Horus Heresy – Solar Auxilia Leman Russ Strike Tank

One of the work horses of the Imperial forces receives an upgrade and proper variant, to distinguish themself from the other departments of the army - the Solar Auxilia Leman Russ Strike Tank!

This is not update or partial sprue swap of the regular Leman Russ Battle Tank but a complete overhaul with the known trim of the Solar Auxilia vehicles and a proper Mars Alpha pattern hull and new vehicle accessories.

Similar to the Malcador chassis, the Leman Russ chassis is used within the Imperium for a lot of different vehicles. You have the Leman Russ himself, as a battle tank, with different weapon systems in turret and hull to provide effective service in certain scenarios, split into the Strike Tank and Assault Tank, but further alterations for example as an Artillery vehicle with the Medusa or Basilisk, prior that these were built upon the chimera chassis. Post heresy further variants were added and many sub-classes of the Leman Russ saw service all across the regiments.

But why is the Leman Russ calledafter the primarch of the Space Wolves? The STC for the battle tank was recovered on the planet Nova Borilia by the Vlka Fenryka after they crushed the xenos civilization of the Noman and paid tribute their primarch by naming the "new" war engine after him.

As mentioned, these are completely new sprues and not just Solar Auxilia upgrade sprue for the existing Leman Russ. We have two for the chassis, which we will very likely see repurposed for other variants.

One sprue for the turret including four different main weapons systems with battle cannon, Gravis lascannon, Vanquisher battle cannon (with co-axial autocannon) or Gravis autocannon. Along with a small sprue for the options of the hull, heavy bolter, lascannon, autocannon, multi-laser and heavy flamer.

And just like with the Dracosan Armoured Transport, the Solar Auxilia Leman Russ uses the new Solar Auxilia vehicle upgrade sprue. This medium sized sprue covers two options for the crew and various pintle-mounted weapons (multi-laser, heavy flamer and heavy stubber) along with the dozer blade, hunter-killer missiles, smoke launchers and such.

We have a proper assembly instruction for this vehicle. And to give you a slight blast from the past and direct comparison, where we are. The second picture shows the old (first) imperial vehicle upgrade sprue, which has a very similar load out, with the dozer blade, the hunter killer missiles and such, just with a distinguished different design. And as I wanted to show you how the Mars Alpha pattern is different to the regular 40k design of the Leman Russ, the sides side-by-side.

We have a tank here so we begin our build with the tracks. These are solid pieces for left and right and later "sandwich" the middle part of the hull. The split of the pieces is basically the same, as it ever was, just at some point the rollers were incorporated into the side and not individual pieces anymore. One design difference towards the 40k Leman Russ is that you can see more of the rollers and obviously have a more present trim, as well as the lack of sponsons, as these were not used with the Solar Auxilia.

Next up the hull. This is the very distinctive Mars Alpha Pattern, with a different front design and variant of the engine. It is a bit weird, that you can simply look into the engine bay, as the cover is just bars. At first, I thought we would see a small insert, like we had with the Land Raider, that would give you the impression of an engine. But you simply look into the empty hull.

What is pretty nice about the hull weapon, this one is glued in a way that it moves up and down. If you want to of course, as you can simply glue it shut in fixed position.

During the build, I was a bit surprised, that there were markings on the inside of the floor. Which kept me wondering if there would be pieces to recreate the interior, especially as you could look into it through the engine cover. But those markings are meant for the artillery variants and the crew men on those tanks. You can see the pictures here. You add the side pieces and have a proper hull, as you very likely had a lot of in your hand, if you played any kind of imperial army (or renegades or ork troops looting imperial motor pools).

Next the trench rails, which are distinctive for certain patterns of the Leman Russ, especially with the Krieg-vehicles. These prolong the chassis and enable the tank to properly cross the trenches on the battlefield. This is an historic invention and a design choice picked up and adapted by the Forge World design team for the STCs with the Imperial Armour books, as many of them came from military model building.

Now for the turret. To give the Solar Auxilia Leman Russ an even more distinguished design beyond the trim heavy look, they added a second design choice for the commanders' hatches. These are either round like the new ones, or rectangular. I went with the rectangular, so it fits better with the hatches on the Dracosan and is more apart from the newer pattern.

There is a total of four different weapons, two battle cannons (of which is the Vanquisher) and Gravis las- and autocannon. While you have the option to elevate the guns, you can't magnetise them this way. I gave it a try, but due to the angled sides and slightly offset of the mount, I gave up and went with one of the options fixed in place.

There are YouTube videos on magnetizing the 40k variants, but the turret is split in a different way, so I couldn't properly adapt that solution. The turret receives further details, like lights and smoke launchers, along with smaller sensors and pistol hatches.

Now for the hull. You could probably magnetise them with little effort. But it would have been even less effort, if the Citadel design team just would have provided insert for magnets, like they did with the Aethon Sentinel or the Adeptus Titanicus range. After stressing about the turret, I couldn't be bothered with the hull and just went with a lascannon.

Now for the further details around the hull. I missed the plates on the trench rails and added these along with smaller lids and caps around the hull.

As you can see, I went with the rectangular hatches and added the further details to the turret. The hatches can either be build closed or opened, and you can add a crew man if you like.

The vehicle upgrades provide you with various options to up armour your Leman Russ. There are three different pintle mounted weapons, with a gunner, or optional you can use a crew member with a display.

The Cognis Signum along with some Solar Auxilia insignia is added to the turret and spaces around the vehicle. These are (partially) optional upgrades.

The dozer blade from the upgrade sprue has a new design, compared to the classic one or the newer 40k one. It is certainly stable and you could probably magnetise it without that much hassle. I'll invest the time later to do so.

I had an eBay rescue at hand, to give you a comparison between the mid-00s Leman Russ from 40k and the new Mars Alpha Pattern from the new Solar Auxilia release. You can see the clear differences in design, along with the overall broader presence of the 40k model due to the sponsons.

And of course, we have to show you the comparison with the Legions Imperialis Leman Russ.

Now for a quick comparison from across the Solar Auxilia Battle Group and a final shot, next to the Dracosan/Malcador hull.

Conclusion

This is a proper update and you don't have to go for a "budget" solution with using a 40k one or paying a much higher price for the resin-hybrid kit. It is a pleasant build, but I would be happier if this would have some easier magnetising options, just to give me a bit more flexibility during list building and gaming.

Some design choices were a bit weird. For example, having no substructure beneath the engine cover, or due to the reduced armour on the sides, looking onto the rollers into the model without proper definition on those parts. Regarding the vehicle accessories, I think less is more, as it easy to overfreight this model. Due to the trims, there is already quite a bit going on, then you have the Solar Auxilia insignia, if you add all the missiles, smoke launcher etc. it might be a bit much.

I assume that this kit will be 55 EURs, similar to the Predators in 30k pricing. It will take a bit of time until we see the Assault Tank variant being released, but I am really looking forward to what they do beyond the regular battle tanks, for example with the artillery variants and if we see new units being added in the upcoming supplements, as the variety with the Liber Imperium army list isn't that broad.

I hope we will see something like a veteran tank commander, as 40k Imperial Guard has quite a few of those and even in 30k the Astartes have Decurions on their Land Raiders and such.

Warhammer 40,000 and The Horus Heresy are brands by Games Workshop.

The reviewed product item was provided by the manufacturer.