SALAMANDER CHAPTER - PART TWO

Having started the Salamanders last month with a simple Tactical Formation, it was now time to expand the army into a more rounded fighting force. The first formation I chose to add was a Land Raider Detachment. With thick armour and decent anti-tank weapons, the Land Raider is one of the Space Marines most cherished vehicles. Able to transport both Terminators and power armoured marines, the Land Raider is in my opinion a must have formation for any Space Marine army.

Each of the Raiders shown here were mounted on 40mm x 40mm plastic bases and base coated Dark Angels Green. I then applied a thin black ink wash over the entire model before dry brushing them with a 50/50 mix of Dark Angels Green and Snot Green. A final highlight of neat Snot Green was then lightly dry brushed to pick out any edges and detail. Tracks, weapons and the engines were then painted in Boltgun metal before giving them a final wash of black ink. Any black panels or details were then highlighted with Codex Grey before I added the Company number to the front armour.

Bike Formation

The next formation to be added was a fast moving Bike Detachment. Space Marine bikes are excellent for lightning strikes or better still outflanking slow moving enemy formations. The standard tournament formation is for five Space Marine Bike squads, which is what I have selected here. Two of the bike squads however have been upgraded to Attack Bikes to give the formation a little more firepower.

Similar to the Tactical Marines, I have picked out the interior of the shoulder pads in black and added the Salamander Chapter badge in skull white on the right shoulder. In addition to the green armour of the bikes, which were painted the same way as the Land Raiders, any stowage was painted Bestial Brown before adding Bubonic Brown to the mix for the highlights.

Salamander Terminators

Having already included a Land Raider detachment, the next logical addition was to include a formation of Salamander Terminators. These heavily armed and armoured marines are the Salamander's Elite and a key detachment for both stealing and holding objectives. Armed with Assault Cannons and Power Fists (counts as Macro Weapons in assault), there are few units that can withstand a Terminator assault. Add to that the ability to teleport onto the battlefield and you have one of the toughest formations in the Space Marine list.

Duplicating Mark Bedford's excellent idea, each of the squads was based onto a larger 20mm x 40mm Warmaster base as befits the size of the models and allowed a few extra terrain details such as the ruined walls to be added. The lead squad was then further converted to give the commander a power sword and two of the Terminators with him Storm Shields made out of plastic card. Characterising units like this to match their 40K scale counterparts is a great way of reinforcing the overall identity of an army.

Thunderhawk Transport.

As a final addition for this article I couldn't resist adding a pair of Thunderhawk Gunships to give the Terminator, Bike and Tactical formations even more mobility, not to mention airborne firepower.

Thunderhawk Gunships are War Engines and as such have a damage capacity of 2, making them great at delivering formations straight into the battle via an air assault mission. The two Thunderhawks here are part of a large Salamander contingent that will be shown later in the year as part of the 'Greenskin Plateau' campaign. Similar to other flyers in my armies I have replaced the plastic flying stand with a length of brass rod for durability.

Each of the Thunderhawks was painted in exactly the same fashion as the Land Raiders, except for the engines which were painted with a mix of tin bitz, brazen brass and scorched brown over which a watered down wash of black ink was applied. Far from a finished force the Salamanders are nevertheless filling out nicely and with the addition of the units coming up in Part Three should be ready for battle in no time proving how quickly and easily a Space Marine army can be assembled.

Until next time, happy gaming.

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