Legions Imperialis – Solar Auxilia Medusa and Basilisk Batteries
We are doing a double feature for the Solar Auxilia today, covering a kit in both Legions Imperialis and Horus Heresy scale. We're building the Medusa and Basilisk, once as a battery and one time as a single miniature.
For Legions Imperialis it is a set of 8 models, covering both Medusas and Basilisks in a single box.
You might be irritated to see a Basilisk on a Leman Russ chassis. The variants we know from Warhammer 40k are much younger, based upon the chimera chassis that wasn't around during the civil war. The Leman Russ was the work horse of the Imperial warmachine and thus provided for vehicles in its weight class the base for example the self-propelled-gun variants, we talk about today. And in addition to the the many, many different alterations of the Leman Russ himself, there were further derivations for example tank hunter variants, with hull mounted weaponry as well and even recovery vehicles like the Atlas.
Horus Heresy – Solar Auxilia Medusa and Basilisk
While we're waiting for the release of the Malcador Variants of Infernus and Valdor in Horus Heresy scale, we fill the gap with the Basilik / Medusa kit for the Solar Auxilia today - in a double feature. Because not only do we cover this one in Horus Heresy scale of 32mm, we do also have you covered for Legions Imperialis today in this review of the Medusa and Basilisk Battery.
During the civil war of the Horus Heresy, the Leman Russ was the work horse of the Imperial warmachine and used as a chassis to build various variants and derivations, for different purposes, like the self-propelled-gun variants, we talk about today. The chimera chassis, which was developed later would take over some of the variants, therefore the Basilisk in 40k looks different than 30k. And with the Solar Auxilia Leman Russ plastic kit we have the chance to see these as new full plastic sets and not resin or hybrid set.
Games Workshop repurposes some of the sprues to cover these variants, we see this today with the Medusa and Basilisk, where the track sections and parts of the hull are re-used, and we will see this with the Malcador later this week. But let us open up the box and see, what is inside.
SzenarioCon 2025
After a long break, I came back to the Palatinate, and as already described in the kick-off, the new wargaming year starts early, right on the second weekend, with the Szenario Con in Hackenheim, near Bad Kreuznach.
The event was fully booked, around 200 guests and 25 hosted Games / presentations along with several traders. Many thanks at this point to Jürgen and Frank for the great organisation.
The venue is a courtyard restaurant in the foothills of the Rheinhessen wine-growing region. You can go for a walk nearby or take a look upon the animals in the petting zoo nearby. And as veteran readers know, there is no event coverage without a proper parking lot picture.
Legions Imperialis – Solar Auxilia Stormhammers
In case you are looking for something heavier than a Baneblade, there is an option for the Solar Auxilia in Legions Imperialis - the Stormhammers.
Like the other super-heavy squadrons, this boxed set covers two vehicles as well, both are build as Stormhammers. This set of two sprues is available at a RRP of 41 EURs / 31,50 GBP.
Initially this tank was build as a massive anti-infantry tank during the Great Crusade and fulfilled this task reliably against the Orks and later during the civil war. And even 10.000 years later, this tank pattern is still in service, just not with the Solar Auxilia but Astra Militarum. While there are different variants and armaments for the vehicle, within Legions Imperialis it has only the option between multi-laser or lascannon sponsons.
Kick Off 2025
We gave you a summary of the last year already in our recap article on 2024, so it is time to look ahead on 2025.
It was surely a good year wargaming wise, lots of travelling and meeting up with people, and the plan is surely to keep on doing that for the new year.
Shows, Conventions and real-life gaming meetups
I talked with Dino and the others, to see what we can fit in our schedule for this year and try to fix as much as possible. So far these are booked or at least written down in bold letters in my calendar. And we're starting with an event in the next week already.
Happy New Year and December 2024 review
Another year is coming to an end, so enjoy 2024's New Year's Eve and have a Happy New Year!
Just like we did in the past, let me combine the review of December and looking back upon the whole year in a single article.
Da Red Gobbo – A-Bomb-Inable Snowman
Last year we got double-trouble with the Da Red Gobbo Surprise and Grotmas Gitz, and this year we get another christmas themed miniature by Games Workshop from the Commemorative Series, Da Red Gobbo's A-Bomb-Inable Snowman. As of now, he is not available from Games Workshop directly anymore, you have to go through the independent retailers network for that, but that shouldn't be an issue.
The latest of the Red Gobbos is priced at 34 EUR, unfortunately an increase towards last years 32,50 EUR. And of course, the miniature comes with a scenario for Age of Sigmar and Warhammer 40k, which you can download for free from Warhammer Community.
Star Wars Shatterpoint – Maintenance Bay Terrain Pack
A fine addition to the Shatterpoint terrain series is the Maintenance Bay Terrain Pack, which was released in the second half of 2024 and we're looking into it today.
The large boxed set has a RRP of 84,99 USD / 85 EUR, but prices vary online. The Maintenance Bay covers an Outer Rim Garage and a womprat and is produced by Asmodee / Atomic Mass Games.
While it part of the Shatterpoint range (a 40mm scale skirmish) it is a bit taller than the platoon level 1:48 / 32-35mm scale of Star Wars Legions, but still can be used with games down to 32mm heroic scale, but we will see into that further below.
Necron Invasion
Necrons are a fixed part of the 40k universe, and most people probably don't remember a Grim Dark Future without them. They were around since the early days, but more design-wise. The Chaos-Androids from Space Crusade / StarQuest are clear predecessors of the later Necron design, but the Necrons were properly introduced to the game mere months before the end of the 2nd edition in White Dwarf 217 and 218 (January and February 1998 - German issues #25 and #26). In the third edition they should shine, with a full codex in 2002 along with proper plastic kits.
But in this "small" time frame in 1998 from January to September (because in October 1998 the third edition dropped) all we had were a few pages of units for an entire army. Because all you could place were the only HQ choice they had, a Necron Lord, the regular Necron Warriors along with scarabs and the Destroyers for support. That was the entire armylist. We even had some Immortal sculpts, but now rules for those.
Warhammer 40.000 Kill Team – Brutal and Cunning
Since yesterday the first supplement for the new Kill Team Hivestorm Season went up for pre-order. The Brutal and Cunning Kill Team expansion was announced on Warhammer Day Preview back in October, and covers Orks vs Ratlings.
The set which covers terrain, two Kill Teams and a dossier to upgrade the Killzone Volkus with the aspect of compound siege is 110 EUR or 85 GBP RRP.
Kill Team: Brutal and Cunning contains two kill teams. The Wrecka Krew is made up of a Boss Nob, five Orks, and two Bomb Squigs, while there are 10 Ratling operatives and a battlemutt lead by a Ratling Fixer. It also includes Killzone Upgrade: Compound Siege, comprising two bunkers, six fire steps and six stockades for use with Killzone: Volkus. The 72-page softback Brutal and Cunning dossier is packed with lore for the mission and kill teams, plus rules for the Wrecka Krew and Ratlings, and the Volkus Compound Mission Pack contains PvP and PvE scenarios. You’ll also get all the datacards and tokens you need for both kill teams, as well as an Ork transfer sheet with 438 transfers.
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