Detachment Focus: Bastion Task Force

In this series of articles we take a deep dive into a specific detachment for a faction, covering the faction’s rules and upgrades and talking about how to build around that faction for competitive play. In this article, we’re covering the Space Marines Bastion Task Force Detachment.

Space Marines players are eating good with the new years updates, which introduces new datasheets and detachments for the faction - particularly Ultramarines players. The Bastion Task Force gives fans of Intercessors a new way to play that focuses purely on the faction’s Battleline units. If you ever wanted to run nothing but regular guys in power armor, this is the Detachment for you.

We’d like to thank Games Workshop for providing us with a preview copy of these rules for review purposes.

Detachment Overview

This Detachment super-charges your BATTLELINE units - which in this case means Intercessors, Assault Intercessors, Heavy Intercessors, and Tactical Squads for regular Space Marines, but if you’re running one of the other chapters, you can potentially also include Grey Hunters and Blood Claws for Space Wolves, Decimus Kill Teams and Deathwatch Veterans in Deathwatch, or Crusader Squads for Black Templars in that list. Because of the buffs this gives Battleline units in particular, we feel that this is in many ways a stealth “Black Templars” detachment, helping them overcome the loss of Oath and giving them the ability to Advance and Charge with key units.

The Video Version

If video is more your speed, we have a video overview of this Detachment here:

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Detachment Rule: Interlocking Tactics

Imperial Fists Heavy Intercessors. Credit: Jack Hunter

ADEPTUS ASTARTES BATTLELINE units in your army can shoot and charge or perform an action in a turn after Advancing or Falling Back.

Each time an ADEPTUS ASTARTES BATTLELINE attacks, you can select one unit hit by those attacks to become Auspex Scanned until the end of the turn. ADEPTUS ASTARTES models in your army re-roll Hit rolls of 1 against Auspex Scanned targets.

This opens up a “set them up and knock them down” playstyle, where you’ll be marking targets with your Battleline units so your more elite stuff can finish the job. It’s also an upgrade on the Incursors’ Datasheet ability, where their marked target ability only lasts for the Shooting phase. An obvious play would be to run MSUs of Intercessors to really spread the love, but there are some other tools in this Detachment which incentivize more of an investment in your rank and file Marines. This also makes your Battleline units exceptionally slippery, letting you cycle charge with Assault Intercessors, do actions anywhere and everywhere with Intercessors, and keep your Heavy Intercessors from getting locked down.

Anyone used to dropping Oaths of Moment on a key target is going to balk at that “re-roll 1s to hit” ability. It’s OK but you already have Oaths. Hell, you may even have Double Oaths thanks to Guilliman. But you know who doesn’t get Oaths? Black Templars. And when you combine this ability with the fact that Crusader Squads are BATTLELINE, you have the makings of a Detachment that can really make use of the army’s unique rules and structure.

Enhancements

Rainbow Warriors Captain by Craig "MasterSlowPoke" Sniffen

These Enhancements mostly open up options for your Battleline units, making them more effective or letting more units take advantage of this Detachment’s rules. The key one to watch out for here is Hero of the Chapter, which lets you give nearly any infantry or mounted unit the BATTLELINE keyword.

Eye of the Primarch (10pts) - ADEPTUS ASTARTES model only. The bearer’s ranged weapons gain [PRECISION], as do the ranged weapons on the bearer’s unit if they’re BATTLELINE. While the ranged weapons equipped on any given character are liable to be comparatively piddly, 40 bolt rifle shots addressed to the Cryptek in that Wraith unit sure won’t be. Stick it on a Lieutenant or Gravis Captain with a big brick of Intercessors or Heavy Intercessors and pick off those pesky characters.
Hero of the Chapter (20pts) - ADEPTUS ASTARTES model only. The bearer’s unit gains the BATTLELINE keyword while the bearer is leading the unit. Considering how many of this Detachment’s tools key off of BATTLELINE, this is hugely useful for opening up other units to benefit from your rules. You can use this to go full sicko mode and pair it with Desolators, so you can have a unit which can tag a unit for the Auspex Scan using [INDIRECT FIRE] from across the table.
Blades of Valour (15pts) - ADEPTUS ASTARTES model only. Increase the AP of the bearer’s melee weapons and the melee weapons of BATTLELINE models in the bearer’s unit by 1. Slam this on a Captain with a unit of Assault Intercessors and let ‘er rip. Again, this could combo with a second character with Hero of the Chapter to give you some spicy options like AP-3 on Terminators, Bladeguard, or Aggressors.
Bombast Omnivox (15pts) - ADEPTUS ASTARTES model only. After using a Stratagem on the bearer’s unit, roll a D6, adding 1 if the bearer’s unit has any BATTLELINE models. On a 4+, gain a Command Point. This is the weakest of the bunch, as while the other three are genuinely transformative, this just maybe gets you a few more Command Points, and only if you’re specifically using Stratagems on the bearer’s unit.

Stratagems

Assault Intercessors. Credit: SRM

The Stratagem suite here is a mix of damage output buffs, debuffs to enemy units, and a little bit of slippery and defensive play. Everything is priced to move at 1 CP.

Codex Discipline (Battle Tactic, 1CP) - Used in your Shooting or the Fight phase. Each time an ADEPTUS ASTARTES model in your unit attacks an enemy unit, re-roll Hit rolls of 1. If they’re Auspex Scanned, re-roll Wound rolls of 1 as well. This is a nice way to make your weapons a bit more reliable, and it’s fortunately not locked to any phase or type of unit. Given how often I personally roll 1s to Wound with my Gladiator Lancers and Repulsor Executioners, it’s likely to be a good pick.
Guided Disruption (Strategic Ploy, 1CP) - Used in your Shooting or your Fight phase, after an ADEPTUS ASTARTES BATTLELINE unit has finished its attacks. If that unit caused an enemy unit to become Auspex Scanned, if they are not a MONSTER or VEHICLE unit, they are pinned until your next turn. While pinned, they subtract 2 from Movement and Charge rolls. This requires you to jump through a hoop or two and is fairly situational. It’s typically better to just leverage more guns on a threat and kill it outright, but if all you’ve got are a couple Intercessors and a unit of Chosen is bearing down on you, slowing them down has its uses. Against a shooting or armor-heavy army though, this one is pretty much a dud.
Light of Vengeance (Battle Tactic, 1CP) - Used in your Shooting or the Fight phase. One of your units gains [LETHAL HITS] or [SUSTAINED HITS 1] until the end of the phase, or both if they’re BATTLELINE or targeting an Auspex Scanned unit. This is a solid damage output buff on any unit in your army, and one that’s fairly easy to set up. While it’s easy to throw this on a 10-strong Intercessor squad of just about any flavor to really crank up their damage potential, it’s also trivial to set up an Auspex Scan on a target then blast away with your bigger guns. A Repulsor Executioner with Lethal and Sustained Hits is going to be a problem for anything on the other side of its guns.
Shock Bombardment (Strategic Ploy, 1CP) - Used in your Shooting or the Fight phase on an ADEPTUS ASTARTES BATTLELINE unit. After that unit makes its attacks, when they cause an enemy unit to become Auspex Scanned, that unit is Suppressed until the start of your next turn. While a unit is Suppressed, they subtract 1 from their Hit rolls. This is the other side of the coin from Guided Disruption, and one that’s more broadly useful. Since Suppressed affects both Shooting and Fighting, this is especially annoying on armies like Knights which run a lot of combo units that depend on both to do their damage.
Angels Defiant (Battle Tactic, 1CP) - Used in your opponent’s Shooting or the Fight phase on one of your ADEPTUS ASTARTES BATTLELINE units. For the rest of the phase, when that unit is targeted, subtract 1 from Wound rolls if the Strength of the incoming attack is greater than their Toughness. This is a decent defensive Stratagem, though only being limited to BATTLELINE units and only working on Strength greater than as opposed to equal to your unit’s Toughness makes it a bit less useful than some of its other equivalents out there. If your Intercessor brick is about to get mowed down by a Dual Gatling Despoiler this might be enough to save them, but meeting the criteria of this Stratagem while also finding a unit worth protecting with it might be tricky.
Heresy Undone (Strategic Ploy, 1CP) - Used in your Shooting or Charge phase. One ADEPTUS ASTARTES non-BATTLELINE unit can shoot and charge after Advancing or Falling back. When doing so, they must target Auspex Scanned units. This requires you to jump through a hoop or two for sure, but you’re going to be Auspex Scanning a lot in this army. More importantly, it lets one of your vehicles get out of a jam and still be effective.

Playing This Detachment

Your key strategy here is going to revolve around taking BATTLELINE units and using them to tag key threats so that the rest of your army can knock them down. Because your Stratagems are built around buffing BATTLELINE units, you’re going to get the most out of this Detachment when you’re leaning heavily on those. This means that the best armies for this Detachment will be armies which can use battleline units as actual threats and not just support for bigger things on the table. The three marine factions with their own battleline units are currently:

Black Templars

Black Templar Primaris Initiate with a power fist. Credit: Jack Hunter

Black Templars can bring 20-model Crusader Squads to battle, who come with a surge move and can be kitted out for melee with chainswords and power fists. These units really want to be able to advance and fall back and charge, and don’t benefit from Oaths, so also really like to be able to re-roll 1s to hit. Crusader Squads can be joined by Marshals, Castellans, the Emperor’s Champion, Helbrecht, and Grimaldus and the Marshal’s ability to let them score critical hits on 5+ really pops off with the Light of Vengeance Stratagem. Here Hero of the Chapter gets you a lot of value on Sword Brethren, who’d also like to be able to Advance and Charge without having to take an Execrator for the benefit. This opens them up to be led by other units.

Space Wolves

Space Wolves have two bespoke options for their BATTLELINE units: Grey Hunters and Blood Claws. Blood Claws already have the ability to advance and charge, so this Detachment doesn’t do much for them with its rule, but the re-rolls are nice and the Stratagems have a lot of power for 20-model Blood Claw units. The real beneficiaries here are Grey Hunters, who come with Chainswords and are perfectly capable melee threats with an in-built ability to re-roll 1s to wound or all wound rolls against targets on an objective, making them more akin to assault intercessors, just with a better gun (bolt carbine) and a faster base movement (7”). There was already a strong case for taking Grey Hunters with Njal Stormcaller, as he gives his unit Assault and an auto-advance 6”, and this really pushes that unit over the top. That’s unfortunately only one unit, but you get some interesting leeway with Hero of the Chapter, which will let you turn a unit of Headtakers into a BATTLELINE unit. We’d love to be able to do this on Wolf Guard or Thunderwolves, but they can’t be led by any generic characters.

Deathwatch

The two Deathwatch BATTLELINE units are the Veterans and the relatively new Decimus Kill Team, which is more or less a unit of Primaris Veterans. Both units can pack a solid melee punch and being able to advance and shoot and charge with them without having to take a Watchmaster is a great deal. Of course, these units already re-roll hit rolls of 1 so you won’t be getting much value there, but they’re capable enough threats in melee and shooting that the ability to fall back/advance and shoot/charge can give you a lot of value.

Standard Marines

When it comes to standard marines, you still have some solid options. Certainly, Heavy Intercessors are the most interesting option here, packing a heavy ranged punch and a slow movement speed that really needs the added oomph of being able to advance and shoot. We’ve mentioned before that Hero of the Chapter is a powerful option here and the sicko mode combo we’ve identified for it is with a unit of Desolators, who can use their [INDIRECT FIRE] ability to tag units anywhere on the table for an Auspex Scan, super-charging the rest of your army into that target. Though again, this is just something you can already do with Oath of Moment so it’s something you’d more look at for something like Black Templars, who need those re-rolls more.

Strengths

Damage output. With Auspex Scan’s hit buffs, the Codex Discipline and Light of Vengeance Stratagems, and the Enhancements, you can put out a frankly distressing amount of high volume firepower.
It’s slippery. Fall back, shoot, and charge across Battleline units, as well as situationally with Heresy Undone means it’ll be hard to pin this army down.
Objective play. With this Detachment’s emphasis on cheap, high OC Battleline units, you’ll have a leg up on Primary scoring, while unit-wide Precision and the ability to Advance/Fall Back and perform Actions will also be huge.

Weaknesses

Defense. While the Stratagems that offer debuffs can be situationally handy, the only flat defensive Stratagem is highly situational.
Battleline. This Detachment does its damnedest to make Battleline units a credible threat, and while it might get there, throwing points and CP after weaker units doesn’t strictly make them strong.
CP hungry. This depends on its Stratagems to do damage, but the only Enhancement for generating more Command Points is situational. You’re going to want to shore this up with Calgar for more CP, or Captains for discounted Stratagems.

Building a List

You can go in a few directions with lists in this Detachment. On the one hand, you can go for a more vanilla-flavored approach with loads of Intercessors to take advantage of all the Battleline rules, with an emphasis on shooting to do your damage. Conversely, you can lean into the Battleline units of variant chapters. Being able to Advance/Fall Back before Shooting and Charging make units like Black Templars Crusaders genuinely frightening, and they can easily run up, mark a target with Auspex Scan with their pistols, and then charge while taking advantage of both the Auspex Scan buffs as well as their Templar vows. In this way, I think this might be one of the better ways to run Templars at the moment.

Full Send- click to expand

Full Send (1990 Points) Space Marines Black Templars Strike Force (2,000 Points)

CHARACTERS Castellan (85 Points) • 1x Combi-weapon • 1x Master-crafted power weapon • Enhancement: Blades of Valour

Chaplain Grimaldus (110 Points) • 1x Chaplain Grimaldus ◦ 1x Artificer crozius ◦ 1x Plasma pistol • 3x Cenobyte Servitor ◦ 3x Close combat weapon

Emperor’s Champion (100 Points) • 1x Black Sword • 1x Bolt Pistol

High Marshal Helbrecht (120 Points) • Warlord • 1x Ferocity • 1x Sword of the High Marshals

Judiciar (90 Points) • 1x Absolvor bolt pistol • 1x Executioner relic blade • Enhancement: Hero of the Chapter

Lieutenant with Combi-weapon (70 Points) • 1x Combi-weapon • 1x Paired combat blades

Marshal (80 Points) • 1x Master-crafted power weapon • 1x Plasma pistol

BATTLELINE

Assault Intercessor Squad (75 Points) • 1x Assault Intercessor Sergeant ◦ 1x Plasma pistol ◦ 1x Power fist • 4x Assault Intercessor ◦ 4x Astartes chainsword ◦ 4x Heavy bolt pistol

Assault Intercessor Squad (75 Points) • 1x Assault Intercessor Sergeant ◦ 1x Plasma pistol ◦ 1x Power fist • 4x Assault Intercessor ◦ 4x Astartes chainsword ◦ 4x Heavy bolt pistol

Crusader Squad (310 Points) • 1x Sword Brother ◦ 1x Master-crafted power weapon ◦ 1x Pyre pistol • 11x Initiate ◦ 10x Astartes chainsword ◦ 11x Bolt pistol ◦ 11x Close combat weapon ◦ 11x Heavy bolt pistol ◦ 1x Power fist • 8x Neophyte ◦ 8x Astartes chainsword ◦ 8x Bolt pistol

Crusader Squad (310 Points) • 1x Sword Brother ◦ 1x Master-crafted power weapon ◦ 1x Pyre pistol • 11x Initiate ◦ 10x Astartes chainsword ◦ 11x Bolt pistol ◦ 11x Close combat weapon ◦ 11x Heavy bolt pistol ◦ 1x Power fist • 8x Neophyte ◦ 8x Astartes chainsword ◦ 8x Bolt pistol

Intercessor Squad (80 Points) • 1x Intercessor Sergeant ◦ 1x Bolt pistol ◦ 1x Bolt rifle ◦ 1x Close combat weapon • 4x Intercessor ◦ 4x Bolt pistol ◦ 4x Bolt rifle ◦ 4x Close combat weapon

DEDICATED TRANSPORTS

Impulsor (85 Points) • 1x Armoured hull • 1x Multi-melta • 1x Shield Dome • 2x Storm bolter

OTHER DATASHEETS

Bladeguard Veteran Squad (170 Points) • 1x Bladeguard Veteran Sergeant ◦ 1x Master-crafted power weapon ◦ 1x Plasma pistol • 5x Bladeguard Veteran ◦ 5x Heavy bolt pistol ◦ 5x Master-crafted power weapon

Gladiator Lancer (160 Points) • 1x Armoured hull • 1x Lancer laser destroyer • 2x Storm bolter

Scout Squad (70 Points) • 1x Scout Sergeant ◦ 1x Bolt pistol ◦ 1x Boltgun ◦ 1x Close combat weapon • 4x Scout ◦ 4x Bolt pistol ◦ 4x Boltgun ◦ 4x Close combat weapon

Final Thoughts

While it’s hard to compete with the sheer flexibility of Gladius/Blade of Ultramar, there’s some interesting options available here. It can somewhat compete with the maneuvering of those Detachments, but will require a more specialized build to actually get there. Fortunately, anyone who has been collecting Marines for long enough should be able to dust off their bevvies of starter set Marines and make something usable here, flooding the board in comparatively cheap power armored bodies and making plays for Secondary objectives. The Bastion Task Force stakes its claim hard on being an objective-focused Detachment. After all, what else are Battleline troops for?

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