2000 point Salamander (Aggressive)

I am going to take a break from the balanced Salamander list and move towards a more aggressive variant. It actually looks a lot like the balanced one with a couple of modifications.

Unlimited Pts - Codex: Space Marines Roster

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


Elite: Ironclad Dreadnought (2#, 180 pts)
1 Ironclad Dreadnought,
Dreadnought CCW; Meltagun; Seismic Hammer; Heavy Flamer
1 Drop Pod

Elite: Ironclad Dreadnought (2#, 180 pts)
1 Ironclad Dreadnought,
Dreadnought CCW; Meltagun; Seismic Hammer; Heavy Flamer
1 Drop Pod

Elite: Terminator Assault Squad (6#, 450 pts)
4 Terminator Assault Squad Thunder Hammer & Storm Shield x4;
1 Sergeant Thunder Hammer & Storm Shield x4;
1 Land Raider ; 2x Twin Linked Lascannons; Twin-Linked Heavy Bolter

Troops: Tactical Squad (11#, 220 pts)
9 Tactical Squad Bolt Pistol x9; Bolter x7; Flamer; Multi-melta;
1 Sergeant Bolt Pistol; Combi-Meltagun x1
1 Rhino Dozer Blade; Storm Bolter

Troops: Tactical Squad (11#, 235 pts)
9 Tactical Squad Bolt Pistol x9; Bolter x7; Flamer; Multi-melta
1 Sergeant Power Fist x1
1 Rhino Dozer Blade

Troops: Tactical Squad (11#, 240 pts)
9 Tactical Squad Bolt Pistol x9; Bolter x7; Flamer; Multi-melta;
1 Sergeant Bolt Pistol; Power Fist x1;
1 Razorback Dozer Blade; Twin-Linked Heavy Bolter

Fast Attack: Attack Bike Squad (2#, 100 pts)
2 Attack Bike Squad Bolt Pistol x2; Multi-melta x2; Twin-Linked Bolter

Heavy Support: Thunderfire Cannon (2#, 135 pts)
1 Thunderfire Cannon
1 Techmarine Gunner
1 Drop Pod

Fast Attack: Land Speeder Squadron (1#, 70 pts)
1 Land Speeder Squadron Heavy Flamer x1; Multi-melta x1

Here is how I am hoping it will work. The two dreads drop turn one. They will each wreck something. On my opponents turn he will have to fire pretty hard to take those two out. This will give me a turn to move my three rhino/razorbacks into mid field and pop smoke. The attack bikes will either turbo boost or use the rhino screen. The land speeder moves up board side, also getting in multi-melta range. Thunderfire cannon sits back in a bolstered defense, housing a unit or two of combat squaded tacs if it is an objective game. The land raider stays at home and serves as the counter punch, while shooting lascannon shots. Turn two, I unleash a turret of twin-linked melta fire from mid-field. Once transports are busted, I move forward and flamer the men inside.

I realize there is no librarian.

This is all speculative at this point. I have never ran anything remotely like this, so any input would be much appreciated.

Definitely looks/sounds aggressive. I like it.

I'd try it before you buy it on this one. I think it will be fun to play, but those dreds won't be that hard for alot of melta heavy lists to pop. Are you just going to drop an empty drop pod from the thunderfire cannon? I'm thinking this list would do well with objectives, but struggle with ranged firepower. If your opponent strands your rhinos back deep, you would be in trouble. I'll think on it some more, but that's my initial thoughts.

I think as it is now, its success would rely on good placement of the dreads; avoiding melta, things that would easily take them down.

It will be difficult to get the Ironclads to effective range and avoid melta. You might jack slap some GK though. I think you should mix up your Multi-melta with some missiles, especially for the Razorback unit. You'll have to combat squad, to use the Razorback, so I think a ML or two in your troops would be good.
Just my initial thoughts.

I was actually thinking about that in my revision earlier today. Since I couldn't shoot out of the razorback, I could switch the flamer to a meltagun and put a missile in place of the melta gun. Also, If I downgraded my ironclads to the lower dreadnought I could add another land speeder.

Quick question: Why would I not want to take a unit of 5 scouts with camo cloaks? There sniper rifles could do some rend damage, but the major thing I see is that they would provide a scoring unit that could benefit from a 2+ cover save with both the camo cloaks and TM bonus.

If you take the scouts, keep them as cheap as possible. No cloaks. Go to ground if you have to. Sniper rifles and a missile launcher is okay. Just never expect them to do anything except score.

I prefer them with close combat blades, powerfist and a melta. Either outflank on an objective, pop armor in a careless enemies forces who is too near an edge or bring them on late game onto your own back objective. Why put them on the board to get shot or assaulted if they only hold a objective. They can run on and do that late and be more survivable.

I also think suicide dreadnoughts are a waste of points. Use a land speeder for a fraction of the cost. Either way - your unit is dead. Dread gives away 2 kill points for the one it gains you.

What would you propose for aggressive space marine list?

IG

The Ironclad looks great on paper coming in on a drop pod, but it just doesn't work. I ran one for about a year in my yellow marines and I can count the number of times it excelled on one hand. Often times it wouldn't do anything but get wrecked the turn after landing.

bdix wrote:

What would you propose for aggressive space marine list?

Truly aggressive? Space wolves counts as.

I'm going to agree with the Jester on this one. Space Wolves can be much more agressive than any of the regular space marine builds more effectively.

If you are wanting some drop pod madness you might check out this list:
Drop Wolves
Look at Jon Willingham's Drop Wolves list from War Games Con 2010. He won best General with it, so how bad could it be? Right?

What I am learning the more I play this game is that individual play style really affects how well you do with an army. I'm going to try out some kooky salamander lists and see what happens.

I was looking at Ben Mohlie's 2010 list, and it looks like something I would want to play. It's basically the best of the best for what I am trying to do I think.

Individual play style matters only a little. Tournament builds from each dex governs the success most of all.