Warhammer 40K: Bastion Task Force ‘Hero of the Chapter’ Killer Combos

40K’s new Bastion Task Force has some secret sauce combos you need to think about – Hero of the Chapter is really, really interesting!

Last time we talked, I spoke about the Bastion Strike Force and how it worked.  It is a pretty interesting detachment, and without this one enhancement, it feels kinda ok.  There is something interesting to think about when you add in Hero of the Chapter – a 20-point upgrade that gives your character the ability to give the unit they are attached to the Battleline keyword and thus activating all the abilities the detachment has.  It feels like it could be very powerful and probably not backbreaking, but something to think about.  This is especially for those players who don’t want to be shackled to Gladius for all eternity (or until they come out with a new book).

There are two very powerful stratagems that activate off the Battleline keyword.  The first is an offensive stratagem called Light of Vengeance, which is a 1 CP option.  It grants the target either Sustained Hits 1 or Lethal hits.  If the target has Battleline, it gets both.  This is pretty good for a lot of the heavy shooting options we have out there.  The second one that helps protect the unit is Angels Defiant, which is a 1CP option that lets the Battleline unit have -1 to be wounded if the attack strength is greater than its toughness.  These two combined can be very helpful to a unit that gains Battleline and is already a tough thing to deal with.

Unforgiven Combo

Dark Angels – Ravening Command Squad w/Enhancement on Champion and full 6 Ravenwing Black Knights
Pts: 320 – 9 Models

This is an interesting combo of Dark Angels units, while you could get all of this with other options this one lets you do some fun stuff.  You get a pile of fast moving jerks that can always move around, shoot you with their grenade launchers, and come at you with some powerful close combat attacks.  It feels like a very crazy fast unit that you could easily mix in some Deathwing Knights to be your wave 2 and cause all kinds of headaches. Heck throw the Lion in to have a very weird force of jerks ready to get stuff done.

Libby Combo

Space Marines – Infernus Squad X 10 w/Librarian
Pts: 245 – 11 Models

Here you have a unit of Overwatching jerks that can take the middle and just be a pain to deal with.  They will throw out a ton of flamers, have 20+ wounds and a 4+ invulnerable save.  This can be a great deterrent to anyone wanting to stealing the middle objective or at least cause them to think twice before sending a unit in.  If they can’t kill this unit outright they will back up and light whoever got near up in piles of flaming damage.

Fenrisian Combo

Space Wolves – Headtakers X 6 w/Wolf Guard Battle Leader
Pts: 245pts – 7 Models

Letting these Space Wolves run around and basically do whatever they want with targeted Precision/Devastating wounds and then Sustained hits with Lethal seems like a fun pile of options.  They also would love to have -1 to wound them on stronger hits as they sit with Toughness 4.  It is a small enough unit that they can easily hide behind a wall or ruin and then pounce on anyone getting close. It feels like either this unit or Wolf Guard Terminators would be the option to take when doing a Space Wolf version of this army.

I think this enhancement is pretty interesting and would get even more nutty if we see more Marine options come out.  I know right now the obsession is Ultramarines and their Special Characters so there is less to worry about, but will see in the future. I do wonder if will see more things try to push the power of Battleline or at the very least look at other fun ways to interact with keywords and their abilities.

~And They Shall Know No Fear!

Thomas Reidy, aka Goatboy, the ever-evil member of BoLS. I do arts, play 40k, and even paint a lot of stuff. I have been playing Warhammer 40K since the 1990s, and have won multiple national events including Adepticon and GW GTs. I’ve been writing for BoLS for 15 years. Look at my Instagram to see what I am working on – or working on for someone. I am always doing something hobby related.

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