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I have recently decided that I don't like assembling/painting Space Marines, and after going over some things that I like/dislike about the game I've decided that the army I want is likely going to be Tau.

I am trying to think of a good color scheme and I've already decided that I want to have a sleek, military-looking force with military type colors. With this in mind I've settled on some kind of olive green, but this is where the dilemma is as I want there to be a bit of visual contrast and if I am using green, that means some shade of red is needed. I can either go with a darker green (think US WWII olive drab) and then make my secondary color a reddish brown or lighter brown color, or alternatively go with a slightly brighter green and then go for a darker brown.

Something like the armor (and possibly the orange/brown on the tank thing) on these guys here for the olive drab idea: http://davetaylorminiatures.blogspot.com/2010/11/lucky-7th.html

or, alternatively, a lighter green armor like on the Tau featured here: http://www.40kglobal.com/2013/06/12/age-of-armies-the-cabbage-tau-empire/

Being a little bit lazy one of the appeals of the lighter green is that I can use the "Army Green" spray from The Army Painter as a basecoat (the GW equivalent seems to be Loren Forest, formerly Knarloc Green, VMC Luftwaffe Camo Green or VGC Heavy Green) for the army (I haven't yet decided if I plan to use the "dip" shade toner, probably not as I don't want to be completely lazy) but I'm leaning more towards the darker "olive drab" as I think it would look more subdued and practical for a military force; after all the reason so many military units go with olive drab is because it's a good compromise for temperate climates, but on the other hand a Tau army lends itself to being a little flashy looking with the sleek, futuristic appearance. In any event my secondary color would be some kind of brown (either red-brown, light or dark depending) so it's mostly trying to decide if dark green + light brown or light green + dark brown would give a better overall effect while still looking like an appropriate military force.

Go with the olive drab as your preference.

Yellow I would use for insignia or any kind of writing or symbol.

Red for lenses or sensors.

The lighter browns I would use for weapons to better pick them out and identify them easier.

I would go to a fluorescent green for the various glowing weapon casings and power plants.

Maybe use black for areas that "move" like gloves, backs of knees, arm joints etc.

What I would do.