Hey everyone! A few years ago, I wrote this rules breakdown for the Salamanders and I’ve realized recently that a lot of what I said wasn’t actually correct. Fear not! (Salamanders certainly don’t) I have returned much as our favorite red eyed hammer man to correct my mistakes!
I hope this is useful for anyone playing Horus Heresy, enjoy! (Note this is written with the new
HH rulebook in mind).
Lets start off with our Legiones Astartes rule!
-Legiones Astartes:So as with all Astartes we regroup at our normal leadership value regardless of casualties.
-Strength of Will:This is a great ability friends. All Salamander units with this special rule auto-pass any fear checks they are required to make (suck it Konrad!) and MUST re-roll a single
D6 when morale and pinning tests are failed. The second part of this rule is wonderful, it basically saves you 10 points on any squad you were going to buy a vexilla for! (This really combos well with Vulkan in the army for the
LD boost!) VALUE.
-Promethean Gift:This is one of the rules as Salamander players you should be abusing regularly. +1 strength on flamers, hand flamers, and heavy flamers…ouch. But wait, there’s more! -1 strength from all flamer attacks used against you! This is a glorious rule, I don’t think it needs much explaining. (NOTE: Pyroclasts do not add +1 strength to their flame projectors, as it is already represented in their profile!)
-Nocturne Born:Our gift and curse, and actually a rule you really need to pay attention to and dig around the
BRB to fully understand, Ill break it down for you! All Salamander units reduce their run and charge moves by -1 to a minimum of 1”. (Ok that’s simple) All Salamander units do not add their initiative score to their sweeping advance rolls. This is the confusing part. I spent a long time reading into this, and I’ve concluded that it really isn’t as bad as it sounds.
-Obviously when you’re attempting to slaughter a beaten unit you only get a
D6 for your role, no adding +4 for your initiative value. (in this case you are pursuing an enemy unit and therefore making a sweeping advance roll.)
-Here’s the part that is confusing. If you read the Sweeping advance rules in the
BRB the only time making the test is referenced to is in regards to the attacker. Yes the player running away also roles a dice and adds his/her initiative to the result but this is NOT a sweeping advance role. The player who is running away is simply rolling a reference number to compare to the result of the player making a sweeping advance test.
-To sum it up, you don’t add your initiative when trying to sweep a unit, but when a player is attempting to sweep you, add your initiative as normal.
Now lets take a look at our fabulous Legion specific Wargear!
-Mantle of the Elder Drake:This is an auto include on every Praetor, every game, every point level, always, EVERYTIME. +20 points, give your Praetor ETERNAL WARRIOR.
-Dragon-Scale Storm Shield: Aren’t we spoiled on our Wargear hehe. Although only the Fists have access to real storm shields, these can be just as good. The bearer adds +1 to their invulnerable save to a max of 3+ or provides a 5+ if you don’t already have an invulnerable save. Again, this is an amazing tool, Ill talk more about this shield in the builds section.
-Artificer Weapons:Just abuse the feth out of this. +5 points, one weapon gains master-crafted. (Also lets you save 10 points on Praetors instead of purchasing the 15 point option that does the same
RITES OF
WAR:
-The Covenant of Fire:This is our bread and butter Rite of War, and easily one of the best Legion specific rites in the game. Don’t want to be another Pride of the Legion pleb? Here you are my child…
-Obsidian Forged: All Salamander vehicles gain a 5+ invulnerable save against Melta, Volkite, Plasma, and Flamer weapons of all types. AND ALSO MELTA BOMBS (this is amazing with the reincarnation of multi bombing in assault!) Basically this, combined with armored Ceramite, forces the explicit use of Lascannons to take your vehicles down reliably. VALUE.
-Veneration of Wrath: All Melta guns, Inferno pistols, and Multi-Meltas gain master-crafted. This is so good. We will speak of this further in the builds section.
-Implacable: All UNITS IN THE DETACHMENT gain the move through cover rule. This is truly insane. Not only does this affect all your infantry (making charging through difficult terrain only a -1 due to Promethean Gift.) it extends to everything in your army, Dreadnoughts, Vehicles, hell even Vulkan. Basically, you never need to buy dozer blades for your vehicles. Just DRIVE UP THE DAMNED WALL.
-Limitations: No deep strike, must have more troops than Heavy Support and Fast Attack, No FORTS, only one consul choice (Easy to work around with two of our special characters being Chaplains
Time for a break down of our special units!
-Pyroclasts: Vulkan created these guys to replace his Destroyer squads, because burning people alive is much more acceptable than giving people super cancer. Don’t question it. BURN HERETIC!
Very good all-around unit, and with our Covenant of Fire Rite of War they become non-compulsory Troops instead of Heavy support if desired. Ill list pros and cons below!
Pros: -5 to 10 strength 5 flamers or 6” strength 6
ap 1 melta guns
-Great area denial, (your opponent either tries to focus fire them, or they ignore you and get tons of templates).
-OMG OVERWATCH HAHAHAHA
-Artificer armor on every member
-5+ invuln against flamer, Volkite, plasma, and melta weapons.
-Can take a land raider Phobos or Proteus as a transport.
-Every member can have a melta bomb (remember how multi bombing is back?
Cons: -Slow unit unless given a somewhat expensive ride.
-Very short range to be effective.
-Not very effective in close combat against infantry
-Firedrake Terminators: Ah, not a single unit of all my armies have even given such repeated butt-hurt syndrome to my opponents….
Like Centurion
HQ choices? Want a squad of them?
Firedrakes are your hammer. Your army is the anvil. Break your opponent’s will to live with a unit of these men.
Pros: -All weapon skill 5
-2 wounds per model
-4+ invulnerable increase to 3+ with Dragon Scale storm shield.
-Can take thunder hammers and chain fists.
-The Firedrake master literally is an
HQ choice with 2 wounds and 3 attacks base.
-Can take a Proteus (never do this), Phobos, or Spartan as a transport
-Count as scoring units
Cons: -Slow unless transported
-Prone to attracting every Lascannon and missile launcher on the table.
Cassian Dracos:
Bray'arth Ashmantle is arguably the best dreadnought in
40k, and this guy is better (and the original occupant of Ashmantle's dreadnought).
It Will Not Die, Venerable, Armored Ceramite, Immune to the effects of lance, armor bane, melta, sunder, ect , 5 Attacks on the charge at
WS 6 and Str10AP1 with Sunder (re-rolls failed armor penetration rolls) He can forfeit his attacks to inflict an automatic strength 6
AP 4 hit on any model in base contact (friend or foe)
He has two heavy flamers or a twin-linked melta gun, searchlight, nuncio-vox, and smoke launchers.
Oh and did I mention 4 Hull points and front armor 14?
Lord Chaplain Nomus Rhy’Tan:
His other title that my gaming group has bestowed upon him is "Mini Vulkan" and this a title well earned. You won’t find a more survivable and damn strong non-Primarch combat character in the Horus Heresy. First off, he's a chaplain, so any unit he joins gains Zealot. He has a 2+ armor save, 4+ Invulnerable save, ETERNAL WARRIOR, 4 (on the charge)
WS 6, Strength 6
AP 2, Initiative 5 attacks of awesome with concussive and Armor bane.
also a combi flamer
His place is always alongside Vulkan and a big squad of Firedrakes in a spartan.
Also his weapon is called Darkstar Falling, how epic is that?
VULKAN: Our big friendly, brother…. friend. Perpetually booping the snoots of all who oppose the progress of hugs and friendship.
Vulkan is easily one of the best Primarchs in the game. And Primarchs honestly arent that competitive for their points cost. He clocks in at 425 points. But if you use the Lord of Drakes correctly, he will double or triple that number in return.
He’s nigh un-killable by himself. Toughness 7 and halves the strength, rounding down, for any Plasma, Fusion, Volkite, Melta, and Flamer weapons used against him. (This only works if he’s by himself.) Furthermore, he may re-roll his deny the witch and
IWND tests and sports a 2+ armor and 3++ invulnerable save.
All salamanders add +1 to their Leadership and gain adamantium will.
As for weapons you don’t get much better than Dawnbringer. S10, Ap1 two handed, instant death, armor bane, concussive, Earth Shatter (he can make a template attack instead of attacking normally.
He has a strength 6 Heavy flamer and a neat little beam weapon for shooting
BUILDS AND TACTICS:
This section will list some various builds and tactics that I find enjoyable and effective!
Legion Tactical Squads: 20 man squad, attached apothecary with
MC-power sword and artificer armor. Sergeant always has artificer armor, melta bombs, and a
MC- Power maul. The squad always takes an additional
CCW.
This build is easily my most favorite unit. The sheer amount of damage they can dish out and punishment they can take is staggering. Either fury of the legion and fire between 40 and 80 shots, advance and fire 20-40 shots, or advance fire 20 bolt pistol shots then charge with 60 close combat attacks. The master-crafted power maul allows the sergeant to reliably hit against his opponent who most likely has a power fist. So hit more, wound with pretty much everything and make the enemy sergeant roll a 1. (artificer armor). All while going first.
A variant of this without the apothecary and riding in a rhino is very good as well.
Rhino APC: A master-crafted multi-melta on all my transports you say? MWHAHAHAHA have fun shooting my rhino with that land raider or risk getting killed by 60 points.
Legion Tartaros Terminator Squad:Another favorite build of mine, I usually load these guys up in an assault ram to get them where they need to go quick. The build is as follows:
-
HF/
CF X2
-Combi Flamer/
LC X5
-
TH/
DSS X3 (including sergeant)
-Grenade harness
The three thunder hammer storm shields provide a few 4+ invulnerable saves for your squad, while the remaining members all have flame weapons that will rack up a ton of wounds. Lighting claws will also mess up
MEQ and even add some extra armor saves against terminators at higher initiative. The Chain fists are obviously for vehicles and cleaning up terminators, alongside the thunder hammers. The Sergeant is an effective character duelist with S8 and Conclusive. Be very aggressive with this squad and target enemy assault units, either hit them with a wall of flame and then charge or bait them into eating a ton of overwatch.
Leviathan Dreadnought: Cyclic Melta Lance and a Siege Wrecker, underslung Volkite Calivers for ranged damage. This is a great all-around leviathan build. Go mess up some Knights.
Pyroclasts:Melta bombs for the Squad, Master-crafted power fist on the Sgt. Load them in a land raider proteus with X3
Tl Lascannons, use these guys defensively, unload and clear an objective, hold in your backfield for outflanking enemies, or bait people into eating your mass overwatch. Be aggressive against any vehicles you can feasibly get to. The new Terrax assault drill sounds like a pretty scary option for these guys!
Firedrake Terminators: I always run these guys with their stock model build.
TH/
SS. Take advantage of that. Only change I would make to the squad if you really want to is replace a couple thunder hammers with chain fists. Just at least leave a thunder hammer on the firedrake master for dueling.
Vulkan: Lately I’ve found Vulkan gets much more value if you take advantage of his survivability. Run him alone and send him at any walkers, tanks, and monsters you can find. They will all be deleted easily. “I WOULD LIKE
TO PET THIS CREATURE.
IT WOULD BE BUT A SINGLE BOOP UPON
HIS NOGGIN!” Alternatively, send him at tactical support squads because flamers, Volkite, and plasma can’t actually wound you, and melta can only on a 6. Due to him halving the strength rounding down of these weapons.
Primarch fights are optional, very cool, but not very effective. He does very well with concussive and re-rolling his
IWND. Better to do this if you’re rocking a death star.
Vulkan and Friends: Speaking of death stars…. X10 Firedrakes, Primus Medicae, Nomus Rhy’Tan, and Vulkan all loaded up in a spartan assault tank. Good luck opponents. I use this in big point games to kill everyone’s hopes and dreams.
FNP and Hatred go a looooonnngg way.