Salamander Scout
The Salamander Scout Vehicle, also known as the Salamander Reconnaissance Tank, is a small reconnaissance vehicle used by the Imperial Guard and based on the Chimera chassis. It is designed primarily for reconnaissance duties and is lightly armed and armoured but very fast.[1a]
Contents
Battlefield Role
The Salamander Scout forms the backbone of an armoured regiment's reconnaissance company, operating at the forefront of an attack in order to observe enemy deployments. Though no match for a tank, it is fast and capable of leaving any dangerous situation quickly and, unlike the Sentinel scout, capable of protracted engagements with the light vehicles of enemy scout units.[1a]
Salamanders usually work in pairs for mutual protection, taking turns as one vehicle moves forward under the cover of the other, since they are most likely to be ambushed or encounter a strong enemy position. For major offensives when there are insufficient numbers of Salamander Scouts it is common to mix them with Armoured Fist Squads temporarily detached from their parent platoon or company. While an offensive unit by nature, Salamander Scouts are also used for rear area policing and security duties, such as patrolling supply routes or guarding headquarters units, when operating on the defensive.[1a]
The Salamander Scout Vehicle is known to be produced on the following Forge Worlds: Mars, Gryphonne IV, Stygies VIII, Voss, Tolkhan, Accatran, Lucius, Triplex Phall, Graia, Metalica, Vanaheim.[2]
Technical Information
The Salamander Scout uses the Chimera chassis with a number of modifications. In place of a troop compartment is a rear fighting platform where the vehicle's commander and comms-operator are located, along with navigational, long-range and back-up communication equipment and the vehicle's Autocannon. The communication equipment, powered by its own dedicated generator, allows the vehicle to maintain contact with command units up to the regimental level, including Leviathan transports. The driver and gunner for the hull-mounted Heavy Bolter sit in the forward compartment of the Salamander Scout.[1a] The vehicle's twin engines, housed in the track sponsons on either side of the main hull, are often overcharged in order to increase the vehicle's top speed.[4] While a breach of regulations and a source of extra strain on the engines and their maintenance crews, given the dangers faced by such scouting units this modification is often overlooked by commanders.[1a] The Salamander Scout is also equipped with a pair of powerful UHF vox-antennae[3a] and a tactical auspex.[3b]
Other more standard modifications made to the Salamander Scout include Camo Netting, Extra Armour, a Hunter-Killer Missile, Improved Comms, a Mine Sweeper, Rough Terrain Modification, a Searchlight, Track Guards and Smoke Launchers.[1c]
| Vehicle Name: | Salamander Scout Vehicle[1b] | Main Armament: | Autocannon |
|---|---|---|---|
| Forge World of Origin: | Vanaheim | Secondary Armament: | Heavy Bolter |
| Known Patterns: | I-XIXX | Traverse: | 22° |
| Crew: | Commander, Gunner, Driver, Comms Operator | Elevation: | From -3° to 24° |
| Powerplant: | Vulcanor 16 Twin Coupled Multi-Fuel | Main Ammunition: | 500 Rounds |
| Weight: | 33 tonnes | Secondary Ammunition: | 600 Rounds |
| Length: | 6.90m | ||
| Width: | 5.70m | Armour | |
| Height: | 3.18m | ||
| Ground Clearance: | 0.45m | Superstructure: | 150mm |
| Fording Depth: | {{{Fording Depth}}} | Hull: | 130mm |
| Max Speed - on road | 100kph | Gun Mantlet | N/A |
| Max Speed - off road: | 68kph | Vehicle Designation: | 0427-941-0340-SA38 |
| Transport Capacity: | None | Firing Ports: | N/A |
| Access Points: | N/A | Turret: | N/A |
Forge World Variations
- Vanaheim - standard pattern[1d]
- Gryphonne IV - Gryphonne IV pattern Autocannon[1d]
Variants
- Hippogriff Forward Auspex and Reconnaissance - Variant which provides long range artillery targeting and triangulation.
- Salamander Command - Command vehicle based around the same chassis as the Salamander Scout
Regiments known to contain Salamander Scout Vehicles
- Cadian 122nd Shock Troops Regiment - Siege of Vogen during the Khai-Zhan Uprising.
- Krieg 1st Armoured Regiment
- Krieg 2nd Armoured Regiment - battle for Tartarus Hive (3rd War for Armageddon).
- Palladius 8th Armoured Regiment - Atria Wilderness campaign.
- Tallarn 101st Armoured Regiment - First assault on the Palace of Tears.
- Tekarn 90th Armoured Regiment - Denkari-Prime Death World campaign.[1e]
- Valhallan 28th Armoured Regiment - Betalis IV campaign.
Usage by the Forces of Chaos
Renegades, such as the Lost and the Damned and Traitor Guard, have been known to use Salamander Scouts.[5] When employed by heretic armies, they are more often pressed into the role of light attack vehicles, rather than original scouting role they were designed for, relying on heavy flamers to decimate enemy infantry formations.[6] The Vraksian Renegade Militia was known to field Salamander Scouts.[5]
Images
A Salamander Scout Vehicle
A Chaos Salamander Scout[Conflicting sources]
Trivia
 |
Conflicting sources
This particular image has been used attached to the stories of two separate vehicles:
- In Imperial Armour Volume Five - The Siege of Vraks - Part One it is a Salamander Scout of the Vraksian Renegade Militia dubbed by its crew as Reaper, encountered by the Dark Angels during the Battle for Vraks star port.[5]
- In Imperial Armour Volume Thirteen - War Machines of the Lost and the Damned it is a Salamander Scout Tank from Forge World Rangda IX, having been taken by the mutant forge-clans in a rebellion in 919.M41, driven straight from the forges into battle as a light attack vehicle. Like most war engines of the rebellion, when it was abandoned and then recaptured by the Celebrants Space Marine Chapter in a counter-attack, its complex augurs remained silent and uninvoked by its erstwhile mutant masters.[6]
Sources
- 1: Imperial Armour Volume One - Imperial Guard and Imperial Navy:
- 2: Imperial Armour - Imperial Vehicles for Warhammer 40,000, pg. 24
- 3: Honour Guard (Novel) — The Saint (Omnibus):
- 4: White Dwarf 254 (AU), pg. 27 - Chapter Approved: Imperial Guard Armoured Company
- 5: Imperial Armour Volume Five - The Siege of Vraks - Part One, pg. 155
- 6: Imperial Armour Volume Thirteen - War Machines of the Lost and the Damned, pg. 169
