Tactica Salamanders

At first glance, Salamander Space Marines look like any other Space Marines Codex force. They don't have unusual units or weapon configurations, they aren't generally set up to emphasize hand to hand, they don't have strange vehicles. They seem very vanilla. Then you look a little closer and wonder what that odd armor on the Landraider is, or why so many of the characters have Thunderhammers and ornate armor. You might then notice that some of the squads have 2 Flamers, or a Melta and a Multimelta. But it's when you notice that they are on turn 7 of a cleanse mission that you really start to scratch your head. Who are these Salamanders, and what in the name of the Emperor is going on?

The Salamander Chapter of Space Marines hails from the harsh planet of Nocturne. Due to their self-reliance and training, each Salamander has the technical knowledge to care for his own weapons and armor, allowing their Techmarines the time to create more sophisticated wargear and weapons. This means that Salamanders have access to some wargear at cheaper than normal rates, allowing things like Master Crafted weapons and Signums and Artificer armor to be distributed even to Veteran Sergeants, where in other armies such items would be reserved for Chaplains and Force Commanders. Interestingly, this will give them a slight edge in the Trial Assault Rules (the rules intended for 4th edition that are currently used in Grand Tournaments and most Rogue Trader Tournaments) since Veteran Sergeants can no longer be allocated against, allowing them to survive longer and keep hitting the enemy with that Thunderhammer. This freedom for the Techmarines also gives the Salamanders access to better armor for their Landraiders and cheaper Terminator armor as well!

Coming from a high-gravity planet, Salamanders are also Sturdy, meaning they don't move as quickly as other marines, with an Initiative of 3, meaning that they don't fare quite as well in close combat as other marines, at least against I3 or I4 opponents. On the other hand, if you are going last, you might as well hit them with a Thunderhammer or a Powerfist.

Never Give Up: Salamanders have an implacable spirit and can force the game to last another turn. This gives them one more chance for running to the objective, gunning down the enemy and polishing off those assaults. Remember all those games that you played where you were SO close to winning, but the game ended? This is the answer to that. On the other hand, you don't have to use it. If you realize you are winning, there is no point in hanging around for another turn and giving the other guy a chance to snatch it away from you. Sure, Never Give Up, but also quit while you're ahead.

Salamanders also cannot have Lascannons in squads. This is a tough one, as Multimeltas, which are the replacement, don't have the range, and few people will be stupid enough to get a vehicle within 12 inches of the unit, which is the range where Multimeltas truly shine. With Missile Launchers, you've at least got that 48 inch range. With signums for characters, particularly in the Devastators squads and perhaps the Command squad (more later) you might just be able to make up for it. In addition, you could always take a Predator or two to get some of those precious Lascannons back.

Salamanders can get 2 Flamers in a squad, however! That's a lot of FIRE power. Consider a rhino with two of these hanging out the top for drive by shooting. Heck, unload them from the rhino, create flaming death, then assault the leftovers.

Okay, so now we know a bit about their differences. What does it all mean, and how would you go about creating a force based on them? Well, with a base Initiative of 3 and without a bunch of specialist combat options, Salamanders are not good candidates for a solid assault list. In addition, without those Lascannons, and being Space Marines in general, they will be hard pressed to make a solid shooting list. (They aren't slouches in either direction, but there are other specialists that do these things better, and I'm looking at the Blood Angels and World Eaters and Imperial Guard and Tau as I say this.) I will attempt to give you a few ideas on how such forces might be attempted, but I will focus the bulk of my attention on how to use them in a Shooting/Counterassault style.

The Shooting/Counterassault style of army. The idea is that you have a fairly shooty army, with a few good assault units sprinkled in. Theoretically, if you run up against a solid shooting army, you will be able to out-assault it, and if you run up against a solid assaulting army, you will be able to outshoot it and smash some of the assaulters with your assaulters. If you run up against another Shooting/Counterassault army, you'll just have to figure out which part you are better at and then beat them with it. More specifically, hold your tooled up assaulters back. When your front line is engaged, they move up and charge in against the enemy assault teams. This means that your assaulters get the bonus attacks for charging, and can pick who or what they are assaulting, giving you better matchups and favorable bonuses, increasing the effectiveness of your relatively small assaulting force. You can compound this by using your shooting elements to knock out enemy transports, making the troops walk, and by using your shooting to decimate the best enemy assault units, since they are probably the ones that would cause your assault units the most trouble.

To get the most out of your Shooting/Counterassault army, I'll tell you some things that you can do to set your army up for dominating in shooting or assault individually (plus, those geeks that insist on doing things the hard way can try to make an all shooty or assaulty list if they want.) Then I'll compile it into one set of suggestions for the true Shooting/Counterassault army.

Assaulting notes

First off, assaulting. In any assault, bodies are very important to have. Sure, the characters get all the glory, but the weight of numbers is vital. This said, you'll want some Tactical squads dedicated to the task of assaulting as at least part of your assault force.

Tactical squads have several almost mandatory options in the assault role. Mobility will be vital in this, so give them a Rhino, letting them deploy more quickly where needed. I would also recommend upgrading the sergeant to a Veteran and giving him a Powerfist or Thunderhammer. This will give your squad more hitting power in general, and specifically against others in power armor or Monstrous Creatures. If you feel you need to protect the Veteran Sergeant more, artificer armor is available to him as well. The squad itself should be full or nearly full, five man squads just don't cut it. Give the squad a pair of Flamers as well. In the true counterassault, they aren't likely to use them, but the times that you do, two flame templates are MUCH better than one, and it doesn't keep them from moving or assaulting. Heavy weapons, obviously, are out, since you can't fire them and move and assault. Meltas are iffy. They can be effective at taking out vehicles, but with more and more people using the Trial Assault rules, you can only assault what you shot at, so you'd have to assault that burning wreck of a Chimera, instead of the Ogryns that fell out of it... In addition, most of the enemies that will have a higher initiative, particularly those with nasty power weapons, like Genestealers and Howling Banshees, have light armor and will roast quickly under those Flamers.

Chaplains are, as always, excellent in a close combat. Salamander Chaplains are only Initiative 4, however, so they don't have that big speed advantage that normal Chaplains get. On the other hand, they can get a Thunderhammer for free!! Since they can get a free Thunderhammer, give it to them. With two wounds and a 4+ invulnerable save, they'll most likely live to swing it. Adding a Chaplain or other character to an assault squad more than doubles the damage they do, which is the only reason for not taking a full 10 man squad in that assault Rhino.

Dreadnaughts are also great combatants, but they move more slowly than a squad in a rhino and are generally big targets to enemy shooting. I would still recommend taking a Dreadnaught and trying to limit how much of the enemy army can see him, to increase his chances of stomping into a big combat and sorting things out in Hand to Power Claw combat.

Terminators can also be highly effective, but they too are slow, unless you spend a lot of points on their ride. At 37pts each, they are quite effective, however, and very tempting. (especially to someone who plays Deathwing, where the Terminators are 47pts each!) Position them just behind the front lines, then let them come up and join the fracas after it has started.

Shooting notes

If you are familiar with standard Marine shooty armies, most of the same information applies here. Take Missiles in your tactical squads and probably Plasma Guns (the range really helps.) When trying for a heavily shooty army, you may want to go for smaller squads, since the weapon upgrades are more than half the firepower of the unit. The typical Space Marine "Baby Dev squad" (Lascannon, Plasma Gun, 3x Bolter) is roughly what you are aiming for, to get more heavy weapons on the board. Note that it may not be worth giving each Tactical squad a Veteran Sergeant just so they can have a signum to reroll misses, but it's certainly worth it for the Devastator squads and it may be worth it in a small command squad. Command squads, as usual, can take two heavy or special weapons. With a cheap commander with a signum and two Missile Launchers, you've got better than half a Dev squad right there. Dreadnaughts can also be effective in a shooty Marine force, but, again, they are big targets, so place them carefully. Razorbacks can also be very effective, but being large targets with lighter armor than Dreadnaughts, they will also die fairly easily. Predators have much tougher armor and more weaponry for not much more cost. I'd get the Predators first if I were you. Landspeeders, particularly with Multimeltas are also very effective. If they weren't limited to a single Fast Attack slot, I'd recommend a couple of squadrons, but as it is, I'd take one or two in a squadron. Their speed helps them zip up behind cover and take shots within 12" where those Multimeltas really shine. Even if they are killed after a single attack run, they've probably taken out a 150 or so point vehicle, which is a pretty good trade.

Doing it all

Combining these elements into one, here is my suggestion for a Shooting/Counterassault army. I would take 3-4 Tactical squads outfitted as above for shooting. I would add 1-2 Tactical squads outfitted as above for assaulting. The Chaplain will accompany one of the rhino squads. The shooting squads will set up roughly in the middle, with the Rhino squads slightly behind them on their flanks. The Dreadnaught will set up in the middle, near an opening between two shooting squads. A Predator or two and a Devastator squad or two will set up in the backfield as well. If there is a small command squad, as suggested in the shooting section, it will be positioned here as well.

How it works

Against an assaulting army, the shooters will take out enemy transports first, then try to pick away at the most powerful enemy assaulters. Once the front lines are engaged, the assault elements will move up and, picking the most favorable matchups for them (Take on the Howling Banshees with the Dreadnaught, take on the Powerfist psycho with your Tactical squads) wade into the fray.

Against a shooting army, your shooting elements will try to divide the enemy by fire (shoot big holes in the middle of their line) while the rhinos rush up a flank, possibly joined by the Dreadnaught. Once the flank is engaged, turn your shooting attention to the other side as your assault teams jump out, flame the enemy, then get 10-13 Thunderhammer attacks on the bad guys. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Against another combined force army like yourself, gauge which side the enemy is more geared toward, compared to your force, then treat them like one of those.

There now, go fry up some enemies and make Nocturne proud. …Mmm, fried enemies, just like Momma used to make!

If you enjoyed this, email me and let me know