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Hello,

I'm currently thinking about a Salamanders army, and to make full use of their reroll chapter tactic, I plan on using MSU with at least one heavy/special weapon in each.

I plan on using at least 2 bolter scout squads and two backfield Devastator squads.

I think I'll want at least one HB and one ML to use the MW stratagems, and I think they'll be better in the Deva squads to make use of the signum and cherub. Plus the Deva is static most of the time whereas the scouts may have to move towards objectives.

Do you think it'd be worth having a combi-melta on my scout sergeants? Or maybe combi-plasma? Do you have any insight?

Melta is a bit overpriced for what it does. Or Plasma is underpriced. Either way, the more competitive call is plasma.

With the Salamander re-roll, melta is a little more viable, as the odds of blowing your one shot due to bad dice goes down. But it should still cost less then plasma.

Honestly, I’ve been running my scouts bare-bones these days. so YMMV.

I have always ran my salamanders without scouts. Melta vs plasma in this instance i think it comes down to the rest of your forces composition. If your needing the scouts to take on the roll of extra anti tank or monster hunting then melta. If not plasma.

Think of it this way though. For melta to be effective you have to get within 12" to shoot and 6" to get the bonus damage. Melta is str 8, ap-4 and realistically d6 damage.

Plasma on the other hand only needs to get 12" to get its bonus (extra shot). Overcharged gets you 2 str 8, ap-3, 2 flat damage.

The plasma works out better than the melta for almost all situations. So plasma gets the nod.

How are you planning to use Vulkan?

Because rerolling *all* hit and wound rolls with Multi-Meltas can make multi-weapons in units more efficient.

For example, 10-man Devs with 1x Las-cannon, 3x Multi-Melta can reroll the LC for mastercraft and the MM’s for Vulkan, while keeping 5 ablative wounds before losing an upgrade.

Plus the Vulkan model is awesome. Dreads with heavy flamers nearby can also benefit.

Azuza001 wrote:
I have always ran my salamanders without scouts. Melta vs plasma in this instance i think it comes down to the rest of your forces composition. If your needing the scouts to take on the roll of extra anti tank or monster hunting then melta. If not plasma.

Think of it this way though. For melta to be effective you have to get within 12" to shoot and 6" to get the bonus damage. Melta is str 8, ap-4 and realistically d6 damage.

Plasma on the other hand only needs to get 12" to get its bonus (extra shot). Overcharged gets you 2 str 8, ap-3, 2 flat damage.

The plasma works out better than the melta for almost all situations. So plasma gets the nod.

17 points for one shot at 12" is not extra anti-tank.

If you desperately want to make Salamanders work, the only unit that does that is Devastator squads with two weapons (preferably Lascannons). It's a pretty weak Chapter Tactic.

Do you footslog em or do you put em in a transport?

CypherF wrote:
Do you footslog em or do you put em in a transport?

You can't shoot out of Rhinos anymore, so no. Camp the Lascannon dudes in cover with just enough view to shoot at bigger stuff.

Melta weapons are iconic for Salamanders, but there's better ways of including them than tac/dev squads. Attack Bikes and Landspeeders are both highly mobile and can carry multi-melta, so they have a greater chance of getting into good range.

I really hope the next chapter approved bumps up the cost of Plasma Guns significantly to make melta viable.

 John Prins wrote:
Melta weapons are iconic for Salamanders, but there's better ways of including them than tac/dev squads. Attack Bikes and Landspeeders are both highly mobile and can carry multi-melta, so they have a greater chance of getting into good range.

I really hope the next chapter approved bumps up the cost of Plasma Guns significantly to make melta viable.

Even if you made Plasma Guns 20 points, you're not taking Melta Guns at 17. Melta Guns need to be fixed, not Plasma Guns.

 John Prins wrote:
Melta weapons are iconic for Salamanders, but there's better ways of including them than tac/dev squads. Attack Bikes and Landspeeders are both highly mobile and can carry multi-melta, so they have a greater chance of getting into good range.

I really hope the next chapter approved bumps up the cost of Plasma Guns significantly to make melta viable.

IMHO the best spot for MMs, if you want to take them, are on LRs and Stormravens. They get PotMS, so when you move you get in range (because you will have to) you don’t take the -1 to hit.

Attack bikes are better then speeders for Salamanders, as they get chapter tactics, which helps.

The way I've been running Salamanders for the past month and a half (9 Wins 2 losses, and those two losses had some abysmal rolling) is 6 5 man tacs with meltagun, Combi-melta in 3 rhinos. Combined with other pieces of armor on the board i have a total of 71 T7 3+ wounds, the rhinos are generally considered low priority so they get to maneuver and pop smoke even if I get second turn. Also if you get within 6 inches of your target, do not forget the mighty krak grenade, seriously. The amount of characters/monsters/vehicles that have been finished by the krak grenade is astounding.

Before that I was running 5 man tacs with a Lascannon. It was meh. It did okay, but it lack any form of board control or mobility. It was also just boring to play.

Vulkan is currently just too overpriced for what he does, I unfortunately wouldn't recommend him.

As for your scouts, I wouldn't recommend giving him a Combi-melta. They just aren't durable enough, and as screens they are going to be the first to die.

I run my salamanders at 5 man teams with missile launchers or las cannons. Normally 6 teams. Then devs and dreadnaughts for heavy / elite. Personally i like our chapter tactic, the trick is to make sure its always going off, always relevant. When everything in your army can benifit from it its great. If your taking scout squads with bolt pistols and ccw then yeah, the trait sucks.