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Hi all, got into 30k ages ago and played salamanders, but have since shifted to mechanicum.

However, I wanted to dust of the salamanders and expand them a bit.
Got a few 1,200 point games coming up and I wanted to get some input on Cassian and his uses.

I know he is slow, costs more than a basic land raider and has limited range, but do his special rules and buffed stats make up for it?
From what I can see, he is nigh impossible to kill quickly due to having front AV14 (on a dreadnought!) Plus immunity to extra dice from armourbane etc, or having his armour reduced from lance etc.

Granted this will leave me with just over 900 points left, but is he worth it?


In my mind it gives me a solid base for my army, but he is somewhat slow and unless in combat, won't do all that much.



Hoping some of you have used him and have some ideas.


Thanks in advance.

In 30k there is nothing strength D that can be taken in a 1,200 point game so he is pretty safe from that.

Side and rear shot wise, I'm tempted to wrap him with tactical, but that's mainly for the 5+ FNP they gain for him.

Once I take him and 2 basic TAC squads to fill the mandatory requirements its 675 points used, leaving me 525 to build the rest of my army.

Until you hit 2k there are no LOW choices.
And even if there were, you couldn't get one until 1,600 with restrictions on 25%.
So that's covered.


Formosa - ordnance may be an issue.
Although, they still need to be hitting his front armour with S9+ to pen.
My other temptation was to run a fire raptor aswell to remove high priority targets.

This does however leave me with around 300 points to add to my army.
I'm thinking maybe a vindicator, laser vindicator and points for upgrades.


So I'd be looking at this for 1,200 points.

Cassian Dracos
10 man TAC squad
10 man TAC squad
Vindicator
Laser vindicator
Fire raptor gunship

Gives me around 60 points or so for upgrades here and there.
Should also cover my bases on anti tank and infantry I hope.

With the target saturation I'm hoping Dracos gets left alone long enough to do some damage.

Forgot about the questoris list where it designates them a specific slot rather than just LOW.

However, with the mandatory slot upgrades I don't think it's possible to run 3 knights at 1,200.
So that should prevent people hopefully.

If not, I'm hoping the laser vindicator and fire raptor can put pressure on a knight and get rid of it quickly.

I know, but even 2 fully kitted knights only comes to around 1k.
So they will be short on points and with no allies, they are at a disadvantage.

As I said, no allies in this so no worries of cheap filler units being thrown in

I'll need to check the questoris book again then :(
Was pretty sure that with their rank upgrades they went over 1,200 easily as most knights are around 400. HQ upgrade is around 50 alone plus a troop one and a third choice too.

If so I may have to account for knights running about as that could potentially cause me some issues.

I'll run some numbers quick and check, but thanks for that, I was sure I checked them and they went over so I'll have to re-check to see what can be thrown into a knight list.

True actually, its not just my group as its a pretty open comp.
I'm now half tempted to drop cassian and the raptor to save 500 points, then scrape points for 3 more laser vindicators and a cheap HQ.

12, S9 AP 1 ordnance shots from laser vindicators should cause plenty of pens a turn on knights.

Only worry is if there's a lancer with the upgraded inv save to his shield.


However, the vindicator should remove troops while the laser ones tear through armour.

Seems a tad excessive but I don't want to hit a snag the second something big hits the table.