Salamanders sternguard death star

[FormelyKnownAsSmashyPants]

Hey all been theorizing combos of units and stratagems and I think the Salamanders have a good one with ten sternguard podding in with two MM. Position yourself at about 11 inches away from a big juicy target, just inside melts range, when deep striking in on Turin two onwards, while the tactical doctrine is active. Activate masterful marksmanship and crucible of battle on the squad. The bolters will be wounding T4 and lower on a 2+, T5 on a 3+ and anything T6 and higher on 4+, with an AP-3 because the tactical doctrine is in play. The MM will wound anything T8 or lower on a +2 because of crucible and Promethean Cult, wounding T9 on a 3+ and anything T10 or higher on a 4+. I've downloaded a math hammer app and am going to run a few scenarios to see how the strategy fares against some different targets. One thing to note is I wouldn't use it against SM infantry and bikers unless my opponent had already used transhumanist physiology this turn as he or she can totally negate both stratagems by using it.

[sal of manders]

Hey all been theorizing combos of units and stratagems and I think the Salamanders have a good one with ten sternguard podding in with two MM. Position yourself at about 11 inches away from a big juicy target, just inside melts range, when deep striking in on Turin two onwards, while the tactical doctrine is active. Activate masterful marksmanship and crucible of battle on the squad. The bolters will be wounding T4 and lower on a 2+, T5 on a 3+ and anything T6 and higher on 4+, with an AP-3 because the tactical doctrine is in play. The MM will wound anything T8 or lower on a +2 because of crucible and Promethean Cult, wounding T9 on a 3+ and anything T10 or higher on a 4+. I've downloaded a math hammer app and am going to run a few scenarios to see how the strategy fares against some different targets. One thing to note is I wouldn't use it against SM infantry and bikers unless my opponent had already used transhumanist physiology this turn as he or she can totally negate both stratagems by using it.

 

slight correction, toughness has to be DOUBLE strength of the attack for it to need 6's normally. 

that means the bolters would have to be shooting at T8 or higher to need 4's, not T6. 

same thing for melta's; your target would have to be T16 to need 4+, which means you're probably shooting at a warlord titan.

 

I'd add that if you want a second unit doing this at the same time, getting a chaplain with catechism of fire will do the same thing as crucible, except you need the unit that's shooting to be in range of the chaplain.

 

I wouldn't consider that a death star, but good for capitalizing on exposed units. 

Edited December 15, 2019 by sal of manders

[SallyForth]

Will definitely put a hurting whatever you point them at, but this tactic is less a Death Star and more of a glass cannon, because after they drop in, you’re left with a bunch of single wound models with 3+ saves.

[Debauchery101]

This trick is definitely glass cannon or the Fatality. Not something I would try near the beginning of the game either, if you happen to be fighting armies with Auspex scan abilities. I've been loving the use of Coteaz and his spy network. Most marine players burn most their CP turn 1 and 2. When you can make those 2 and 3 cp strats unavailable it's the best 90pts you can spend.

 

I do often use 10 sternguard and 5 shield vanguards + chaplain,lieutenant, apothecary,Librarian,chapter champion/company vets in various configurations and drop both drop pods together. Most of the time I have almost all regular marine characters in my list so depending on the match I can put whatever I want into the drop pods.

 

Sometimes even if the opponent doesn't know exactly what stratagems, gear, abilities and stats of what's in the drop pods..it will mess with their head if you are keeping them in reserve.

 

I also mostly run 2 chaplain dreads with las cannons that I basically keep protected via Infiltrators and Intercessors. People tend to leave them alone besides shooting because if they press then I can drop my veterans into my chaplains auras or drop and wack something away and get some points and lock am area down

 

I like to keep things fairly cheap. So I usually only put 4 combiflamers on the sterns, the sgt can take one and use his spec bolter for 5.

 

*key note...if you stay Salamanders or choose artisans make sure to Combat Squads or just take 2 small squads and get that extra free bolter for the sgt so he can dual wield guns.

If for example you dont want to dump CP into them for stratagems. You can spend 1 cp to give a character the warlord trait to have a 6" reroll on shots.

 

I usually keep my characters always wielding combi meltas if they have bs2+...its a no brainer. You basically have a 99% to put a melta shot on anything they deep strike.

 

I know I'm not just talking about a sternguard smash loadout. I've tried it a lot...with meltas and flamers. If I go against knights or these centurions/leviathan deathstars I will gladly burn the CP to master craft the sgts combi flamer and aloha snackbar these dudes to crush them. Even with the worst luck and say they wack half my guys with auspex scan that other drop pod landed as well. Which technically will have 4-6 separate units since they'll be a bunch of characters. 3-4 bs2+ meltas with rerolls to hit/wound and AP-5..

Special issue bolters alone are still very nice..you can reliably slap down a 10 man screen unit of anything not marines the turn you drop in. Str4 AP-3 during tac doctrine is death to most units in a round. Even marines..most people run everything in 5 man's unless they're elite units

 

In the end what I'm tryna say is they really dont work well by themselves. They'll cost too much in points and cp in most cases because they often can get ripped up with auspex scan type abilities. Which cant be countered with self sacrifice...It's almost 300 points for a tooled up 10 man Squad with drop pod.

 

Its 210 points for 6 man flame aggresors@ 18 t5 wounds and another 85 points for 5 Intercessor meat shields. So besides no deep strike...its not hard to see which is more efficient.

 

Salamanders can death star in their own way. A big part of it is that if you choose your army right and commit to it...you can basically move wherever you want albeit slowly and you will force most smart players to mostly just shoot at you...which can be degraded a lot with psykers, healers and chaplains.

 

 

 

The anvil in the forge for sure ain't fast but even the strongest metal will bend to its will with a little heat and a smack of the hammer

Edited January 29, 2020 by Debauchery101