Legions Imperialis

The Arvus Lighter is a solid and reliable workhorse shuttle, affectionately referred to as ‘Little Pig’ among air crews. The Solar Auxilia employ these durable craft as unarmed combat transports, to insert officers and specialists into a war zone with pinpoint accuracy.

The Baneblade is a super-heavy tank outfitted with a bewildering array of weapons, even for a vehicle of its prodigious size. Each Baneblade serves as a mobile bastion, as well as a symbol of pride to those who march alongside it. The Baneblade hull also serves as the basis for a number of more specialised variants employed by the Solar Auxilia – including the Hellhammer, which exchanges the standard Baneblade battlecannon with a Hellhammer cannon that sacrifices range for increased destructive capabilities.

The Knight Castigator is a Household’s answer to hordes of lesser foes. Armed with the fearsome Castigator pattern bolt cannon, this Knight is capable of obliterating infantry formations in a thunderous rain of mass reactive explosions and whirling power blades, and carving apart light vehicles with ease. The Cerastus Knight Acheron is a fearsome sight on the battlefield, a reaper of lives carefully designed not only to destroy with flames, but also to inspire terror both in appearance and the manner in which it undertakes its grim task.

Even in the Age of Darkness, the monumental architecture of the fledgling Imperium tends towards impressive edifices, a combination of baroque and gothic elements mixed with militaristic structures designed to stand in even the harshest environments.

Even in the glory days of the 31st Millennium, many worlds of the Imperium favoured a gothic aesthetic in their cities. Towering spires encrusted with gargoyles, domed roofs and vaulted windows featured heavily in their construction, lending the Imperium's colonies a distinctive look and feel.

Legion Dreadnoughts require Drop Pods that are even larger than the orbital descent capsules employed by Legiones Astartes infantry, with a sturdier frame and more powerful engine designed to support their formidable machine shell. As a result, these armoured Drop Pods strike with devastating speed, making a dangerously meteoric descent from orbit to deliver their lethal cargo. These traits also allow them to be adapted into so-called Palisade Drop Pods, hosting heavy shield generators that can be deployed anywhere on the battlefield.

The Legiones Astartes utilised a combined arms doctrine, deploying potent transhuman Legionaries supported by mobile artillery pieces, heavily armoured Dreadnoughts, and fast-moving Scimitar jetbikes and Outriders, accompanied by anti-grav speeders, and armoured battle tanks mounting heavier weaponry.

The Legiones Astartes use combat bikes and anti-grav skimmer vehicles to navigate the battlefield with far greater speed and more significant firepower than any single footsoldier could normally employ. Racing forwards, these swift-striking fighters pour destruction upon their enemies while performing devastating hit and run assaults, and speed away before enemy reinforcements can catch up and engage them.

The Legiones Astartes wield a staggering array of specialised war machines and weapon platforms, including heavy Dreadnoughts designed to add long ranged firepower, as well as line-breaking heavy assault variants. These assets are typically arranged as support detachments, deployed to enhance and complement the fearsome infantry and tanks of their Legion.

Leman Russ Strike Squadrons are formations of heavily armoured and reliable battle tanks, armed with devastating cannons. Deployed in support of Solar Auxilia Infantry Sections, as an armoured spearhead, or flanking attack groups, they are a vital asset in the Solar Auxilia's armoury.

The Malcador battle tank possesses a number of advantages to its design, the principal of which is its battle speed, which is truly formidable for a tank of its size thanks to a highly sophisticated drive system. By the time of the Horus Heresy, they saw use with second line Imperial Army units, while the focus moved on to smaller, more tactically flexible tanks. The demands of the war brought them back into mainline usage, where they’re fielded in massive formations and retrofitted with a diverse array of weapons.

The Mechanicum has access to resources on a scale unmatched in the Age of Darkness, not as numerous as some, nor as highly trained as others, but heavily augmented with technology to make up for both. For numbers, they create countless Tech-thralls, repurposed from the labouring workforces of forge worlds. For fire support, their battle-automata carry the heaviest of weapons with no thought of exhaustion or inconvenience. Commanded by brilliant, if eccentric, Archmagos Primes, they operate as a well-oiled machine – each cog in its place.

Predators are perhaps the best-known and most widespread Legiones Astartes battle tanks. Augmented with superior armour and firepower, these strike vehicles sacrifice any troop transport capacity in favour of ammunition and generators for their formidable weapon systems. The result is an effective and versatile tank of the line, with an excellent balance of speed, firepower, and protection.

The Reaver Titan is one of the most ubiquitous and destructive classes of Battle Titan, a gargantuan war machine that forms the heart of the Titan Legions, holding the line or leading the charge as their Princeps demand. Whether unleashing awesome thermal blasts from a melta or volcano cannon, spitting beams of death from a turbo-laser destructor, or closing in to shred heavy armour with a roaring chainfist, the Reaver leaves enemies with one choice: flee or die.

The Sabre is a light, fast-moving tank that mounts devastating weaponry for its size, developed by the Legiones Astartes to deploy heavy firepower at speed. The bulk of its chassis is occupied by a primary weapon, such as an Anvilus autocannon for destroying stubborn heavy infantry, or a potent neutron blaster for combating enemy armour or automata. The Sabre also carries compact missiles, using its mobility to outflank enemy armoured vehicles and bring these to bear against their weaker side or rear armour.

Solar Auxilia battleforces utilise rank upon rank of armoured infantry, aided by compact support weapons, and heavily armed walkers which allow them to bring their firepower to bear in the close confines they typically operate in. On occasion, more specialised veterans accompany the tercios, while phalanxes of armoured vehicles roll into place to obliterate the most tenacious foes.

The Solar Auxilia are well equipped to engage in every theatre of battle, against every type of foe. Their adaptability is due in part to their training, but also the advanced wargear they bring to the front. When in need of heavy support from weapons too large for infantry to carry, their Tarantula and Rapier weapons platforms add additional firepower, while remote-controlled Cyclops tanks can be sent in to clear bunkers or even destroy heavy tanks.

Spartan Assault Tanks carry large numbers of Space Marines into the very heart of the battle. Mounting armaments comparable to the Legion’s super-heavy armoured vehicles and protected by heavy layers of armour plating, these tanks are considered by many to be akin to a mobile fortress.

the Stormhammer is the pre-eminent super-heavy assault tank of the Solar Auxilia. Equipped with a fearsome array of weapons systems, each providing overlapping arcs of fire, the Stormhammer acts as a mobile fortress for the advance of the Solar Auxilia tercios. Such tanks are often found in the vanguard of invasion and pacification forces, driving forward into important beachheads and strongpoints.