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So I'm starting up a second army. First one being Orks. So I fell in love with a drop pod theme. And salamanders I think are the obvious choice to go from there. This list is what I'm going to be building up to but looking for suggestions. I've only got about 750 points built and painted so far.

Well here it is.

Hq: Vulken 190

Elites: 10 sternguard 4 combi melta, sgt combi melta, melta bombs. 2 heavy Flamers, drop pod. (Always combat squaded. Flamers and meltas apart.) 340
2x dreadnought with MM and heavy flamer, drop pod 145x2. 290

Troops: 2x 10 tactical,melta gun and multi melta with sgt, melta bombs and combi melta, drop pod 210x2. 420
10 tactical, flamer and multi melta with sgt, melta bombs and combi flamer, drop pod. 205
5 tactical, melta gun with sgt, melta bombs and combi melta, drop pod. 130
5 tactical, melta gun with sgt, combi melta, drop pod. 125

Fast attack 3x 5 man assault squad. 2 Flamers. Sgt with melta bombs, drop pod. 100x3. 300

Vulken would go in with one of the assault squads. 11 pods in this army so I would get 6 down turn 1.
Mostly the dreadnoughts and sternguard would be always dropped first turn. And then if I need more Flamers or meltas I would change around what I would drop. All of the 10 man tac squads would always be combat squaded. Maybe even with kill points I would still combat squad them.

I am looking for input also on maybe taking out a dreadnought and replacing it with a 5 man devastators squad with 4 multi meltas. They wouldn't come down first turn. But if they come down turn 2 or later. They could prove to be a good mid game MC killer. Snap firing when they come down sucks. But with 4 of them rerolling on 6s I'm bound to hit once. Which would be the equivalent of the dreadnought. And then even more scary the next turn given they survive.

I could replace the melta gun on the 5 man tac squad and give him a flamer so I could give melta bombs to the sgt. And make the sgts combi into a flamer. But I don't know if it's worth losing 2 meltas. I have quite a bit of Flamers so.

Any suggestions. Or criticism would be awesome.

Keep the squad's weapons the same, 10 man tactical squads get meltas, 5 man gets flamers. Not sold on the sternguard unit, maybe a command squad with 4 melta guns and storm shields riding with vulken. With points left over buy a storm talon or 2 if you can, as AA is important.

I thought command squads were limited to combi weapons. I figured the sternguard would be able to combat squad and have 5 melta shots against any MC/big tank that needs to die. Then the heavy Flamers can potentially wipe out what ever comes out of the transport or wipe out any mobs around.

The 10 man tac squad with the flamer and multi melta will always be combat squaded.

I know AA is my biggest weakness, but I figure I will ignore any and all air that comes my way. As I'm hoping that by turn 2 I will have killed off the majority of their army. If they are air heavy. Then my chances are good. And then when their air comes in piecemeal I just pray for 6s with TL meltas. With as much melta and MMs I should do alright.
If they got FMCs I found that the drop pods themselves are great against them as I just have to hit them to force a grounding test. And then all my meltas can destroy them

holymist wrote:
I thought command squads were limited to combi weapons. I figured the sternguard would be able to combat squad and have 5 melta shots against any MC/big tank that needs to die. Then the heavy Flamers can potentially wipe out what ever comes out of the transport or wipe out any mobs around.

The 10 man tac squad with the flamer and multi melta will always be combat squaded.

I know AA is my biggest weakness, but I figure I will ignore any and all air that comes my way. As I'm hoping that by turn 2 I will have killed off the majority of their army. If they are air heavy. Then my chances are good. And then when their air comes in piecemeal I just pray for 6s with TL meltas. With as much melta and MMs I should do alright.
If they got FMCs I found that the drop pods themselves are great against them as I just have to hit them to force a grounding test. And then all my meltas can destroy them

Command squads were FAQ'd to take special weapons.

5man command squad, 4 melta guns, apothecary, drop pod - 190
Or 5man, 5 melta drop pod - 185

If I was to get rid of the sternguard. I would put the 5 melta man honour guard. So what should I put for the extra 155 points I would have left over?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I'm honestly liking the concept of sternguard more than taking the command squad. And I wouldn't be able to put storm talons in this list even if I wanted to as my fast attack slots are full up.

I kinda want to stick to drop pod only as well which is why I wouldn't want a storm talon.

Even if I got rid of the sternguard and put in the command squad I would be able to put another dreadnought or 4 man multi melta devastator squad. But that would put me down to 12 pods. And I couldn't squeeze any more points to get a 13th pod.
So with the sternguard It would at least bring down 5 melta shots and 2 heavy Flamers. And then the special ammo afterwards if they don't die a horrendous death.

nothing? any other help would be good!

These are all suggestions as i run pure drop pod armies as well. I would up it to a minimum of 4 full tac squads for the troop choices, drop 2 of the assault squads and the dreadnaughts *they are going to die to fast* and take the dev squads *flak missiles and multimeltas * in one and lascannons in the other. Also for your sternguard i think it would be more effective if you have two squads of them with at least 4 combi meltas. Oh and strip the melta bombs, those are a waste of points as your alpha strike should take out your vehicle threats.

So I updated my list. I decided to add a command squad instead of adding a second dreadnought or adding the devastator unit. And to make the points I got rid of all melta bombs on my sgts. Hopefully with all my melta I should be able to fry MCs before they kill me.
Is this too much melta to take? I couldn't imagine that there could be too much melta

22 melta shots. 9 of them are combi. 4 are multi melta. 9 melta guns.
12 Flamers. 7 Flamers 1 combi and 4 heavy Flamers.
I think that's a good amount of melta and Flamers. Maybe make a 5 man tac squad a flamer squad instead of melta maybe?

Hq: Vulken 190
Command squad with 5 meltaguns and drop pod. 185

Elites: 10 sternguard 4 combi melta, sgt combi melta. 2 heavy Flamers, drop pod. (Always combat squaded. Flamers and meltas apart.) 335
dreadnought with MM and heavy flamer, drop pod 145

Troops: 2x 10 tactical,melta gun and multi melta and combi melta, drop pod 205x2. 410
10 tactical, flamer and multi melta and combi flamer, drop pod. 200
5 tactical, melta gun and combi melta, drop pod. 125
5 tactical, melta gun and combi melta, drop pod. 125

Fast attack 3x 5 man assault squad. 2 Flamers. drop pod. 95x3. 285

2000

Your just leaving out your ability to fight aircraft, i use a dev squad for that

Well for aircraft I would just bank on my TL melta shots to down them. Even hitting on 6s I think they are better than flakk missiles. It's 25 points for a flakk missile isn't it? 2 flakk missiles cost me 5 melta guns. 5 6+ to hit twin linked melta shots I think is better than 2 flakks hitting on 3s and str 7 ap who cares.

Also they may not drop til turn 4 the devastators so I may have to snapshot them anyways which means melta is better again. That's my take on it at least.

Meltas are only 18" range, im just saying thats a hole in the list