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I've been looking at possibly starting a second army and figured I might get the most bang for my buck with one of the starter sets. I'm really still not sure which army I would like to play and right now it's a toss up between nids, necron, and tau.

However, in general between all the army starter boxes and considering what units you might need to play on any kind of a competitive level would you say is the best?

Nids have some good box sets. The Tyranid Swarm is good if you want to start a horde army, and the Wrath of the Hive Mind box was good and may still be available.

The Necron Battleforce is a good starter set, because with 1 box of Tomb Blades and an HQ added on, you have all you need to run a Reclamation Legion, the core required formation for a Decurion detachment.

No idea about Tau and their starter set.

I wouldn't try any of starter sets for you really get not much out of it. Battleforce however different story necron one is bang on with pretty much whole box getting you on a good 600 ish point way to decurion, tau is pretty much a solid one too.

Being as I already have a decent sized IG army (about 2500 pts or so with a 500 pt inquisition detachment) I'd like to stray away from horde or gunline set ups. So I'll probably narrow my options down to Tau or Necrons. And if I do go the Tau route I'd probably go with more of a mobile list than a gunline.

I don't care for the tau battle force. The only things there I think are great are the fire warriors and crisis suits, but the stealth suits are kinda not good too good, and you really need more than a single pirhana IMO. Honestly, I'd skip the battle force if I were you.

The best starter kit in the game is Dark Vengeance and a thing of greenstuff. Nurglefy the bikers, obliteratify or nurglefy the Termies, and nurglefy the marines.

1000pt starting Nurgle marine army, just add 2 rhinos.

the_scotsman wrote:
The best starter kit in the game is Dark Vengeance and a thing of greenstuff. Nurglefy the bikers, obliteratify or nurglefy the Termies, and nurglefy the marines.

1000pt starting Nurgle marine army, just add 2 rhinos.

Get this man a blue ribbon

Heh I actually have DV and I'm about to pawn off the models to my DA buddy and the others to my chaos friend...

Is the Necron Reclamation Legion any good? I think I like crons better over tau

 Resin Glazed Guardsman wrote:
Heh I actually have DV and I'm about to pawn off the models to my DA buddy and the others to my chaos friend...

Is the Necron Reclamation Legion any good? I think I like crons better over tau

Yup. The units it's comprised of are all valuable. Members reroll 1s on Renaimation if they're close to your HQ, and basically everything in the formation has RP, and the RP has a bonus if you're playing with a Decurion Detachment. And more bonus rules than that, too, come with that formation.

If you like 're-roll cheese, Necrons might be the army for you. It is there to be had in numerous combinations with the new codex.

The Necron Battleforce is easily one of the best ways to start any army, ever. You then just need:
1. One Ghost Ark
2. One Box of Deathmarks
3. One Box of Tomb Blades
4. Any generic Necron Character

That's actually a cheap into-point force.

You mentioned Tau. They are pretty much based around gun line, but there is potential to go so much further in your style of play.
To make a good start Tau, you need two BattleForces. That will field you -

24 FireWarriors = 216 pts.

- Basic infantry, good at gunline-ing and holding objectives

6 Crisis Suits = 124 pts.

- These can be equipped with a range of different weapon options, and deviled a deadly blow to the enemy - Can make your HQ, a bodyguard team and one Elite FOC slot.

6 Stealth Suits = 180 pts.

- These can infiltrate and distract the enemy, or put some firepower and MakerLight support

2 Piranhas = 80 pts.

- These can put a S8 AP1 shots and contest objective

22 various Drones = 308 pts.

- Support your main units of go on their own for little bit of Jump-Shoot-Jump.

All in all, 908 points without any upgrades, yet very nice to play with. From this point on, you can choose if you want to go to FarSight style list (only suits), followspot list (with lots of markerlight support) or classic Tau with DevilFish, HammerHead, SkyRay.

What units make up the Decurion formation? Lets say I go with the Reclamation Legion set, what more would I have to add?

Also playstyle wise a lot of what I read is necrons just basically march up the board into range and unload, tau can do either that or have a gunline correct?

Tau are an amazing precision army. I run Farsight Enclaves, so I need to tactically maneuver my Battlesuit teams. Every turn the battlefield becomes almost unrecognizable.

 Resin Glazed Guardsman wrote:
Also playstyle wise a lot of what I read is necrons just basically march up the board into range and unload, tau can do either that or have a gunline correct?

Tau player have been very creative lately and YES. They can sit back and deny their opponent a right to peak from cover (If they even get any, because of MarkerLights)... Or go forward and lay those pies across the board. Important thing is NOT TO ENGAGE IN CC

Although sometimes equipping an onager gauntlet will let hilarity ensue.