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So I am all in now on my Heresy era Salamanders. Their first variation is probably going to be a Drop Assualt list as I have 5 plastic drop pods that will never be used in 40k now.

So what I have:
30x MkIV Tacticals (assembled)
10x MkIII flamer support (assembly in progress)
5x MkIII melts support (unbuilt)
10x MkIII breaches (assembly in progress)
5x Tartaros w/ lightning claws (assembled)
5x Cataphractii w/ heavy flamer (assembled)
5x Fire Drakes (unbuilt)
5x Pyroclasts (unbuilt)
1x Chaplian (built)
1x PA Praetor (built)
1x Terminator Praetor (built)

2x Contemptor Dreads (unbuilt)

5x drop pods (3 built)

The current plan is 20-30 Tacticals in pods, flamer/melts support in pods, Breachers in a dreadclaw, Dreads in dread pods, and Firedrakes in a Kharybdis.

I acquired more MkIII plastics and would like to build some heavy support guys with Multi-Melta and or Heavy Flamers as well. Are heavy weapon squads effective at 5 men or do you need 10 (seems expensive).

Also I really love the Caestus Ram. Would that me any less or more effective than a Kharybdis?

I understand I don't get the special rules with a generic Row but this list requires the fewest vehicle purchases I think right now. Later on I will work on getting tanks for a Covenant of Fire list.

What do you think?

Nothing wrong with drop pod assault given you've got the pods like you said, I'd still suggest perhaps trying no rite of war or a really basic one like pride of the legion to start. I would also suggest looking into a dreadclaw pod or two, would let you run pods without having to go with drop pod assault rite of war. Caestus ram is really cool, only problem is like with the kharybdis the model can be a bit heavy on such a tiny flight stand.

What's sort of unfair about drop pod assault (unfair to the player using it) is that you're forced to put a lot in pods and limited on the heavy support side of things (tanks). That's not the end of the world and would be a sign of good balance however there are some units that sorta skirt around the requirement of having this rite of war. The dreadnought drop pod, the dreadclaw drop pod and the new termite. As well as the kharybdis and caestus. Mostly just because those units can be taken a la cart without having to choose a rite of war. Added benefit to the dreadclaws is you can put termies and certain dreadnoughts in them.


What I try and tell everyone who starts a legion is, regardless of which legion you go with, because they all feed from the same core list of units, it's still really worthwhile knowing the stength of those units regardless of what buffs or negatives the faction may bring. Like I think anyone regardless of legion should own at least one whirlwind scorpius and prehaps a few quad guns, also stuff like laser vindicators are just really great units for the point cost. Another example would be javelin speeders, they're just very very good for the points and in an foc slot that doesn't have a lot of choice generally speaking. On the flyer side, stuff like a fire raptor are just utterly fantastic for the point cost.

Not all rites of war are created equally, just like love it or hate it not all legions are perfectly balanced, so it's good to know the core units before specialization and fluff considerations imo.


Salamanders have some really cool units, firedrakes are sick, the special character dread is really cool too.