Solar Auxilia – Datasheets

Auxilia field officers are known by many titles, but each is an individual with a unique history, demeanour and command style. Regardless of their roots, Legate Marshals are tough and experienced fighters, masters of tactics and strategy and, most importantly, inspirational leaders for whom the Solar Auxilia would march into hell itself. Each is accompanied into battle by the finest fighters they can gather, from specially trained household retainers, veterans of retired cohorts or even deadly outcasts offered one last chance at redemption; stalwart Lifewards whose one duty is to safeguard the life of their Legate Marshal.

The greater orders of battle of the Solar Auxilia include several templates formulated for the prosecution of armoured warfare, and all senior officers are well-versed in their application. Tank commanders are Solar Auxilia officers who specialise in leading armoured assaults, rapid advances and the exploration and domination of worlds too hazardous even for the well-equipped Solar Auxilia to explore on foot. These officers are renowned for leading from the front, their attitudes and tactics not unlike the cavalry of Ancient Terra, crushing their foe beneath the treads of their iron steeds - typically the dependable Leman Russ.

Tasked with the coordination of the cohort’s artillery fire, Solar Auxilia Artillery Command Sections are made up of a core of seasoned veterans that accompany keen-eyed junior officers into battle. These junior officers direct the deployment and firing protocols of the cohort’s artillery, conveying targeting solutions so that the guns may saturate enemy positions with high explosive shells and leave them open for waves of Solar Auxilia infantry. Should the cohort’s artillery positions come under direct attack, Artillery Command Sections also serve a defensive role, leaving the batteries to continue their destructive work unhindered.

Following the wounding of Horus by the anathame, and his subsequent recovery facilitated by the priests of the Serpent Lodge on Davin, members of the mysterious cult accompanied the Warmaster and his allies upon the field of battle. As ever, their motivations and objectives were veiled in secrecy but their influence was far more tangible as the Traitor armies outwardly rebelled against the Imperium.

Navigators accompanied Expeditionary fleets in order to guide their courses through the Immaterium, steer them clear of harm and find safe harbour in the maelstrom of unreality. Only through sheer desperation or ill-fortune would such individuals find themselves upon the field of battle to lend the sight of their æther-sense in aiding commanders in predicting the flow of battle.

For those cohorts and sub-cohorts of the Solar Auxilia that fielded dedicated Scout Tercios, Hermes Command Sections coordinated wide-ranging formations of sentinel walkers far ahead of the main Auxilia advance, leading hit-and-run attacks and flanking manoeuvres where their foe was most vulnerable. Operating in a far more independent manner than most junior officers of the Solar Auxilia, Hermes Leads required the trust of both their superiors and those auxiliaries serving under them, for should the tide of battle turn against them, such divisions would have only themselves to rely upon.

The junior officers of the Auxilia Infantry Tercios have the onerous duty of coordinating the efforts of the massed ranks of the individual rifle sections that form the backbone of the Solar Auxilia. Lacking the combat mettle ofVeletarii officers, the Troop Masters of the line sections often find themselves leading from behind the massed ranks of their auxiliaries, distilling the commands of the senior officers into actionable battlefield objectives, a task which requires Troop Masters to not only understand the vagaries of massed combat but also to quickly and unquestioningly comprehend the mind of their commanding officers.

Once a skilled physician of the nobility of Agathon, by the time of the Horus Heresy Aevos Jovan had been condemned to execution for years of secret research into medical techniques forbidden by Imperial Law. In the aftermath of Ireton MaSade’s military coup, Jovan was offered amnesty by the Lord Marshal in payment for service in the ranks of his Solar Auxilia forces. Watched closely by medicae staff who were as in awe of his abilities as they were suspicious of his motives, Jovan embraced the blood and carnage of the battlefield as a new theatre for his unmatched skill in repairing rent flesh and ravaged organs.

Solar Auxilia Tactical Command Sections are specialists in battlefield command and control. They facilitate the flow of orders, direct their sub-cohort’s actions and co-ordinate artillery and orbital operations. The section is composed of several Companion specialists such as the Proclaimator, a junior officer equipped with comms equipment, and a Captain tasked with issuing tactical orders and co-ordinating orbital support fire as well as the movements of drop vessels, shuttles and logistics transports. The section also includes a Vexillarius, a warrior who has earned the honour of bearing their sub-cohort’s standard.

Where the Line Command Sections of the Solar Auxilia direct the massed ranks of the Line Tercios, the command elements of the Veletarii are responsible for the elite soldiers that form the speartip of the Solar Auxilia. Known for their cunning mastery of aggressive tactics, these support officers can be found on the front line alongside their subordinates, often assigned to lead the most bloody and dangerous missions, tempering them into some of the most fearless warriors amongst the Solar Auxilia. As such, Veletaris Command Sections are equipped for close-quarters combat, leading as much by example as through distant objectivity.

Acting as personal bodyguards, heavy shock troops, or a vain display of martial prestige, the Companion Sections of the Solar Auxilia comprise a given Legate Marshal’s household retinue, and such hand-picked units have a reputation for both brutal effectiveness and dogged resilience. Companion Sections are equipped with the finest wargear available to the Solar Auxilia, clad in void armour reinforced with potent energy shields and armed with their pick of weapons from the Auxilia’s vast armouries, invested with the skill and experience to match their superlative equipment.

The Veletarii are the most skilled and dedicated warriors in the Solar Auxilia, issued with the most potent weaponry’ and tasked with the most arduous of battlefield missions. Veletaris Storm Sections are often gathered together into special, cohort-level reserves directly under their Legate Marshal’s command, or alternatively raised on a company-by-company basis. Deployed in several roles, some Veletaris Storm Sections act as shock troops whose discipline and firepower can overwhelm even the most fearsome of enemies, while others serve as a line reserve, able to react quickly to enemy breakthroughs and holster a wavering defence.

As they advance into the fiercest fighting, the Veletarii are supported by the withering fire of their Vanguard Sections. These weapons teams carry the heaviest man-portable weaponry available to the Solar Auxilia in the form of heavy flamers, leveraged for their killing power as well as the psychological effect they have on their foes. Vanguard Sections advance shoulder-to- shoulder with the Storm Sections, driving enemy skirmishers away with gouts of burning promethium or clearing tunnel and trench networks at the head of the spear-tip advance with a searing wave of alchemically-fuelled fire.

Their dark origins lost within the Age of Strife, Charonites are biochemically and cybernetically altered Ogryn abhumans, mutilated in mind and body and left entirely creatures of brute obedience and drug-induced frenzy. The difficult and unstable technologies used in their creation were deemed proscribed and unholy by the Mechanicum and may in part have had alien origins. Despite this, the Solar Auxilia, thanks to their strong connection both with the Saturnyne enclaves of Terra and the celestial keeps of Pavonis, retained a limited dispensation for the creation and use of Charonites despite the opprobrium of Mars.

Solar Auxiliaries are recruited from all over the Imperium, from void-born asteroid miners to underhive scum. While most pressed into the Emperor’s armies join the line regiments of the Imperial Army, those who display the right combination of aggression, discipline and skill-at-arms are earmarked for the Solar Auxilia cohorts. The image of Auxilia Lasrifle Sections arrayed in multiple disciplined ranks standing firm against hordes of alien foes is a celebrated one, and to many in the Imperium, they represent an undreamed-of escape from the gutter into a life of service across the myriad battlefields of the war-torn galaxy.

Many Solar Auxilia cohorts maintain their own mobile artillery batteries, favouring a class ideally suited to their particular battle doctrines. The most common types used by the Solar Auxilia are the Basilisk, Medusa and Bombard, each of which is substantially different to those utilised in the wider Imperial Army and other fighting forces of the Imperium. The Auxilia employ their artillery tank batteries to support general advances by the Infantry Tercios, where they are able to keep pace even with Dracosan-mounted sections, engaging the foe with a fearsome weight of fire as the main line units close to engage the survivors.

A range of remotely controlled demolition vehicles, the Cyclops are deployed by the Solar Auxilia to breach heavy fortifications and destroy key enemy-held positions in circumstances where a direct assault is judged too costly and engagement from afar is made impossible by dense terrain. The Cyclops is transported to the front line in a Dracosan Armoured Carrier or an Auxilia Arvus Lighter, and unloaded under cover a safe distance from the intended target. Directed with a vox control unit, it is then guided to its target so that its internal charge can be detonated when it is close enough to inflict the requisite damage.

Incursus pattern Hermes Sentinels are utilised in a much more aggressive role than other patterns, allowing commanders to increase pressure on especially mobile foes who might otherwise outmanoeuvre the somewhat unwieldy Auxilia cohorts. Featuring more comprehensive protection for both their elite pilot and their motive mechanisms, the Incursus pattern is purpose built to support the frontal assaults the Veletarii are famed for, moving into position around the flanks of enemy deployments before unleashing a storm of anti-infantry firepower from their volkite calivers or driving their enemies hack with gouts of searing flame.

The Medicae Auxiliaries of the Solar Auxilia receive extensive training and highly specialised equipment in order to perform a number of vital functions. Firstly, they are responsible for keeping disease at bay, for with the Solar Auxilia operating upon worlds tainted with all manner of ravenous alien microbes, a force might be rendered entirely ineffective before battle is even joined. Secondly, they are responsible for treating combat injuries as they occur, ensuring a unit’s effectiveness is maintained even in the heat of battle. Lastly, they hold the solemn duty of administering the final mercy to a fatally wounded auxiliary.

Auxilia artillery tanks feature weapons mounted on a hull derived from the Leman Russ, in a pattern sometimes referred to as the Mars-Solar Alpha. These vehicles’ fighting compartments are enclosed and sealed against hazardous atmospheric conditions, affording the crew protection in battle and when exploring the surface of hostile alien worlds. Being self-propelled and well protected, Solar Auxilia artillery tanks such as the Medusa are able to press the advance alongside other Solar Auxilia Tercios across entire planetar)’ campaigns, a factor accounted for by the sizable supply trains maintained by most cohorts.

The Solar Auxilia makes extensive use of the Rapier weapons carrier, which fulfils a number of battlefield roles in both attack and defence, and can be deployed alongside all manner of different force types, from vanguard exploration to full-scale planetary assault. Several different weapons systems are deployed by the Solar Auxilia via their Rapier carriers, with the gravis multi-laser array being by far the most common, especially among infantry cohorts.

Aethon Heavy Sentinels are a common sight among the ranks of the Solar Auxilia, their squat forms striding into battle alongside battle tanks and Infantry Tercios. Often piloted by older and more experienced specialists, these grizzled veterans are adept at identifying key enemy targets and eliminating them with volleys of overwhelming firepower. Though cumbersome in appearance, theAethon’s robust construction allows it to traverse void station interiors and ruined cityscapes with ease, often forming the lynchpin for successful close-quarters assaults in environments where the bulky hulls of Solar Auxilia tanks prove impractical.

The Solar Auxilia makes extensive use of a variant of the Arvus Lighter and of several similar orbital shuttles, using these solid and reliable workhorses to insert infantry sections and command units into a war zone with pinpoint accuracy. Because the Arvus’ carrying capacity is limited to twelve passengers, larger units such as full strength Lasrifle Sections tend to deploy to a world’s surface in drop ships able to carry entire tercios or even companies, leaving the faster and comparatively more manoeuvrable Arvus to fulfil the role of inserting smaller units with specific battlefield tasks to perform.

Created with the authorisation of the Fabricator General as the Imperial Host expanded into the galaxy during the Great Crusade, the design philosophy behind the Aurox is similar to that of the Legion Rhino Armoured Carrier. It is designed to be mass manufactured, reproducible and easily serviced by units in the field, with a modular design which additionally allows for variant armour and weapons configurations. An armoured troop transport, it is primarily used by various arms of the Imperial Army, including a version employed by the Solar Auxilia, which is refitted for extreme environmental conditions.

A heavily armed and armoured carrier, the Dracosan is manufactured under compact by several dozen Forge Worlds across the Imperium to standards only usually required of war machines destined for service with the Legiones Astartes. The Dracosan is large enough to accommodate a full strength Solar Auxilia Infantry Section of twenty’ auxiliaries, and heavily armoured enough to protect them from all but the most intense of enemy fire. Equipped with a fearsome array of weapons of its own, the Dracosan can steadfastly defend itself against counter-attack and pound enemy positions to dust before its passengers disembark.

Many Solar Auxilia cohorts go to war accompanied by squadrons of Hermes Light Sentinels, which - despite their light construction - are employed widely among the Solar Auxilia and form a vital component of their scouting and encircling tactics. Leading from the front, these fast-moving scouting units mount potent weaponry and scanners, striking at their foes and disengaging before significant resistance can be brought to bear. Through these attacks, enemy forces are deprived of the opportunity to mount a cohesive defence, leaving them easy prey for the main advance of massed Infantry Tercios.

The Tarantula is an automated weapons platform whose ease of construction, multiple weapons configurations and general reliability have made it a staple of the arsenals of the Great Crusade. The Solar Auxilia use the Tarantula to guard exposed flanks and rear line positions where it is judged less likely, but nonetheless possible, that an enemy will attack, only pressed into service in the front line itself when personnel are stretched dangerously thin. Some older cohorts even maintain chronicles of Tarantula weapons batteries granted honorary induction into their ranks for their pivotal contribution to some great battle.

The Avenger Strike Fighter was the primary ground assault craft of the Divisio Aeronautica used during planetary invasions, commonly employed as a close-support aircraft where it would commit sorties along the front line. Armed with an Avenger bolt cannon, the Avenger Strike Fighter was able to punch through the weaker top armour of enemy vehicles with terrifying ease. During the Horus Heresy, Avenger Strike Fighters were transformed into a symbol of terror for Imperial ground forces as they were subjected to withering aerial firepower they had once called upon in battle.

The Carnodon strike tank was the foremost of many variants designed to exploit the modular construction of the relatively new Aurox chassis, rapidly becoming a byword for conquest during the early years of the Great Crusade, a legacy that led to the production of the dedicated Imperial battle tanks of latter days. As the Great Crusade moved ever outwards and supply of the Aurox chassis peaked, many Carnodon tanks entered a strategic reserve and were distributed to muster worlds behind the front lines, with over 200,000 examples thought to have been stored pending secondary mobilisation in the warrens under Tallarn.