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I'm coming back to wh40k but I'm only willing to buy models to use actively during tournaments in an army list I'm working on. Up to 2000 points. I don't want to end up with 5k army again.

I'm going to paint them in my custom scheme that's unlike any popular chapter, so I guess I'll be able to use any chapter's tactics. If I don't feel like playing Salamanders I'll always be able to change to Raven Guard or whatever. For now I'm focusing on Salamanders cause they seem to fit my playstyle.

Dreads (especially Venerable and Redemptor) caught my attention. I love how they present and they seem to have great synergy with Salamanders. Some troops are always welcome so I figured, that buying 2 Start Collecting boxes is a good idea. And here comes the problem. I've no idea what to get next. Eventually I'd love to buy 1 Redemptor dread. But I'm not sure if these dreadnaughts can carry me that well. Do I need to invest in some other units to stay competetive? What are they? Was thinking about adding 1 melee unit to counter enemy charges. Is that even necessary?

Models that I'm interested in so far only give me about 1k points:
Techmarine on bike w/ C-beamer
2x Venerable dread w/ Twin LasC, Twin Autocannon or missile launcher
1x Redemptor dread w/Gatling Cannons
4x 5 man Tactical Squad w/heavy weapon, preferably LasC

What next? Devastator squads with Chapter Ancient? I feel like I'm overwhelmed with options and have hard time picking what my army list needs and what's good. All help is welcome!

I feel as a fellow salamander player that I like to use small tac squads with a heavy weapon and a srg with a combi flamer for over watch use to get the most out of my chapter tactic. Others like to use dev squads, which I like to use as well, but really it's getting the most from those sweet rerolls to hit and wound. I back mine up with a pred (auto cannon and heavy bolters) and 2 dreads (a twin laz / missile and an assault cannon / heavy flamer) with a tech marine to be my Center.

Finally I use a squad of bikes, with a captain on the bike, as my fast moving forward advancing squad.

So that's 2 hq's, 2 elites, 4 troops, 1 fast attack, and 2 heavy Support.

So far this works very well. I can hold the line, advance and keep my heavy weapons accurate, with the bikers moving to where they are needed to support where the opponent is coming from.

Razorbacks for the tacs might be a good investment

+1 to that, razorbacks are an awesome deal. Don't know why I don't have more than 1 honestly lol.

It certainly helps that you're picking one chapter tactic. The other chapter tactics lean towards very different playstyles, and if you tried to build an army that could be used with multiple playstyles,you'd just end up with another 5k army again.

Salamanders need a lot of melta. I saw a list recently that used Company Veterans in order to maximize the amount of melta and combi-melta you can get in the army, giving each squad a Razorback for extra dakka and LOS blocking vehicles. All MSU

Are Rhinos/Razors a reliable transport now? I know that before the only way to get Sterns/Veterans close to your enemy was to pod them.

Heh yeah they are. T7 with 10 wounds make them tougher than I think they have ever been, with a cheap cost to boot.

If I recall, the Sallies get one re-roll to hit and one re-roll to wound, per squad... per phase?

If so, small units let you take more units, thus more re-rolls.

A pair of Rate-of-fire "one or two" weapons are ideal. Such as a Combi-Plas / Plasgun, or Combi-Melta / Melta. Odds are low that you'd miss with both, but odds are good that you'll miss with one. The re-roll is a powerful fixer. Less impressive if you get 7 shots from a pair of flamers, and get to reroll one of those misses. Re-rolls on powerful weapons are more likely to increase your damage output.

Same deal in melee. And since I think you can re-roll in both shooting and melee, it pays to balance both options, and aim for that style of engagement. More opportunities for re-rolls maximizes the chapter benefit. Playing "generalist" units allow them higher-than-typical damage in any aspect. Instead of specialists good at one thing at the expense of another, they're "good" at everything. At the very least, I'd probably take a power weapon of some kind on the Sergeants.

Dreadnoughts also swing well into this "improved generalist" option. Good at shooting, good at combat.


To that end, I don't think Sallies are played "best" as a mainly shooting army, but instead as a Generalist army, that shifts focus depending on how the game is playing.

Yeah pretty much. But you shouldn't underestimate the power of those rerolls. That allows heavy weapons to go from hitting half the time when moving to hitting most of the time when moving, and almost always garuntees a wound with those low shot / high damage weapons. Laz cannons, multi-melta, missile launchers all work better for salamanders than assault cannon / heavy bolters do.

Plasma is also terrific on them, both guns and cannons. Much less overheating when you know that one plasma gun can overcharge and you get to reroll at least a single one if you roll it. Suddenly you get 4 plasma shots at 12" at str 8, doing 2 wounds each, and your average is to get a single 1 in the rolling to hit there, but not a problem for sallies.

There are so many options for them, but so far their playstyle from my games have been small squads with big guns. Heck, tactical squads are amazing with these guys compared to other chapters.