Why'd You Pick That? Exemplar Bastions

I'm back after a couple weeks and I wanted to talk about one of Menoth's two medium based infantry, Exemplar Bastions.  Bastion are, in my opinion, pretty sweet models and reek of high fantasy.  Models encased in huge armor wielding magical, blessed halberds. 

Let's talk statistics.  Bastions, like many Menoth modes, aren't all that special as far as stats go.  They are terribly slow for infantry, going only as fast as a Crusader heavy 'jack.  Their MAT is decent, but not great, hitting def 14 on average rolls.  Speaking of which, their defense is fairly low for infantry at 11, but there ARM is a bit better ringing in at 16.  

Bastions start to get good with their weapons.  They tote magical, blessed, weapon master halberds that have reach.  This boils down to P+S 12 attacks that deal damage with 3D6 (4D6 on the charge).  That averages 26 on the charge and 22 when stuck in.  This is easily enough for a unit to handle light/medium warjacks and warbeasts. Reach means that they are a great defensive screen (more on that below) and can threaten models that might normally be though of as safe.  Their magical nature means that they can harm incorporeals which can really help some of our lists.  Finally, blessed on the halberds means that defensive buffs to enemy models mean nothing.  These guys will slice through like a hot knife through butter. 

What makes Bastions super cool is their innate unit ability, Sanguine Bond.  When a Bastion is hit, it can split the damage done amongst the other models in the unit.  This is especially good when you consider that each Bastion has 8 damage boxes.  This means that an opponent may hope to clear a lane through your Bastions to a caster behind, but won't be able to because the damage dealt is split between the models in the unit keeping the model alive.  A full unit of Bastions (5 models) has 40 damage boxes (more than a heavy warjack). 

Bastions are great as defensive pieces and their stats dictate this rule. They will usually be behind the rest of the army due to their speed and they can soak damage like none other.  Bastions can use their medium bases to block LoS and charge lanes to your casters and support. Then as your opponent gets closer, they can serve as an anvil unit for a countercharge by a 'jack or unit.  I actually like Bastions as a bodyguard unit for a warcaster.  They and Cinerators are the only infantry that can even block LoS to Reznik. Overall, Bastions play a very interesting role in our army as defensive pieces that can pack a wallop when they need to as well.

Here are some other Warmachine articles:
Warmachine the Way I See It: Warcaster Study, pKreoss
That.Was.Awesome.
How Important is the Front Arc, Really?
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