Horus Heresy Solar Auxilia Hermes Light Sentinel

[MoriyaSchism]

I don't like this model. There are some aspects I like about it and I see conversion potential in it, but as a Sentinel it's pretty disappointing. The legs look like they are all one piece and they appear to lack any posability in regards to the knee joint and pneumatics. Making these look unique will be quite annoying compared to the original Sentinel kit. I feel like the whole recon and infantry support ultra-light walker role was handled better by this Metal Gear inspired conversion I saw the other day.

 

[Marshal Mittens]

I like it. I want a bunch. I like it a lot more than the heavy one. 

[dicebod]

3 hours ago, Nova-V said:

Anyone seen what base size these are on?  It's the sort of thing GW sometimes put up on their social media in response to questions but I'm not on those.

60mm, per a comment from GW on Facebook.

[SkimaskMohawk]

Sorry to anyone who thought these could add some actual quality weapons, must have missed the memo that all human-based factions need to be the punching bags for the rest and give marine players the power fantasy of rolling though an army that can barely do anything back. Gw still thanks you for that $1000 though.

[Tokugawa]

A new Lord Solar conversion arriving. 

[Taliesin]

10 hours ago, TrawlingCleaner said:

In the 31st millennium there is no back support, only war

 

 

 

Gotta admit that made me laugh hard 

[TheMawr]

39 minutes ago, Tokugawa said:

A new Lord Solar conversion arriving. 

 

Solar Auccountancy department

 

"Id like a deskjob please"

[Orion]

I like the light version. Particularly with the grenade launcher.

[Razorblade]

With those guns this thing is basically dead on arrival. Add in the fact that the rules for existing units are unlikely to change given that the sentinels get their rules in a campaign-book and the entire faction will be damn near unplayable on release 

[OttoVonAwesome]

12 minutes ago, Razorblade said:

With those guns this thing is basically dead on arrival. Add in the fact that the rules for existing units are unlikely to change given that the sentinels get their rules in a campaign-book and the entire faction will be damn near unplayable on release 

The faction is quite playable already and didn't know you'd seen the grenade luancher stats. So a single vokite caliver or multilaser isn't great against marines well good thing there's this new army coming out in plastic there seems to be alot of interest in. I remember saying that about militia and I was dead wrong.

[Astartes Consul]

Well, there is no guarantee that the SA list won't be FAQ'd or updated. It would be the logical time to do so, at least. And part of the issue with the list at the moment is the eye-watering price of buying enough bodies to make it work. Which the plastic goes some way to fix.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Matcap86]

I can't help but roll my eyes all the way to the back of my sockets at the usual:

"Welp I've seen none of the rules, but clearly this faction is now fully UNPLAYABLE, it's a slap in the face by GW who clearly has it out for me personally!"

 

Ye gods, we don't know the rules, HH is already more narrative focussed and less meta-chasey than 40k, and it's a lovely little model.

 

Relax and enjoy the hobby.

Edited February 2 by Matcap86
Typed GW meant 40k

[Noserenda]

I wouldn't expect much from the grenade launcher after they randomly nerfed them but volkite always has an audience lol

[Razorblade]

3 hours ago, Matcap86 said:

I can't help but roll my eyes all the way to the back of my sockets at the usual:

"Welp I've seen none of the rules, but clearly this faction is now fully UNPLAYABLE, it's a slap in the face by GW who clearly has it out for me personally!"

 

Ye gods, we don't know the rules, HH is already more narrative focussed and less meta-chasey than GW, and it's a lovely little model.

 

Relax and enjoy the hobby.

Oh I have zero skin in this game, I'm quite happy with playing this game on a pure legion-v-legion basis, but I think it's important to point out the utter obliviousness towards their own product that paid professionals are displaying.

4 hours ago, OttoVonAwesome said:

The faction is quite playable already and didn't know you'd seen the grenade luancher stats. So a single vokite caliver or multilaser isn't great against marines well good thing there's this new army coming out in plastic there seems to be alot of interest in. I remember saying that about militia and I was dead wrong.

On open boards, against tanks and tacticals, only playing bloodfeud? 

Even if you get to shoot that gun at something other than a Space Marine that doesn't change the fact that this thing is woefully undergunned for its size. One of its guns can be operated by a single auxilia-person on the move.

And even if auxilia enjoys a massive rise in players a gun that only has value against them would be a bad deal.

3 hours ago, Astartes Consul said:

Well, there is no guarantee that the SA list won't be FAQ'd or updated. It would be the logical time to do so, at least. And part of the issue with the list at the moment is the eye-watering price of buying enough bodies to make it work. Which the plastic goes some way to fix.

It would be quite weird to overhaul the list completely after explicitly referencing it in the preview, wouldn't it? 

And Bodycount is not the factions issue. The problem is that this faction has no way to deal with Space Marines in Melee and lacks both the speed and firepower to avoid having to do so

[SkimaskMohawk]

3 hours ago, Matcap86 said:

 

HH is already more narrative focussed and less meta-chasey than GW, and it's a lovely little model.

 

Relax and enjoy the hobby.

 

I mean, it really isn't. It's a tired old claim when people talk about rules imbalances or interpretation, but it never really held weight. We saw this proven in 2nd, where some of us pointed out the early threat of dreads and lascannon supports, and lists became filled with them. Last year's narrative event at LVO had the majority with triple dreadnought in them, had telepathy librarians, had people posting win rates; a lot of the lists were broadly indistinguishable from the "tournament" lists. 

 

You can collect things you like the look of and things you think will be fun to paint, no question. But a lot of us  balance those desires against the question "how useful is it in game", because these models ain't cheap and we like them to be enjoyable game pieces after the building and painting, and the solar aux army isn't particularly enjoyable to play. All those weapons that got changed to bounce off of power armour? Well they still cut through void armour like nothing, so your opponent gets the privilege of saves while you don't. So does the Hermes help with their armour piercing issues? No; its weapons are the multi laser ("deadly anti infantry punch" is 3 STR 6 ap6 shots) , the heavy flamer (one of the worst weapons in the game thanks to heavy, multiple wounds, and reactions), the volkite caliver (3 STR 6 ap 5...isn't this a strictly better multilayer?), and the unique Hermes grenade launcher that loses range for the side/rear armour pen potential and hopefully more than one shot (kraks are currently STR 5, so it's anyone's guess what "threaten" means on side or rear. Money's on str 7, but wouldn't be surprised to be STR 6 like the rest). For reference, solar aux don't need more STR 6; every duder can shoot STR 6 ap 4 at 18".

 

Almost every GW plastic model is a hit aesthetically; they rarely miss these days. The biggest disappointments with a new model is usually price point and a failure to add anything new/interesting to the army. These definitely dont add anything the faction sorely needs, and it's fair for people to express their frustration with that.

 

@OttoVonAwesome they're playable in the sense that there's rules to field them. But that's like saying a double grav leviathan is playable, or a medusa/arquitor is playable. Sure, you can play them. But they suck to use and extra suck for the points/money being asked to field them. Solar aux are a long way from being equally as playable as marines.

 

Edit: I'll await for someone to explain how the solar aux faction has the tools to interact with the other factions on the same level that they can interact with solar aux. 

Edited February 2 by SkimaskMohawk

[Evil Eye]

26 minutes ago, Razorblade said:

On open boards, against tanks and tacticals, only playing bloodfeud? 

Try playing literally any other game type then?

 

Anyway. These are cool. I feel they'll make excellent conversion fodder too.

[SkimaskMohawk]

9 minutes ago, Evil Eye said:

Try playing literally any other game type then?

 

Anyway. These are cool. I feel they'll make excellent conversion fodder too.

 

It was sarcasm. He was saying that solar aux are only equally playable in that game type, otherwise they're not.

[Lord Marshal]

I think they're potentially interesting insofar as SA currently lack a Dreadnought/Mechanised Sub-Type unit, which is kind of all the rage this edition due to not having a Vehicle statline and soaking up fire like a sponge.

 

The armament on these doesn't look punchy, it's true, however Carnodons currently occupy what will presumably be a very similar space as being cheap-ish, relatively reliable anti-infantry platform (at least with Volkite) that won't instantly evaporate to a Return Fire the way Veletarii do (current lack of any stats not withstanding). I think even if point-for-point the Carnodon ends up better, these won't be costing £85 each which will see them on a lot of tabletops. Presumably a plastic Carnodon is a long ways away due to being, like the Sabre, a relatively new block of resin.

 

I am disappointed at the apparent lack of any punchy weapons, but I suppose they want you to be bringing the Aethon for the heavier hitters. 

 

Again, the devil will be in the statline, but the internal balance of the SA list currently is so atrocious that I could see them finding their place if they're not woefully overpriced... although Veletarii will inevitably suffer for it, but that's just a given this edition. I think my primary concern is they'll suffer from a similar fate as Militia Heavy Weapon Teams wherein they've been priced post-launch when FW realised they made things like Heavy Support Squads and Dreadnoughts too cheap, but just make any 'new' things more fairly priced and drop them into a game where the good stuff wasn't retroactively changed to accomodate.

 

Edited February 2 by Lord Marshal

[Bryan Blaire]

It looks like (obviously not having the models in front of me) that if you really wanted longer legs, the plastic ones from the AdMech Ironstriders would work and possibly require less conversion - maybe even just cutting off the lower parts and replacing the pipes + feet.

 

Or for true Heresy - 3D print some longer legs and pop those bad boys on.

[Tymell]

It's adorable and I want it.

[Matcap86]

2 hours ago, SkimaskMohawk said:

 

I mean, it really isn't. It's a tired old claim when people talk about rules imbalances or interpretation, but it never really held weight. We saw this proven in 2nd, where some of us pointed out the early threat of dreads and lascannon supports, and lists became filled with them. Last year's narrative event at LVO had the majority with triple dreadnought in them, had telepathy librarians, had people posting win rates; a lot of the lists were broadly indistinguishable from the "tournament" lists. 

 

 

I mean LVO lists or pretty much any other tournament/event style of play has absolutely 0 bearing on my own games or those of my game groups; it's actually kind of frowned upon.

 

As I said; lots, maybe the majority (in my experience), play the game narratively/thematically and not math-hammer/tournament style.

 

If you want to be preemptively disappointed in the release. Go right ahead.

 

But declaring it unplayable while plenty of people are eager to get the kit and use it in their armies seems a bit premature to say the least.

Edited February 2 by Matcap86

[Robbienw]

Somebody in the 41st millennium must still use these.

[ThePenitentOne]

19 hours ago, TheMawr said:

 

Solar Auccountancy department

 

"Id like a deskjob please"

 Love this.

 

Yes, my Hereticus warband could use this. Of course, there aren't 40k rules for it, so that's a problem. As is the endless list of things I want that DO have 40k rules. But yeah, it'd look good, that's for sure.

[Noserenda]

Yeah in my loooong experience of campaign weekends and narrative events there is always a significant number of players who would genuinely describe themselves are purely narrative and completely disinterested in power level, and then roll out a list of absolute meta-filth and proceed to steam roll. Usually perfectly pleasantly and they usually arent awful games, but the dissonance is hilarious sometimes :D 

And thats leaving out the unapologetic power gamers in every such group!

So yeah, i totally agree that "its a narrative gaaaaaaame" is nonsense, ultimately its still a game if folks are playing it (Which not everyone is, also important to remember sometimes) and for the vast majority of people they like to feel the game is a fun one to engage in. Now all three+ of the Liber Imperium lists feel a bit phoned in in places with some awful internal balance specifically. In the SA's case i think they are suffering mostly from all their tanks and artillery getting a brutal nerfing and arguably a shift in the army lists focus back towards infantry on top of that and a sawn of sentinel with small arms class weapon on it rally does not address that, no matter how rad the mini.

Liking the mini, disliking the rules driving it (Or visa versa) are both valid positions for people to hold! 

Some 40k rules would also be great but sadly not going to happen outside of house rules :( 

[Razorblade]

28 minutes ago, Matcap86 said:

 

I mean LVO lists or pretty much any other tournament/event style of play has absolutely 0 bearing on my own games or those of my game groups; it's actually kind of frowned upon.

 

As I said; lots, maybe the majority (in my experience), play the game narratively/thematically and not math-hammer/tournament style.

 

If you want to be preemptively disappointed in the release. Go right ahead.

 

But declaring it unplayable while plenty of people are eager to get the kit and use it in their armies seems a bit premature to say the least.

But this is not about Mathhammer/waac. This is about any painfully average Legion list obliterating even fairly optimized Auxilia lists.

Balance between the Factione at this point is only achievable if each player limits themselves to a miniscule portion of their available units which is the opposite of what thematic/fun gaming should be. 

 

I get that people are excited for the model, they're adorable little duck-walkers. I'd just be nice if they'd actually be useful on the table