GW Reveals New CHONKY Solar Auxilia Tank Sizes

By Travis Pasch | February 27th, 2024 | Categories: 40k News & Articles, Games Workshop, Horus Heresy, Solar Auxilia, Tabletop Gaming News & Rumors, Warhammer Community

The Solar Auxilia are being reimagined in plastic perfection, and these new Horus Heresy tank sizes are quite CHONKY!

If you’ve been patiently waiting since the first reveal, well, the time for new Horus Heresy plastic is here! It’s always good to know just how big the minis are before you buy them, and GW seemed to deliver with the size of these new tanks. . One of the biggest concerns for any hobbyist is the size of their models, and the latest reveal from GW has put those concerns to rest.

GW Reveals New CHONKY Horus Heresy Solar Auxilia Tank Sizes

Here is the latest on the new Horus Heresy Solar Auxilia tank sizes from Warhammer Community.

Despite their prolific presence during the Horus Heresy, some of these tanks may be less familiar due to the skew towards the actions of the Legiones Astartes. Our unbiased reporting, however, will put your size-based concerns to rest.

The indomitable Leman Russ is actually on the smaller end. Shorn of its 41st Millennium era sponsons and sporting a sleeker design with yards of trim that demands polishing before every engagement, this stalwart of the Imperial stable is dwarfed by the Malcador Heavy Battle Tank, but far more versatile.

The Leman Russ is a little different from the 40k version, and in HH, it is on the smaller end of tanks! With so many Space Marines around, you need to have some bulk to fight against those superhuman soldiers.

The Malcador itself predates the Leman Russ design, created during the Age of Strife and (re)named after Malacdor the Sigillite. These mighty tanks are well known for their impressively deceptive speed on the battlefield, thanks to a powerful, if temperamental, drive system.

The Malcador is huge and actually dwarves the Leman Russ, but worry not; you’ll have plenty of guns (and sponsons) to go along with that extra size!

It’s not all fun and guns on the battlefield, though. The men and women of the Solar Auxilia are prepared to take every front by foot if need be, but the Dracosan Armoured Transport gets them right where they need to be with its capacity for 20 troopers. This versatile chassis can even forgo half this load to install a thundering Demolisher cannon.

What would you expect with a tank that can carry 20 troopers? It would have to be big, and this is one CHONY tank! It also has a few weapon options, and you can even replace some transport capabilities with bigger guns!

Basilisk & Medusa

The Auxilia Basilisk and Medusa specialise in opposite directions, adapting the Leman Russ chassis to carry either a massive Earthshaker cannon or a Medusa Mortar, respectively.

These are on the smaller end of the new plastics, as they use the traditional Russ chassis. However, they use it for giant guns, with a few twists.

In a previous article, GW showed off the interior of the Medusa, and it has a ton of detail! You don’t have to worry about it if you don’t feel like painting more, but it’s always nice to have more hobby options, too!

Plus, the new Leman Russ has all sorts of new bits, from Trech Rails to oxygen scrubbers; they really pack in the detail. The new take on the Mars Pattern also appears to be two separate kits, and so far, there does not look to be any sponson bits available for either of the kits.

The Strike Tank variant has four different turret weapons: a battle cannon, a vanquisher cannon, a gravis lascannon, or a gravis autocannon.

The Leman Russ Assault Tank adds even more turret options to your armored squadrons, ramping up explosive firepower with a massive demolisher cannon and volkite macro-saker.

Having these kits in plastic really makes them far more accessible, and it’s nice to see how big they are going to be!