The highly trained and well-equipped warriors of the Solar Auxilia are humanity’s finest mortal troops, and they’re coming to a battlefield near you with a wide range of new plastic kits – beginning with the massive Solar Auxilia Battle Group army box.
This army set is packed with dependable infantry, sturdy armoured tanks, and mobile scouting support. It’s a great way to start a new Solar Auxilia army, and the rules are already available in the Liber Imperium army book*.
There are two 10-man Solar Auxilia lasrifle sections, which can be combined into a single larger unit of 20 if you prefer bigger formations, and whose durable void armour makes them surprisingly resilient troopers for regular, unaugmented humans.
The battle group is led by a Line Command Section, in which an Auxilia Troop Master barks orders over the din of battle, while four capable Veterans act as their command staff – hoisting the banner, relaying comms, and protecting their charge from harm.
To safely ferry infantry around the battlefield, the Solar Auxilia use the Dracosan Armoured Transport. This reliable beast can carry 20 troopers in its heavily armoured hold while mounting a wide array of weapons to support them when they disembark.
As standard, the Dracosan is armed with a double-barreled gravis lascannon, but it can also give up half of its transport capacity to mount a devastating demolisher cannon instead. Support fire is handled by a flexible pintle mount that can pack a heavy flamer, heavy stubber, or multi-laser, with a pair of hunter-killer missiles adding a powerful (if temporary) anti-armour punch.
While the Sentinels of the 41st Millennium are simple and easily mass-produced, the Solar Auxilia had many advanced models to deploy on scouting missions. The Aethon Heavy Sentinel – first seen in Legions Imperialis – is a common sight in the Age of Darkness, with a much heavier arsenal than most reconnaissance vehicles, consisting of a flexible central weapon mount and a heavy barrage-capable rocket system.
Its central mount fits a multi-laser as standard, but this can be swapped for other guns: autocannons, heavy incinerators, and volkite culverins for infantry targets, or lascannons and melta-lances to take down armoured vehicles.
Last in the army set is a familiar face for Warhammer 40,000 fans, though in a far more ornate form than you may have seen before – the Leman Russ battle tank. This workhorse shows its Solar Auxilia heritage with extra trim and fancy details, though compromises none of its rugged reliability in the process.
The Leman Russ is known for its adaptability – almost on par with the Legio Astartes Predator – and the Strike Tank** variant in the army set backs this up with four different turret weapons: a battle cannon, a vanquisher cannon, a gravis lascannon, or a gravis Autocannon.
That’s not it for the Solar Auxilia – additional units are also arriving in plastic.
The elite Veletaris Storm Sections have training and equipment beyond even the regular Cohorts of the Solar Auxilia. They deploy with powerful volkite calivers – strong enough to take down Space Marines with careful volleys – while daring Veletarii can trade their gun for a vicious storm axe.
The Leman Russ Assault Tank** adds even more turret options to your armoured squadrons.
This kit ramps up the explosive firepower with a massive demolisher cannon, while a volkite macro-saker shreds infantry at an alarming pace with eight long-range shots. If Space Marines are your bugbear, opt instead for the executioner plasma cannon, which blasts large areas of the battlefield with powerful rending plasma.
When an even heavier armoured presence is required, the Malcador is deployed, a legendary design with roots in the Age of Strife. It boasts a surprising turn of speed for a vehicle of its bulk, and can run rings around heavier squadrons of Baneblades and Stormhammers.
The Malcador Heavy Tank also boasts a ferocious armament that starts out with a main turret cannon and heavy bolter sponsons, but can be upgraded to haul five lascannons, loads of incinerators, multi-lasers galore, and even a demolisher cannon on the front.
As mentioned earlier, rules for all of these vehicles in Warhammer: The Horus Heresy* are already available in the Liber Imperium: Forces of the Emperor Army Book.
However, that is where they will stay – the Horus Heresy design team intends to fully explore the Horus Heresy setting, and to do that while keeping a tight and healthy Warhammer 40,000 game system, there are no plans to write rules for using these miniatures in the 41st Millennium. Of course, there’s nothing stopping you from using compatible models in a regular Astra Militarum regiment – but they’ll do their best work in the Age of Darkness.
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* Well, ALMOST all of the rules are in Liber Imperium. We'll have details on where to get rules for the brand new Aethon Heavy Sentinel soon.
** The Strike Tank and Assault Tank are the same vehicle for rules purposes, and the only difference is the weapon options you get in the box.