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Welcome to our review of the Liber Auxilia, one of the five books that has arrived to mark the start of the new edition of The Horus Heresy. If you play Astra Militarum (aka the Imperial Guard) in 40k, or if you just fancy starting an army of tanks and humans then this could be the book for you.

I mean, who wants to wear Power Armour anyway, right?

Massive thanks to Games Workshop for sending us over an early review copy of Liber Auxilia to check out on the site! If you would like to support the site then why not order your copy through our affiliate Element Games and save yourself some money too?

We’ve also filmed a full video checking out the book which you can see just below or over on YouTube

You can view the contents of the review below:

What is in the Liber Auxilia? And Who are the Solar Auxilia?

The Liber Auxilia is home to the rules for the Solar Auxilia, the everyday foot troops of the Emperor (or Warmaster!).

Within this book you’ll find a plethora of lore to give you a solid background on the faction, and how they sit in this Civil War between the Emperor and the Warmaster Horus.

The Solar Auxilia (or the Solar Aux, as I’ll refer to them from here out) don’t have Power Armoured super humans to call upon. Instead the army is made up of regular joes, the everyday folk wearing flak and carapace, armed with basic weaponary yet home to a vast array of solid reliable vehicles.

I meantioned the Imperial Guard earlier, because they are what the Solar Aux eventually become. Within this Liber you’ll see datasheets for the Leman Russ, amongst others, only these are the original variants so you may notice some absent options, such as side sponsors, as they didn’t get slapped on to these tanks until after the Heresy.

The Solar Aux have been available to play in The Horus Heresy for some time now, however previously they were only available in resin from Forge World, and as such, due to the high model count, it cost a small fortune in order to actually have a full army on the battlefield. This changed in 2nd Heresy however, as we finally obtainined plastic kits for the vast majority of the range.

Solar Auxilia Army Building

Before we get into the real nit and gritty parts of building your army list, a couple of quick notes.

Firstly, the Solar Aux can align with the Loyalists or the Traitors. In fact everyone of the datasheets in this book can be used by either side, so no concerns over picking special characters.

If Solar Aux is your Primary Detachment then you get an extra Reaction point, so long as you have the Cohort Supreme Command Trait. Not quite sure why this little rule is buried here, but nevermind, worth remembering!

At this point it’s well worth me pointing you in the direction of our Core Rulebook review, as that will explain some of the terms we’ll encounter during this review

Cohort Doctrines

Similar to how Warhammer 40k has Detachments, the Solar Aux have Cohort Doctrines. In short you pick one, and it grants rules and special detachment options to your army. Regardless of how many detachment slots you have or use, you can only ever have one Doctrine running.

Their are 6 Cohorts to pick from, and each one leans into a specfic speciality, or way of war. Let’s tackle them one by one.

Ultima Pattern Cohort

Bet you cannot guess who’s been involved in this Cohort huh? That’s right, Roboute Guilliman, the Primarch of the Ultramarines, has had his hand in this one.

Choosing this Cohort grants you two special rules. The first allows a single Las-Rifle squad to perform a reaction at one point less from your Reaction Allocation. That isn’t just for one part of the other player’s turn either, as you can do this in your Movement, Shooting and Assualt phase (does not activate in your opponents though). IMO, I think this is pretty powerful, even though it is restricted to Las-Rifle units.

The second special rule helps you when building your army. For each Infantry Tercio Auxiliry Detachment you use, this unlocks a single additional Infantry Tercio Auxiliary Detachment. These additional ‘free’ detachments do not then unlock more.

Solar Pattern Cohort

This next one is a little similar in a way to the Solar Pattern detachment from 2.0.

All models in this Cohort gain the Shock Assualt special rule which grants units (so long as they also have the Vanguard keyword as well) the ability to disembark from a Dracosan transport and to then not have to make Disordered Charges.

Again, you also get a little more help with force organisation, specifically if you like the Veletaris units. By taking this Cohort, for each Veletaris Tercio Aux Detachment you take you unlock an additional Veletaris Tercio.

This may well be my pick of the Cohorts, as I like charging out of transports with the Storm Section!

Reconnaissance Pattern Cohort

As you would imagine, this Cohort allows for some additional Scout units, granting you an additional Scout Tercio Auxiliary Detachment you take.

Not only this, but also your units gain the Strike and Fade ability which works in two parts. The first part allows your Cavarly units to Control Objectives, but also then gives them Initative 5 for the purposes of using the Evade reaction, giving you a little more movement.

Mechanised Pattern Cohort

You’ll have noticed a pattern by now in that each of these different Cohorts gain an additional slot based on what the Cohort leans in to. This one is no different. For each Armoured Tercio Detachment you have, you gain an additional Armoured Tercio Detachment. Want to take lots of tanks? Then this my friend, is your detachment.

Now what is cool, is that any Vehicles in this Cohort (aside from Flyers) that don’t move over 4″ still get the Heavy (X) special rule. Yes OK, your tanks are moving up slowly, but allowing the full use of your firepower should not be sniffed at.

Siege Pattern Cohort

Again, but this time for Artillery Tercio, you unlock a bonus Artillery Tercio, for every Artillery Tercio you take.

Any Barrage weapons you have in your army that gives Pinning gains an additional +1 modifier to that test. This may not seem super exciting, but dishing out statuses, such as Pinning, in this new edition is big.

Iron Pattern Cohort

Now this one is seriously cool.

This Cohort allows you to intergrate the Mechnanicum into your army list by giving you an additional detachment to play with which, as you’d imagine, allows you to bring some Mechanicum units to the fray.

Yes, it’s a little restricting on what you can bring along (Tech-Priests, Thallax and Castallax) however it is letting you bring along these units easier and in better numbers. Units with Tech-Priests also get to Control Objectives.

Finally for this Cohort, your Lasrifle sections gain Expendable (1).

Auxiliary Detachments

So with the Cohorts out of the way, you are probably wondering exactly what those above mentioned detachments look like.

They open up slots that you would expect based on the name of the detachment. They each do have restrictions on the specific units that can be taken in a slot. For example, in the Infantry Tercio the Troops slot can only be filled by Lasrifle sections, and the Recon slots can only be filled by Hermes Light Sentinel Squadron units.

To be clear, you can use all of the detachments from the main rule book. The ones listed below can be taken in addition and are of course exclusive to the Solar Aux.

You’ll notice that you are required to included a particular unit in order to unlock these detachments. These are datasheets within this book, which we’ll touch upon shortly.

Veletaris Tercio

Requires to unlock: Veletaris Command Section

This detachment contains the following slots:

• Elites (Prime)
• Elites
• Support
• 2 x Heavy Transport

With the following cavaets:

• Elite slots can only be filled by Storm or Vanguard Sections
• Support slots can only be filled by Hermes Veletaris Squardron Units

Infantry Tercio

Requires to unlock: Line Command Section

This detachment contains the following slots:

• Troops (Prime)
• Troops
• Recon
• 2 x Hevay Transport

With the following cavaets:

• Troops slots can only be filled by Lasrifle Sections
• Recon slots can only be filled by Hermes Light Sentinel Squardon units

Artillery Tercio

Requires to unlock: Artillery Command Section

This detachment contains the following slots:

• 3 x Support

With the following cavaets:

• Support slots can only be filled by Rapier Sections, Basilisks or Medusas

Scout Tercio

Requires to unlock: Hermes Command Section

This detachment contains the following slots:

• 2 x Recon
• War-Engine

With the following cavaets:

• Recon slots can only be filled with Hermes Light Sentinel Squadrons.
• War-Engine slots can only be filled by Aethon Heavy Sentinel Squadrons

Armour Tercio

Requires to unlock: Armoured Command Section

This detachment contains the following slots:

• 3 x Armour

With the following cavaets:

• Armour slots can only be filled by Leman Russ Strike / Assualt Tanks or Malcador Heavy Tanks.

Datasheets

You may all be wondering what units have made it into the book, which I’m going to go through shortly. There are a fair few datasheets, so I’m not going to go through every single one of them. I will however point out any fun notes or squadron sizes as I go by each unit entry.

The HQ section has been filled out by new datasheets. These are different types of command squads, and I will be taking a bit more time over these. These are the units required to unlock the detachments discussed in the previous section.

All of the below Sections contain a Leader and 4 ‘Veterans’. These units can be upped to a 10 man squad.

• Legatine Command Section: This is basically your ‘major’ command squad. Your commander. The person in charge. Whilst it does not unlock a special detachment it is where you’ll find the Cohort Supreme Command trait (mentioned towards the start of the review, which grants you an additional Reaction point). The Marshal is the only unit in the army that is rocking a BS of 5. This unit has Line (2). This is the only option available for the High Command slot, the rest are normal Support HQs.
• Tactical Command Section: Very similar to the above, albeit you have a Captain leading the unit, rather than a Marshal. The standout trait in this unit is that the Captain has Officer of of the Line (2), which grants him an additional Auxilary Detachement.
• Line Command Section: Not only does this unit unlock the Infantry Tercio, but it also a very handy special rule, called Close Orders. This rule allows any Infantry units in your army that can draw line of sight to this unit to add +1 to there Line value (so Line (1) becomes Line (2)).
• Veletaris Command Section: Unlocks the corresponding detachment and also provides the special rule called Hold the Line. This rule grants Veletaris units a Feel No Pain (5+) against any wounds suffered as part of a Reaction or Volley Attack. This is big, as it’s easy for say your Storm Section to be gun-downed whilst they charge into a unit.
• Artillery Command Section: The leader of this unit, the Ordance Master, grants the Precision Bombardment rule. This basically allows you to decrease the Scatter distance on any unit firing within 18″, making for more precise template attacks.

The next 2 HQ detachments are vehicle ones, which I really like:

• Hermes Command Section: At base cost, this unit contains 1 x Hermes Lead and 1 x Hermes Pathfinder, however you can increase the number of Pathfinders up to 5 by paying the cost for 4 more. A little unit of Hermes Light Sentinels is super fun (and allows for some conversion work to make your Lead stand out). The Lead grants nearby Scout Tercio units the Firestorm ability (don’t have to make Volley Attacks as Snap-shot).
• Armoured Command Section: Nice and simple, this datasheet is for 1 x Command Tank, which can be any of the Leman Russ variants. It grants Auto-Repair 4+ to friendly models within 18″. This is amazing and will keep your tanks in the fight longer. Tank company, ho!

Wondering what else made the cut into the book? Let’s take a look at the rest of the datasheets:

• Veletaris Storm Section: IMHO the best looking unit in the Solar Auxilia. They come stock with Volkite Chargers, however for the extra cool look they can swap them out for Storm Axes. Unit has Vanguard (3) making it a great unit regardless if you go ranged or close combat for clearing objectives.
• Veletaris Vanguard Section: These come with Heavy Flamers and also have Vanguard (3).
• Charonite Ogryn Section: Another one of my favourite units, only this one is still in Resin (man I hope they get a plastic kit soon. They are even on the cover of this Liber!). They have a bunch of special rules, including Impact Hits, Expendable (2) and a 5+ Feel No Pain. These large lads take up a Heavy slot.
• Lasrifle Section: Chances are you’ll be running at least a couple of these. They of course come complete with Line (1). 50pts nabs you a unit of 10, so they are cheap as chips and should be the backbone to most lists.
• Basilisk Artillery Tank: Nothing has really changed here, with 12 Armour to the Front and Rear. Artilley lists will likely have a few of these. Basilisks take up a Support slot.
• Medusa Artillery Tank: If you prefer your Ordance as a Mortar, then the Medusa is for you. Again a Support slot tank.
• Rapier Section: You can equip your Rapiers with either Heavy Bolters, Laser Destroyers or Quad Launchers. These get a special rule entitled Rapier Section (original) which in short forces your enemy to use the Rapier’s Toughness characteristic instead of the crews.
• Hermes Veletaris Squadron: The little Sentinel Walkers come in pairs, however you can include up to 4 more in the unit. For what you get these things are super cheap at only 40pts (then 20pts per additional Hermes). Come with Volkite which can be swapped for Heavy Flamers. They are also Cavarly, and take up a Support slot.
• Aethon Heavy Sentinel Squadron: These are Walkers rather than Cavalry. 60pts gets you one, however you can add up to 2 more into the unit. These take up a War-Engine slot on your roster.
• Arvus Lighter: The first transport in the book which recently got a fantastic new mini. They can be equipped with Flare Launchers which provide Shrouded Damage Mitigation against the Interceptor Reaction, which will help its longevity, as they are only armour 11 all round. Have a transport capacity of 12. For the purposes of adding to your list they take up a Light Transport slot.
• Dracosan Armoured Transport: A Heavy Transport this time, with a capacity of 22 (which does not reduce if you take the Demolisher Cannon, which is a massive bonus vs last editions rules).
• Hermes Light Sentinel Squadron: These are the alternative build to the Veletaris Hermes. These ones come stock with Multi-Lasers and are still Cavalry. They do have Outflank however. Super cheap at 32pts for 2. They take up a Recon slot.
• Primaris-Lightning Strike Fighter: Good to see the resin flyers in here, and I hope these get the plastic treatment soon too. Flyers could be very fun in this edition. (Check out our Core Rulebook review for more on that).
• Thunderbolt Heavy Fighter: My favourite of the two flavours of planes. Again I think they could be great now in Heresy.
• Leman Russ Strike Tank: Old faithful. The classic Leman Russ loadout of Battle Cannon with Hull Mounted Heavy Bolter. This datasheet allows you to swap out the cannon for a Gravis Autocannon, Twin Lascannon or Vanquisher Cannon.
• Leman Russ Assualt Tank: Swaps out the traditional turret weapons for a choice between Volkite Macro-saker, Executioner Plasma Destroyer or the Demolisher Cannon.
• Malcador Heavy Tank: The Malcador can fire at multiple targets at its full Ballistic Skill, which is a huge bonus as tanks cannot do this normally in the new edition.
• Malcador Infernus Special Weapons Tank: My favourite tank in the army, thanks to the utterly huge Infernus Cannon. Now just takes up a Tank slot instead of being a Lord of War choice, which is ace. Explodes on a 3+ so…be warned.
• Valdor Tank Destroyer: Another former Lord of War unit, now just takes up a Tank slot.
• Stormhammer Super-Heavy Assualt Tank: Now this is of course still a Lord of War. Has 14/13/12 Armour and a plethora of weapons.

Legiones Auxilia Designations

When building your Solar Aux army, you can should you wish pick a Legiones Auxilia trait to accompany your other rules. This represents your Solar Aux going to war side-by-side with a Legion. This could create some fun list building should you wish to really lean into this and bring in some Legion units.

Each Legiones Auxilia contains a unique Reaction that you can use. What I also like about this section is it gives you a good amount of lore for them, as well as imagery depiciting the traditional scheme, as well as the emblem. Each reaction is fairly wordy (probably overly so) but I have included the rule as its called out below.

• Calibanite Jaegers (Dark Angels): This reaction allows the Reactive player to make attacks with the Detonation special rule against certain charging units
• Archite Palatines (Emperor’s Children): This reaction allows a unit (and nearby allies) yo perform a move after it succeeds on a Check to avoid gaining a Tactical Status in the Active Player#s shooting phase.
• Selucid Thorakites (Iron Warriors): This reaction allows the Reactive player to ignore the effect of a failed Pinning, Suppresive or Stun check.
• Chogorian Limitanei (White Scars): This reaction allows the Reactive player to ignore the effect of a failed Panic test in the Assualt Phase and instead apply the Hold aftermath option to a unit within 3″ of an objective.
• Fenrisian Kaerls (Space Wolves): Advanced Reaction which allows a unit to charge an enemy unit moving into play from Reserves
• Inwit Phalangites (Imperial Fists): This reaction allows the Reactive player to increase the Toughness of a unit targeted by a shooting attack if the target unit is in cover.
• Nostraman Damnatii (Night Lords): This reaction allows the Reactive player to ignore the effect of a failed Panic Check in the Shooting Phase and instead gain the Heedless and Impact (A) special rules for the rest of the battle.
• Saiphan Elevatii (Blood Angels): Allows the reacting unit to make a charge against an enemy unit that moves within range.
• Medusan Chainshroud (Iron Hands): This reaction allows one of the Reactive players units to suffer D3 wounds and discard the Routed status when it fails a Panic Check in the Shooting or Assualt Phase.
• Nagrakal Thraexii (World Eaters): This allows the reacting unit to make a shooting attack targeting an enemy unit that has performed a Disengage or Fall Back aftermath in the Assualt phase.
• Ultramar High Guard (Ultramarines): Allows the Reactive player to make a Shooting Attack against a Charging unit and potentially cause that Charge to become Disordered.
• Barbaran Ambaxtoi (Death Guard): This reaction allos the Reactive player to prevent a unit from needing to make a Panic Check due to suffering Casualties in the Shooting Phase and allow it to perform a Snap Shot shooting attack.
• Prosperine Spireguard (Thousand Sons): This reaction allows the Reactive player to inflict the Warp Rupture result from a Perils of the Warp table on both a friendly and enemy unit which has inflicted enough casaulties on it in the shooting phase to trigger a Panic Check.
• Cthonian Headhunters (Sons of Horus): This allows a unit and nearby allies to move towards an enemy unit when it makes a fall back move.
• Colchisian Torquatii (Word Bearers): This reaction allows the Reactive Player to make attacks with a unit when its last model is removed as a casualty while locked in combat.
• Proximan Sacramentii (Salamanders): Allows the Reactive player to make a Feel No Pain Damage Mitigation roll for a friendly unit at the expense of it gaining the Pinned Status.
• Therion Velites (Raven Guard): This reaction allows the reacting unit to move up to its Initiative characterstic and make a Volley Attack targeting a unit that makes a charge.
• Sparatoi Vindicta (Alpha Legion): This reaction allows the Reactive Player to force a shooting attack declared by the active player to target a unit with the Infantry type and Solar Auxilia trait if the shooting unit fails a Cool Check.

Solar Auxilia Gambits

If you like the idea of Challenges in combat (which is almost like a little mini game in the new edition, make sure you check out our Core Rules review for more) then the Solar Aux probably aren’t for you, as they don’t have a raft of combat characters.

However, they do still have a Gambit of which they can use, called Contemptous Volley. In short it allows a model in a Challenge to fire a pistol weapon against the enemy model. I mean, a Solar Aux Marshall would do this wouldn’t they? Love how themed this is!

Summary

I played the Solar Auxilia a little in the previous edition, and if I’m being honest I didn’t really get on with them.

Now that I’ve read (and reviewed) this book, along with having tried out the new edition of the game, I’m really excited to try them again, as IMO they are a much better fighting force.

You have to be smart with them, as you’ll want to be careful on exactly how you deploy, but by using the right units in the right situations and maximising inflicting statuses on your enemy I think will provide a fun and well performing army.

I also think you’ll get to use more of the toys you want to use, thanks to the new army building rule, compared to the previous edition. It’s easier than ever to theme your army. Want a Tank Company? Then go for it.

The old Libers were pretty awful when it came to the layout, which was a massive shame as we are so used to praising the layouts of say Codexes from 40k and Battletomes from Age of Sigmar. I’m really pleased to say that these new Libers are the polar opposite. This book literally contains everything you need to run the Solar Aux on the battlefield. You’ll find all the details on your weapons, wargear, statuses and special rules all within this book.

One of my favourite sections is actually the Legiones Auxilia. I’m really into the idea of running a Legion along with accompanying Solar Aux forces in a battle. Some of the most flavoursome rules can be found in this segment. I also really like the effort that has gone into different schemes, as well as variations in colours between different units.

Overall I’m very impressed with Liber Auxilia. It feels like a complete product and it’s made me want to field the Solar Aux once again on the battlefield!

Ensure you check out our Heresy Hub for all of the different articles and videos we have up today, including a review of all the other books and the unboxing of Saturnine.

Published by David Jennings

Born and raised in Crewe in Cheshire, Dave is a geek through and through. Enjoys designing and managing websites. View all posts by David Jennings