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2000 points list - Solar Auxilia

HQ - 510

Auxilia Tactical Command Section - 315

- 4 extra auxiliary veterans

- 2 Plasma Guns

- Dedicated Transport Dracosan with Armoured Ceramite and Demolisher Cannon

Lord Marshal (goes with Command Section) - 200

- artificer armour

- MC plasma pistol

- displacer matrix

- paragon blade

- grav-wave generator

Troops - 1220

Auxilia Infantry Tercio - 610

2 x Veletaris Storm Section with volkite chargers, prime has melta bombs

- 2 Dedicated Transport Dracosans with Armoured Ceramite and Demolisher Cannons

Auxilia Infantry Tercio - 610

2 x Veletaris Storm Section with volkite chargers, prime has melta bombs

- 2 Dedicated Transport Dracosans with Armoured Ceramite and Demolisher Cannons


Elites - 270

Auxilia Rapier Battery - 120

- 2 Quad Mortars

Auxilia Rapier Battery - 150

- 3 Laser Destroyer Arrays


So I have a vassal game coming up against a friend of mine and I wanted to try out my first real game using Horus Heresy rules. We're going to be using the Eternal War mission rules for the sake of simplicity. My opponent will likely be using either Alpha Legion or Sons of Horus for his list.

How does the list look? I may have been a little carried away with going all-in on the demolisher cannons for the transports. Would it be better if I go cut them and use the points for a 20 man lasrifle troop squad to hold the backline? Also, am I putting too many points for my Lord Marshal?

Also, I've heard that the Macaldor Infernus is crazy good. Would it be worth investing in my mech list?

Any feedback would be appreciated.

Hey there,

Glad to see another SA player. I'll make some comments on the list - I'm 30+ games in with a (mostly) mechanized SA list, with most of my games being 2,000 points and above. I'll go into your questions one at a time:

Your Lord Marshal - Please, don't waste points on kitting him out to be a monster in combat. Stack him up against the equivalent Marine character (Praetor and Paragon Blade). Your LM goes after the Praetor, hits on a 4+ while the Praetor hits on a 3+, and you're wounding on a 4+ when they are wounding on a 2+. Additionally, you're really tying yourself to taking the Eternal Warrior warlord trait. The Blind Barrage trait is wonderful for a mechanized list, and the ones in the rulebook can be very useful. The flexibility to pick the trait is the reason you pay the points for the LM. I know some SA players will disagree with me on these points, but they're wrong. If marines make it into assault with your unit, your unit is dead. Your LM might kill a Tactical Sergeant and a couple other marines, but the marines are going to hit the unit the LM is with, and then sweep you due to combat resolution. I take my LM barebones with a grav-wave generator and stick him with a backfield unit. I also believe the points spent on the Command Section are better placed elsewhere.

The list overall looks like the early iterations of my initial list. I can tell you, yes, you've gone heavy on demolisher cannons. They're tempting - I get it. But, if you play on tables with even moderate terrain, canny players are going to be able to minimize their impact. The scatter dice gods can be fickle as well. You'll kill any marines unlucky enough to be in the open with ease, but the demolisher is pretty bad against just about everything else. It's depressing against vehicles with cover, and AP2 doesn't make it appealing for anti-tank, since you're hoping for 6s to explode and you don't have enough shots to win by weight of fire. You're going to have an even worse time if you run into a Mechanicum player, particularly if they're running the bigger bots. Combine a less than impressive gun with a mount that has to be able to move to get line of sight, and it's not great. I run 2 Demolisher Dracosans, but they're there to punish infantry in the open, and their fear factor can help me dictate the movement and deployment of my opponents.

Having a troop in the backline to hold objectives is a great idea. I buy an Aegis line with them and use it in tandem with Blind Barrage to protect my tanks first turn. Odds are you'll roll out turn two without much more than a scratch if you play it this way. Stick your LM with the squad and have him man the Icaras Lascannon or Quad Autocannon to deter the ever-present Lightnings. Or, take an ammo dump to boost the lasrifle squad (take blast chargers).

The Malcador Infernus is bananas. Nothing else really needs to be said about it.

I think volume of fire is a major strength of the SA. I love my volkite veterans, and I think taking a few more quad mortars is never a bad thing. A few other units I have success with:

- Enginseer Auxilia - take 8 grenade launchers, buy an extra Dracosan in one of your Tercios, and jump in first turn. These guys will kill any standard tank, and put serious hurt on Spartans and above.
- Vanquishers (plural!) with Tank Commander - Tank Commander confers his tank hunter rule to the squadron. Put lascannons in the hulls. This is expensive, but a good way to ensure you're stripping hull points off what you're shooting at. As above, AP2 isn't anything to get excited about.
- Leman Russ Incinerators - I can't understand why the community is down on these tanks. Shoot at small (10 man), 3+ save squads: heavy support, Veterans, Destroyers, etc., and light vehicles. If you shoot at 2+ save units or 20 man blobs with an Apothecary, it's obviously going to be a waste. Take at least two with multilasers and a Tank Commander if you have points, and you will lay waste to the targets I mentioned. They'll put the hurt on some Mechanicum beasties too.

Just some thoughts based on my experience. Hope this helps!

 max_power wrote:
Hey there,

Glad to see another SA player. I'll make some comments on the list - I'm 30+ games in with a (mostly) mechanized SA list, with most of my games being 2,000 points and above. I'll go into your questions one at a time:

Your Lord Marshal - Please, don't waste points on kitting him out to be a monster in combat. Stack him up against the equivalent Marine character (Praetor and Paragon Blade). Your LM goes after the Praetor, hits on a 4+ while the Praetor hits on a 3+, and you're wounding on a 4+ when they are wounding on a 2+. Additionally, you're really tying yourself to taking the Eternal Warrior warlord trait. The Blind Barrage trait is wonderful for a mechanized list, and the ones in the rulebook can be very useful. The flexibility to pick the trait is the reason you pay the points for the LM. I know some SA players will disagree with me on these points, but they're wrong. If marines make it into assault with your unit, your unit is dead. Your LM might kill a Tactical Sergeant and a couple other marines, but the marines are going to hit the unit the LM is with, and then sweep you due to combat resolution. I take my LM barebones with a grav-wave generator and stick him with a backfield unit. I also believe the points spent on the Command Section are better placed elsewhere.

The list overall looks like the early iterations of my initial list. I can tell you, yes, you've gone heavy on demolisher cannons. They're tempting - I get it. But, if you play on tables with even moderate terrain, canny players are going to be able to minimize their impact. The scatter dice gods can be fickle as well. You'll kill any marines unlucky enough to be in the open with ease, but the demolisher is pretty bad against just about everything else. It's depressing against vehicles with cover, and AP2 doesn't make it appealing for anti-tank, since you're hoping for 6s to explode and you don't have enough shots to win by weight of fire. You're going to have an even worse time if you run into a Mechanicum player, particularly if they're running the bigger bots. Combine a less than impressive gun with a mount that has to be able to move to get line of sight, and it's not great. I run 2 Demolisher Dracosans, but they're there to punish infantry in the open, and their fear factor can help me dictate the movement and deployment of my opponents.

Having a troop in the backline to hold objectives is a great idea. I buy an Aegis line with them and use it in tandem with Blind Barrage to protect my tanks first turn. Odds are you'll roll out turn two without much more than a scratch if you play it this way. Stick your LM with the squad and have him man the Icaras Lascannon or Quad Autocannon to deter the ever-present Lightnings. Or, take an ammo dump to boost the lasrifle squad (take blast chargers).

The Malcador Infernus is bananas. Nothing else really needs to be said about it.

I think volume of fire is a major strength of the SA. I love my volkite veterans, and I think taking a few more quad mortars is never a bad thing. A few other units I have success with:

- Enginseer Auxilia - take 8 grenade launchers, buy an extra Dracosan in one of your Tercios, and jump in first turn. These guys will kill any standard tank, and put serious hurt on Spartans and above.
- Vanquishers (plural!) with Tank Commander - Tank Commander confers his tank hunter rule to the squadron. Put lascannons in the hulls. This is expensive, but a good way to ensure you're stripping hull points off what you're shooting at. As above, AP2 isn't anything to get excited about.
- Leman Russ Incinerators - I can't understand why the community is down on these tanks. Shoot at small (10 man), 3+ save squads: heavy support, Veterans, Destroyers, etc., and light vehicles. If you shoot at 2+ save units or 20 man blobs with an Apothecary, it's obviously going to be a waste. Take at least two with multilasers and a Tank Commander if you have points, and you will lay waste to the targets I mentioned. They'll put the hurt on some Mechanicum beasties too.

Just some thoughts based on my experience. Hope this helps!

Thanks for the detailed response, I really appreciate it!

Thank you for confirming that decking out my Lord Marshal wasn't worth it, I was tempted to give him a household veletaris unit with power axes as a retinue until I remembered that there were no assault transports at all for the SA list. I guess if I want elite human CC units I'd have to go for sisters of silence.

That aside, should I go completely barebones and not even take a displacer matrix for my Lord Marshal? Just in case? I know LoS should keep him relatively safe against most shooting and that if they're in CC that his unit is doomed anyhow, but I want to avoid giving up free Slay the Warlord if I can.

What are your thoughts on auxilia tank commanders? I know that they unfortunately can't be the mandatory HQ but they give a lot of punch to normally sub-par superheavies with the special rules you can give them (preferred enemy stormlord with BS4 is particularly tasty). The price is what made me hold off on them, but I'd like to hear your thoughts on them.

With regards to the dracosan transports, would you suggest to have just 2 demolisher cannon upgrades like you do? Or would it be better to just scrap all the upgrades altogether and put it elsewhere? In the case of the latter, I'd probably drop the armoured ceramite given that they're not worth investing in at that point.

Is it good to mix lasrifle auxilia and veletaris sections given that I'm going for a mechanized list? I'd definitely have a unit of lasrifles just to hold the line in the back, but would it be worth investing any more past that?

Also, good points on the other units you mentioned, I completely glossed over the enginseers since I thought they were the mandatory fluff unit until you pointed out the haywire grenade spam they could take.

I'll try to see if I can revamp the list to replace the laser destroyer battery with the Vanquisher tanks you mentioned, I think their mobility will give them a lot more oomph with their induction chargers.

Sorry if these are a lot of questions, but I'm glad to see there's more than just marine players going about in 30k, them glory mongers don't have the heart and soul that a normal oomie ground pounder has.

 max_power wrote:
- Leman Russ Incinerators - I can't understand why the community is down on these tanks.

Probably because they take up the same FOC slot as the Malcador Infernus, one of the scariest units in 30k.

Happy to help! Answers below.

That aside, should I go completely barebones and not even take a displacer matrix for my Lord Marshal? Just in case? I know LoS should keep him relatively safe against most shooting and that if they're in CC that his unit is doomed anyhow, but I want to avoid giving up free Slay the Warlord if I can. 15 points on the LM isn't going to kill you if you think it'll help. I don't have a lot of experience with it - my LM is pretty safe in the back, or I put him in a Dracosan with extra room and keep him isolated.

What are your thoughts on auxilia tank commanders? I know that they unfortunately can't be the mandatory HQ but they give a lot of punch to normally sub-par superheavies with the special rules you can give them (preferred enemy stormlord with BS4 is particularly tasty). The price is what made me hold off on them, but I'd like to hear your thoughts on them. I use the TC in Vanquisher squadrons, as the cannon needs a little help. I also feel like its useful on the Malcador chassis for it will not die. Put one on your Infernus, and it can overwatch.

With regards to the dracosan transports, would you suggest to have just 2 demolisher cannon upgrades like you do? Or would it be better to just scrap all the upgrades altogether and put it elsewhere? In the case of the latter, I'd probably drop the armoured ceramite given that they're not worth investing in at that point. I usually do two demolishers for every regular. I don't bother with any other upgrades on them anymore - I used to do Flare Shields, but the front arc isn't wide enough to justify the point cost. Armored Ceramite adds up as well. Save it for your Malcadors or super heavies.

Is it good to mix lasrifle auxilia and veletaris sections given that I'm going for a mechanized list? I'd definitely have a unit of lasrifles just to hold the line in the back, but would it be worth investing any more past that? I'm leaning toward pure damage output now, and the Velataris sections with Volkites do much more than the lasrifle sections. Deflagrate is wonderful!

Peregrine - you're absolutely right. I would just never take more than one for fear that my friends would never speak to me again .

Hope this helps!

If you really want to make your Lord Marshal melee oriented and have him accompanied by a Household Retinue of power axes (not to mention a medic or Aevos Jovan), then put them in a Stormlord, with two extra squads of Veletarii. For extra frustration from the enemy, stick an Enginseer with servo automata in there as well to keep it nice and durable. The Stormlord is our only assault transport by the way.

To also chime in on Tank Commanders, I always run two, with one also driving around in a two Vanquisher strong squadron armed with lascannons, perfect for outflanking and taking out certain enemy vehicles from the flank or rear.

But holy gak, I never thought of overwatching with an Infernus, just putting a commander in for PE (Infantry) or Tank Hunters when using vanilla ammo.

Thanks for all the feedback guys!

In accordance with the things you've suggested, my list has changed to this:

2000 points list - Solar Auxilia

HQ - 145

Lord Marshal (35 + 75) - 145

- displacer matrix (15)
- melta bomb (5)
- grav wave generator (10)
- needle pistol (5)

Troops - 1255

Auxilia Infantry Tercio - 510

2 x Veletaris Storm Section with volkite chargers, prime has melta bombs (120 x 2) = 240

- 2 Dedicated Transport Dracosans (135 x 2) = 270

Auxilia Infantry Tercio - 570

2 x Veletaris Storm Section with volkite chargers, prime has melta bombs (120 x 2) = 240

- 2 Dedicated Transport Dracosans with Demolisher Cannons (165 x 2) = 330

Auxilia Infantry Tercio - 175

1 Auxilia Lasrifle Section with Blast Chargers (100 + 25)

- 1 Aegis Defence Line (50) with ammo dump (20)

Elites - 290

Auxilia Rapier Battery - 145

- 3 Quad Mortars (25 x 3)

Auxilia Rapier Battery - 145

- 3 Quad Mortars (25 x 3)

Heavy Support - 315

Auxilia Malcador Infernus Tank (265) - 315
- Armoured Ceramite (20)
- Chemical Ammunition (25)

Now I have a solid backfield unit with a Lord Marshal, ideally with the Blind Barrage WL trait, a solid unit melter with the auxilia tank commander in an infernus for preferred enemy, and lots of shooty mobile volkite units. I'll be giving it a run tomorrow, I'll let you guys know how it does!

Unfortunately the tank commander in the Malcador Infernus is not legal, you can only put a tank commander in a standard Malcador.

 Peregrine wrote:
Unfortunately the tank commander in the Malcador Infernus is not legal, you can only put a tank commander in a standard Malcador.

Good catch! I missed that, I forgot it only specifies normal malcadors and not the infernus variant.

Bummer, it would have been tasty to have a preferred enemy malcador. To heavy support it is then!

Just an update on how my revamped list did for its first time.

I lost, horribly!

I'll admit it had to do mainly with my lack of familiarity with playing against armies from 30K and not being entirely clear on how mobile Alpha Legion could be, so my deployment could have been more conservative, but in any case I was effectively tabled by turn 3 by a very aggressive Coils of the Hydra list with Alpharius, lots of vets with combi meltas and vigilators.

We were playing the Crusade mission of Eternal War from 7th ed and I ended up deploying first and he managed to steal the initiative (damn you Alpharius!) and thanks to having both scout and infiltrate, his veteran squads were able to boost up and use their combi meltas with Machine Killers to blow up my Malcador Infernus before it could fire. The resulting explosion took out quite a few of the veterans but it started going downhill from there as I was trapped on all sides and all the objectives, bar one, were in my zone. He also used destroyers with rad-phages my blob of lasrifle auxilia where my Lord Marshal was hiding in to make them T2 (we misread that it was unit and not on a per model basis) which meant they were getting torn up by normal bolter fire even with shrouded + aegis defence line. He also eliminated one of my demolisher cannon dracosans which hindered my ability to respond on the left flank where the Infernus was destroyed. Meanwhile on the right flank, Alpharius in a blob of 15-18 tactical marines were moving up, and with the terrain set up the way it was, I wasn't able to focus them down and had to take out the destroyers from dropping off any more phosphex bombs and tried finishing off the remaining veterans that had exploded the infernus. The dice rolls were not with me that game as I rolled an abysmal amount of ones for both wounding, hitting and saves while my opponent passed an astonishing amount of 3+ saves.

One of the highlights of the game was my Lord Marshal rolling a 1 for his displacer matrix and deep striking into my opponent's empty backfield to try and take the lone objective there. Since we thought he was affected by the rad missile and therefore was T2, technically bolters could instant kill him and his vigilator 360 no scoped him with a kraken round as I promptly failed my invuln save with a roll of 2. At that point it was just my opponent's forcing his way into my lines and getting into close combat and beating the tar out of my guys, with me trying to gain a moral victory and attempt to shoot alpharius to death.

Either way, it was a really funny game and an eye opener for how aggressive some of the lists can be. Bad rolls aside, I definitely need more consistent AP2-3 in my list, since I basically couldn't deny most of his saves for the majority of the game.