From a Salamanders Joke to 1500 Points
Sometimes army-building starts with careful planning, spreadsheets, and a long-term collecting strategy.
And sometimes it starts with a terrible joke.
This time it was exactly the second option, when Stas asked whether in the world of Warhammer 40,000 people call Salamanders… greenskins. You know, because of the green armor. End3r immediately fired back with the important correction: the armor may be green, but the original Salamanders from Nocturne have black skin. And, as he pointed out, with Primaris reinforcements coming from different places, there is a bit more room for variation in how individual models look.
That naturally led to one more hobby confession: End3r’s Kill Team is apparently the “Temu version” of Salamanders, because the guys are pale and ginger. Honestly, that kind of detail is exactly why we love this hobby. Even when we are talking lists and points, it always somehow comes back to tiny bits of lore, paint choices, and making fun of our own collections.
Trying to identify what is actually in the force
Later that day, End3r sat down to figure out what exactly was in the collection. One hero remained unidentified, but the rest of the force was recognized as:
- Adrax Agatone – 85 pts
- Librarian – 65 pts
- 10x Intercessor Squad – 160 pts
- 3x Aggressor Squad – 95 pts
- 5x Hellblaster Squad – 110 pts
- 5x Infiltrator Squad – 100 pts
- 5x Reiver Squad – 80 pts
That gives a total of 695 points.
For us, this is one of the most satisfying moments in army-building: when a pile of cool models stops being just “some Space Marines” and starts looking like an actual force with a direction.
The road to 1500
The really nice part is that this is not even the whole story. End3r also mentioned adding his Combat Patrol, worth another 500 points. Once that gets folded into the collection, the army is already in a very comfortable place.
From there, the plan sounds refreshingly simple and achievable:
- add the existing Combat Patrol
- bring in some Terminators
- round the force out with 2–3 vehicles
And just like that, getting to 1500 points starts looking very realistic.
We really like this kind of milestone because 1500 points is such a sweet spot for casual Warhammer 40k games. It is big enough to feel like a proper army, but still small enough that every new addition feels meaningful. A character here, an elite unit there, then a tank or two, and suddenly the collection has real table presence.
Why this feels very Salamanders
Even from this rough breakdown, the force already has a nice Salamanders flavor.
Adrax Agatone sets the tone immediately. Aggressors fit the chapter aesthetic really well too, and Hellblasters give the list some extra punch. Intercessors and Infiltrators provide a solid core, while Reivers add a bit of a wildcard element. It is not a fully polished final list yet, but it definitely feels like the skeleton of a proper Salamanders army rather than a random assortment of Primaris kits.
And honestly, that is often the best stage of the hobby journey: when the collection is still growing, the identity is already there, and every next purchase has a purpose.
The best part: it started with banter
What we enjoy most here is how familiar this whole process feels. One minute we are making dumb jokes about Salamanders being green, the next minute someone has counted points, identified units, and mapped out a path to 1500.
That is basically the Warhammer hobby in miniature.
A joke turns into lore talk. Lore talk turns into model talk. Model talk turns into list-building. And list-building turns into the dangerous realization that yes, we probably do need Terminators and a couple of vehicles now.
Honestly, we are looking forward to seeing how this force develops. Especially whether the mysterious unidentified hero turns out to be something exciting, and whether the “Temu Salamanders” Kill Team keeps its pale-and-ginger reputation all the way onto the tabletop.
For now though, the important part is simple: this has gone from a funny chat into a very doable Salamanders army-building plan, and that is exactly the kind of hobby momentum we love to see.