need is a tyrant and you have a massive army, from what I've heard about 2k. You just add some awesome MC guys and you have a good force. The annoying thing is the assembling and painting, not that's it's not fun it just takes along time.

To sum up

Tau cool rules, great for beginners, makes some good combos but do get boring without allies. Fills a few of your boxes.

Dark eldar, awesome models, rules and fluff but they aren't great for beginners and are a glass cannon. Fills most of you boxes, and from what you say, the best ones for you.

Tyranids, awesome models, ignore what people say about them being bad, just a long process of building a painting. Also expensive to start out, don't fill all your boxes. (These guys remind me of alien)

Likan Wolfsheim wrote:
Going with Dark Eldar is playing 40k on hard mode.

This used to be THE slogan for Daemonhunters...and then Grey Knights came out...and we all remember the era of grey knights...

Tau would seem to be the best fit for what you want.

Dark Eldar, while good at range, also require a bit of close combat to be truly rounded, while Tau can function without the CC. In addition, they are pretty damn expensive to start.

Tyranids are a real hybrid army. While I don't personally buy into the notion that one codex is more powerful than another, the general community consensus is that the new Tyranid 'dex is underpowered.

Tau are a good ranged army, and although they CAN get expensive, you can put together competitive lists with relatively low model counts.

I'd say skip out on Dark Eldar... not because they're hard... but because the other two have more recent books for this current edition.

Of the two left (Tau and Tyranids), my vote is for the Tyranids. I'm assuming theyir mobility and assault capabilities are better... I'm thinking you'd want those two since the game is more than just shooting things.

 Jimsolo wrote:

Tyranids are a real hybrid army. While I don't personally buy into the notion that one codex is more powerful than another, the general community consensus is that the new Tyranid 'dex is underpowered.

Or rather...Tyranids are a solid middle tier army once more...beneath Eldar and tau...but evenly matched with most other armies.

Out of all the things you have listed I feel that Dark Eldar would suit you best. While I am biased (as I love my True-Kin), the truth is that Tau have a negative stigma attached to them that will compound the boring element of a gunline fairly quickly. Meanwhile Tyranids are not only expensive, but also can be as hard to play as Dark Eldar in the wrong environment. With the Dark Eldar however you always feel like you have a chance. You always have the ability to reach out and hurt something.

Although if you do go Dark Eldar I suggest that you do a bit of research on the army. Look up a forum called "The Dark City". It is one of the best Dark Eldar resources around.

Tau.

You want firepower? Tau bring it in droves. They have good anti air, anti vehicle, an support a variety of different builds.

Dark Eldar are super fragile. It really is playing on hard mode, and on top of that you'll be taking at least some assault elements to round out your list, same with 'Nids. Those might be great options for you in time, but if you're looking to start in the shooting game then go Tau.

Tau do have a negative stigma attached, but people that make a big deal out of it outside of most netlists aren't really worth playing IMO. I guess the appropriate saying is "haters gonna hate".

I know what you need

You need some orkz

Tau are probably going to be your best bet if you want bang for your buck. I played Tau for awhile and sold them as the 6th edition codex came out because they continued to remove options from Kroot and I didn't really like the battle suits, so the Riptide was just a giant annoying elephant in the room for me. They have one of the best codices out there with every option in it being viable if not the best in some cases. You can build the army for less than the other two that you mentioned and they are relatively easy to paint as most of their aesthetic is armor and clean surfaces.

Dark Eldar I have never played but have the codex and have poured over the rules planning on what to buy when I finally get around to playing them. Extremely glass cannon but they can hit hard and hit fast in assault or shooting. While not as long range as Tau, their maneuverability makes them effectively as easy to get into range with as Tau. As far as how expensive they are, they fall mid range as far as most armies are concerned, just know that you will be buying a LOT of transports for them as running them on foot would be ill advised.

Tyranids are my favorite and longest played army in 40k or fantasy, I love them for their look and their play style. With that said, the new codex really is a step back from the 5th codex which was already considered poorly written. Their problem isn't that the codex is weak, it is boring and monolist with the majority of untis being flat out terrible. You will be forced into taking 4-5 synapse units and seeing as how there are only 6 units with synapse in the book you will see a lot of them being repeated. None of the synapse creatures are particularly resilient and any opponent worth their salt is going to be throwing everything in their arsenal at them to take them out. Without synapse the army QUICKLY falls to pieces and effectively the game ends once your synapse web breaks. This leads to Tyranids play style being so vastly different than other armies, playing the objectives with Tyranids is not really the best way to play them. Oddly enough their play style is more fluffy than most armies because as a Tyranid player your best bet will be to charge the enemy and clear them off the table because any unit that you leave alive is one that can potential kill a synapse creature which will make you lose the game.

So my suggestion to you is Tau, followed by DE, then, if your heart is really set on it, Tyranids. Oddly enough that is also the flow of how difficult the armies are to play, Tau are easy point and shoot, DE are glass cannons that you need precision and planning to use, Tyranids require almost an entirely different mindset from the other armies of 40k.

Just play Taudar there the most OP race. Between the 2 Codex you don't have to take any bad unit meaning your army has no weakness. That said both the Tau & Eldar codex would not be OP in 5th ed or even 4th. It's just the 6th ed rules are so poorly written & clearly not play tested, any & all shooting units are good & melee unit are by contrast a total joke.
This is why Orks & Tyranids are fail even before you add in the new Nids Nerf Dex

Tau are easier to paint for a beginner & are easy to transport due to a smaller model count.
I´d go with them.

If you don't know who to play as, then think about it for another month. Don't go asking others to help choose for you, or will end up being dissapointed. If you want to ask people what they think makes each army great to help you learn more about them, thats great. Otherwise, its all up to you.

i would go Tau (if i wasnt already insane with my Blood Angels).

I like their philosophy as it cuts to chase plus sounds clear and direct. For the greater good means just that - to survive we must work together as one. In their case its join or die but at least you get a choice before battle unlike some of the other species in the Warhammer world. The beauty of this race is that they grew rapidly with advancements to technological weapons and systems because of this specific philosophy and i just think personaly its an applaudable acheivement plus additional thumbs up for their ability to function as one. Its just an example of when you put down negative misdirectional thinking and aim for similar goals anything is possible within a short time.

A real life example can be used with us - the best thinking comes when we are put to stress by an uncontrollable situation. Most times a negative situation. We bring out all that pressured emotion and anxiety which usually results in the final solution (whatever it may be). But is doesnt come from positive thinking most times and has to be pushed out of us usually via a life threatening situation.

Obviously my opinion is strictly not of a gaer but someone who has read some bits and bobs on their backgrounds and feel them to be a deserving team for you to start your army

Just my thoughts - Go TAU !!!!!

I say DE - not flavour of the month (tau) not derptastic (nids) not too common and actually pretty decent on the table, the starter box and a venom (and a HQ) nets you about 650 points.

10 wyches - 2wych weps, suc w/agoniser 30
haywire grenades & raider raider

3 Reavers w/blaster

Haemonculus Ancient w/agoniser

4 trueborn w/plasma gren, dracon w/ agoniser
Venom w/2 SC

6 Kabalites w/blaster