Warhammer 40,000/Tactics/Solar Auxilia (30k)

Behold, Solar Auxilia!!

The Imperial Army now takes to the field with the addition of the Solar Auxilia rules for the Horus Heresy.

The Solar Auxilia are a shooting army, relying on weight of fire to counter the Legiones Astartes and the Mechanicum.

The latest FAQ can be found here (February 2019)

Why Play Solar Auxilia

Because you like Stormtroopers but find their list hideously lacking in the vehicle department, and you like the Imperial Guard but not their 5+ cardboard save. But most of all, it's because you like 80's 50's sci-fi tin men and this is the Militarum Tempestus 30k equivalent. Seriously, you're able to make a force with decent survival ability as well as the large numbers and fire-power of classic Guard, not to mention Commanders that can go toe-to-toe with a Space Marine Captain (or Praetor in 30k). Also, all our vehicles are better than the average IG ones, and that's modesty: better AV, Melta immunity and we can field some Superheavies as normal heavy options. Yes, we laugh at Vraks.

Compared to their 40k counterparts, Solar Auxilia have a pretty versatile list. Where Guardsmen and Stormtroopers need orders, Solar Auxilia doesn't, making up with their special rules and wargear which is better because that doesn't need a Ld test.

• Get Back in the Fight? Solar Auxilia Tercios wont break lines to begin with.
• FRFSRF? Your Lasrifle's Collimators give you 2 shots at 150% range of a lasgun's.
• Elimination Protocol Sanctioned? The Lasrifle's Blast-Charger lets you glance stuff to death.
• Close Assault Doctrine Sanctioned? Some of our guys can become WS5 by holding hands.

Speaking of melee, we have pretty competent melee units as well, with access to MEQ mulching Ogryns and incredibly cheap power axe troops which do rather OK at killing termy squads that cost 3 times as much. That said if you want to make a melee-centric list, assault transports are not found in this army.

When compared to other non-enhanced human armies, Solar Auxilia can be summed up as "Back in my day; Better than yours". Thus, Solar Auxilia is Pepperidge Farm in space.

However, you'll need to shit money. Seriously. If you're planning on running many Lasrifle sections (which you most definitely will) then you'll have to cough up £70 for a mere 100 points of your army.

It also should be noted that it was developed, it's minituares made and rules written by a single man named Edgar Skomorowski, so, just like Eldar in 6th edition, whose codex was written by a fanboy who played them since 2nd edition, this army allows ridiculously powerful combos, has OP stuff (FFS, Tempest Shells!) exclusive equipment of pure rape SOMEHOW not available to anyone else (Malcador Infernus) and better point-per-point options compared to Astartes (Astartes Malcador 275 vs Auxillia's 235 (245 for the same profile), Kraken penetrators 35 vs 25, Servo-automatas can only take Power Fists for 15 points vs Auxillia's Servoarm for 5 and so on). And that's after the Conquest, in new book "Crusade Imperialis", so those rules are here to stay. You like winning? Take this army.

That being said, while all models are beautiful and very warhammer-esque (look at Strategos Gognis-signum with a typing machine! That's not some Space Elf sci-fi faggatory, it's real Imperial technology), they are pretty much restricted to default poses and equipment. It's really hard to make two completely different Volkite Velitarii or Command Squads (dunno why you'd want the latter, but still) or even Lord Marshal with Power Fist so he would look decent and new parts wouldn't be out of army style.

Special Rules

• Disciplined Fire: All models with this rule can fire Overwatch at BS2 when using Pistols, Assault and Rapid-fire weapons (read: all your infantry). Whatever helps stalling close combat is nice, but with AP- on most of your weapons this isn't a game changer. Though it's a nice incentive for buying plasma pistols or Archaeotech Pistols for that re-rollable 5+
• Close Formation Fighting: Akin to the Greek and Macedonian phalanxes, 2+ models with this rule in base contact during an assault phase gain +1 WS, sorta helping stall those killer marines. Like with the real life formation, this is meant to be used for gaining/holding ground while support units (like tanks & artillery) do the real pummeling. Of course, assume this formation only when assaulters are upon you - your enemy also has artillery of his own! Use your charge and pile in moves to lock arms, then your consolidate and run moves to break apart again.
  • Some of the neckbeards will remember Imperial Guard had similiar rule back in 3rd edition. Nice reference indeed.
• Hold the Line: If you have a squad within 12" of another squad from the same Tercio (platoon) that is not falling back, you can re-roll Morale and Pinning rolls of 6 in the Psychic or Shooting phases. They'll still flee in assault, but CFF helps them in that. Nice, because your vexillas (banners), unlike the Legion's ones, won't allow you to re-roll morale checks.
• Structured Command: The elaborated version of 40K Militarum's Chain of Command.
  • The Lord Marshal is always the Warlord unless there's a named character who can override.
  • If you lack any Lord Marshals, then a Legate Commander is the Warlord.
  • Not having those, the Stratego of any of your Tactical Command Section will be the Warlord.
  • Not having that, then the Tank Commander with the priciest tank will be the Warlord, but he won't have a Trait. This will never happen as to take a tank commander in your primary detachment you need another HQ to fill the compulsory slot, and all of them outrank him.

Wargear

Ranged Weapons

• Archaeotech Pistols: S6 AP3 Master-crafted pistol. Your powermincer. Too bad it's available only to the Lord Marshal. Works well with Disciplined Fire, hitting on a re-rollable 5+ on Overwatch so, if you're using him, buy one for him. A Master-Crafted Plasma pistol costs the same and is deadlier, meaning Archeotech has only one function: being the sidearm of a MC Paragon wielding Praetor in order to get two MC weapons.
• Graviton Weapons: Not to be confused with Grav-weapons; their wounding has nothing to do with the enemy's armour save.These Heavy weapons (not Salvo) possess no Strength, but have both Concussion and Haywire effects. They make the enemy take Strength tests; if the result is above their Strength they take a wound - a result of 6 always causes a wound. So they are effectively Strength 3, wounding GEQs on 4+, and MEQs on 5+, making it ineffective against infantry blobs. That's not why you're taking them though. You take them to dump haywire on the super-tough vehicles of this era. If you have nothing better to shoot at then you can use it bog down infantry because it also creates Difficult and Dangerous terrain in its blast radius, so it can at least severely hinder their movement which is certainly useful. Don't expect many kills though because AP4 in the space marine millennium is just...sub optimal. And it's even difficult to hunt vehicles with it because of its short range and Heavy type, meaning that after you show up, the enemy either kills the wielder or moves away. It's hard to miss, though. They come in gun (18", Blast) and cannon (36" Large Blast) flavors.
• Grenade Launcher: Comes with 3 different grenades: The basic Kraks, Kinetic (S4 AP5 Blasts, so AoE Bolter) and Tempest, which is easy-use AP6 Haywire, because it's an Assault 24" weapon. Pretty versatile, actually.
• Las Weaponry: Yeah, this is your army's bread and butter right here. And we mean it: not counting Volkite/Flamers-only squads and Techpriests, currently you can field like 6 special weapons per detachment. Fortunately, you get LOTS of variety, as the lasrifle your basic tercios get comes with special attachments and whatnot.
  • Laspistol: It's a fucking laspistol. What'd you expect?
  • Blast Pistol: A predecessor to the Hot-Shot weaponry. It's pretty much the revolver version of the laspistol: Officers only, with Twin-linked and S5 but half the range and Gets Hot, with no AP value. But it's only 2pts, and Gets Hot is virtually unheard of with TL, while comboing with Disciplined Fire.
  • Lasrifle: A 30" lasgun with a fancy name. Extra range, BS2 on Overwatch, attachment options...these were manly weapons, instead of mere flashlights.
    • Collimator: The first of two attachments, this is a 36" Heavy 2 lasgun shot. Pretty useful when holding objectives and you need to add some firepower to a fight. All your lasrifles come with these for free, just in case it wasn't obvious enough that rifle sections are meant to be a stationary gunline.
    • Blast-Charger: Turns your lasrifle into a pocket multilaser. An 18" S6 AP6 Heavy 1 shot that runs a modified version of Power Outage: After shooting, the gun can't be used again for the next turn as it cools down. In addition, roll one D6 (per squad); on a 6 the charger (not the lasrifle) becomes unusable for the rest of the game, but at least you'll be wounding marines on a 2+ and now your basic troops have a chance against Mechanicum, so it's worth a try. Remember Disciplined Fire doesn't work for Heavy weapons, so DON'T use them for Overwatch - you'll end up less unsaved wounds overall, and with the risk of a Charger Burnout, so stick to normal BS2 lasrifle overwatch. On the other hand, if one of your squads gets charged they're likely to get their asses handed to them so you may want to risk it-for what it's worth. These are bought as an upgrade on a per-squad basis, serving as your grunts' equivalent to special weapons.
• Needle Pistol: S2 AP5 with Rending and Poisoned, which is actually as good/better than a bolter, specially vs 2+ save MEQs. Worth considering.
• Plasma pistol: The same as always, with a minuscule but significant twist: It's rather decently priced now - 15pts was insane, 10 still borders madness, but with Disciplined fire less so. Not to mention it's pretty much the only plasma your infantry can get. So, instead of a power weapon that pretty much always goes last, which WILL get you killed, consider buying this, which just might get you killed.
• Rotor Cannons: Salvo lasguns, really. A nice way to add volume of fire. They're 30" S3 AP6 Salvo 3/4, so they suck only slightly less than normal.
• Volkite Weapons: The literal Martian ray gun. They have the Deflagrate special rule, which means each unsaved wound inflicts another automatic hit. Additional hits this way cannot cause yet more hits. They have nice Strength but poor AP and range, so you better throw DTs or some support in the mix. Your infantry only gets access to the Serpenta (pistol) and Charger (assault) variants here, both S5 AP5.

Close Combat Weapons

• Charnabal Sabre: Favours speed over strength. A Rending CCW, with no AP value whatsoever. However, it grants +1I in challenges, so your regular Sgts. can strike at the same time than Space Marines. Yes, melee sergeants are still bad ideas, but your model at least gets a chance to actually attack and it's cheaper that a power weapon you might not actually be able to use, which is nice.
• Paragon Blade: +1S AP2 Specialist melee weapon without Unwieldy that has Murderous Strike - inflicts Instant Death on a wound roll of 6. Available only for your Marshal. Even though you'll strike last, take it - it'll be a nasty surprise for your non-EW enemy.
• Power weapons: It narrows to Power Axes (poor man's Fist) to kill marines, because you were already going last, or Power Mauls, which are actually good vs the slow, tough and often 4+ armoured Mechanicum, who are shootier than you and would not be hurt easily by power swords.
• Power Fist: You're paying a lot for a weapon that you might not use, that isn't IDing anyone except for other Auxilia. For that you'd be taking a power axe instead. But it's worth considering against the T3, and unlike 40k IG, all your Sgts. can take them.

Armor & Invuln

• Void Armour: When the IG got actual space armor instead of cardboard. Void Hardened Carapace Armor, thus 4+ save being stock for the Solar Auxilia, while doing fine even in Zones Mortalis (if you ever play that). Pretty sweet.
• Reinforced Void Armour: Void Armor that re-rolls failed armor saves against Templates and Blasts. This is invaluable and awesome - short of the best armor a regular human could hope for. Veletaris exclusive, though. Do note that both versions of Void Armour lack the -1 penalty the Space marine version has.
• Artificer Armor: The classic 2+ save Marine Commanders usually get, available for your Legate Commanders.
• Refractor Field: The Guard Commander's familiar 5++ Invul.
• Iron Halo: The Chapter Master's familiar 4++ Invul.
• Displacer Matrix: Possibly the best protection system even Magos could ask for, wonder how this isn't a Relic. A 3++ Invul save that, the first time in the game any 1's are rolled (either for Armour or Invulnerable save), teleports the wielder to Ongoing Reserves (AND you discard that wound! That's one-time Eternal Warrior!). The player must then Deep-Strike this guy anywhere he likes, meaning boot him to another wherever he's needed most (like behind a big squad). The supposed 'catch'? If you get any mishap he'll die. BUT since even your common squads have vox operators (no scatter), you won't ever care.
  • The real strength of this is it requires your enemy to invest way more fire than is justifiable if he wants to kill your HQ. He is annoyingly hard to kill. Just remember his squad is not. Also remember that your opponent probably won't oblige you by firing all his really powerful weapons at one model that really isn't all that threatening but is very hard to kill. Don't pin your hopes on your HQ heroically drawing volcano cannon fire away from your more dangerous stuff.
    • He will. Lord Marshal provides the whole force with Ld 10 and it's a real pain to route your guys with him being in game, so the opponent will try to remove him ASAP. Use it to your advantage.

Equipment

• Augury scanner: No unit can infiltrate within 18" of the unit. In addition, grants Interceptor to the unit's Rapid fire & Heavy weapons but only against enemies within the 18" range. That last part is incredibly important, turning this from an auto-include item to highly-situational, namely, to keep someone from infiltrating with a melta near your tanks' rear AV. But don't expect much against Terminators.
• Cognis-signum: Counts as an Augury scanner + Night vision. In addition, if the model doesn't shoot, it can confer +1BS to ANY nearby squad, except for ICs and Superheavies. So yeah, it can benefit Tanks.
• Cyber familiar: +1 to your invuln save (to a maximum of 3++, to avoid unkillable Displacer matrices Commanders) and allows re-rolling of failed tests, except Ld and Dangerous terrain.
• Digital lasers: +1 attack. For just 5pts, it's a nice, cheap addition to your Commander, but even better for your Marshal, who can get a Paragon blade.
• Grav-wave generator: "What wouldn't I give to avoid CC". Emperor heard your plea, this is -D3" to enemy assaults targeting the bearer (or his unit), and denies HoW. Better than some relics, actually.
• Infravisor: Confers Night vision but renders the user vulnerable to Blind, testing at I1 only. Available to any character in the army.
• Nuncio vox: No scatter for allied Deep strikers within 6", and Barrage weapons can use the carrying model's line of sight (range is still measured from the firing model).
• Psi-jammer: Grants Adamantium Will. Psykers are uncommon in 30k, but Auxilia have none, so take it if your enemy has those mutants.
• Troop Vexilla: 'Vexilla' is Latin for 'Banner'. It allows you to regroup despite incurring in 25% casualties. It also counts as scoring +1 wound in CC, so it both stacks with Close Formation Fighting and Hold the Line. Nice, since every Section Sgt. has one.
  • Cohort Vexilla: Counts as a Troop Vexilla that allows friendly Auxilia squads within 24" to "ignore casualties when taking Morale tests". Command Section exclusive, naturally.
    • The wording is really bad there. Does it mean pseudo-Stubborn (no negative modifiers in h2h for casualties) or ignoring casualties Death Corps-style? Wording is different from Iron Warrior's "do not suffer Morale Checks from shooting",so be sure to discuss it with your opponent before the game begins. It's also interesting that your guys may use it, not must, so you can totally run from close combat.
• Shroud Bombs: "Let's keep this avoid-assault trend!" Count as Defensive grenades (Blind when thrown, no +1 charge attack when assaulted) with a bonus: Unless the assaulters are Daemons, Gargantuan creatures or have Night vision, they need to take a Ld test to charge at you. Ld is very high in 30k, so take them as Defensive grenades, mostly.

Vehicle Equipment and Rules

• Armoured Ceramite: Lets the vehicle ignore the Melta rule. This is the reason Melta weapons are frowned upon in this millennium.
• Auxiliary Drive: Allows the vehicle to repair an Immobilized result on a 4+ at the start of the Movement phase.
• Explorator Adaptation: All your Tanks have this. Rerolls failed Dangerous terrain tests, 6++ save against Blast/Templates and counts as Void Hardened. And you thought your vehicles were already tough. This does everything a dozer blade can and more, and it's included by default on all the vehicles that could take dozers, which raises the question of why you even have the option to buy those.
• Flare Shield: Front facing force field that reduces the strength of incoming frontal shots by 1. Template/Blast weapons get a 2S reduction instead, but melee/Destroyer hits are unaffected.
• Lascannons: EVERY vehicle can get Lascannons (except artillery), and very often these are Twin-linked, so you can actually spam them because they are surprisingly cheap. Tread softly and carry a big gun indeed.
• Multilasers: Seriously, more Multilasers than an Irish Leper colony. Your trademark Heavy weapon, it is to the Auxilia what Heavy Bolters are to Astartes. You've got them as standard on quite a lot of vehicles, you can swap Heavy bolters with them for free on Leman Russes and damn near every vehicle can take them as a pintle-mounted weapon. Being able to shove these things on vehicles instead of Heavy Bolters is a god-send. Although S6 wounds Marines on a 2+ and even Castellax on a 5+, AP6 is nigh useless. That said, Multilasers are better than Heavy Bolters against 3+ saves, but against most Mechanicum and other Auxilia you'd be better keeping the Heavy Bolter's AP4. However, one closing thought on MLs vs. HBs is that the S6 of the former will negate any FNP rolls from medicae types on standard humans so the laser-beamer still makes sense, particularly vs. Mechanicum which can get Thralls with FNP 4+ and Militia lists where Flak Armour is common and medics cheap.

Relics

The Solar Auxilia use the generic list of Dark Age of Technology relics everyone uses, plus their SA specific ones. Since they are restricted for IC use, the only ones with access to them would be Legate Commanders/Marshals, so the usefulness of some items does not translate directly over from the Legion options.

In a campaign you're only allowed one character with a relic which you'll be stuck for the rest of the campaign, so be sure of your decision. If the relic bearer is killed, the side that killed him can choose to play a Relic Hunt mission, where the winner steals (or recovers) the relic, even if it's a Legion specific one, but a Draw means that relic is effectively lost for everyone. Still, you can always opt to play a 'Relic Hunt' mission at the beginning of every campaign phase to acquire FREE relics, where your war zone-assigned character must be deployed and thus miss all other missions played in that phase...but that way you can hoard up on relics, even getting duplicates of the non-faction-specific ones, by rolling a D6 on the 'Relic Uncovered' table below. Of course, this only matters when playing missions instead of casual gaming, enjoy!

• #1 Nanyte Blaster: The Grey Goo gun of uncontrolled carnage!!! It's a S5 AP2 Fleshbane weapon, where if it kills anyone you center a large blast over the dead model on a die roll of 4+, causing a S5 AP2 hit to those underneath it. Unlike Volkite, each model who dies to this can cause yet MOAR large blasts on further rolls of a 4+. All you need to do is get one casualty and you can wipe out an entire unit! Smashing!
• #2 Warp Shunt Field: 3++ against shooting, however for every save of a 6+ (against direct fire weapons) the shooting unit suffers D6 S5 hits. This is the only risk-free defensive relic.
• #3 Phase Walker: Each moving phase, instead of moving you may place the bearer anywhere you like, counting as having just deep struck but with no scatter. If you move through a solid object you have to take a dangerous terrain check for EACH solid object you went through (including all models) so be wary of abusing it in city scenarios. Quite nice for Void Masters, who have Move through Cover, so feel free to abuse it. Too bad this leaves behind the rest of his unit, and commanders aren't known for being one-men armies. If you're up against an Assault heavy army though or are playing a Zone Mortalis/Cities of Death game it can make it's points back as your Warlord retreats through walls (and into another unit) so he can't be assaulted, like a panic button.
• #4 Combat Augment Array: Once per game, at the beginning of any of the controller's player turn, he may count any single die (only 1) rolled as an automatic 6 (Emails from FW confirm). However, he must also pass Toughness tests for each remaining wound. If he fails he suffers a wound with no saves or mitigating FnP rolls of any kind. A Cyber familiar can mitigate the danger by granting a re-roll on the commander tests. However, you're paying 35pts for one guaranteed 6 - nice combo with a Paragon Blade, but given that everyone strikes before you...do you really want to be in Close combat?
• #5 Cloaking Array: Once per game, at the beginning of ANY game turn you may make yourself invisible for that whole game turn (i.e. on the 3rd turn both in your and your opponent's turn, thus starting on your enemy's turn if he goes first). You cannot be shot or charged at unless the enemy unit contains psykers or daemons, in which case the array immediately shuts down (so now everyone can hit you, not just the previous two). Unfortunately you cannot activate it while attached to a squad or if engaged in close combat already. You also cannot shoot, assault, move or do anything at all. So your model stands on the same spot invisible but doing nothing during a whole game turn. Since you don't want your commander to be alone, pass on this one.
• #6 Void Shield Harness: Yep. You can get a voidshield for your dude. It's a large blast-sized shield, centered on your dude but protecting anyone that fits inside. Glancing, Penetrating and Destroyer hits will collapse the shield, but it can be restored at the end of your turn on a 5+, and with AV12 you'll be immune to most small arms fire. However, a result of Explodes! will overload the shield, disabling it for the rest of the game and placing a S6 AP4 Large Blast template centered on the bearer - that's Instant Death for your commander and his friends, who won't get their armor saves, so get the hell away from Meltaguns.

• Solar Auxillia Specific
  • Metaphasic Reader: Grants the bearer and units from the same detachment within 12" the Interceptor rule. Costs 45 points but can be priceless against an Orbital Strike Legion detachments, especially bacause it also affects vehicles like Leman Russ tanks.
  • Apex Digital Weapon: More like Ape-X, am I right? Incredibly over costed for what it does, though. It counts as a normal Digital Weapon, granting +1 attack, but also once per game it can be fired as either a Lascannon, Plasma Cannon, Multi-Melta or Volkite Caliver. But when you factor the cost of the basic Digi weapons you've essentially just paid 30 points for a One-use heavy weapon at BS4. If you want a super shooting attack, buy the Nanyte blaster instead.

Warlord Traits

HH4 brings the Auxilia exclusive Warlord Traits table, arguably better than the WH40k 7E's tables, which you can also use if you so desire. But keep in mind some of those traits are made redundant by your units' inherent rules.

1. Uncanny Survivor: Your squishy humie is now an Eternal Warrior, which is actually good, since a lucky plasma bolt could ID your 80pts+ Commander, and there's a lot of that in 30k. However, he should be a force multiplier instead of a champion or something.
2. Shattering Bombardment: Warlord grants Twin-Linked to a single Ordnance weapon within 6".
3. Bitter Blood: Gains Hatred, but only in challenges.
4. Blind Barrage: At the start of the game you can give all friendly SA units the Shrouded USR, there is no reason not to use this.
5. Void Master: Being a Rogue Trader makes him Stubborn and any unit they join gains Move Through Cover.
6. Siege Master: Because Shatter Defenses and Digestive Denial were so great FW saw fit to re-re-use this decent Warlord Trait.

Unit Analysis

HQ

• Legate Commander: For only 45pts you get a basic Company Commander, but just him alone. That allows you a little more flexibility in the way that you could stick him in any squad instead of a Command section. He can let anyone in his army use his Ld for Morale and Pinning so long as he's not Falling Back or in combat via High Command SR, and it combines with Hold the Line, Vexillas, Tank Commanders etc, making you the bravest non-Fearless army of all 30k. For extra survival, he can buy a Cyber familiar, which should be bought instead of the Iron Halo, that costs the same. Or buy both for a 3++ with rerollable tests. He can also buy Artificer Armor, but beware plasma will ID him, so give priority to the invuln.
  • Lord Marshal LORD MARSHAL: This man is rad. For 35pts more you boost your Commander's I/A/Ld by 1, as well as unlocking several more options, all of them handy, namely Archeotech pistol, Paragon blade, Grav-Wave generator and Displacer matrix, as well as the ability to take Household retinue squads. But most importantly, LORD MARSHAL can CHOOSE his WT, which absolutely nobody but a Custodes Tribune can do (even Primarch Fulgrim chooses from only Strategic Table). So that must mean he is an artillery-loving Rogue trader that holds a grudge against someone who tried to ID him. In fact, this guy is better than the best creation of the best super-human in history, being able to choose from Auxillia in addition to any of the WH7E WT tables. That's the reason why LORD MARSHAL should always be written in capitals. And yeah, your puny humans with him and Command Squad are harder to route than beforementioned Custodes, being Ld 10, Stubborn and rerolling sixes. Who needs Astartes?
    • The Marshal is rather costly - you shouldn't ever take him barebones since he's too important yet too squishy. Artificer + Displacer will give him a recomforting 2+/3++ for 35pts. Never give him an Iron halo, all other options are better. Now that you've protected him you can begin to truly kit him up. A useful and points friendly option would be to put him in the vanilla command section and grab a Grav-wave generator along a Blast, Archeotech or MC Plasma pistol.
    • He can be surprisingly good at CC. Grab Paragon and Digital lasers, Master-crafted at your discretion. Combine this with his Household retinue and you can get a full WS5 unit, all of them dealing AP2 PE hits, with the Marshal dealing 5 WS5 S4 AP2 Murderous strike hits at initiative. Again, throw in a Grav-wave generator to make sure YOU are the one charging, and while you're at it, take a nice pistol. And that's without considering Relics. Who sucks at melee now, huh?
      • Alternate Opinion: Don't put him up against MEQ HQ characters kitted for CC, or MEQ CC squads that don't have Unwieldy. Your army are gods of pew-pew, but any Marine Praetor (or dedicated squad with AP higher than 5) worth his salt will beat him in melee. Protect him with Grav-Wave Generator, Artificer + Displacer, put him in Tercio with Aegis/in ruins, join Medicae and use as a bait, abusing Look Out, Sir. The only thing you will need to fear is cover-ignoring Barrages, since you will be in center of the formation. But why not put him in Command Squad? Because that would be putting all eggs in one basket; there is too little expandable bodies in it, unlike in Tercio, and your opponent will have to choose if he wants do destroy that banner and Cognis-signum or your Warlord.

• Lord Marshal Ireton MaSade: The "old general" that comes out of retirement to kick Heresy in the ass. Currently one of only two named characters. He's a kitted out ranged Marshal, WS3 but BS5, along with a MC power sword, Archeotech, Iron Halo and Psi-Jammer but only 2 attacks, so yeah, keep him out of melee. He's old, so his exoskeleton, the 'Ambulator frame' counts as Artificer armor and grants him IWND. As warlord, he gets the Master of the Battlefield trait (yes, a Space marine trait) that allows him to place D3 units in reserve or vice versa, screwing your enemy's battle plan. He has Hatred (All traitors) and, being the 'Protector of Agathon', the first time a non-vehicle/LoW/unique unit dies he can call another one on a D6 roll of 5+, placed on Ongoing reserves.

• Auxilia Tactical Command Section: The classic CCS that Guard players know and love. For 75pts, you get the Stratego (Commander), who has a Cognis-signum (very important), Proclamator (with Nuncio-Vox, so treat him like a walking Homing Beacon), and Vexilarus (with a Cohort Vexilla) with 2-7 vets as bodyguards. Given how cheap they are, always max them out; 25pts for 5 more wounds and 10 more BS4 Lasrifle shots with Collimators and Blast chargers by default is always worth it. The Stratego gets a Chapter Master's bombardment, which is S9 AP2 here with Barrage, Blast and Pinning. He can also buy Charnabal sabres, power weapons or pistols, but only 2 Veterans can buy special weapons. This squad is an effective force multiplier. The Strategos' Cognis-signum is the only source for BS-boost, and because of their banner they'll be an anchor of Hold the Line for your squads.
  • When it comes to upgrades they're pretty limited, with only 2 Veterans being able to replace their lasrifles for special weapons and the 3 characters only having laspistols & chainswords.
    • Volkites aren't worth it: you wont be able to pump out enough shots to take full advantage of them, and by that point you're probably a bit tooooo close to the enemy.
    • Grenade Launchers are always a good choice, especially with the versatility of the three grenade type that can be fired. Flamers are good, but then again why are you letting the enemy get that close to you? Rotor Cannons allow you to pack more "Lasrifle" shots at range, but don't allow them to deal with more specialized threats and are inferior than Volkites.
    • Meltaguns remain as useful as any AP1 strength 8 assault weapons, but don't plan on using it to deal with vehicles. The ones getting close are either going to have Armoured Ceramite (anyone who tells you it's uncommon/rare and/or overrated is an idiot) or you're going to be blowing open a light transport that it's not on (think Rhinos) which means the squad inside of it is going to come out and fuck you up. The only other kind of vehicle to not typically take Armoured Ceramite are long-ranged tanks, and you do not want your Command to get near them as it means you aren't supporting your own troops with them. Also the Enginseer's unit is far better at killing tanks than these guys could ever be and your army has all manner of artillery to handle it outside of this squad.
    • Plasma Guns have the usual "useful but keep blowing up in my face" problem, however this squad is pretty much your only source of AP2 plasma (if you just need to kill Marines, consider the Enginseer instead), so consider wisely. As for the Strategos' upgrades, they're mostly useless: they either don't add enough firepower or are used for situations you shouldn't be getting yourself into, like say, close combat. And you won't be shooting much (see below).
  • By the Imperial Truth, do not forget about Cognis-signum. It's like an Augury Scanner, which has one nifty ability - to give one squad (not IC or SH though) +1 BS in lieu of the Strategos shooting. What is the main problem of Servo-automata? BS3. Now they shoot like marines.

• Auxilia Tank Commander: These guys give anyone within 12" re-rolls on morale for being on a huge tank of win. While he certainly has nothing on Pask, he's more than able to earn his points (55) back. You can upgrade a Russ, Malcador, Valdor or Baneblade variant, it becomes a Command Tank with BS4 and gains the ability to Overwatch. In addition, Commander also chooses from several USRs: Tank Hunters, IWND, Monster Hunters, Scout & Move Through Cover, Preferred Enemy (Infantry) or Precision Shots, pick one based on how his tank works. He can never be the mandatory HQ of a primary detachment, though...so if you need Auxilia allies he's your tank. Due to structured command this also means he can only be your warlord if you somehow have no compulsory HQ slot, as all your other HQs outrank him and your warlord can never be in an allied detachment.

Elites

• Auxilia Medicae Detachment: They work essentially like Legion Apothecaries, having to split up into multiple squads to whom they confer FNP. These squads can either be Tercio squads or Command Sections. They are priced at 60 for three and then 15 for each successive one, and they can only buy Needle Pistols.
  • Unlike 40k, FnP is no longer restricted to Command squads! However, an attached medic will force a Lasrifle Section to footslog since they won't fit in their DT. The other valid squads present no such inconvenience and benefit a lot, either having few valuable members or having short ranged weapons that get them exposed to retaliation.
  • Take them home in boxes, take them home in cases: 20 pts for FNP is ridicoulsly cheap and you should always find a room for this guys in your army both for Command Sections and Tercios.
• Surgeon-Primus Aevos Jovan: Serving the purpose of padding both the small Elites section of the Solar Auxilla and it's lack of special characters. Jovan is a loyalist only mad scientist surgeon character who once challenged the laws of ethics, and joined the Solar Auxilia. As practicing these skills was a better option than execution when given the choice by Ireton MaSade. He is essentially an upgraded Auxilia Medicae detachment. He comes with Void Armor, an MC Needle Pistol, and an AP3 Poisoned 4+ melee weapon with ID. He also gets an Auto-Gurney (granting Very Bulky and FNP 4+) and the ability to either auto-pass ONE FNP roll for his unit or recover a lost wound on a his or nearby unit within 6" at the end of each player turn (which would help Ogryns or HQs.), as well as granting a re-roll on Look Out Sir! He can buy orderlies to cover other units (each costing 15 points, while Jovan himself is 50), but all they can grab are Needle Pistols. Jovan would probably be best utilized in an already footslogging unit, as he'd take up 3 slots in any transport (Despite having a model, the Auto-Gurney is treated as a piece of equipment and not as an actual unit), and used to either to support some Ogryns (He and his Orderlies are disallowed from joining their squad. But they can benefit from Miraculous Skill if they are within six inches of his model) or a Veletaris Storm Section (see Household Retinue) with his healing or a Command Section as an insurance policy. Maybe attach him to a Flamer Section to be really annoying and tell infantry blobs to frak off. You may as well buy any nearby Sergeants and the Medicae Orderlies Needle Pistols as they are cheap sources of Poison and Rending.

• If you are unfortunate enough to be drawn into assaults, don't write Jovan off entirely due to his abysmal stats, just keep him away from the front and put his 2 ID attacks on whatever looks vulnerable (Phase Lancet isn't a specialist weapon or two-handed so his pistol gives him a second). As an example of what he can do, on average and in a Household Retinue (a good place for him to be) he'll kill a Castellax in two rounds of combat, so at least you're not completely fucked when that Paragon of Metal comes closing in. He even stands a great chance of killing it in only one round if he charges it with the squad, though unless the squad's on its last legs you don't want to do this, their Shroud Bombs already help them in case it charges. If there's only 1-3 members left though then feel free, you'll likely trade Aevos (50 points) for a Castellax (105 points absolute minimum) which is more than a fair trade.

• Auxilia Rapier Battery: The same Rapier from legions, but crewed by BS3 Auxillia. Squad size is 1-3 guns with 2 crew members each and with almost identical weapon options. Comes default with a Quad Multi-laser that can be upgraded to a Laser destroyer, Graviton cannon or Quad mortar, which may use either standard Frag-munitions or Shatter-Shells (akin to Frag and Krak missiles). Furthermore, they can make up for the notoriously missing Heavy weapon teams your squads will need, providing them with ranged support, albeit they should be kept in cover. Now, regarding their weapons:
  • The stock Quad Multi-Laser is 36" S6 AP6 Heavy 6 and Twin-Linked. Unfortunately, it's not very good at anything, with 3 of them only causing about 4 wounds on MEQs due to AP6 being useless, and requiring Cognis-Signum support to be competent vs them. They could also be used as a light vehicle hunter, where they can chip off quite a few hull points from low AV targets, but they become useless against AV13-14.
  • Laser Destroyers are 36" Lascannons that gain TL, Ordnance and AP1, so they choose the best of 2 dice for penetration and add 2 to the total Vehicle Damage score, meaning anything short of AV14 can kiss its ass goodbye on a penetrating hit, or at least get permanently impaired on a 3+. However, with only 1 TL shot each at BS3, if the enemy has some form of cover/invuln you might struggle to even damage it.
  • Quad mortars are the "tactical" choice, and are probably the best one of the list for their cost. They can fire either Frag munitions - S5 AP5 Pinning Barrage Small Blast templates with an additional -1 to the Ld test for Pinning, that can be fired up to 60", or Shatter shells - 4 S8 AP4 shots with Sunder, which re-rolls failed armour penetration rolls. S8 may not penetrate AV14 like a Laser Destroyer, but with the same range, 4 attacks and versatility, you can glance light to mid vehicles to death. Also a solid choice against flyers in a pinch, with how many Sunder shots they can put out apiece. Don't leave home without one...or 12.
  • Graviton Cannons are an odd one, they're AP 4, but wound based on a Strength test which means they wound Marines on a 5+. However, their true value lies in containing the enemy with their ability to create Dangerous terrain, which your tanks re-roll. And most of Auxilia strategies rely on preventing the enemy from maneuvering/getting into melee, at the same time your Veletaris & tanks take Dangerous terrain less seriously, so strongly consider taking them. Also, they possess both Concussive and Haywire, which can both be effective to make foes strike after you (for once) or destroy vehicles. It's versatility is balanced by being the most expensive option, each gun costing what an extra model would cost, so keep that in mind.

• Auxilia Ogryn Charonite Squad: These are what you get when you make Arco-Flagellants out of Ogryns. They are hella-though, being T5 3W with FnP(6) and having the basic 4+ save, meaning each can tank around 5 plasma shots before falling and thus are great meatshields for your Commander. They have no guns...or even forearms, having in their place 'Charonite claws', S+1 AP3 melee weapons that on a 6 to-hit become AP2 Instant Death (at I2, but that's better than Unwieldy), the perfect answer to the AdMech big guys. Issue is that they're never scoring (being Elites, this only affects them on certain missions), they can't go to ground and always have to consolidate towards the nearest enemy or make Sweeping advances, though with their I2 they're going to be the ones trying to avoid Sweep advances. Even though they're listed as Ld6, they're actually Ld9-10 because of your Commander's 'High Command' rule, Stubborn making sure it stays that way. Which is good because they don't have access to a Bone'ead. And even if they ever fail morale, then an unengaged HQ can *BLAM* D3 wounds randomly off the mindless brutes, automatically ignoring the test. If you NEED walking shields, these are your guys.
  • Their claws are pretty brutal in melee, and being very resilient, they will mush most marines in CC. Pitted against 20 marines, 4 Auxilia Ogryns will "statistically" kill 8 of them and take only 2 wounds in return (overwatch not included). Their main caveat is their cost and the lack of any decent transport to put them in. If you want to make use of them they're going to have to be footslogging it. With this in mind, they probably work best as a guard dog for your expensive ranged firepower. Like most 30k units, a big squad costs less than 2 smaller ones, so if you were considering taking multiple units of them it might be a better idea to just bunch them together.
  • Compared to 40k Ogryns these are a steal, for 5 points cheaper than a similarly equipped bullgryn you get an AP3 S+1 weapon that makes them far superior as they can actually hurt MEQ. Power Mauls are also pretty unpopular in 30k as nearly everything has power-armour, so they don't have to worry about most marines being able to slap their shit before they strike. Bare in mind though that their effectiveness dwindles quickly as S10 blast count rises. One lucky Demolisher blast is all that's needed to wipe that 400 point unit out of existence, so consider pairing them with some long ranged anti-tank (looking at you, vanquishers) to clear the way for them.

• Enginseer Auxilia: Keeping the 30k pricing trend, the first Enginseer + Servoautomatos cost 65, but the next group costs 40, 20 of those being for the Enginseer. The unit can add up to 2 more of them, but only 4 extra Servoautomatos and, unlike Medicae, they remain a unit. The Enginseer has access to a lot of goodies, like invuln gear (Refractor & Cyber familiar), weapons (Volk charger & Graviton gun) and equipment (Augury scanner & Nuncio vox), so they can both help your army and be useful on their own. But the best piece of equipment undoubtedly is the Cortex Controller, which allows you to take either non-Paragon-of-Metal Castellaxes, which are siege-themed MCs (one of the best MC squads in the entire game) or unaugmented Thallax squads (Jetpack ogryns who aren't as good as Charonites on melee but they're cheaper and tactically flexible, with powerful ranged weapons) as optional Heavy support. More info in the Mechanicum tactica page
  • Their Servo-automatas are the better than the Techmarine's, on par with the Mechanicum. Not only are they dirt-cheap at 5pts or actually improve repair rolls when equipped with servo-arms, but can also equip special weapons. In fact, this squad is your major source of special weapons, namely super versatile Grenade launchers and plasma. And not just plasma guns, but Phased Plasma Fusils - that's 8 models with Salvo 2/3 S6 AP3 weapons that don't get hot. Hell, 8 Haywire shots can kill a Land Raider in one volley. The other weapon options are either difficult to use because of being Heavy or better employed by other squads, eclipsed by Grenades and Plasma Fusils. Always max them out - for the cost, you'll want to take them instead of Veletaris and fill up on Lasrifle squads instead. Buy extra Enginseers to avoid Mindlocking.
  • TEMPEST GRENADES, OMG, TEMP.. Ahem, Grenade Launchers with Tempest grenades are brokingly good and your best go-to source of anti-tank. While Kraken Penetrators on Lightning with BS5 and TH are better per shot and more mobile, they are expensive and one-use only. Servo-automatas with Grenade Launchers care not if they shoot Land Speeder or flare-shielded Spartan, it will likely be blown in one volley. The only problem with them is 5+ Armor Save, so put them in cover or inside a fortification. Or Stormlord.

• Household Retinue (Lord Marshal only): Having a Lord Marshal in the army allows you to purchase Veletaris Storm Sections as Elites (1 squad, not a whole Tercio). They gain WS4, but sacrifice Hold the Line. As long as the Lord Marshal is still alive and not falling back, they also gain PE (Infantry). Their default weapon, the Volkite Charger, highly benefits from this, in turn inflicting more 'Deflagrate' hits, so therefore should not be swapped by Rotor guns, which, being Salvo, don't benefit from 'Disciplined Fire'. Volkite Chargers are fairly short ranged, though, so use their Move Through Cover to keep them shielded when advancing (although you should buy them a DT) and buy Shroud bombs to avoid charges, but don't be afraid - their WS4(5), Disciplined Fire + PE + Deflagrate Overwatch and Laspistol + CCW allow them to resist assaults quite well. Give the Prime Plasma Pistol just for lulz (he will reroll Gets Hot! and wounds while shooting at infantry because PE).
  • Unlike Veletaris, they can take either a Dracosan or an Arvus as a Dedicated Transport.
  • As previously mentioned, this is the squad that allows the Marshal to be competitive in melee, should you decide so - a WS5 (because CFF) Power-axe-wielding unit PE(Infantry) pumping out 31 attacks on the charge is nothing to sniff at, surprisingly good even against Unwieldy 2+ save 10-man squads. Make the most of Move Through Cover to always have means to survive AP4+ weapons, and combine their Shroud bombs with the Marshal's Grav-wave generator to make sure you're the one who charges, but pick your targets carefully. The Household Retinue best shines when they're pitted against other Unwieldy troops, or non-dedicated assault units such as Tactical Squads, Heavy Weapons or non-flamer Support Squads (get close by using Master of Ambush if you must), in which case so long as they eliminate even one squad they'll usually have made their points back (always challenge with the Lord Marshal to make sure that whatever Power Weapon the Sergeant might or might not have isn't used on the regular squad).
    • There is a large downside, putting the Warlord in them turns them into bigger fire-magnet than they already are, they do not have resilience of Astartes, their total lack of Assault Vehicles means your enemy will either shoot the hell out of them or make a counter-charge to deny you bonuses. Even 10-man Tactical Squad with FotL with Bolters in rapid-fire range (and you have to be there to get the charge) will statistically inflict 6 casualties even if you have Medicae. So probably the best use for them is all-Volkite squad with deep-striking Arvus as dedicated transport, disembark on the same turn and roast some infantry, preferably on distant scoring point where your enemy thought his Tacticals would be safe. Or hell, deepstrike behind some artillery and penetrate their 10 AV asses/sides with some 5S goodness, just remember Deflagrate doesn't work on vehicles.

Troops

• Auxilia Infantry Tercio (1-3): The basic core of your army. Each consists of up to 3 separate slots, with 3 possible choices for each, and have to deploy (or be held in Reserves) together, but each slot counts as a separate Troop choice for Score, Deny of VPs. So it'll feel like you got 9 Troop choices. One Lasrifle Sergeant in the three slots can become a Troop Master (Basically a 15-point upgrade to Vet Sarge), they all can buy Dracosans, but if they don't, each section can take their own Aegis Defense Line instead.
  • Auxilia Lasrifle Section: A 100-point 20-strong infantry squad with mandatory Sarge, Vox Operator, and Troop Vexilla. Their Lasrifles come stock with Collimators, which turn their Lasrifles into 36" Heavy 2 weapons, which is always useful when sitting in the backfield, while the sarge has all the basic options, including one of them becoming a Troop Master, which gains +1 Wound, WS and BS. For +25pts you can give the whole squad Blast-Chargers for their lasrifles, which is the closest this squad can get to true special weapon options, of which they get none. But they come with Krak grenades as standard. The fact each and everyone one of these squads comes with a free Nuncio-Vox heavily encourages the use of barrage weaponry, which you have a number of choices for. What's better than destroying a Rhino and then using the Nuncio-Vox to launch a Medussa Shell over the now stranded Marines to finish them?.
    • About Blast-Chargers: This isn't a game changer against Marines or even other Auxilia (being actually worse against anything below MEQ). Coupled with their very short range of 18" for a Heavy weapon (thus no Disciplined Fire) and Charger burnouts, this is not a cheesy option waiting to be spammed. Their true value comes when tackling Mechanicum and other high Toughness units (~T5) that normal Lasrifles would have a hard time wounding - T7 Castellaxes, one of the Toughest Mechanicum are normally impervious to lasrifles, but can now be wounded, while inflicting double the wounds Lasrifles would make on the more common Thallax, whose weapons are 18" too, so this is a real possibility. Not to mention S6 removes any FnP from Toughness 3 units, making enemy Medicae and Adsecularis (which are also equipped with 18" guns) lose their appeal. It can even serve as Light AV in a pinch - 20 Blast chargers will statistically chip off 5 Hull Points from AV10, 3 from AV11 and 1 from AV12. And that's without taking into account Cognis-signums from nearby Command Sections. Not just a weak flashlight now, eh?. Just remember being Heavy weapons means the vehicle has to come to you. Also keep in mind using this fire mode means the unit must forfeit shooting in your next turn, so have other squads use their normal lasrifles to cover them.
  • Veletaris Storm Section: A 115-point 10-man squad of Storm Troopers (yes, BS4) equipped with Reinforced Void armor. They're all armed with Volkite Chargers that can be swapped for Rotor Cannons for free, or Power Axes for 5pts. Once you've settled on that, you can then grab a Nuncio-vox for artillery support and Shroud Bombs to protect them from charges. Yes, you can fill an entire Tercio with Velerarii squads. Very good in Zones Mortalis.
    • Rotor cannons Cause the exact same amount of wounds on MEQ's and more wounds on GEQ's than Volkite Chargers, but that's only before you factor in deflagrate (which causes the Volkites to do slightly more wounds on both). However they do have twice the range of the Volkites, at the cost of being worse if you move so if you want more of a gunline (and expect to be up against more of a gunline) then take the miniguns. If you're up against a force with plenty of more medium-ranged weaponry or higher Toughness (think Mechanicum) or plan to have more of a mobile force yourself, then you're better off on skipping the Rotor's. Do note too that a unit of Rotor Veletaris does slightly more damage than a unit of Lasrifles (thanks to higher BS) while costing the same as one of those if they have a Troop Master, though they are slightly outranged by them in turn. Unless you're up against other Solar Auxilia however the extra 6" won't be much of an issue as the enemy will almost always have something that needs to be within 30" to make use of it. If you want to use them, then stick the Rotor dudes behind an Aegis and just let fly.
    • Don't immediately dismiss Power Axes. Sure, while the idea of a squishy humie going toe to toe with the mighty SPEHSS MAHRENS might seem BAWLD and FEWLISH, but you would be wrong. See, a normal Veletaris squad armed with power axes charging a Tactical Marine squad will lose two guys before then killing 7 in return, a Household Retinue gets that number upped to 9. They don't have as much to worry about Overwatch quite as much due to Reinforced Void Armour (re-roll against Wall of Death template weapons, but Heavy Flamers will still roast your ass), Unwieldy will hardly affect them at I3, possess Move Through Cover and can get Shroud Bombs which are not only Defensive Grenades but anyone charging you (provided they aren't a Vehicle/Daemon/have Night Vision/are a Gargantuan Creature (at which point you'd probably better roll for anal circumference)) has to take a Ld check before they can proceed. Suddenly you have an extremely good skirmisher unit. But aren't Ogryns my melee option? Veletaris are way easier to use since they can actually fit inside Dracosans, one of the bests transports ever and, more importantly, they aren't Elites but Troops, so they're Scoring and you can have more, which is also the advantage they have over Household retinues. Furthermore and unlike Ogryns, Medicae can be added to the squad, though that prevents 2 squads from fitting in one Dracosan (not that you could under 7th Edition rules anyhow, as it's not a super-heavy transport). Also, don't forget that even if they don't have Power Axes they can still do decently in assault due to having a Laspistol and CCW. But don't expect them to stand up to dedicated close combat units if you do.
  • Auxilia Flamer Section: 125 points for 10 guys with flamers, also with Reinforced Void armor. Being a 'Support Section', they need a Lasrifle Section in order to become available. Considering how pricey this is, it does kinda discourage bringing lots along, considering all the templates you could be laying down. But you won't need to worry about with this unit being charged. At all. Seriously, no one will want to charge a unit with that many flamers.
    • To use them properly you NEED to get them a transport. Luckily, you have one of the best transports there are. A kited out Dracosan costs more than this squad, but can end up being a better Vindicator than the Vindicator itself. Run it up into your enemy's face (preferably while blowing up something important) and then drop the Flamer Section right at his doorstep. Well done, now your opponent has two serious threats to his battle plan and has to commit lots of firepower to erase them before you wreck his shit. That's they way flamer sections arrive to the party. Bonus points if you used a Lord Marshal to select Master of Ambush to outflank up to three units. After all and just like with the Land Raider Achilles, a squad disembarking from a mobile artillery unit is just adding insult to injury.
    • They are THE BEST for Zones Mortalis games, having the appropiate armour and weapons (Template weapons gain Shred). If you ever play that, they are an auto-include.
  • Aegis Defense Line: Yeah, forfeiting transports lets you take a non-FOC ADL. 50 points lets you grab a small bite of 0-4 long bits and 0-4 short bits of a wall to give your men a small bit of 4+ cover. You can then buy an Icarus Lascannon or Quadgun (10 point chearer than for anyone else) for sweet Interceptor w/Skyfire, one Ammo Dump to re-roll 1's to hit while shooting, or a Comms Relay to re-roll reserves (which you can accurately place using your numerous Voxes). Though with the last two options you need to be within 2" to reap the benefits, so mind your positioning.
    • Note that an ADL may ONLY be taken in this manner if you are playing with the age of darkness force org (aka playing a Bound list without any of the actual benefits).

Dedicated Transports

• Dracosan Armoured Transport: If Space Marines can grab Land Raiders en mass in the old days, then so can we! Instead of being the dakka-happy Chimera players are used to, the Dracosan focuses instead on sheer resilience, being a 5HP 13/12/11 tank on a Malcador chasis with "only" a TL Lascannon for a weapon. This resilience can be further upgraded with Armoured Ceramite to give the finger to melta (at least from the front) and a Flare Shield to modify the Strength of frontal attacks by -1, Blasts and Templates getting a -2 instead, effectively becoming AV14 on the front (you were saying, melta?). Explorator Adaptation is a great boon to your default transport, being Void Hardened and conferring a 6+ invul against Blasts or Templates, while re-rolling failed Dangerous Terrain, therefore making the Dozer upgrade redundant. If you want it to never stop for any reason, you can also add an Auxiliary drive. It has Extra Armour by default, though lacking any firing points and having only one weapon means it's kinda disappointing. To upgrade its firepower it can buy a pintle-mounted heavy flamer/multilaser, as well as two HK missiles. This beast can comfortably carry 20 models, being the only thing that can transport a full Lasrifle section. Can't transport Bulky-or-bigger models, though, so sadly it's unavailable for Ogryns, who need a transport the most.
  • Oh you want some serious dakka? Then swap its Lascannon for a freaking Demolisher cannon, becoming a Vindicator-Land Raider hybrid of sorts. This cuts the transport capacity down to 10, but who cares? Marines take normal Vindicators. Yours carry troops, are stronger and cost no FOC slot. So bring those with scores of Leman Russes to make THE mechanized infantry list you've always dreamed of. Running this up your enemy's face (bonus points for Outflanking them) is the best way of fielding Flamer sections and quite handy for Veletaris, though the costs go up quickly.
    • Emphasis on cost. It might give you a big boner to slap on all the upgrades and defy the universe to fuck with you but you have pay for that and it's not like you are transporting squads of assault terminators or something. You're in an environment where super heavies and destroyer weapons are common so perhaps it'd be wiser to just take what you need not try to get into a dick swinging contest with a titan.

• Auxilia Arvus Lighter: The Arvus is a flittery little thing, holding 12 models, but nothing else at a bone-stock price of 75 points. It does get a rather broad list of upgrades and weapons, which might give it survivability, but with Rhino stats it's not going to really go that much once it unloads its squad. Best kept mostly cheap and used to Deep strike 10-man sections, namely Flamer, Veletaris and HOUSEHOLD squads, and use the extra space to add a Medicae. So it functions like the Auxilia version of a flying Rhino/Drop Pod with good options, but the points cost is too high to make it disposable, so use it to place something nasty where your opponent is most vulnerable. If you do take any weapons on this, twin-link them! It's only 5pts more.
  • Looking at the weapons, there's not much point getting the multi-laser, due to the low rate of fire and the fact that an autocannon does the job of light vehicle hunting much better. Select from the Auto and Lascannon based on whether you want it targeting light or heavy armour respectively. Picking Hellstrike missiles is also a good option since the thing isn't going to live through more than two turns
  • Hilariously, this thing can get a freaking Flare shield. It can become a rather sweet ride for your Lord Marshal attached to a Household + Medicae unit. When you need speed rather than slow-moving tank, 120 pts for a Deepstriking AV12|11|10 ride that ignores Crew Shaken/Stunned on a 4+ and has a 4++ save against missiles that has all the boons for being a flyer doesn't sound so bad. Or keep it "cheap" at 100pts, to attack the enemy's attention with a flying TL Lascannon after you drop your squad.

• Aurox Armored Transport: model shown on Horus Heresy Weekender (03.02.2018). Looks absolutely gorgeous. A Rhino analogue, 35 pts, 11/11/10, 3 HP, Explorator Adaptation, Heavy Stubber, that can and should be replaced with Multilaser for free, 2 Fire Points, 10 models Transport capacity. Sure, it's no Dracosan, but it's nice to get a transport that costs less than 50 points your whole squad.

Fast Attack

• Auxilia Tarantula Sentry Gun Battery: It's 1-3 sentries, same as the ones used in 40K except just like every other heavy bolter in this army you have the option to replace them with multilasers for free. Each one can choose between firing up to 36" in a 90 degree arc or going full 360° but only up to 18" range. Hyperios missiles don't have to follow Firing Modes, though, and being Skyfire & Interceptor they're a very solid option for defense. Turrets equipped with Heavy flamers, Heavy bolters and Rotor cannons must fire at non-vehicles, and all Lascannons and Multi-meltas must shoot vehicles. If there are no preferred targets in range, then the turret will attack the nearest target in range. You can mix weapons in the unit, so this effectively means the unit has Split Fire. They can be deployed normally or be upgraded in one of three ways: They can be 'Concealed', gaining Shrouded until they start firing, where it wears off, or be used offensively by being Forward-deployed using Scout or Deep Striked, with each turret rolling individually, which coupled with Nuncio Voxes allows the set up of kill-zones and deadly cross-fires aimed at rear AVs.

• Auxilia Leman Russ Strike Squadron: The world was truly strange in 30k, where Leman Russes were actually able to go FAST. Well, once a game they can get Fast using their Induction Chargers, they move like ordinary tanks normally. A worthy use of this ability is when you arrive at the wrong side of the table and need to cover terrain fast. You can only grab the main, Exterminator, Annihilator and Vanquisher variations (AV14|13|10, HP3), and they all get Outflank and Auxiliary Drive along the usual Explorator Adaptation benefits. Yes, your main tactic will be outmaneuvering your enemy with Leman Russes. They all come with a hull mounted Heavy bolters that can be swapped for a Multilaser or Heavy Flamer for free, or a Lascannon. Likewise, they can also mount a Multilaser or Heavy flamer on the pintle, and can grab a HK. Why bother with those options? Because you can't have sponsons, but that's a minor issue since you also lack PotMS. For extra survival they can grab Armoured Ceramite and Extra armor, quite handy for Outflaking into enemy territory, where you'll be a fire-magnet for melta squads.
  • Leman Russ Battle Tank: That AP3 pieplate is going to work wonders in a Heresy setting! There are two main ways you can use the Battle Tank Russ in the Solar Auxilia, fire support (where it trundles along behind your main gunline) or to Outflank it. If you chose the former option then play it like you would in normal games of 40K, just with a bit more survivability. If you choose to Outflank it however, prepare for cheese to flow. This thing will be a massive DISTRACTION CARNIFEX to your opponent, appearing in his backfield and blasting the shit out of his army. If you do this, be prepared to be labelled That Guy. Avoid the Heavy Flamer on this one: your main gun is Ordnance, and you can't snapfire Template weapons.
  • Leman Russ Exterminator: Oh boy, now this will be fun. What is the thing that stops Autocannons from popping Heavy Tanks? High AV. What do most tanks have as rear armour? Low AV. This tank really shines in this role, where it can easily Outflank into the backfield and get shots at the weaker rear armour of the enemy vehicles. You can also run this in two ways: Tank hunter, outflanking it with a Lascannon and killing tanks; or Infantry killer, which with the help of two Heavy flamers and the Induction Charger can get into the face of infantry. Laugh manically as you toast his squads and then finish them off with Autocannon shells. If you want to take an Exterminator but don't plan on outflanking with it (as you might be thinking of doing with some of the other variants) look no further than the Incinerator, it's pretty much the same tank with +1 HP instead of outflank, an extra shot on it's main gun, and deflagerate instead of AP4.
  • Leman Russ Annihilator: While the Legiones Astartes are missing their Annihilator Predators, yours can Outflank to the back of Spartans, where their Flare Shields can't reach. Get two lascannons (one of which is Twin linked) on it and let the cheese flow. Even if they are in your side of the table, with 48" range weapons you can reach out and touch him. Otherwise you're probably going to be better served with the Exterminator above for almost everything else.
  • Leman Russ Vanquisher: What's better than a 72" S8 AP2 Armourbane weapon? To make it appear behind the enemy's Flare shielded Spartans. Sure, BS3 with no TL takes away most of the appeal, but Armoured Ceramite doesn't protect from Armourbane, and with 72" range no place will be out of your reach. Instead of outflanking it you should upgrade its BS with a nearby Cognis-Signum. It's a bit of a shame these weren't made as options for the heavier Leman Russ' as with 72" range and innate Armourbane, they need outflank far less than other Variants. What they need more than anything is the BS-boost from the Strategos and to help pop transports in the first turn so you can mush what's inside with your anti-infantry weapons.

• Auxilia Thunderbolt Heavy Fighter This is a somewhat fragile but very fast and hard-hitting fighter, being Supersonic, and its 'Combat Interdiction' rule allows it to re-roll reserves in order to counter enemy flyers. It has 11/11/10 and 3 HP, along with 2 Twin-Linked Autocannons and a Twin-Linked Lascannon. It also has 4 special 48" S6 AP2 Armourbane Heat-Seeking missiles that make it ideal against other flyers, that can be swapped for Hellstrike missiles, Ordnance meaning better chances of penetration at the expense of BS1 for everything else (better use your Lascannon) or Sunfury missiles, which are awesome against MEQs, being Blind AP3 and wounding them on a 2+. But the hype fades when you see they Get Hot. BS4 is already nice, but it can become a dedicated tank killer by taking Ground Tracking Auguries. To help its survivability it comes with an Armoured cockpit and Chaff launchers, so stunlocking it is pointless, and glances can even be ignored if it rolls a 6 after getting the hit. On top of all that it can take a Flare shield

• Auxilia Primaris Lightning Strike Fighter: A high speed fighter and cheaper alternative to the Thunderbolt for your Aerial needs, it's a fast (Supersonic) Agile (3+ Jink save) survivable aircraft, even with only 2HP due to its Chaff launcher (4++ save against missiles, Eat shit Tau!) and can further back it up with a Ramjet Diffraction Grid - a Flare shield for your butt, so your armour is effectively 11/12/11. It can put out a lot of Dakka with Missile barrage, and even more with Ground Tracking Auguries for strafing runs (though it already craps out a lot of dice rolls and/or blast template weapons so this isn't that big of a deal) and with Battle Servitor Control (gains Tank Hunter) it can reasonably take out other fliers before working on the ground troops. It starts off with a TL Lascannon, and can also take up to 3 payload options, though it does not state you cannot take the same one thrice. Twin-linked weapons count as one payload, as do the "Two X" missile/bomb options.
  • Twin-linked Autocanonns are strong against light & medium vehicles, which is to say all flyers, and with Twin-Linked and Tank Hunters you'll clear the skies in no time. Twin-linked Multi-lasers behave similar to Autocannons, while S6 means the heaviest flyers might be troublesome, against AV11/10 this is in fact as good/better than Autocannons due to the higher number of shots. They can take the very versatile Twin-linked Missile Launchers for Penetrating hits everywhere, though you'll need good luck to hurt Land Raiders, but they'll need even more luck to hit you back and they cannot outlast what they can't even hit. Frag missiles mean you could hit more ground targets than multi-lasers, and it can even upgrade to shoot Rad missiles (the only Rad weapons in this entire list), allowing you to clear out blobs of MEQ's, though this does get expensive fast. Against air targets however, remember that some have Chaff launchers, so for plane-killing you'd be better using Autocannons.
  • The Lightning can also take several pairs of One Use only items, of which you can fire up to 4 in a turn because of Missile Barrage. Even though you can fire a normal weapon as much times as you like, with only 2HP this plane might not survive that long, so Missiles and Bombs aren't a bad choice. Options are two Kraken Penetrator Missiles, aka Flying Melta bombs. These are incredibly nasty (though expensive) anti-armour but they'll take down every vehicle up to and including Knights with little trouble (with Servitors and Ground-tracking Auguries). Or 2 Sunfury missiles, which with Blind, S6 and AP3 are pretty damn good at killing MEQs but the hype fades when you see they "Gets hot", which on a 2HP aircraft is going to get the unfortunate crew squatted, specially when coupled with the next item: ONE Phospex Bomb cluster, the S5 AP2 3" blast and moving Dangerous Terrain everyone loves, now in Heavy 2 Barrage Bomb cluster flavor. Should the aircraft suffer any hull damage roll a D6, on a 6, it explodes. Finally, it can also take 2 Electromagnetic storm charges. Haywire is an easy way to remove hull points, but with One use you're gonna need a lot of them, while Penetrator missiles could do that job better. HOWEVER, at S3 and AP4 it ignores the saves of GEQs. And who uses lots of light infantry alongside armour columns? The Imperial guard and Solar Auxilia. Also great against the Mechanicum, an army composed of models with either T3, a 4+ save or vehicles. So it's not that bad it seems.

Heavy Support

• Auxilia Leman Russ Assault Squadron: The other half of the russes, the Demolisher, Incinerator and Executioner (without Gets Hot!) are all present in this force and are slightly cheaper. Unlike their 40k counterparts, these are NOT Heavy Vehicles. Other than that, these Russes are played just like normal tanks, Auxiliary Drive and Explorator Adaptation making them a little more mobile, and they all have +1 Hull Point. Never forget it. As usual, they have access to pintle and hull weapon options, but no sponson weapons, as well as Armoured Ceramite, Extra armour and HK missile. They have a special rule called 'Co-ordinated Fire Protocols', where as long as 2 or more tanks from the squadron are firing at the same unit, the tanks firing at that target gain +1BS.
  • Due to the lack of sponsons, the Incinerator's Volkite Demi-Culverin (45" Heavy 5 |S7|AP5|Deflagrate) is quite attractive for dedicated anti-infantry, though spamming S10 AP2 templates using both Dracosans and LR Demolishers is viable, and some will end up arriving at the enemy's doorstep simply because it's difficult to remove that many HP fast enough. Try to Outflank the Dracosand with Strike Russ support for a deadly pincer attack.

• Auxilia Artillery Tank Battery: Either the close ranged S10 AP2 Medusa, long ranged S9 AP3 Basilisk or the balanced S6 AP3 Ignores-Cover Bombard. Pay attention to the model: That's a Leman Russ chassis. See any crew? NO! Because it's not open-topped. Enjoy your 13/12/10 artillery. They all can grab pintle weapons if they feel the need to defend themselves and can buy some extra survival gear too. However, Bombards can also fork over 25 points to gain Sunder and Concussive on their blasts.

• Auxilia Malcador Heavy Tank: Suddenly useful, especially compared to it's 40k counterpart. A 13/13/12 super-heavy that is not in the lord of war, with all the goodness that means. Has fast vehicle instead of an engine that tries to self-destruct. Starts with a traverse-mounted battlecannon, a hull-mounted autocannon, and 2 autocannon sponsons. The battlecannon can be swapped for a twin-linked lascannon. The autocannons can all be swapped for heavy flamers, multi lasers, or lascannons, with the hull one being swappable for a demolisher cannon. Has access to flare shields, armored ceramite, and siege armor (+1 av on front, at the cost of fast vehicle, which you didn't need on a super-heavy anyway), and 6 hull points makes this a tough nut to crack.

• Auxilia Malcador Infernus Special Weapons Tank: Hand picked to completely fuck over any infantry up to and including Terminators (more on that below), bikes and jetbikes as it allows no cover saves. A super heavy with a MASSIVE S7 ap3 hellstorm weapon with an 18" torrent on it. But if you really want to turn your anti-MEQ tank into unholy rape machine, it has the option to upgrade to chem munitions, making that 18" torrent hellstorm s3, 2+ poison and ap2, which you should always do playing against Legiones. Has the same sponson options as the standard malcador. Because of the big fuel tanks hanging off the back, add +1 on the catastrophic damage table when it explodes.
  • It's criminally undercosted for what it does and can erase it's point cost in models with 1 shot, while Super-heavy means Infernus will get that shot as it ignores Crew Shaken/Crew Stunned/Weapon Destroyed effects. Just blow that Spartan with Tempest grenades and burn Terminator deathstar with impunity. Thing is, Malcador Infernus is a huge firemagnet, and any opponent fielding infantry and knowing what it does will try to destroy it by all means... meaning your other vehicles are in relative safety.

• Auxilia Valdor Tank Hunter: A frightening motherfucker with a Neutron Beam Projector, a 36" S10 AP1 Ordinance 2 gun that has Concussive and force Superheavies that get a pen to only fire snap-shots for the next turn. It also has a SINGLE sponson-mounted autocannon (which can become a Multilaser, Heavy Flamer, or Lascannon), making for a very weird dead zone on one side of the Valdor. Being an insanely expensive dip, you need to keep this side covered at all costs if you want to total tanks. Not only because you want it to live, but because if you ever suffer a pen, you need to re-roll all results of 1 on vehicle damage and if it explodes, it adds +d3" to the explosion radius. it still is a super-heavy, so at least it's durable there.

• 0-1 Cyclops Remote Demolitions Unit: Nobody really likes these things. Sure, you can buy 1-5 of the little doom-tanks, but they all must use the same payload: an S9 AP3 Large Blast, an S5 AP4 Cover Ignoring Massive Blast, or a D Blast with Blind and ID, which can only be purchased if a Lord Marshal's in the army. They must be deployed together, but afterwards they can wander separately. However, they must remain within 36" of a Character, or else they stop in their tracks. But don't keep them too close; if they're destroyed, on a D6 roll of 6 they detonate. To use them you'll need an effective distraction, of which numerous examples have been presented already, and preferably Outflanking units. You can't afford to lose models that cost 70+ pts a piece. You can actually charge with these and they detonate at initiative step 10! If you've got a spare heavy support slot these can be pretty cool to hide out of LoS and bring out of nowhere when that 20-man Sons of Horus tac squad wants to charge your squishy gunline. You can also infiltrate them if you choose the Master of Ambush trait with your Lord Marshall as they are infantry. Deadly (and we mean that) in Zone Mortalis.

• Saturnyne Pattern Carnodon Strike Squadron: Forgeworld are you feeling okay? The Carnodon Tanks are surprisingly great for their cost, you can buy 2 of them for less than a single Leman Russ (or 3 of them for some of the more expensive Russ's) and they can be given surprisingly great equipment for a variety of roles, doing whatever the Leman Russ's were going to do, but for a much cheaper cost. Granted they've also got less armour, but that's hardly an issue when you can have 2 of them for one of those. It also has a 6+ invuln, which won't do too much, void hardened armour, which will do even less, and it re-rolls all failed dangerous terrain tests, which can be a lifesaver from that asshole who spams Phosphex/Graviton or if there's just a lot of terrain.

Lords of War

• Auxilia Baneblade: - Though outclassed by the Legion Fellblade, the Baneblade is still a nasty proposition to face. Sporting a Baneblade cannon, Autocannon, Demolisher Cannon, twin-linked heavy bolter, optional sponsons, armed with twin-linked heavy bolters and lascannon each, pintle mounts, and optional Hunter-killer missile, it is a rolling fortress of death. Fellblade, however, is better in every way possible, having sponsons and 12 hull points by default at roughly the same cost, so leave Baneblade from tournament list.

• Auxilia Stormlord: - Your basic stormlord. Still vomits walls of bullets per turn, still has absurd transport rules. Unlike 40k, though, it has heavy bolters instead of heavy stubbers in the troop bay. It is also notable that because of its rules: in terms of access points it count as Open-Topped for the purposes of disembarkation and embarkation, meaning it doesn't actually have access points and you can jump on and off the vehicle from any part of it. It is not actually an open topped vehicle, so the passengers cannot be shot at, or shoot out except from the fire points ("limited" to twenty) nor is it an assault transport (so you cannot charge out)
  • If you want the ULTIMATE LAWNMOWER, put FOUR veletaris squads inside. On turn 1, move 12" (except you can only move 6" and still disembark), disembark 6" with all 4 squads, and then put on this song at the start of your shooting phase... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTVdP7KyKE4 For a rundown of what your opponent will be expecting if you actually pull this off:

• Split fire with all of the following:
• 3 Heavy Bolter Shots (S5 AP4)
• 5 TL-Heavy Bolter Shots (S5 AP4)
• 4 Lascannon Shots (S9 AP2)
• 20 Volkite Charger shots(S5 AP5 Deflagrate)
• 20 Volkite Charger shots(S5 AP5 Deflagrate)
• 20 Volkite Charger shots (S5 AP5 Deflagrate)
• 20 Volkite Charger shots (S5 AP5 Deflagrate)
• 15 (30 if you stayed still) Vulcan Mega Bolter shots (S6 AP3)

• Or, instead of adding anti-infantry power to anti-infantry tank and rushing right to the enemy (which is not a good tactics with all that Medusas and Spartan deathstars around), turn your tank into a rape machine in following simple steps:
  • 1) Add tank commander and "preferred enemy:infantry". He's counted as HQ choice, not a tank upgrade, so this tactic is viable even in 2000pts game. Rerolling 1 wounding on 2+ is fun. Shooting at BS4 (rerolling 1) is even better. Overwatching with all weapons is priceless.
  • 2) Now the dick move. Put 2 Enginseer Adepts in there with 16 Servo-automatas each armed with grenade launcher. If opponent is trying to swarm your precious Super-heavy with dreadnoughts or something (like Spartans. They will pop too), introduce them to Tempest grenades. Remember they all can overwatch from troop bay. Oh, yes, they have 5+ in all-bolter environment, but who cares, they are inside a giant metal fortress of death. And Enginseers can make repair rolls.
    • That's it. It's up to your opponent to come to you and get blasted by Servo-automatos or just eat 30 S6 AP3 shots with PE every turn. Either way, he's fucked.
    • Be warned that doing this is very likely to result in your opponent picking up your Stormlord model and beating you upside the head with it.

• Auxilia Shadowsword: - for hunting Titans and enemy Superheavies. Can also one-shot Primarchs on a lucky six on Destroyer roll, though mind for invisible ones (Lorgar and Corax), since you cannot snapfire blasts. Not really worth it as 7th edition nerfed Destroyer weapons hard, you're better off with Tempest grenades for tank hunting if you're taking it against anything up to Warhound. Has potential against Mechanicum as they usually rely on superior T coupled with 3+ or 2+ save.

• Auxilia Stormsword: Best at street fighting and siege warfare (and there was a lot of that in the Heresy), what it lacks in range is is made up for in firepower, and in 30k firepower is everything. Awesome when facing mass-drop lists as range does not matters and those dreadnoughts will have no shrouded from their pods, and blast hits both dreadnought and its' pod. Problem is, Infernus does its' anti-infantry job just as good, while costing less and not occupying LoW slot.

• Auxilia Stormblade: - Taking the Shadowsword chassis and sticking the Plasma Cannon from a Titan on it. Allows for two firing modes: Rapid and Overload. Rapid gives you 2 shots at 72", S8 AP2 with a 7" Blast and Overload drops it down to 1 shot with 96" range S10 AP2 Apocalyptic Blast. So if you need to clear out a horde of non-super heavy tanks or massed Astartes at range, this'll be high on your list.

• Auxilia Stormhammer: - Taking Dakka to a logical extreme, the Stormhammer is less a superheavy and more a rolling fortress bristling with guns. Its hull weapon is a TL Battle Cannon, and its main gun is a S9 AP2 cannon with shred and pinning. With the options to take a pintle-mounted multilaser or heavy flamer, up to 4 HK missiles(!), a coaxial multilaser, a hull lascannon on top of the battle cannons, and six sponsons, all of which are armed with multilasers by default (making it C.S. Goto's dream tank) but can be swapped out for heavy bolters, heavy flamers, or lascannons (and the first two options are free), it can take on more targets at once than any other superheavy. (The sponsons are switched out individually, so feel free to mix and match however you like.) And as an added bonus, it has an inherent 6++ invulnerable save versus blast and template weapons and can reroll failed dangerous terrain tests. In short, the Stormhammer is your best bet for a versatile superheavy that can fit any situation that you can think of.

Building Your Army

Consider any or all of the following:

• becoming a prostitute

• selling your house

• killing everyone in your family until you are the only one left with all the inheritance

• harvesting the organs of your friends

• investment scamming

• selling your vital organs

• cleaning your couch, and your neighbors, and their neighbors, and your grandmothers...

• first born children do go for a lot on ebay

• getting a fourth job

• selling whatever you are reading this on

• find a friend and you each put $20 in a box. They one person buys the box from the other for $30. You both make $10! (...you must use common core math...)

• Buy a bunch of cheaper Horus Heresy models from Forgeworld, wait for Forgeworld to discontinue them, then sell them at 5x to 10x the price you paid for them on ebay. No, seriously.

Seriously though. Start with you're preferred troop choice, either Lasrifles or Storm Sections. Lasrifles should usually have cover, Storm Sections should usually be in a Dracosian with a Demolisher cannon. Using Lasrifle Sections in Dracosians is a sure way to empty your wallet and create a pretty mediocre list in the process. Tanks are easier to come by, you can either get the cheap ones from GW (might need to persuade your community those are the right ones. Conquest shows one LR with "visible" Explorator Adaptation, so it's only logical to assume existence of ones without) or get the older-pattern krieg ones that FW sell. The former might get you sperged at for using weapon patterns that weren't around until after the heresy and the latter looks cooler but costs more money.

Another option for getting your Auxilia army:

• Unofficial models from China, Ukraine, Russia or whatnot. Saves a lot of money without losing much of a quality. When painted and mounted on official bases, not even a GW manager would be able to tell the difference.
• Problem with proxying is their equipment: while Scions make perfect Grenadiers in Militia and Cults list, they do not fulfill role of any Tercio soldier due to highly standardised Solar Auxilia suits, which is their trademark fluff-wise. To draw a parallel, it's like proxying 30k marines with Primarises (even mk7 may be used in Siege of Terra scenarios, after all): you can, of course, do it, but perhaps you're better off with empty bases if you want to test something rather than lovingly build an army against which no WYSIWYG community will play.

Army Tactics

Here's some things to note when building a Solar Auxilia list:

• Unlike most armies, your infantry can only be dedicated to killing infantry, you won't find a single high Strength weapon in the troops slot. That said, they are pretty good at their job with their special Lasguns that outrange Bolters by 12", and Flamer-only squads that are cheap as balls.
  • Servo-automatos are the best anti-tank in game, period. For 15pts you get BS 3 (can be boosted to 4 from command squad), T5 body with 24" Haywire goodness. Sure, their save is 5+, but for that you have Aegis. Combine with Lord-Marshal's Warlord traits for additional cheese. And yeah, even if Enginseer is killed, they take Pinning tests at Ld10 as long as Lord-Marshal is alive and well.

• Your melee units are pretty good, but they aren't like Terminators or the MCs of the Mechanicum. They will struggle to even scratch a Rhino, so they are best used to protect your more valuable units from medium-heavy melee threats, such as approaching Tactical Squads.
  • Skub. Your Axemen are too fragile to shooting and Ogryns are expensive and lack transport options. While on charge you truly can do terrible things to unprepared opponent without AP4 (Watch out for Power Mauls. Do not charge Marines with Power Mauls, they ID T3), after you win and rout him you have to survive a whole phase of blasting your face with everything the enemy has.

• You have access to Leman Russ tanks in both Fast Attack and Heavy Support, so you'll rarely have to worry about slots. Also, just because the Fast Attack-specific Russ patterns can Outflank doesn't mean that they have to. A Vanquisher cannon is far more valuable in 30k than 40k as it's one of the few ways to circumvent Melta-immunity at range, so don't be afraid to deploy it straight up if the enemy's rocking up in Spartans. Or just take Lightning with Kraken Penetrators, Ground-tracking Auguries and Battle Servitor Control, it's, like, 10 times more efficient.

• If you want a mechanised list, remember: you can take Vindicator +1's in Troops slots. This sole ability makes the Solar Auxilia a good a relatively cheap counter-measure against Custodes since you can spam everything they hate : big blobs of infantry and S10 weapons.

• As cool as your Lord Marshal slaying a Praetor in a challenge may seem, remember that if he's locked in combat other units can't use his LD10 for Leadership tests, so if you're taking him as a force multiplier it might be best to keep him cheap.

• Command squads and Lord Marshals don't clash at all in their roles and actually merge quite well. The command banner coupled with the Lord Marshal's special rules mean that all your infantry will take morale checks at LD10 regardless of casualties they sustain.

• If you want an actual plan for games a sound strategy is (and I mean this) go full Napoleonic. Have your infantry square up in a advancing line while backed up by the big guns (artillery and tanks) stopping squads to grab objectives. Only thing to worry about is ap 4 and up blast weapons but that's what the big guns are for.
• Or take a kinda-gunline army with Tercio, Auxilias and HQ sitting in the back and dare enemy come to you. Remember to bring Medicae and grab a Hosehold Retinue with an Arvus and Velitarii/Flamer Sections on some Dracosans with Demolishers to deny enemy theis objectives in mid-late game, Lord-Marshal and Command squad for never ever running away, 2 maxed out Enginseer Auxilias with Tempest Shells, maybe Lightning if you're expecting Spartans or Infernus if enemy has a lot of infantry. Or both, and add a Stormlord for that squishy infantry to hide inside (Lord-Marshal's High Command works from transport vehicles). You're good to go.

All in all, the Solar Auxilia list encourages a shooty army (being arguably the best in whole 30k at that), but the option for a more gimmicky list is still there if you want it (props if you manage to beat World Eaters with your Veletaris Storm Section/Charonite list and slay Kharn with your Lord Marshal).