With melta being less in favor with 6th edition, Vulkan has been a bit malgined (or rather, simply not talked about) as the melta love of 5th edition falls away. But it still has a very important place in 6th edition. Light transports/vehicles are certainly far easier and more reliable to remove with the advent of the Hull Point system but there’s still two important areas melta type weapons are useful in this paradigm.
Firstly, AP1 means one shot is much more likely to destroy a vehicle (50% chance upon penetration) and with the 6th ed changes, that’s a 50% chance of causing an explosion. That means more damage to occupants and surroundings (generally enemies) and no LoS blocking terrain sitting in the way. Remember – this does not mean you have to get right up next to the damn tank with your melta weapon; AP1 works at 12″ as well.
Secondly, the Hull Point system has encouraged two types of vehicle play. Cheap and efficient but weaker vehicles such as Rhinos, a couple of Razorbacks, Chimeras, etc. and heavy vehicles (AV13+). If you’re just running around with plasma and maybe some lascannons to go with your autocannons/missile launchers, those AV13/14 tanks are going to be a pain. Particularly if you’re following the terrible trend of stand and shoot armies which have no mobility and thus cannot get potential side shots against weaker armor values (i.e. Hammerheads, Predators, Russes, Exorcists, etc.). Melta at half range makes these armor values much less of an issue and if more armies were running some safety melta, we might see less whining about how “OP LANDRAIDERZ AND TERMIES ARE.” Unlikely but we could hope.
Anyway - melta is useful. Ground breaking I know.
The changes in 6th though are unlikely to demand a continued acceptance of mass melta – the increase in general infantry numbers and reduction in cover means taking all melta in the grand scheme of things is going to potentially hurt you in that department (particularly given the mass foot lists people seem to be running currently). With this in mind, one does not want to go overboard with the concept of melta (and flamers) within a Vulkan list and this is perhaps why he hasn’t seen much use in 6th but there is one lovely unit which rocks the socks off this – Attack Bikes.
AB with Multi-meltas are fantastic anti-tank and with a twin-linked bolter, can at least put 2-3 shots into infantry every turn as well. With twin-linked, they are very very reliable at tank dropping and can scare the piss out of flyers thanks to AP1 (each shot has a 36″ threat range and just under 33% chance to hit). A single hit from a squad is causing a flyer to Jink (unless it’s a Heldrake) because as we mentioned above, Ap1 causes death. It’s not super reliable like a Stormraven’s MM pointed at your Heldrake’s bum, but it’s a ground force which works well and has added utility against flyers. And, with the changes to bike Toughness values (now being true T5), they are much more durable and are no longer missile/lascannon instant death bait. With Flat-out moves from vehicles as well, they can be hard to actually get a beeline on to take down.
So with that in mind something like this is a great start:
Vulkan
2x10x Tacticals w/plasma gun, Plasma Cannon, Rhino
3x3x Attack Bikes w/Multi-meltas
2x Predators w/HB sponsons
Thunderfire Cannon
1350 points
Your Tacticals + Heavy Support is covering the anti-infantry your Attack Bikes are lacking whilst also bringing in some Plasma (though the Tacticals can really be setup in a lot of different ways still). The Attack Bikes then are covering the most of the anti-tank though the middling strength of everything else can still strip Hull Points. You then have 150/400/500/650 points left for Allies, increased scoring, a unit to hang with Vulkan, etc. and you’re still gaining from Vulkan’s abilities (remember, he’s still a S6/AP3/I5 2+/3++ character in combat) whilst still making an army which works for 6th edition.
Options here could include more Tacticals, allied Imperial Guard (what a surprise!), Libby + Terminators, Sternguard, adding in a Stormraven, Tau and/or Rifledreads, etc. Each obviously tweaks how this concept works on the table as they add different elements. The key thing would be to ensure there is enough scoring there to justify each points level (at 1500 I might drop a couple attack Bikes for a 3rd Tactical squad for example).
