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So, could someone give me some basic Sallies advice? They seem like the best chapter imo and they also appeal to my playstyle afaik(get up close and things). But, apart from cramming in as many flamers, meltas, etc. I have no idea how to build a proper list, (such as when should I swap my captain for vulcan?) Also, is there any other things to do other than get up close and things?

The noob thanks you in advance

Vulkan is one of the best cost-benefit HQ's in the game. He is what makes a Salamander army unique right now.

A Salamander army means piling up meltas, flamers and thunder hammers, yes, but that has a few consequences: it usually means you'll lack long-range weapons such as lascannons.

For that reason, it can be good to invest in fast vehicles that can carry multi-meltas: Attack bikes and Land Speeders, mostly. In fact, a Heavt Flamer/Multimelta Land speerder with Vulkan's rule is a fearsome thing indeed. I've seen lists with 9 such speeders tearing things up like mad, but even 3 would already be a great asset.

A good starting point would be getting Vulkan and 5 SS/TH terminators to be your Deathstar. A Land Raider Redeemer would be best given its flame cannons to keep with the fluff, but a regular raider's lascannons may give you the reach you need to knock out a distant Dark Eldar vehicle or Stormraven in the early game.

Get two squads of tacticals. Flamer/Multimelta or melta/multimelta are good choices. If it's not Annigilation, yu may want to combat-squads them, putting those without big guns in home objectives and the other five in a rhino to go shoot things up.

A dread in a drop pod can also be quite convenient: the MM/HF version is not expensive, and a twin-linked multi-melta shot in the rear armor on turn 1 can make you enemy cry. It will likely be nuked after that, though, so you have to be alright with using it as a suicide unit. The heavy flamer can also make short work or enemy artillery like ork lootas, DE anything and Tau.

Thanks for the help Is there a specific points level where I should start adding in Vulkan?

I've seen him starting at 1500 points. Above that, it's a no-brainer. If you need a second HQ, a librarian to negate enemy inv saves can be a good investment.

Vulkan's point cost is not really an impediment in lower-point games, by the way, since you'll find few HQ's that are as good. Good army-wide rule that lasts after he is dead, saves worthy of an assault terminator, master-crafted relic blade, portable heavy flamer and a heavy flamer? The only things keeping him from being perfect are his low-ish volume of attacks (not that big and issue given his re'rolls and high S meaning more wounds) and the lack of Eternal Warrior.

My friend runs a Salamander list against my Nidz. Those Melta can reeeeeally make your jaw drop, when your MC's starts to drop like flies.

In higher-point games, an Alpha-Drop packing 10 Sterns /w C-melta's can rip you a new one. OTOH, having the victim reserve up might hurt you a great deal.

But YES - Vulkan + 5 SS/TH Termies in a LR, 2x 10-TSM packing Flamer + MM's as starters.

After that, it's pretty much as Sephyr explains:

Sephyr wrote:A Salamander army means piling up meltas, flamers and thunder hammers, yes, but that has a few consequences: it usually means you'll lack long-range weapons such as lascannons.

For that reason, it can be good to invest in fast vehicles that can carry multi-meltas: Attack bikes and Land Speeders, mostly. In fact, a Heavt Flamer/Multimelta Land speerder with Vulkan's rule is a fearsome thing indeed. I've seen lists with 9 such speeders tearing things up like mad, but even 3 would already be a great asset.

Whoa, nine speeders? I've always wanted to try that.

Another cool trick you can do with Vulkan is a Landspeeder Storm with Multi-melta and CCW/BP Scouts. Sarge should have combi-melta and/or Powerfist. It fulfills a lot of roles: a turn one charge will affect your opponent's deployment. It can pop tanks at the early game, or outflank it to contest objectives or attack static long range units later on (Long Fangs comes to mind).

Also consider the Ironclad on a drop pod. It is more survivable than the MM/HF normal dread, but it lacks the multi-melta range.

You can choose to either be balls-out forward in terms of engagement (vindicators, MM/HF speeders)or invest on some long range AT (landspeeder typhoons, AC/LC preds, rifleman dreads, devastator squads).

If you want a second HQ choice, a librarian is a no-brainer.

I would say 1500 onwards. Under that he is hard to include.

The main issue is range. You'll want some long range firepower as you will mostly setup for melta and flamer range. In fact that i9s the reason why I would look elsewhere before 1500pts.

Basic Salamanders Advice:

-If you are packing Hammernators in your army, you probably dont need flamers. If you really want a Flamer, do it with the dreadnought. Get as many Meltas as you can, esp with the new meta.

-HF/MM speeders are good but not too much. While they are potent, it might not be a good idea to spam these especially when in a tourney where kill point missions are inevitable. These are really hard to use and I generally advice players to skip it in a serious game.

-Outflanking Land speeder storms are scarier than the normal speeder. That 15 pt bs3 MM is worth it because it is twin linked. The scout payload may have a combi melta and a PFist as a nasty surprise for IG parking lots and Long fang emplacements. These maneuver allows you to destroy 2-3 assets in a single turn.

-On higher pointages, its not a bad idea to go get a 2nd HQ as a biker captain. A scoring bike squad with 2-3 meltas is scary.

-Forget about long ranged anti tank. You might want to consider bringing TFCs to compensate your lack of long range anti-infantry. A single tac squad with a single flamer is not anti infantry.

-In an ultra aggressive army like vulkan, it is almost always a bad idea to combat squad the tac marines. Keep them 10, keep them strong.

Yuber sort-of mentioned it above, but I will pass on some advice, right after asking a quick question...

Does it need to be fluffy?
If not, then you could have a squad of 3 attack bikes with MM. 150 points for the 3 of them, and you have T4 2W bikes that can move and shoot with a TL MM. That gives you a effective range of pretty much 30(36?) inches.

Would be a good choice against parking lots.

I would prefer reasonable fluffy, so I'm a bit iffy about the land speeders(I'm not over likely to participate in tournies with these guys so major competitiveness isn't an issue). Anyway, it seems I have the list building in hand, does anyone know of a good sallies tactics page?

^^Tactics are very specific. Show me an army list and I can probably draw up some Stragety and Tacitics.

Reasonably fluffy would include Bikes.

Completely fluffy would include a total of 0 FA options.

Oh, this thread is golden! I'm going to bookmark this for my Salamander-playing basta-- Uhm.... Best friend!

Would it be possible to make a Salamander list around Bikes and Speeders?
- And furthermore; Is it durable to include Dev's in any Salamander-lists? (Perhaps vs. a Nidzilla-list or similar?)

Guys, your opinion on Vindicators on a Salamander army? They move forward like the rest of your army, are big threats that must be dealt with (thus dividing the AT away from your LR) and AV 13 to boot. My problem with Vindicators is that any result on the vehicle damage table screws them up, and it's quite easy to get side shots.

Net wise I think most advocate 2-3 Vindis to survive a round of intense shooting. Remember that the opponent doesn't have to blow up the vinidocator to neutralize it, just keep it from shooting with any dmg result. If it can't move (immobolized) it can't pivot to aim at the enemy to shoot either.

I personally don't see a problem running one vindi and saturating the field with other targets. TFC, dreads, and the AT squads popping tanks is always a good/fun list for me.

Billinator wrote:Oh, this thread is golden! I'm going to bookmark this for my Salamander-playing basta-- Uhm.... Best friend!

Would it be possible to make a Salamander list around Bikes and Speeders?
- And furthermore; Is it durable to include Dev's in any Salamander-lists? (Perhaps vs. a Nidzilla-list or similar?)

Very possible. Get a Captain on a bike, and equip the bike squads with meltas, and go crazy. Same for attack bikes and Speeders.

I try to veer a bit away from PURE melta-spam, and my Salamdaner-playing friend has been having better results now that he added some flamers. You will eventually deal with nid swarms, green tides and kan walls, or even guardian blobs where your melta will just be ID'ing some mook with a 5+ save. Since Vulkan's army has melta's that hit far more often and can have them on nearly evenything, you don't need -quite- that many.

Besides, twin-linked flamers are quite dangerous. I've seen large squads of assault termies taking 3 casualties from a single tactical squad using a flamer+combi-flamer combo, simply due to the number of saves it forces you to make.

I love the Thunderfire cannon, but everyone tells me it's crap, so I won't include it. Also, two flamers on the tac may not be anti-infantry, but if you also have Flamestom cannons on the land raider Redeemer, the heavy flamer on the Dread, and more heavy flamers on the Speeders...yeah, I don't see anyone disembarking near you, untill you convince them with some melta.

Sephyr wrote:I try to veer a bit away from PURE melta-spam, and my Salamdaner-playing friend has been having better results now that he added some flamers. You will eventually deal with nid swarms, green tides and kan walls, or even guardian blobs where your melta will just be ID'ing some mook with a 5+ save. Since Vulkan's army has melta's that hit far more often and can have them on nearly evenything, you don't need -quite- that many.

Besides, twin-linked flamers are quite dangerous. I've seen large squads of assault termies taking 3 casualties from a single tactical squad using a flamer+combi-flamer combo, simply due to the number of saves it forces you to make.

I love the Thunderfire cannon, but everyone tells me it's crap, so I won't include it. Also, two flamers on the tac may not be anti-infantry, but if you also have Flamestom cannons on the land raider Redeemer, the heavy flamer on the Dread, and more heavy flamers on the Speeders...yeah, I don't see anyone disembarking near you, untill you convince them with some melta.

Used to say TFC is crap as well. But then you use it properly and it has devastating results. See what happens when a rhino filled with 10 zerkers or MEQs explodes and get shot by TFC? Thats right they take 20-30 wounds. It also irks the opponent when it cannot afford to shoot the TFC with 3+ cover save with dreadnoughts and landraider and rhinos running about the field. After all, you can only deal with TFC with long range firepower and last I check it has a range of 72". Plus it slows down horde armies hard with tremor shots.

I was thinking about a tfc, oh, and what should elites be?(as in, 3 hammernator units or 1 and 2 dreads or what?)

PhrycePhyre wrote:I was thinking about a tfc, oh, and what should elites be?(as in, 3 hammernator units or 1 and 2 dreads or what?)

Depends on the theme of your army. There really is no need to fill the elite slots. A single Unit of 5 man Hammernators already works enough.

-Ive seen Vulkan armies forgoing Hammernators with the more aggressive drop pod Sterns with massed combi melta.
-Conservative reactive drop pods with teleport homers for deepstriking Hammernators.
-Ironclads for solo missions.
-Normal dreads as area denial or flank guard.

I'm still pretty new to the game, but I play a vulkan list that's pretty fluffy and my best strategy so far is Vulkan and 5 hammers in a reg LR sitting right on the front line and dropping 2 pods turn 1 (so you need 3 in army total). I put 5 vets in one pod with HF and combi-meltas and a tac squad in the other with melta, multi-melta and srg had a combi melta.

Put the drop pods as close to the enemy tanks as possible and pop 2-3 on turn one and you'll see him go defensive and usually focus on the vets or tac squad while the LR rolls up and assaults. Remember that the LR is an assault vehicle, so you can run up 12", disembark 2" assault 6" for a total of 20". Add in the 12" from the table edge you get from pitch battle and you have a 32" assault range on turn 1 with a VERY powerful squad, plus the LR can still fire 1 weapon as per softmg rule. For 10 points, a multi-melta on a LR is a must. Throw an IC dread in the third DP with melta and heavy flame and he SHOULD come in on turn 2/3 so he can assault turn 3/4. By then you should have done a number on all the enemy tanks and your opponent won't have a lot left to deal with your dread.

The problem with this tactic is when you get ccw armies. It didn't do well against orks and nids, but against tau, old necrons and sm, I win a lot. I have yet to play eldar or dark eldar, so we'll see how it works with them.

Into the fires of battle!

forruner_mercy wrote:Reasonably fluffy would include Bikes.

Completely fluffy would include a total of 0 FA options.

Just to clear it up the Salamanders do run Assault squads as well as Land Speeders albeit not many