What This Review Intends to Cover
In these reviews I want to cover:
- What is a unit’s role?
- How strong is a unit?
- How should you run the unit? Covering both unit size and weapons
- Anything to be aware of when purchasing and modeling a unit?
- Are there other units that perform a similar role?
At the end I’ve also included a Legion Trait review, I’ll be adding another for Formations in the future.
What This Review Won’t Cover
I’m not going to spend too much time on units-per-legion. I’ll make a few notes when I think it matters, but I won’t cover when a particular legion makes something better, unless I mention in that unit review.
This is also not a document about building a list. If you need to know what infantry options are best, or what anti-tank to bring, this has answers, but it won’t cover how much of each you should bring.
Why Am I Writing This Review?
The main reason is that I’m not aware of a similar resource online for Imperialis. Most content has moved to YouTube which has upsides and downsides but one of the big downsides is that it’s terrible as a reference. Here you’ll be able to look up what some dude (hi, that’s me!) thinks of the Sabre, without having to find the right timestamp in the right video from the right review of a Legions Imperialis supplement. And that’s the other issue, most reviews of units are point-in-time, when they were released. They don’t consider newer units that may have changed the landscape, along with FAQs, etc.
I’ll note here that Legions Imperialis is a pretty casual game, so please don’t read this guide and bring all the best units to your next game night. However, even with casual games it’s worth knowing relative power levels and quality, which is what this guide aims to do. In many respects this is a guide that tells you what not to do in a casual game.
I also think there is value in knowing what options to put on your expensive new models, I’ll try and make my build recommendations clear for all units, and highlight things that are easy to magnetize, etc.
How Are Units Scored?
S: These will be very rare but are units that warp the game
A: These are very good units you would be happy to take more than one detachment
B: These are solid units that won’t handicap your list, they may be good role-players but lack flexibility
C: These units are not very good, unless taking them with a very specific purpose they’ll be inferior to many units. They may be unfocused or outclassed
D: These units are bad. Take these for fun, or looks, or vibes but not because they’ll help win games
Auxilia HQ
Legate Commander: A+
Gameplay: The Legate Commander and Tactical Command share much the same profile. As single-wound infantry models, they offer Inspire 8”, giving a bubble of improved morale saves, and Solar Auxilia HQ, giving a bubble where units can use any order. These are both very useful abilities and while you have limited slots to take HQ units you’re always happy to have them.
Limited to 1 per 1500 points, you should always pay an extra 6 points for the legate. And you get 3 notable changes for that 6 points. First, Morale goes from 3+ to 2+, meaning this will take all nearby Auxilia units from a 4+ to a 2+, this is a huge bonus. It also gives you Master Tactician, the only Solar Auxilia model with it. Master Tactician allows you to, after this detachment activates, change the order on a nearby detachment. This is very good for flexibility allowing you to get rid of an inopportune First Fire, or let a unit switch to Charge when you see how close the enemy just got. Lastly, this bumps you from 6” to 10” for Solar Auxilia HQ which is great.
You want to max out on these, which is 1 from 1500-2999 points, and 2 from 3000 points onward.
Load-out: No options, but you want to stick these in a tanky squad where they can use their aura abilities. Sticking that squad in a building increases the size of their bonuses, so more defensive units make sense.
Modeling: You’ll end up with more of these than you can use, feel free to get creative with the modeling. I use flag color to make it clear what’s a Legate and what’s a Tactical Command.
Auxilia Tactical Command: B+
Gameplay: This was more or less covered above. In a 2000 point game you can only take 1 Legate so you’re likely to have a Tactical Command, and that’s fine. Just keep in mind that the Legate is better and should be closer to the units that need it.
Load-out: No options, but you want to stick these in a tanky squad where they can use their aura abilities. Sticking that squad in a building increases the size of their bonuses, so more defensive units make sense.
Modeling: You’ll end up with more of these than you can use, feel free to get creative with the modeling. I use flag color to make it clear what’s a Legate and what’s a Tactical Command. 5 models per base, 10 models per box, 2 bases per box
Tank Commander: A
Gameplay: Solar Auxilia vehicle commanders work differently from marine ones. Rather than a separate unit you attach, this is a unit upgrade. Certain formations will include this, it’s 10 points, and upgrades one tank in the formation to a command tank. Generally speaking you should default to upgrading your most durable unit with a commander. However also think about what tanks need to give orders. First Fire can be important on some tanks, and march on others, you want the commander in or near things that need the order flexibility. Overall I think the Auxilia Tank Commanders are great, cheaper than the Astartes ones and much more flexible, you just can’t take them as often.
Modeling: Typically these are the guy sticking out the top of a tank, but however you want to identify them is fine.
Auxilia Support & Core
As with the marine review I’ll be covering support and core units together, as there are a number of support units that can go into the single core choice. So I’ll start by looking at all the units that can go into a Lasrifle Tercio.
Auxiliaries with Lasrifles: B
Gameplay: The basic lasrifle infantry unit is cheap, squishy, and fine. You have a weak gun that slightly out-ranges bolters and loses Assault for Ripple Fire, I think this is mostly a downgrade. If you have an HQ nearby you can give the unit First Fire orders which, with Ripple Fire, allow you to reroll 1s. I don’t often have 10” units on First Fire, and you can’t even use this sometimes due to Solar Auxilia orders. Compared to tactical marines we’re losing a point of morale, a CAF, a save point, and a better gun and only saving 1 point. I’d rather have marines.
But none of that is to say this unit is useless, infantry are good, you’re required to take them, and these guys will certainly sit on an objective.
Load-out: These are required in the Tercio, and I’ll talk about them more there.
Modeling: You get 38 models in a box armed with lasrifles but you can mix in 3 other infantry models that don’t belong to command squads, or extra command squads to get to 8 bases. 5 models per base, 38 models per box, 8 bases per box
Auxiliaries with Flamers: B+
Gameplay: Trading 4” of range and Rapid Fire for Ignores Cover and +1 to hit is a good deal. You put out 33% more damage, unless the lasrifles had first fire, then they slightly out-perform you. But with how rare Ignores Cover is, having a chance to pick it up on a unit is nice.
Load-out: These can only be taken in a Tercio, but if you want maximum value from them take a big unit of mostly flamers in Dracosans and it can go try and clear out buildings.
Modeling: I paint the tips of the flamers bronze (to my silver lasrifles) to make the units easy to tell apart at a distance. You don’t get enough of these to make 4 bases of all flamers in a box, but throw in a sergeant or comms type character and you’re good. 5 models per base, 14 models per box, 4 bases per box
Veletaris Storm Section: B
Gameplay: Veletaris are good, while only having +1 CAF they have Rend which gives you another d6 in combat, this works out to an average CAF of +4.5 which beats Terminators. And they’re pretty cheap, 8 sets you back 70 points. But in general I think this unit suffers compared to other options. In the Space Marine list these will beat Terminators in a fair melee, but Terminators for only 20 more points are almost as good in melee, have a 4+ save, and can deep strike. In the Auxilia list our next unit costs a good bit more than both but has the highest infantry CAF and 2 wounds which is huge. The other issue here is that Auxilia transports are expensive. I could take 70 points of Veletaris in 82 points of Dracosans, or 130 points of Ogryns in that same pair. When we factor in transport costs the price gap really narrows.
Load-out: Take full sized units.
Modeling: No notes. 5 models per base, 20 models per box, 4 bases per box
Charonite Ogryns: A-
Gameplay: These are great. They’re extremely expensive at 130 points for a squad of 8. But the 130 points gets you 16 wounds and rend. These eat any marine infantry for breakfast thanks to Rend, and 2 wounds is amazing in a melee unit, your opponent can’t kill models unless they’re doubling up and winning both attacks. It’s not all roses, while you do have a lot of wounds you do not have a lot of save. You don’t want these being shot in the open, they want to be in a garrison, or in combat. And it can be hard to get them there as Solar Auxilia have no Assault Transport options. Ogryns are very good, and I recommend them, but they’ll often have trouble getting into combat intact.
Load-out: I like big squads, 16 wounds is a lot to chew through.
Modeling: No notes, these are very easy to paint due to the size compared to infantry. 2 models per base, 8 models per box, 4 bases per box
Lasrifle Tercio: A
Gameplay: The Lasrifle Tercio will appear in almost every Solar Auxilia list and you should think of it as your core objective-holding unit. You start with 4 lasrifle stands for 30 points and can add up to 12 additional models. You have a lot of choices with this squad, keep in mind they will never be a shooting powerhouse. If you want offensive power from this unit do it via Ogryns or Veletaris. If you do add one or the other you’ll have a pretty powerful close combat unit, but keep in mind if you’re buying transports for your close combat units your infantry will have to tag along.
At this point we need to talk about Independent. Your Ogryns and Veletarii have this rule, and it allows any models with that rule in a detachment to effectively form a sub-detachment. These models can form their own unit, but one model from that must remain within 6” of a model from the core unit. Independent units activate at the same time as the main unit but can have a different order. This means you could have your Ogryn charge out of an objective while the Auxiliaries inside stay put. This rule can be a little hard to use due to the 6” rule, but keep it in mind as it can bring some added value. Note this does split up Veletarii and Ogryn into separate units, this adds flexibility but also overhead so consider it before deciding on what models to bring.
Load-out: Personally I think squads around the 12 model size are good, 16 models are a pain to move, and most things that can deal with 12 garrisoned models can deal with 16. Transports are also quite expensive for these squads, but if you do have a squad that will be foot-slogging going to 16 has more appeal.
Auxiliaries: B
I don’t think there is anything wrong with the basic troop but I’d rather take:
Auxiliaries with Flamers: B+
These guys will have more firepower than Auxiliaries while also giving you a possible way to hurt garrisoned troops.
Veletarii: A
For the same price as the prior two options we lose a little firepower and gain Rend in close combat. I think that’s a great deal and because of the low cost, not being bulky, Rend, and Independent I recommend every Tercio contain at least 2 Veletarii. It will make the unit much harder to charge, and gives you a lot of tactical flexibility should the Veletarii charge to tie up a unit.
Charonite Ogryns: A
Ogryn are the best close combat units in the game, so being able to take them is great. Note that if you take them they are Bulky so no Lighters, and Dracosans get expensive quickly. But they’re quite good. 2 of these adds the same flexibility that Veletarii add but you get 2 wound models which can make close combat even more appealing.
Recommended Detachments: 4 Auxiliaries, 2 Veletarii (42 pts) - This is a cheap unit to hold back points. The 2 Veletarii can be kept on charge orders so if anything threatens this objective you charge it to tie those units up for a turn.
4 Auxiliaries, 8 Flamers, 2 Veletarii (78 pts) - This squad can threaten enemy units holding objectives, the Veletarii again offer some flexibility.
6 Auxiliaries, 6 Veletarii (78 pts) - This is a unit that wants to be in the mid field on an objective. In a garrison they’ll be hard to shift, and the Veletarii can again protect you from some threats.
4 Auxiliaries, 12 Ogryn (210 pts) - This is kind of a troll unit but if you can infiltrate this your opponent is going to have an extremely hard time chewing through 26 wounds.
Modeling: See above sections, the Tercio mixes together unit types so do keep your different squads distinct, even when mixing in command models and the like.
Cyclops: B
Gameplay: We now reach units that can’t go in the Tercio (this would be a fun one…) and the Cyclops is a unique unit in Imperialis. These are tiny tanks that go boom. You have to pick a weapon for them which can be a Demolisher weapon with AP -1 and no negative keywords, or a Light AT weapon also at -1 AP which has Ignores Cover. I recommend the latter, I’m a huge fan of Demolisher but at AP -1 these are not bringing down buildings. The first profile is more useful versus tanks but AP -1 is still not great into tanks. Oh, I should also mention they have Blast (3”). This is a very rare rule in LI and what it means is you can drive these tanks within 1” of your enemies then detonate them.
Math-hammer is basically impossible with a unit like this but there are a lot of things to note. First, blast weapons always scatter, in this case D3+1”. That means you want to get these into large units, but you scatter one template first, then place the others so the center hole is within 2” of the first template. This means that you’re very likely able to place templates after the first exactly where you want. Next, Blast cares about the center hole when hitting structures. If the center hole is on a building all models in the building have a 50-50 chance to be hit.
This is pretty good overall. If 10 infantry stands are in a building, touching the building will result in about 3.3 being hit (4+ to suffer the attack, 3+ to hit). If you’ve taken the Ignores Cover profile you’ll do a lot of damage. Note there is some lack of clarity on timing of template weapons, see the Malcador Infernus below for more on this.
So, back to the Cyclops, it has 9” movement which is good, but it can’t march the turn it intends to explode. It only has a 5+ save but being a vehicle it is immune to small arms fire. A CAF of -8 means that you need to be very careful to not get charged, which is tricky when you want to end up next to something to blow it up. A cagey enemy may leave infantry in a building on charge orders in case your Cyclopes come in. However if they do leave the building to charge your demolition squad those infantry will be out of cover.
Load-out: Again, I much prefer the Ignores Cover profile. The Demolisher profile is a bigger threat to vehicles but not to buildings and at AP -1 and against fast, mobile targets I think it loses value. For squad size I recommend 4. You typically want to “march and hide” on turn one and having a full 6 makes it much harder to tuck in behind something. If you’re playing without regard for activation limits taking a bunch of 2-model squads is fine, but if you are dealing with activation limits I’d advise against this as you’ll find yourself heavily out-activated on turn 3+.
Modeling: No notes, these guys are fun and quick to put together. You do only get 4 per box so if you want swarms of them you’re looking at a lot of support boxes.
Auxilia Vanguard
Aethon Heavy Sentinel: B
Gameplay: Our only vanguard choice is this walker. It’s a very cheap unit at 17.5 points/model at minimum size and 12.5 at max size. They can be fielded in units of 2-8, and are pretty fast with movement 7” with Forward Deployment. With Save 4+ and CAF +0 they’re quite squishy. It’s armed with a multilaser and missile launcher. The missile launcher is an odd paired profile, both 20”. The first option is 2 dice, 5+ to hit, and Light. The second option is 1 dice, 4+ to hit, -1 AP, Ignores Cover, and Anti-tank. Pairing Ignores Cover and Anti-tank makes this something of a confused weapon, but any Ignores Cover weapon can be useful into garrisoned infantry, even if we’re losing the -1 AP here.
The weapon loadout is actually pretty effective. These models are cheap enough that despite having less than optimal profiles you get enough attacks it adds up. A full unit of 8 is only 100 points and deal 2.2 wounds to a 2+ tank (45 pts/wound), or 3.5 wounds to space marine infantry (29 pts/wound). These are good numbers, but they’re off-set by the short range and low durability. But overall this is a flexible unit that can help problem-solve for you and I think you’ll rarely regret taking them.
Load-out: No options on the unit, I recommend large size squads as the point savings are very good.
Modeling: I paint these off base on coffee stirrers like I do infantry, but do it however you’d like. 4 models per box
Auxilia Battle Tank
Leman Russ Variants
I’m grouping these together as there is a lot of overlap and the difference comes down to the main gun. To set expectations the Russ variants include the game’s best tank, and a bunch of pretty weak options. I’m fairly harsh on most of these tanks because they tend to have very low damage output and are outshone by other options. Which isn’t to say they’re all terrible, a 2+ armour save tank is a pretty good baseline so take these negative ratings with a grain of salt, keep these out of combat with infantry and you might get good value out of any of them. Unless your opponent took Vanquishers, then you’re screwed. GW did change the points around on these tanks but the largest points gap is less than 5 points a model meaning they all end up around the same.
Modeling: There are three different Leman Russ boxes each with two turret weapons. My first note is that the turrets can be magnetized but this is pretty annoying as there is a void in the center of the tank. Much easier is to just use a dab of blu tack under the turret to hold it in place. This works quite well and allows you to pivot the turret or swap them. As far as turret weapons go it is physically possible to magnetize them but it involves very small magnets and drilling into some surfaces I wouldn’t want to drill, so I recommend against it. However, on the subject of turret weapons, keep your spares. The three russ kits are identical aside from the main turret gun, and they share the same mount. This means if you end up with too many copies of one Russ kit (from starter sets) you can put spare guns from another on it. As far as secondary weapons go, if you build a number of variants you can mix hull las and bolter weapons and move turrets around as needed.
Leman Russ Vanquisher: A+
Gameplay: This is in contention as the best anti-tank unit in the game. It’s the most expensive Russ but you only pay a small premium for the best primary weapon. The Vanquisher cannon with 32” AP -2, Anti Tank, and Armour Bane is just a fantastic weapon going into any armored target. With lascannons these squads can put out 8 shots at 22” or the 4 at 32” and with up to 32” range keeping these safe is pretty easy. Marines can’t out-shoot these tanks to a degree I think tank-on-tank combat heavily favors Auxilia. The obvious weakness to this unit is the fact that it only wants to shoot vehicles (well, it’s fine into walkers). But that just means you need a balanced list, and when looking at anti-tank options start with these.
Load-out: Take lascannons, with 32” range and 8” move if you’re worried about infantry just back up. I think squads of 4 make a lot of sense in terms of being able to keep your activation count up and split your fire if needed. 4 of these at 22” average 2.2 wounds into 2+ saves so a single squad can force morale checks on tank detachments, take out single 2-wound tanks, etc. Squads of 6 are also pretty good, able to really decimate other tank squadrons and provide more single-activation threat to super-heavy targets.
Leman Russ Demolisher: C
Gameplay: Solar Auxilia are kind of spoiled for choice when it comes to Demolisher. This isn’t in terms of the raw count of options, but that they have 3 good options. The Demolisher should be taken to use that keyword, as an anti-infantry model it’s overpriced, as an anti-vehicle model it’s too short range. This is to kill buildings, which is very worth doing. Strangely it’s biggest direct competition comes from the Transport section. The Demolisher costs 41.25 points, for 47 points you can take a Dracosan with a Demolisher cannon. The Dracosan loses the hull weapon, but gains a lot. First up, it has 2 wounds, so while 4 Dracosan costs 23 more points you get double the wounds, this is massive and a very good deal. It also gains Large Transport (2), now you’re paying a lot of points compared to most transports for that space, but if you’re taking it for the Demolisher cannon it’s less of an expensive transport and more of a tank with a nice bonus. Demolisher cannons are only 12” so you typically march on turn 1. Dracosans marching on turn 1 can get your infantry inside 16” out of your deployment zone, and then function as Demolishers. This is all a long way to say I recommend Dracosans with Demolishers over Leman Russ Demolishers. Those are not the only two models competing for this role, make sure to also check out the Medusa and Marauder Colossus for more building-collapsing fun.
Load-out: As the Demolisher is going into buildings you want to take a heavy bolter on the hull so it can shoot into other targets as needed. You need an average of 4.8 Demolisher shots to take down a light building so I recommend squads of 6, this will give you a pretty reliable way to take down buildings.
Leman Russ Exterminator: C-
Gameplay: The autocannon variant the Exterminator suffers a little bit of an identity crisis, it has a Light AT weapon in the turret but has to pick between Light and Anti-tank for the hull mount. With a heavy bolter on the hull, when shooting into marines in the open the tank averages 1.3 wounds, hardly impressive. I do recommend the heavy bolter however because the autocannon output into vehicles is pretty anemic.
Load-out: As mentioned, I recommend heavy bolters. In addition to doubling-down on shooting infantry it can split fire as needed. I’d recommend small squads of this tank.
Leman Russ Strike Tank: C-
Gameplay: The Strike Tank is the classic Russ with a battle cannon. And it’s not great. This is another Russ without a clear role. The battle cannon is the rare weapon with no keywords meaning you get the full (-1) AP against any target which is nice. But then you have to take a hull weapon and if you take a lascannon we’ve built a much worse Vanquisher, if you add a heavy bolter we’ve built a worse Exterminator. The heavy bolter is more appealing, but with 25” range on the battle cannon you’ll often want to stay out of its range. You’re left with a multi-role tank that can’t do any of them well.
Load-out: I would take the heavy bolters, just feels like that tank could find more of a purpose. I’d recommend small squads of this tank.
Leman Russ Annihilator: C-
Gameplay: We’re looking at the second most expensive Russ, only 5 points less for a squadron than Vanquishers. What changes? Well, we’re still in an anti-tank role. You trade the Vanquisher cannon for an accurate twin lascannon. This is a really bad trade. Assuming both squadrons are within 22” of each other (not a great assumption!) a squadron of Vanquishers will put 2.2 wounds into the Annihilators, 81 pts/wound. The Annihilators will do 1.49 wounds back, or 107 pts/wound. Two anti-tank units, one with over four times the firepower for an extra 3% cost, oh and it also has much better range. The Annihilator is truly dreadful.
Load-out: The best part of the Annihilator is that this is a very easy choice, take the hull weapon that matches your turret. I’d recommend small squads of this tank.
Leman Russ Executioner: D
Gameplay: Executioners have a plasma cannon in the turret and are a bit underwhelming. With 12” range these are very short range and with Light AT on the plasma we’ve got another tank with a split personality. This profile in general is a real shame. Remember how I said the Exterminator was underwhelming into all targets? The Executioner’s main gun works out to the exact same math. Except it has 12” range not 16”. This is the same tank losing 4” of range, and it’s worse on overwatch and versus flyers to boot.
Load-out: Again, heavy bolters allow you to split fire and focus more on infantry. I’d recommend small squads of this tank.
Malcador Variants
As with the Russes I’ll be talking about these together, note this only includes the three “core” profiles you can build from the standard box. The Valdor and Infernus are different enough they deserve their own headings. So, the base Malcadors, where do they stand? For around 75 points a model you’re getting the standard 2+ save of the Auxilia, along with 2 wounds and 9” movement, slightly faster than their other tanks. The Malcadors in many ways play as light super-heavies, they have complicated weapon loadouts and much of their value relies on getting maximum use out of a diverse weapon loadout. Point-per-wound these are cheaper than a Leman Russ, but they can struggle to keep up in shooting due to more varied weapon loadouts. However the other thing to note is they can function like large Leman Russes and their loadouts have a lot of parallels there, so I’ll be comparing each Malcador to the Russ that is pretty similar.
Now let’s talk about those loadouts because the Malcador is a little unique here. In addition to picking sponsons, you get to pick a hull weapon, and this isn’t lascannon vs heavy bolter. No, this is a much more difficult choice, you’ve got those two, but you also have an autocannon or a Demolisher cannon. And it’s the last one that really makes this weird, the Demolisher cannon is a main gun on most tanks, it’s very powerful, it’s best at shooting buildings, and it has a 12” range. Within 12” it far outperforms the other options, but do you want these tanks within 12”? I think this gun is enough of an upgrade over the lighter weapons you should just take it. The lascannon goes with most of these profiles better, but I think getting these tanks a bit closer and being able to use the demolisher is worth it. The other advantage of the demolisher comes if your force has taken Leman Russ Demolishers or Dracosans with Demolishers. You don’t want to shoot Malcadors at buildings, but sometimes you get to a point where your opponent has wiped out your main demolisher force, and having a couple backup ones on Malcadors or Baneblades means you can finish off that wounded building. It won’t come up often but is worth keeping in mind.
Malcadors start in 2 model detachments but don’t take that with your 4+ morale. I think 3 models makes a lot of sense, part of why I’d take Malcadors is to have the potential threat of demolishers, but I’m not taking these to knock down buildings, I’m taking them to finish them off if my other demolishers couldn’t finish the job. And in that case I don’t want to be wasting a ton of firepower. You can take these in squads of 5 to reliably knock down small buildings but you’re wasting so much firepower to do so.
Modeling: You get options for all these tanks in one box. Traditional magnetization methods won’t work as the guns sit in the middle of the tank, not a separate turret. But if you want to magnetize this is a pretty clever guide to do so.
Malcador Annihilator: C
Gameplay: Awesome, another tank to talk about lascannon vs demolisher cannons. Here we’re comparing this Malcador not to the might Leman Russ Vanquisher, but it’s much weaker sibling, the Leman Russ Annihilator. This Malcador with all las will get 4 shots a model, or a very underwhelming .67 wounds into a 2+ save. At 75 points per model, we’re looking at 112 pts/wound, well below the Leman Russ Vanquisher but about on par with the Leman Russ Annihilator. With a demolisher, within 12” that gets us up to 0.83 wounds or 90 pts/wound, a very competitive number but with 10” less range than a lascannon-only build.
Load-out: I recommend demolisher & lascannon, it will mean you have to move these up but it’s the best way to make these a competitive damage dealing platform.
Malcador Tank: C
Gameplay: The basic Malcador has the battle cannon made famous by the Leman Russ. I actually think it’s a lot more appealing here because it can pair with different weapons. Autocannons and the demolisher cannon are both generalist weapons well-suited to pairing with the main gun. A Malcador with a demolisher, autocannon sponsons, and the battle cannon can put 1.5 wounds into space marine infantry, this is 51 pts/wound (into infantry! don’t compare this to anti-tank numbers). But due to the cost of the platform we still end up losing efficacy. A Leman Russ Strike Tank is 45 pts/wound. And it gets worse, an Exterminator with a heavy bolter is 31 pts/wound. Which isn’t to say the Malcador is useless, this same loadout is able to hurt tanks, not very well at 0.61 wounds and 122 pts/wound, but it can do both jobs (somewhat ineffectively). Where does this leave us? I’m not sure, this is a generalist tank and it will do something if you take it, just don’t expect too much.
Load-out: Demolisher and autocannons all the way for me. 3+ model detachments.
Malcador Vanquisher: C-
Gameplay: The Vanquisher is the oddest of the odd ducks that are the Malcador. For 5 extra points per model you get the most powerful main gun. A gun with 32” range. Let’s compare this to the Russ Vanquisher. 4 Russes will do 2.2 wounds to a 2+ tank at 22” or 81 pts/wound. 2 Malcadors are 15 points cheaper and have a loadout choice. With all lascannons you’ll do 1.4 wounds, or 113 pts/wound. In this comparison the Malcador comes up short, it does even worse from 23-32”. What if we take the demolisher on our Malcador? This drops us to 1.1 wounds at 22”, but if we get within 12” it goes up to 1.75 wounds or 91 pts/wound, still well short of the Russ detachment. But you did gain an inch of movement, and 2 wound tanks are sometimes better than the same number of wounds on 1 wound models, and you do have flexibility to shoot buildings if you must. Can these compete with the Leman Russ Vanquisher? Not really. But the Russ is one of the best models in the game so these still come out surprisingly serviceable.
Load-out: As laid out above I think demolisher + lascannon sponsons make the most sense. All lascannons is worth a look but it offers nothing a Leman Russ Vanquisher can’t do. 3+ model detachments.
Malcador Infernus: B+
Gameplay: A Malcador in name, the Infernus shares most of the stat line but loses 1” of movement, and it’s a pretty different tank. They come in squads of 1-3 at 60 points a model, and only have two weapons. The first is a sponson weapon, same options as the Malcador. The second is why we’re taking this unit, the inferno gun. One of a handful of Firestorm weapons in the game this is an AP -1 Firestorm weapon that hits on 4+. Let’s talk about hitting, Firestorm uses the tear-drop shaped flamer template, you can target this independent of other weapons, and model fully under it is hit on a 4+, any model partly under it is hit on a 4+ and then another 4+. If it touches a building, every model in the building suffers a hit on 4+, which Ignores Cover. This is a pretty great weapon, in terms of damage to garrisoned units Firestorm weapons are only matched by collapsing the building. Expect one of these to kill a little under half the infantry in a building.
Things get a little strange with several of these. My understanding is that two in a detachment firing on the same building (they can split template fire!) would both hit the number of models that started the attack in the building. I don’t think this is excessively clear in the rules, so there may be some debate. It does mean that separate detachments of these will have diminishing returns. If an Infernus targets a building with 10 models and kills 4 of them, the next Infernus detachment would only be making 6 hit rolls and likely kill 2 or 3 models. This leads into a weakness of Firestorm, they can kill infantry in buildings but they will struggle to clear infantry out of buildings unless the infantry fails their morale check.
It’s worth knowing these will often be a high priority target as your opponent tries to defend their entrenched infantry, however at 30 points per 2+ wound it’s a very tanky unit for the cost.
Load-out: Autocannons all the way for sponsons. Despite the diminishing returns of separate detachments shooting into a building I do like one-model detachments. You can skip worrying about morale with 2 model detachments and 3 can get a little unwieldy. That said 3 will be your best shot for clearing a building.
Modeling: The little trailer can be glued in or left loose, leaving it loose makes it a little less likely to break but it will flop around.
Valdor: C+
Gameplay: Like the Infernus this takes the Malcador stat line, minus 1” of movement. The centerpiece of the model is the centerline neutron beam laser, a 22” weapon which applies Shock Pulse. Shock Pulse means the target unit can only fire one weapon next time it shoots, and only move half distance next time it moves. Shock Pulse has a good number of unanswered questions/problems I won’t get into here, just be aware it’s pretty frequently house-ruled. This is a pretty good weapon but let down a bit by being 4+ to hit, half the turns your 60 point model won’t hit with the gun you take it for. The Valdor really suffers in comparison to the space marine Cerberus. The Cerberus does cost significantly more at 85 points but it gets 3 neutron shots and will almost always trigger Shock Pulse. On top of that they’re also competing with the Leman Russ Vanquisher. The Russ is 81 pts/wound into 2+ saves, but the Valdor is 120 pts/wound, the Cerberus is 73 pts/wound, and both outrange the Valdor. Shock Pulse is a very good rule so this isn’t useless but it faces some very stiff competition.
Load-out: Lascannons for sponsons, 1 or 3 model squadrons. We want to avoid 2 model detachments. 3 can be overkill for shock pulse, but 1 is very unreliable if trying to apply shock pulse before another model shoots.
Modeling: No notes.
Auxilia Heavy Armour
I’ll add some initial notes here, most of these tanks have a lot of overlap. All are 3 wounds, 6” movement, and most have a lot of guns. Generally you’re taking single model units to avoid morale issues on your expensive tank. Most of these tanks have pretty decent range but are also quite slow so they might need to be marched on turn 1. There are three boxes, the Baneblade/Hellhammer, the Stormhammer, and the “everything else” box. I’ll talk about them in that order.
The other thing worth noting with three wound models is Engine Killer. Engine Killer is a very rare keyword, but when it shows up we see at least Engine Killer (2) which means it’s a weapon dealing 3 damage. And those tend to be -4 or -5 to your save. So if you fail that save your 100+ point tank is gone. It’s a real risk, even if you won’t see Engine Killer every game. The other side of this is Shock Pulse, this you will likely see more often and it’s very dangerous to most of these tanks as they’re slow and most of them rely on firing many different weapon systems.
Stormhammer: A-
Gameplay: The Stormhammer is the dakka tank, it can throw up to 14 dice and has some very good guns. I’ve maligned the battle cannon a lot in this guide but here we get a dual battle cannon, and it’s not even the tank’s best weapon, the Stormhammer cannon is AP -2 and has Shred, a very good weapon profile. This tank also has extra sponsons, with 5 dice of 4+ multilasers, or 4 lascannon shots. And that’s really what the Stormhammer is, a dakkabox. You want to get it midway up the field and unload into something and it’s very, very good at that. The lascannons are a 5 point upgrade but if you take that upgrade you’re dealing 1.8 wounds to a 2+ tank, or 55 pts/wound, remember the Cerberus is 73, and the Leman Russ Vanquisher is 81. That’s pretty incredible. Taking the multilasers you’ve got an incredible anti-infantry unit. Unfortunately it’s not great at digging infantry out of cover so I’d not go overboard on these, 14 dice shooting into a garrison is only going to give you 2 or 3 hits.
For downsides this has the common Auxilia super heavy problems. Shock Pulse ruins this tank, slowing it to a crawl and cutting its firepower by about 75%. Due to the shorter range, slower speed, and increased vulnerability I think these rank below the very best tanks, even if this has the most firepower per point. But at the end of the day this is the best “bunch of guns” tank, it has the most guns and they play very well together.
Load-out: Both options are strong, multi laser sponsons make it a terror to charge while lascannons allow it to be the most efficient anti-tank unit in the game.
Modeling: No notes, the sponsons look similar so I wouldn’t worry too hard about WYSIWYG.
Baneblade: C
Gameplay: The OG “bunch of guns” superheavy the Baneblade comes standard with a couple cannons and a smattering of smaller weapons. It has the sponson options we’ll see on most of these tanks, heavy bolters, autocannons, or heavy flamers. The Baneblade is fine, it falls behind something like a Stormhammer because its weapons are more varied and fewer in number, this tops out at 12. With the same stats and price as the Stormhammer it suffers in comparison. If taking autocannons we come out to 81 points per wound going into a 2+ save. Comparing anti-infantry profiles would be even more Stormhammer favored.
At the end of the day the Baneblade isn’t bad, but it doesn’t stand out, it’s a generalist super heavy with the strengths and weaknesses that implies.
Load-out: The heavy flamer sponsons are a bit unique but point defense into cover is a bit niche so I’d go with heavy bolters or autocannons.
Modeling: You could magnetize these, but it involves drilling. I like autocannon sponsons for being flexible, but a point defense option is fine.
Hellhammer: C
Gameplay: The Hellhammer is interesting, it’s a more focused super heavy than the Baneblade because it keeps the demolisher cannon while its main gun gains the Demolisher keyword. This means that for 18 more points than 2 Demolishers you can trade them in for a super heavy with the same anti-building firepower. But that’s kind of the issue, the Demolisher isn’t an amazing anti-building tank, and we’re now paying more points for this tank. You do get a number of extra guns here but they’ll be hard to use if shooting into buildings. The other thing to note about the Hellhammer is that while it’s not a great demolisher, it has the same firepower as the Baneblade when in optimal range. If you’re looking to splash a couple demolisher shots into your list in case you do get into a “one wound left on a building” situation the Hellhammer is a pretty good option for that.
Load-out: Heavy flamers for sure, with two main guns that ignore cover this does mean you can get 4 ignore cover shots per tank which is quite rare. Will it make its points back? Unlikely, but it’s still your best bet.
Modeling: You could magnetize these, but it involves drilling. I like autocannon sponsons for being flexible, but a point defense option is fine.
Shadowsword: B+
Gameplay: The Shadowsword is one of the very rare non-titan Engine Killer platforms. And that makes it quite useful. It has effectively unlimited range and when shooting at a 3-wound superheavy it has a 56% chance to take that 100+ point model off the table. This tank, along with the Leman Russ Vanquisher, is what makes marine-on-Auxilia tank battles so one-sided. This outranges any marine tank, doesn’t really care about Shock Pulse, and is super effective against any multi-wound tank. It is of course also useful against knights and titans should you see them.
The Shadowsword has a few downsides. First, it’s all-in on the main gun, you get sponsons but they may not shoot some games because you want to keep this at extreme ranges. And 1/3 of the time your main gun will miss. And sometimes your opponent doesn’t bring multi-wound models and this is a waste. Or if you’re shooting cheap 2 wound tanks this will about break even on points but by no means be a stand-out star.
The other downside gets kind of complicated but let’s talk about First Fire. Shadowswords have a formation that when on First Fire orders, they gain Accurate when shooting titans. This is great but can have a flaw. You do not want these shooting Void Shields, which are likely up during First Fire. You probably want your Shadowswords to fire during advancing fire so that other models can take down the voids. If you have a lot of Vanquishers you can potentially use them on the voids during First Fire but this is a bit risky. Not being able to first fire into titans blanks the formation bonus and exposes another problem, if your opponent has taken a long range, gun-toting titan it will probably be good at deleting Shadowswords. If your opponent has Volcano Cannons on a Reaver or Warlord they can delete Shadowswords while the titan’s voids are still up. This makes it much harder to use that Engine Killer (3) against actual engines. Lastly, costing 120 points is a limiting factor. That’s a big points bump from something like a Stormhammer, meaning getting value out of the Engine Killer is even more important.
Don’t let those downsides dissuade you, the Shadowsword is still great at killing multi-wound models, you just need the right timing and the right models. I don’t think it’s quite an A because it’s situational, but when it’s good it’s amazing.
Load-out: Take lascannon sponsons, a couple point defense dice won’t do anything.
Modeling: This and the next two tanks share a box and chassis. You can magnetize the gun but it involves drilling and putty and this is another situation where I just recommend a little bit of blue tac.
Stormblade: C
Gameplay: Here we have a titan-sized plasma blastgun and… it’s fine. The Stormblade suffers from some range issues, the Stormblade needs to be within 20” for the main gun to activate, and in general it just isn’t that impressive. It averages 2-3 AP hits a turn, which is good and pretty consistent but the -3 AP, no keyword weapon isn’t as good as it seems. It’s hard to get value of AP -3 into infantry or walkers due to bad saves and common invulnerable saves. This means your best target is really tanks and the lack of secondary guns leaves this a little lacking here. If we recall the Stormhammer was 55 points/2+ wound, this is 73 points, with worse range. Costing 110 points is not something this tank needed.
Load-out: I’d take lascannons as this does want to be going into tanks.
Modeling: This, the Shadowsword, and the Stormsword share a box and chassis. You can magnetize the gun but it involves drilling and putty and this is another situation where I just recommend a little bit of blue tac.
Stormsword: D
The main gun is swapped out for a siege cannon and this is a 30” 1 dice, 3+ to hit, AP -2 gun with Demolisher. And it sucks. Shooting into a light building it averages 0.36 wounds a turn. That’s nothing. That’s slightly better than a demolisher on a platform that cost more than twice as much. 30” range is nice, but to take out buildings you’d need half a dozen of these guys shooting, and for what? This unit doesn’t get any better when we look at shooting not-buildings. The main gun is bizarrely bad and this is easily the worst super heavy in the game.
Load-out: I don’t really think it matters.
Modeling: This and the next two prior tanks share a box and chassis. You can magnetize the gun but it involves drilling and putty and this is another situation where I just recommend a little bit of blue tac.
Auxilia Artillery
Basilisk: B-
Gameplay: The Basilisk has 8-90” range, a minimum is unusual so keep it in mind if the enemy gets close. With 90” range and Barrage this can hit anything on the table, so the question is how well can it do that. Normally shooting Barrage means -1 to hit. This means we’re looking at 197 pts/wound on a 2+ model and 98 pts/wound on a space marine infantry stand. That’s pretty bad. But there is the Artillery Company lets you ignore the -1 to hit with Barrage taking you to 130 and 54 points respectively. We’re still way off what the better tanks can offer, but we’re closer to the ballpark. It’s worth keeping in mind that 90” range means you can target the exact model you want, and you can be shooting from turn 1. I think Basilisks are viable in the Artillery Company or if using direct fire with their very long range to keep them safe. They need to pick the right targets but being able to apply extra dice exactly where you need it is pretty good. I think they are certainly best in an Artillery Company where they can rely on Barrage and weight of dice to take down what you need, but keep in mind that points spent on these are reducing your overall damage output, they have to make up for it with being able to have perfect target selection and firing every turn.
The unit’s rating reflects plans to hit on a 4+, if you want to spend all game rolling 5+ to hit these go down substantially.
Load-out: No options here, but I think any squad size is fine, you want a weight of dice but they do get awful expensive.
Modeling: It’s certainly possible to magnetize the gun for this and the Medusa. If you consider that worth your time is not a decision I can make for you.
Medusa: B-
Gameplay: This is a pretty hard one to judge. While it’s in the artillery section and shares a stat line with the Basilisk it couldn’t be more different. The Medusa is a dedicated building-hunter. The gun’s profile is very similar to a demolisher cannon but we swap Demolisher for Heavy Barrage. Heavy Barrage means that the gun can hit the building, and after damaging or destroying the building it uses half its dice (rounded up). As the Medusa siege gun is a 1 dice weapon that means you get full dice against the building and unit. This should hopefully wipe both out, though note if the building still stands you do not have Ignores Cover.
So here we’ve got to compare to the Demolisher and there is a big change off the bat, a 3+ save. However at almost 10 fewer points per model, this isn’t a huge deal. 8 Medusas are cheaper than 6 Demolishers. You do lose the hull weapon, typically a heavy bolter, and 2 CAF. This means that Medusas are less likely to stick around. However the real issue is movement. The Medusa moves 6” to the Demolishers 8”, which really adds up. If you match turn one, advance turn 2 Demolishers have 24” of movement and a 36” threat range. Medusas have 18” of movement and 30” threat range. In the end this will usually be good enough, but you may not be able to get where you need to. I will also note here that if you are taking a squad of eight they’re still odds-on favorites to destroy a building when shooting indirectly (2.32 wounds on average), so consider hiding them behind another nearby building if needed.
All-in-all, I think the Medusa does out-perform the Demolisher. Getting more demolisher shots per point and Heavy Barrage taking out any survivors should make up for the lower survivability and slower speed.
Load-out: No options, for squad size you want multiple units of 4 or one unit of 8. I wish you could take 6 but both these options are viable.
Modeling: It’s certainly possible to magnetize the gun for this and the Medusa. If you consider that worth your time is not a decision I can make for you.
Auxilia Air Support
Solar Auxilia aircraft are some of the best units in the game. This section is somewhat graded on a curve, the worst flyer is probably still better than most units I’ve ranked higher. So, all of these models are good point for point, it’s mostly a question of opportunity costs, Thunderbolts are not very good compared to the other planes, etc.
We also need to talk about the bombers. For reasons no one will ever understand, GW gave the bombers an extra wound in the Liber Strategia and the only points change was to take 10 points off the Marauder Destroyer, making it the same cost as the others. The Marauder variants are probably the best models in the game and will, broadly speaking, crush stuff. And they cost about the same as 1-wound fighters. If you want to know the best fighter, it’s the Marauder Destroyer.
Next I need to talk about under-wing weapons. All these aircraft can pick one or two options from a very strong list. The two missile options have 30” range making planes some of the best stand-off weapons in the game. Almost zero skyfire weapons can reach that far so a very viable strategy on turns 1/2 is to park your planes 30” away from your enemy’s AA and take it down. This also applies to “dogfights” if you both have flyers, if you have activation advantage you can park your flyer outside of range of their flyer (if they’re as unfortunate as to have to take space marine flyers). The final wing option is bombs, and wing bombs have a great profile but I generally don’t recommend them. Using them exposes your plane to a lot of fire, and it can lead to some awkward decisions on where to move. Also worth noting for Bombers and Lightnings, I think mixing under missile types can be strong in a squadron, it lets you go after more things and lets you absorb damage into the profile you need less. I don’t think you should mix on a single model, the exception being wing bombs on Marauders which I’ll talk about below.
Next, lets talk about point defense weapons, there are a smattering of light weapons on these planes and in my analysis they’re basically ignored. They’re very hard to use so I don’t think you should worry about them when picking loadouts. If your rear point defense weapon kills a couple infantry models in a game, amazing, that’s better than average.
Last, I want to talk about squadron sizes rather than repeating it for each plane. For fighters any size squadron is fine. 1 model is ideal for activations and splitting fire but spamming activations can be poor form, and also air slots are precious. I’d rarely take less than 2 fighters in a squadron. Also, consider mixing wing weapons, if your opponent didn’t bring flyers or they’re dead you can use the Skyfire models as ablative wounds, or the reverse should you need all the anti-air you can get. For bombers it’s totally up to you.
Thunderbolt Squadron: C
Gameplay: The Thunderbolt suffers in comparison. It only has one set of wing weapons, and its main guns come up short next to the Avenger. Your primary gun has about half the firepower of the Avenger’s and there is no situation or loadout in which the Thunderbolt beats its brethren. It does look awesome, so that’s nice.
Load-out: I would lean toward Hellstrike missiles. You’re already pretty effective at shooting aircraft so gaining some more anti-ground firepower is nice.
Modeling: Don’t worry about your under-wing weapons, do what looks coolest to you.
Avenger Squadron: B
Gameplay: Avengers are good, they have the best guns of any plane. They fall down a bit when we consider that: 1- they’re not Marauders and 2- missiles are better than guns. Despite having the best guns, the Lightning beats them out in damage and range thanks to having 2 wing slots. None of that is to say the Avenger is bad. It’s got a lot of firepower and it is the best Interceptor on offer. Interceptor is a weird/niche rule that lets a plane with it fire one weapon during the movement phase at another plane and it only hits on 6s. Having Rapid Fire on the Avenger bolt cannon means this has the most Interceptor firepower in the list.
Load-out: Again I’d lean Hellstrikes, while the Avenger is the best Interceptor, Skystrike Missiles don’t do much to change that math and you can intercept a plane in movement and shoot a ground target later. That said, Skystrikes are fine, and you could also consider bombs for something of a mixed-role plane.
Modeling: Don’t worry about your under-wing weapons, do what looks coolest to you.
Lightning Squadron: A+
Gameplay: Here we come to the best fighter, and it’s the best fighter for two reasons. The first is it has a pair of wing slots. This means 4 dice for the weapon of your choice which is huge. On top of that it can take lascannons as its primary weapon, meaning that it can shoot most of its firepower at 30” or all at 22”, this is better than any other Solar Auxilia plane and a huge advantage when dealing with AA or other aircraft. I will mention it also has a unique option, Phosphex Bombs. These are bombs that ignore cover making this the second best plane at getting infantry out of buildings. That doesn’t make it good. Bombing Run is a set of weird rules and one weird bit is that as far as I can tell bombs always target the structure and anything inside it, but they can’t harm the structure, and the units inside it take half dice value. So if you have 3 of these with a total of 12 Phosphex dice, only 6 would actually be rolled against infantry in buildings. This is confusing and disheartening, though I can see an alternative reading of Bombing Run where only weapons that can hurt buildings target buildings, but that feels like more the intent of the rules than the literal text.
The Lightning ends up being maybe the 2nd best model in the entire game, but also one that is strictly outclassed by the Marauder. I’m putting it at A+ because again, it’s one of the best models in the game, but it also has less firepower and half the wounds of a model that costs the exact same amount.
Load-out: Skyfire or Hellstrike for the best anti air or anti ground fighter option.
Modeling: Don’t worry about your under-wing weapons, do what looks coolest to you. Note that the kit only comes with 2 lascannons per 3 fighters, which is annoying but just put the multilasers on and use them as lascannons.
Marauder Chassis Overview
I want to go over some shared points here. Marauders cost about the same as other Solar Aux planes but have double the wounds and more firepower. An event I’m playing in is capping players at 8 wounds of flyers specifically because of Marauders (max you could take is 4). There is basically no rules reason to take fighters over them. However because they are this good, and because Imperialis is a fairly casual game, I’d not overload on them. I think in a casual game bringing 2 is fine, I’d start to question myself if bringing 4, and more than that should be pre-arranged with an opponent bringing a list that can try and deal with them.
All Marauders have the same basic profile and can take 2 wing weapons, the difference is in what their other weapons are, and in the case of the Pathfinder, its special rules. These are all loadouts on the same unit profile so mixed detachments are both possible and can be pretty good. 2-4 Marauders in a squadron with a mix of Colossus and Bomber models gives you a very flexible, powerful unit.
We do need to touch on Bombing Run, it’s a fun rule, and not that complex, but I’d recommend reading it a couple times to make sure you understand how it works. In short your bombers can drop bombs behind them during the movement phase. This is powerful as it allows split fire, and it goes before first fire (though Overwatch is an ever-present threat). It does mean you can have some strange positioning to try and get all of your weapons point the right way, keep this in mind when planning your turn. Additionally, Bombing Run can hit structures when it does the building takes the full number of dice, and units inside take half dice, which occurs after the building is hit and possibly destroyed. I’ll talk more about this in the Marauder entry. Lastly, Bombing Run has somewhat unique targeting. If you have 2 bombing run weapons you can fire one, move 0.1” more, and fire another into the same target. Keep this in mind should it come up.
Now, let’s talk about the bomb profile shared by most of these planes. With 2-3 dice, 4+ to hit and AP -2 these are very powerful weapons. They can hit anything effectively and you can get a lot of dice if you focus on them. They can hit structures, with AP -2 they should really only go into Civitas Imperialis, and each bomb averages .21 wounds into one. This means you need 9.6 bombs to take one down which is a lot, but also not that much. Two bombers with one set of wing bombs each would average taking one down. I recommend the Colossus if you really want to kill buildings, but don’t overlook the basic bomb.
Marauder Bomber Squadron: S
Gameplay: Much of this was covered above. One thing to note is this is the longest range Marauder, able to fire all weapons but bombs at 22”. With double wing weapons I often use these as stand-off attack craft on early turns and switch to bombing once the enemy has spread out more or I’ve taken down their AA. Marauders do lose some AA compared to fighters, that’s their largest downside, but the lascannons still have Skyfire.
Load-out: Take your pick, I think having one model with Skystrikes in a mixed squadron is good. Mixed Marauder/Colossus squadrons are also nice where one class can protect the other, depending on if you’ve dropped the big one yet.
Modeling: Don’t worry about your under-wing weapons, do what looks coolest to you.
Marauder Destroyer Squadron: S
Gameplay: The destroyer trades the Bomber’s nose lascannons for an autocannon array. And I think this is a sidegrade, damage against armoured targets is only slightly higher, but it does make this a big threat to infantry in the open or walkers. It does bring two downsides, first, you have 50% fewer bombs at 2 dice. This isn’t a huge deal but is a decrease in firepower. Second, the autocannons bring your forward arc attack profile to 16” from 22” with the Bomber’s lascannons. This can matter as there are Skyfire weapons with ranges between 16-22”. Still, this is a great platform and you really can’t go wrong with one or the other.
Load-out: Hellstrikes or Wing Bombs are what I’m taking on these. Hellstrikes will improve your ground attack role, but Wing Bombs are also appealing here, you’re somewhat shorter range than other Marauders so passing over something is more likely, and the wing missiles don’t pair perfectly with Light AT
Modeling: Don’t worry about your under-wing weapons, do what looks coolest to you.
Marauder Colossus Squadron: S+
Gameplay: I’m bumping this one up from the last two because it performs a unique function. The Colossus loses the strong chin weapons with only some heavy bolters in front. However it keeps the classic two wing slots for missiles or bombs. But the reason you take this and why I’m putting it in its own class is the Colossus bomb. This thing has 6 dice on 3+ and AP -4. That gives it the strongest profile in the game, but it also has Bunker Buster, making it AP -8 versus buildings, meaning this will instantly flatten any building. With how important objectives are, and how hard to shift infantry in buildings are, this is a hugely powerful effect.
Load-out: Hellstrike or Skystrike missiles both work here. I like mixed squadrons so you can take a hit on a Marauder Bomber when you need the Colossus to live, and take a hit on the Colossus if the bomb was already dropped.
Modeling: Don’t worry about your under-wing weapons, do what looks coolest to you. This is a resin and plastic kit but due to the small size it’s quite easy to assemble, if you’ve not worked with resin before read the included pamphlet.
Marauder Pathfinder Squadron: A
Gameplay: This has an Auger Array, this allows you to ignore the -1 to hit when firing Barrage or Heavy Barrage weapons outside of line of sight, if this model can see half the target unit. Good news - aircraft not in Hover ignore line of sight so this can always see the target unit. If you want to take a number of Barrage units this can be worth taking, and it can sit in your deployment zone lobbing missiles. It has no bomb bay and weak weapons so you’re only taking this for the artillery buff. Note that the Solar Auxilia Artillery Company Formation can perform much the same function and doesn’t cost 85 points, so if you want this ability for Basilisks I’d start with that formation. This means this is best used in another force that intends to make use of Barrage weapons and should be strongly considered for them.
Load-out: Hellstrike missiles all the way, this wants to sit in the backfield and they’re the best weapon for that.
Modeling: Don’t worry about your under-wing weapons, do what looks coolest to you. This is a resin and plastic kit but due to the small size it’s quite easy to assemble, if you’ve not worked with resin before read the included pamphlet.
Auxilia Bastion
Tarantulas B+
Gameplay: Tarantulas have the Automated Sentry rule which means they break a lot of how Imperialis normally works. This means:
- They don’t count for break-point
- They don’t get issued an order
- You activate them in the movement phase to fire, if they have no target then you can do so again in the Advancing Fire phase
- Based on their gun they have targeting preferences
- They are infantry with Tactical Strength 0 and are completely immobile
That’s a lot to unpack so let’s note that they have an anti-air option and a lascannon option. The anti-air option has a large 25” range and of course, Skyfire. It is a very cheap option for providing some AA. Note that as they don’t activate in the traditional way they cannot take advantage of the improved Skyfire overwatch. However being static any aircraft with more than 25” range can avoid them. This is mostly a problem against Solar Auxilia planes relying on wing weapons. The other issue of course is they can’t move. Tarantulas go up significantly in value in Alpha Legion and Raven Guard forces where they can Infiltrate.
I do want to call out that Tarantulas can garrison buildings making them much more resilient to shooting, however if they get charged their CAF -3 means they’ll likely not last long even with the building bonus. One trick you can do with air-defense Tarantulas is to place them behind a building blocking line of sight to enemy ground units while still being able to hit non-hovering flyers.
Tarantulas go up greatly in value in the Pioneer Company detachment when they can infiltrate.
Load-out: Honestly anything works here. I generally wouldn’t take the max size AA unit as it’s overkill versus a lot of flyers, but sticking 9 lascannons in a building can be pretty effective (and annoying) area denial.
Modeling: No notes. 6 of each loadout per box
Rapier Battery: B
Gameplay: We have three options here, laser destroyers for anti-tank, mole mortars for… being weird, and quad launchers for anti-infantry. For all the rapiers their issue is going to be that they’re squishy and slow. As with Tarantulas these go up a lot in value in a Pioneer Company, though outside of them they can be transported. They’re bulky but with smaller squad sizes it’s not too painfully expensive. Overall these are all fine, solid damage for the points but you have to make sure you’ll be able to use them.
Load-out: I like the quad launcher the most, it’s bad into buildings but having the longest range and Barrage makes it very likely you can shoot at something. And they’re still infantry so Rapiers are great at holding your home objectives. I don’t think losing 7” of range on laser destroyers is worth it when compared to the lascannon Tarantula.
Modeling: No real notes here, they’re a little fiddly to assemble and note their infantry loader comes on the sprue. 1 gun and 1 loader per base, 4 of each gun per box, (12 total)
Auxilia Transport
Dracosan: B
Gameplay: The Dracosan is the only traditional transport in the Auxilia list. And it’s got a lot of good stuff going on. 8” move, 2+ save, 2 wounds, Large Transport (4). This means you’re paying a lot more per transport point than a Rhino, but a lot less than a Land Raider or Spartan. This has the downside of being less easy to throw into a list than Rhinos, but the upside of being a durable, effective transport, if you’re willing to shell out. It does suffer in two regards beyond cost. First, it isn’t an Assault Transport. This would be incredible for your Ogryn and Storm Section but unfortunately is not to be. Any of those riding in here will need to get out, spend a turn somewhere, then charge. Typically they’ll want to unload into a building and then dare anything to come within 10” of it. The other issue with the Dracosan is it has very limited firepower for its cost. It’s 7 points more than a Land Raider with the same underwhelming firepower.
There is an option to fix that, for 5 points you can take a demolisher cannon in place of the lascannons. And this is pretty good but it cuts the transport from 4 to 2. This makes it one of the most expensive transports in the game for a given capacity. But it also turns it into a pretty effective demolisher platform.
At the end of the day you’ll use these, because they are the option you have, and that’s not bad by any means, but you’ll wish you had another option.
Load-out: Well, it comes down to if you want to destroy structures or not. Lascannons being able to transport twice the units for less than half the cost is a compelling proposition. However if you want Demolisher access in your list the Dracosan is a good option even when hurting your transport. At the end of the day I have a bunch of both and think they’re both perfectly viable. The Dracosan finds itself in an awkward midpoint, costing more than a simple transport, but lacking the firepower of a true tank, it’s somewhere in the middle. You will be taking them and they are good, but they do eat a lot of points. Lack of Assault Transport also really hurts them. Dracosans having Large Transport makes them great for Ogryn, and you can put walkers in them.
Modeling: If you buy starter sets you may end up with a lot of these, don’t really have any advice there but be forewarned. You could magnetize the guns, they each have a separate mount so it would involve drilling but wouldn’t be too hard.
Arvus Lighter: B
Gameplay: A common complaint among Auxilia players is that we lack access to a Rhino equivalent. And that’s true, a Rhino-style unit in the list would be fantastic. We do however have the Arvus and it is a 12 point transport. Now, why doesn’t this solve our Rhino needs? First, it’s very vulnerable. To land troops you need to be in hover mode and you’re now relying on your 6+ jink save. However when in hover mode you can take cover behind terrain so take advantage of that. Perhaps more importantly, once Rhinos have dropped off their troops they can buzz around the battlefield being annoying. The Arvus can’t, unless maybe you make some buzzing sounds as you move them around. Rhinos can contest objectives and charge targets to tie them up, they can even take some point defense pot shots. After dropping off its cargo the Arvus is functionally useless, outside of being an activation.
Which is all to say they’re no Rhino, but they’re underused. A minimum sized unit in a Lighter can get pretty much anywhere on the battlefield and only costs 54 points. Yes, it’s vulnerable to overwatch, but if your opponent is overwatching this 56 point unit hopefully you can punish them with something else. The fact that the flyer can march 50” means that anything on the board is open to them.
Load-out: I think minimum sized units in Lighters make sense. 6 points per stand adds up and the more flyers and bodies you have the riskier it is that your opponent will shoot them down. But spending 54 points on an objective grabbing unit is a good investment, they won’t be able to hold it long, if your opponent doesn’t have something nearby to grab it they can swing some points your way.
Modeling: These are easy to assemble, note there are a couple optional parts, do what your heart desires on them.