@Gavinator I would wait for the new dex if any of this is unbuilt/painted and I say this as a longtime Salamander player. For one, rumors state thunderhammers are limited to Captains/masters, terminators and command squads. For two, your current setup will work much more efficiently once combat squads become available and you can take the Salamander special character.
For fluff, I think it is over the top personally but certainly drives the point home. You can take a smattering of something other then melta, flamers and thunderhammers, especially if it helps with effectiveness.
For effectiveness, I have found that mobility is still very much a neccesity even with run (dawn of war deployment, issues with getting to objectves in numbers, etc). rhinos when they go to 35 points will be nice to have for contesting objectives, tankshocking/ramming and blocking. Razorbacks as mobile cheap shooting platfroms will also be nice to have. You also may want to consider drop pods in the new rules.
@Lagduf:
Do the Salamanders use any vehicles at all or do they just use them in limited numbers (due to the conditions on Nocturne?). If anything I figured they probably weren't using Bikes or Speeders, but I could see the Salamanders fielding some tanks, as afterall tracked vehicles should be able to handle the rough terrain.
The articles on Salamanders do state that the gravity of their homeworld makes training with Speeders and jumpacks difficult. This was a fluff peice to explain the limited fast attack they had back in 3ed. Also, the Salamanders lack a fast attack oriented reserve company, so they have very limited access to bikes, speeders and assault marines. However their battle companies do have access to them, thus it is ok to have some
IMHO.
As far as tanks, yes they make extensive use of them, like any other codex chapter. Consider, how often do they actually fight on Nocture? Does it really matter the conditions their when they are usually elsewhere? (Which is why the gravity reasoning for their limited
FA was dubious to me). Overall there's a number of fluff pieces that speak to Salamander tank use (they have the oldest rhino
IIRC and were noted as one of the first adopters of the whirlwind). In general I don't think it is any more or less then say Ultras or
DA, etc.
Do you think Salamanders would make extensive use of drop pods? With their up close and personal combat tactics i'd imagine they'd want to get in to the battle quick.
There's nothing in the background that I know of that says they use them more or less then other chapters. Some argued in 4ed that the slow and steady philosophy the chapter seemed to follow would make the use of drop pods limited. I personally don't agree with this at all. I think if the situation waranted it, they would use them like any other codex chapter. It is anyones guess though.
There is a Black Library book in the works, written by Nick Kyme. He's already written a short story that should be available soon as well. He may shed some light on the Salamanders (or like many
BL writers, he may trash established background).
Suffused with the dying memories of Sanguinus, the warriors of the Death Company seek only one thing: death in battle fighting against the enemies of the Emperor. 