Salamander Warband now available to download

Today we’ve got some exciting news because following the hugely successful release of the Salamanders army, we’ve now updated the free Vanguard warbands PDF to include the new models introduced in the army launch. What’s more, we’ve given the entire Salamander warband a new coat of scales, which we’ll go over in a moment.

Hang on though, you may be wondering what’s happened to the Vanguard warband releases, as typically we release a warband set and booster, plus any accompanying models. Well, as you may have read about it’s been a tricky year to keep up with stock. Our resin department is working flat out to produce the minis required for Kings of War and Armada, while supplies of cardboard for cards continues to pose a problem.

With that in mind, a full Vanguard release was just posing too much of a problem and we couldn’t find room to squeeze it back into the schedule. So, rather than wait until next year to use some of those sweet new Kings of War models in Vanguard, we thought we would release the warband list now and you can start creating your warbands! Later in the year, we’ll have individual releases of minis like the Lekelidon and Mage Priest so you can customize your warband too.

Anyway, with that out of the way, let’s look at some of the big changes to the salamander list. And we start with three  brand-new Special Abilities: Building Inferno, Efficient Command and Kthorlaq’s Hand.

With Building Inferno, we wanted Salamanders to have the option to go for those all-important alpha strikes by sacrificing Power in one round, to give them a guaranteed boost in the next. This means you’ve got the potential to plan ahead by knowing that you’ll have a minimum amount of Power to play around with. What’s more, there’s no restriction on how many times you can use Building Inferno, so you’ve always got the option to carry over unspent Power.

The second new ability is Efficient Command. Something we wanted to recreate with the warband is the fact that the Salamanders are well drilled fighters. Some will have worked as part of the crews of the salamander navy, while others will have trained back in the Three Kings (the Salamanders’ homeland). To represent this, Group Actions cost one less power, so you can potentially split your warband into smaller gangs that will rely on using Group Actions to overwhelm the enemy – particularly the Group Shoot action combined with the Corsairs or Ghekkotah Hunters.

Moving away from Special Abilities now and onto faction specific spells. Shimmer is the same but Flame Tongue has been replaced with Feel the Burn. This gives you the option of giving a unit a little extra oomph with +2 Crushing Strength. Use this on something like the Rhinosaur Cataphract and you’ll be able to take down even the strongest opponent!

Individual units now and we’ll highlight some of the key options that’ll potentially form the backbone of your warband. The Ceremonial Guard Captain is one of your Command options. Admittedly, the Captain doesn’t bring much to the table in terms of Power but they pack a real punch with a 3+ Melee stat and 3D8! Plus, you can add to that 3D8 by keeping the Captain within 6” of a Fire Elemental or Mage-Priest. Tasty. Finally, you’ve got the Shield Wall group action… which may not look much on the surface but let’s take a look at the next unit.

Here we have the Ceremonial Guard, which is a Support option for your warband. When this model is part of the Shield Wall group action it gains an additional die – pushing it from 2D8 to 3D8. This is likely to increase to 5D8 on a group charge because you’ll most likely be outnumbering the target and will get the bonus for the charge. Oh, and don’t forget you can also benefit from Bloodlust if you’ve got a Fire Elemental or Mage-Priest nearby! Group actions are key to a successful Salamanders warband.

Another interesting unit is the Tyrant. Hitting on a 4+, the Tyrant has 4D8 as standard in melee but it’s the Simmering Rage ability that adds a tactical element to how you’re going to use the Tyrant. This is a unit that you may actually want to suffer a couple of wounds because for each wound the Tyrant has suffered, it will increase its Crushing Strength by +1. So, you can potentially throw a wounded Tyrant into the thick of it, before healing back up with the Mage-Priest’s Healing Flame ability.

Onto our final highlighted unit now and it’s the Rhinosaur Cataphract. Yes, it’s a beast in combat (which you probably expect from a giant armoured lizardy thing) but it’s the Savage Impact ability that can really make a difference in scenarios. This is a great way to move stronger units off objectives, without having to kill them.

You can download the new Salamander warband stats now for free, as part of the Vanguard Warbands PDF (linked below). We’re excited to see the Salamanders on the tabletop and can’t wait to see what you all do with this list!