Since I don’t seem to have anything to write about, I think I’ll bore all of you, by wittering on about little plastic men again. And by “all of you”, I mean the janitor cleaning the floors of the empty concert hall I appear to be projecting into. Never mind.
But yeah, if you’ve come here by some miracle of Goggle pointing you here, and you actually want to learn about the new Space Marine Codex, halfway there, old bean. As most good Warhammer nerds should know, the new Space Marine Codex is out next Saturday, along with a bunch of new models, none of which I intend to buy. Except maybe the new Land Raider with flamethrower sponsons. And there’s a very good reason.
While I’ve powered through at least three Fantasy armies in my time, in 40K I’ve always stuck with my beloved Salamanders Space Marines. Green armoured, tribal-African* warriors who aren’t particularly swift, but love burning people with many, many flamers/meltas. Also, having their own armylist in Codex: Armageddon. Something just clicked, and I’ve been hooked ever since.
*I know I’m not alone in thinking African-American is a ridiculous term for people of a black persuasion. What if they’re not from America? And are they necessarily African? Its a very silly word used by people who are afraid they’re going to be killed/sued if they call someone black. Anyway.
Then 4th edition swung round. Byebye special rules for Salamanders, replaced by a few Chapter Traits that worked fine enough for me, mainly because I could then take lightning claws again. New Techmarine, new plastic Terminators, improved colour scheme.
Then 5th edition came out, and I acquired a copy of the new Codex. No, its not paper, but it is perfectly legal, of course. And now I’m telling you what the Salamanders have got out of it.
In terms of fluff, they’re sorted. References to them appear all over the place, including hints at their own make of Land Raider. Its all good, coupled with the fact that they’re getting some books written about them by Nick Kyme, former White Dwarfer. By the looks of it, he’s going to do a bloody good job of it too.
The big problem is that Games Workshop seem to have gone a bit funny with the whole “black” thing. Instead of “whatever-word-I-should-use-instead-African-American-now black”, they’re thinking “literally black”. Apparently, “they were always supposed to be jet black with red eyes”. And maybe they were, back in the days of Rogue Trader, when games were played in black and white, but there would be a good reason to get rid of it: it doesn’t make a shred of goddamn sense. Plus, now all my helmetless marines look like I haven’t painted them properly, which is bad, because coupled with the fact that I haven’t painted them properly makes me look even lazier.
Quite a few new special characters in this book as well, including more bloody Ultramarines (I think they’re trying to force people to play them, because, lets be honest, no one wants to). But the Sallies get a new guy*, bringing in a healthy new dose of fluff. Forgefather Vulkan He’stan, former 4th Company Commander, is the latest Forgefather, a title given to whichever lucky/poor sod is sent roaming the galaxy, looking for the nine technological artefacts their Primach, Vulkan, left all over the galaxy. While a wonderful piece of fluff, it does raise some problems, in that as far as I can tell, Vulkan was supposed to have been killed at the Istvaan Massacre.
*Don’t know why they didn’t just bring back Chaplain Xavier. They actually made a damn model for him, it makes much more sense on considering it. We need that Xavier model! We need Salamander mantles so we can convert our characters! Although that wouldn’t work, considering Games Workshop got rid of their bitz service. Brilliant way to alienate your fanbase there. And why am I doing all these things with asterixes this week?
Coupled with that, how are you supposed to scatter everythig from spears to orbital defense lasers throughout the galaxy without being noticed? If you’re the godlike commander of one of the Emperors Space Marine Legions, you can’t go around hiding things around everywhere without people asking questions. And this is difficult enough with small things like He’stans equipment – a kickass spear, a heavy flamer gauntlet, and an awesome salamander cloak. These are small and easily hideable. The other two artefacts that have been found were a giant forgeship and a giant orbital defense laser. How do you hide one of those? They’re about as big as the moon! You can’t just put a tarp on it and hope nobody notices for ten thousand years!
Inconsistancies aside, He’stan is an awesome warrior, but his inclusion gives Salamanders specialist weapons a boost – all thunder hammers are master crafted, all flamer/melta weapons become twin linked. A very characterful rule which would encourage you to play in a fluff-based way – if they hadn’t buggerd up the special weapons.
Yes, without Chapter Traits anymore, Salamanders can no longer take two flamers in a unit. This completly fucking blows, because I have umpteen flamers, and now I can’t use them. You can still have a meltagun/multimelta in a unit, but that wasn’t something I did very often (not having plastic melta weapons when I assembled my army). Small compensation in that as a nod to the fluff, you can have two flamers – or even heavy flamers – in a Sternguard Veteran squad. Sadly not good enough, but now meaning that in order to have an army that plays in a Salamandery way, I have to take He’stan. Which isn’t good, as my army is themed around the 3rd Company, not around some guys wandering round looking for a kickass hammer, or a pimped out tank, or whatever the last four artefacts are.
Cool thought I’ve just had, and I don’t want you lot stealing (“What lot? Who are you talking to?” hollers the janitor). I might take He’stan, but model him as an Emperors Champion (a la Black Templars, only not in this case). Makes some sense.
So overall, the Salamanders are a lot more fluffed out, but in-game, they kinda suck unless you take a special character every game. I’ve been writing this article for an hour now. Byebye already.
i would be forced to disagree about hiding the items. firstly the galaxy is a big place and so you could hide anything. secondly, you could probably hide the moon on the earth so long as no-one looked.
Comment by jesus — October 7, 2008 @ 9:59 pm
Lets use an analogy to explain my point here. Imagine you were visiting a small hick town in rural America, and you saw President Bush hiding a tank the size of a city block behind a small hill. He’s extremly well known, its a huge tank, and its a small town. You think that a small number of people might ask what’s going on, because its extremly odd.
Comment by Chyld — October 8, 2008 @ 10:20 pm
I been playin salamanders for 8 years and cos of the new jet black skin/red eyes thing some people have been telling me ive painted them badly and that i should change them
Comment by Ulfnar — October 24, 2008 @ 8:36 pm
Well here is my 2cents. The sallies get screwed every time they come out with a new edition to the rules. Took away the mantles which everyone has now. We don’t get cheaper termies anymore. And the skin color has gotten absurd now jet black with demonic features. Next they will say yes they turned chaos. I was happy with I3 but they should have been strength 5 since the fluff said they had more muscle density then other chapters. And twin liked melt guns sounds good but they aint giving us 2 in a sqd now are they. Give me back my flamers, mantle, and my cheaper terminators. So I can go back to burning swaths of the emperor’s enemies.
Comment by cmdr-velik — October 27, 2008 @ 2:59 am
sallies are a kick ass chapter, but yeah fucked up skin and no more flamers by the mile. its all screwed up now.
Comment by (not here) — October 28, 2008 @ 1:55 am
are you joking or what?
ok, you cant have 2 flamer per squad, but the one you get its FREE as is the multimelta…
c’m on! It’s just wonderful!
I was thinking to start a salamander army, and this new ‘dex finally convinced me!
by the way, you’re right on the skin problem… but I’ll just paint them as black (meaning really tanned/africans) and punch in the face the first kid who says i’m wrong
Comment by LT. KAGE — November 9, 2008 @ 9:31 pm
The odd thing about the armageddon codex, in saying that due to their heavy gravity on nocturne they cant move as fast on other worlds (thus I3) but shouldnt they move faster since its a relief of lower gravity then what they are used too. Kinda like strength training with 40lbs on your back, then you take it off and you move even faster.
But the black skin of a salamander has pissed me off, im not stripping the varnish off of my modles just so i can slap some black because a person has a problem with my models and the new fluff. Caucasion salamanders is a testament to how long we’ve been playing the game.
Comment by Skirk — January 14, 2009 @ 2:45 pm
Just so you know Vulkan did Not die At the Istvan Massacre. The Horous heresy books (after the first 3) were all down hill. Now while in the book he did “Yell and then turn into a mushroom cloud” or something like that I figure it was some sort of Teleportation devise that was also a defencive weapon. Fluff states that he was around after the heresy to argue about weather the legions should be split into chapters. While the splitting into chapters didint really matter to them (they were excedingly understrenghth already) I Belive it is beacuse he wanted to get his legion back up to strenght without fukcing things up like Corax did (leader of the Raven gaurd) Vulkan was supposed to dissapear 1000 years after the heresy… by himself? Im not sure how that one works. even leman russ took a company with him. Perhaps he hid the objects in that 1000 years before he dissapeared.
Comment by James Sanchez — February 20, 2009 @ 5:24 pm
[quote]due to their heavy gravity on nocturne they cant move as fast on other worlds (thus I3) but shouldnt they move faster since its a relief of lower gravity then what they are used too[/quote]
The lowered initiative was because the higher gravity did not allow them to react as quickly while they trained. Over time this affected their gene seed, as the implants which boosted reaction times became less affective.
Yes, they were physically stronger (but not significantly enough for S5 or a specific mention) but there trained reflexes were closer to a guardsman than a non-salamanders trained marine.
Initiative is a matter of reflexes and reactions, rather than speed of motion.
Comment by David Ryan — February 21, 2009 @ 12:07 pm
hi my name is cassy and i like salamanders and i
came to this website because i caught a salamander
and i was wondering if they need lots of space do they?
Comment by cassy — May 30, 2009 @ 7:23 pm
Hi cassy, unfortunately you’ve come to a website that’s talking about wargames, and not lizard keeping. I couldn’t tell you how much space actual salamanders need to live in. Keep looking!
Comment by Chyld — June 2, 2009 @ 11:56 pm
i ve been playing salamanders for a few years now and i think the new rules are a load of crap . i like to feild lots of flamers for dealing with my regular opponent (nids) ,its like the fluff dont want us to have personalised armies anymore.coz of the new rules i have rediscovered my love of orks and am continuing work on my waagh gazhkull army.
p.s i painted my guys as blacks is it wrong now?
Comment by GAZKUL — July 7, 2009 @ 9:58 pm
I frankly find it moronic that a seasoned warrior would just take off his helmet. YOU NEED THAT THING. Hence my Salamanders all have helmets and I do not have to worry about such silly things as skin color. I find all this controversy over skin color absolutely hilarious.
Comment by Fritz — July 27, 2009 @ 4:02 am
Ok i stubled upon this site while being bored here at work and i will say this much…
1. Salmaders in the old days were what i call a situational army not much diversity today they have more diversity the Space Mrines are one of the most diverse armies right next to the tyranids.
2. Flamers suck i never you use them i haven’t been playin Salamanders very long but i have been playing sisters for years(i started playin 40k back in 2nd) and i still rather have meltas more than flamers. Flamers are only good when you have a fast army vs. a toughness 3 army aginst most armies this just simply doesn’t work very well. You only field what you need you must know your enemy. If i fight a Ork horde or Nid horde im gonna bring the flame, but Chaos Marines meltas only.
3. The boltgun no one seems to understand the value of this weapon. The the bolters you bring the more fire u spray at your enemy. I can put bolter fire out and kill more than with flamers in the first place template weapons are over rated.
4. The jet black skin makes perfect sense they come from a very dark and hot planet. Living beings adjust to there climate, hence look at the night lords very dark dank climate therefore they can see perfectly in the dark and have extremly pale skin. Salamanders come from a very volcanic nasty climate. I personally like the look better than before it adds a lil more to the whole angels of death theme of the Marines
Comment by Keith — July 28, 2009 @ 3:48 pm
iv always like the salamanders chapter, I have had them since 2nd ed, back when every maine in a salamander in the squad could have a flamer instaed of his bolter for 9 pts, and multi meltas had a 2″ blast marker!. So yea thay vulkans boy have been nerthed, but then every army has been simplified over the years for good or ill. I mean im still unhappy that you cant throw grenades any more, ever since 2nd ed domise, ie. All grenades used to be frown 10″ by a marine back then, but now thay dont even explode! its like lobbing a brick at a window to keep the foes head down thand punching them in the head for beeing so gulible!
Comment by dobbo — September 29, 2009 @ 9:24 am
salamanders have always been the best marines out there. i have only collected them since beginning of 4th edition but i have read everthing i can find about them. i think that if gw are going to have a list for them in codex:armagenden then they should have their own codex. i mean look at the new 5th edition space marine codex, that is pretty much the ultramarines codex(heritics). the dark angels, blood angels, space wolves and even the black templars(NOT A FIRST FOUNDING) all the have their own codex. so thats 4 first founding chapters with codex why not the others?
on the subject of skin colour, the salamanders where probly white during the horus heresy. the marines then werent from nocturne homeplanet, therefore arent gunna be black. now years later and after the istovan masicar the chapter is down to less than 1000 recruits and 10,000 years later they are now recruited from nocturnes 7 settlements and thats it. the people of nocturne are black therefore so are the marines. so white or black it dont ma
Comment by ben — November 8, 2009 @ 1:32 pm
Um ben you really need to go back and read your fluff, Index Astartes IV, about a little contest between Vulkan and the Emperor on…jeez what was the name of that planet…oh yeah… NOCTURNE!!!
Comment by Andrew — November 19, 2009 @ 6:26 am
i believe the point ben was trying to make is that the original 10000 marines of the salamanders chapter could have been white due to the emporer making them from the geneseed stock back on terra. Andrew you say that he must go back and read his fluff. i believe this is not the case. When the emporer came to nocturne and competed with Vulkan in the three trials (smithing, anvil pressing and of course hunting) he already had the chapter waiting in th wings for vulkan to lead it. He then made noctourne their base of opperations and the recruiting began from the settlements.
this would mean that although the salamanders are now balck, due to the world from which they originate, the first batch could have been a diversity of colours.
i believe this is what ben was trying to say mate but i can see how that can confuse as its not obvious in the fluff.
ive now been playing Salamanders for 8 years and to be honest i think the new codex is a step up from the last. Ok it will never rival codex: Armageddon but from the last onr i think it is better. ok we can no loger take 2 flamers or melta guns. but we now dont pay for the flamers and it costs only 5pts for a melta. ok we dont get 2 of each but the points you save on this stuff will allow you to take more stuff. i know wen my army cut down it allowed me another squad of attack bike with multi meltas. as was stated earlier the more u have the harder you hit them.
Comment by Andy — November 19, 2009 @ 5:03 pm
yea thanks andy thats exactly what i was trying to mean. so if you got confused andrew. i try and go with the fluff in my army so i have 1 squadron of speeders and 1 of bikes.
Comment by ben — January 9, 2010 @ 10:44 pm
Hi ya’all!
i’ve just read this article, and it’s a relief for me just to know i’m not the only one that thinks gw is pretty much forgetting about our beloved Salamanders!
and i agree that the Sallies should get there own codex, they have a right to it! and a few more special charracters/units. ’cause a lot of the better known marine army’s all have there own uniqe unit [eg. sword brethern, death company, tyranid hunters, special ravenwing moddels, and not to forget the all the space wolves shit]. but even more gw should make an Sallies upgradepack, like most other “well known” chapters have/get. something with sallies special weapons, pouldrons, claocks, etc.
specialy ’cause even forgeworld doesn’t sell much sallies stuff.
about the skincolor, i agree with Ben. and besides, you can paint them with every skincolor you want, and if someone doesn’t agree with it, it’s there problem, not yours
well, i think thats about what i wanted to say…
Comment by Doomsday General — January 19, 2010 @ 4:05 pm
the new codex is good for salamanders especialy vulcans rule .Salamanders do need there own squad me thinks full flamers would be good
Comment by callum — February 19, 2010 @ 5:37 pm
i agree, i wish GW would publish a codex for the sallies or atleast create a massive chapter upgrade pack, with bucket loads of bits….crimson fists have one, black templars and dark angeles also too…..i’ve created my own chapter bearing the ignography of the sallies and they hate the tyranids……i think alot of flamers, melta and heavy bolter weponary is a must
Comment by jr_grizzly — February 22, 2010 @ 2:23 am
also….is they do bring a codex out for the sallies….they sure as hell should make them exactlt how they should…..personally as a space marines player, i feel vetrens of all kinds ( vangaurd, sterngaurds, terminators and command squads ) are weak given their stats, and also i think chapter masters and captains arent that powerful…..they need to be more diverse as theyare always said to be etc…just a personal view
Comment by jr_grizzly — February 22, 2010 @ 2:27 am
Fluffy.
Anyways, Salamanders kick ass against ‘Nids.
You could hide a giant technological relic somewhere near Prometheus or Nocturne, because “the last place anyone would think to look is right under their own nose” as a wise man once said. Well, either him or our neighbourhood Hobo.
Comment by VuLKaN — August 20, 2010 @ 8:04 pm