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Welcome to the Legiones Astartes If you are reading this circa 2024 then there's a decent chance you bought the core boxset and have the following models: - 2x Legion Command Squads - 8x Tactical Legionaries Squads - 2x Legion Terminators Squads - 2x Assault Marines Squads - 2x Support Legionaries with Plasma Guns Squads - 2x Support Legionaries with Missile Launchers Squads - 4x Contemptor Dreadnoughts - 2x Sicaran Tanks - 3x Predator Tanks But what can you do with all these miniatures? Models are organized into detachments or used to upgrade detachments. The models, when organized into detachments give you the following: - 2x Legion Command Squads - 2x Legion Tactical Detachments - 1x Legion Terminator Upgrade - 1x Assault Marine Upgrade - 1x Plasma Support Upgrade - 1x Heavy Support with Missile Launchers Upgrade - 1x Legion Dreadnought Talon - 1x Legion Predator Squadron - 1x Legion Sicarus Squadron Note how some of those are Upgrades. The way the sprue is cut, those options don't have enough models to make their own Detachment. For example, a Legion Tactical Detachment consists of 4 Tactical Marine models and a Legion Plasma Support Detachment consists of 4 Plasma Marine models. A Legion Tactical Detachment can be upgraded to include 2 Legion Plasma Marine models. Detachments are organized into formations, you cannot just make a list out of the units you like. The core box models are (according to Designer Commentary) meant to be used as an introductory, mixed formation - Legion Astranii Class Augmented Spearhead - to expose players to different unit types, rules, and interactions. The formation is not meant for matched play without your opponents permission. There are enough detachments to build all the compulsory detachments for two Legion Astranii Class Augmented Spearhead. The optional detachments and upgrades can be distributed to balance out points. Here are examples: Army 1 Army 2 Each army list has the same basic layout. You get to play with all the infantry options, you get one set of smaller tanks and one set of larger tanks, and you get one of the walkers.You could play around with the upgrades, put all the Auxilia upgrades into one list and then put both sets of walkers in the other list; you’ve got options. Add a Warhound to both lists to experiment with titans. They may skew the gameplay experience, being about 40% of the points per side at this point. But what if you want to do matched play, or off-loaded the Solar Auxilia, or vice-versa, on-loaded the Astartes? The good news is that the core box does give such a matched play legal combination; the ubiquitous Legion Demi-Company. The Legion Demi-Company requires 1 Headquarters, 2 Core, and 1 Support detachments. This leaves the following leftovers: - 1x Legion Terminator Upgrade - 1x Assault Marine Upgrade - 1x Plasma Support Upgrade - 1x Heavy Support with Missile Launchers Upgrade - 1x Legion Predator Squadron - 1x Legion Sicarus Squadron The upgrades can be attached to the Legion Tactical Detachments. Each Legion Tactical Detachment can include one of each upgrade. You don’t have multiples of either (or they could be their own Detachment) so you can put your upgrades wherever you’d like. You might want to put the missile launchers with one detachment to sit on a backfield objective and use their longer range to affect the battle and make your other detachment a big hammer. At this point feel free to experiment! What about the tanks? Well, that’s the bad news. Legion Demi-companies can only take one battle tank detachment; you’re either leaving the Sicarans or the Predators out. The other option would be adding a Legion Armoured Company to your list. The Legion Armoured Company would put your tanks in their own, separate formation. Unfortunately, there’s more bad news. The compulsory detachments for it are two battle tank detachments and a heavy armour detachment. You’ll have to pick up a Kratos Heavy Tank Squadron box to do it. That’s not a bad addition to your Astartes, but it is an addition. Assuming you do, your list would look something like this: Congratulations, you now have enough points to finish out a 1,000 point list with 30% from another faction! Fill those remaining 298 points with Solar Auxilia from the core box. Here’s one way to do it with a Solar Auxilia Sub-Cohort: That gets you to 999 points. Or, if you and your opponent are okay with bending the rules, kick it up to 1,032 points with one of the Warhound Titans from the core box.

Welcome to the Solar Auxilia! If you are reading this circa 2024 then there's a decent chance you bought the boxset and have the following models: - 2x Solar Auxilia Legate Commander Squads (can also be built as Auxilia Tactical Command Squads) - 8x Auxilia Lasrifle Squads - 4x Auxiliaries with Flamers Squads - 4x Veletarii Squads - 4x Charonite Ogryns Squads - 4x Aethon Heavy Sentinels - 4x Leman Russ Tanks - 2x Malcador Tanks Models are organized into detachments or used to upgrade detachments. The models, when organized into detachments give you the following: - 2x Solar Auxilia Legate Commander Squads (can also be built as Auxilia Tactical Command Squads) - 2x Auxilia Lasrifle Tercios - 2x Auxiliaries with Flamers Squad Upgrades - 1x Auxilia Veletarii Storm Section - 1x Auxilia Ogryn Charonite Section - 2x Auxilia Aethon Heavy Sentinel Patrol - 1x Leman Russ Strike Squadron - 1x Malcador Tank Squadron Note how the Flamers are Upgrades. Upgrades are added to existing detachments. For example, an Auxilia Lasrifle Terciol Detachment can be upgraded to include 2 or 4 Auxiliaries with Flamer Squad models (every two models taking up one upgrade slot of the Tercio’s six upgrade slots). You can choose to use certain models as upgrades rather than use them as a single detachment or two detachments. You could split the Veletarii (or the Ogryns) into two upgrades of 2 models each. You could make a single Aethon detachment with an Aethon upgrade, for a total of four models in the detachment. Detachments are organized into formations, you cannot just make a list out of the units you like. The core box models are (according to Designer Commentary) meant to be used as an introductory, mixed formation - Legion Astranii Class Augmented Spearhead - to expose players to different unit types, rules, and interactions. The formation is not meant for matched play without your opponents permission. There are enough detachments to build all the compulsory detachments for two Legion Astranii Class Augmented Spearhead. The optional detachments and upgrades can be distributed to balance out points. Here are examples: Each army list has the same basic layout. You get to play with all the infantry options, you get one set of smaller tanks and one set of larger tanks, and you get one of the walkers. You could play around with the upgrades, put all the Auxilia upgrades into one list and then put both sets of walkers in the other list; you’ve got options. Add a Warhound to both lists to experiment with titans. They may skew the gameplay experience, being about 40% of the points per side at this point. But what if you want to do matched play, or off-loaded the Astartes, or vice-versa, on-loaded the Solar Auxilia? The good news is that the core box does give such a matched play legal combination; the ubiquitous Solar Auxilia Sub-Cohort. The Solar Auxilia Sub-Cohort requires 1 Headquarters, 2 Core, and 1 Support detachments. Requirement Fulfilled By... Headquarter Legate Commander Detachment or Auxilia Tactical Command Core Auxilia Lasrifle Tercio Core Auxilia Lasrifle Tercio Support Auxilia Ogryn Charonite Section or Auxilia Veletarii Storm Section This leaves the following leftovers: - 2x Auxiliaries with Flamers Squad Upgrades - 1x Auxilia Veletarii Storm Section or 1x Auxilia Ogryn Charonite Section - 2x Auxilia Aethon Heavy Sentinel Patrol - 1x Leman Russ Strike Squadron - 1x Malcador Tank Squadron The Solar Auxilia Sub-Cohort has a lot of optional detachment slots. You can fill one of the support slots with the Veletarii or the Ogryns (whichever isn’t in the compulsory support slot). The Auxilia Aethon Heavy Sentinel Patrol can go in the single vanguard slot; taking the additional 2 Aethon Heavy Sentinel models as an upgrade. You have two battletank slots; in go the Leman Russ Strike Squadron and the Malcador Tank Squadron. The Flamer Squad upgrades can be distributed however you’d like, feel free to experiment! At this point, you’re using all the Solar Auxilia models in the core box set in legal matchplay formation. The points total up to 590. That’s a bit of an awkward turtle because you want 700 points of Solar Auxilia to make a 1,000 point list with 300 points of allies. You do have some options. You can aim for a game around 750 points and ally in a bare bones Legion Demi-company (Legion Command, 2x Tactical Detachments, Dreadnought Talon); this will put you at 755 points (743 if you drop one Flamer upgrade). You can bend the rules by loading up your Astartes with all the upgrades and one battle tank detachment to get to about 917-927 points, depending on the tank choice. Another way you can bend the rules is by taking a Warhound titan for a total of 920 points. The second Warhound puts you at 1250 points, but at that point you’re playing a Titan Legion with Auxilia allies. Let’s take a look at what you can do when you’re ready to expand your collection. You can add a second Solar Auxilia Sub-Cohort by picking up a Solar Auxilia Infantry box. This gets you to 840 points and then you can get to 1,000 points with bare bones allied Astartes and having a Legate Commander in one Sub-Cohort and an Auxilia Tactical Command in the other (puts you at 999 points). Or, you could pick up a Baneblade box. This lets you use all your tanks in a Solar Auxilia Armoured Company. It also puts you at 780 points of Solar Auxilia; you can get to 1,000 with the Legion Demi-company with all the infantry upgrades and dropping your Cohort Legate to an Auxilia Tactical Detachment (actually will end up at 996 points). If you don’t have the Astartes from the core box set, but swapped them for someone else’s Solar Auxilia half, and you picked up a Baneblade box then you’ll have 1364 points. A Warhound boosts that up to the awkward 1694 range. Basically, at this point you have a lot of ways you can go. You can pick up more infantry, more tanks, air assets, titans and/or knights. Experiment, have fun with it!

+ + + Incoming Vox Transmission + + + ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- + + + Greetings Brothers -- I am a newly inducted Neophyte of the Black Templars, following the liberation of my home system by the Tiberior Crusade. I send you this transmission in hopes to advance my training and learn from senior Initiates of the order. The vile alien and heretic are craven in the face of the Emperor, my Brothers, and they avoid honourable confrontation at all costs -- To be expected, as the foes of the Emperor are deceitful and treacherous. Would it be wise to arm ourselves with long-range firepower to crush our enemies from afar, in reproach to these disgraceful tactics? Our armoury boasts a wide selection of destructive armaments, and our unique battle doctrine allows us to equip our Crusaders with the devastating Lascannon and Plasma Gun in a single combat squad. As Templars, we seek nothing more than to purge the unclean with our righteous zeal, however it is necessary that we bring ruin to the enemy's transports and warmachines, that we might take our glorious battle to them. So what say you, Brothers? Have your Crusades found utility in this strategy? I beseech you to impart your wisdom, and await your response transmission. For Dorn, For Sigismund, and For The Emperor! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- + + + + + + End Transmission + + + (Translation, I'm a new BT player and I'm about to make my first purchases to start my army in a few hours. I've already got the Chapter Upgrade, but I don't know whether I should buy Assault Marines or Tacticals & Devastators. I mostly play against mobile, shooty armies like Eldar and Guard in my local meta, who would happily set up on the other side of the table and shoot me to bits before I can get close -- and I would actually like to win some games, so my question is: Do I go with the standard Chainsword + Powerweapons set up, or will I find more success running a shooty build of my own? I'm thinking MSU, Lascannon + Plasma Gun in every squad, mounted in Lascannon Razorbacks. Would you experienced players say this is a more competitive loadout? I'd also appreciate advice on an effective low-points-value army list for me to strive towards so I can start playing ASAP -- say, 1,000 points. Thanks for your help and advice!)