Work in Progress: Salamanders Army

I am about half way through work on my Salamanders army, and Poot suggested that I did a blog post showing the progress so far.  It's currently worth about 2300 points give or take a few, though obviously you couldn't legally deploy it like this as there are too many HQ and elites.

This army started life as a Space Marine Battleforce and its been gradually added to over the last six or seven months. There's a real mix of minis in there - the Techmarine dates back to the Rogue Trader days, and the Dreadnought is one of the metal ones they introduced in about 1993. I was lucky enough to pick it up new in its box for less than the price of one of the current plastic kits. At the other end of the spectrum is Vulkan He'stan in white metal and the finecast sternguard which I think would both have been new during 5th edition. 

There are also some conversions and kit-bashes in there which I'll write about in separate posts.

The Techmarine might seem a bit of a strange choice, but I love those 80s models. When I found out that fielding a Master of the Forge lets you run dreadnoughts as heavy support, I decided to get this guy and use him as proxy.

These devastators don't see the table as a unit very much, but the missile launcher models often get used in tactical squads.

Both the terminator squad in foreground and the tactical squad in the background of this picture have metal sergeants in a plastic squad. I do this for two reasons... 1. Putting an extra model in usually means you have a spare plastic body to use for an extra weapon option that would otherwise go unused in your bits box. 2. I love old fashioned metal models and it give me a good excuse to buy them! 

For example, the spare model in the Terminator squad has the cyclone launcher, so I can just swap him into the squad when my list calls for it.

So before this army, or rather the first phase of it is finished, I will be adding:

• Another LasPlas Razorback 
• Two Predators
• A Land Raider
• A Rifleman Dreadnought
• Some extra HQ options - Terminator Librarian and Terminator Chaplain among others.

In the longer term I've got ambitions for a Tau detachment, and perhaps a Stormtalon and some Landspeeders for fast attack options.

Here's a (mostly) WYSIWYG list of the stuff that's currently finished. There are some things that I'd do differently if I was making the models again because they don't get used much in games (like the sergeants with plasma pistols), but anyway here's how it comes out points-wise.

Total Roster Cost: 2282

Troops: Tactical Squad (11#, 255 pts)

   9 Tactical Squad, 157 pts = 9 * 16 (base cost 16) + Meltagun 5 + Plasma Cannon 5 + Sergeant 66

      1 Sergeant, 63 pts = (base cost 23) + Plasma Pistol x1 15 + Power Fist x1 25

      1 Rhino, 35 pts

Troops: Tactical Squad (11#, 280 pts)

   9 Tactical Squad, 152 pts = 9 * 16 (base cost 16) + Meltagun 5 + Sergeant 56

      1 Sergeant, 53 pts = (base cost 23) + Plasma Pistol x1 15 + Power Weapon x1 15

      1 Razorback, 75 pts = (base cost 40) + Lascannon and TL Plasmagun 35

Elite: Terminator Squad (5#, 230 pts)

   4 Terminator Squad, 190 pts = 4 * 40 (base cost 40) + Assault Cannon 30

      1 Sergeant, 40 pts

Troops: Scout Squad (5#, 85 pts)

   4 Scout Squad, 75 pts = 4 * 13 (base cost 13) + Heavy Bolter w/Hellfire Shells 10 + Sergeant 23

      1 Sergeant, 10 pts

Fast Attack: Assault Squad (5#, 140 pts)

   4 Assault Squad, 72 pts = 4 * 18

      1 Sergeant, 68 pts = (base cost 28) + Power Fist x1 25 + Storm Shield x1 15

Elite: Dreadnought (1#, 115 pts)

   1 Dreadnought, 115 pts = (base cost 105 + Assault Cannon 10)

Heavy Support: Devastator Squad (5#, 150 pts)

   4 Devastator Squad, 127 pts = 4 * 16 (base cost 16) + Missile Launcher x4 60 + Sergeant 26

      1 Sergeant, 23 pts

Troops: Scout Squad (7#, 132 pts)

   6 Scout Squad, 119 pts = 6 * 16 (base cost 13 + Camo Cloaks 3) + Missile Launcher 10 + Sergeant 26

      1 Sergeant, 13 pts = (base cost 10 + Camo Cloaks 3)

Elite: Sternguard Veteran Squad (10#, 305 pts)

   9 Sternguard Veteran Squad, 255 pts = 9 * 25 (base cost 25) + Combi-Meltagun x3 15 + Heavy Flamer x1 10 + Meltagun x1 5

      1 Sergeant, 50 pts = (base cost 25) + Power Fist x1 25

Elite: Terminator Assault Squad (5#, 200 pts)

   4 Terminator Assault Squad, 160 pts = 4 * 40

      1 Sergeant, 40 pts

HQ: Forgefather Vulkan He'stan (1#, 190 pts)

   1 Forgefather Vulkan He'stan, 190 pts

HQ: Space Marine Librarian in Power Armour (1#, 100 pts)

   1 Space Marine Librarian in Power Armour, 100 pts

HQ: Master of the Forge (1#, 100 pts)

   1 Master of the Forge, 100 pts