Salamanders in Review, Part 3

I am back, with the third segment of my review of the Salamanders list! After a few days off from wargaming in general, getting back into the thick of it to crank out this article. In this portion I will be going over the monsters of the Salamanders list, and not going to lie this is the best part of the salamander list.  What you take in your unlocks can dramatically define the list, and gives you a lot of the utility that you'd need to win on the battlefields of Mantica. 

Grading Scale:

The grading scale isn't so much of a view of how effective that unit is compared to all units in the game, rather it's a scale of how justifiable are the points spent going to be on that unit.  These are also assuming a 2000 point or higher standard

It goes as follows:

A's - Units that should always be included in the list, either because there is no other option in it's role (Kaisenors fall in this category, due to the lack of other cavalry or speed options in faction), or because it is the best way to spend the points. 

B's - Units that are almost always gonna be good for return on investment, they are consistent, fulfill a role very well in the army, but you could have situations where another unit will be better. 

C's - Units that are more situational in where they excel, or perform a role already fulfilled by another unit that is a better choice. 

D's - Units that are very corner case in their application, or fulfill a role very poorly compared to other similar options. 

F's- Units that probably shouldn't be an option.  Either far too points inefficient or don't fulfill any conceivable role in the list.  As far as I'm aware there isn't an F unit in the game, that I've seen anyways.

+'s and -'s imply they're borderline between the two connecting grades, so a B+ unit is almost good enough to be basically an auto take, while a C- unit is a really tough argument that there isn't something in the list that could do what it does better.

Monsters in the Salamander list generally want to be taken in sets of 2 or 3, and that would be my suggestion for both of the cheap ones, and possibly the fire drake and greater fire elemental as well depending on list design. 

So without further ado, the first monster-

Lekelidon-

I wanted to start on a high note this article, but welcome to arguably the best shooting monster outside of a mind screech.  There really isn't anything this guy does particularly wrong, the stats are just solid for the points.  Usually I will set 2 of these on their own side, which lets them operate free of intervening models, and just omnom on chaff or throw really solid damage onto a unit.  Ra 3+ cannot be understated, being able to pivot and shoot on 4's, or if you can get into a strong firing position for a turn or two these guys will pay for themselves.  They are also cheap enough and fast enough to perform a marginal chaff role, screening for your hitty units while also throwin solid shots down field.  Even the CS1 can be utilized by this monster, I've had a few opportunities where my opponent ignores these as a threat in melee and goes for the bigger prizes, and adding 2-3 wounds on the flank is very real with them. 

Overall, this guy is an B+, he's extremely good but monster slots can be a rare commodity and there's an argument that komodons are becoming more valuable with the shifting meta.

Komodon-

The other shooting monster, and another one that is pretty good.  With the tournament scene changing over to a more scenario and objective based play style, a spawncamping artillery that can claim objectives has value for that alone.  Average rolls will see about 2 wounds against most targets, similar to the lekelidon, although the range increase can help a slower infantry based army by forcing the opponent to come towards you.  If you're taking Komodons you really want to take 3, 2 at the lowest just to force your opponent to think about them.  They are height 4, so they can see over top of most infantry, and I've had a lot of success using that to pick at war drums or dragons, or a big horde to be softened up by the time it arrives to my primes waiting arms.  Also the blast d3 applies to the melee attacks as well, which can come in handy because they will attract warmachine hunters attention. For pure points efficiency, the Lekelidon is going to be a better buy, but with the shift in events to pillage and invade styled missions, this guy has a ton of value.

Overall, this guy is a B+ in 2-3's, C at just 1

Greater Fire Elemental-

Well, he's pretty self explanatory.  If you're taking elementals and have surge already, you're probably taking one of these.  He has great potential if attacking in the flank, and hit hard.  Should expect 3-4 wounds a turn if your dice are kind, but really you want him for the ability to turn and pull shamble shenanigans.  He can make a decent purchase for armies without an elemental focus, just as a 4 wounds bump on any one combat you want, but with the surge support he can get really expensive for that and a slot.  Plus later the army gets a similar hero unit for cheaper that can do the 3-4 wounds game as well. 

Overall, He's a B in an elemental list, and a C otherwise

PS, if you don't play Temperature- Sean Paul at least once every event when your GFE charges, I am highly disappointed in the missed opportunity.

Like seriously, it was meant for this

Fire Drake-

(add vicious to the rules too, pulled the picture from the wrong easyarmy)

Go go overcosted breath attack.  190 points this unit is not worth, even with the vicious upgrade.  2 Lekelidons cost the same as one fire drake, and will have a better output on shooting with better range.  There really isn't anything this guy is going to add to your list that you can't get in a better form for cheaper or waay better for 45 points more.  He has very low nerve for his point value, and 8 attacks hitting on 4's with only cs1 and tc1 to back it up makes him a very poor GFE for 30 points more in melee.  If he cost the same as a GFE then there could at least be some discussion on do you want to go pure hitty with some breath attack for shambling stuff, or a lot of breath attack and some hitty, atm just avoid this guy and get another unit (Kaisenors jump out at his price point) or the hero version.

Overall, D+, he can still do work with Breath attack 16, but he's not really worth that price tag for his limited impact on the game.

Ankylodon Battle Platform-

One big mean mama, I really like this unit.  Much like Fire Drakes it has the sort of duality that pretty well defines the Salamander list, in just balance overall.  Unlike Fire Drakes I could actually see this unit performing a role that no other unit has, and doing it pretty well.  In melee it's just a GFE for 90 points extra, but what you're really paying for is the def 6 and Iron Resolve.  This guy is great at tanking loot counters, plopping on an objective and just saying try me, and being a pretty big pain in the butt for your opponent.  250 is a very steep price tag though, and I really wish this guy had something like rallying to kinda reinforce it's build around me points value.  Wouldn't directly buff it's performance but would enhance it's role capabilities.  The firebolt is a trap imo, this needs to be moving forward with you're army and adding 4-5 wounds and playing pretend tree herder to be getting it's points back, and the blowpipes will occasionally do a couple wounds when you need it too.  He doesn't fit into every list, but there are definitely times where he is a great selection and can shine in most every game if you play him smart.

Overall, he's going to get a range from C+ to B depending on the mission, because that defines what he does in the list an awful lot.

Conclusion

I am a pretty big fan of the monsters for Salamanders, they have a lot of potential and really give the army a lot of it's character.  I think because of how the game gets complex in play rather than list design, monsters/heroes/warmachines are a very nice area of design space where true differences between armies can be made, above and beyond the simple def 5+ anvils or militia hordes or cav regiments.  I don't think you can go particularly wrong with any of the monsters here, even the Fire Drakes can work under the right circumstances.

Heroes are up in the next and final part of my army review, and pretty excited to finish writing my first major series for this blog!  I got some ideas for Salamander specific talk, but if anyone has any suggestions for topics and articles, or wants to contribute their own articles I'd be more than happy to post them or at least write on topics I'm comfortable enough on.