Salamanders

"Into the fires of battle, unto the anvil of war!"

Battlecry of the Salamanders

Whenever you hear about Salamanders these days, you hear about Vulkan He'stan.  He is the current Forgefather for the Chapter, charged with finding the lost relics of his Primarch.  Being one of the First Founding Chapters, the Salamanders have served the Emperor with distinction for thousands of years.  They are known for their artisan craftsmanship and their use of heat-based weapons.  This should be no surprise as their homeworld of Nocturne is ridden with volcanic fire and violent radiation.  Weapons such as Flamers and Meltaguns are all commonly seen on the battlefield when the Salamanders are present.  Even Thunderhammers are expertly designed and perfectly balanced; fitting for the forge-born warriors of Nocturne.  By taking the Vulkan He'stan to battle, Space Marine players can truly enjoy the gifts of the forgefather.

Vulkan He'stan trades Chapter Tactics for something truly remarkable.  He makes all your fire-based weapons such as Flamers, Heavy Flamers, Meltaguns and Multi-meltas twin-linked.  Vulkan also makes all your Thunderhammers master-crafted.  The forgfather himself has Captain stats and has a 2+/3++ armor/invulnerable save.  He also comes with a MC Relic Blade (S6) and a built-in Heavy Flamer as well.  Because of this army-wide buff that Vulkan provides, Space Marine players can quickly take advantage of the most destructive weapons of mankind and use them with greater effect than other Marine Chapters.

With that in mind, it's not too difficult to construct a list that can take advantage of these bonuses and keep to the theme of the Salamanders Chapter.  The list below is the list that I constructed at 1750 points:

1750

Salamanders

HQ:

Vulkan He'stan = 190

TROOP:

10x Tacticals (Rhino, PF, Meltagun, MM) = 235

10x Tacticals (Rhino, PF, Meltagun, MM) = 235

10x Tacticals (Rhino, PF, Meltagun, MM) = 235

FA:

3x Land Speeders (MM/HF) = 210

ELITE:

Ironclad (Drop Pod, HF, IAL) = 195

5x TH/SS Terminators (LRR w/ MM) = 450

The list I have here is pretty cookie-cutter.  I take advantage of all the flamer and melta tech that I can while keeping the entire army mobile and aggressive.  Vulkan and his bodyguard of 5x TH/SS Terminators rides in a fluffy Redeemer w/ MM while the rest of the army pushes up next to it.  The 3 squads of 10x Tacticals in Rhinos carry Meltaguns/MM for anti-armor, but you can easily replace the meltaguns with flamers for an anti-horde metagame.  This would buy you the points to take a LRC as well, except I think S6 AP3 flamers are pretty fluffy for Salamanders.  Keep in mind that the Flamestorm Cannons from the LRR cannot benefit from Vulkan's re-roll.

Aside from the TH/SS and Tacticals pushing up the center, I have 3x Land Speeders with MM/HF that can either ride shotgun infront of the army or come in later from Deep Strike.  The reason why I have Land Speeders in my army over attack bikes is because they're extremely versatile in a Vulkan list.  They can take advantage of having both the Heavy Flamer and the Multi-melta; thus making them capable of dealing with anything on the table.  When deploying the speeders, putting them on the table early and turbo-boosting across the field provides another layer of threat in the first turn of the game.  If you choose to keep them in reserve and deep strike them later, they will mess with your opponents' head and hopefully screw up his deployment.  This is where the Ironclad comes in.  If he deploys poorly, you can hammer (get it?) the undefended portions of his army to bits with the full might of your army.  The Ironclad functions as a greater threat than normal Ironclads because his built-in meltagun and heavy flamer is now twin-linked.  Since your army is rather small and short-ranged, it's in your best interest to get within kill range as soon as possible.  This is not the type of army that you can sit back and shoot with.

There's a lot of Vulkan lists out there.  Some players like taking two LRCs with Hamminators, but a lot of people find that cheesy and boring to play with/against.  I personally like this list because I get to use the Ironclad and Land Speeders, but that's just personal preference.  Another idea that I had was a small squad of 5x Sternguard with Vulkan in a Rhino (or RB).  The Sternguard carries 2x Heavy Flamers and whatever you want (keep them cheap, mine's only 180 points) and Vulkan rides shotgun towards the enemy.  This is normally done with TH/SS Terminators in a LR pushing up next to it so the anti-tank fire goes to them.  The objective of this Sternguard squad is simple:  Turn everything that's living into ash.  With Vulkan, you have 3x twin-linked Heavy Flamer templates that can make a mockery of any infantry squad in the game.  I personally call this setup the "Dragon's Fire"; especially if you breath fire from the nostrils of the Rhino.  Keep in mind this is not the only way you can play Sternguard in a Vulkan list.  You can also opt to take 10 of them in a Drop Pod with Vulkan and combat squad them on the way down.  One squad can carry 2 Heavy Flamers with Vulkan and can act as a burn squad while the other half combi-meltas the crap out of transports.  Or you can go balls up and just combi-melta everything since you have re-rolls to everything.

Vulkan marines is one of the hardest lists out there for competitive C:SM builds.  Their twin-linked flamers and meltaguns makes a mockery out of infantry and tanks alike, and their TH/SS Terminators are better than other Chapters.  They can get a little boring to play because of their monotone playstyle, but that's why I suggest you change the lists up every once in a while.  Go with a mech army one game and switch it up with a alpha-strike Drop Pod army the next.  That way, you keep your opponents guessing and makes your game more enjoyable.