Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
4.5/5 stars. The rules are very strong indeed.
Background.
Vulkan is the good guy. The humanitarian. The perpetual. And amazingly a match for many of his brothers, whilst also being a consummate craftsman. Whilst his brothers played war leaders and planetary unifiers, he was more than happy to be a teacher and protector. He carried this over to his legion and sought to minimize the casualties he caused. This, of course, way not the way of some of his brothers. He was well liked by most of them all the same.
Strengths.
All Salamanders gain stubborn under his warlord trait which is excellent. The extra reaction in the shooting phase is solid as well.
The stat line is great with a WS=S=T=7 at the expense on one lower initiative than his brothers. You won't mind this given his armaments though. Dawnbringer, his hammer, strikes with S=10 and AP1 just to make some of his brothers jealous. His side arm is a S=7 lance with d6 burst which is one of the better ones compared to his brothers. Rounding this out is his 2+/3++ armour which is excellent. He re-rolls against flame and volkite where applicable, but I suspect that hardly will ever be used.
More than anything else, Vulkan is the tank among his brothers. His It Will Not Die is at 4+ and he will out last many of his brothers and tar pit others.
Weaknesses.
Beware of getting stuck in combat yourself all game long. No doubt a lot of Salamanders players have this experience already. He's much the same in this edition.
Overall.
As a tank, he will tank all game long. Choose your targets though. He can take on most things in the game and win, and for his brothers stands a good chance against half of them at least (forget taking on Horus or The Lion though).
Difference to First Edition.
He's lost some of his special rules and army boosts (no more re-rolling deny the witch for instance). Beyond this, its pretty similar. And its always hammer time.
3 comments:
I have used him a couple times with the new rules and I'd say he is improved. 6 attacks against the old 4 is a huge improvement and the Furnace's Heart with Burst (D6) and Precision Shots can kill a Praetor with a bit of luck. Only regret is the M7 that gives him no bonus when you roll for the charge. Great review, I love talking about Primarchs!!
Vulkan seems to be good vs everything but Primarchs, but especially good against Dreadnoughts due to the Instant Death on his hammer (d3 wounds per failed save). Most of the primarchs I have seen can Hit and Wound Vulkan on 3+/2+ anyways, even with his T7, and tend to strike before him. The main point of durability he has is the 3+ invul, while, correct me if I'm wrong, a lot of the primarchs don't have.
Regardless, he's weird as far as primarchs go due to how "basic" he is. Probably the lightest, rules wise, on what he can do, but really solid generic stuff, as you pointed out. I'd rate him closer to 3.5/4 stars. Main reason I'd go that high is because he's one of the best primarchs vs Dreads, the big scary thing of this edition.
I absolutely agree, if his hammer was Brutal (2/3) he would have been way scarier against other Primarchs (with a similar damage output to Ferrus Manus).
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