What else...uh, they fight in tercios, which are multiple sections within a cohort that practice and drill in close-order fighting so that they can operate in a unified manner. Also, unlike the myriad regiments of the Imperial Army, the Solar Auxilia is a pattern; a culture of warfare and an order of battle that has been successfully replicated on hundreds of worlds. Consequently, the Solar Auxilia cohorts have formed the backbone of the Imperium's military forces since the beginning of the Great Crusade. They provide the numbers that the Legiones Astartes lack, forming occupying forces and making the bulk of the Imperium's military might.
Originating from the Sol System and Terra, the Solar Auxilia functions as frontline soldiers whose principal theater of war is the void and hostile environments of all kinds, to both support the Legiones Astartes or to deploy in their place so that the Space Marines are free to pursue other frontline operations. They are heavy void infantry formations, a specialized division in the Excertus Imperialis.
They draw heavily from the structure of the Saturnye Ordo, the elite armed forces of the militarized tech-enclaves of Saturn, also known as the Polities of Saturn, who are experts in void warfare. The Saturnye Ordo was then expanded and reorganized into the ten regiments known as the Saturnye Rams. You'll recognize the name if you've been involved in the recent Legions Imperialis expansion, The Great Slaughter or even The Battle for Beta-Garmon campaign book for Horus Heresy. Well, actually, the Saturnye Rams don't really get mentioned in The Battle for Beta-Garmon, presumably because they got wiped out in The Great Slaughter prior. Oh, well.
Anyway, the important point is that amidst all of these elite soldiers of the Imperial Army, the famed Solar Auxilia are sometimes given the honor of being inducted into the Legiones Astartes as honorary auxiliaries, or perhaps they are Solor Auxilia Cohorts founded upon and raised in the Legion's homeworld itself, and thus have closer ties to the Legion and directly serve under them, such as the Prosperine Spireguard, for example. Wait, the Prosperine Spireguard are actually regular Imperial Army, not Solar Auxilia, but before people complain about "rectons," I should point out that the Prosperine Spireguard is not entirely Solar Auxilia. They are still largely regular Imperial Army. Perhaps only 20-25% of the Prosperine Spireguard, known as the Spireguard Templars, actually follow the Solar Auxilia cohort pattern. The rest of the Spireguard are regular Imperial Army soldiers, with the Spireguard Templars forming only a fifth or a quarter of Prospero's mortal military.
So rest assured, your favorite Imperial Army regiment or Prosperine Spireguard are not being retconned into being Solar Auxilia. It's just that 20-25% of them have been Solar Auxilia all along, and the regular Imperial Army soldiers who appear in the lore and Black Library novels are the face because they make up the majority of the regiment.
Back to the Legiones Auxilia, well, the Solar Auxilia have the numbers that the Legiones Astartes lack, and their void armor and environmentally sealed equipment allow them to accompany the Legions into battle in hostile environments. Their strategies of aggressive defense, measured advance and asymmetrical assault complement the Legions' highly mobile lightning warfare, and over time, the inducted Solar Auxilia cohorts are refashioned to serve their patron legion directly.
While Legiones Auxilia and Imperial Army units completely seconded to Legions are typically raised and trained upon a Legion's homeworld, domains or territory (with Ultramar being a potent example of Ultramar Auxilia, the Calth Irregulars, Numinus, Armaturan Academy Guard and Armaturan Wardens being among them), there are many Solar Auxilia cohorts who become codified as Legiones Auxilia because they spend many years fighting alongside a single Space Marine Legion in a single Expeditionary fleet across dozens of worlds. This was done for practical reasons, particularly because they had to fight on the far flung edges of the Great Crusade, far from any Excertus Imperialis command. Others are awarded honorary Legion membership, and depending on the Legion, they could just induct them with a simple gesture or formal ceremonies that go on for days.
Unfortunately, this led to conflicts within the Imperial Army itself, because the Legiones Auxilia are more loyal to their patron Legion than to the Excertus Imperialis's command hierarchy, and they often ignored commands from the Imperial Army commanders in favor of assisting their Legion.
In 847.M30, the Divisio Militaris formally ratified the Praecepta Inductionis to recognize those Solar Auxilia cohorts officially inducted into the service of the Legiones Astartes. This means a complete withdrawal from the supply structure of the Excertus Imperialis, and the inducted cohorts would have to surrender any void craft, vehicles and supplies, as well as relinquish all rights to planetary domains at the end of any Auxiliary's service. Of course, this was difficult to enforce, particularly with the authority of the Primarchs and the establishment of broader Legion fiefs.
The Legiones Astartes supply the Legiones Auxilia instead of the Excertus Imperialis, and they usually raise these cohorts within their own domains, so more frequently these cohorts are formed directly as dedicated bodies instead of inducted hosts. These Legiones Auxilia are fully formalized as a militant arm of the Legions. However, with the outbreak of the Horus Heresy, the Legions are forced to return to the induction of existing Solar Auxilia cohorts because they are desperate to supplement their diminishing numbers.
Also, each Legion treats the Legiones Auxilia differently. The Iron Hands and Iron Warriors, for example, treat them as expendable meatshields, while the Night Lords expose theirs to psychotropic toxins. Yikes. Fortunately, there are many Legions who treat them with respect and honor them as kindred warriors, such as the Thousand Sons and the Ultramarines - their Legiones Auxilia being the Spireguard Templars and Ultramar Accensi.
Examples of Legiones Auxilia (some might be regular Imperial Army units, though):
Dark Angels: Caliban Jaegers
Emperor's Children: Arkadian Janissaries
Iron Warriors: Selucid Thorakites
White Scars: Chogorian Rough Riders (I kid, I have no idea)
Space Wolves: Last Vigil, Fenrisian Kaerls, Aettguard
Imperial Fists: Inwit Phalangites, Jovian Grenadiers
Night Lords: (I have no idea)
Blood Angels: Baal Seraphims (okay, I have no idea), Blood Valiants (I made that up)
Iron Hands: Medusan Chain Shroud, Veridan Korracts
World Eaters: Bodt Berserkers (okay, I kid), Numen Gun Clans
Ultramarines: Ultramar Auxilia, Calth High Guard, Calth Irregulars, Numinus, Armaturan Academy Guard, Armaturan Wardens, High Wardens, Ultramar Accensi
Death Guard: Barbaran Ambaxtoi, Bleak Marchers
Thousand Sons: Prosperine Spireguard, Spireguard Templars
Luna Wolves/Sons of Horus: Cthonian Headhunters, Byzant Janizars, Petran Voltigeurs
Word Bearers: Ouranti Draks, Colchis Crusaders (again, I kid)
Salamanders: Nocturnal Knights (okay, that was a joke), Themis Hunters, Hesiod High Guard
Raven Guard: Therion Cohort, Capricorn Suppression Regiments, Lothor Pioneer Corps
Alpha Legion: REDACTED
Rules in The Battle for Beta-Garmon
I'm not that competitive a player, so I can't do rules analysis like Goonhammer or tell you if they're good or bad. But since nobody is covering them for some reason (maybe everyone's either too busy with their Legiones Astartes or they prefer pure Solar Auxilia), I think I'll just run through the sort of, uh, bonuses you get for playing Legiones Auxilia alongside your favorite Space Marine Legion.
Yes, you heard that right. If you field Solar Auxilia as an ally alongside a Legiones Astartes primary detachment, you can choose to make the allied Solar Auxilia detachment a Legiones Auxilia one. If you choose to do so, they gain a few flavorful bonuses that reflect the way they complement their patron Legion's fighting style.
They are divided according to whichever Patron Legion you have for your Primary detachment, so the list will be according to that.
Dark Angels: A Dark Angels Legiones Astartes unit can make the same shooting (at the same target) or movement Reaction as a reacting Tercio within 6" of them. Or him. And it's free for him too (but he can't React again in the same phase).
Emperor's Children: If one or more of your Legiones Auxilia model dies from a shooting attack, his unit gets Hammer of Wrath (1) for one turn.
Iron Warriors: Ignore negative Leadership modifiers for Pinning or Concussive tests.
White Scars: Tercio units with Line get Feel No Pain (6+) or improve it by +1 to a maximum of 5+ if they already have it whenever at least half of their models are within 6" of an Objective or within your Deployment Zone.
Space Wolves: Their Reaction shooting attacks Ignores Cover or nullify Shrouded Damage Mitigation. Only for Reactions, not normal attacks.
Imperial Fists: Line units improve Cover Saves granted by terrain by 1, so you get a 4+ cover save in Ruins, for example. Maximum of 4+, by the way.
Night Lords: Immune to Fear. Tercio units get Rage (2) whenever they start the Assault phase within 12" of any friendly Night Lord Legiones Astarte model with Fear.
Blood Angels: As long as they're within 6" of a Blood Angels Legiones Astartes model, they get +1 to their Attacks when locked in combat.
Iron Hands: Whenever they fail Morale after getting shot at, they don't Fall Back and instead suffer D3 Mortal Wounds (Feel No Pain and Damage Mitigation still works, though).
World Eaters: Whenever they shoot units that are Falling Back or already lost one or more models previously, they get +1 to their Hit rolls.
Ultramarines: If your Ultramar Auxilia (or Legiones Auxilia for Ultramarines) shoots at an enemy unit and kills at least one model, any shooting Reactions by that enemy unit against a Charging Ultramarines Legiones Astartes unit are resolved as Snap Shots.
Death Guard: Reduce the Wound roll of Fleshbane or Poisoned attacks by 1 (but Strength remains the same, for Instant Death purposes), and infantry can re-roll failed Dangerous Terrain tests.
Thousand Sons: Whenever a Thousand Sons Sorcerer suffers Perils of the Warp, they can allocate the wounds to a Prosperine Spireguard (or Legiones Auxilia for Thousand Sons) infantry unit within 12" instead. Fortunately, your Auxilia infantry get Adamantium Will (6+).
Sons of Horus: Whenever your Legiones Auxilia units shoots at an enemy unit and kills at least one model, any Sons of Horus Legiones Astartes unit adds +2 to their Charge roll when charging that enemy unit.
Word Bearers: Tercio units get Fleet (2) and Crusader for a turn whenever they begin the turn within 12" of any Word Bearers Legiones Astartes model.
Salamanders: Get a Cover Save of 4+ whenever they're hiding behind Salamanders Legiones Astartes models. I'm not joking. Yes, your tanks too. Screen your Leman Russ tanks with Salamanders and they get a 4+ Cover Save.
Raven Guard: Increase Leadership by +1 to a maximum of 10 whenever they can draw line of sight to a Raven Guard Legiones Astartes model within 24".
Alpha Legion: Whenever an opponent shoots an Alpha Legion Legiones Astartes unit that's within 12" of a Legiones Auxilia unit that they can also see, they must make a Leadership test. If they fail, they must target the poor Auxilia unit instead. Obviously, if they pass, they get to shoot the sneaky Alpha Legionnaires.
I wonder if we'll get any bonus rules for fielding Questoris Auxilia. Meaning, Solar Auxilia cohorts founded and raised on Knight Worlds, and being a militant arm of the Ordo Questoris. It's not like the Legiones Astartes are the only ones who have Solar Auxilia cohorts seconded, inducted or directly under them, right? Who am I kidding, probably not. In any case, I can still field an Imperial Knight army with Solar Auxilia allies, I don't think I need the bonus rules anyway. Or a Solar Auxilia armored cohort with Questoris support. We'll see. Still pretty fun to think about, though!
Will my Ryusei Katanas (formerly Draconian Defenders) be Legiones Auxilia for the Thousand Sons? Nope, they'll be Solar Auxilia (or Imperial Militia) support for my Imperial Knights of House Yato. More on the name change next time, as I slowly build up my Solar Auxilia army, but ever since I changed the name of my Knight World from Draconis III to Ryusei, I had been entertaining altering my Imperial Guard/Imperial Army regiment accordingly. Like I said, that's a blog post for another time. Till then!
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