First time player wanting to field Salamanders

Yo, newfag here looking to get in to 40k. I'm planning on playing Salamanders and I've skimmed 1d4chan's Tactics page. He'stan with a combi-melta squad looks tempting as do drop pods full of flamer squads, but nothing is set in stone. Any advice on building my army? Or where else to ask? My friend wants to play Nurgle Daemons by the way.

admittedly don't know much in-game about the salimanders, but as a start your best bet is to try and whatever starter set is available in your shop, it gives you 2 armies to start with along with all the rules and templates your going to need to play. now for the disclaimer: know that 40k is an expensive hobby to get into, so recognize that on average your going to be dropping $40-50 on a unit/vehicle/model. other than that just pick whatever faction is fun for you to play and stick with it.

The dark vengeance set may interest you.

I wouldn't go for Dark vengeance like the others suggested, actually. Space Marine start collecting box + one or two of the armoured assault boxes would be the way to go for pure marines.

Or even JUST armoured assault boxes + He'stan, using the marine bodies to make extra dev squads with all your tac squad bits (hint: never run 10 man tac squads).

Get cheap mini rulebook on ebay, pirate codices on a tablet.

*strums*
Womble is a faggot~

OP here. Probably should've been more specific, but I'm looking for help with army lists more than starter kits. I plan on using sprites and a digital play table instead of actually buying models (at until I actually have some real money) so money isn't an object yet. But I'm still grateful for the advice so far. From what I've gathered so far I should use...
Vulkan He'stan and Melta Starnguard (in a pod)
Some Tacs to fill out the Troops
Devastators (in pods)
More Devastastors (in pods)

Is this a sound proposition? Keep in mind, I need to be able to deal with Nurgle Daemons and maybe Nurgle Chaos Marines since the only guy I play with at the moment is obsessed with Nurgle and I don't feel like losing a friend by using Grey Knights

I've been playing Salamanders since midway through 5th. Since their chapter tactics revolve mostly around flamers, you'll want to make use of a few at least. Even if they don't ignore armour, having flamers that re-roll wounds and armour pen is very useful for stacking on wounds. Using Vulkan to twin link all melta is damn useful, and I use to make use of 5 man combi-melta Sternguard all the time, though now I use Command Squads with melta guns as they are a bit cheaper. An Ironclad Dread is also a mean mother fucker with Salamanders, and if drop podded in can really fuck with some enemy plans. Termies aren't fantastic, but if you use a homing beacon a deep striking termie squad with a heavy flamer has a chance of doing some decent damage.

And if you use the angels of death supplement, you can use their detachment and get +1 S to all flamers, which is pretty nice.

And the list outline you gave is similar to what I used to run, minus the Devs in pods. I've found it's best to keep them back. But now you could put an HQ in Cataphractii termie armour and put him with your Devs for Slow and Purposeful.

I'd be wary about putting Vulkan in the Sternguard squad as they tend to draw a shitload of fire, unless you plan on gettting them into combat soon if they survive. Vulkan does a good job in a melee unit jumping out of a land raider, but the land raider is costly and not exactly the best of options.

Hey, is it possible to give He'stan the Shield Eternal? I've decided to put him in a Command Squad with Meltas and an Apothecary and I wanna know if there's a way to give him Eternal Warrior since my buddy is openly drooling over something that gives his Great Unclean One instant death. Also, is it wise to use a Rhino, Tac Marines, and a Homer to help drop pod my little green men in, or is that a waste of points? And if so, would Scouts in a flamer speeder be a viable alternative?

bolterandchainsword.com is a Forum mostly dedicated for Space Marines, I'd highly suggest you go over there and read as much as you can before you buy anything. They are not always right, but the general direction you get is good. You can look up a lot of lists and even posts lists and get a lot better CC than over here from Veeky Forums, since TG is very close-minded about WAAC faggotry and fluffy noncompetitive stuff. There is not much in between to see on this board.

In general:
Don't buy the Dave Vengeance Set. Get a Burning of Prospero or Betrayal at Calth box, wich have an insane Value and you get very cool Powerarmor that you can combine with other 40k Marine sets. Your need of Tactical marines will instantly be solved and you can resell stuff you don't need from the boxes to even out or even get more out than you invested (selling Adeptus custodes, SoS, Terminators and so on from the BoB box for example).

Read lists before you build your dudes! You don't want to have built utter BS and regret it later. Sure you can say "this is not a flamer, it"s a Melta", but WYSYWIG is nice.
Start with smaller lists and small point games to be able to catch up with the rules and learn gradually. 750-1k points is perfect for stater lists as it seems and I still enjoy playing at lower points from time to time for a quick and easy game.
2 Standard, 1HQ! From there on look at what your regular opponents (if you have some/will have some) play and look up what plays good against them. It's better to counter stuff, than to lose every game, a HEALTHY level of competition makes the game a whole lot more fun - and by the Emperor, you will lose a lot of games in the beginning. After you've got some practise take a look on formations and see if you maybe want to include a formation into your army, or maybe even make up your whole army with formations.

Farewell user, bring them justice in the name of the Emperor!

Not op but also want to do a salamanders.

I have assault on black reach stuff (10 tax marines with flames and missile, dread with mm, 5 basic termies) and I have an unbuilt space marine megaforce from 2000s

15 tac marines
5 assault marines
Dread
Razerback
Predator
10 sniper scouts
Command squad

I also have Vulcan.

How should I builld and split up squads and vehicles for salamanders?

Two squads of 10 in drop pods or rhinos and a squad of 5 with Vulcan in the Razerback?

Assaults with 2 flamers ?

How about command squad?

I ordered 3 multimeltas should my basic squads use Melta guns or flamers?

What would you guys buy next?

Is magnetising Razerback and Predator worth it?

Should I get rhinos or build drop pods? (Pvc)

Finally would caalth be worth it for me or do I have enough marines? What I am lacking is combi weapon bits.

Sorry for wall of questions I really wanna get building this week.