Horus Heresy Solar Auxilia Armoured Battery (Basilisk & Medusa)

[TheArtilleryman]

On 2/22/2024 at 1:53 PM, Lord Marshal said:

Someone call for an Earthshaker?

 

 

Amazing model. Will have to get one or two of these as basilisks for my 40K guard, as they’ll be pretty reasonable for £32 from third-party sites. It’s strangely hard to get a regular basilisk these days and this is a huge upgrade.

 

Might have to fudge a heavy bolter at the front though… has anyone seen any photos of the front compartment opened up with the heavy flamer or whatever?

[Doobles57]

37 minutes ago, TheArtilleryman said:

Amazing model. Will have to get one or two of these as basilisks for my 40K guard, as they’ll be pretty reasonable for £32 from third-party sites. It’s strangely hard to get a regular basilisk these days and this is a huge upgrade.

 

Might have to fudge a heavy bolter at the front though… has anyone seen any photos of the front compartment opened up with the heavy flamer or whatever?

I'd be tempted to use the pintle mount for a heavy bolter rather than trying to mount one on the front of the hull.

[Matrindur]

For anyone interested, here is a nice shot of the sculpted interior from Goonhammer:

 

Edited April 27 by Matrindur

[TheArtilleryman]

25 minutes ago, Doobles57 said:

I'd be tempted to use the pintle mount for a heavy bolter rather than trying to mount one on the front of the hull.

 

 

Yeah that’s what I thought. Was referring to this bit from the item description:

 

“The tank's forward hatch can be assembled with closed doors, or opened for a Solar Auxilia spotter or gunner with a pintle-mounted weapon – a heavy flamer, multi-laser, or heavy stubber.”

 

Wondered if anyone had a pic with the front hatch open to see if it looked easy to swap the weapon. Got loads of spare heavy bolters from heavy weapon team sprues. of course could just leave as a heavy flamer but not sure there would be a lot of opportunity to burn people from afar…

 

Edited April 27 by TheArtilleryman

[Hfran Morkai]

I have a feeling the "forward" hatch is the one on top with the modelled gunner.

 

Because it looks like there's another hatch behind it and I can only see driver's viewslit on the front.

[calgar101]

I'm really enjoying the HH range in plastic and these just add to the greatness! Now the question is, how many to get?

[Doobles57]

1 hour ago, TheArtilleryman said:

 

 

Yeah that’s what I thought. Was referring to this bit from the item description:

 

“The tank's forward hatch can be assembled with closed doors, or opened for a Solar Auxilia spotter or gunner with a pintle-mounted weapon – a heavy flamer, multi-laser, or heavy stubber.”

 

Wondered if anyone had a pic with the front hatch open to see if it looked easy to swap the weapon. Got loads of spare heavy bolters from heavy weapon team sprues. of course could just leave as a heavy flamer but not sure there would be a lot of opportunity to burn people from afar…

 

I think thats the hatch on the top - just the one towards the front - rather than the hatch on the front of the hull itself being openable. 

[TheArtilleryman]

5 hours ago, Doobles57 said:

I think thats the hatch on the top - just the one towards the front - rather than the hatch on the front of the hull itself being openable. 

Ah flip of course it is! There’s even a picture of the guy with the heavy stubber

 

Looks like it should be easy enough to mount a heavy bolter then.

[No Foes Remain]

Grab a heavy bolter from the SM crew and should slot in quite nicely.

[Mandragola]

12 hours ago, Matrindur said:

For anyone interested, here is a nice shot of the sculpted interior from Goonhammer:

 

Glad this is useful. If anyone else would like to read my full review of both these kits, it's at https://www.goonhammer.com/review-solar-auxilia-basilisk-medusa-and-hermes-light-sentinel/?preview_id=170433&preview_nonce=5a7445f349&post_format=standard&_thumbnail_id=10233&preview=true.

 

5 hours ago, TheArtilleryman said:

Ah flip of course it is! There’s even a picture of the guy with the heavy stubber

 

Looks like it should be easy enough to mount a heavy bolter then.

Setting up your basilisk to work in 40k shouldn't be difficult. Pintle heavy bolter (it isn't allowed a stubber or storm bolter) and the HK missile that comes in the kit.

 

I'm pretty tempted to start a DKoK army and use this model in it. It's such a massive improvement over the current 40k version. It's such a shame it's so useless in Heresy, as it means not many people are likely to build this kit. Unfortunately that's an issue for a lot of the SA range - glorious models with lacklustre models and a playstyle that won't appeal to everyone.

 

Edit: I’m building my second sentinel now. Worth noting that there’s a risk of the armour clashing if you re-pose it. The standard version won’t have this issue but it’s worth checking with the Vetarii one, especially as they recommend adding the armour at the end. Better to build the whole cab before the legs and to do the leg armour at the same time to check fit.

 

Edited April 27 by Mandragola

[No Foes Remain]

Are the legs similar to the heavy Aethion one? Or are you able to extend them up a bit and make them stand a tad taller?

[Mandragola]

1 hour ago, No Foes Remain said:

Are the legs similar to the heavy Aethion one? Or are you able to extend them up a bit and make them stand a tad taller?

They’re fully articulated like the Aethon. Ball joints at the hip and ankle, two hinges in the leg. There are fixing pins but you can remove them. Keeping the pins would be a good way to avoid armour clashes. Pretty impressive for a kit this size. 

[No Foes Remain]

That is surprising, I'd have thought it would have been a more limited version of the Aethon. Tempted to get one and tinker with it to see if I could get it to stand a little taller, but first to finish the Solar Auxilia I have first.

[Xirix]

How does the size of the actual model compare to a boxnaught, if anyone knows at this point? I wanted to attempt some weird conversions if they're basically the same.

[Marshal Rohr]

The new Russ chassis is significantly bigger than a Boxnuaght in plastic and resin

[Mandragola]

5 hours ago, Xirix said:

How does the size of the actual model compare to a boxnaught, if anyone knows at this point? I wanted to attempt some weird conversions if they're basically the same.

Same size base, oddly.50mm would be easily enough. But they’re a lot skinnier and lighter than boxnaughts. I don’t think the conversion would make very much sense I’m afraid. 
 

I’d be interested to see if you could make “counts as” charonite ogres from them. I’ve got the spinning blades from some Goliath rockgrinders and it would probably be possible to attach those to a Hermes on some kind of arms - or maybe get them from something like penitent engines, maybe.