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I'm currently staring at my calth box set agonising over which legion to go for. I like the salamanders fluff , colour scheme and rules. I already have a 40k salamanders army so they also seem to make sense as I can use the 30k minis to supplement it. However seeing as the legion was nearly annihalated in the drop site massacre I'm not sure how involved they were in the remainder of the war. Basically will they fit fluff wise into future campaigns that come out as the time line progresses? Or will I be stuck playing games based on istvan v.

I have the same situation as you have. A sizable 40k Salamanders army and a brand new BaC box just waiting for me to start putting the models together.

I have read most of the HH novels and yes, the Salamanders took a giant blow at Istvaan. They only seem to play bit roles in the novels after that as a Legion.

However, I am still going to assemble my BaC minis as Salamanders as, like yourself, I enjoy their look and fluff. Playing in the campaigns should probably be ok as of course destroying an entire Legion would be incredibly difficult in any case. Also, you don't have to play strictly campaign games I would presume.

The Isstvan Campaign "broke" several Legions of Space Marines: The Iron Hands, the Ravenguard, and the Salamanders were pretty much wiped out at Isstvan V (Book II of the Horus Heresy series- Massacre). Their Legions would be so broken that they would pretty much only play minor roles in the rest of the Heresy- just as the Warmaster Horus intended.

It wasn't until after the Heresy and the breaking of all the Legions that they would be brought up to strength with the other Second Founding Chapters.

Now, this shouldn't stop you from making a post-30K/Pre-40K army of Salamanders. The Legions were HUGE- like 100,000+ Space Marines and all their logistics, support equipment, etc. etc. Each Legion was an army unto itself with home worlds, tithe planets, fleets of ships, etc. etc. It's not unreasonable that a 3,000 point army of say, 100 Space Marines (about 1% of the total Space Marines in that Legion), would still be alive and kicking after Isstvan. They could have been on a mission somewhere else in the Galaxy, and too far away to arrive in time at Isstvan V to make a difference. There are all kinds of reasons why such a force wasn't present. So go for it!

In the novel Deathfire there are at least 66 Salamanders after Isstvan 5 on MacCragge. I'm only half way through it, so I don't know the final tally. It has been a really difficult book to read.

My initial list only has 47 marines in it at 2500pts.

There is also the next 30k book which is supposed to include an army list called Shattered Legions for just such an army.

Thanks for the advice guys, you've convinced me to go for it I quite like the idea of playing a rag tag group of survivors who escaped isstvan and are now looking to sell their lives dearly in the pursuit of vengeance for their fallen brothers.

Book 2 sayeth:
"it is believed a force of around 83,000 went with their Primarch to Isstvan V, the losses of which during that deadly action were almost total, rate by some sources as high as 98%"

I read 'as high' as being the worst estimate, which would leave 1,660 survivors.

The subsequent paragraph puts it at about 6,000 Salamanders not present at Isstvan.

Certainly not enough to stand in the way of Horus' advance, but more than capable of nibbling at the traitors heels.