Kings of War/Tactics/Salamanders

Why Play Salamanders?

You like dinosaurs?

Army Special Rules

• Flames of Kthorlaq: All units in this list have Crushing Strength (1), unless specified otherwise. Also, all infantry models in this list are on 25x25mm bases, unless specified otherwise.

Unit Analysis

Hero

• Battle Captain:

• Clan Lord:

• Clan Lord on Fire Drake:

• Firebrand:

• Ghekkotah Clutch Warden:

• Ghekkotah Skylord:

• Herald:

• Mage Priest:

Infantry

• Salamander Primes: Basic front line unit, they are mighty. Good Melee, Good Defense, CS1, and pathfinder will make it so terrain won't bog down your horde. These are the guys you want going up against enemy hordes, and they will hold their own against most things out there. The option to take Great Weapons (-1 Def, CS up to 2) is interesting, but you're probably better off taking a Tyrant horde in that case.

• Salamander Unblooded: Basic cheap infantry, could be useful in order to have a backup horde, but all things considered you're better off with Prime Hordes or Ancient/Ceremonial Guard Regiments.

• Ancients: Great Melee and Fantastic Nerve, but you lose Pathfinder over Primes and they're a little more expensive. No horde option, but that's ok - these guys are the anvil of your army, and are a good option to hold a flank. As with Primes, GW option is not very appealing.

• Ceremonial Guard: Really just Primes with Phalanx and more attacks over Pathfinder, they are also a good Regiment to hold flanks. Overall, pretty on par with Ancients (those extra attacks are worth more than you think).

• Corsairs: Bit of a mixed purpose unit, they can harass with pistols and charge a flank to add more attacks to a larger unit's charge when needed. Troop strength only is a little odd, and they will not hold on their own, but there are worse choices.

• Ghekkotah Hunters: More of a pure shooting unit than Corsairs, they're quick as hell and can get Camo Cloaks for better defense at range. They can also have bows for only a few points more, which is a good option since the army in general has very few options for longer range shooting.

• Ghekkotah Warriors: Practically bristling with attacks, they're better at Troop and Regiment levels against big-cheap-dudespam armies (Goblins, Ratkin, etc.) but won't hold long in any form. The attack profile doesn't scale up favorably at all at Horde level, but they're (surprisingly) not bad Troop support to pile on attacks - just don't expect them to be there after the dust settles.

Large Infantry

• Ember Sprites: Cheap, Breath Attack, and Vicious, but terrible Defense and lackluster attacks. They won't last long in melee, and you need to have a plan for them. Tyrants are overall better, sadly.

• Fire Elementals: Fantastic Nerve, great attacks, great speed, pathfinder, and Shambling (not a drawback if you've got a shooting-heavy army). A Mage-priest with Surge is flat out required, but the trade offs over Tyrants can be worth it if you build around it.

• Tyrants: These guys are your melee beatstick, and boy are they good at it. Brutal to reduce enemy Nerve, Fury to counter charge when wavered, CS2, and a lot of attacks mean they will wreck the enemy. Solid choice any day.

Cavalry

• Kaisenor Lancers: Good Melee, good number of attacks, TC(1) (which will stack with CS(1) on the charge, don't forget), and fast. I cannot stress their speed enough, though without Nimble they are a little ungainly. Their drawbacks are oddly low Defense and poor Nerve, but they are surprisingly well priced for what they do. A solid flanker all around, and not bad against enemy cavalry or fliers.

Large Cavalry

• Ancients on Rhinosaur: Great melee, great defense, fearless. Rhinosaurs are salamander executioner unit, nearly anything, that is charged by rhinosaurs is routed. Take them as horde and they will own your flank.

• Ghekkotah Skyraiders: Fast, flying and expensive. Can be used to troll enemy from behind, but Gekkotah skylord is much better for it. Gekkotah are so vulnerable, that they are gonna be beaten by mediocre shooting attack.

Monsters

• Ankylodon Battle Platform: They are simply the best. Every single point invested will return to you in form of terrifying anvil unit. They are nearly indestructible as well as they are monster hunters. They narrow profile allow them to be very agile at battlefield and whatever they charge will be stuck or routed. With CS(4) they can beat even toughest enemy, but with only 10 attacks and melee 4+ they are unable to quickly kill hordes and legions. They are but very effective as tarpit unit.
  • Best place for them is being hidden behind gekottah hunters waiting for enemy to took the bait.

• Fire Drake: Fire-breathing monster. It isn't terribly strong in melee, hitting on a 4+ with Thunderous Charge (1), but instead comes with a Breath Attack (16) to light enemy units on fire. Very effective at dealing damage in the shooting phase, but it is a bit pricey.

• Greater Fire Elemental: Very durable and strong. Same as Ankylodon, he can beat big enemies, but does not have enough number of attacks to beat hordes or legions. Shambling may seem to be disadvantage, but with close mage-priest he can shoot unit with breath attack before charge and he can be great dragon hunter (not needing to see enemy flanker to assault him)

• Komodon: Very ineffective artilery. Very low cost-to-damage ratio, maybe great range can compensate high point value, but ankylodons are better choice.

• Lekelidon: Poor choice in monster category. They seem to be nice shooting unit with stable damage, but damage is low and lekelidon is very fragile.

War Engines

None.

Tactics

Charge the not dinosaurs.

Eat the not dinosaurs.

Sacrifice the rest to dinosaur gods.

...or, you know, we could not be smartasses about it....

Fine.

The army has a lot of anvils, while still holding some rather maneuverable options. Remember, in KoW combined arms is the name of the game, you're not going to lose with nothing but primes, but you're not going to win either.

Some armies are good at counter charges, you're not. Ghekkos are good for support, but they're terrible at surviving. A smart opponent is going to wreck your support and force the dinosaurs to relive the mass extinction event, while you struggle to camp on the objectives.

Tl;DR: Wipe his support troops before he does the same to yours, or you're going to have a bad day.