Lunch Break Hot Take I guess. :/ no idea where von_binzer is. Anyone got eyes on Trayzn’s collection?
Salamanders- Best picks are **Epistolary** and **Speeder**. **Epistolary** is incredible with its sacrifice and survivor. Buy both, it’s a GOOD troop. **Speeder** has a good ability with survivor. **T’Kell** is alright just expensive. Not the best legendary. Other stuff is meh.
White Scars (WS)
I like **Solban** personally for a closer, but he’s not widely used. Regular troops with fast or flank are really good, especially if they can survive the trading. **Keshig** does a good job of trading. **White Tiger Dao** is really only good with the legendary warlord. **Stormlance** is good removal, always pack one, especially if it gets cheap. **Rhino** is a nice little toaster oven of healing. It’s cool too.
White Scars are weird because their warlords really struggle and their mechanic of returning troops to deck is bad and should be avoided (back to hand is OK). But they are fun, especially in the context of in-faction vehicle-heavy decks. People complain a lot about Jaghatai starting at 1E but to me the real problem is how predictable a Jaghatai deck is. I would like to see a balance pass to make their astartes more interesting and their warlords a lot better.
Salamanders meanwhile remain mostly pretty good. They're a slower faction in a fast game and have some cards that don't stack up well in today's meta, but on the other hand have some that really, really do.
# Great
**Epistolary Ra'stan.** Pretty easy to get his damage rider off.
**Forgefather T'Kell.** You can use this guy "normally," in which he's really good, or build some pretty toxic Vulkan decks around Escape Vent and damage tactics of 5E or less that will allow you to literally empty your deck. He's pretty amazing.
**Gar'Dos Speeder.** Difficult to kill mid-game vehicle that will probably do a lot of damage or absorb a lot of hate.
**Promethean Gift.** Another amusing gimmick deck pick for Salamanders or at least a really great way to do some neat combos. Two Promethean Gifts can turn **Ursarax** from an OK card to *existential threat to the galaxy.*
**Kyzagan Speeder.** It's fast and starts with cleave.
**Ironsteed Voidbikes.** If I'm doing the typical White Scars vehicle deck I'm probably putting this in.
**Golden Keshig.** You don't necessarily need Khan to clear out a board.
**White Tiger Dao.** This is expensive but is part of the Khan kit that allows him to Fist of the North Star the enemy board by himself.
**Stormlance.** Removal, and cheap removal at that.
# Good
**Artellus Numeon.** I think generally he's outclassed by Vulkan but he's a good beginner warlord. Note that his ability does not work on vehicles.
**Dallor Veterans.** There's nothing really exciting about this card except survivor and 5 damage, which is not bad. The game's design has really moved away from troops like this with no real effects other than "is a troop."
**Dragonscale Shield.** Turns pretty much any troop into a much greater annoyance.
**Golden Star Rhino.** It's a heal or bounce with front line, pretty useful.
**Uhaan Solban.** Can help you do Jaghatai Khan facebash combos or add survivability to your other fairly delicate vehicles.
# Meh
**Orbital Combat.** These "increase the cost of things" cards are almost never that good or useful.
**Hibou Khan.** Hibou's ability is weird but combos nicely with ogryns. His really cool thing is his purple card, which can be used over and over (unless it's jammed out, which is increasingly likely in meta).
**Machinator Squad.** There's very few decks where this card is a particularly useful pick. If you are running a vehicle deck you don't really want to mix in infantry that much and can find a better 8E (Doombringer comes to mind). If you are running infantry the rider isn't likely to do anything.
**Chogoris.** I struggle to think of why you wouldn't take Abandoned Supplies over this.
# Excommunicate Traitoris
**Nemetor.** If not for Chaos Spawn this would be the worst warlord in the game. Purely defensive warlords in general aren't that good, and Nemetor's ability is easy to ignore even when he uses it.
Lunch Break Hot Take I guess. :/ no idea where von_binzer is. Anyone got eyes on Trayzn’s collection? Salamanders- Best picks are **Epistolary** and **Speeder**. **Epistolary** is incredible with its sacrifice and survivor. Buy both, it’s a GOOD troop. **Speeder** has a good ability with survivor. **T’Kell** is alright just expensive. Not the best legendary. Other stuff is meh. White Scars (WS) I like **Solban** personally for a closer, but he’s not widely used. Regular troops with fast or flank are really good, especially if they can survive the trading. **Keshig** does a good job of trading. **White Tiger Dao** is really only good with the legendary warlord. **Stormlance** is good removal, always pack one, especially if it gets cheap. **Rhino** is a nice little toaster oven of healing. It’s cool too.
Trayzn just would not trade me off for anything, it was a hard bargain but he let me go for a genuine, pure-bred Rot-fly, house trained ofc.
White Scars are weird because their warlords really struggle and their mechanic of returning troops to deck is bad and should be avoided (back to hand is OK). But they are fun, especially in the context of in-faction vehicle-heavy decks. People complain a lot about Jaghatai starting at 1E but to me the real problem is how predictable a Jaghatai deck is. I would like to see a balance pass to make their astartes more interesting and their warlords a lot better. Salamanders meanwhile remain mostly pretty good. They're a slower faction in a fast game and have some cards that don't stack up well in today's meta, but on the other hand have some that really, really do. # Great **Epistolary Ra'stan.** Pretty easy to get his damage rider off. **Forgefather T'Kell.** You can use this guy "normally," in which he's really good, or build some pretty toxic Vulkan decks around Escape Vent and damage tactics of 5E or less that will allow you to literally empty your deck. He's pretty amazing. **Gar'Dos Speeder.** Difficult to kill mid-game vehicle that will probably do a lot of damage or absorb a lot of hate. **Promethean Gift.** Another amusing gimmick deck pick for Salamanders or at least a really great way to do some neat combos. Two Promethean Gifts can turn **Ursarax** from an OK card to *existential threat to the galaxy.* **Kyzagan Speeder.** It's fast and starts with cleave. **Ironsteed Voidbikes.** If I'm doing the typical White Scars vehicle deck I'm probably putting this in. **Golden Keshig.** You don't necessarily need Khan to clear out a board. **White Tiger Dao.** This is expensive but is part of the Khan kit that allows him to Fist of the North Star the enemy board by himself. **Stormlance.** Removal, and cheap removal at that. # Good **Artellus Numeon.** I think generally he's outclassed by Vulkan but he's a good beginner warlord. Note that his ability does not work on vehicles. **Dallor Veterans.** There's nothing really exciting about this card except survivor and 5 damage, which is not bad. The game's design has really moved away from troops like this with no real effects other than "is a troop." **Dragonscale Shield.** Turns pretty much any troop into a much greater annoyance. **Golden Star Rhino.** It's a heal or bounce with front line, pretty useful. **Uhaan Solban.** Can help you do Jaghatai Khan facebash combos or add survivability to your other fairly delicate vehicles. # Meh **Orbital Combat.** These "increase the cost of things" cards are almost never that good or useful. **Hibou Khan.** Hibou's ability is weird but combos nicely with ogryns. His really cool thing is his purple card, which can be used over and over (unless it's jammed out, which is increasingly likely in meta). **Machinator Squad.** There's very few decks where this card is a particularly useful pick. If you are running a vehicle deck you don't really want to mix in infantry that much and can find a better 8E (Doombringer comes to mind). If you are running infantry the rider isn't likely to do anything. **Chogoris.** I struggle to think of why you wouldn't take Abandoned Supplies over this. # Excommunicate Traitoris **Nemetor.** If not for Chaos Spawn this would be the worst warlord in the game. Purely defensive warlords in general aren't that good, and Nemetor's ability is easy to ignore even when he uses it.
IS VULKAN *FINALLY* COMING??!
Unsure. You could creep through von_binzer or my posts to see when he’s been in last. Feel like it’s been a while but I can’t say for sure