Updated 2026/03/22

Index

Overview
Legiones Astartes
Solar Auxilia
Mechanicum (Work in Progress)

Introduction

This guide covers buying into Legions Imperialis (LI), the 8mm epic scale game from GW. The game currently has three-ish factions and a large number of options for getting started. I want to try and break down what has the best value, and the best starting units. This is not intended as a complete guide to the game.

If you want to explore what army building looks like you can use the Legion Builder app, and I’ll provide some guidance on starting list building later on. I do want to lay out a few things related to list building. First is game size. GW recommends 3000 points which will be a suitably epic game, but quite long. Many events are closer to the 2000 point level to more comfortably allow more than one game in a day. The second point I’ll make is that LI rules as written has no activation cap on army lists. This means that in that environment one of the strongest things to do is spam minimum sized units. However that vastly slows down the game and also is extremely unbalanced if one player has a large activation advantage. For this reason most events add an activation cap.

And in a world where activations are capped LI rewards larger units. Larger units are less likely to break and flee. And larger units want a lot of the same weapon. So another question you’ll need to answer is how important What You See Is What You Get to you, and your local scene. So some of this advice is contradictory. You’ll want a lot of activations, or you’ll want large units? Unfortunately that’s the life of playing GW’s Specialist Games. The community often steps in when GW does not and how you want to play will depend on local players, seek them out and ask them about this.

The way this guide is going to work is I’ll go through the boxed sets for each faction, then talk about some key other things to consider, and lastly some general buying advice and building your first lists. This first page covers some overall notes and LI accessories and rules, links to the individual buying guides are on the right.

One last note on list building to keep in mind. You can take allies in this game, typically one detachment which can make up to 30% of your list’s points. I’m not going to talk about that too much but keep it in mind when thinking about lists and purchases.

Note on points and prices:

All points given are approximate, they can vary a bit depending on unit options and how you split models up. It’s a pretty small band in LI but consider the points list below as +/-5%.

For prices I’m sticking to USD and GW’s MSRP. You can get these cheaper in the states, and other countries obviously have their own pricing, but the savings from a box set should be consistent across all of this.

Choosing a Faction

You can count the number of factions in LI in a few ways. The core factions are Legiones Astartes (Space Marines), Solar Auxilia (Imperial Guard), and the Mechanicum. Each of these have a range of vehicles, walkers, and infantry. Knights and Titans also exist in the game and can be taken as allied assets, or as their own unit army lists.

Generally speaking you will want to start with a core faction. Knights are very bad at holding objectives, and Titans can not hold them. This means if you’re playing one of those you’ll want to ally in a core faction for infantry support. You could start with Titans and allied Mechanicum, but I’d recommend the reverse as it will give you a more complete collection and understanding of the game.

The largest and most flexible army list belongs of course to the space marines. However the Solar Aux list is arguably more powerful and still has a lot of options. Mechanicum has a smaller roster and is a bit more limited, but it does have easier access to Knights and Titans, as well as being able to take spider-like Dark Mechanicum walkers.

Rules and Gubbins

In the second half of 2025 GW greatly simplified what you need to play Legions Imperialis. There is now a core rule book ($65) and the Liber Strategia ($65) contains all army lists. Prior to this there were a series of small hardbacks adding new units to the game. Playing the game does really require a physical or digital copy of the core rules. The Liber Strategia is only offered in print but you can get buy with Legion Builder or New Recruit.

The rulebook is included in the starter set so let’s talk a bit more about it now.

Warhammer: The Horus Heresy – Legions Imperialis

Price: $215
Value: $359
Points: 1708
Marine points: 502
Solar Auxilia points: 606
Warhound points: 600
50:50 split value: $179.50

Starting with the most complicated box to talk about, we have the Legions Imperialis starter set. So there are a lot of numbers above, but the core ones are the price, what that comes to if you bought everything separately, and then what you’d be looking at if you split this. And splitting this gets complicated when there is one rule book.

So, where does that leave us? I think the starting set is a fine set. Warhounds are okay, very cool, not bad, but expensive for the firepower they bring and not as mobile as you might think. The Solar Aux and Marine parts of the box are both fine but quite limited. For reasons outside the scope of this document they’re not great as allied forces.

If you’re looking at the box I strongly recommend someone who’d like to split it and get 2 copies. That way you both get a rule book and a more complete start to your faction. You do both end with 2 Warhounds which might be overkill but it’s still a good deal. On the subject of splitting there are more marine players out there, but I think the Solar Aux get the better deal here in terms of units and points so that should make it a little easier to find someone interested.

What’s This About Gubbins?

You may have noticed some other stuff in the starter set. I’m not going to explain d6s to you but let’s touch on the other stuff. First you’ve got templates. These are the standard GW set and if you know people who play GW games I’m sure someone has a spare set they could give you. They don’t get used often in the game but some weapons do need them. The red sticks are for measuring or whipping your friends. In one of those regards they’re useless and best replaced with a tape measure.

But let’s talk about that sheet of tokens hiding behind the rules. Imperialis relies on face-down order tokens. When first playing you can use the ones included in the starter set. But if you don’t have the starter set and have not yet given up on life you’ll want some other ones. These are not printed on nice thick card-stock but just thin almost-paper. You’ve got a lot of options. You can upgrade the ones coming in this box. You can buy nice plastic ones from GW. You can 3d print some. You can buy some acrylic ones. You can buy some 3d printed ones. Whatever you do, upgrade what the starter box comes with. Do note if you’re printing these or otherwise making your own you’ll need by far the most Advance orders. And having 6 40mm round objectives is nice too.

What About Army Lists?

All current army lists, unit stats, and points had been in the Liber Strategia book. If you’re playing the game you’ll want to pick up a copy. You can get by with the core rule book and the Legion Builder site if you want, but browsing the book is nice and things will be a little more complete.

With the upcoming release of Legions Imperialis: Journal Strategia – The Ruin of the Salamanders you’ll find some units will need that book for their stats.

Do note that the unit stats and points in the core rule book are slightly out of date, likewise a series of hardback campaign books have unit rules which are no longer valid. These books are going out of print so only pick them up if you want the campaign rules and/or background material.

GW Sells Cards, What’s the Deal with Those?

GW offers decks of cards, one per faction for Imperialis. These cards cover unit stats and list building formations. You don’t need them. They are kind of nice as an at-table reference but there are two things about them that makes it hard to recommend. First, they list special rules your units and weapons have. But not what they do. Second, they’re kinda annoying to store and transport. They’ve used several card sizes based on how much rules text there is. Which is kinda nice, but also means rather than one deck of cards you’ve got 2 and they don’t come in a great box for that.

If you’re interested, I’d say get them, but they’re certainly not a must-buy.

Terrain and the Battlefield

Legions Imperialis departs from most GW games in a few ways. The most obvious is scale. We’re at 8mm rather than 32mm. That means terrain sized for 40k may look a bit odd here. That said, don’t let that stop you. A 40k ruined building is going to look better than a pile of books. And some things like hills or even some of the industrial terrain GW has made can look right at home.

However if you want to go beyond that you’ve got a few options. GW makes a line of terrain for LI, it’s very nice looking, but pretty fiddly to assemble and gets expensive quick. That said, if you want a great looking battlefield and don’t mind the cost it’s a great place to start. They also make a ruined version of their buildings and if you wanted to really go all the way you could make ruined versions of buildings to put down if the originals are destroyed.

For retail options you’ve got a few other choices. The first I’ll mention is Battlefield in a Box, particularly their Gothic Sector epic terrain. This is practically made for Imperialis and looks great. Another Battlefield in a Box thing to keep an eye out for are the various things designed for Battletech. Not all of these will fit but it’s a good option for things like forests.

Additionally Warcradle Games makes a line of terrain for their Armoured Clash game which fits well in terms of scale and aesthetic, however it’s price is pretty comparable to the GW kits.

Going outside of retail war gaming terrain you’ve got a lot of options. Keep in mind that Imperalis wants buildings more than most games, garrisoning them is pretty key to infantry’s role in the game. But there are countless options in the 3d printing field. And if you’re looking to craft hills or similar that works great at this scale. For forests you can look into model railroad trees, N or maybe even HO scale for those.

The last note on the battlefield is that Imperalis is played on a 5x4. By far the easiest way to set this up is take a 6x4 gaming mat and put a line of painter’s tape down. You could trim a mat down if desired, or permanently mark it, but those would mostly consign it to only being used for Imperialis so I don’t recommend it.

Legiones Astartes

The bulk of the Warhammer Horus Heresy universe is made up of the battle of brother on brother, the 18 space marine legions warring for Horus or the Emperor. While Astartes are far and away the dominant presence on the Warhammer: 30,000 battlefield, in LI it’s a little more balanced. Still the most popular army, you’ll see plenty of Solar Aux and Mechanicum forces as you play the game.

One thing I’ll note here, in most GW games Astartes play as a somewhat elite force. That is less the case in LI. You have good moral and tons of options, but your individual units don’t feel more powerful than the opposition. However your units are priced well so that isn’t a limitation and really lets you feel like you’re fielding an epic force.

This article does discuss a couple of limited-production boxed sets so will be updated when they are gone from store shelves.

Starting Astartes

When starting with Astartes you will need to pick a Legion. There are 18 legions and they all come with their own set of special rules. Some of these are very good, some of these are almost useless. It’s not ideal, but that’s the situation. That said, the Legion rules don’t break the game, if you have a weaker legion you’re not that far behind in a game versus someone with one of the best. My strong advice is to buy and paint the legion you like the look and lore of, but obviously do what makes sense to you. For more info on the legions see this Goonhammer article, note there are some slight changes to the game after that but I’d not worry about them too much. There are no limitations on what a given legion can take, but note that there are a couple Astartes legendary formations which are legion-specific, for info on those see Legion Builder or this Goonhammer article. Be aware that legendary formations specify weapons load-outs so if you care about WYSIWYG please take those into account. I’ll also note that the game is pretty friendly to allied detachments. Taking your main force from one legion and then building an allied detachment to take advantage of that legion’s specialty is a great idea, but you will want to learn how the game works before getting into that.

One thing I’ll note here is that many players will not put 5 marines on a base. That gets very crowded, personally I do 4 marines or 3 terminators. This means that if a set comes with 40 Tacticals for 8 bases of them, you can end up with 10 bases worth. Note - you’ll need to supply the extra bases and GW does not sell their 25mm LI bases separately.

The last thing I want to note is that the Astasrtes range in this game is extremely large. You can get whatever you like, but if you have a “collect them all” mentality that will quickly spiral out of control. My advice is two-fold, first - larger units or repeated are often better. Getting 2 boxes of one thing is often better than 2 different boxes. Second, when building your list, try and keep your Legion’s identity in mind. Many of the legion traits don’t directly play into this, but trying to preserve your Legion’s theme and flavor will both give you direction, and result in a more cohesive force.

Astartes Boxed Sets

Legiones Astartes Combined Arms Battle Group

Price: $215
Value: $318
Points: 1468

If you’re interested in this pick it up, the last Astartes battle group sold out in a month or two. So what do you get? We start with your standard Astartes infantry box, great. Then we have a support box. Read the combat force two places up from this for more on that, but keep in mind this is a box you want 2 of. And we have 4 Kratos, again see the combat force for notes on these, they’re pretty damn good, but having 4 in two different boxed sets hurts.

After that things get interesting. It comes with a set of Sicaran Arcus or Punishers which are different from the Sicaran options in other sets. Punishers are quite good, all Sicarans are fast, but Punishers with their short range and very good anti-infantry damage output can take advantage of that speed to pick off enemy units. I might like the Arcus even more, they cost a few more points but have a very strong anti-tank profile, and importantly a 20” anti-air profile. Aircraft are very strong, but very fragile in this game if being shot with AA. Having a couple options in your list to shoot at air units is recommended and flexible, fast ones like this are great.

Next up we have Land Raiders and these I’m a bit less hot on. They cost 3.5x the price of a Rhino with the same transport capacity. What do they gain for that? They swap the Rhino’s anti-infantry point defense for a underwhelming lascannon profile. This is an upgrade but not a huge one as they only get one attack per model. On a more positive note the save goes from 4+ to 2+ and they gain Assault Transport letting units charge out of them. Lastly they gain CAF +2 allowing them to punch above their weight in melee, a surprisingly effective tactic for transports after unloading their troops. At the end of the day I think Land Raiders are fine, I think Rhinos are more flexible given their far cheaper cost, but having access to Land Raiders isn’t a bad thing.

Lastly we have Xiphon Interceptors, 6 of them. These are pretty good, aircraft are great in LI and fighters like these can be used as anti-air while still having pretty solid ground attack profiles. You get 6 because that’s what comes in a box, but honestly that’s probably overkill. Max squadron size is 4, and while I could see taking 2 units of 3 I think that would be pretty rare. Generally I like pairs of interceptors, though list building slots for them are often tight. Still, very happy to see these here and I think any marine player would like some of these in their collection.

So, where does this box stand? If you’re looking to play marines in Imperialis I highly recommend picking up this box while you can.

Warhammer: The Horus Heresy – Legions Imperialis

Price: $215
Value: $359
Points: 1708
Marine points: 502
Warhound points: 300x2
50:50 split value: $179.50

Starting with the most complicated box to talk about, we have the Legions Imperialis starter set. So there are a lot of numbers above, but the core ones are the price, what that comes to if you bought everything separately, and then what you’d be looking at if you split this. And splitting this gets complicated when there is one rule book.

So, where does that leave us? I think the starting set is a fine set. Warhounds are okay, very cool, not bad, but expensive for the firepower they bring and not as mobile as you might think. The other things is that it gives you have a box of Predators and Scicarans, which are fine units but you really don’t want squads this small.

On the good side you get a box of the Marine Infantry set which is core to building out the army. You really want at least 2 and more like 3 or 4 of this box so getting one here is good.

If you’re looking to get into the game because this comes with a rule book and some decent options getting 2 of these boxes to split still makes sense. You’ll each get a rule book, over 1000 points of your army, and 2 Warhounds. Two Warhounds is probably overkill, but it’s still not a bad deal and I really love the Warhound models. Alternatively you could get one box, split that, and split a second rule book’s price. That avoids the Warhound issue but does leave both players with fewer tanks than they might like.

The last note that needs to be made is on the tokens this comes with, they suck. They’re very thin paper and you don’t want to use them. There are a lot of 3d printed options, some acrylic, and GW’s new plastic ones. You’ll want to get one of these options, see the appendix at the end.

Legions Imperialis: Legiones Astartes Combat Force

Price: $170
Value: $238.50
Points: 1023

Coming next is the Combat Force. Combat Forces are new for LA and they represent an evergreen (not-limited) product similar to Combat Patrol, Spearhead, or Battalion boxes from some of GW’s other lines.

The Marine one is pretty solid, again it includes an infantry box, great as you want 2-4 of these. And unlike the starter this also comes with some Rhinos, not enough Rhinos, but 5 is a good start and transports are very good in this game. Any time you can get more Rhinos into your collection or a list you should do so.

It also includes the support box which comes with Leviathans, Deredeos, Rapiers, and Tarantulas. These are all pretty valuable units, however there is a big asterisk there. You get minimum squad sizes of these, and that’s split across 2 weapons. If you care about WYIWYG you really want at least 2 support boxes.

So should you get 2 copies of this? No. The issue is the tanks. You’re getting 4 Kratos and 4 Scicarans. There is nothing wrong with this, both are good units. But also this is about as many as I’d like of each. 4 Kratos is 270 points, fitting 8 into a list is certainly possible, but with how many tanks Marines have I don’t think it’s something I’d like to do very often.

Warhammer: The Horus Heresy – Legions Imperialis Saturnine Battle Group

Price: $215
Value: $318 (probably)
Points: 1640+

This box contains three existing boxes: Vindicators, Mastadons, and Fire Raptors. Between those three you’re looking at $159 in value and 710 in points. 2 boxes of a new Saturnine sprue, and a box of Araknae weapons platforms are a heafty 930 points, give or take.

A little early to say how good this is but it’s a very compelling for a new player. You get a lot of great models and over 1600 points. If you like Saturnine models I think this is a great choice.

The existing units are all pretty good, Mastadons are one way to speed up those slow terminators or dreads, and I really like having access to Demolisher (special rule letting you target and destroy buildings) which they and the Vindicators bring. Fire Raptors have a lot of well, fire and until now seeing planes in these boxes hadn’t happened.

All that said, this doesn’t seem like a box to buy 2 of, it’s going to be very points-intensive and I can’t see wanting to bring 16 Saturnine Dreadnoughts and 24 stands of Saturnine Terminators. But picking this box up while you can’ (it’s a limited release) is a great idea if you like any of the units in it.

Astartes Unit Boxes

This section is going to cover some boxes that are not included in the above sets, or are something you want more of than those sets will give you. These units are very much not a tier list, but a guide to building a balanced force, or fitting a Legion’s theme.

1. Legiones Astartes Infantry (257 points)
   These come in three of the four boxed sets above, but are still worth mentioning here. Each box only comes with 2 stands of the special infantry types and all of those can be taken in units of 8 stands. This means that I really think you eventually want 4 copies of this. Now one route would be 2x starter box (split), 1 Combat Patrol, 1 Combined Arms Battle Group. But that’s a big investment. If you don’t think you’re doing that, or if you plan on more than one legion, you’ll probably want a box or two of these to fill out units. And remember that you don’t have to put 5 models on a base.
2. Rhino Transport Detachment (100 points)
   The other entry here that appears in a boxed set is the humble Rhino. Rhinos are very good in this game, very flexible, and very annoying for your opponent to have to deal with them after they’ve unloaded. Each Rhino can hold 2 stands so you’ll end up wanting a good number of them. I think 10 from this set is a fine place to start, and if you have this set and the Combat Patrol, 15 isn’t really overkill though you usually won’t bring that many.
3. Legiones Astartes Fast Attack (230 points)
   This is similar to the Infantry or Support boxes as it comes with a selection of units. Here are your classic fast attack choices. This is a box that to me really depends on your legion. White Scars? At least two of these. Death Guard? I’ll pass.
4. Spartan Assault Tanks (280 points)
   We’re going a little transport heavy here but transports are really good. I like the Spartan over the Land Raider if you’re looking for a heavy transport without going all the way to Mastadons. The Spartan is twice as many points as the Land Raider and for that you get 2.5x the transport, 2.5x the firepower, and 2x the wounds. Now one issue here is that with transport (5) you’ll be wasting one slot if taking Terminators in these, but I think they’re still pretty solid. For 70 points a model they do the transport of 5 Rhinos (50 points) and leave you with a heavy tank at the end rather than 5 annoying APCs.
5. Cerberus Heavy Tank (295 points) One of the newer units in the game the Cerberus is a premier anti-armor unit in the Astartes list. Its neutron laser battery is one of the best anti-tank weapons in the game with 3 very good dice. On top of that anything hit by it can only fire one weapon is is half move next turn. This means your opponent needs to keep their titans away from it, and it’s also very effective at shutting down super heavies.
6. Drop Pods (40 points)
   Okay, so this one is on here because it’s noteworthy in a bad way. Drop Pods are very cool in LI, but oh man they’re expensive. For the price and transport capacity of 10 Rhinos you only get 4 Drop Pods. And if you’re using Drop Pods everything needs to take them. If you want to build a Drop Pod force more power to you and it will look amazing. But your wallet and painting queue will hate you.

TL;DR Astartes

Without a doubt you want to start with one of the boxed sets above. Most will get you over 1000 points which is enough for a starting game. If you want to expand from there to 2000+ points here are some options.

New Stuff Route

1. $215 Legiones Astartes Combined Arms Battle Group

2. $215 Saturnine Battle Group

   Total: $430, ~3100 points

These two boxes are probably your best bet for getting to 2000 points cheaply, and depending on point costs should go well over. My big concern here is you’re very Saturnine reliant and I think your next buy after this has to be a second box of Astartes infantry.

I’m Not Like the Other Girls Route

1. $215 Legiones Astartes Combined Arms Battle Group

2. $53 Legiones Astartes Infantry

3. $53 Rhino Transport Detachment

4. $53 Cerberus Heavy Tank

   Total: ~$389, ~2120 points

This is one of the cheaper ways to get to 2000 points and will give you a good mix of units. By buying some specific boxes you can avoid over-buying certain units though you will have very limited list building options at 2000 points.

Starter Set Completionist Route

1. $215 Buy 2x starter sets and split with a Solar Aux player

2. $215 Legiones Astartes Combined Arms Battle Group

3. $170 Legiones Astartes Combat Force

   Total: $605, ~4000 points

This will give you a huge number of units and options to go in any direction you want. This hits 4x copies of the Infantry box, and 2x copies of the support box, the boxes that you most want to duplicate. You’ll have options for 3000 point lists and a ton of choice at 2000.

Astartes List Building

List building is a big subject and I can’t cover all the permutations above, but here I want to provide a little guidance on what to aim for early in your collection. In this section I’m going to present some basic list building blocks as well as talking about what you need to worry about.

List building pillars:

1. Infantry to hold objectives This is the name of the game. LI missions are based around holding objectives and infantry are best at it. Not to say tanks can’t hold them, but tanks can’t contest them, and infantry in buildings are extremely durable for their low points cost.

2. Ways to get infantry on mid-field objectives For all their positives, infantry are slow. You want a way to get them up to objectives outside of your deployment zone. This can be done via transports, or infiltration. Alpha Legion and Raven Guard can infiltrate units which makes them two of the best legions. Everyone else should look into Rhinos or various other metal boxes for at least some of their infantry.

3. Ways to get infantry out of objectives Having now read those two points, assume your opponent knows the same. They’ll have infantry on objectives, in buildings for that juicy cover save. Your list should have a plan for this and the three I’d recommend are:
   Close combat units (Terminators and Assault marines for Astartes)
   Ignores cover weapons (pretty limited options here, though Heavy Support Legionaries with missile launchers are a good option)
   The Demolisher special rule (Vindicators, Typhons, Mastadons)

4. Ways to deal with super heavies and titans (1500+ points) Your opponent in larger games will likely have some big bads and you want a way to deal with them that isn’t just Predators with autocannons. Some good options here are Cerberuses, the upcoming Falchion, or just massed anti-tank weapons

5. Ways to deal with flyers (1500+ points) I’ve said it before but flyers are very good and you need anti-air units to contest them and deny space to them. This is a real strength of marines and Deredeos, Tarantulas, Sicaran Arcus, Fire Raptors, and Xiphons can all do this.

Below is an example list entirely built from the Combined Arms Battle Group. Note that this list is either ignoring WYSIWYG or has some un-optimal units with the Rapiers and Dreadnoughts. I wouldn’t call this list particularly good, but it’s one of the best ways to get to 1500 points from that box. Adding a second infantry box will help a lot, as would another unit of tanks so you can run the Arcuses as one unit of 4.

Next is a list expanded from the Combined Arms Battle Group box and the list above. Note that I’ve not picked weapon load-outs and this is still probably going to violate WYSIWYG.

Expanding and Reviewing the List

1. Infantry to hold objectives We have 3 tactical squads. A large one in Rhinos with Plasma and the Command Squad attached will aim to move up the board. One with 4 missiles attached does not have transports and will aim for mid-range fire while hopefully holding an objective. Then a third squad of 6 will likely sit on a back objective. These six however do have Rhinos so if you want to try and threaten a point with them you can. Otherwise have these six sit in the back field and harass your opponent with their Rhinos.

2. Ways to get infantry on mid-field objectives Check and check. Note there is also a Terminator detachment in Land Raiders. I’d like this squad to be larger but they will still hit pretty hard.

3. Ways to get infantry out of objectives The list is a little weak here. The Terminators can do some work, and Leviathans do have Wrecker but that’s about it aside from layering firepower on squads on objectives. You also have 4 missile launchers ignoring cover if needed.

4. Ways to deal with super heavies and titans (1500+ points) Yup, good on this one. 4 Cerberuses is overkill for a game this size but we need the points and they’re great into any tank squadrons. The land raiders can also help here.

5. Ways to deal with flyers (1500+ points) Again, check and check. Deredeos, Arcus, and Xiphons can all use sky-fire.

At the end of the day this isn’t a list that would win a tournament, but it should have game against most opponents and comes in under $400 which is pretty good for a full-sized GW army. My next buy for the list would be a squadron of some kind of medium tanks to allow the Arcus squad to go to 4 models. Maybe Vindicators to help versus buildings. After that bulking out your options with a 3rd and 4th Infantry box is always good.

Solar Auxilia

The stars of the Horus Heresy are without a doubt the Legiones Astartes, however they represent just one slice of the forces arrayed against each other in the civil war. Games Workshop supports several other factions and in Imperialis the faction that launched along side the Space Marines were the Solar Auxilia.

More elite than the Imperial Guard of Warhammer 40k, the Solar Auxilia are (primarily) human soldiers armed and armoured with powerful weapons of war.

I really love the Solar Aux range in Imperialis, they are extremely competitive with Space Marines with a wide selections of vehicles, and some very useful infantry.

If you’re looking to make a force that isn’t just more Space Marines the Auxilia is a great place to go. You do have fewer options than the marines but I don’t think that’s entirely a bad thing with how large the Astartes range has gotten.

Starting Auxilia

Unlike Astartes or Solar Aux in 30k there are no sub-factions here, at least not in the rules. Pick the color scheme you like and go with that. Warhammer Community had a 4-part series (1, 2, 3, 4) on the color schemes of Solar Auxilia units. Some are associated with the 18 Legions, some are not. If you want to pick one to go with your Astartes that’s cool, but I wouldn’t worry about it too much.

For an overview of the army Goonhammer has an intro guide, which got an update for the Liber Strategia. I think when starting your Solar Aux force there are a few things to keep in mind.

1. Infantry, infantry, infantry - Solar Auxilia’s core infantry box is also the core of the faction. You can take very large units, up to 16 stands in a unit, and those stands can mix in various types of model. You really want to start any list with a strong core of infantry, it’s key to holding objectives and they’re dirt cheap. Solar Aux also have some of the best close combat infantry in the game.
2. Tanks too - Solar Auxilia has very good tanks, most are on a 2+ save meaning a squadron of Leman Russ are extremely tanky, it’s rare to see an AP higher than -2 so even then you’ve got a 4+. Your other tanks tend to also be pretty solid and again have a 2+ save, and many with 2 or more wounds so I think any Solar Aux player is going to want a large armoured formation.
3. Actually just take planes - Aircraft are one of my favorite parts of the Legions Imperialis rules and the Marauder Bomber is, in my humble opinion the most interesting and fun unit in the game. It also might be the best. Using planes takes some practice but they have an incredible amount of firepower and are very flexible in where they apply it. I highly recommend any Solar Aux player try and work some aircraft into their list, they’re a lot of fun and figuring out how they work is important.

This isn’t to say that Solar Auxilia are overpowered, they have a lot of weaknesses with weak moral, more restricted orders, and no Rhino-equivalent. But I think they’re an extremely rewarding army to paint and play and I highly recommend them to players new to the game. It’s a great way to field that massive Imperial Guard army you’ve always wanted but can’t afford and don’t want to paint.

Auxilia Boxed Sets

Legions Imperialis: Solar Auxilia Battle Group (Out of Print)

Price: $170
Value: $265
Points: 1412

This was a limited box released in 2024. I’m including it in this list as some local hobby shops still have them, and you could get it on Amazon for $151 right now. Note that the photo on the left is inaccurate. This is the same box as the Combat Force but comes with 6 Dracosans rather than 3. With the same MSRP if you can find this at the same price as the Combat Force this is the box to buy.

So take everything I said about the Combat Force and add 3 Dracosians to it.

Warhammer: The Horus Heresy – Legions Imperialis

Price: $215
Value: $359
Points: 1708
Solar Auxilia points: 589
Warhound points: 300x2
50:50 split value: $179.50

Starting with the most complicated box to talk about, we have the Legions Imperialis starter set. So there are a lot of numbers above, but the core ones are the price, what that comes to if you bought everything separately, and then what you’d be looking at if you split this. And splitting this gets complicated when there is one rule book.

So, where does that leave us? I think the starting set is a fine set. Warhounds are okay, very cool, not bad, but expensive for the firepower they bring and not as mobile as you might think. The other things is that it gives you half a box of Leman Russes and Malcadors, unlike the Space Marine side 4 Russes and 2 Malcadors are both perfectly viable units bringing 4 2+ save wounds. You do have build options for the tanks, I’d recommend Leman Russ Vanquishers with lascanons. For the Malcadors the standard variant or the Annihilator are fine, I’d keep the Demolisher cannon for both and go with autocannon or lascannon sponson weapons respectively. Always skip the pintle heavy stubbers.

Things get better from there with a full box of Solar Auxilia infantry, this gives you a bunch of different units, all of which are worth having and as with the Marines the infantry box is something you want multiple copies of as soon as possible.

If you’re looking to get into the game because this comes with a rule book and some decent options getting 2 of these boxes to split still makes sense. You’ll each get a rule book, over 1000 points of your army, and 2 Warhounds. Two Warhounds is probably overkill, but it’s still not a bad deal and I really love the Warhound models. Alternatively, you could get one box, split that, and split a second rule book’s price. That avoids the Warhound issue but does leave both players with fewer models.

The last note that needs to be made is on the tokens this comes with, they suck. They’re very thin paper and you don’t want to use them. There are a lot of 3d printed options, some acrylic, and GW’s new plastic ones. You’ll want to get one of these options, see the appendix at the end.

Legions Imperialis: Solar Auxilia Combat Force

Price: $170
Value: $238.50
Points: 1286

The Combat Force boxes are not limited release so this is something you should be able to buy in the future. And it’s a good place to start. You get the Infantry and Support boxes, a box of Leman Russes, 2 Baneblades or Hellhammers, and 3 Dracosian.

What it comes with is solid. Dracosians are over-abundant in Solar Aux products, you’ll be happy to get these 3 but if you buy another boxed set or set of Dracosians and end up with 9 you’re unlikely to use them all. Getting the Infantry box is always good. The support box is fine but also something you can end up with too many copies of. Both Baneblade and Hellhammers are viable so that’s good, follow your heart.

The 8 Russ tanks are the basic variant which you can end up with too many of, but the Leman Russ Vanquisher is the best Leman Russ so having 8+ of them is good. The Strike Tank was buffed recently and it’s… fine.

This isn’t a bad box to buy twice. You want the Infantry, going to 6 Dracosians is good. The extra super heavies are a mixed blessing but running 3 in a unit is pretty appealing. A second support box lets you fill out some rapier WYSIWYG units. The Russes while one of the better units in this box are probably what you want duplicated the least, but running 2 units of 6 or 8 Vanquishers is very viable.

Solar Auxilia – Combined Arms Battle Group

Price: $215
Value: $318
Points: 1796

This is a pretty great boxed set. Overlapping with other boxed sets are Infantry, Support, and Dracosian boxes, but then everything else is not included in other boxed sets.

First up we have 8 Leman Russ tanks but these have the Demolisher cannons or plasma Executioners, I recommend going all in on Demolishers with heavy bolters on the hull. These are surprisingly good tanks, one of the few units in the game that can damage buildings and with 8 of them you can usually one-shot a building to flush out the defending infantry.

Next up we have Shadowswords, the anti-superheavy superheavy. They’re not the best of the Solar Aux super heavies but they look amazing and are a big threat to enemy knights, titans, and super-heavies. With Marines recently getting a number of super heavies their stock should rise.

The last new unit is Lightning Fighters. Lightnings are not my favorite Auxilia aircraft but they’re by no means bad. Personally I’d equip all 6 with lascannons, then I usually mix under-wing weapons as no one really cares to check. Lascannons pair well with Hellstrike or Skystrike missiles for an anti-ground or anti-air role. Unfortunately I don’t think the Phosphex bombs are worth taking, they don’t have the dice needed to be worth it and make the fighter much harder to use. Additionally, 6 of them is a lot, I don’t really recommend taking that many in a game, it will skew your list and they don’t have the firepower some other planes have, so if you’re only taking 3 or 4 keep in mind the point total above will be a little optim

Overall I think this set is a great complement to the other boxes. I think the best way to start Auxilia is buying this and one of the other boxed sets, that will get you over 3000 points with a lot of options.

Auxilia Unit Boxes

This section is going to cover some boxes that are not included in the above sets, or are something you want more of than those sets will give you. These units are very much not a tier list, but a guide to building a balanced force, or fitting a Legion’s theme.

1. Solar Auxilia Infantry (264 points)
   These come in all the boxed sets above, but are still worth mentioning here. Infantry are the heart of Imperalis and having enough is important. I’d not build an Auxilia list until you own two sets of this box. You just need dudes.
2. Stormhammer Squadron (190 points)
   Stormhammers are the best Auxilia super heavy. The just have so many shots. I’m not sure if you need to get these right away if you’ve got some Baneblades or Shadowswords from a large boxed set, but at some point you should pick some up.
3. Marauder Bomber Squadron (170 points)
   King of the air is the Marauder Bomber, GW recently changed it from 1 to 2 wounds which makes it so much more viable and causes it to outshine many other aircraft. These things just get buckets of dice, up to 10 attacks per model. The Colossus variant allows you to take out buildings which is pretty powerful and the one-shot nature of it’s bomb is less of a downside than it seems with how games play out. Marauder Destroyers are also very good as a stand-off aircraft deploying to the map to lay down fire support.
4. Medusa and Basilisk Squadron (250 points)
   There is some community disagreement on how good these are. We can start by saying the Basilisk is the better choice. And I’m including them here as this is the only true artillery unit in the game. They can fire 90” and indirect so anything on the table is a target. They’re best if you get several boxes and run them in the dedicated artillery formation, but they’re fun regardless.

TL;DR Auxilia

Without a doubt you want to start with one of the boxed sets above. Most will get you over 1000 points which is enough for a starting game. If you want to expand from there to 2000+ points here are some options.

Just Getting Started Route

1. $170 Legions Imperialis: Solar Auxilia Battle Group (or Combat Force if you can’t find this)

2. $53 Solar Auxilia Infantry

3. $53 Marauder Bomber Squadron

   Total: $276, ~1700 points

This is a solid starting foundation that lets you build a few different 1500 point lists and lots of options at 1000.

Splitting Starters Route

1. $215 2x Legions Imperialis Starter Set (split with another player)

2. $170 Solar Auxilia Battle Group

   Total: $385, ~3200 points

This is one of the cheaper ways to get to 3000 points (with 600 coming from Warhound Titans) and will give you a good mix of units. Getting 3x copies of the Infantry box is great.

A Bit of Everything

1. $215 Solar Auxilia – Combined Arms Battle Group

2. $170 Legions Imperialis: Solar Auxilia Battle Group

3. $107.5 Half of Legions Imperialis Starter Set

   Total: $492.5, ~4000 points

This will give you a huge number of units and options to go in any direction you want. This hits 3x copies of the Infantry box, and 2x copies of the support box, along with a small parking lot of tanks. You’ll have options for 3000 point lists and a ton of choice at 2000.

Auxilia List Building

List building is a big subject and I can’t cover all the permutations above, but here I want to provide a little guidance on what to aim for early in your collection. In this section I’m going to present some basic list building blocks as well as talking about what you need to worry about.

This first list is based on the “Just Getting Started” list above. This should be a pretty effective all-comers list for small games. It demonstrates the challenge of these boxed sets that come with the Support Box. The units in it are good, but they have a lot of load-outs and are hard to fit them all into a list because of how many are in the Bastion unit slot.

List building pillars:

1. Infantry to hold objectives This is the name of the game. LI missions are based around holding objectives and infantry are best at it. Not to say tanks can’t hold them, but tanks can’t contest them, and infantry in buildings are extremely durable for their low points cost.

2. Ways to get infantry on mid-field objectives For all their positives, infantry are slow. You want a way to get them up to objectives outside of your deployment zone. This can be done via transports, or infiltration. The Pioneer Company formation gives infiltrate to units and you’ll be taking it a lot. Otherwise they’ll be hoofing it or need transports.

3. Ways to get infantry out of objectives Having now read those two points, assume your opponent knows the same. They’ll have infantry on objectives, in buildings for that juicy cover save. Your list should have a plan for this and the three I’d recommend are:
   Close combat units (Ogryn Charonite Section or Veletaris Storm Section)
   Ignores cover weapons (pretty limited options here, Malcador Infernus and Auxiliaries with Flamers)
   The Demolisher special rule (Demolishers, Hellhammers, Marauder Colossus, Dracosans)

4. Ways to deal with super heavies and titans (1500+ points) Your opponent in larger games will likely have some big bads and you want a way to deal with them. Here you have a lot of options but massed Leman Russ Vanquishers aren’t bad. For more narrowly targeted units Shadowswords and Malcador Valdors.

5. Ways to deal with flyers (1500+ points) I’ve said it before but flyers are very good and you need anti-air units to contest them and deny space to them. Tarantulas with anti air missiles and your various fighters are what to look for here.

Expanding and Reviewing the List

On the left we have an expanded list for 2500 points. We’ve taken the Just Getting Started Route contents and added a Combined Arms Battle Group.

1. Infantry to hold objectives We’re now up to 3 boxes of Solar Auxilia Infantry which is great, it has let us add another Tercio to the Pioneer Company, which can Infiltrate. We also added a few models here and there to other infantry squads and went from 1x8 to 2x6 units of Ogryn.

2. Ways to get infantry on mid-field objectives We’re mostly relying on the Pioneer Company here. We do have Dracosians still, but an important thing to remember with them is they don’t have Assault Transport so infantry can’t charge out of them, making them underwhelming for close combat units, so they’re still transporting a Tercio.

3. Ways to get infantry out of objectives This list isn’t the strongest here but has some options. If the Ogryn can get to the building they can do good work, we also have a unit of Veletaris who can clear a building. We also now have 8 Leman Russ Demolishers who have a good chance to collapse a building though it’s best if they can combine fire on one.

4. Ways to deal with super heavies and titans (1500+ points) Yup, good on this one. The list has 24 armored vehicles all with guns that can threaten heavily armored targets, and 2 of those vehicles are Shadowswords.

5. Ways to deal with flyers (1500+ points) We’ve added a second unit of anti-air Tarantulas and have 3 Lighting Fighters, should be pretty hard for an enemy to use their air power.

At the end of the day this isn’t a list that would win a tournament, but it should have game against most opponents and you’ve got a good number of options. My next buy for the list would be another squadron of Marauders, Destroyers or Colossus. A 4th Infantry box would also be quite helpful. And switching eaither unit of tanks for Stormhammers is an upgrade.

Mechanicum

Mechanicum were the third major faction added to Legions Imperialis and they have a lot going on. First, there are two Mechanicum factions, the standard one, and Dark Mechanicum. I’ll talk about them seperately but a lot of the Dark Mechanicum entry will refer back to this one.

The first noteworthy part of the Mechanicum list is that they have easy access to Knights and Titans, with slots for some in Mechanicum formations. While ally rules in Imperialis are pretty permissive, this means that it’s easy to take a Mecahnicum force, add a titan, and also add other allies like space marines.

The Mechanicum list has some strengths and weaknesses, let’s talk about the two big ones. The first is that it’s a quite limited force. Space marines have 27 unit boxes, Solar Auxilia have 21. Excluding knights and titans Mechanicum have 6 boxes. This is certainly a downside, though it makes this guide a lot simpler. The other large downside is the list lacks both anti-aircraft units, and flyers. You’re probably going to want allies to deal with some of that stuff.

The Mechanicum guide is going to be a little shorter because it’s a smaller list with fewer options.

Starting Mechanicum

I’m working on a unit guide but for now to know more about the Mechanicum units I recommend browsing Legion Builder or this Goonhammer article (note there have been some changes since then).

For Mechanicum, as with most of these factions the core of your list will be boxed sets that make a number of units. In the case of Mechanicum you have the Mechanicum Infantry and the Mechanicum Battle-Automata boxes. You’ll want to add a number of these boxes to your collection. As usual they offer most of your objective-securing power, and because the boxes are split between a lot of units you’ll want multiples to be able to bulk out unit sizes.

If you’re playing Mechanicum you’ll probably want to include knights or titans. Personally I might start there with one box of knights, or one small to medium titan. With changes in Liber Strategia these units have become better and are very fun in-game but do warp your list so don’t go overboard.

Lastly it’s worth noting that Mechanicum formations are a bit more restrictive than most. Many formations are based around the different orders of the Mechanicum so you’ll find slots which only allow limited types of units. This is not a huge deal, but is something to be aware of when looking at list building.

Mechanicum Boxed Sets

There have been two boxed sets for the Mechanicum. One is out of production and easy to find, the other is a combat force and even easier to pick up. I’m going to talk about them together because there is a lot of overlap.

Mechanicum Battle Group

Price: $160 Value: $212 Points: 1278

Mechanicum Combat Force

Price: $170 Value: $238.50 Points: 1424

The math here is different from the other factions and the Combat Force is actually a slightly better deal, and I certainly recommend it over the Battle Group. Both are good, they include a set of Infantry, a set of Battle-Automata, a set of Thanatars, and then diverge a bit. The Battle Group includes a full box of 4 Triaros transports. The Combat Force only includes 2, but it includes a full box of 6 Krios tanks. This is a better value and a better mix.

I find that buying multiple boxed sets for a faction quickly maxes you out on transports. I have way more Dracosians than I’d ever bring in a game. I can see bringing 8 Triaros in a game, but I think it’d be rare. Two Combat Forces will get you a great spread of units for the Mechanicum, with the Karacnos being the only unit you don’t have access to. If you want to expand from there a third copy isn’t crazy.

TL;DR Mechanicum

Very simple here:

1. Buy a Mechanicum Combat Force
2. Buy a second Mechanicum Combat Force
3. Decide if you want to get knights, titans, or allies.

Two combat forces will give you 2848 points, a little less from that with what you can actually use in a list, but enough to play 2000 points with a ton of options. Then when if you want to go to 3000 throwing in a Reaver titan, or a box of Atropos knights will easily get you there, with a little wiggle room left over.

Mechanicum List Building

Mechanicum list building is on the complicated side, youy’ll need to make sure you have the right units for the right formation.

Change Log

26.03.22 - Moved guide to single document, cosmetic edits.