The Solar Auxilia bring more military might to the battlefield today with the Basilisk/Medusa kit and the Hermes Sentinel, both up for pre order. In this post we’ll be taking a look at both kits, seeing how they go together and looking at if it is worth it to build the Basilisk so that you can see the fully sculpted interior detail.

Massive thanks to Games Workshop for sending us free review copies to check out on the site. If you would like to support the site then why not pick up your Solar Auxilia through our affiliate Element Games and save yourself some money too?

We’ve also filmed a full unboxing of the new kits, which you can see just below or over on YouTube

So sit back with your brew as we dive into the new kits!

Solar Auxilia Basilisk / Medusa and Hermes Sentinel Review and Unboxing

It doesn’t seem long at all plastic Solar Auxilia kits were being teased after only being available in resin for such a long time, and now in the space of 4 months we’re already on the 3rd wave of releases. I was worried that the roll-out of kits for the Solar Aux was going to take a long time, and while a lot of the range is still in resin, it’s now easier than it has ever been to put together a full Solar Auxilia army. With the mainstays such as basic infantry, transports, line tanks and command out of the way, it’s now the turn of some more niche units to get the plastic treatment, giving solar aux players more options and variety in how they build their forces

First up is the new Basilisk / Medusa combi kit, which can build either of the two artillery tanks available to the Solar Auxilia. While in 40k these tanks are built around a Chimera chassis, that tank did not exist back in the years of the Horus Heresy, and so this is based around a Leman Russ with a custom enclosed hull

And it looks absolutely gorgeous when built up! Ignore the small gaps in the above images as this isn’t fully glued yet, simply put together in a number of sub assemblies so that I can get to the interior detail to paint it up. Yes, that’s right, this has a fully detailed interior including a hatch to the main gun that can swing open to reveal the next shell ready to fire!

The level of detail in such a small area (That will probably be very difficult to see once assembled) is amazing, and you’re really going to need to build this in a number of parts to be able to paint it before you fully stick it together. I will say that this is a very complex kit to stick together with a lot of small parts – it reminded me more of a historical model kit than a warhammer kit, and a large part of that is down to these smaller details sometimes needing some very small pieces and precise placement. If you’re new to building Warhammer kits then I’d maybe not suggest starting with this one, as it might be a little frustrating for newcomers. It was a really fun build, but complex and took a couple of sessions to get together. Add on top of this the fact that you really need to paint the inside before gluing together and then painting the exterior means that this is going to be a little slower to the battlefield than some other kits, but it will be well worth it. The kit includes a couple of crew members inside who are loading and firing the main weapon – which is ace but again another detail that you’re never really going to be able to see once built. The back door does swing open so you can peak inside – but I’d suggest not gluing the lid so that you can remove this and see those interior details a little better.

I’m really looking forward to getting some paint on this one, though with the multiple phases to painting this one it’ll be a little of a longer project compared to something like a Malcador.

The other new kit is the Hermes Light Sentinel, which can be built as either a fast or elite option, both with different weapon options (Multi laser or Grenade launcher for the fast choice, or flamer or Volkite for the elite) and the Elite option has a better save and additional parts to represent the sturdier armour.

Rules were included in the recent Beta-Garmon book (Which we recently reviewed), but they can also be downloaded for free over on Warhammer Community, which is a nice touch.

The kit is similar to most Necromunda kits in that it is a single frame duplicated in the box so that two can be built – and size wise it’s closer to something like the Cawdor walker than a 40k Sentinel

In contrast to the tank, the Sentinels were a very quick build and really easy to put together with not many parts and little complexity. The legs have studs allowing you to build one leg forward and one leg back, and this can differ from Sentinel to Sentinel – but you are also able to trim these pins off if you want to create some more dramatic poses.

Weapons are on pins and can be easily blutaced or magnetised to allow for swapping of options between games, but I opted for the Grenade Launcher myself as I like the option of forcing pinning tests on targets while contesting objectives with a scoring unit using the army build from Beta-Garmon that unlocks these as a line option.

I’m for sure going to be picking up another box of these to build up as an elite choice, as I feel a fast moving Volkite support unit will be pretty fun to use to support my troops!

With this release, all of the revealed Warhammer The Horus Heresy releases are now out in the open, and I’m excited to see what we’re getting next. I’d really like to see the Mechanicum of Mars get some plastic releases in the Autumn to allow players to start armies a lot cheaper than they have previously been. I’m sure plastic robots would be very popular and I’d be eager to start an army of them myself! While there’s a lot of resin Solar Aux left, these released plastic kits have made creating an army easier and cheaper than it has ever been, so if you’ve been sitting on the fence about starting a new army then now is the time to do it!

The Basilisk / Medusa and Hermes Sentinels are up for pre order today and are released Saturday 11th May

Games Workshop provided Sprues & Brews with free copies for review purposes.

Published by Matt Crowther

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