Salamanders in the Colosseum: first 500-point league game
end3r kicked off his first King of the Colosseum league game for Warhammer 40,000, and honestly, this was supposed to be one of those educational beatings. You know the kind: we show up, get tabled, and at least come back smarter.
Instead, it turned into a very solid Salamanders win.
The plan was simple and very on-brand: put Infernus Marines in the middle, threaten Overwatch, and let the rest of the list do the cleanup. And this time, it all clicked.
How the game went
The opponent tried to open aggressively with cavalry, but the key charge failed — he needed a 10 on 2D6, and even the reroll didn’t save it. That left the unit standing in the open, which is exactly where Salamanders like their targets.
end3r then poured basically everything that had range into them, with the flamers doing especially brutal work. First big threat gone, and the game started tilting hard from there.
After that, enemy infantry moved up and shot at the flamer squads, but only managed to kill a few Marines. At the same time, the opponent kept his tank and artillery sitting deeper in the back instead of really committing them.
That gave end3r the opening he wanted. He pushed forward hard with almost everything except the ATV, got into melta range, and in one turn burned down a whole infantry block of more than a dozen models. The Invader ATV also moved up to pressure the tank. It didn’t kill it immediately, but it forced the issue.
The enemy tank then shifted and aimed at the Captain and Intercessors, but didn’t do meaningful damage. That was pretty much the end of its story, because the Eradicators — who are in this list for one reason and one reason only — stepped in and removed it from the table. Meanwhile, the Captain finished off the artillery.
By turn 4, the opponent had nothing left.
On the Salamanders side, the losses were surprisingly light:
- 5 Infernus Marines
- 3 Intercessors
- the ATV took a few wounds, but survived
So for a first league game, that’s a fantastic result.
Key moments
A few things clearly carried the game:
- Infernus Marines erased the cavalry after the failed charge
- Overwatch on the approaching infantry was just as nasty
- Eradicators cleaned up the enemy vehicle exactly as intended
- the whole list did what it was supposed to do, without needing any heroics
This is one of those games where the army identity feels very real. Salamanders in small points still do Salamanders things: get close, threaten automatic hits, punish movement, and make melta count.
Colosseum vs Combat Patrol
One of the more interesting takeaways from the game wasn’t even the result, but the format itself.
According to end3r, 500 points in Colosseum feels a lot like Combat Patrol, but with a bit more going on:
- more Stratagems
- units have fuller rules instead of being heavily simplified
- the leader has several abilities instead of just one
- you can draw random Secondary Objectives each turn, which adds a fun twist
And maybe most importantly: terrain is fixed by the map and mirrored for both sides.
That last part was a huge plus. In a previous Combat Patrol league game, terrain placement created a really awkward setup where the ATV had no reasonable route through, while the opponent had a very safe path to close in under cover. Here, with predefined terrain, it felt much easier both strategically and mentally.
If the extra abilities and Stratagems become second nature, Colosseum may actually end up being a more comfortable and more enjoyable format than Combat Patrol.
Final score
The result entered by the opponent was:
13:7 for Salamanders
That sounds like a very nice way to start a league.
The 500-point Salamanders roster
The list was basically the Salamanders Combat Patrol core, with one important swap: no Epic Hero, so instead of Adrax, the army used a generic Captain.
Imperium - Adeptus Astartes - Salamanders - Colosseum - [500 pts]
Detachment: Firestorm Assault Force
Character [95 pts]
Captain [95 pts]: Warlord, Forged in Battle [15 pts],
Pistol and Melee Weapon (Power fist, Plasma pistol)
Battleline [75 pts]
Assault Intercessor Squad [75 pts]:
• 1x Assault Intercessor Sergeant: Heavy Bolt Pistol, Power fist
• 4x Assault Intercessors: Astartes Chainsword, Heavy Bolt Pistol
Infantry [270 pts]
Eradicator Squad [90 pts]:
• 1x Eradicator: Melta rifle
• 1x Eradicator Sergeant: Melta rifle
• 1x Eradicator with Multi-melta: Multi-melta
Infernus Squad [90 pts]:
• 5 Marines with Pyreblasters
Infernus Squad [90 pts]:
• 5 Marines with Pyreblasters
Mounted [60 pts]
Invader ATV [60 pts]: Multi-melta
In practice, that came out to 20 models in 4 units, because the Infernus Marines were run as a 10-man block, while the Captain joined the Intercessors.
Closing thoughts
We really like reports like this, because they’re a reminder that not every “learning game” has to end in disaster. Sometimes the lesson is simply that the list works, the game plan is sound, and once the opponent gives you an opening, you have to capitalize.
And that’s exactly what happened here.
Salamanders walked into the Colosseum, set things on fire, and started the league with a win. Hard to ask for a better opening round than that.