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ok so, here goes. I dont actually have this army but its my aim, good to have a solid army list before having the wrong models right? This sounds pretty solid to me but, like i say i dont have it to play with. comments and advice would be nice:

Vulcan He’stan, 190
10 man Tactical Squad, 170 + Flamer (Free) + Missile Launcher (Free) – 170
10 man Tactical Squad, 170 + Flamer (Free) + Missile Launcher (Free) – 170
Dreadnought, 105 + Assault Cannon (10) – 115
Dreadnought, 105 + Assault Cannon (10) – 115
10 man Assault Squad, 190 + Plasma Pistol (15) – 205
Drop Pod, 35 - (Tactical squad in there)
Land Raider Redeemer, 240 + Storm Bolter (10) – 250
Land Speeder Squadron (2 speeders), 100 + Typhoon Missile Launcher (40) + Assault Cannon (40) – 180
if my math is correct, 1430 is the total. giving me 70 points to play with.

do your thing folks thanks

The main problem I see is that you are not taking advantage of Vulkan's Chapter Tactics. To make the most out of him, you want as many flamers and meltas as you can put in there (figuratively), and a healthy does of Hammernators.

For the Tac Squads, its alright to put a flamer and ML in, as that setup works really well.
Sternies with meltaguns/combi-meltas also work well, as do Attack Bikes with MM, and Speeders with HF's/MM's.
The basic dread with MM will also work really well when put in a Drop Pod.

You've taken Vulkan but barely a single meltagun or flamer in your list.

Both of your tactical squads need a ride, and I'd personally make it a pair of rhinos rather than a drop pod. Some people will say to swap the missile launcher for a multi-melta, which makes sense in a Vulkan list.

Dreadnoughts should have multi-melta and upgrade the storm bolter to a heavy flamer.

Land Raider should switch the storm bolter to a multi-melta. Note that Vulkan's ability does not affect the flamestorm cannons.

Speeders should be of the MM/HF variety, saving you 40pts, and don't make them a squadron.

Not a of the assault marines, and clocking in at 205pts, you'd honestly be better off with five TH/SS terminators to ride in the redeemer with Vulkan, forming your deathstar unit.

With the 70pts you had to play with, minus 35pts for a rhino (and swapping the drop pod for another rhino), dreadnoughts stay the same price by downgrading the asscans and upgrading the stormbolters, plus 40pts by switching the speeders to MM/HF, plus 5pts for swapping the assault squad to TH/SS termis, you should have 80pts leftover. Buy a third MM/HF speeder and a combi-flamer for a tactical sergeant. Done.

I find a neat alternative to a Land Raider is a bunch of scouts with a teleport homer and a Termie squad. Using these guys you can flank the enemy and unleash a hail of bolter fire (Just make sure you're in cover for the returning volley). Be prepared if your termies don't arrive, but deep strike them near the scouts and you have quite an odd spot for your opponent. I always find that the big battletanks attract the most fire, but a scout squad is considered less dangerous, and you can hug the cover and land your terminators nearly on top of the enemy's prized units. I would also consider a slight increase (I know you have He'stan, but still) in long ranged weapons. Find what you can afford, though, as that is the deciding factor. I would say drop pods for both Tacs, give them melta weapons and flamers, and lash the enemy from behind! Keep Land speeders seperate, as a kill points advantage isn't worth making every immobilized Speeder go into the ground. Also, grab some TH+SS Termies.

Thanks guys for the response. if i drop an assault cannon off of a land speeder and put a multi-melta there instead, it would free up enough points for a Thunderfire, which are highly underrated and rather useful. would this work well with my army?

Swap out all the assault cannons. More points to tinker with!
Also, I'm not sure how a Thunderfire works. I play off Codex: BA. Could you explain?
Get some termies, and you may not need it at all. Just meet your foe up close and personal.

Thunderfire cannon has 3 types of shot, declair which is being used before shooting. im typing directly from the codex here:
'Surface Detonation
range: 60", S6, AP5, Type: Heavy 4 + Blast

Airburst
Range: 60", S5, AP6, Type: Heavy 4 + Blast + Ignores Cover

Subterranean Blast
Range 60", S4, AP-, Heavy 4 + Blast + Tremor*

*Any unit hit by a subterranean blast will move as if in difficult terrain in its following movement phase. if the unit is actually moving through difficult terrain, it rolls one less dice than normal to determine its maximum move. a vehicle hit by a shot must take a dangerous terrain test, including skimmers'

also comes with a techmarine for a total of 100 points.

They can be put in a drop pod too.

Problem with thunderfires is two-fold. The first is that they compete for the highly competitive heavy support section, and the second being that they're artillery. A single glance on AV10 makes the cannon go away.

Taking your orignial list into consideration, I'd run this.

Vulkan

Tactical Squad - Flamer, Combi-flamer, Missile launcher (or multi-melta), Rhino
Tactical Squad - Flamer, Missile launcher (or multi-melta), Rhino

Dreadnought - Multi-melta, heavy flamer
Dreadnought - Multi-melta, heavy flamer
TH/SS Termies (5-man) - Land Raider Redeemer w/ multi-melta

Land Speeder - MM/HF
Land Speeder - MM/HF
Land Speeder - MM/HF

1500 on the nose.

For longer range, you could drop two speeders and a dread for two combi preds (autocannon turret w/ lascannon sponsons).

That is good range... A Predator would also be an alternative, as you could probably get more bang for your buck. A heap more shots, plus a TK weapon could be attached to the model.
Have you ever considered magnetizing models? You could magnetize some Sponsons and swap them around should the need arise.
Also, don't base your entire army on a set list unless you are in a competition. It'll become boring to play with quickly . Remember, variety is the spice of life! Head in an orientated way. So if you want He'stan, you could get loads of Meltas and Flamers. You could get a broad range of models to begin with, but if you find a style of combat that works well, you can gear up for that too!

Blacksails wrote:Problem with thunderfires is two-fold. The first is that they compete for the highly competitive heavy support section, and the second being that they're artillery. A single glance on AV10 makes the cannon go away.

Taking your orignial list into consideration, I'd run this.

Vulkan

Tactical Squad - Flamer, Combi-flamer, Missile launcher (or multi-melta), Rhino
Tactical Squad - Flamer, Missile launcher (or multi-melta), Rhino

Dreadnought - Multi-melta, heavy flamer
Dreadnought - Multi-melta, heavy flamer
TH/SS Termies (5-man) - Land Raider Redeemer w/ multi-melta

Land Speeder - MM/HF
Land Speeder - MM/HF
Land Speeder - MM/HF

1500 on the nose.

For longer range, you could drop two speeders and a dread for two combi preds (autocannon turret w/ lascannon sponsons).

This, this works.

Just be prepared to have a tough time w/ objectives depending on your oppenent.

Multi-melta on a normal dreadnought? my box set didn't come with a MM, should they come with one? Genuinly only had Lascannon, Assault Cannon and Missile launcher.

With this new list, it lacks a kick. i mean, you nail them with MM shots, but they are like heavy 1 right? (dont have codex to hand) so its like 1 or 2 at a time. with the flamers you have to run up to them and put it in their face for any real effect. especially with the land speeders. soon as they get close enough to use their flamers, bam! they are in combat and cant shoot.

AoBR dreads come with multi-melta arm, normal kits don't. You either have to kitbash it, find a friend with an AoBR dread, or buy an arm from FW.

The thing with playing a Salamander list (with Vulkan) is that you're naturally going to play a very in your face, medium-close range firefight style of combat. Flamers/heavy flamers help whittling down enemies before charging or receiving the charge so you might actually win against 20 boyz, and twinlinking allows you to re-roll the wounds. A multi-melta may be heavy 1, but Vulkan twin-links it so it'll very reliably hit. If you're under 12", you'll likely penetrate anything and with AP1, 50% will explode the vehicle.

With speeders, you can move 12" and fire one of the weapons (say the heavy flamer) at a bunch of boyz. Yes, they'll assault you next turn, but they'll need sixes to hit, and sixes to glance. Statistically, that's one in 36 will glance. Then the klaw nob, but that's another story.

The list had plenty of kick, it just has all of it at 24" or less. Its aggressive, and it won't be winning you any grand tournaments, but its certainly semi-competitive and fun. Its mostly fluffy too, the only questionable part being the speeders, as Salamanders make less use of them, so they would be 0-1 if they had their own codex I'd imagine. But that's irrelephant.

The list I proposed is solid, cohesive, and can work if you know what you're doing. Three fast melta platorms, three more mobile melta platforms (dreads and land raider [it can move 12" and shoot the melta, making it as mobile as the speeders weirdly enough]), and up to four scoring units if you combat squad, though making you more fragile.

Oh and the hammernators will kill just about anything you throw them at.

Yes, you can't shoot past 24". Yes, you have 640pts in a single box that is still vulnerable to lances, railguns and melta. Yes, you're low on troops. Those are your deficiencies, and are going to present at this point level with Vulkan. There are better marine lists at this point level, but not with Vulkan.

Vulkan is good in close combat, yes, and with hammernators, a very scary prospect indeed. But remember he is an IC and can be singled out in cc and can be instagibbed by a powerfist/klaw. He only has three attacks, and though with his re-rolls, he'll likely be always hitting with at least two of those, he is not going to be single-handedly winning any games. Characters like Lysander and Ghazghkull will eat Vulkan for breakfast.

I honestly wouldn't swap the speeders out. You need the cheap, fast melta to deal with threats early in the game. Sternguard aren't bad, but if you're using them in a pod to suicide combi-meltas, the speeders are better for cheaper.

To put into perspective how your list works, this is kind of a Salamander's antithesis. All long range shooting goodness.

HQ
Librarian - Null Zone, The Avenger/100pts

Troops
Tactical Squad (10) - Combi-flamer, Flamer, Missile Launcher, Rhino/215pts
Tactical Squad (10) - Combi-flamer, Flamer, Missile Launcher, Rhino/215pts
Tactical Squad (5) - Razorback, Las-Plas/165pts

Elites
Dreadnought - Twin-linked Autocannon, Twin-linked Autocannon/125pts
Dreadnought - Twin-linked Autocannon, Twin-linked Autocannon/125pts

Fast Attack
Land Speeder - Multi-melta, Heavy Flamer/70pts
Land Speeder - Multi-melta, Heavy Flamer/70pts
Land Speeder - Typhoon Missile Launcher/90pts

Heavy Support
Predator - Lascannon sponsons/120pts
Predator - Lascannon sponsons/120pts
Predator - Heavy Bolter sponsons/85pts

For your list, you can alternatively not have a Land Raider with terminators, freeing up 450pts. With that, you can buy a five-man sternguard (or tactical squad for more scoring troops) with a Plazorback and a bunch of combi-flamer/melta, clocking in at 225pts, then pick up two vindicators or autocannon/lascannon preds.

Food for thought. Remember one thing though, C:SM is not an assaulty army. It has assault units, and they're not bad, but with the exception of hammernators, they're all mostly overpriced and not competitive. C:SM is mostly a shooty army. Vulkan makes a long range shooty army become a mid-close range shooty army.

All things in consideration, i'll make a few tweaks. Thanks for your input