Hello readers, I bring you another guest article, written by Pat Zoro Allen, talking about why you should play Salamanders!
If you are looking for a full army review you can find it here.
All the other army introductions can be found here.
Fire! Dinosaur Pirates! Dinosaurs riding dinosaurs!
The first and foremost reason I chose to play Salamanders is that the idea of dinosaurs riding dinosaurs is awesome. Originally a port from the now-defunct Warhammer Fantasy Battles, Mantic took the race of amphibian/reptile folk in the Forces of Nature and expanded them to a fully-fledged army. Now they’ve got their own history and lore and bring their own flavor to Kings of War. The Salamanders are a coalition of different races, all of whom are vaguely reptilian so far. In the middle of the Infant Sea, this is an Island Kingdom and thus in the lore have a strong naval presence which is represented in their legendary hero Firebrand and her Corsairs. They utilize a combined arms approach with both light, and heavy infantry, a good variety of small arms fire, a host of fiery elementals, several cavalry options, and a plethora of monster and titan options.
Utility Units
Many of the Salamander units do multiple things well. Ceremonial Guard combines defense 5, phalanx, and crushing strength into a good all-round unit. Similarly, their Corsairs fight as well as they shoot, while all of their monsters and titans have a shooting attack while still packing some sort of threat in combat. The downside to this is most of your units are quite expensive because of this. This is not to say that they are all jack of all trades, master of none though.
The Corsairs are the best firebolt unit in the game, much of that due to their high-for-ranged-troops defense of 4. Our dragon has a higher ranged attack than most but still packs a melee punch (albeit in a non-traditional fashion compared to other dragons). Ceremonial Guard and Ancients combine offense and defense while still being good at both. None of our units may be as efficient as specialized units in other armies, but they all feel worth their premium.
The War of Attrition
Salamanders can play the attrition build very well, and more importantly in several ways.
They have some of the cheapest unlocking units in the game in Ghekkotah which allows you to flood the board in a goblin-esque manner, but instead of relying on silly little war engines to do damage we use Ghekkotah to unlock mighty monsters such as the Fire Drake, the Ghekkotah Slasher, or we just strap war machines to the backs of monsters like the Komodon and the Lekelidon.
They can grind in the anvil way with walls of defense 5 and 6 units backed up by impressive, flame-fueled healing in mage priests and phoenixes. Between Ceremonial Guard, Primes, Ancients, and the various fire units, there’s a good number of beefy high-defense units that can out grind most enemies.
The Flame War
If you like to participate in some Surgenanigans™ the combination of Ember Sprites, Fire Elementals, and Mage Priests have you covered. They all share the flamebound keyword and the Mage Priests have inspiring (Flamebound) while also getting rerolling 1’s on any spell dice while within 6” of a flamebound unit.
Flamebound armies can still have speed while keeping in theme: Scorchwings, Ghekkotah Skylords on Scorchwings, and Phoenixes all sharing the Flamebound keyword as well. This provides some much-needed mobility and board presence to what’s traditionally a slower army archetype. All of those units also have ranged attacks to allow you double-tap units with a shoot and surge combo.
Way of the Alpha
What if you feel the need to crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentation of their women? The Sallies have you covered.
Salamanders boast two different berserker type units: the cheap and efficient Salamander Unblooded and the freight train Tyrants. They combine high numbers of attacks with wild charge to get your frenzy on.
If you prefer to ride down your enemies then the Kaisenor Lancers and the Ancients on Rhinosaurs may be more your style. The Lancers provide an efficient shock cavalry options while the Rhinosaurs are your big line-breakers who’s beefy, fearless, nerve allows them to take a punch.
Salamanders have a number of units that can support the alpha strike. For chaff options, we have the pathfinding Ghekkotah Warriors, the scouting Ember Sprites, or the speedy Scorchwings. The Battle Captain is a great interruptor with above-average crushing strength, but also has the unique Path of Fire aura, granting pathfinder to all heavy infantry units with 6”. The Battle Captain on Rhinosaur, Fire Drake, Clan Lord On Fire Drake, and Clan Lords are great support combat heroes while the Mage Priest and Phoenix provide great support.
And a bottle of Rum
If you want ranged superiority over the foe, the Salamanders can provide that with Lekelidons, Komodons, Fire Drakes, Greater Fire Elementals, Ember Sprites, Ghekkotah Hunters and Slashers, Scorchwings, Clutch Wardens, Artakl, and my personal favorite: Corsairs and Firebrand. While Salamanders don’t have any regular units with ranged options, they do have a plethora of choices when it comes to figuring out how to kill your enemy from a distance.
Combined Arms and Variety
Most likely you will combine multiple aspects to create a combined arms army.
One of my favorites is to use the old pike and shot strategy, move up to the middle of the board with ranged and melee infantry, and use your firepower to force the enemy to engage. Ceremonial Guard, Lekelidons, and Corsairs make a great core for this type, with Scorchwings acting similar to how dragoons would act in historical battles. Creating the classic hammer and anvil style army gives you plenty of options in both your hammers and your anvils.
The biggest problem you may have as a Salamander general, in fact, will be trying to fit everything into a list!
