News: No news is good news...

Login  |  Register

Author Topic: What would you do with Vulkan He'Stan?  (Read 1631 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline Spectral Arbor

  • Major
  • Senior Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 3021
  • Country: ca
  • Thanks for the help.
What would you do with Vulkan He'Stan?
« on: July 13, 2015, 07:46:12 PM »
As in, what unit would you use him with? What kind of transport?

I want to make Salamanders work, even though they aren't White Scars. ;) Really, without Vulkan they're Flamer Specialists that every character needs to spend upgrade points on to make their master-crafted weapon mean something. With him, Melta Weapons become more accurate, which is nice on their one-shot profile. 

Points wise, if you took a Captain, gave him a combi-flamer, digital weapons, a storm shield, a Relic Blade, and Artificer armour, you're paying a 15 point premium to give the rest of your melta weapons increased accuracy. Add a guaranteed Warlord Trait that lets him shrug off 1/3 of unsaved wounds he would suffer, most of the time, and his shooting attack is better than a Combi-Flamer. While his gear isn't what I'd call optimised, his points aren't bad for what you get.

The drawbacks, are that he isn't Chapter Master Smash-Face. No EW, no bike, No AP2 weapon. Which is a real bummer, to me. Most of my opponents are rocking 2+ saves on their Lords, or are running MC's with 2+ saves that I'd want to be punching through. And his strength isn't high enough to punch out a Knight, which is something I face a lot of.

[I find the best way to take down a Knight is to knock 2-3 HP off with shooting, then punch it out with Power Fists. Works very well, in my experience. :) ]


So I want to rock a bunch of Flamer weapons, Melta Weapons, and Assault Cannons [most are twin-linked] so that I can maximise damage output every turn. I want to stay somewhat mobile. I think I want to use him in an Assault unit of some kind, but he doesn't seem suited to cracking the hardest nuts. So I'm not sure what kind of unit to put him in, or what transport to use him in. A Land Raider Redeemer seems like a good fit. Rerolling wounds with the Flamestorm Cannons, a reroll to hit on the Multi-Melta, and then the TL Assault Cannons, everything works better with Sallies.

But what do I add him to? 
« Last Edit: July 13, 2015, 07:47:34 PM by Spectral Arbor »

Offline Wyddr

  • Author Eminence: Hereticus Liber Daemonica | Fio'shas Shi
  • Lazerous Penguin
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 5254
  • Country: us
    • My blog about SF/F stuff
  • Armies: Daemons, Imperial Fists, Tau, Ksons, Vostroyans
Re: What would you do with Vulkan He'Stan?
« Reply #1 on: July 14, 2015, 09:52:27 AM »
Vulkan works very well with a drop list. All those melta guns, all of them so very accurate, all of them dropping in people's faces--it can be bad news. Back in the day (when special weapons ruled the board), Vulkan lists were truly nasty.

These days you see a lot less of him, I think mostly because of his AP3 weapon--he no longer rocks it in assault as he once did.

Honestly, unless you have a pressing need or love for melta and flamer weapons (i.e. you intend to work at very close range), he isn't that useful. Not bad, I guess, but he's a middleweight by himself. You might consider teaming him up with a tooled up Vanguard squad in a Land Raider, but that costs so much you probably should just buy Terminators.

Oh, he'd also work very well with an Honor Guard squad, who now are an Elite choice, so you can take them without a Chapter Master in a CAD.

The basic tactical assumption here is that you take Vulkan to make all the flamers/meltas in your army better and then you stick the man himself with an assault unit geared to wrecking enemy troops choices and other soft targets--use him as a bully unit. He's not for killing enemy elites or taking out enemy deathstars.

Offline Spectral Arbor

  • Major
  • Senior Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 3021
  • Country: ca
  • Thanks for the help.
Re: What would you do with Vulkan He'Stan?
« Reply #2 on: July 14, 2015, 11:10:41 AM »
I tried him with some Honour Guard, in a Land Raider Redeemer. It worked pretty well, but I wound up bogged down in the unending dice orgy that is trying to kill Necron Warriors.

I had him split from the unit to take on a 2 man unit of warriors by himself. He wound up bogged down for 3 rounds of combat.

The 5 Honour Guard managed to put one whole wound on a Necron Overlord [High Toughness, Storm Shield Eq save, Decurion Reanimation...] over 3 rounds of CC before being wiped.

Vulkan then was charged by the Overlord, and I snuck a wound through on their 2nd round of combat. Overlord rolled an 11 for his break check, and Vulkan neatly swept him. :)

Admittedly, my Necro friend rolled stupidly well, but it really got me thinking about his role. I think you're right, in that he's a Bully character with a handy buff to other units. I wasn't sure if it might be worthwhile going to an even cheaper bodyguard, like an Assault Squad with an Eviscerator or two and the Sarge's Power Weapon.

I'm just trying to make something Not-Scars. I'm also inclined towards Iron Hands with lots of Dreads... but they're slow and relatively squishy, and I'm just wanting to not go with [to me] the obvious #2 Chapter in the book. That said, I think that I'm going with #3 [maybe tied with Ultras?].
« Last Edit: July 14, 2015, 11:12:20 AM by Spectral Arbor »

Offline Slick Samos

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 380
  • Country: gb
  • Que!!
  • Armies: Tau, Dark Angels & Salamanders
Re: What would you do with Vulkan He'Stan?
« Reply #3 on: July 16, 2015, 07:38:20 PM »
Boil him, mash him, put him in a stew?

---

Definitely the trickiest thing is getting him into combat, as otherwise he's a really solid all rounder character. 

Honour Guard being Elites definitely opens up new options as they have the same getting-into-combat problems as he does and have access to AP2, but unfortunately can't be taken as part of the basic demi-company structure. 

Here's the thing though, you don't need him to be able to play Salamanders (yay!) as the basic tactical squad can already take a Master-Crafted Combi-Melta.  I think that when combined with a Plasmagun it plays better most of the time at least, than when combined with a Meltagun. 

You also already have access to double (effectively Twin-Linked) Flamer Assault and Bike Squads, and (effectively Twin-Linked) Heavy Flamers with Dreadnoughts and Sternguard. 

Vulkan's key ability is putting Master-Crafted Combi-Meltas on Sternguard (though is very expensive!) and more importantly Master-Crafted Multi-Meltas in Tactical Squads (yes they're really are worth it when MC'd), Attack Bike & Land Speeder Squadrons (but speed isn't Salamander's thing, fluff-wise), and on Dreadnoughts too (Deep Strike ftw!)...

If you're not fielding these squads then take a Captain / Chapter Master with the Burning Blade and a Bike / Jump Pack / Terminator Armour. 

---

In short a Honour Guard and Multi-Melta heavy army is probably the best :)

Perhaps for a 1500ish list:

Vulkan He'stan
- Gauntlet of the Forge, Kesare's Mantle, Spear of Vulkan
- Iron Resolve

Honour Guard Squad (8) - 270
- Chapter Champion, Master Crafted Relic Blade / Thunder Hammer
- Chapter Banner, Power Sword
- 4 Power Axes
- 2 Power Mauls

Land Raider Crusader - (250)
- Master Crafted Multi-Melta

Dreadnought - 145
- Master Crafted Multi-Melta, Powerfist with Twin-Linked Heavy Flamer
- Drop Pod

Tactical Squad (10) - 210
- Master Crafted Combi-Melta
- Plasmagun
- Master Crafted Multi-Melta
- Drop Pod / Rhino

Tactical Squad (10) - 210
- Master Crafted Combi-Melta
- Plasmagun
- Master Crafted Multi-Melta
- Drop Pod / Rhino

Attack Bike Squad (2) - 100
- 2 Master Crafted Multi-Meltas

Assault Squad (5) - 120
- Veteran Sergeant, Master Crafted Power Maul, Bolt Pistol
- 2 Twin-Linked Flamers
Play more games, paint more models...

 


Powered by EzPortal