2K Salamanders - Attempt at a Competitive List

[Medicinal Carrots]

2000 points, 8 CP, 1 Battalion

first founding Salamanders

 

HQ:

130 - Captain on bike - thunder hammer, storm shield, Salamander's Mantle, Exemplar of the Promethean Creed, Rites of Battle, Forge Master

115 - Primaris Chaplain on bike - Obsidian Aquila, Mantra of Strength, Hero of the Chapter, Never Give Up

 

Troops:

100 - 5x Intercessors - auto bolt rifles, chainsword on sgt

100 - 5x Intercessors - auto bolt rifles, chainsword on sgt

100 - 5x Intercessors - auto bolt rifles, chainsword on sgt

 

Elites:

200 - 5x Aggressors - flamestorm

200 - 5x Aggressors - flamestorm

90 - Apothecary - Master Apothecary, Hero of the Chapter, Selfless Healer

295 - 10x Vanguard Veterans - thunder hammer/lightning claw sgt, 5x power fist/lightning claw, 1x lightning claw/chainsword, 3x chainsword/storm shield

 

Fast Attack:

165 - 3x Attack Bikes - 3x multi-melta

135 - 3x Outriders

 

Heavy Support:

125 - 5x Devastators - 3x grav-cannon, bolter/chainsword sgt, cherub

125 - 5x Devastators - 3x grav-cannon, bolter/chainsword sgt, cherub

120 - 3x Eradicators - melta-rifles

 

This is my first shot at a tournament style list for 9th. I tried to focus on playing to the objectives with fast, durable stuff to claim objectives and efficient, killy stuff to stymie the opponent. Thoughts and suggestions are definitely welcome.

 

Captain starts off babysitting the two bike squads. Outriders help buffer against a charge and can clear chaff. The Captain's primary job is to take objectives, so he may roam to shore up other squads as needed.

 

Chaplain babysits the Vanguard. I went 10 man to get the most value from Never Give Up. Mix of fists and claws should let them deal with any target effectively, and the ablative wounds plus Obsidian Aquila should keep them alive for a while. Chaplain will generally use the default Litany of Hate, with Mantra of Strength there in case he needs to go off on his own at some point. I considered a jump pack Chaplain for fly to get around obstacles easier, but then realized it was only 10 points difference and the Chappy on bike brings too many extra goodies for that price to pass up.

 

Apothecary will back up one or both of the Aggressor units (depending on mission and deployment). He should get enough of them where they need to be.

 

Eradicators will generally outflank. Devastators are there to deal with MEQ or hordes and sit on back or mid field objectives. Intercessors will help with hordes, but will mostly focus on back to mid field objectives, actions depending on secondaries, and trying to screen the Devs against melee.

 

For Secondaries, Engage on All Fronts shouldn't be difficult. Oath of Moment is the next default choice, with While We Stand as an alternative against some matchups as the characters should all be hard to take out. Third one will depend on the matchup and mission. I shouldn't have many vulnerabilities to other objectives being scored against me.

[Alcyon]

Looks like a strong list to me, good mix of mobility and rock-solid threats. I'd be a little worried about the Devastators and moving at -1 to hit but 30" range is pretty strong and I'd guess they'll probably be fine. Haven't tried any firstborn myself lately.

[Medicinal Carrots]

If the sgt is still alive, at least 1 model will still shoot at BS 3+. Hopefully with that and the cherub, that'll lead to an avg of 9 1/3 hits per squad on the move. They won't always need to move, though. Depending on the board, they can hopefully get good line of sight on a couple objectives and be a minor deterrent if nothing else. Depending on opponent, they're also a great user of Auspex Scan. And if all else fails, Salamanders have a 1 CP strat to count as stationary (as opposed to the 2 CP general SM stand still strat).

[Uberlord Gendo]

Given the speed and range mix you have, I'm not sold on the Aggressors because I'm thinking there's a fair chance they'll be too much slower than your melee edge and not have range to contribute, though it occurs to me that with more terrain and a potentially smaller board that may matter less.

[Medicinal Carrots]

The army doesn't need to all stay together. The sections can generally work independently of each other, with the fast stuff acting to hold the enemy back or get behind them, and other parts coming to bear later or providing a threat in the mid or backboard. Being Salamanders helps with that independence by adding back a little bit of the reliability you lose by spreading the army away from auras.

 

Thr smaller board and increased terrain helps, but the structure of how games are won in 9th is also significant. Both sides have to move up and engage if they want to win. I'll want to spread out a fair amount to get to multiple objectives, engage on multiple fronts, and hold the center when I take Oath. My opponent will want to move up to get to objectives and score his own secondaries. If Aggressors are charging up and going uncontested, my opponent has ceded that ground. That's part of the table where I can score but he can't. Board control can be just as useful as if not moreso than damage.

[Uberlord Gendo]

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. 9th's objective structures seem like they make for a much more dynamic game.

Let us know how it goes.

[tychobi]

Looks nasty. Should bully most lists out of the midfield with ease. I think you are spending way too much cp on extra relics warlord traits but you have made solid choices if that is the way you want to go.

[Medicinal Carrots]

Yeah, the pre-game CP expenditure is a big potential downside, but I'm not sure anything is worth losing. The WL traits are all fairly critical to the roles the characters are intended to play, as is the Mantle. The only thing I could see dropping would be the Aquila. Even then I think 1 CP is worth it to give a 10 man squad a 6+ FNP for the whole game (averages out to requiring 4 more unsaved wounds to kill the squad). I see them more as spending for less impressive but whole game buffs vs spending for impressive single shot buffs.

 

Unfortunately, it's probably going to be quite a while until I get a chance to try anything out on the tabletop. Right now all I've got is theorycraft.