Legions Imperialis – Solar Auxilia Dracosan Transport Detachment

As we have covered the Legions Imperialis transporters for the other forces, like the Rhinos for Legiones Astartes or Triaros for Mechanicum, it is now time to take a closer look upon the Dracosan for the Solar Auxilia.

We have already reviewed the Dracosan for Horus Heresy on this blog, so it is a neat addition to cover the smaller epic scale kit as well.

In regards of Legions Imperialis you get a kit with 6 Dracosan Armoured Transports for a RRP of 41 EUR.

The Dracosan is the bulky transport for the Solar Auxilia and is based upon the Malcador chassis and one of many variants built upon it, like further specialised derivations like the Valdor or Malcador Infernus. There is even a cargo variant, which remains unpictured so far, the Broncosan. In Horus Heresy there is a smaller, Rhino sized alternative to the Dracosan, which neither has a model nor rules for Legions Imperialis, the Aurox.

As usual you get two identical sprues in this kit, as well as an instruction leaflet and something that is limited to the vehicles in this range a decal sheet.

The sprues layout is as usual well used, leaving nearly no unused space left and is produced in a high quality with minor mould lines and properly developed details.

There are currently two different decal sheets for Legions Imperialis, the smaller one is included with this kit and covers 288 decals (yet, that is a high number, but the decals are small), covers insignia of 8 different cohorts of the Solar Auxilia in black and white, covering the same insignia in regular and inverted print;

Arkadian Janissaries, Cthonian Headhunters, Manachean Bulls, Saturnyne Rams, Lord Marshal's Own, Ash Scorpions, Bormanite Devils and The Deathless.

The assembly starts from the core, with the main hull, very similar to the Malcador build. Be careful and maybe not apply the glue directly to the model but on a tile or palette and then just dip the smaller pieces in there to get the glue onto the bonding surfaces.

Once we have the middle, we add the sides that are single pieces including the tracks and track guards. From there it is only details.

Just like the tall model, the Dracosan can choose between the hull mounted twin lasers or a demolisher cannon. If it chooses the later, it reduces the transport from 4 to 2. Very similar ruling to Horus Heresy, where the transport capacity drops from 22 to 10, when you do so. Beyond the hull weapon there are options for the crew, pretty similar to what you know from the other kits.

And here we see the final model of the Dracosan, inbetween his brothers, the Valdor, the Malcador, and Malcador Infernus.

The model provides enough options to create some variations across the six miniatures you can build from ths box, as you can see here.

Conclusion

A pretty neat kit. Easily and quickly build. The only "fiddly" bit actually are the exhausts, that have the tiniest connection to the main hull. But nothing a pair of tweezers and patience can not handle.

The main "problem" with the transports in Legions Imperialis is, they usually don't cost a lot of points, are mostly larger builds and you get a low amount of miniatures for your money. In this case its 41 EUR RRP for 6 models, and at almost 7 EUR for a supporting transport, that is not cheap. If they managed to somehow squeeze in 8 models per kit that would have provided better value, but seeing the sprue that seems like quite the challenge as they used the space that was available quite thoughtful.

If you want to go bulk, I suggest looking at the Solar Auxilia Battle Group, as you get 30% towards buying the kits individually, which stacks even further if you can grab it from an FLGS. But one advantage regarding the dracosans, you might not need as many, as they have the transport (4) option, already covering 24 bases with the models you get in this box.

The Horus Heresy and Legions Imperialis are brands by Games Workshop.