This week we are getting three new kits for the Solar Auxilia. I’ve always liked the Malcador Infernus so I’m grateful that Games Workshop sent us one to review.
We’ve already reviewed a number of the newer plastic vehicles for the Horus Heresy. They are all very high quality kits with a bit more detail than the comparable 40k tanks. The Infernus keeps to the high standard we’ve seen so far, fitting together very well to produce a great-looking model. It will look really good incinerating your opponents’ armies, so long as they don’t have 3+ saves.
There are some very nice touches in the design. One is the fuel tank that the Infernus tows behind it. This attaches to a ball joint at the back of the tank, which allows quite a bit of movement. It can be removed by taking out a little plastic pin, designed to look like another bit of fuel hose, which so far I haven’t lost. This is useful because the Infernus is 30cm (12″) long with its trailer attached, so fitting it in your army case might become a real problem.
The sponsons are another cool feature. The standard Malcador has internal sponsons but the designers seem to have realised there’d be nowhere for the gunner on the left hand side, as there’s a big flamer thing instead of a crew compartment on that side. So they have made sticky-out sponsons for the Infernus, creating a luxurious fighting compartment within the thickness of the track.
Speaking of the tracks, unlike the standard Malcador they have track guards. I had planned to leave these off but I found they actually aren’t optional, as there’s a big groove in the side of the engine block for the left one, which would leave an ugly gap if you didn’t use the guard.
I found the instructions a bit unhelpful with the tracks. They want you to stick the track assemblies onto the hull before adding the track guards. Doing that would mean sticking everything together before you painted the tank and that’s really not a good idea. You’re never going to get a paint brush under the main gun to paint the hull in there.
The right track needs to be attached to the hull to build but I left the main gun and left track detached while I did the majority of the painting. I also left the dozer blade and trailer detached for painting as well as the track links, except the ones under the track guards. That way I could messily apply camo to the hull and rust and mud to the tracks, without either one messing up the other.
My paint scheme is very loosely based off various WW2 French and British schemes. I’ve gone for things that more or less match the apparent tech level of the Malcador, which has a riveted construction that had mostly been abandoned by about 1942. I did my basilisk in the same way. It takes a while to do but it’s not too bad and I quite like the end result.
I sprayed the sub-assemblies with Colour Forge Governor Green, then painted on a lot of squiggly lines with Black Legion. The spaces were filled in with various colours, washed and drybrushed and then I tidied up the black. Then I tried out a little bit of sponge chipping, hit it with some vallejo rust (and dirty down rust for the exhaust).
I’m not totally sure where my Solar Auxilia will be fighting so I haven’t yet added any mud. The plan is to scrub on some pigments, spatter some brown along the bottom and add a little Stirland Battlemire to the tracks. It definitely looks too clean but until I do some infantry, and base them, I can’t be sure what to go with.
I’m very happy with my Infernus for now though. It looks like the kind of thing you might find one of at the Bovington tank museum, with a plaque explaining that only seven were ever made before it was rejected. I’m pretty sure that’s exactly what the designers were aiming for.
I’d definitely recommend the Infernus as a kit. It’s fun to build and paints up nicely. In 30k it’ll terrorise any units it meets with a 4+ save and cause anyone else to make a lot of saves. S8 and Breaching 6+ mean it can threaten lots of things and with Torrent 9″ and the 16″ long Hellstorm template (which you’ll need to buy separately) it has a lot of reach. I’m a bit sad it’s losing its points for 40k in the latest MFM though, as it would have looked cool in a Death Korps army. I’ve even got a hand flamer from the engineers for the commander, damn it!
