Disclaimer: Games Workshop very kindly sent me for free the Solar Auxilia Battle Group box to review ahead of its release.

The Solar Auxilia Battle Group pre-order went live last weekend and flew off the shelves. Whilst the actual box is limited until stocks last, the miniatures will come back separately in the future - so let’s have a look at them.

Contents || Lasrifle Section || Command Section || Vehicles || Painting

Before this, here is a quick recap on the Battle Group box itself.

Solar Auxilia Battle Group Contents

*Picture from:* *Warhammer Website: Solar Auxilia Battle Group* *page.*

**The 28 miniatures:**

**20x** Solar Auxilia Lasrifle troops
5x Solar Auxilia Tactical Command models
1x Leman Russ Battle Tank
1x Dracosan Armoured Transport
1x Aethon Heavy Sentinel

The 25 Solar Auxilia troops come with 25mm round bases, and the Aethon Heavy Sentinel sits on an 80mm round base. There are also 4x transfer sheets included.

Who is this box for?

This box is ideal for anyone set on kickstarting a brand new Solar Auxilia army, as the box provides some savings compared to buying everything separately, or for anyone complementing an existing collection they wish to rapidly grow.

If this isn’t you, but you are interested in/tempted by some of the models, it might be worth waiting until the sections and vehicles are made available individually to grab your favourite instead, and go from there.

If you have trouble with very small parts, please be aware this box contains tiny bits. I would also suggest using your best cutters to ensure no detail is bluntly crushed, and being careful with glue.

The sprues are of the usual, amazing quality of modern Games Workshop plastic.

I found looking for the tiny parts for the Solar Auxilia sections a little tricky and it took me some time; the parts are somewhat sorted (you can see all the torsos are next to one another), but the numbers are dispersed a little bit everywhere on the sprues. (I am not known for having eagle eyes though.)

Solar Auxilia Lasrifle Section

**The Lasrifle Section:**

up to 2x Auxilia sergeants
up to 2x Auxilia with auxilia vexilla (banner bearers)
up to 2x Auxilia with vox interlock
14x Auxilia with lasrifles

The Lasrifle section can either be made into two 10-man sections or a single 20-man section. The box lets you build up to two sergeants, two auxilia vexilla and two vox interlock, so you can have one of each for the two 10-man sections.

Each of these special units can also be made into standard auxilia troops with lasrifles.

Every troop can be equipped with optional krak and frag grenades, melta bombs and pouches. All models are extremely detailed and some bits are very small.

Following the assembly instructions, the Auxilia Sergeants can be equipped with:
Right hand: Laspistol, Blast pistol, Needle pistol, Plasma pistol, Hand flamer.
Left hand: Power fist, Power sword, Charnabal sword.
Head: With, or without helmet.

The Lasrifle section is beautiful and whilst detailed, also very straight-forward to approach: by choosing a colour for the armour plates and one for the cloth underneath, you will have the majority of your models’ colour scheme sorted.

I would recommend painting the cloth first, as it is the most recessed part of the miniatures.

Solar Auxilia Tactical Command Section

**The Tactical Command Section:**

1x Captain or Legate Marshal
1x Companion
1x Comp. with Augury Scanner
1x Comp. with Command Vox
1x Comp. with Cohorts Vexilla

Following the assembly instructions, the Captain can be equipped with:
Right hand: Laspistol, Blast pistol, Needle pistol, Plasma pistol, Hand flamer.
Left hand: Power fist, Power sword, Charnabal sword.
Head: With, or without helmet.

If deciding to build the Captain as a Marshal instead, he can be equipped with:
Right hand: Volkite serpenta, Inferno pistol, Archeotech pistol, Laspistol, Blast pistol, Needle pistol, Plasma pistol, Hand flamer.
Left hand: Thunder hammer, Paragon blade, Power fist, Power sword, Charnabal sword.
Head: With, or without helmet.

The Auxilia Companion with Cohorts Vexilla (banner bearer) can be equipped with:
Left hand: Power sword, Charnabal sword.

The Command section is very detailed, the Marshal in particular with the swirly trims around each armour panel. Whilst these five models will take longer to paint than the previous section due to additional harder-to-reach areas, equipment and decorations, the sculpts do a lot of work by themselves.

Leman Russ Strike Tank

Following the assembly instructions, the Leman Russ can be equipped with:
Main weapon: Battlecannon, Gravis Lascannon, Vanquisher Battlecannon with co-axial autocannon, Gravis Autocannon.
Front weapon: Heavy bolter, Lascannon, Autocannon, Multi-laser, Heavy flamer.
Hatch: Closed hatch, Tank commander, Tank commander with Pintle weapon.

If building Tank commander with Pintle weapon, pintle weapon can be:
Heavy flamer, Multi-laser, Heavy stubber.

It also comes with an optional Hunter-killer Missile and Dozer blade.

I have never appraoched “painting a tank” without my airbrush, but should you wish to paint it by brush, I would recommend leaving the tank is subassemblies (tracks/side pannels, main body, main weapon, accessories).

Dracosan Armoured Transport

Following the assembly instructions, the Dracosan can be equipped with:
Front weapon: Gravis Lascannon, Demolisher Cannon.
Hatch: Closed hatch, Tank commander or Tank commander with Pintle weapon.

If building the Tank commander with Pintle weapon, the Pintle weapon can be:
Heavy flamer, Multi-laser, Heavy stubber.

It also comes with optional Hunter-killer missiles, Flare shield, Dozer blade and decorations (aquila).

Aethon Heavy Sentinel

Following the assembly instructions, the Aethon can be equipped with:
Left side: Aethon missile battery, Hunter-killer missiles.
Right side: Aethon missile battery, Hunter-killer missiles.
Main weapon: Volkite Culverin, Autocannon, Heavy Incinerator, Lascannon, Multi-laser, Melta Lance.

It is possible to adapt the position of the legs as well!

Colour Schemes

Finding official colour schemes for inspiration wasn’t super easy at first, it took me a while to find enough about the Solar Auxilia back when I was working on Legion Imperialis, but I have made great use of this Reddit thread below, and maybe it’ll help you as well:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Warhammer30k/comments/19c153e/edits_of_the_new_solar_auxilia_in_all_known/

Full credit to Reddit user u/DoUrDooty for the post above.

Of course another great way to approach it is to come up with your own colour scheme; pick a metallic paint or two, a colour for the cloth, one for the armour plates and one for lenses, and you’ll basically be there.

Do you have any plans for a Solar Auxilia army of your own? I would love to see, so please feel free to show me your Auxilia pictures!

Catch me on Xwitter/Instagram to see my progress on my attempt at the Thramassi Nightwatch. :D

Solar Auxilia Battle Group Review

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