I actually have a Great deal of experience with most of these. My first 40 k Army was the Dark Eldar, If you plan to play this, you can get alot of cheap stuff on E-bay, alot of people start this army then get sick of it. They can be limited in paint schemes, conversions are limitless (whenever i get my camera going i will show you my Carnos (Talos made from a carnifex (similar stats))
Pro's - VERY fast (wyches can have 12 inch assault (1 in 6 chance) and make combat first turn almost garunteed (12" move in vehicle, Disembark from open topped 2", Fleet of foot up to 6" and assault 12", that is 27 to 32 inches!) You can easily field a shooty army in raiders that kicks butt (BS 4 EVERYWHERE), or do a standing army with even more shooting, or a mix of both, and with bikes being the kick butt eldar bikes that they are (6" move in the assualt phase when not assaulting and not turbo boosting). They sport more lance weapons than any other army in the game, specialize in close combat and thinning out squads before assaulting, and with wargear that is truely unique to the Dark Eldar, hard to ignore.
Cons - Cardboard Boxes. The simplest way to describe both the biggest strength and weakness of the Dark Eldar Army, Thier vehicles are made of cardboard (10, 10, 10. 11, 11, 10 on the Ravager) and with little upgrades to improve survivability, you depend on a master strategists ability to deply your army well, (or first turn).
My next army, as would seem suitable was the Eldar, the enlightened brethren to the space pirates of the 41st millenium.
Pros - An army of specialists. Everything is very good at ONE thing, that ONE thing is specific and obvious to it's weapons and war gear. Thier speed is rarely matched, and thier ability to effectively redeploy, flank, envelop, and distract make them an absolutely unsavory enemy to face with some of the most resilient(and Deadly) combat units in the game and savage amounts of shooting that ultimately leads to WAY too many armour saves, even for termies. The Psychers here can make or break a game, and are essential to keep around and protect. They can lead Aspect warriors and protect (Fortune) and enhance (Doom, Guide) them or remain independant and lead the resilient wraithguard to battle with an unholy fury. Oh, and the vehicles, amongst the hardest to kill in the galaxy, arguably even harder than that stupid necron vehicle (i am not gonna say it).
Cons - Toughness three psychers means that if you get wounded from a perils of the warp... YOU DIE! (3+ ghost helm save is not perfect (ask any marine player))
THEY ARE SPECIALISTS, i cannot stress this enough, if you play eldar, task them to a job and make them do it when the time is critical and not before or after. if you are not skilled with strategy, you probably wont enjoy this army. They also tend to be expensive to build, and autarchs are alot better than people think they are, just have to use them right.
Necrons are evil. Period. Gauss weapons glance on a 6 to armour penetrate dice roll, regardless of armour value. The orange grants a 6" area of near invulnerable evil. and the 12" area around thier evil vehicle is a death zone.
Pro's - Thier vehicle is insanely good, and so are thier gods (deceiver ultamately winning out (i so diced this to check it out) and the omnisiah winning forever cause he spelled chuck norris in scrabble. (
www.chucknorrisfacts.com). Strong Resiliant, and durable. Don't ever let anyone tell you they are slow, cause the monolith makes up for it!
Con's - Everyone says their cheese, you can always shot holes in thier cheddar but that involves losing, and everyone will comment how slow they are (obviously never used wraiths and destroyers.). plus, everyone has done a metallic version of these monstrosities, so unless your willing to Non Metallic Metal these Cron's or do something truely wicked awesome... they will not stand out.
Tau, are tau, the young, the foolish, and the blind (kinda sounds like a soap opera title)
Pro's - long range, awesome tech, some really neat and unique playing styles, and very diverse with some rich history for thier short expanse.
Con's - Ethereals are good, but have some horrible drawbacks, thier close combat... SUCKS, thier toughness reeks of eldar and imperial guard, and thier only saving grace is that they are not quite as ugly as the kroot who go with them.
Hope this helps
