40k Army: Salamanders 4th Company Detachment

[Major Rawne]

Mmmmm they look good enough to eat.

[Xisor]

My 4th Company got two outings this weekend: one on Friday against Maugan Ra's Imperial Guard (wherein I was solidly beaten on a massive and massively cool megacityfight board at WHW) and one on Sunday against Jeffrey Preston's excellent Blood Ravens (where I managed to eke out a win).

Here's some shots from the end of the latter match:

That's the remains of seventh company being ready to pounce on an objective whilst the Firedrakes (led by Vulkan) and support by 4th Company Dreadnought Fermat (out of sight behind the building the Scouts are at.)

Firedrakes (the Abortionists) & seventh company scouts advancing on the central objective, with the Blood Ravens command squad in the distance on the rightmost objective.


A view of the field from Argos' position with part of the company's 3rd Squad Devastators.


Blood Ravens Tactical Squad advances to close-range firefight with the Firedrakes and Dreadnought Fermat to support their command squad.


Fermat, Vulkan, the Talons of the Night and the 7thC Scouts move into position on the objective, ready to continue taking the fight to the Blood Ravens! (Dreadnought Kla'tu in the distance, with the Abortionists, just poking out above Fermat)


3rd Squad Devastators (split into combat squads) with Kla'tu & Argos in the dominating fire support position. (Argos' conversion beamer was very potent, but somewhat unreliable!) 3rdS's Plasma Cannoneer managed to kill himself with his first shot.


Fermat sights the Blood Ravens tactical squad.


Fermat, Vulkan & the Talons of the Night (who'd recently killed a Librarian & an Assault Squad. Librarian almost killed Vulkan [but had used his psychic power to charge, so only did a wound], and in revenge Vulkan clobbered him royally. And the 10-man Assault Squad. And the tactical squad who'd came along nearby.) In the background can be seen Jeff's whirlwind (dealt with early on by Kla'tu) and his dreadnought (taken by Argos over two turns) which, along with a Tactical Squad & Sternguard had put the boot into my other scouts and my terminators.


And as a special treat, here's the Salamanders Bookshelves/Display Stands and a lovely big version of the Wrath of Iron cover.

[Major Rawne]

Victory. Death to the assault squad.

[Colonel Mustard]

Once again I find myself impressed by how damn good looking those Sallies are. Nice action shot with the dreadnought, by the way.

[Jeff_Preston]

Frank/ Xisor was a fine opponent and proper gentlemanly player. The Blood Raven 5th Company failed to capture the objectives from the heretics (at least they looked like heretics, but maybe it was all a trick of Tzeentch.

[Major Rawne]

Frank/ Xisor was a fine opponent and proper gentlemanly player. The Blood Raven 5th Company failed to capture the objectives from the heretics (at least they looked like heretics, but maybe it was all a trick of Tzeentch.

Next time the glory of the Blood Ravens will shine through.

[revelation]

Really awesome Salamanders. I'd be happy if my project went even half as well. I give you props for hand painting the flames.

How many layers of color did you use for the armor btw? Just from looking at the photos it seems like base, a highlight, then edge highlights?

[revelation]

Xisor,

4th Company might need one of these.

[revelation]

Not feelin the Storm Eagle eh?

Personally I think its pretty awesome. I really like that they've finally offered a smaller gunship for all SM Chapters.

I'll eventually get one I think.

[Xisor]

I like it. A lot.

The main trouble with the Storm Raven (as I'm sure everyone's thought) is the silly turret. Everyone likes a twin-lascannon turret, but on the model it just looks plain silly and really disrupts the look of the model. This Storm Eagle, however, it looks the part. Perhaps slightly bland, actually, but then big aircraft do have that tendency. I like it though. Hell, I'd go so far as to say I like it more than the Storm Raven - it looks more...sensible, even the hold & things.

(Dropping Dreadnoughts? Tut tut!)

If I could only come into a substantial fortune some time soon...some of the new (old) pattern Terminators, a Lander Raider or three and a wee gunship or two would do very nicely indeed...

[revelation]

I have to agree that the Stormeagle does look a little more balanced and sensible than the Stormraven. When they first released the Stormraven as a Blood Angels and Grey Knight only gunship it bothered me a little, but this definitely makes up for it.

I think the Thunderhawk is still my favorite, but it makes absolute sense that a Space Marine company would need a smaller more agile support gunship like the Stormraven or Stormeagle. So I'm glad to see both additions.

Actually I'd like to see the bottom/back portion of the Stormeagle in order to confirm that it has the same Dreadnought carrying capability as a Stormraven. I'm assuming it does though.

[revelation]

I don't see any evidence that the Stormeagle has the same dreadnought carrying capability of a Stormraven. It just seems to have 2 exit ramps, front and back. Hmmm...that's a bit odd.

[Xisor]

Yep, the exp rules make it sound very much like a small Thunderhawk rather than a 'slightly different' Storm Raven. Carrying capacity of 20. Which is rather fitting. I'd be happy if Storm Ravens make appearances beyond BA/GKs; the lore for them being restricted access seems somewhat...convoluted. More common, perhaps, but it does feel very much like 'making them special' as opposed to a sensible decree.

Could be wrong, o'course.

[Xisor]

Evening all! (Hohoho, it's mid-morning! )

I'm at it again. Being poor as I am, I may have secured 'holiday spirit' access to a possible purchase from GW. (I've been explicitly instructed to acquire something not-sensible, e.g. indulgent and disproportionate for my situation.)

So, my thinking is this:
- Dark Vengeance
- Box of Skinks.

This will allow me, cheerfully (&, shh, sensibly!), to acquire:
- 10 Tactical Marines
- 5 normal Terminators
- 3 Bikers
- Librarian
- Captain

Taking this line, my thinking is to use the box of skink's shields to cover-up most of the Dark Angels paraphernalia and iconography that can't be re-purposed into flames. (Fortunately, the bulk of the wings and such can be painted sufficiently to 'look the part'.)

The skink-sized shields should be small enough to sit 'atop' a shoulder-pad whilst anything else getting in the way can be snipped or filed away.

Moreover, I'll have some Chaos Cultists to add my hodge-podge, Cityfighitng Imperial Guard army!

---

Alternative purchases include:
The Devastators
- Box of Devastators
- Box of Dark Angels veterans
- Black Templars upgrade sprue
- Box of Chaos Space Marines

Mix'n'match them all together into two nice, big & chunky Devastator squads, now with lots of armour variation and eclecticness.

The Burning Skies
- Box of Sanguinary Guard
- Box of Death Company
- Box of Raptors/Warp Talons

Mix-and-match to give fifteen more jump-pack-toting Salamanders in frankly fabulous arrays of armour.

The smallest expenditure on my part would be the fifteen assault marines, and probably the biggest addition of 'bits' too. The most economical for the 'increase' in my army (well, armies) is, surely, the Dark Vengeance set. The most moderate, then would be two massive squads of Devastators, as you do.

Any thoughts or input?

Edit: My army has a shocking lack of tanks. I could ignore the 'fun' of all of the above and spend the money more pragmatically still: three or four boxes of Rhinos or Drop Pods (or two Land Raiders, for my Terminators, of course) would certainly make them playable!

[Mossy Toes]

I'd say go with the tanks, really. A Drop Pod, 2 Rhinos, and a Razorback—or something in that vein.

[Xisor]

I'd say go with the tanks, really. A Drop Pod, 2 Rhinos, and a Razorback—or something in that vein.

Too late!







(Though I was very sorely tempted by some vehicles - I stood gazing at a Land Raider for a good ten minutes.)

[Mossy Toes]

No regrets! With such beautiful models...

[Xisor]

Well, that was something of an epic three or four hour building session!

Fifteen Devastators assembled - pics likely in the new year once I get a box of DA Veterans (they'd sold out on Saturday) and build the remaining five.


Two Devastator Squads - Possibly one each being 'on loan' from the Fifth and Sixth companies
As they stand:
1 Veteran* Sergeant Onehorn with combi-melta (actually bolter and separate inferno pistol )
2 Plasma Cannon Devastators
2 Lascannon Devastators
1 Heavy Bolter Devastator
1 Multimelta Devastator
8 Devastators with Bolters

Once I get my grubby paws on the DA Vets, I think I'll build up:
1 Veteran** Sergeant with combi-melta
1 Heavy Bolter Devastator (mixing DA Vet with CSM Heavy Bolter)
1 Missile Launcher Devastator
2 Devastators with Bolters.

That should boil down into:
10 Devs: Serg w/Combi-melta, 2 Lascannons, ML & MM. Combat squads: 5+MM+VSrg, 5+2LL+ML
10 Devs: Serg w/Combi-melta, 2 Plasma Cannons, 2 HBs. Combat squads: 5+2PCs+VSrg, 5+2HBs

And that, I think, should be rather fun.

Assault Marines

As the bikes are a bit...under strength (and worse: two are still painted brightly in old Space Wolf colours! ), they're likely being relegated to stay in the bits box for a long, long while.

In their place, however, is their reincarnation as non-bikers! That is: as proper assault marines!

What's better, of course, is that as the Salamanders are both over-strength (at the company level) and under-strength (at the chapter level), I have no qualms about allowing some of the 'line' units (e.g. Battle Company squads) to masquerade as Stormguard or Vanguard Veterans! With twelve squads (plus auxiliary bits) to a company, and most Salamanders having done the Assault Squad tango (in my mind) during their term in the Reserve Companies, then the Assault Squads of the Battle Company might well be the place to be for anyone with a pressing fixation for hitting things.

In that light: All five of the bikers plus the five original assault marines will see a promotion (hooray!) to Vanguard Veteran status as follows:

Veteran Sergeant*** - Thunder Hammer
9 Vanguard Veterans - 2 Power Swords, 2 Power Fists, 2 Plasma Pistols

---

Anyway, more photos and whatnot to follow... sometime!


* As in I put some Terminator Honours on one of his pads and gave him a lovely firedrake-pelt cloak! He also uses the 'Nurgle' CSM helmet, with one horn and three eyes. As a Devastator Sergeant, plus the 'big' Dev Serg backpack, that works well enough for me as a Signum. And for cleanness, I snipped off the 'droopy' bits on the horn too.
** Same format as Onehorn, but this time with a different helm, probably one of the DA ones or an helmet-less Blood Angel and, most likely, the 'daemonic' backpack from the CSM sprue.
*** Not first company veterans this time.

[Xisor]

Fifth Company, Eighth Tactical Squad & Sixth Company, First Devastator Squad




















Combat Squad #1
Combat Squad #2
Combat Squad #3
Combat Squad #4

Oh my yes, I rather look forward to painting these, to making them look like something more than some idiot had a few too many spare-bits lying about...

[Xisor]

Some painting has been done. I took most of my inspiration from the Aurora Marines in the modern painting guide, seeing them as basically a 'Salamanders all over' colour scheme, much brighter and much... green-er. My Salamanders, as you might notice, are heavy on the black-and-gold elements, as well as the green and the flames.

The GW manager, when asked about it, pretty much said that for most purposes, the Aurora Marines scheme is the same as the Salamanders, just with the details varied and the addition of flames to... everything and anything.

I did, however, unwittingly make something of a mistake: I picked up camoshade green as the base rather than orkhide (or whatever it's called). In doing so, I inadvertently had to base my Salamanders in the same manner as the image and graphics produced by Forgeworld suggest: much darker, drabber and more olive-coloured than their brighter incarnations we normally see.

These are very much WIP: they've been sprayed, based with camoshade, shaded with... whatever the odd green shade is and then had a bit of a layer of Warpglow Green added on top. They're not completely layered (as I quickly realised I was ruining my detail brush by continuing to do massive armour plates with it... bad, Xisor!), but I think they're edging towards giving the right idea of where they're going. Also, even with a splash of colour, they're quickly looking more like Salamanders and less like some idiot has run amok with a some Dark Angels and Chaos sprues...