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Getting back into the game after a long break (didnt really play that much to begin with, so its kinda like a full start), mostly because of 5th edition coming out and a good friend switching from WHFB to 40k. I preordered Assault on Black Reach, and am planning on trading the orks for another set of marines. I've decided I wanted to use these guys to create a reasonably fluffy Salamanders army. In total I should have:

2 captains
10 terminators
20 tactical marines
2 dreads.

So far everything here seems pretty fluffy, so what would I need to get on top of this to flesh out friendly competitive army (aka non tourny playing, but would still like a fair chance at winning regular games.)

Thanks for any advice and comments.

PS. I put this in tactics because I'm not selecting a list, I'm just looking for things I should be picking up before I start putting together a list.

i would use the new special character in the 5th edition marine dex for starters
get some thunder hammer/storm shields for the terminators(just bitz order the separate arms and switch them out)
i would get multi-meltas to replace the missiles in the tacticals, getting the plastic ones from the devs would be best and
try to get flamers for the dreads
get 6 drop pods
than you have a dangerous force that drops on you with tough termies and twinlinked flamers and melta weaponry

Yup... salamanders like flamers and meltas, and they like them in large quantities. So dropping them in the middle of your opponents army is a great way to go IMHO.

I think that the two captains is unnecessary though.

Agreed, flamers and meltas are good options. Drop pods are a nice way to get them there quickly, but you could also invest in rhinos or razorbacks, and perhaps a land raider or two to transport those terminators.

drop pods with locator beacons are more reliable and allow you to dictate the tempo a little more than normal mechanized armies

you could swap out the second captain for a master of the forge to make your dreads heavy so you can have the termies separate and both in drop pods

So lots of drop pods and flamers + multimetas on the tac squads. Termies get TH/SS and dreads get flamers

How about the Captain (will probably only use 1 as a captain, just seems kinda weird to have 2 captains with only a 30 man force )

should he be footslogging? getting a jump pack? maybe just boobie down until the drop pods arrive?

Forget the Captains altogether! The only one you need to concern yourself with is Vulkan He'stan, the Salamanders special character. He allows you to treat all flamers and melta weapons as twin-linked, and all thunder hammers as master-crafted.

and has a heavy flamer, 3+ invul save, and s6 master crafted power weapon himself

MinMax wrote:Forget the Captains altogether! The only one you need to concern yourself with is Vulkan He'stan, the Salamanders special character. He allows you to treat all flamers and melta weapons as twin-linked, and all thunder hammers as master-crafted.

where can I find the rules for this guy?

twigg wrote:

MinMax wrote:Forget the Captains altogether! The only one you need to concern yourself with is Vulkan He'stan, the Salamanders special character. He allows you to treat all flamers and melta weapons as twin-linked, and all thunder hammers as master-crafted.

where can I find the rules for this guy?

Vulkan is one of the new Special Characters in the 5th Edition Space Marines Codex, which is coming out soon.

Salamanders avoid Fast Attack but you can take Multimelta/ Heavy Flamer Land Speeders.

So here is a guide from a longtime Salamander player. I will focus more on giving you some background material, cause frankly the new codex changes substantially how Salamanders will play. Basically, the removal of twin special weaponry is a big change.

First, Salamanders prefer short ranged shooting and in your face combat. In previous editions this meant taking two special weapons in their tactical squads. That will not be allowed in the new codex. However combat squads will allow a psuedo form of this, 5 man squads with flamer or melta go mobile while the MM or other heavy weapon form a firebase.

Second, as noted they have less emphasis on Fast Attack. Don't be deceived though, their IA article very clearly states that the Battle companies have Assault Marines and have bikes and land speeders at their disposal. However they lack any sort of Fast attack reserve company. The old Armaggedon codex stated their homeworlds gravity kept them from training with speeders and other fast attack, which is why most people will expect less use of FA. Personally I keep my FA choices to a minimum. A Battle company only has 20 men avalable toward Fast attack, so any more then that in a standard list is too much imho.

Third, Salamanders have a unique force org structure for a codex chapter. They only have 7 companies, each having 12 squads instead of 10 (except the scout company -- see below).

1st company are the famed Firedrakes, veterans of the Salamanders. They are known for the requirement that they slay one of the larger firedrake salamanders on Nocturne before being accepeted into the company. At full strength they are 120 men strong, each one having access to Terminator armor (which accounts for the background stating they have access to greater numbers of terminator armor then most chapters). The new Sterngaurd veterans will make great power armored Firedrakes though, since they have access to heavy flamers and lots of special weaponry and combi-weapons.

Also the Firedrakes are fully inducted into the Prometheus Cult. Not much is known about it, but fire and iconic blacksmith items are usually found painted are added to Firedrake armor. Ritual scarring is also a known component.

Finally, interesting thing about Salamanders, the captain of the 1st company is also the Chapter Master, acting as such until Vulkan returns. Currently Tu'Shan is the acting Chapter Master.

Battle companies 2nd, 3rd and 4th. These are the bread and butter. There are 7 Tactical squads, 2 assault squads and 3 devestator squads per battle company. As I mentioned, they have access to standard FA stuff, just not alot of it since there's no FA reserves. These guys will certainly use alot of flamer and melta weaponry but they will still employ other weaponry in smaller quantities. Most Salamander players keep their long range weaponry on the devestators. You will also find an aversion to lascannons, since the old Armmagedon list didn't allow them on tactical squads.

Reserve companies 5th and 6th. I always forget the exact mix, but one has like 8 devestators and 4 tactical squads and the other has 8 tacticals and 4 devestator squads or something very close to that.

Scout company, the 7th and final, is noted as being smaller then most other chapters, maybe 6 squads typically. Some players will limit the number of scouts they use because of this. Also note they do have access to scout bikes based on the IA article.

Most people don't know this but the salamanders use different colored salamander heads to denote the company. White is for 1st and 2nd, orange is for 3rd, green is 4th. Reserve companies use a orange background instead of black -- 5th is black salamander head, 6th uses green. Scout company is white shoulder pad with a black salamader head.

Also, every Salamander is an accomplished craftsman capable of maintaing his own equipment. This has led the Salamander techmarines to have more opportunities to experiment with technology. I would venture to guess the Redeemer is a product of that unique situation(as the Prometheus Land Raider was also noted as a Salamander invention).

So as far as what you should get -- I think a core of 4 tactical squads is a great start. As far as weaponry, you already have 2 flamers and if you buy 2 tactical boxes you'll have 2 more. You'll have 4 Missle launchers and 2 melta guns. Long term, I'd use the missle launchers in a dev squad or trade friends for the plastic multi-melta in the dev box (battlewagon bits sells the plastic MM and I think the old metal MM can be found too). Do the same with the 2 plasma guns if you want 4 meltaguns. That way you can field any mix of MM, flamer and MG on your tacticals.

Unfortunately tacticals are rumored to not have access to thunderhammers any longer (which sucks since the pricetag is finally acceptable compared to a powerfist). Any event, I think paying the extra points for fist or power weapon is worth considering, since the sgt will have access to them without extra cost.

Rhinos won't play as big a role in playing Salamanders as they used too, but I have found them to be still very nice to have handy in 5ed. When they get cheaper in the new codex, they will be solid choices, as will the varios razerbacks (MM being rumored to be coming back). Drop pods are going to be great choices as well but the nature of the army changes. I think going that route is a nice log term goal unless you just really like the imagery of drop pods crashing all over the battlefield ( I know I do).

If you want to have firedrake support, you have the option of terminators or sternguard. Either will be an excellent choice. I think it will be pretty easy to get solid anti-tank out of the tacticals, so the sternguard make great anti-troop units. The terminators can then act as counter assault or as a hammer unit if held in a landraider.

Redeemer seems to be one of those must buy units for Salamanders. I'm not sure it will be all that great on the table top but it will sure look cool. The seige dread is also something very salamanderish with its emphasis on short rage shooty.

In general, know that the Salamanders are still pretty codex so you don't HAVE to cram the list with just melta and flamers. They still use plasma I am sure, and still rely on ccws other then thunderhammers. I always try and have majority of my firepower using the iconic weaponry but now and then like ot have some lascannons, plasma guns, heavy bolters, etc.

Finally, the new Vulkan special character is a no brainer, but you don't even have to use him. Being able to disengage from combat is pretty nice to have if you focus on short ranged shooting. At some point you may get bored of Vulkan (or get sick of the whining) and having an extra captain handy will be nice. There's even talk of using Lysander as a stand-in for Tu'Shan. I've personally considered using Kantor as Tu'Shan, since Tu'Shan is the captain of the firedrakes. Anyevent, have fun with all the options.

HTH

Interesting. I did not know Salamanders had a Techmarine element involved.

I like your idea of using Kantor as Tu'shan.