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Dear Dakka:
I'm currently building up a couple lists for my Salamanders. I plan on playing them really fluffy, meaning taking Vulkan and as many flamers/meltas//T-hammers as possible, as well as a high percentage of terminators. I don't care too much about winning, I'd rather stay true to the fluff.

That said, I was wondering what kind of terminators would be good for me? I know for sure I'm gonna take 5 T-hammer/SS assault termies, which leaves me 5 more to figure out what to do with. I was thinking of leaving them as normal terminators, but if I wanted to play them fluffy I'd have to give one of them a Heavy Flamer... but an HF doesn't seem like a good idea with regular termies

I guess I'm wondering what the tactical breakdown of each terminator upgrade would be. Any takers?

Okay.

You're bang-on with the Assault Terminators. No Lightning Claws for real Sallies! I would recommend having Vulkan join this squad. His Gauntlet can add some actual shooting to the unit, if need be, and he provides close combat capability higher than Initiative 1.

I would recommend having a Land Raider Redeemer transport this unit. It likes to get in close, just like they do, and witht the twin-linked Flamestorm Cannons, it's one of the best choices for a Salamanders army. A Multi-Melta for 10 points is a must.

For the normal Terminator squad, you would be wise to add a Chainfist or two, if you expect to be facing any Walkers/Land Raiders. At 5 points, they're very reasonable.

A Heavy Flamer is a good upgrade for a normal Terminator squad, simply because it's only 5 points. Both other weapon options are a 30 point investment. With Vulkan this is especially true, as the Heavy Flamer becomes Twin-Linked. I would not recommend the Assault Cannon, rather the Cyclone Missile Launcher if you want some long-range anti-tank, or the Heavy Flamer if you need anti-horde.

A Land Raider transport is less crucial to the success of normal Terminators. Because of their ability to shoot after Deep-Striking, they have a lot of versatility. If you chose the Heavy Flamer, however, the Land Raider becomes much more valuable.

MinMax wrote:
I would recommend having a Land Raider Redeemer transport this unit. It likes to get in close, just like they do, and witht the twin-linked Flamestorm Cannons, it's one of the best choices for a Salamanders army. A Multi-Melta for 10 points is a must.

Vulcan DOES NOT twin link the Flamestorm Cannon on the Redeemer....only flamers and heavy flamers (check the codex). IF you are playing with Flamestorms as twin-linked, you are cheating, my friend

Or making an honest mistake.

>I don't care too much about winning, I'd rather stay true to the fluff.

Heh, ironically with Vulkan this is pretty much the same thing since his fluff maximizes very useful abilities, hence his popularity. Load up on assault termies, stick 'em in landraiders and maybe add some drop multi-meta dreads for fun. Tacs with MM/Flamer in rhinos for Troops.

As a codex chapter, salamanders can be built in a variety of ways, though, not just the one dimensional stereotype. Even if it is a pretty baddass stereotype []

If you want to stick with something fluffy, then go with:
5 regular terminators w/ HF in a Redeemer
or
5 more TH/SS terminators in a Redeemer.

Also, put Vulkan and your other TH/SS terminators in their own Redeemer. Make sure to put MMs on each. Like jmurph said, a fluffy Salamanders army is a solid way to win. I've always loved the Salamanders, and have been playing an army geared toward them since I started playing several years ago. I feel kind of cheesy sometimes now that Vulkan is pretty much insane on the table, but [broken record] I really like fire.

Well, I'd take 10 footslogging Assault Termies with TH/SS.
They are one of the biggest threat in the 40k universe.

wuestenfux wrote:Well, I'd take 10 footslogging Assault Termies with TH/SS.
They are one of the biggest threat in the 40k universe.

true story.

You get lots of termies and hammers too, so its fluffy! right?

wuestenfux wrote:Well, I'd take 10 footslogging Assault Termies with TH/SS.
They are one of the biggest threat in the 40k universe.

...right up until 45 Lootas open fire on them

Alerian wrote:

wuestenfux wrote:Well, I'd take 10 footslogging Assault Termies with TH/SS.
They are one of the biggest threat in the 40k universe.

...right up until 45 Lootas open fire on them

They've served their purpose even if they're wiped out to a man by that fire, because dumping that much shooting phase firepower on one unit probably means a good chunk of his army is going to get into CC unmolested next turn. Thanks to that 2+ you're not even guaranteed to wipe them out, no less. Those lootas likely won't be doing much once his entire army is stuck in besides getting scraped off of power-armored boots. Any army with reasonable CC would love to have a unit as threatening as Vulkan-buffed TH/SS termies to play bait, and if they live through it (as terminators are rather wont to do) and reach CC, things are going to get very messy very fast.

675 Points of Lootas shooting 400+ points of Termies. Not too shabby a trade off. That 10 strong unit of Termies is a massive threat, so it needs to be gone. With their great saves, massive shooting is probably the most assured way of getting rid of them.

Ironically, a 'now' fluffy Salamanders army can be a rock solid army.

Alerian wrote:

wuestenfux wrote:Well, I'd take 10 footslogging Assault Termies with TH/SS.
They are one of the biggest threat in the 40k universe.

...right up until 45 Lootas open fire on them

At which point there would still be 5 terminators left

The point is that 10 footslogging TH/SS termies are too slow to be useful in a Sallie army against any semi-competetive/competitive list (a Shrike army is another story).

Shooty Orks will gun them down...no questions. And they are so slow that in most cases the Orks won't even have to start shooting at them until turn 3 or so, which lets the Orks fire at everything else fist. As for other Orks, those termies will never catch Nob Bikers, nor BW spam.

The New IG will own them with the Choir..drop their LD to 2 and shoot them...the Termies will run.

Mechdar will outrun them the whole game, forcing you to face their entire army with one that is esentially 400 points short.

Dual Lash...c'mon. Those termies will either be "obliterated" or lashed backwards every turn...again being useless.

The list can go on and on, but I will stop. The point is that TH/SS Termiess are far more useful and deadly when they have a transport, such as either a 6 man squad in a LRR or an 8 man sqaud in a LRC. 10 nonshooting/non-fleeting (again...Shrike) Termies are a pretty bad waste of points against anything remotely competitive in todays meta.

I agree with Alerian, the Termies need a LR period. My current 1850 tourney list is as follows;

HQ- Vulkan
Elite- Ironclad in Deathwind Drop Pod
Troop- 2 Tac Squad w/ flamer & multi-melta
-Sarges have power weapons and melta bombs
- 2 Razorbacks, Las/TL PLas & TL Assault
Fast Attack- Vanguard Vets w/o jump packs
- Sarge has relic blade, all have stromshields
Heavy- LRC, LRR, and a Vindie
- Both LR have multi-meltas
All vehicles except Vindie have extra armor
I attach Vulkan to the Vanguard and put them in the LRR.
The Tac squads get split into Combat squads, the multie-meltas can habg back for fire support while the flamer and sarge mount up in the LRC and/ or razorback.

This list has played extremely well for me and notice there are no Termies. I may exchange the Vanguard for Termies at some point, but for now it works great.