8th Ed. Salamanders

[Iztiak]

Are Salamanders really THAT good?

Discuss.

 

[Hiv0r]

If you use salamanders correctly they can be deadly. Anything T3 or T4 with a high armour save im talking about:

* All sorts of elves, white lions, spearmen, blackguard etc etc
* Any type of human cavalry (Knights of the Realm etc)
* Pretty much any standard 20mm infantry through shear numbers


If you use them right and position them right due to being skirmishers and still able to move 6 and fire they are deadly. You gotta remeber that they are only 75 points so they may not be able to do the most damage they certain can for their points and every game never fail to make their points back.

 

[Haemoglobin]

They can also be very useful when combined with the Lore of Death spell: Doom And Darkness. U can select an enemy unit, lower its Ld with 3 points and then use Salamanders to fire on them. U can easily panic high Ld units like this (for instance Ld 8 units would have to roll a panic test on a Ld5).

 

[strewart]

I said in another post recently, one of the 10 commandments should be 'in a Lizardmen army, thou shalt take salamanders'

Yes, they really are that good. Ok they are not going to single handedly destroy an army and win a game for oyu, and there will be games where they roll badly and do nothing or get killed early. But on a whole, for their points cost, they really are amazing. One of the most cost effective units in the whole game, which is what really does it for them.

 

[BEEGfrog]

There are lots of better units but none so cost effective or so versatile.

 

[Cobra7]

Ya, Salamanders seem the be the um... stuff for sure. I love it when I roll the distance my salamander is away from my opponent and there is a model under every part of the template.

 

[Iztiak]

The old ones give generously.

 

[The Hunted]

I agree with all of the above. They are really thát good.

As Hiv0r neatly explained: everything on a 20mm base is royally screwed. Cavalry has to watch out for these guys as well, but my favorite move with the salamander is, and shall always remain:
Move him up as normal, blasting enemy infantry and other 'targets of oppurtunity', then press on and move deep into the enemy deployment zone.
Then it's a game called: 'find the wizard'
Most of the time, your opponents don't see this one coming, they expect that you will blast a unit of infantry/cavalry. But to charge their wizard? 'naaaah, he won't'

And then all of the sudden, my salamander had his midday snack! (Not the nasty tasting skink meat, that is)

The Hunted

 

[Iztiak]

So they are good enough for people to select their true feelings rather than the vaguely humourous option I provided eh? I may have to buy one of these.

 

[strewart]

They're good enough that 42% of people didn't even read the other poll options, just saw yes as the first one and hit it before noticing there was a hellbreaker yes! option.

Their only problem, which you come to now, is the models are a little iffy. Well, if you like them go for it, I personally dislike them, and the handlers are pretty outdated too. There are a couple of salamander conversion threads about if you want to look around.

 

[Gor-rok]

Then it's a game called: 'find the wizard'
Most of the time, your opponents don't see this one coming, they expect that you will blast a unit of infantry/cavalry. But to charge their wizard? 'naaaah, he won't'

A funny thing happened: I was playing against WoC, and he had a lone wizard traipsing along, blasting at things with Tzeench fire. As he wandered closer to the battle line, it slowly dawned on me that my lurking salamander could rush in and gobble the wizard-- moments before the wizard charged and slew my salamander. Darn chaos wizards and their magic weapons...

The thought that came to mind was the tag line from basically every action/suspense movie ever made:

"In a deadly game of cat and mouse... the hunter... becomes... THE HUNTED!!!

Hey, The Hunted, I don't suppose you're a Hollywood screenwriter...?

 

[The Hunted]

Then it's a game called: 'find the wizard'
Most of the time, your opponents don't see this one coming, they expect that you will blast a unit of infantry/cavalry. But to charge their wizard? 'naaaah, he won't'

A funny thing happened: I was playing against WoC, and he had a lone wizard traipsing along, blasting at things with Tzeench fire. As he wandered closer to the battle line, it slowly dawned on me that my lurking salamander could rush in and gobble the wizard-- moments before the wizard charged and slew my salamander. Darn chaos wizards and their magic weapons...

The thought that came to mind was the tag line from basically every action/suspense movie ever made:

"In a deadly game of cat and mouse... the hunter... becomes... THE HUNTED!!!

Hey, The Hunted, I don't suppose you're a Hollywood screenwriter...?

It was supposed to be classified, but I write mostly the plots for the big blockbusters....

I hope you don't mind if I put that in my sig .

And well, most wizards are not able to slay a salamander in 1 round, don't charge greater daemons though: THEY CAN. And the fact that you had the idea to charge him, is a good one: because you see more abilities on the battlefield, whereas other may not. Which in turn means that this forum is (very) usefull!

The Hunted

 

[mixer86]

My favourite tactic is something i like to call "The Oven"

worked a treat against Orcs and Goblins, basically he had 3 30 strong orc units lined up like this:


30 Orcs - 30 Orcs - 30 Orcs

I moved my 2 sallys into this position on his flanks while my saurus and TG kept him preoccupied enough for him to hold his battleline ready for them:


Saurus - TG - Saurus

Sally - Orcs - Orcs - Orcs - Sally


Then providing you don't misfire, you are garrunteed to BBQ something regardless of how far the artillery dice sends it, BEAUTIFY.

Of 90 orcs, i was BBQ'ing about 15-20 a turn! Needless to say by the time my saurus and TG got into combat, he'd lost approx 40 orcs to sallies, my saurus had a field day against what remained!

As said by many, sallies REALLY ARE THAT GOOD!

The more the better.

Yours Aye

Mixer

 

[n810]

Mine allways tend to miss with the template, do little damage, or eat skinks.

 

[mixer86]

Mine did if i was shooting head on, thats why i always try and get down the flanks and shoot accross the width of the unit rather than it depth.

 

[Josh Ichimaru]

If you use salamanders correctly they can be deadly. Anything T3 or T4 with a high armour save im talking about:

* All sorts of elves, white lions, spearmen, blackguard etc etc
* Any type of human cavalry (Knights of the Realm etc)
* Pretty much any standard 20mm infantry through shear numbers


If you use them right and position them right due to being skirmishers and still able to move 6 and fire they are deadly. You gotta remeber that they are only 75 points so they may not be able to do the most damage they certain can for their points and every game never fail to make their points back.

This is absoulutley true it makes up for what skink skirmishers are bad at picking off, if you dont take these dont expect to take down any highly armoured units quickly with shooting.

 

[Batu]

Mine allways tend to miss with the template, do little damage, or eat skinks.

If you generally shoot with your sally from the correct distance it should be doing significant damage since there are NO partials. you want the end of the flame template about 6" from center mass of the unit. then you should be hitting center mass pretty much every time. unless it is a very small unit. then you would possibly miss only if you roll a 2.