This is the fourth part of our regular look at the uniforms of the Solar Auxilia. In previous articles we’ve examined the colours and heraldry of the Legiones Auxilia – those cohorts inducted into the service of a specific Legion. Such cohorts are only a small part of the Solar Auxilia, however: the bulk of the First Line Solar Auxilia are drawn from worlds, systems and sectors with their own identity, and while they conform to a more standardised system of uniform and iconography than their Legion-aligned kin, they nonetheless have their own subtly distinct systems of heraldry.
As with the previous articles in this series, these pictures are the result of our ongoing creative development process and are very much a preview of future work rather than the finished product. Look out for the fully rendered versions in future publications.
The first line
The Solar Auxilia represent the best of the Imperial Army and were originally constituted to fight at the leading edge of the Great Crusade, either at the side of the Legiones Astartes or in their stead. They are equipped with some of the finest wargear available to mortal troops, in the form of armour and survival systems that allow them to fight in the cold void or in environmentally hazardous warzones.
Their heraldry is a reflection of their origins and the manner of their deployment. War machines tend to be painted in a standardised Exertus Service Grey, with details picked out in polished metals. During the long voyages between warzones, these are scrupulously maintained as a matter of both martial pride and pragmatic discipline, giving the Solar Auxilia a very distinctive, somewhat archaic appearance.
A note on camouflage
You will notice that the colour schemes we’ve shown in these articles range from those inspired by the heraldry of the Legion to which a Legiones Auxilia is bonded, to the formulaic look of the more standardised First Line Auxilia. What we haven’t shown are war machines or uniforms that use camouflage of any sort. This is because the role of the Solar Auxilia is to move rapidly from one warzone to the next, serving as front-line heavy assault troops who overwhelm their for before moving onto the next warzone, leaving Second Line units to prosecute follow-on missions such as consolidation, occupation, counter-insurgency or static defence. In the First Line role for which they are intended, the Solar Auxilia wouldn’t ordinarily have the time, let alone the need, to camouflage themselves or their vehicles.
That said, some hobbyists just like painting camouflage, and who are we to say they’re wrong? It is entirely possible that a Solar Auxilia cohort might find itself engaged in a campaign that has become bogged down and protracted and the need for localised camouflage has arisen as a result. In other words, if you want to paint your Solar Auxilia tanks in camouflage, please do!
Cohort Numerals
By the height of the Great Crusade, somewhere approaching 10,000 Solar Auxilia cohorts are believed to have been in existence – certainly, no cohort with a numeral higher than the upper nine thousands was entered into the honour rolls of the Exertus Imperialis. Each Solar Auxilia cohort therefore bore a unique numeral, with the cohorts of the Saturnyne Rams having the honour of being numbered 1st to 10th. With the outbreak of the galactic civil war, however, many more cohorts were raised on both sides of the Loyalist/Traitor divide, and so this system of numbering broke down to the extent that it held little meaning. Some new cohorts were formed by subdividing and expanding existing cohorts, the new ones often taking on a number derived from the source. In other cases, new cohorts were raised with numerals entirely unrelated to the original units, or with no numeral at all.
Manachean ‘Bulls’
The Bulls’ armour panels are navy blue, their undersuit service grey with yellow. These colours are said to be derived from the livery of the ancient mercator houses of Manachea, whose bond-armies were elevated to the various Auxilia patterns (such as the Solar pattern shown here) upon their world’s ascension to the Imperium.
Armour: Night Lords Blue
Cloth: Dawnstone
Cloth detail: Averland Sunset
Gun casing: Abaddon Black
Tank hulls and turrets are painted the same grey as the infantry undersuits with bars of blue and yellow, onto which white identification markings are placed.
Theta-Garmon ‘Deathless’
Theta-Garmon ‘Deathless’ cohorts are particularly skilled in voidship security and ship-to-ship boarding actions, although they are capable of the full range of operations expected of the Solar Auxilia. Armour panels are painted black, undersuits are white and trim and other details are picked out in silver.
Armour: Abaddon Black and Corax White
Cloth: Ulthuan Grey
Decorative details: Ironbreaker
Gun casing: Abaddon Black
The cohorts of Theta-Garmon were split between those that remained loyal to the Imperium and those that swore to the Warmaster’s cause, and so as the civil war ground on, it became increasingly common for traitor crews to adorn their vehicles with text and runes pronouncing their enslavement to the fell powers.
Agathon ‘Lord Marshall’s Own’
The armour panels of the 1,522nd Agathon, ‘the Lord Marshall’s Own’ are bronze with a green undersuit and white accents, a scheme derived from the heraldry of the MaSade Rogue Trader dynasty, which settled the Coronid Deeps in ages past.
Armour: Castellax Bronze and Rakarth Flesh
Cloth: Warpstone Glow
Gun casing: Abaddon Black
These tanks feature hulls and turrets painted Exertus Service Grey, with vertical bands of green matching that worn by the infantry. Many of the vehicles previously fielded by the Agathon cohorts were mothballed in the latter days of the Great Crusade, to be hurriedly recommissioned for service with the reconstituted 1,522nd Cohort at the outbreak of the Battle of Coronid Deeps.
Lethe ‘Ash Scorpions’
An inducted auxiliary of one of the ‘Ash Scorpion’ cohorts depicted wearing standard battledress order. The Ash Scorpions were raised on the ruined post-industrial world of Lethe, the grey undersuit and black armour of their uniform likely a reference to that world’s prevailing palette. The Ash Scorpion from which these cohorts take their iconography is an especially dangerous creature, and an appropriate mascot for this veteran corps.
Armour: Corvus Black
Cloth: Abaddon Black
Armour trim: Ironbreaker
Gun casing: Abaddon Black
Ash Scorpions vehicle livery bears armour of service grey with bands of dark grey. The gold trim in the top example is comparatively rare amongst Ash Scorpion vehicles and tends to be reserved for use on command tanks.
Arkadian ‘Janissaries’
The Arkadian 'Janissary’ were once drawn from the highly militarised populations of the bastion-hives of Arkadia. Though originally clad in armour of gunmetal grey and undersuits of dark grey, several Arkadian cohorts have pledged themselves to the service of the III Legion – the Emperor’s Children – and taken to bearing the Tyrion purple of that legion as a token of their loyalty. It is notable that the Arkadians have never been formally inducted into the service of the III Legion, and have never been counted in the ranks of the Legiones Auxilia, making the relationship somewhat unilateral.
Armour: Iron Warriors and Xereus Purple
Cloth: Dawnstone
Decorative details: Ironbreaker
Gun casing: Abaddon Black
Three tanks bearing the standard Exertus Service Grey with vertical bands of purple and black. All bar a handful of Arkadian cohorts are counted among the Traitor ranks, and in the latter days of the galactic civil war many bore the icons of the Ruinous Powers upon their hulls.
Saturnyne ‘Rams’
The 10 Saturnyne ‘Rams’ Solar Auxilia cohorts were numbered as the first to the tenth of all Solar Auxilia cohorts. They are the corps from which the ‘Solar’ pattern of heavy void infantry organisation, equipment and doctrine is derived. Each of these 10 cohorts is recruited from a different moon of the planet Saturn, though since Unification, these once-warring states have united under one banner and now wear the common blue-and-cream undersuit with iron-coloured armour gifted to them upon Compliance.
Armour: Celestra Grey
Cloth: Thunderhawk Blue
Decorative details: Ironbreaker
Gun casing: Abaddon Black
Saturnyne Rams vehicle livery, each displays the vertical blue and white worn by the infantry over hulls of Exertus Service Grey.
Byzant Janizars
The Janizar cohorts of the Byzant system served extensively in the 63rd Expeditionary Fleet during the Great Crusade, and followed the Warmaster into rebellion at the outset of the galactic civil war. Janizar cohorts wear armour of off-white and undersuits of dark brown, with rank and service symbols rendered in dark red. It is common amongst these cohorts for troops to bear the numeral LXIII in recognition of their long service to the 63rd Expeditionary Fleet, even long after that body ceased to exist.
Armour: Rakarth Flesh
Cloth: Thondia Brown
Decorative details: Castellax Bronze
Gun casing: Abaddon Black
Byzant Janizars vehicles showing variations of the use of off-white and dark red vertical stripes against the standard Exertus Service Grey hull. As with the infantry, it was not uncommon for Janizar vehicles to bear the numeral LXIII in recognition of their service in the 63rd Expeditionary Fleet.
Cohort icons
Finally, here’s an updated compilation of all the cohort icons we’ve presented throughout this series. Some of these are already on the Solar Auxilia decal sheets that come in the boxes, but others aren’t, so you’ll have to practise your freehand or leave them off until they are!
