We’ve now published two articles detailing 12 Solar Auxilia cohorts with especially close ties to the Legiones Astartes – here and here. In this article we’re revealing a final six cohorts – examples of those bonded to the White Scars, Iron Hands, Alpha Legion, Raven Guard, Night Lords, and Word Bearers. Here’s what the design team had to say.
As before, these pictures are part of an ongoing creative development process and are very much a preview of future work rather than the finished product.
You may recognise some of the cohort names from Black Library’s Horus Heresy novels, but it’s worth reinforcing that the ‘Solar’ template is just one of many different patterns of soldiery in the Age of Darkness – developed to allow human troops to fight in hazardous environments where only the Astartes could normally survive. That’s why, for example, the Therion Velites – well-known to fans of Gav Thorpe’s Raven Guard novels – are shown here as Solar Auxilia even though they do not exclusively use the Solar template.
Chogorian Limitanei
Chogorian Limitanei units have been raised on multiple worlds brought to Compliance by the White Scars, including Kolarne, Capsis, Lemua, and Chogoris itself. Regardless of their origins, Limitanei conform to the bare livery derived from the city-dwelling societies on Chogoris, which was conquered by the Primarch prior to his reunification with the Emperor. This consists of an undersuit of dark brown, armour plates of (often lacquered) black, red banding, and polished brass trim.
Armour: Abaddon Black
Cloth: Thondia Brown
Piping: Abaddon Black
Trim: Mephiston Red
Decorative details: Castellax Bronze
Gun casing: Abaddon Black
Limitanei officers and veterans tend to wear additional heraldic elements derived from the V Legion in recognition of service alongside their patrons, as shown above.
The base colour for all Limitanei armoured vehicles is a pale khaki or tan, redolent of the more arid regions of Chogoris. This is complemented with dark red dags, which are derived from markings used by the plains-dwelling tribes. This heraldry is thought to represent the subjugation of the city-dwellers to the more savage tribes of the wide open plains.
Sthenean Chainshroud
The Sthenean Chainshroud are one example of a corps sometimes referred to as the Medusan Chainshroud due to their close associations with the X Legion, the Iron Hands. This cohort’s honour livery armour panels are a sooty iron, their undersuit flat black, and key details are picked out in polished bronze.
Armour: Iron Warriors
Cloth: Death Korps Drab
Piping: Abaddon Black
Pauldron and collar sigil: Castellax Bronze
Gun casing: Abaddon Black
On vehicles, the bulk of the hulls and turrets are painted the same black as the infantry’s undersuits with bars of polished bronze, onto which black identification markings are placed.
Sparatoi Vindicta
The Sparatoi Vindicta were known to have very close associations with the XX Legion. The livery depicted here is similar to a scheme occasionally used by the Alpha Legion itself, no doubt as part of some ruse de guerre, notably during the Nurth Compliance. Armour panels are painted a dark plum-black, undersuits are Excertus service grey, while trim and other details are picked out in silver. Some units or individuals also wear a pale green helmet stripe, the meaning of which is unclear…
Armour: 1:1 Daemonette Hide/Abaddon Black
Cloth: Ulthuan Grey
Armour seals, collar sigil, and faceplate: Stormhost Silver
Gun casing: Abaddon Black
Helmet stripe: Gauss Blaster Green
Hulls and turrets are painted in the same broad palette as seen on the infantry, but applied in a distinctive dazzle pattern. This scheme is unlikely to be an attempt at camouflage, and is more likely intended to make it harder for enemy gunners to locate and target specific, known weak points in the vehicle structure. It has further been noted that Vindicta armoured units show little or no consistency in markings, no doubt in an effort to confuse enemy intelligence officers.
Nostraman Damnatii
The Nostraman Damnatii were originally recruited from Nostramo itself, but after that world’s destruction at the hands of the Night Haunter, they were mustered from across the Nostramo Sector and beyond, including such worlds as Rebus, Okki, and Flent.
Armour: Night Lords Blue
Cloth: Skavenblight Dinge
Armour seals and collar details: Runelord Brass
Gun casing: Abaddon Black
Skull mask: Ushabti Bone
Pauldron: Mephiston Red
Veteran Damnatii are occasionally afforded the honour of wearing additional adornments more redolent of the Night Lords’ own, highly idiosyncratic livery, such as the skull-faced mask shown above. Damnatii wear undersuits of dark grey and armour panels of midnight blue, with brass trim and a red left shoulder pauldron.
Damnatii tanks feature hulls and turrets painted Exertus Service Grey, with a wide range of individually-applied markings derived from those of the Night Lords Legion, sometimes directly over existing numerals.
Therion Velites
The Velites are well-known for their ostentatious parade dress, elements of which are sometimes worn by officers even in battle. The rank-and-file however wear black armour, worn not by way of stealth but in deference to the livery of the Raven Guard. This is shown here polished to a high sheen typical of the standards expected of the Velites even on campaign.
Armour: Abaddon Black with a thin layer of ‘Ardcoat
Cloth - Skavenblight Dinge
Armour Trim - Stormhost Silver
Collar sigil - Runelord brass
Gun casing: Abaddon Black
These three examples of Velites tanks bear armour of plain black with bands of polished silver. Iconography and other markings are picked out in off-white.
Colchisian Torquatii
The Colchisian Torquatii Solar Auxilia cohorts were originally drawn from the populations of the great coastal cities of Colchis, the homeworld of the Word Bearers. Originally clad in sombre funerary black and grey, the Torquatii adopted the same red as their parent Legion, worn across the upper pauldron and helmet, and often adorned with script and runic devices derived from the esoteric traditions of Colchis and, later on, the teachings of Lorgar.
Armour: Khorne Red and Iron Warriors
Cloth: Skavenblight Dinge
Collar sigil: Runelord brass
Gun casing: Skavenblight Dinge
Three examples of Torquatii variant honour livery are shown here for tanks, each demonstrating how the original black hull has been adorned with red panels, over which has been penned lines of votive text and other runic icons.
Cohort icons
Finally, here’s a compilation of all the cohort icons we’ve developed so far. Some of these are already on the Solar Auxilia decals sheets that come in the boxes, though others aren’t yet – so you’ll have to practise your freehand until they are!
Thanks guys! This isn’t the last of these articles, and there remain several famous independent cohorts still in need of illustration…