Solar Auxilia Tactica

[ChaosReigns]

I'm actually a bit surprised that a thread like this hasn't popped up already (unless I'm missing something). Anyway, what all do you guys think of the Solar Auxilia? After humming and hawing over Word Bearers and Mechanicum for the better part of a year, I've personally been sucked in by their awesome models. :p

 

That said, looking over their army list in Conquest, it seems like the army will play very differently depending on whether or not you base your army around Lasrifle Sections or Veletaris. It looks to me like the two obvious builds would involve either a gunline using the superior range of your Lasrifle Sections backed up by all sorts of big guns, or a very aggressive mechanized army with Veletaris and Flamer Sections. I was actually hoping to fit some of all of the different types of infantry into my initial build, but they seem a bit mismatched given how grossly different their basic weapon ranges are.

 

Otherwise, the army looks pretty solid - at least on paper.

 

I'm curious to see what the Bolter and Chainsword community has to say. :)

 

 

[Caustic63]

Despite the gifts of longer range lasguns, Aegis Lines as Dedicated transports, and a few useful rules for overwatch and close combat the Solar Auxilia are clearly a mechanized army. Unlike the legions they have a transport which is high capacity, tough, and has the potential to take a devastating armament - the Dracosan.

 

All Solar Auxilia vehicles basically get Dozer Blades for free (I don't know why they can take them normally too for some reason), and on top of that you have the 'weaker' Leman Russes in Fast Attack.  While some special weapons options above Flamers would be nice (maybe Melta or Plasma Sections?) Volkite Chargers are certainly not bad weapons to be stuck with, especially when your BS is essentially the same as a marine.

 

Top it off with Super-heavy Tanks as Heavy Support and an HQ that allows you to PICK your warlord trait and you could build some very dangerous mechanized armies.

 

No Legion army is going to want to man-horde against potentially dozens of Demolisher Cannons and Super-Heavies.

 

*** EDIT: I feel that Dracosan Transports have the potential to actually break the game in HH. Time will tell though ***

Edited December 28, 2014 by Caustic63

[Hesh Kadesh]

Dracosans are brilliant in that you can take 1-3 per Tercio, rather than 1 per squad in a Tercio as if they weren't broke enough.

 

Lord Marshals taken nude are lovely cheap upgrades granting Shrouded to first turn units. Failing that you can kit them out. Veletarii with Axes taken as elite with Shroud Grenadeswith a GravWave generator kitted Lord Marshal and a Medic can be pretty adequate counter assault units. Defensive Grenades and -D3 to assaults. Put in cover for a -2", in return for 31 WS5 S5 AP2 attacks and has a 4+/-/5+ FNP

 

Leman Russ are weak. Too expensive paying for an overcosted dozerblade (hardened armour does nothing for tanks) and having lost 7th ed scoring rules, they are really not worth it. The 1/game fast is not worth it, while the heavies - eh, if you're having trouble with Terminators, you need more DemoDracosans. The DemoLemanRuss are expensive, but turreted but not worth it IMHO, and with Free Heavy 2 36" lasguns, volkites and demo draconans, you should not have problems with hordes really.

 

In regards to using them - IIRC, they are sworn Brothers with IW, and combined with Perturabo allows you to field a second fortification for an Alpha Strike based List.

[hivey]

dracosans dont have any firing points, nor are they assault vehicles. doesnt that make them a little worse, since the guys inside cant fire their weapons as long as theyre in the transport?

 

EDIT: the squad inside also cant take a medic, unless its a volkite squad inside a lascannon dracosan.

Edited December 28, 2014 by hivey

[ChaosReigns]

Our of curiosity is the standard Malcador any good? Super-heavies can fire their weapons at different targets, right? Can they also fire those weapons at full ballistic skill if they also shoot an ordnance weapon? 

[1ncarnadine]

It's a lot better than it is in 40K, being Fast with a reliable engine. This makes it actually pretty useful. They can also take flare shields to approximate frontal AV14, and then even trade in Fast for a flat AV14 (and then flare shields!).

 

Then consider a tank commander to add in BS4 and say, IWND, and you're still not filling your LoW slot. 

 

And yes, I'm pretty sure firing Ordnance has no effect on their ability to fire other weapons, if you're thinking of taking that double demolisher/battle cannon combo.

[Hesh Kadesh]

Keep them cheap, and make a wall of it maybe just get them Autocannons. They beat down the Leman Russ, completely.

[Caustic63]

dracosans dont have any firing points, nor are they assault vehicles. doesnt that make them a little worse, since the guys inside cant fire their weapons as long as theyre in the transport?

 

EDIT: the squad inside also cant take a medic, unless its a volkite squad inside a lascannon dracosan.

 

Their 40K equivilant the Imperial Guard don't have an assault transport because they aren't intended to be a close combat army. Firepoints are valuable only if you have weapons inside that are worth shooting out with. In the case of guard they have meltaguns and plasmaguns that are avialable in numbers conducive to using firepoints out of the back of Chimeras.

 

What makes the Dracosan different is that it is MUCH tougher, and can take a Demolisher Cannon effectively turning them into transporting better protected Vindicators. What is so broken about Dracosans is that you can pack your Troops slots full of them, freeing up your Heavy Support for tanks that can fill other roles.

 

Thanks to Dracosans, there's really no reason to take Demolisher Leman Russes. IMO you should be taking Executioners or Incinerators instead. The medic thing is superficial, considering how well protected your guys are behind layers of metal while your tanks do all the heavy lifting.

[hivey]

what are the thoughts on taking malcadors? super heavies as heavy support seems awesome.

 

for flyers, which of the 2 in fast attack would be better? primarily as AA, but still used as AT or AI? the lighting with 2 pairs of kraken missiles and a twin-linked missile launcher costs the same as a thunderbolt when its given ground tracking. lighting would then have 4 S8 AP1 armorbane missiles, a twin-linked missile, and a twin-linked lascannon, while thunderbolt would have a twin-linked lascannon, 2 twin-linked autocannons, and 4 S6 AP2 armorbane missiles. both would have straffing run, thunderbolt has 1 more HP and can ignore glances on a 6, lightning gets +1 to jink.

Edited January 4, 2015 by hivey

[Raktra]

Normally I'd hate Malcadors, but when they're not a LoW I've got a lot of respect for them. I'd give it a whirl, if nowt else.

[lionofjudah]

I ran a Malcador in apocalypse and found it do be lackluster as a frontline AFV. It's roi was really never met. The macharius however- Vulcan mega bolter brings mad Dakka to the table in a much tougher can.

Also, I love the aesthetic of the t-bolt but the Lightning always served me really well. A flight of 2 would rule the skies!

Edited January 7, 2015 by lionofjudah

[Hesh Kadesh]

There are two ways to run Malcador;

 

Bog Standard, or as a Malcador Infernus (with Chem, if you're struggling with Terminators). The Valdor is overpriced, as are the upgrades for any other Malcador. Being superheavy, you may want to take advantage of the Hull Demo Cannon, but that increases cost by a fair bit.

 

The Executioner at least doesn't blow itself up now, but 200pts for a single one of those (especially when marines get 9 Plasma blasts for only ~50% more than the cost of a single Leman Russ Executioner) is way too expensive IMHO. Using allies system, for 530pts, you can get 9 BS4 shots, compared to 3 Leman Russ Executioners, with spare points to throw on 6 Heavy Bolters. If using the other Heavy Support options, demolisher cannons are available for much cheaper, while Volkite Weapons suffer from a lack of 5+ Save units.

 

Auxilia artillery - these are pretty damn awesome. Even with allies rules, because of the limited range on the Barrage weapon requiring some direct fire potential, the Russ chassis for AV13 front is decent as resisting incoming shots. They're also cheaper than bringing in respective allies for the legion artillery - the Colossus being able of filling the role of Phosphex rounds on the Medusa.

[disease]

Strangely, it seems we don't have a centralised place to talk about these badasses. So by the power vested to me by the Emperor, I hereby create a tactica!

 

 

To kick things off :

 

Tank commander in fast malcador will ruin a lot of people's day

[Slips]

Spamming Malcador Inferni with Chem Munitions in Heavy Support and drowning peeps in Hellstorm Ap2 poisoned templates is always fun.

 

Other than that, you can up the Choom Factor substantially by taking volkite storm sections in Demolisher Dracosans and Leman Russ Incinerators.

 

Take Rapier Batteries to taste.

[Caillum]

Agreed on all points guys.

 

Leman Russ Vanquishers Outflanking are amazing!

 

The Veletaris Household Retinue with power axes is brutally effective in close combat! 3 WS5 S4 AP2 attacks each on the charge will ruin your opponent's day.

 

Exploration Adaption is a really nice rule for all your vehicles. Dozer blades are unnecessary, and you'll always remember the time your Russ rolled a 6+ against a Fellblade Armourbane shell!

 

Also, a Stormlord next to a Strategos' cognis-signum (shooting 30 Vulkan mega-bolter rounds) will nope a MEQ unit of choice. :)

[depthcharge12]

Flank 'em and spank 'em.

[powwow]

How viable is an army built around Veletaris Storm sections rather than the more defensive Lasrifle sections? Does it depend heavily on Dracosan spam to get them to move around and mitigate the shorter range of the volkites?

 

I've got a couple of lightnings unbuilt as well as a Leman Russ vanquisher. It wouldn't be too much of a stretch for me to expand that to a Solar Auxilia force to game with until I wait for a Prospero book.

[depthcharge12]

I've built a list around the mobility and firepower of mounted veletaris squads, but like with anything in this army, you need to spam your way to victory. Individually, the units may look strong, but in reality, they'll crumple under Astartes durability if you don't create redundancies in your list.

 

Here's my latest Frankenstein:

 

2000 points - XXIII Panzer Grenadier assault battalion

 

HQ

Command Squad

+ 2 grenade launchers

 

 

Troops

[Tercio "Festung"]

-20 man Lasrifle section

-20 man Lasrifle section

 

[Tercio "Wiking"]

-10 man veletaris squad

+ shroud bombs

+ Dracosan w/flare shield/demolisher cannon

-10 man veletaris squad

+ shroud bombs

+ Dracosan w/flare shield/demolisher cannon

 

 

Fast Attack

-Leman Russ Strike Squad [panzergruppen "Jaeger"]

+ Vanquisher w/multi laser sponson

+ Vanquisher w/multi laser sponson

 

-Tarantula battery

+ 3 hyperios missile launchers, concealment

 

 

Heavy Support

-Leman Russ Assault Squad [panzergruppen "Odin"]

+ Incinerator w/multi laser sponson

+ Incinerator w/multi laser sponson

 

-Malcador tank "Konig"

+ Siege armor, flare shield, Demolisher Cannon, auto cannons, battle cannon

 

 

First order of business: there are 3 demolisher cannons, 1 battle cannon, and a S9 orbital bombardment. These are your pie plates of doom, but I doubt that this is far from the usual of SA lists. The two Vanquishers are there to annihilate Spartans and other heavies by nipping around the flanks possibly even first turn with their induction chargers.

 

Second order: Incinerators are there to kill high toughness targets such as Castellax and provide a bullet shield for valuable units like the Dracosan or Vanquishers. The Malcador is meant to be a sponge and get up in the enemy's face to force them to deal with a rolling fortress of pie plates. Dracosans speed up towards objectives providing cannon bombardments, then drop off the Veletaris to deflagrate units off of objectives to grab.

 

Third: command squad isn't predicted to last long, so will need to make use of cover and intervening units. The Strategos unleashes his bombardment ASAP, and then uses his cognis signum to support units. Two haywire grenade launchers at BS5 (bs4 base +1 from CS) plus the interceptor rule from the augury scanner are there to deter drop podded contemptors. The Hyperios platforms kill the pod, and then the haywire launchers kill the contents. The platforms are also superb at killing any air support the enemy might bring, and are concealed due to the upgrade so they won't be shot off the board early.

 

Fourth: last and least, the two Lasrifle sections hang back on home objectives and focus fire on any depleted enemy squads.

 

This list is modeled on a Thunder Run/blitzkrieg style of gameplay - fast, hard hitting units plow up the middle and leave turtled up infantry sections to hold objectives.

[Caillum]

Just listening to the latest Eye of Horus Podcast. In Inferno IV, Spencer ran the Cyclops Remote Demolitions Unit with atomantic imploders. They sound like the most hilarious Distraction Carnifex ever!

 

Strength D, AP 1, Ordnance 1, Blast, Blind, Instant Death. They'd be so much fun to run! :)

[depthcharge12]

Just listening to the latest Eye of Horus Podcast. In Inferno IV, Spencer ran the Cyclops Remote Demolitions Unit with atomantic imploders. They sound like the most hilarious Distraction Carnifex ever!

 

Strength D, AP 1, Ordnance 1, Blast, Blind, Instant Death. They'd be so much fun to run! :)

Run multiple of them with Ireton McSade so that when they die, they come back on a 5+ :devil: Edited October 15, 2015 by depthcharge12

[God-Potato of Mankind]

Hi gang, 

Have you guys played with Malcador heavy lists? They seem a lot better than 40k and make a heavy mechanised list very plausible. 

 

I think I like the idea of Malcador Infernus's though. I will certainly be using a household retinue squad with power axes with a pimped Lord Marshal though. I always plan to get them in a Dracosian so they can counter charge enemy TEQs, while the rest of my list pewpews the 3+ saves. 

 

I've also been reading that 4chan strategy page and came up with this, the Dakkabox list

 

+++ Solar Auxilia Wishlist (2000pts) +++

 

++ Solar Auxilia (Age of Darkness) (2000pts) ++

 

+ HQ (295pts) +

 

Auxilia Tank Commander (55pts)

 

Auxilia Tank Commander (55pts)

 

Legate Commander (185pts) [Archaeotech pistol, Artificer Armour, Cyber-familiar, Digital Lasers, Displacer Matrix, Grav-wave generator, Lord Marshal, Paragon Blade]

 

+ Troops (465pts) +

 

Auxilia Infantry Tercio (235pts) [Veletaris Storm Section]

····Veletaris Storm Section

········Prime [Melta Bombs]

 

Auxilia Infantry Tercio (230pts) [Veletaris Storm Section, Veletaris Storm Section]

 

+ Elites (320pts) +

 

Household Retinue Squad (320pts) [Dracosan Armoured Transport, Power Axes, Shroud Bombs]

 

+ Fast Attack (430pts) +

 

Auxilia Leman Russ Strike Squadron (430pts)

····Auxilia Leman Russ Vanquisher [Armoured Ceramite, Lascannon, Pintle-mounted multi-laser or heavy flamer]

····Auxilia Leman Russ Vanquisher [Armoured Ceramite, Lascannon, Pintle-mounted multi-laser or heavy flamer]

 

+ Lord of War (490pts) +

 

Auxilia Stormlord Super-heavy Assault Tank (490pts)

 

Plan: Drive Stormlord at enemies. Vaporise them. Run Dracosian to beatdown any 2+ saves. Vanquishers outflank to make an already hopefully panicking enemy to put delicious BS4 Vanquisher shots into the butts of the enemy. 

 

Sort of like an eggs in one basket approach to loading a Spartan with Legion Terminators?

Edited October 15, 2015 by The God-Potato of Mankind

[Terminus]

Malcador heavy lists, you say?

 

Lord Marshal (Grav-wave generator, cyber familiar, iron halo, power fist) - 125

 

Infantry Tercio

2x Lasrifle Sections with blast chargers - 250

Aegis defense line with quad gun (marshal goes here) - 90

 

Infantry Tercio

2x Veletaris Storm Sections with shroud bombs - 280

2x Dracosans with flare shields, demolisher cannons - 380

 

Malcador with flare shield and demolisher cannon - 285

Malcador with flare shield and demolisher cannon - 285

Malcador Infernus, chemical ammunition - 290

 

I believe that's 1985, so room for a few melta-bombs or a paragon blade. 4 demolisher cannons, 2 earthshakers, and the apocalyptic infernus template for dealing with anything hiding in cover.

 

For 3000 points, add appropriate LoW (I would like another big tank, but the better option would be knights), and as many rapiers as you can get your hands on.

[God-Potato of Mankind]

Malcador heavy lists, you say?

 

Lord Marshal (Grav-wave generator, cyber familiar, iron halo, power fist) - 125

 

Infantry Tercio

2x Lasrifle Sections with blast chargers - 250

Aegis defense line with quad gun (marshal goes here) - 90

 

Infantry Tercio

2x Veletaris Storm Sections with shroud bombs - 280

2x Dracosans with flare shields, demolisher cannons - 380

 

Malcador with flare shield and demolisher cannon - 285

Malcador with flare shield and demolisher cannon - 285

Malcador Infernus, chemical ammunition - 290

 

I believe that's 1985, so room for a few melta-bombs or a paragon blade. 4 demolisher cannons, 2 earthshakers, and the apocalyptic infernus template for dealing with anything hiding in cover.

 

For 3000 points, add appropriate LoW (I would like another big tank, but the better option would be knights), and as many rapiers as you can get your hands on.

 

I am planning on buying the rest of my 2k list on Sunday,  yet I keep finding new things to love :) Gah curse you. 

 

On the one hand, 40 Veletaris and a Stormlord is glorious, but Malcadors look great on a table due to their rarity. I doubt the local shop will have seen a Malcador based list before. 

Plus TWO demolisher Draccies :0 The templates, oh lordy the templates. 

[Khornestar]

With the release of the axe-wielding Veletaris Storm Section, my interest in Auxilia is really skyrocketing. Is the unit any good?

[Charlo]

Lots of dudes with WS4,S4 and ap2? What's not to love? If you put them in an assault transport I think the numbers will overwhelm terminators, especially other unwieldy ones.