Salamander Fluff

[Bro Castiel]

Hello Guys,

 

The Salamanders have been the focus of my reading of late and now that I have some spare time I am thinking about getting back into the hobby with a fresh start.

Before I jump right in though, I need to make sure I choose wisely as I am a painfully slow painter. Any progress will be slow and I need to ensure my choice can weather the fluctuations of new models and rule changes over time. Thus I focus on fluff and colour.

 

So onto my questions...

 

First Question

Do the Salamanders value human life more than the wider Imperium? I am sure I have read this somewhere but cannot locate it again. Also, it would seem to fit given how Vulkan and the Emperor met.

 

Second Question

I have read that the Salamanders make less use of bikes and landspeeders. Does this mean that I should not use them, or just should limit the amount in any army. I would like to include a single unit of each if fluff friendly. Possibly a Storm Raven down the track.

 

Thank you in advance for any input, Brothers.

 

Castiel

[Carlson793]

First question: A bit more than that. The Salamanders value all life highly, and most of their fights are versus those who do not value life. A good example of this can be found in Vulkan Lives, where Vulkan has an argument with Curze over the treatment of the (Tau? Eldar?) population of a world they've just performed a compliance action on, or Salamander, where the Salamanders go to great lengths to rescue the people of Scoria from the death of their planet.

 

Second question: This stems from early rules for the Salamanders, but has no basis in the current rules. Lots of folks stick to it for fluff reasons. The fluff side is that due to the unstable volcanic/gravity activity due to the proximity of Prometheus to Nocturne. The high tectonic activity makes bikes dangerous, while the gravity fluctuations makes grav vehicles challenging to fly. If you want to maintain the fluff, but still have Bikes and Land Speeders, paint 'em up as Storm Giants (a suspected successor chapter of the Salamanders with a very easy tan-and-red paint scheme).

[Bro Castiel]

Excellent, thank you very much Carlson793. I am glad that the Salamanders value life. It is a trait I find refreshing in the 41st millennium.

 

As a follow up question, would the Salamanders defend a strategically pointless planet. The only reason being to save the populace?

 

Regarding the bikes, I think I will follow your advice and use the another chapters colours. Ill have to be careful not to create too much of an overlap. I have read several times that the Salamanders refute any bloodline link to any other chapter. Perhaps I will use the allies function and use a different chapter entirely. White scars for example. More thought will be put into this.

 

Thanks again for your help.

[Carlson793]

It's not that the Salamanders refute ties to other chapters; it's that they have no idea where these successor chapters would have come from. The Dropsite Massacre reduced the Salamanders to 5% or less of their original strength, and because they've always been on the forefront of some of the worst conflicts, they've never been able to raise their strength past that point (their strength since the Horus Heresy has always hovered at right about 720 Brothers). Very little gene seed was recovered from Isstvan (and almost exclusively from the handful of marines who were able to escape the planet), so everything they have goes into replenishing their losses - nothing, even with the 5% tithe to the AdMech, is left over for the formation of new chapters.

 

EDIT: Found the reference in Massacre: At the end of the Great Crusade, the XVIIIth numbered approximately 89,000 Astartes. 83,000 went to Isstvan, with 2,000-3,000 or other duties (remained on Nocturne, deployed elsewhere). They suffered 98%+ losses on Isstvan, and had 2%-3% of their Crusade Era strength left.

Edited March 13, 2017 by Carlson793

[Bro Castiel]

That all seems logical. Thank you for clarifying. Sounds like they are fairly determined!

 

So can you help me with my follow up question, would the Salamanders defend a strategically low value planet for the sole purpose of defending the populace?

 

I truly hope so.

 

Thanks again Carlson793.

[Xisor]

They would. Certainly in Kyme's regime![/snark] Joking aside: it's pretty much a defining feature of theirs, alongside stoicism, empathy and a prediliction for flames.

 

That is: their views of "strategic" are very much coloured by their own views on what they're actually fighting for. Just because, say, the warzone's dominant commander (let's say a very senior Imperial Guard Warmaster) views Planet Perignor III as strategically unimportant, doesn't mean that the Chaplain of the Demi-Company on a Salamanders Strike Cruiser that happens to be nearby when a Chaos fleet shows up agrees with that Imperil Commander.

 

Specifically: they're famous for undertaking inglorious duties, and also ones that are surplus to requirements. That's not to say they won't be ruthless when forced to make a choice (e.g. saving a warmachine that could turn the tide of a battle vs saving three old lads that can't run fast enough to escape the warzone), or that they'll act like idiots just because one life is in danger, but they'll be much more generous about what counts as 'mission critical' than you'd get from many other chapters.

 

---

 

Regarding that 'bikes' thing - bear in mind that it is they *prefer* not to, that they don't get as much opportunity to train or develop deep affinities for it. Each Marine will still be at a baseline competence with bikes and land speeders, of course. And there's plenty of other places to train beside Nocturne Itself!

 

As such, in the last few years, I've really eased up on the idea of fast-attack heavy Salamander forces. They're not how the Salamanders would *want* to fight, given free choice - but it's definitely how the Salamanders would fight if the situation demands it. Plus, if it makes you feel happier about it, just imagine how uncomfortable and ill-at-ease they'd all be whilst riding around, kicking-bums!

[Bro Castiel]

Well put and clearly explained. Thank you Xisor!

 

After much thought I have decided to commence my new found hobby enthusiasm with a new Salamanders strike force.

 

I will post photos in the WIP forum once I have something to show. This could take some time though, as previously stated I have the painting speed of a stone.

 

Thank you both for your assistance. Happy hobby-ing.

[Carlson793]

I will post photos in the WIP forum once I have something to show. This could take some time though, as previously stated I have the painting speed of a stone.

Quick and dirty for Salamanders:

- black spray primer

- medium/dark green spray paint

- green wash

- company colour on the shoulder pads (see spoiler)

- metalic bits w/black wash

- orange lenses w/red wash

- decals and done

 

http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/warhammer40k/images/6/66/Salamanders_Co._Icons.png

 

Top: 1st Veteran/2nd Battle Co.; 3rd Battle Co.; 4th Battle Co.

Bottom: 5th Reserve Co.; 6th Reserve Co.; 7th Scout Co.

[Bro Castiel]

Thank you for the hints and background guys.

[Bro Castiel]

Hello again guys,

 

I read today on 1d4chan that the latest formation for Salamanders allows for some significant landspeeder usage, which the author/s attributed to "a significant deviation to previous fluff".

 

So with this in mind, I will still include bikes and landspeeders but they will not form a large part of my model selection moving forward. Pretty much how Xisor put it. My Salamanders will use them, but only do it if tactics dictate it.

 

Thanks again guys.

[Claws and Effect]

Just don't put heavy flamers on the speeders. They can't snap fire, so if you jink you are stuck during one or no weapons for a turn.

[Bro Castiel]

That's a good point Realityburn. Thank you.

[BlueBelly1863]

Welcome to the ranks of the Salamanders Bro Castiel! Use landspeeders or bikes if it suits you! I'm a fan of fluffy, narrative, armies, as mine definitely is. However, if you really like certain units/their tactics, don't let the fluff limit you. The Imperium is a big place and your Salamanders just may have to deploy some fast attack stuff in a certain situation. 

 

And remember! Vulkan Lives.

[Eternal Warrior]

I know this thread has been dormant for a while. I have to add my .02

 

In the book "Helsreach" the Salamanders do a lot of amazing work. I am a long time Templar player and I love this book. It's fantastic. The Salamnders drop into overwhelming odds, flamers a-blazin, and turns the tide of the battle. They even get in a fight with a Templar over being a warrior for the Emperor and a Knight.

 

They also take some casualties after repelling an ork assault. The Templars want to pursue and wipe out the horde but the Salamanders don't want to leave civilians unprotected. The Orks return in greater force and even though they are repelled again the Salamanders take several casualties. They say with final breath that's it's their duty to protect the ones that cannot protect themselves.

 

They are really the paragons of the people even though they look the scariest. The Salamanders are awesome.

[Bro Castiel]

This is exactly why I have chosen the Salamanders. I never knew the extent of their dedication to 'humanity'. I wish I had stumbled across them earlier in my 40K experience!

[BlueBelly1863]

This is exactly why I have chosen the Salamanders. I never knew the extent of their dedication to 'humanity'. I wish I had stumbled across them earlier in my 40K experience!

 

They are pretty awesome for this reason. In the 40K fluff, they are said to work and live among the population of Nocturne and visit with their families, in order to have a strong understanding of what they are protecting. Pretty dang cool if you ask me.

[Knight of the Raven]

If you want some more Salamander goodness (in both senses of the word!), here's TVTropes' summary to Nick Kyme's Vulkan's Shield. Some things are off or omitted, but the gist of it is confirmed by Lexicanum:

 

Another Salamanders moment is the entire short story Vulkan's Shield. The story starts with Captain Ko'tan Kadai and his elite guard on a Thunderhawk, heading towards a final objective in a city besieged by heretics. All throughout the story Kadai keeps repeating that the mission is not over, that there is something in the city the Salamanders need to bring with them before they can leave. Finally they arrive at a Scholam, the 40k version of a school, annihilate a small force of heretics and then blow open the roof, revealing a handful of kids and their teacher. The Salamanders came to rescue them, risking the lives of their Captain, his guards, and a venerable Thunderhawk gunship, just for a few kids.

 

The summary's last line says it all: "Defenders of humanity indeed."

 

The sole thing space marines fear is dying without having fulfilled their duty. Salamanders would simply reply that a life lost protecting those who can't protect themselves is never lost in vain.

Edited June 3, 2017 by Knight of the Raven

[thousandsons]

If you can find the old white dwarfs of the Armageddon war you can read all about how the salamanders took all the supporting actions by choice so they could defend supply lines going to the citizens and protect the heavily depleted guard companies.

 

Unlike the flesh terrors who where eating orks and citizens in fits of rage.

 

Also I think that Tu'Shan decked another chapter master or inquisitor for trying to sacrifice a hive city or something. And won put the blood angles in their dept. I think their chapter master personally gave them his respect.

[Knight of the Raven]

Well the Flesh Tearers are clinically insane, so yeah.

 

Tu'shan beat the daylights out of a Marine Malevolent captain for shelling a refugee camp just to get rid of ork kommandos spotted in there. It's possible that captain was the same who blackmailed him in Salamander, so that probably didn't help his case either. And since we're talking about the Marines Malevolent here, I wouldn't put it past Vinyar (if it was indeed he) to have spotted the kommandos beforehand and to just have waited for them to infiltrate the refugee camp for some entertaining collateral damage.

 

It's a good thing it wasn't an Iron Hand that shelled the camp, because that chapter is able to put up much more of a fight in retaliation in addition to having several allies compared to the Marines Malevolent's grand total of zero.

 

And Salamanders went beyond protecting civilians. They kept two companies on Armageddon to repair the damage caused by the orks so the lack of living infrastructure killed as few people as possible. Salamanders aren't unique in caring for mankind, but that decision might just be unprecedented outside of their chapter.