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Hey,

I'm just getting into 40k (got recruited by a friend of mine). I'm very interested in the Salamanders and thought I would try my hand at an army list. Looking to make a list that's reasonable fluffy, competitive and, most of all, fun! I'd love to get some advice on switching it up but here is what I have so far:

HQ (315pts)
Librarian - Terminator Armor, Mastery lvl 2, Force Sword, Combi-Melta (125pts)
Vul'kan He'stan (190pts)

Elites (585pts)
Ironclad Dreadnought x2 - Drop pod (Locator Beacon and Storm Bolter), Melta, Heavy Flamer (380pts, 190 each)
Terminator Assault Squad x5 - Sergeant w/ Lightning Claws, x3 Thunderhammer w/ Stormshield (205pts)

Troops (320pts)
X2 10-man Tactical Squads - Sergeant w/ Combi-melta, meltagun (320pts, 160 each)

Fast Attack (190pts)
x2 5 Man Assault Squad - x2 Flamer, Jump Packs, Sergeant (190pts, 95 each)

Heavy Support (440pts)
Centurion Devastator - Sergeant, Grav-cannon, Grav-Amp, Hurricane Bolter (240pts)
Stormraven - Twin Linked Multi-Melta, Twin Linked Lascannon (200pts)

Not really sure what I should drop to help the mobility piece of the puzzle (thinking probably the centurions). Again, i'm open to any and all suggestions as I am new to this and am sure there is stuff I haven't thought of or didn't know I could do.

Thanks in advance for the help.

HI welcome to the game! Everyone loves Salamanders! Except for those facing them lol

OK looking at your list i'm guessing Vulkan is going in the stormraven with one of the tac squads? Librarian and Terminator squad is deep striking in?

I think if I were running this list I'd try and get the second tactical squad into a drop pod OR consider dropping the Centurions and taking a SECOND Strormraven!

I'm liking the second stormraven idea more personally!

so your list would look like this:

HQ

Librarian
Terminator Armour,
Mastery level 2
Combi-Flamer
125

Vulkan He'stan
190

ELITES

Ironclad Dreadnought
Melta
Heavy Flamer in place of storm bolter
DT: Drop Pod w/ locator beacon
190

Ironclad Dreadnought
Melta
Heavy Flamer in place of storm bolter
DT: Drop Pod w/ locator beacon
190

Terminator Assault Squad (5 man)
x 2 Lightning Claws
x 3 Storm Shields / Thunder Hammers
205

TROOPS

Tactical Squad (10 man)
Sgt w/ Combi-Flamer
Melta Bombs
Multi-Melta
165

Tactical Squad (10 man)
Sgt/ Combi-Flamer
Melta Bombs
Multi-Melta
165

FAST ATTACK

Assault Squad (9 man)
Flamers x 2
Veteran Sgt w/ Lightning Claws
Melta Bombs
DT: Drop Pod
206

HEAVY SUPPORT

Stormraven
T-L Multi-Melta
T-L Assault Cannon
200

Storm Raven
T-L Multi-Melta
T-L Assault Cannon
200

1836


Vulkan goes with Assault Squad in Drop Pod.
You have 3 Drop Pods so you can use Drop Pod Assault to drop the two ironclads first turn, and then use the Locator Beacon from turn 2 to deep strike the Terminator Assault Squad with the Librarian and the remaining pod.
Storm Ravens start the game on the board with tac squads inside. Gives Tac Squads protection and gives you aerial combat ability from turn 1.

 Zero989 wrote:
Hey,

I'm just getting into 40k (got recruited by a friend of mine). I'm very interested in the Salamanders and thought I would try my hand at an army list. Looking to make a list that's reasonable fluffy, competitive and, most of all, fun! I'd love to get some advice on switching it up but here is what I have so far:

HQ (315pts)
Librarian - Terminator Armor, Mastery lvl 2, Force Sword, Combi-Melta (125pts)
Vul'kan He'stan (190pts)

Elites (585pts)
Ironclad Dreadnought x2 - Drop pod (Locator Beacon and Storm Bolter), Melta, Heavy Flamer (380pts, 190 each)
Terminator Assault Squad x5 - Sergeant w/ Lightning Claws, x3 Thunderhammer w/ Stormshield (205pts)

Troops (320pts)
X2 10-man Tactical Squads - Sergeant w/ Combi-melta, meltagun (320pts, 160 each)

Fast Attack (190pts)
x2 5 Man Assault Squad - x2 Flamer, Jump Packs, Sergeant (190pts, 95 each)

Heavy Support (440pts)
Centurion Devastator - Sergeant, Grav-cannon, Grav-Amp, Hurricane Bolter (240pts)
Stormraven - Twin Linked Multi-Melta, Twin Linked Lascannon (200pts)

Not really sure what I should drop to help the mobility piece of the puzzle (thinking probably the centurions). Again, i'm open to any and all suggestions as I am new to this and am sure there is stuff I haven't thought of or didn't know I could do.

Thanks in advance for the help.

Welcome to Dakka and Space Marines!

First, you might want to look into formations. Lots of free power if you built towards them. Nothing wrong with the good old CAD though. Gives you nice flexibility.

You have 4 units that need more mobility:
Tacs (2)
Terminators
Cents

You have the stormraven, which can be used, but I’d recommend against it. You end up with all your eggs in one basket, and then it gets shot down or your reserve rolls go bad. It’s one thing to play 200 points down while you wait, but if you had 700 points loitering off the table, the guys under fire are not going to last long. That said, dumping a squad of grav cents right into someone’s face should cause a lot of pain. If you want to use it as a transport, keep the squad small and shooty IMHO.

What style of list do you want? Null deployment where everything starts in reserve (tons of pods), mechanized (rhinos/razors/LRs), or a hybrid? Personally, I like a hybrid drop list, but there is no wrong answer here. Salamanders do well in pods, as they like the knife-fight ranged guns.

You want an odd number of pods to maximize first turn drop.

One advantage of the CAD is that you can take loose drop pods as FA picks. So you can get one for your cents. Stick Vulcan in there with them. This is probably the more competitive option.

Dropping the cents for a LRR for the terminators is another choice. Fluffy and fun, but less competitive. AV14 blocks are not as survivable as they used to be.

Dropping a dread or squad of assaults would free up some points for other stuff, like rhinos/pods for the tacs.

The only gear options I might suggest are MMs in the tac squads (optional) and veteran status and power weapons for the assault sarges. As a salamander, you should take advantage of the free MCing when you can.

Personally, I like the idea of deep striking the termites w/ Librarian on turn 2 and also fond of dropping the centurion (as they kind of just seem out of place) to get the second Storm raven. Like the idea of having both Storm ravens to have air superiority (as I don't see too many flyers looking through battle reports).

On the tac squads, should i have the sergeant with combi flamer or melta?

As a general rule of thumb, match the sarges’s combi to the squad’s special. If you diversify too much, you can’t get anything done.

For example, a single melta gun is useless. You could miss, they might save, fail to pen, or just roll something irrelevant on the damage chart. If you want to reliably pop a tank, you need about 4 melta shots. Now there is a lot of flex here. Different people view “reliably” differently, and buffs can be a huge deal. By TL’ing all your shots via He’stan, you take the sting out of 1/3 your shots missing due to BS4.

But having a single melta gun in your tac squad is not just a long shot chance to pop a tank, but the fact then when you take that gamble, your bolters are not mowing down troops. By packing your squad full of melta, when you do take the time to shoot at a tank, you get the job done.

I can understand not taking the MM. As an Ultramarine, I like to see both the special and the heavy in 10 man squads. And while Tac squads spend a lot of their time running around, sometimes to do stand still. Especially now that you look at each model individually to see of they count as stationary. When you disembark, you will have to snap-shot, but the following turn, the rest of the squad can wheel around to get in better range, while the heavy lines up his shot. It seems to work for me, YMMV.

simple solution then to list I posted, drop combis on sgt and take melta gun as special weapon.

Can then give sgt chainsword & bolt pistol!

Hi and Welcome to the Adeptus Astartes! I'm new to Dakka Dakka (just signed up for help getting a Dark Eldar force off the ground) but I've played Ultramarines for a long time so hopefully I can help a bit with this.

Many people have already given some very sound advice but I can some thoughts that may help. Salamanders (especially when run with Vulkan) excel in very short range firepower with melta and flamer weapons that can really hurt Tank and infantry heavy armies. They don't have the synergy with Grav Weapons to make them good at killing GMCs too but you can't have everything.

I'm not sure which of these models you already have so I'll avoid suggesting too much, just enough to get maximum utility out of your original list.

Due to your ability to twin link melta and flamer weapons you are best to maximise units with Chapter Tactics that carry these weapons so the parts of your list I would remove are the Terminators (and the libby) and the centurions.

I would stick to minimum size units for the tactical marines, give them melta + combi melta on the sarge and put them in pods to delete tanks.

I would keep your Ironclads as they are but switch to double heavy flamers rather a single melta as you can only fire at a single target, might as well do as much damage as possible and there is enough melta elsewhere. You'll be surprised with how much hurt two twin linked heavy flamers can put on a unit!

Finally I would utilise your assault marines in the Skyhammer Annihilation force formation from the angels of death book. This brings loads of bonuses and means you can swap out your centurions for 2 devastator squads in pods. Salamanders doctrine would suggest making both squads with multi meltas as they are relentless the turn they come in but I would give 1 squad Grav just to help with GMCs (a single Grav Devestator squad puts out 20 Grav shots per turn and will statistically bring down a Wraithknight in 1 round of shooting so long as it doesn't have the shield) Also it means you can put both squads together from only buying two boxes.

A list would look something like this;

-- CAD

Vulkan

Ironclad with 2 x Hvy Flamer + Pod
Ironclad with 2 x Hvy Flamer + Pod

5x Tac marines, melta, combi-melta + pod
5x Tac marines, melta, combi-melta + pod
5x Tac marines, melta, combi-melta + pod

Storm Raven


-- Skyhammer Formation

Assault Squad, Jump Packs + 2x flamer
Assault Squad, Jump Packs + 2x flamer

Devestator Squad, 4 x Grav Cannon + Pod
Devestator Squad, 4 x Multi Melta + Pod


This gives you a Null deploy army 5 pods and 2 assault squads that come in auto on turn 1. You can choose which pods come in to suit your enemy but you've got enough Melta, flamer and Grav to deal with most things and the number of units arriving will mean even Tau packing Early Warning Override will struggle to shoot at everything.

The list only comes to 1700 points so you can add upgrades like power fists on the assault squads incase there are no squishy targets on turn 1 and you need to charge a tank (they can do that the turn they arrive from deep strike in the formation) You could add another 5 guys to one or both of the Dev squads meaning they can combat squad when the pod comes in effectively giving you split fire. You could even drop a tac squad and bring the terminators back in but I would give them all hammer and shields and put them in the Raven with Vulkan, they all have 3++ invun so even if the Raven gets shot down there should be enough left to do damage. Not my personal favourite though as they don't get into combat until turn 3 earliest which is a bit of a waste of points.

The down side to my list is where to put Vulkan. His Heavy Flamer doesn't go well with the melta pods and he's a potentially easy warlord kill. Unless you go for the Termi option it's difficult. to find a unit to protect him in (unless you go for your Grav Cents in a pod).

Hope that helps, I think the list should be pretty strong.