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I haven't seen anyone really playing with the new Vulkan He'stan character and his traits, and after some playing around i think i might've found a fun, themey 1500 point list to use him in. Although Im not entirely sure if it's practical, so here ya go.

Vulkan

3X 10 man Tactical squad, Flamer, Multi-Melta, Drop Pod w/ launcher

2X 7 man Sternguard squad, PF, 2 Heavy Flamers, 1 Combi-melta, Drop Pod w/launcher

1500 pts. on the dot i believe

OK, some obvious shortcomings, like 3 objective taking units, lack of long range, and such. Though the idea should be pretty apparent: drop in not too far off, burn everything in sight with vulkan's nasty auto t-l trait on anything spitting fire, and pray to the dice gods. Vulkan hitches a ride with a SG squad in a pod and adds an extra heavy flamer to the firebase. Far from a tourney killing list, but is it at least competitive?

In a 1750 tourney list, you could at least have one more tac squad, so that's less of a concern, and the pods make mobility less of a factor. Looks pretty hard to me: nasty vs. both hordes and vehicles (except monoliths).

I'm not sure what the Sternguard have anti-tank wise, but even twin-linked those multi-melta's aren't going to damage tanks as well as you think until you get in close. Sure you'll have a nice turn when they Deepstrike but otherwise it's not heavy on anti-tank, and alot of lists floatinga round currently have quite alot of tank support. Interesting list otherwise, bit small but interesting. Are you going to play any games with it to see how it goes and let us all know?

Auretious Taak.

I am doing Vulkan and Salamander successor chapter. It is Hes'tan btw, vulkan is the title on the chapter master these days

HQ

Vulkan
Honor Guard, 1x TH, Standard, Pod
Cassius

Elite:
Ironclad Dread, pod
5 Man CC Termie Squad (3 claws, 2x TH)

Troops

3x 10 Man Tact Squads, 2x Flamer/1x Melta, 2x MM/1x LC, Sgt with MB and PSword, Rhinos

Heavy
LRC

Should be fine around 1500 or a lil more. I have some tweaking to do, but should be ok

moosifer wrote:I am doing Vulkan and Salamander successor chapter. It is Hes'tan btw, vulkan is the title on the chapter master these days

HQ

Vulkan
Honor Guard, 1x TH, Standard, Pod
Cassius

Elite:
Ironclad Dread, pod
5 Man CC Termie Squad (3 claws, 2x TH)

Troops

3x 10 Man Tact Squads, 2x Flamer/1x Melta, 2x MM/1x LC, Sgt with MB and PSword, Rhinos

Heavy
LRC

Should be fine around 1500 or a lil more. I have some tweaking to do, but should be ok

too bad He'stan isnt a chapter master and cant take an honor guard. His full name actually is Forgefather Vulkan He'stan. The chapter master of the salamanders is Tu'shan.

Otherwise i think along those lines are going to be the standard lists we start seeing with him. Only exception I'd make would be using a redeemer with a pintle multi-melta instead of the LRC for the same cost.

Landspeeders with multimeltas and skorchas seem effective in a Vulkan army.How about them?

Gets you the mobility but other than harassing drop pod fire, they are the only vehicles you got and if I got tanks with lascannons, you are my target my friend... I will be pening you all day or you will be punching the accelerator a lot.

@ moosifer: Neat, a bit off on info and that honor guard technicality but your list seems more...stable, than mine. Still, I likes me a good cloud of drop pods, and I've never really cared much for tanks, seems simpler to drop your troops right in front of them than to scurry across the field hoping not to get nuked prematurely. But then again, there is no Drop Pod Crusader, so treads have their good points Oh, and it is SO He'stan. So there.

@ Auretious Taak: Unfortunately, I don't have a bunch of marines lying about, so this has to be built from scratch. Don't look forward to any battle reports for a looong time coming.

@ Savnok: Yeah, another tac squad would bring the points to an even 1750...but a pair of drop pod riding Thunderfire cannons is drool worthy...Or maybe a dev squad loaded out with a quartet of MM's. The 1500 i already laid out serve as a fun platform, the options after there I'm gonna have to decide on once i see how this all comes together.

@ tokugawa: Yep, DAaddict is right. Landspeeders would bolster a list like Moosifer's pretty well i think, since he has a landraider and Ironclad to soak up the anti armor. In mine, it's one or two gnats buzzing around with 10 AV on all sides and medium-close range weapons versus a more or less unoccupied AT weapons.


Hmm on a slightly different bend, since this army is gonna be built from the ground up, how do you good folks think it should be built up in the typical 500, 1000, 1500 step fashion? I don't want to paint this whole thing before sparking my torches once.

All I could think about reading Vulkan He'stan's entry in the new codex was "You'll have to pry this flamer from my cold, dead hands." Way to make a space marine who's name sounds so much Charleton Heston, GW.

To un-derail this topic, I always thought the new Ironclad Dreadnought would be hell in a Vulkan army. For 150 points you get an AV13 dread with 2 heavy flamers (re-rolled wounds with Vulkan), 2 dreadnought weapons (the seismic hammer adding 1 to rolls on the vehicle dmg chart no less), move through cover, smoke and extra armor. Throw that bad SOB in a drop pod, bring him down first turn, and SURPRISE YOU'RE DEAD NOW.

Seems to me like a drop pod Salamander army in general would be tasty, or even just rhino rush the flamers/meltas. Too bad Vulkan doesn't affect the flamers on the Land Raider Redeemer, but at AP3 who cares?

PS between stormshields now being 3+ invuln, and Vulkan making all thunderhammers mastercrafted, how good and fluffy would CC termies be in the new 'raider? The raider just lights up hordes, then the termies pile out (lighting them up with vulkan's heavy flamer), then just hammer the living hell out of anything that's left.

{edited because dakka doesn't know LRR=land raider redeemer yet }

Khornatedemon wrote:

moosifer wrote:I am doing Vulkan and Salamander successor chapter. It is Hes'tan btw, vulkan is the title on the chapter master these days

HQ

Vulkan
Honor Guard, 1x TH, Standard, Pod
Cassius

Elite:
Ironclad Dread, pod
5 Man CC Termie Squad (3 claws, 2x TH)

Troops

3x 10 Man Tact Squads, 2x Flamer/1x Melta, 2x MM/1x LC, Sgt with MB and PSword, Rhinos

Heavy
LRC

Should be fine around 1500 or a lil more. I have some tweaking to do, but should be ok

too bad He'stan isnt a chapter master and cant take an honor guard. His full name actually is Forgefather Vulkan He'stan. The chapter master of the salamanders is Tu'shan.

Otherwise i think along those lines are going to be the standard lists we start seeing with him. Only exception I'd make would be using a redeemer with a pintle multi-melta instead of the LRC for the same cost.

I would agree with you, but his entry changes combat tactics, which to me means that he is in fact a chapter master. I know fluff is fluff but hasnt GW steamrolled established fluff for other more well known things?

Vulkan

3X 10 man Tactical squad, Flamer, Multi-Melta, Drop Pod w/ launcher

2X 7 man Sternguard squad, PF, 2 Heavy Flamers, 1 Combi-melta, Drop Pod w/launcher

100 points in deathwind launchers? I'd drop them and use the points to get some fists, meltas and/or combi meltas on tacs and maybe a beacon.

I would agree with you, but his entry changes combat tactics, which to me means that he is in fact a chapter master

Umm no. Vulkan He'Stan is neither a chapter master or a captain -- he is the forgefather. You'll know and understand this once you read his entry.

Only non-UM special character that is a chapter master is Kantor and his rules specifically give him the chapter master perks of an honor guard and orbital strike. So you'll need to drop cassius and take a chapter master if you want an honor guard for your successor chapter.

winterman wrote:

Vulkan

3X 10 man Tactical squad, Flamer, Multi-Melta, Drop Pod w/ launcher

2X 7 man Sternguard squad, PF, 2 Heavy Flamers, 1 Combi-melta, Drop Pod w/launcher

100 points in deathwind launchers? I'd drop them and use the points to get some fists, meltas and/or combi meltas on tacs and maybe a beacon.

I would agree with you, but his entry changes combat tactics, which to me means that he is in fact a chapter master

Umm no. Vulkan He'Stan is neither a chapter master or a captain -- he is the forgefather. You'll know and understand this once you read his entry.

Only non-UM special character that is a chapter master is Kantor and his rules specifically give him the chapter master perks of an honor guard and orbital strike. So you'll need to drop cassius and take a chapter master if you want an honor guard for your successor chapter.

That is a lil ridiculous if you ask me. We will see when the dex comes out

I'm sure he's read it. It's been at quite a few local stores for about a week and a half, and just came out in the spearheads. I've handled three copies already.

Vulkan rocks, and I expect lists with him will be quite a popular build, but he doesn't get the honor guard.

Just changing combat tactics doesn't mean that he's a chapter master.

Neither Shrike nor Lysander are chapter masters, but they both change combat tactics.

Like said above, only Calgar and Pedro are chapter masters out of the special characters.

Most of the rest are captains of companies. (or Cassius/Tigerius......or Chronus)

Although Vulkan is neither. He's actually out wandering on his own.

Ha I had a discussion today with my mate and came up with a Vulkan led SM army.

Vulkan - 190

6 Assault terminators - 240

10 Sternguard with 2 combi-flamers and 2 combi-meltas - 270
Drop pod with locator beacon - 45

10 Tactical marines with flamer, multi-melta, serg with love glove and combi-melta - 205
Drop pod with locator beacon - 45

10 Tactical marines with melta, lascannon, serg with love glove and combi-flamer - 220
Drop pod - 35

10 Tactical marines with plasma gun, missile launcher, serg with love glove and combi-plasma - 215
Drop pod - 35

The three scoring units is a bit of a problem but you're playing with pods so live with it! Haven't actually got the codex so it's all theory hammer that could be very misinterpreted.

I think if you're using Vulkan, you should exploit him rules in every squad (like ive not done lol).

Auretious Taak wrote:I'm not sure what the Sternguard have anti-tank wise, but even twin-linked those multi-melta's aren't going to damage tanks as well as you think until you get in close.
Auretious Taak.

Hes drop podding in, he will be on their butts from the get go. I can toss a drop pod onto the table and get it within double d6 range of a tank. Melta killy range is 12", drop pods dont scatter that far.

I dont know if I would take assault termies. They dont use Vulkans ability, and Ive just never liked them except in landraiders.

Your mileage may vary though.

moosifer wrote:I am doing Vulkan and Salamander successor chapter. It is Hes'tan btw, vulkan is the title on the chapter master these days

HQ

Vulkan
Honor Guard, 1x TH, Standard, Pod
Cassius

Elite:
Ironclad Dread, pod
5 Man CC Termie Squad (3 claws, 2x TH)

Troops

3x 10 Man Tact Squads, 2x Flamer/1x Melta, 2x MM/1x LC, Sgt with MB and PSword, Rhinos

Heavy
LRC

Should be fine around 1500 or a lil more. I have some tweaking to do, but should be ok

Ok so i am updating this. Here goes

HQ
Vulkan

Elite

Ironclad, 1 melta, 1 Heavy Flamer, Assault Launchers, Pod
LaTD with Heavy Flamer, Psword

Troops
2x 10 Man Tacts Flamer, MM, Psword MB, Rhino
1x 10 Man Tact Melta, LC, Psword MB, Rhino

Heavy:

LRC w/EA

Vulkan and Flamer unit hop in the LRC leaving the rest of the unit to sit in a rhino shooting MM fire at anything nearby

1500 exactly booya

Vulkan

Master of the forge

x10 SM Melta, Multimelta
x10 SM Melta, Multimelta

x5 CC terminators TH/SS
x4 Dreadnauts, Multimelta, Heavy Flamers and Xtra Armor. Drop pod.

1500pts

Ironclad in Drop pod

1750pts (poins left still)

@Defenestrator: Yup, the Assault termies + Vulkan should = extra smashy hammer goodness. Also would supply a nice CC buffer should the initial onslaught of torchey doom fail to scare off enough bad guys. The ironclad, while very appealing both w/ it's flamey goodies and tendency for smashing stuff, just doesnt fit well in my list. Generally, I stick to the redundancy plan: nothing can be the only one of its kind in an army if its to be tactically reliable. Wildcat Carl's list is a good example of how the ironclad could be used under Vulkan, though.

@winterman: Yeah, actually tacs were equipped w/ power fists in the original list, jsut neglected to mention that. As for deathwinds, they do add well to an already abundant supply of template weapons, but..yeah, 100 points can be put to better use. And so it shall.

@Fallen Angel: Yep, that seems to be 3 ways to go with Vulkan: Drop pod flame spamming infantry (your spec weapons selections kinda waste this trick though), Vehicular assault like moosifer, or Dreadnought hell like Wildcat. I admire your gumption for picking the most in-your-face of the three. Though i wonder if termie based assault armies will be possible with Vulkan...so maybe 4, whatever.

@GMMStudios: Assault termies get automatic Master Crafted status on Thunder Hammers, so they get a bonus of sorts. Glad to see some mathematical support for melta blasting vehicles though.

@Wildcat Carl: Nasty! But is that too many Elite selections?

So yeah, some tweaking on my part, plus a step by step approach to get it built. C+C as you please.

500pts
Vulkan

Tac Squad A: 5 marines, flamer, PF

Tac Squad B: 10 marines, PF, flamer/M-melta

1000pts
A: +5 marines, M-Melta, Drop Pod
B: Drop Pod

Sternguard C: 5 Marines, Heavy Flamer, Combi Melta, Drop Pod

Sternguard D: 5 Marines, heavy Flamer, Combi-Melta, Drop Pod

1500pts
A+B: +Combi-Meltas
C+D: +3 Marines, Heavy Flamer, 2 Combi-Meltas, PF each

Tactical Squad E: 10 Marines, PF, Flamer, M-Melta, Combi-Melta, Drop Pod


Leaves me with 2 solid and nasty Sternguard, 3 Tacs, and Vulkan. Sort of an all or nothing approach, but i like it

As for 1750+, id really have to see how this all works before deciding how to branch out from what is basically (hopefully) a solid core platform.

Vulcan is far too expensive for 500 points, probably too expensive for 1000 points. You can fit at least another 100 points of stuff in there for his cost (assuming he's replaced by a cheap HQ), which at small point levels is significant. At small value games, bodies count a lot more than fancy rules. I'd only ever use him in lists of 1500 and up, and even then that's more than I usually spend on characters, even for Chaos sometimes.

hey firepower with the inclusion of the master of the forge, he makes dreadnauts heavy support aswell as elites.