For Holy Terra Because space is scary

Salamanders List Testing

You might have noticed I've been heavy on the Salamanders content lately.  One of the reasons I switched the blog name from Rage of Red Angels to For Holy Terra was that I realized about four months in that I have more than one army, and devoting the blog to just one of them was dumb, considering the way I paint.  And the way I paint is based on what I'm bringing to the next monthly tournament.

This month, it's Salamanders.  With two armies, I tend to alternate what I bring, and spend the time in between trying vainly to get all 2000 points painted.  This month, I'm actually going to do it!  I brought a list last night that needs touch-ups on one squad, but is otherwise completely painted and clear coated.

Here's the list:

HQ
Vulkan
Terminator Librarian with Storm Shield

Troops
Tac Squad 2, Sergeant with Combi-Melta and Power Fist, Flamer, Multi-Melta in Rhino with Extra Armour
Tac Squad 3, Sergeant with Combi-Melta and Power Fist, Meltagun, Multi-Melta
Scout Squad with Telion*, three Sniper Rifles and Missile Launcher
Scout Squad with four Sniper Rifles, Missile Launcher and Camo Cloaks

Elites
7 Assault Terminators with Thunder Hammers and Storm Shields

Fast Attack
Land Speeder Storm with Heavy Flamer and Multi-melta
Land Speeder Storm with Heavy Flamer and Multi-melta

Heavy Support
Land Raider Crusader with Multi-melta and Extra Armour
Land Raider Crusader with Multi-melta and Extra Armour

Exactly 2000 points.  Vulkan rides with Tac 3 in one of the Crusaders, and the Librarian rides with the Terminators in the other.
*Pictures and fluff for Telion (Honored-Sergeant Tel'Yan) forthcoming.

I played against Matt's Tau again last night and forgot the camera (and a saucepan to melt my dice in), so here's my take of woe in text format.  We rolled Capture and Control/Dawn of War.  I really hate Dawn of War, especially against a deep striking army.  I need to get better at it, and this match didn't help.

I infiltrated my Scouts in good shooting position, with  Telion's squad sitting on my objective and the other squad covering the far objective.  Matt (again) won the roll-off and gave me first turn.

Turn 1
I rolled on with everything.  The Land Speeders moved flat out and got into good position near the center of the board.  Terminator Crusader moved up just right of center, and Vulkan's Crusader moved up the left flank.  The Rhino moved into cover near the scouts.  To be fair, I should have deployed them on the other side near Telion to reinforce the objective, but I was hoping to concentrate on the weak side to move against the other objective and force the game away from mine.

Matt rolled on with a Hammerhead, Fire Warrior team and Broadsides.  Then, the shooting began.  Hammerhead couldn't see, but the Broadsides  managed to stun one Speeder and annihilate the other.  This would set the pattern for my save rolling.

Turn 2
I move the Crusaders further up.  Vulkan's moves 12, the other moves 6 to lay down fire.  The first takes out the Hammerhead with a multi-melta shot (outside of melta range!) .  The second manages to score no wounds on the Broadsides with 11 twin-linked shots.

Two Crisis suits jump in on my strong flank and start wrecking the place.  One destroys Vulkan's Crusader, the other blows up the Rhino in cover, which miraculously causes no wounds to anything inside or around it (the best rolling of the game for me). Flamer templates wreck the scouts and leave one alive and running. Two Piranha come in and immobilize the other Crusader and knock the Multi-melta off.

Turn 3
Terminators get out and head toward the Piranhas and jump on them, blowing both up (killing one of themselves in the process).  Vulkan and company jumped on a Crisis suit team, breaking and sweeping it from the board.  The remaining Land Speeder turns toward the squad that took out the Rhino and lays a heavy flamer on it while the Rhino squad lays a flamer, combi-melta shot and pistols into it, killing all but one Crisis suit.  The fail would then begin as 10 Marines with a combined 21 attacks (three with a fist) managed to score 1 wound on that suit, while it dealt one back.  10 Marines vs. 1 Tau, tied combat.

Broadsides fail to wound any Terminators, but Devilfish start advancing on Telion.  O'Shovah jumps in and ruins Vulkan's day, forcing him and his four remaining marines to run, and also taking out the other Land Speeder.  The lone Crisis suit manages to tie combat again, saving three and causing none himself.

Turn 4
Terminators maul the Piranha drones and Broadsides while Vulkan keeps running and shooting.  Telion proves incapable of stopping the Devilfish advance.  Rhino marines finally take down that damned Crisis suit and consolidate back into cover.

O'Shovah flamers the Rhino squad so bad that they break, and the other Crisis team whittles Vulkan's squad down to just Vulkan and the Multi-melta (and they continue to run).  Devilfish drones assault Telion through cover - Three Drones on three Scouts.  Scouts.  Lose.  Combat. Seriously, it was not my night. Still, they manage to hang around.

Turn 5
Terminators begin the slog toward the Fire Warriors.  Rhino squad runs off the board, and Vulkan moves a bit farther back and manages to not hurt the Crisis team in front of him.  Telion and his remaining scout manage to kill those pesky drones.  The remaining Crusader blows a Fire Warrior squad off the board with an assault cannon.

O'shovah jumps on Vulkan and they battle to a stand-still.  The other Fire Warriors jump on the far objective. One Devilfish tank-shocks Telion off the objective, then the other one shoots him, killing the other scout.

Continue roll comes up 1, and the game ends.  Matt controlled one objective and contested the other, while smearing me across the board.  Even if the game had gone to 7, it's doubtful that the Terminators would have come close enough to contest the far objective.

So, what to take from this?
1) Scouts are useful early in the game, but I'm not sure that 235 points is worth it.
2) The Librarian is useless against Tau.  Maybe if I'd been smart and taken Gate of Infinity like I was originally planning, the game might have been a draw, but for 140 points, what did I really get?  Not a single kill.
3) Matt suggested that I was wrapping too many points up in the Terminators, and I agree.  Going from seven to five isn't losing a lot except 80 points.

If I drop one scout squad, the Librarian, and two Terminators, I free up 320 points.  I'm thinking of adding a quick-strike Sternguard squad in a drop pod, and maybe a 5-man Tac squad in a pod to come in on Turn 1 instead of the Sternguard.  I'd need to free up another 30 points for that, though and it would run my kill points up higher than I'd like.  A little bit of juggling is in order.