Solar Auxilia Tactica

[God-Potato of Mankind]

G'day fraters, after an excellent game including some Auxilia allies, I am now on full Auxilia overdrive. 

 

I've come up with this, a frankly brutal list I reckon, along with a secondary list which drops the Valdor as it appears my local meta doesn't favour huge numbers of super heavies or armour. It's very infantry heavy.

 

The adamantium coconut is the Stormlord, brimming with volkite charges. It either charges forward or sets up a firebase.

 

The Vanquishers vanquish enemy armour. 

The quad guns, enginseer and tactical command inhabit the Aegis. 

 

The Malcadors support the Stormlord by either wiping enemy armour or infantry out when they challenge it. 

 

1st List - Stormlord Choomtillery with heavy AV support

 

+++ Solar Auxilia Armour (2500pts) +++

 

+ HQ +

 

Auxilia Tactical Command Section [Needle Pistol]

 

Auxilia Tank Commander

 

Auxilia Tank Commander

 

+ Troops +

 

Auxilia Infantry Tercio [Aegis Defence Line, Veletaris Storm Section, Veletaris Storm Section]

 

Auxilia Infantry Tercio [Veletaris Storm Section]

Veletaris Storm Section

Prime [Melta Bombs]

 

+ Elites +

 

Auxilia Rapier Battery

Rapier Team [Quad Mortar]

Rapier Team [Quad Mortar]

Rapier Team [Quad Mortar]

 

+ Fast Attack +

 

Auxilia Leman Russ Strike Squadron

Auxilia Leman Russ Vanquisher [Pintle-mounted multi-laser or heavy flamer]

Auxilia Leman Russ Vanquisher [Pintle-mounted multi-laser or heavy flamer]

 

+ Heavy Support +

 

Auxilia Malcador Infernus Special Weapons Tank [Armoured Ceramite, Chemical Ammunition]

 

Auxilia Valdor Tank Hunter [Armoured Ceramite]

 

+ Lord of War +

 

Auxilia Stormlord Super-heavy Assault Tank [Armoured Ceramite, 2x Side sponson with one Lascannon and one twin-linked Heavy bolter]

 

 

2nd List - Heavy Choomtillery with fire support

 

+++ Solar Auxilia Armour (2500pts) +++

 

+ HQ +

 

Auxilia Tactical Command Section [Needle Pistol]

 

Auxilia Tank Commander

 

Auxilia Tank Commander

 

+ Troops +

 

Auxilia Infantry Tercio [Aegis Defence Line, Veletaris Storm Section, Veletaris Storm Section]

 

Auxilia Infantry Tercio [Veletaris Storm Section]

Dracosan Armoured Transport [Armoured Ceramite, Demolisher Cannon, Flare Shield]

Veletaris Storm Section

Prime [Melta Bombs]

 

+ Elites +

 

Auxilia Rapier Battery

Rapier Team [Quad Mortar]

Rapier Team [Quad Mortar]

Rapier Team [Quad Mortar]

 

Enginseer Auxillia [4x Phased-plasma Fusil, 4x Servo-automata]

Adept [Augury Scanner]

 

+ Fast Attack +

 

Auxilia Leman Russ Strike Squadron

Auxilia Leman Russ Vanquisher [Pintle-mounted multi-laser or heavy flamer]

Auxilia Leman Russ Vanquisher [Pintle-mounted multi-laser or heavy flamer]

 

+ Heavy Support +

 

Auxilia Malcador Infernus Special Weapons Tank [Armoured Ceramite, Chemical Ammunition]

 

+ Lord of War +

 

The idea is having the phased-plasma enginseer, is he sits within the Aegis and utilises interceptor on inevitable drop pod infantry assaults. The Dracosian adds another armoured element to the list. 

Edited March 28, 2016 by The God-Potato of Mankind

[Daemon2027]

Quick question, is the army list for the SA in Book 4 still the most up to date?

[Charlo]

Quick question, is the army list for the SA in Book 4 still the most up to date?

 

Yep.

 

But a Red Book containing the (most likely updated) Solar Auxillia, Imperial Militia/ Warp Cults and Questoris Knights is said to be coming out Soon^TM

[Daemon2027]

Cool don't need to buy another book for the time being.

[Flint13]

So Potato, a couple of things you might want to consider. 

 

Loading up a Storm Lord sounds really cool in theory. I've tried it pretty much the same way you have outlined here about a half-dozen times and I can tell you it doesn't work quite as well in practice for 2 separate reasons.

 

1.) When you have it loaded up, with a tank commander, upgrades, sponsons, several squads and an Enginseer repair posse,  it is a substantial amount of the points in your army. While you do have a fair few targets in your list, your opponent doesn't have a lot of things to worry about if he can kill the Stormlord. It has 9 hull points, which isn't as difficult as you'd imagine. Chances are at 2500 points, your opponent will have the tools necessary to do so. And when it blows up it will kill every model inside it.

 

2.) The Stormlord and the Storm Veletaris work at cross purposes. The Veletaris only have 15" range, but the Stormlord doesn't want to move b/c it loses half of its offensive capability. One of the two are going to be disappointed. 

[God-Potato of Mankind]

So Potato, a couple of things you might want to consider. 

 

Loading up a Storm Lord sounds really cool in theory. I've tried it pretty much the same way you have outlined here about a half-dozen times and I can tell you it doesn't work quite as well in practice for 2 separate reasons.

 

1.) When you have it loaded up, with a tank commander, upgrades, sponsons, several squads and an Enginseer repair posse,  it is a substantial amount of the points in your army. While you do have a fair few targets in your list, your opponent doesn't have a lot of things to worry about if he can kill the Stormlord. It has 9 hull points, which isn't as difficult as you'd imagine. Chances are at 2500 points, your opponent will have the tools necessary to do so. And when it blows up it will kill every model inside it.

 

2.) The Stormlord and the Storm Veletaris work at cross purposes. The Veletaris only have 15" range, but the Stormlord doesn't want to move b/c it loses half of its offensive capability. One of the two are going to be disappointed. 

 

I have yet to face any serious AV in my FLGS. I'm sure I must be "That Guy" but as of yet there's a real infantry focus. I get it's an inflexible core, but the amount of firepower I can deliver (even with half the shots on the SL) is quite exciting for now.

 

I am considering buying some Ogryns to combine with the Stormlord, or simply relegating the Stormlord and having 4 dracosians filled with veletarii. 

 

Has everyone had a look at our SHINY NEW INDEPENDENT CHARACTER?

 

https://www.forgeworld.co.uk/resources/PDF/Datasheets/Aevos-Jovan.pdf

 

Aevos Jovan

 

50 pts for 4+ FNP, once per turn auto-pass of FNP roll OR guaranteed wound retore in 6" radius and a 4+ poisoned, AP3, instant death melee weapon. Add this to an Axe veletarii & Lord Marshal and you're gonna dish out some painapples.  The BIG downside is ... WS2. So actually hitting is really down to luck.

 

I might put Aevos & a Household Retinue (w/Axes) in the Stormlord with a Lord Marshal to function as ultra-choppy surgical experiments.

Edited April 29, 2016 by The God-Potato of Mankind

[Flint13]

I wouldn't scrap the idea of a Stormlord entirely. They are silly amounts of fun. I'd just resist the urge to fill out their transport capacity ^_^

 

Thanks for that link too. I hadn't seen our new Medicae yet.

[God-Potato of Mankind]

I wouldn't scrap the idea of a Stormlord entirely. They are silly amounts of fun. I'd just resist the urge to fill out their transport capacity

 

Thanks for that link too. I hadn't seen our new Medicae yet.

 

I was thinking of dropping 20 veletarii actually. I mean 4 is very overkill, and the 200 odd points spared into some Macrotek engineers & automata to snaffle a few phased plasma fusils for hilarious anti-MEQ firepower. 

 

As work is unbusy and I'm suddenly down with a cold, TO BATTLESCRIBE!

 

Aiiigh

 

Got this, at 3k points:

 

HQ 

 

Lord Marshal with dank wargear 

2x Tank Commanders

 

Troops

20 Veletarii and 2 Demo-Dracs

 

20 Lasrifles in Aegis with ammo dump

 

Elites

2x Macroteks with Refractor, Gravgun, Cyber Fams + 8 servoskull friends with Phased Plasma 

 

Household axe retinue in a motherflipping Arvus Lighter with FS & TLLC 

 

FA 

 

2x Vanquishers with LC

 

HS

 

Malcador Burninator

 

LoW

Stormlord with the goodies

 

Or I drop the expensive Arvus to replace with 3 Quad Mortars, Tacticool Command section w/GL, Kraken Penetrator Lightning & pintleguns for the Vanquishers?

Edited April 29, 2016 by The God-Potato of Mankind

[Terminus]

Neat, I hope the medicae hit the store soon. Lovely models!

[God-Potato of Mankind]

I also made a probably cheesey armour list:

 

Tactical command with plasma guns in demo-drac

 

2x Veletarii both with demo-dracs

 

2x Adept 8x Servoskulls phased plasma augury scanning lovelies

 

4 Lleman Russes (2x Choom 2x Vanquish

 

Malcador Infernus

 

2.5k nets me 3 Dracosians, 4 Russes and a Malcador. Alll the armour. 

 

I did start with 5 Dracosians loaded with 40 veletarii & the tacticool command but that would have been a bit silly I'm sure.

[Slips]

Not really since this is pretty close to the standard list me and Flint throw eachothers way when we're all like "How many S10 AP2 Pieplates can I conceivably cram into a Solar Aux List?"

 

The answer is surprisingly a lot. 

[Flint13]

^More so even when you don't have my odd compulsion to work at least one Tank Commander Vanquisher into every list.

 

As much as I hate to admit it, I think it's probably more effective to spend 175pts on a AV13 Medusa than a Vanquisher Russ. The medusa has a slightly lower chance to penetrate against a spartan, but it's much easier to hit with and still ignores the flareshield. And once the Spartan is dead, a medusa will serve you a lot better than the vanquisher at cleaning up things that aren't vehicles.

[Audemus]

^More so even when you don't have my odd compulsion to work at least one Tank Commander Vanquisher into every list.

 

As much as I hate to admit it, I think it's probably more effective to spend 175pts on a AV13 Medusa than a Vanquisher Russ. The medusa has a slightly lower chance to penetrate against a spartan, but it's much easier to hit with and still ignores the flareshield. And once the Spartan is dead, a medusa will serve you a lot better than the vanquisher at cleaning up things that aren't vehicles.

 

I've been having luck with my Malcador Annihilator, lascannon sponsons, knocking down standard landraiders (14AV) just through sheer volume of fire, I escort it with two Incinerators flanking it's side armor (forcing that Siege Armor goodness to come into play) who mop up any infantry.  They have also been known to take down a Rhino that thought I wouldn't fire on it. 

 

I've just learned my lesson that the Malcador and it's escorts deploy on the opposite side of my table from the Rotor Cannon madmen and the command squad/Dracosan's.  Not only does it make the opponent face the decision of which to go after but if the Malcador does go super nova it won't wipe out any friendlies like a candle in the wind.

 

I've still yet to field my Atrapos, which is mildly frustrating, but sometimes there just isn't time for a game that big and I'm never actually playing against Horus Heresy era armies as no one at my store has one.  It's all Space Wolves and Tau, though I'm dying to play a game against the Ork player as I think the Rotor Cannons would cut them apart and shock the hell out of the guy who plays them.

[depthcharge12]

Atrapos is fun, but don't expect much out of its black hole gun. The Lascutter is pure gold though.

[Audemus]

Atrapos is fun, but don't expect much out of its black hole gun. The Lascutter is pure gold though.

 

Yeah it was more of a fun model to paint and I wanted something that could approach and still be able to fire off some shots.  My intent is to support it with that artillery/gun platform Knight they previewed a little while back as an Allied Detachment (since 2 Knights meets the requirement) but who knows when they'll actually release the thing.

 

In other news, Medicae are on Forge Worlds site, which means the Arvus insanity strategy can become a reality.  I'll probably order them next week and maybe the second batch of Tarantulas.  Even if it doesn't work, it's going to make my opponent second guess everything he knows about Solar Auxilia...got to keep them on their toes!

Edited April 29, 2016 by Audemus

[Daemon2027]

I'm sort of semi planning which tanks I want to get for my SA, and definitely want one (to start with) of the big Superheavies. Is the Valdor Tank Hunter a decent option. There is a chance I'm going to come up against a fair amount of armour including other Superheavies, most likely a Legion Glaive.

[Charlo]

So obviously one of the coolest things available to the SA is the Choom-an Russ.

 

How do people find it performs?

[Lord Asvaldir]

Valedor seems like a decent option, though it really needs a tank commander. Two shots at bs3 is not terribly reliable, the added reliability from bs4 and tank hunter is most welcome. 

 

Never tried an incinerator but it does seem really cool, plus given it's s7 you can use it for anti infantry or anti light/medium vehicle. 

[God-Potato of Mankind]

If you expect heavy enemy armour, a tank commander valdor is the best possible thing you could buy for your list. 

[Daemon2027]

Thanks guys that's really helpful.

[librisrouge]

I'm sort of semi planning which tanks I want to get for my SA, and definitely want one (to start with) of the big Superheavies. Is the Valdor Tank Hunter a decent option. There is a chance I'm going to come up against a fair amount of armour including other Superheavies, most likely a Legion Glaive.

I've proxied one with a Tank Commander (I also have it but unassembled at the moment) and it will be in every one of my lists from here on out. I love the little guy so much.

[Audemus]

Alright, I've got a question for you guys since I can't for the life of me track down the answer.  I know the Dracosan cannot carry bulky units (aka Charonites) and that's fine with me, however I've been working on this reactive fire-base strategy for a while now and the new Medicae character would dovetail into it beautifully but I can't figure out if the Arvus can actually carry Aevos due to the gurney that follows him around.  The Arvus Lighter seats 12 units and I'd like to have the Household Guard, Lord Marshal, and Aevos inside of it as it deep strikes behind the enemy force, causing them to split fire between a wall of Tarantula based Multilaser/Lascannon fire and a melee unit of terrifyingly destructive force attacking them from the rear.

 

With Aevos in the unit, not only do I get the solid save rolls for the Veletaris, I also have a 4+ Feel No Pain with a freebie instant save every turn (or restore a wound, I'm looking at you Lord Marshal).  On top of that, I gain an X strength melee attack to pair up with the Paragon Blade on my Lord Marshal and Aevos could possibly make the Combat Harness a devastating piece of wargear as he can heal up the potential wound.  The Lord Marshal prowling around with a huge bodyguard and insta-gibbing things with an automatic 6 roll granted by the Combat Harness and Aevos countering it's primary downside just makes me highly amused.  I just don't know if Aevos is allowed in the freaking Arvus Lighter!

 

The Reactive Fire-base strategy, for those who haven't read my thread, is basically my attempt to create an immediate attack force while also utilizing the Lord Marshal when I decide to use him over only a Strategos (my go to setup is Strategos, I just love the Lord Marshal and wanted to make better use of him).  As the Arvus Lighter can enter the game by basically combat deep striking straight to the ground and dumping it's cargo of men, I began pondering how I could *protect* those men long enough for them to actually be of use.  It does no good to disembark and then get cut down like cannon fodder.

 

My solution was to utilize overlapping Deep Striking Tarantula fire, as they can be deployed as individuals but bought as a 3 Tarantula per Squad as far as Force Org goes, to cut down nearby units and engage enemy armor if need be as well.  I'm currently finishing up the three Lascannon units and I plan on modding another three with multilasers, using the Aircraft Multilasers model from FW most likely as the guns for them, to complete the targeting opportunities.  As the Tarantulas run on Programming the lascannons will immediately engage enemy armor while the Multilasers can soften up enemy troops. 

 

The Lord Marshal also carries a grey goo gun to even further add insult to injury if he is unable to reach the enemy unit right away, as this was the best way of causing havoc on a unit that I could think of while the Axe Wielding Maniacs closed in.  The Arvus Lighter can then take off after dropping the men and use its lascannon to engage enemy units as well, harassing them from the sky to support the Lord Marshals advance.

 

 

This force also can be used as a reactive defensive unit as well, crashing out of the sky to plug a potential gap in my lines and cut off an enemy flanking attack with a wall of sentry gun fire reinforced by a terrifying melee combat unit to cut down anyone who tries to close with the guns. 

 

The strategy will most likely end up looking something like the following (albeit I may put in Hyperion Missiles if I can get my hands on some of the old FW models if I think my opponent will be using heavy flyers):

 

Grey Tarantulas - Lascannons

Red Tarantulas - Multilasers

 

http://i.imgur.com/QQy1rqQ.png

 

 

I supposed I could be obnoxious and stick Aevos with my Rotor Cannon Veletaris, who have become my most effective unit on the table in 3 games now tallying more Space Marine kills than any other unit or vehicle (albeit not more points, I'm looking at you Malcador Annihilator Bane of Landraiders).  Aevos, attached to the Rotor cannons, behind the Aegis Defense Line creates an almost invulnerable unit that hurls out 40 shots a turn...god forbid they go to ground too, 2+ Cover Save with a 4+ Feels No Pain and the ability to instantly negate one of the incoming wounds while still hitting on 6's and rerolling 1's thanks to the ammo box.  Yeah, that doesn't sound like it works, but when you're rolling 40 dice and 12 of them, with rerolls, slaps a squad of marines and 4 of them go down while you're basically untouchable...it suddenly changes your perspective on "go to ground."

 

Anyways, if anyone knows if Aevos can get in the Arvus I would really appreciate some confirmation on it, otherwise I'll just stick a normal Medicae with them but I *really* want to attach him to the Lord Marshal death squad so I'm crossing my fingers!

 

Thanks for reading my obnoxiously large post. 

[Terminus]

The Arvus has no restriction about transporting bulky models (the Mechanicum in fact modifies them to lug around Automata), so you can put him and his auto-gurney in there. He would just count as Very Bulky and take up 3 slots. So I don't think you can fit them all, unless you can take the Household Guard 8-strong? Don't have book 4 handy at the moment.

 

The close combat unit idea is interesting, although seeing as the Arvus is a flying rhino with a 4+ jink save, don't count on its hull ​too much if it's the most immediate threat. For what it's worth, I do not allow combat harness in my games.  There's nothing "friendly" about automatic 6s on weapons that kill automatically on 6s.  

Edited May 19, 2016 by Terminus

[Audemus]

The Arvus has no restriction about transporting bulky models (the Mechanicum in fact modifies them to lug around Automata), so you can put him and his auto-gurney in there. He would just count as Very Bulky and take up 3 slots. So I don't think you can fit them all, unless you can take the Household Guard 8-strong? Don't have book 4 handy at the moment.

 

The close combat unit idea is interesting, although seeing as the Arvus is a flying rhino with a 4+ jink save, don't count on its hull ​too much if it's the most immediate threat. For what it's worth, I do not allow combat harness in my games.  There's nothing "friendly" about automatic 6s on weapons that kill automatically on 6s.  

 

Yeah that won't work then as the Household Guard unit, like the Veletaris, has to be 9 troops and the Prime.  It's all good, Aevos can sit with the Rotor Cannons and make them invulnerable to counter fire from the space marines they already slaughter wholesale and one of the standard Medicae can drop with the Lord Marshal.  As to the Arvus, it has deep strike, which means I can deep strike and disembark immediately so I don't intend to rely on it as more than an express elevator to hell with the Floor ( B ) button shining brightly back at me.  True they could try using something like Intercept on it but if I wanted to get saucy I could technically put a Flare Shield on it.  I don't particularly want to do that but if it looked like this was a possibility then better a small point investment than lose everyone but the Lord Marshal.  The Lord Marshals Displacer Matrix is going to get him out of there, come hell or high water.

 

The Tarantulas are fascinating little monsters and the more I spend time thinking about them the more I find that they might be able to laughably cause some rule issues.  As they are explicitly treated as a Unit for Force Org but the rules spell out for deep strike deployment you roll and place them individually where you wish, they may be one of the few units in the game that functions as a Squad but acts like multiple individuals.  This means I can drop them into advantageous locations and angles all around my opponent or into defensive locations near existing deployed Veletaris thanks to the beautiful Nuncio Vox rule (6 inches from a Nuncio Vox, no scatter roll required).

 

One rule issue I've been waiting to see come up is the Strategos and a Tarantula Unit.  Cognis Signum only fails to function on super heavy and/or Independent Characters, otherwise it provides +1 BS to a unit within 6 inches.  As the rules state the Tarantula Unit is only considered an Independent Character when you are rolling for deep strike deployment, if I place one of them right next to the Strategos thanks to the magic of Nuncio Vox it opens the door to a bizarre rule quandary.  The Strategos can then use Cognis Signum on the Tarantula within 6 inches of him and in doing so buffs the BS of the other two lascannon tarantulas near the reactive fire-base deployment as well since they are considered a unit after deep striking. 

 

This would give +1 BS to the Lascannon tarantulas and allow for them, with their twin-linked lascannon, to become much more reliable at knocking down the armor they will begin auto targeting due to their programming.  Also, as they are networked together and Cognis Signum is a sensory wargear used for coordinating battle it doesn't seem unlikely from a fluff standpoint as to why this would not work.  If anything he should be able to apply it to Tarantulas regardless as they are just program controlled remote turrets.  I don't know if there are any precedents that work like wargear in the other forces or if they have a specific Tarantula written rule regarding the nature of their deep strike functionality.

[Terminus]

tarantulas are indeed lovely. Mechanicum can give them all sorts of wacky weapons, and can take over the machine brains to let them target stuff normally. Neat stuff.