Today’s 40k Versus is a Salamander Space Marine list and a Retaliation Cadre Tau list. Which one will come out on top in this week’s FLG Frankie’s analysis?
Hello everyone, Frankie here with two lists that you don’t see on the tabletops that often. We have a Salamander Space Marine list and a Retaliation Cadre Tau list. Which one will come out on top in this week’s analysis?
Dawn Blade Contingent
Retaliation Cadre (core)
173 Commander: irridium, C&C, M3S, PENchip, VRT, DC (warlord)
183 Crisis *3: double Plasma; Gun Drone *2
183 Crisis *3: double Missile; Gun Drone *2
183 Crisis *3: double Missile; Gun Drone *2
191 Riptide: Ion, Fusion blaster, EWO
237 Broadside *3: HYMP, SMS, EWO; Missile Drone *2
Drone-Net VX1-0 (aux)
Marker Drone *5
Marker Drone *5
Marker Drone *5
Marker Drone *5
Ghostkeel Wing (Tau Empire)
Ghostkeel: Ion, Fusion blaster
Ghostkeel: Ion, Fusion blaster
Ghostkeel: Ion, Fusion blaster
Soon as I saw the retaliation cadre I knew I wanted it to be the central part of my army. Though, I do kind of wish I could fit in some more crisis suits; they’re my favorite models. I’ve been going back and forth on interceptor on the Broadsides or Ghostkeels. Drone controller on the Commander only because I saw I had exactly 8 points left. I like the Ghostkeel wing for giving me access to multiples of them as well as the stealth aura to cover my other units. Ghostkeels and the riptide are my frontline units, due to their higher durability.
Alright, lets get started. So after looking into the Retaliation Cadre and the Dawn Blade Contingent I think you really have something here. Its piqued my interest and I am excited to make my own variation of this list. I like that you have resilient units on the table so that you can survive while waiting for your main force. The Drone Net is such a good formation and am happy to see you using it as your auxiliary choice. Suits are awesome and usually do quite a bit of damage. Especially if you have enough line of sight blocking terrain on the table to use JSJ tactics.
Some things I would change would be beefing up the suit unit with Plasma. I would drop the Gun Drones off of the suits and drop the Drone Network to 4 man units. I would also drop the Drone Controller off of the Commander at that point. After those drops you should be able to get the Plasma unit to five and maybe one more missile suit. The Commander will for sure drop down with that heavy hitting unit and soak up wounds for them. The Riptide should have a Burst Cannon in my opinion especially with the BS boost from the formation, it just has better odds of doing more damage.
I think this list would do very well against most lists. It will struggle against really resilient close combat units but since you Deep Strike you can stay away from them. But other than that type of list you should do really well. You will be able to pop open transports and kill the guys inside with your high volume of Plasma. The Ghostkeels will be able to charge into marine squads and beat them up along with grab you objectives. I really like this list and cant wait to play around with my own variation.
Salamanders Battle – Demi Company
Warlord VulkanHe’stan
Command squad
– Drop pod
– 5*melta guns
Devastator unit: 3*centurion devastator squad
– 3*grav cannons with amps – 3 comp (for grav and drop pod)
Fast
5*assault marines (no jump packs)
– 2 flamers
– Drop pod
10*Tactical squad
– Melta gun
– Combi melta
– Drop pod
10*tactical squad
– Melta gun
– Combi melta
– Drop pod
5*tactical squad
– Melta gun
– Combi melta
– Drop pod
Ironclad dreadnought
– Chainfist
– Heavy flamer
– Drop pod
2nd detachment combined arms detachment
Salamanders CT
HQ
– Librarian lvl 2 w/ auspex
– Librarian
Troops
5*tactical squad
– Flamer
– Combi flamer
– Drop pod
5*tactical squad
– Flamer
– Combi flamer
– Drop pod
Fast attack
Drop pod
COMP
Non standard deployment 9 drop pods, 5 first turn = 8 comp
Grav weapons 24 = 2 comp
Centurion in drop pod 1 comp
Command squad in pod with 5 melta guns = 1 comp
Total comp – 12
Alright, so looks like this list is made for a comp system (probably community comp down in Oz) and not sure if 12 is good or not. This would be a great list with 9 Droppods and Grav Centurions. I do really like the Ironclad Dreadnought and hope he can do well for you. You are for sure taking advantage of having Vulkan in the list which is a positive. Lastly the 10 man units are super strong as they can combat squad for more objective secured units or stay together for a resilient unit.
First thing I would change would be to purchase a Dreadnought Drop Pod for the Ironclad. The ability to stay inside the pod for one turn is game changing especially since the pod has Shrouded. Next I would switch the Flamers for Melta Guns. Unfortunately Flamers twin linked or not, don’t do very much damage. I think overall you will be happier with some more Melta. Last change would be to switch the combi weapons to Plasma since Vulkan gives you master crafted weapons for your sergeants.
This is a really strong list. The ability to null deploy is huge especially in tournaments. Drop Pods are also great for killing units that are pesky and are out of line of sight. The Devastator Centurions will have to do some heavy lifting as they are your only mass shooting unit. I think you will do really will at events especially due to the objective secured Drop Pods. You will have to watch out for Wolfstars and high model count armies.
Thanks for reading everyone, hopefully these lists get you guys excited to start some new lists as well. I think the Tau list in a one on one battle would beat this Salamander list but it would be a really close game. Which list do you guys think would prevail?
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