Here’s the latest on all the new Imperial Fists and Salamander rules, both confirmed and rumored, for their upcoming 40k Space Marine codex books.
New Space Marines are on the way this week as the last wave of new Astartes are about to hit store shelves. Let’s take a look at the latest on the next two supplement books for the Space Marine!
Imperial Fists
Collated from Chapter Master Valrak who looks to have some of the new Imperial Fists rules.
Got sent more information regarding the upcoming Codex Supplement for the Imperial Fist, with Warlord Traits, Stratagems and Wargear, the codex will be launching at end of the month along with Tor Garadon.
Just a heads up, there is a lot more, but my source asked me not to reveal too much so I picked the ones I ENJOYED, I’ve stated it many times before, I’m a narrative player, I’m sure there is a lot of stuff that pew pews with combos but I don’t go that far down the rabbit hole 🙂
Just keep in mind that this isn’t an official announcement so some things may be different by the time Warhammer Community previews drop. Let’s start with what rules and points costs we already know:
Imperial & Crimson Fists Points
Starting off, we’ve got a rough look at the points for Lysander, Kantor, and a new character model, Tor Garadon. With Black Templars nowhere to be found, the earlier rumors of them appearing in a Box Set against Orks later down the road might have a bit more weight behind them now.
As for Lysander and Pedro Kantor, they look to be in the bracket of 130 and 150 pts respectively. Right now, they cost exactly 130 and 150 so we doubt a 1-9 pt increase would turn them Primaris. While they may not be turning Primaris, captain of the 3rd company Tor Garadon most certainly is! Check out the hotness on the way to the Fists.
Tor Garadon
Looking at the next Primaris addition to the Imperial Fists, we’ve got Tor Garadon. He’s coming to play with Aggressor armor and a shoulder-mounted grav-gun as well as what looks to be a supercharged power fist. If anyone is going to have a decent power fist it’s going to be the Imperial Fists.
With the same camera mounted on his back as the Iron Father Malkaan Feirros, he may very well be giving the 2+ BS bonus to friendly units within 3″ as well.
In fact, we saw a rumored datasheet for the character emerge over the web very recently. Check out the stats of this guy. He’s a named Primaris character in Gravis armor coming to the Fists. He’s got the same basic stats as Gravis armor gives but with a whopping 7 wounds and 5 attacks (6 on the charge). He’s essentially a named Captain, letting everyone reroll 1’s around him. However, he’s also got a grav-gun instead of the normal boltgun that Gravis characters have. In addition, he’s got a spicy 3-flat damage power fist that DOES have a -1 to hit.
Being a named character, he has to have some special rules right? Signum Array, gives a unit within 3″ of himself a BS of 2+. This is something we first saw with the Iron Hands Malkaan Feirros. However, Siege Captain gives Garadon 1 bonus damage doing 4 a pop against buildings and vehicles. He’s the Imperium’s next Kool-Aid man for sure.
Imperial Fist Supplement Rules Rumors
Also according to Valrak, these are just the rules from the codex he “enjoyed”.
Devastator Doctrine
- +1 damage with heavy weapons against buildings and enemy vehicles while the Devastator Doctrine is active.
Warlord Traits
- Fleetmaster: Once per battle, if your Warlord didn’t move, you get a free Orbital Bombardment without the CP. (might be worth it if it’s essentially free. the Strat has been pretty useless since its existence, however).
- Stubborn Heroism: Your Warlord can’t fall back but you halve any damage he would take.
- Refuse to Die (Crimson Fists): If your Warlord dies, he can come back with D3 wounds remaining on a 4+.
Relics
- (Banner) Ancient model only: Add 1 to all hits for melee within 6″ of the bearer
- (Unkown-Eye of Hippo?) Imperial Fist model only: This gives a 6″ aura of a lieutenant’s reroll 1’s to wound aura.
Psychic Powers
- Fortify (WC 4): Gain D3 wounds back on an Infantry/Biker unit within 12″. (Your Librarians can be better Apothecaries at-range).
- Iron Inferno (WC 6): Select a point on the battlefield in 18″. Within a 6″ aura, everything on a 4+ takes a mortal wound.
Stratagems
- (2CP) Praetorian’s Wrath: Add 1 additional AP for a wound roll of a 6+. You can only use this once per battle. (Raven Guard have this exact same strat with a different name).
- Pain is a lesson: Give a 6+++ FNP to a non-vehicle, non-servitor unit
- Bolster Defenses: If a unit is in cover, add 1 to their saving throw. Once per battle. (Raven Guard have a strat similar to this as well. If they don’t move they are an additional -1 to hit).
- (2CP) Bolter Drill: Rolling a 6+ to hit with an Imperial Fist unit explodes into two hits.
- Bitter Enemy: If you’re in melee with an Iron Warriors unit you can reroll hits and wounds.
Salamanders
After days of new codex leaks out there, Warhammer Community previewed the two new Primaris characters coming to each Chapter. After seeing their datasheets earlier on, we’ve finally got a first-hand look at the official models.
Adrax Agatone
Rocking a special suit of power armor that the Intercessors wear, this Salamander is tricked out with Chapter-specific iconography showing off the pride of Nocturne.
The Salamander’s Adrax Agatone looks like he’ll be Vulkan’s right-hand man as a new Primaris named character. Bringing a special thunder hammer and flamer to the field, he’ll be a melee powerhouse as well as an aura ability that essentially turns everyone within 6″ of him into a Blood Angel.
While we haven’t seen the official rules for these guys just yet, early rumors and pictures of a “click bait” datasheet appeared on the web showing what his stats could potentially be. What do you think about this helping of Salamanders support?
Marines of Nocturne: Coming Salamanders Rules Spotted
Coming from War of Sigmar, these images have a “clickbait” watermark. But looking at the details on the coming Salamander support be sure to let us know how you think they’ll measure up against Raven Guard and Iron Hands.
The images are a bit blurry but starting off, it looks like the Salamanders are getting a new character names Adrax Agatone. It’s a pretty safe bet that this guy will be Primaris following the latest trend among GW’s characters.
Starting off with Adrax’s stat sheet, he’s a T4 character with what you’d expect (WS, BS, Sv 2+). But what makes this guy especially unique are his named weapons. He’s got a S4 -1 AP flamer with a 12″ range which is nice. But Malleus Noctum brings a new meaning to melee potential. With 6 attacks base and a 4-damage melee weapon, he’ll be able to devastate things in close combat. But wait, he gets better.
Unto the Anvil lets him add 1 to the wound rolls (BA Chapter Tactic) to himself and any friendly units within 6″ after they charge, were charged, or heroically intervened. The Drakehide Cloak also makes him take 1 less damage than normal when he gets hit! As for the rest of his rules, he’s got a 4++ invuln save and can reroll 1’s to everyone from Nocturne within 6″.
As for Vulkan, he looks unchanged stat-wise. But he’s getting a new named battle brother at the very least!
Tactical Doctrine Bonus
We’ve seen certain Chapters specialize in different Doctrines getting bonus rules while a certain one is active. For Salamanders, when the Tactical Doctrine is active, they’ll have Watch the World Burn. This gives flamer and melta weapons +1 to their wound rolls. You’ll be wounding most screens and enemy armor on 2’s and 3’s across the board with this one!
Promethean Psychic Discipline
Salamanders Promethean Psychic Table
Spotted on Reddit, these six psychic powers look to be what’s coming to the Chapter exclusively.
Be sure to read these over yourself. As for the in-game uses for each power, we can see these being solid in:
- Flaming Blast: You’ll want to put this point where a bunch of different units converge. The best would be a character blob. It’s nice because there’s no negative to roll for the characters either. But at only 1 mortal wound per unit, you’ll probably just end up ticking them off.
- Drakeskin: Drakeskin is pretty cool because it’s got some decent range and you can make things like Redemptors T8 or even Ashmantle T10!
- Fire Shield: This is mainly a protective psychic power that might be paired perfectly with a unit that’s already sticking their neck out. A unit like Infiltrators would benefit greatly from having this cast on them. Or really, any unit trying to hold an objective for a turn.
- Fury of Nocturne: This is essentially a smite v2. You just have to beat their toughness on 2D6. It’s a bit gamier, but it’s a great way besides smite to do mortal wounds.
- Burning Hands: Burning hands turns your Psyker’s melee weapon into a mortal wound engine. You can give him a chain sword for an extra attack and any hit automatically transforms into a mortal wound.
- Draconic Aspect: This is a 12″ bubble of a -2 Ld aura. This is incredibly useful against things like Cultists or even Gaunts that might find themselves out of synapse.
Salamanders Relics
Coming from the first wave of relic rumors, it looks like the thunder hammer relic was 100% accurate.
This hammer is a -4 AP club that has the potential of doing 6 flat damage. However, it’s only on an unmodified wound roll of a 6. You might get a couple of 6’s each game you play depending on how much your bearer is in combat but don’t expect to melt a Knight every time you get into melee range with it.
As for the rest of the Chapter’s relics, they’re getting a whole list to pick from! Check out these options and let us know which one seems the best all-around.
- Some kind of magic tome: +1 to casts for powers in Prometheum Discipline.
- Special helmet: Bearer gets +1 wound and puts off a -1Ld aura.
- Special mantle: Bearer is -1 for enemy wound rolls.
- souped-up combi flamer: -1 AP 2 flat damage ammo.
- Souped-up Boltgun: S5 -AP D3 damage.
- Relic Thunder Hammer: S X2 AP-4 3 flat damage. (Bearer is -1 to hit but wounds of 6+ do 6 damage flat).
- Special Sigil Aura: Gives +1 attack to everyone within 6″.
Nocturne Warlord Traits
- +2 Strength to the model.
- Gives Defenders of Humanity rule (Objective Secured) to a non-Troop unit).
- Warlord gets a 6+++ FNP and regens a wound each turn.
- Everyone within 6″ can reroll number of hits for flame weapons.
- Once per phase, one attack auto-hits for the Warlord.
- Warlord gets +2 toughness. (Imagine this on Ashmantle. He could be T11!).
Salamander Strats
Looking toward the Chapter’s Stratagems, they’ve got some pretty fluff-themed ones as well. Again, the names were odd so we left them out. Essentially, you’ll have the options to:
- Revive on a 4+ with 1 wound remaining.
- One unit counts as have not been moved as long as they didn’t advance. (This is useful for things like Devastator Squads that need to cover ground).
- Give a unit +1 Sv against single damage weapons.
- One unit can For the Greater Good overwatch for a friendly unit within 12″.
- Get a 2nd Warlord Trait.
We called it a Cloud of Flies strat, but there’s a catch. You have to nominate a specific Infantry unit to be the sacrificial lamb. And rest assured, they will be shot at. The tradeoff is that any other Infantry units within 6″ can’t be targetted until that other unit you picked gets killed. You might want to bring a cheaper Storm Shield squad of vets just to take the brunt of firepower against the enemy and form a front line with them.
This stratagem alone might be the chief headache among shooty lists like Guard and Tau.
While we’re not 100% sure that these will indefinitely be a part of the Salamanders support, there’s definitely some neat tricks that look to be on the way for the Chapter… if these are all true.
With these Salamanders and Imperial Fists rumored and confirmed rules, how are you thinking they’ll size up to the Iron Hands and Raven Guard? Will you be picking up the new character Adrax?
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About the Author: Rob Baer
Rob Baer
Job Title: Managing Editor
Founded Spikey Bits in 2009
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About Rob Baer: Founder, Publisher, & Managing Editor of Spikey Bits, the leading tabletop gaming news website focused on the hobby side of wargaming and miniatures.
Rob also co-founded and currently hosts the Long War Podcast, which has over 350 episodes and focuses on tabletop miniatures gaming, specializing in Warhammer 40k. and spent six years writing for Bell of Lost Souls.
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