8th Ed. Bastiladon, possibly my favourite unit ever.

Ok, not the arc of sotec one, unless I'm playing a skink v skaven lustria campaign with all of the fluff I really don't get it. Or playing with a million swarms and the prophet.

But the magic zap gun of doom, now this I like, in fact, for 300 points, I'll have two, and throw one power die at each. 66% pass rate is nice, Now, dispelling that will probably cost my opponent two power dice, since a roll of a 1 or 2 will be a fail, costing him his dispell bonus. Ha! If he lets it go, that's ok, especially since the table is pretty nasty. So, in an ideal world, I'm down two PD, and my opponent is down 4 DD, that's a nice trade, and if he lets me have it, heh, most of the time it will be at least d6 s4 magic missile! If not better! A roll of 4+ makes it awsome, especially for the price and PD cost!
I 2 saurus would be nice, but I 5 skrox? Tasty.especially when combined with other buffs

Ok, so combat isn't an awsome phase for them but they have the skinks as well as the regular attacks, and javalins for stand and shoot, and the armour is GOOD. And a S10 attack could be fun,


It works in the magic, shooting and combat phase. What's not to like?

 

I agree with everything you said except that if you are playing an army where the infantry have real hitting power i.e. warriors, deamons, ogres, etc... then the Bastiladon has no place in combat at all. Just run it behind your lines like a moving war machine that happens to buff I on your units.

 

Absolutely! Combat is definitely not it's favourite phase, its very much a shooty beast fo sitting between block units, or off on a flank, killing chaff.

and it will despise cannonballs, absolutely despise them, thank the gods for plastic flying beasts!

 

I love this guy. Just listened to the Dwellers Below podcast, and I love it even more. Its multi-role, multi-purpose, and a steal at only 150 big ones.

Two of these are just such massive threats against so many things. Yes, it can muck up and not do anything. But your opponent can't take that risk. Chimeras need to watch out for D6 S4 Flaming Attacks, when there's a Soul Quench coming. Can your opponent run the risk that you don't roll d26 S5 hits against his chariot? What about getting the 2d6 S6 hits against those Skullcrushers lining up for a charge?

What if that risk is coming twice a phase?

And then in combat, you throw them in to guard the flanks of your Saurus blocks. And combat reform to get that +1 to hit with the tail.

And all the while they are doubling the survival of your Saurus against Purple Sun, boosting your Temple Guard to actually strike simultaneously with most things; and combines nicely with that Hand of Glory.

 

I like both bastilidon variants.

They have a role to play in some lists but they are not exceptional. Their upside is that they are a cheap support monster.

I think our best combat option for the bastilidon is wyssans wild form. str5, t6, 2+as.. not bad at holding units up while your saurus overpursue due to predatory fighter.

The str4 is what really kills the bastilidon. T5 isn't tough enough IMO, str4 puts too many wounds through too easily while bringing the AS up to a 3+. Those are to easy to fail if your roll a bunch of em.

if you are a price conscious player, i'd suggest hammering out your staple purchases before buying an expensive kit for a cheap pts cost model with not a ton of effect on the battle.

 

I love the Solar Engine Bastilodon a ton. I like it so much I might just need 2 of them!

The initiative boost is a great passive/always on buff that combines well with Hand of Glory. The big beam weapon on its back can really lay down some damage to one unit on a 4+, and the best thing is the enemy needs to roll two dice to stop it, where I wouldn't feel bad just drop one dice on each cast attempt.

 

why would they need 2 dice to dispel?

Where does it say that they don't get a caster bonus to dispel?

 

They do. It just fails on a dice roll of 1-2.

 

So you think your opponent doesn't have the balls to roll a 3+ with one d6? That is what makes the bastilidon uber cool? If you rolled a 6 and he has a lvl 3 he still dispels on a 3+.

You better have more perks to unveil than pretending like you can lure out 2 dice with a randomized magic missle.

I promise, people are not intimidated by a 3+ to dispel bound spell. Even 2 of them.. Maybe they will match the two dice you use to cast them. Frankly, people just hold their dice for the spell they know you need, they aren't dumb and let you lure out all their dispel dice.

 

umm last I checked the BRB on bound spells states to dispel you need to roll over what the opponent rolled just as if a normal spell was cast.

Um...that's not how dispelling bound spells work, you still have to beat the casting value.

if I use one die to cast the sun beam and roll a 6, the opponent then has to beat that casting value.

 

Equal or beat the casting.

 

The point is... A bastilidon isn't scary, 2 might be concerning when you have few dispel dice. It is one of the least threatening things to deal with in the new lizardmen book. On one die, you fail 1/3 of the time. Pretending like you get 2 off in one turn 3 turns in a row would be a miracle and that is before dispel attempts. What if you fail with the first of your two bastilidons? Do you try the second bound spell after relinquishing 1 pd? What if you fail 2 in a row? Now ur magic phase is dead unless your dice turn upside-down... You shouldn't pretend like two bastilidons win a magic phase.

Glad it is the OP's fav unit. I hope he doesn't expect much cuz the bastilidon isn't a game breaker.

 

+1

And thank you sir for the backup.

 

A Bastiladon is many things. "Scary" is not one of them. "Useful"? Sure. It's tough, it has a great armor save, and a S10 attack per combat phase can come in handy against many opponents. But "scary"? Come on.

And for all the people that are talking up the Bound Spell forcing hard decisions... you are aware that you are not forced to nominate a Wizard for a dispelling attempt, right? He can try to dispel with a lower-level caster, or he can just flat value for flat value if you roll low. I wouldn't count on that ever going off unless you're willing to IF it.

 

Think what DRmooreflava meant was that a lvl.4 mage gets +4 to dispel and your bound spell gets no bonuses, so rolling a 6 means he only has to beat a 6 which, on 1 dice is a 3+...

It really depends how worried the enemy is about 2D6 good strength flaming hits. If they're pointed at a chimera, Hbomb, Terrorgheist etc. your opponent will probably have to at least throw 1 dice at it, whereas if they have a lot of redundancy/ wardsaves etc. then it may not be such an issue.

A bastilladon with the laser (blasterdon?) is probably the closest thing we get to a cannon (except maybe a sharp-horned steg to the face) and has a few extra supportive roles it can help out in too. Probably a good deal for the points tag if you think you'll have the dice to throw at it.

 

It's not all about trying to get the spell off. You can just roll 1 dice at it and, on a 3+, you get a very decent damage spell very efficiently. If you're opponent chooses to try to dispel it, great. Since you rolled a 3-6 to get it off, they will need to use 2 dice, or not add a wizard's level and roll 1 dice and have to beat a 3-6, which is a poor use of dispel dice imo. All of these situations are pretty good for you for 66% of the time with 1 dice.

So, for say 6 dice a turn, you get 4 spells off per game, unless your opponent wants to invest more into dispelling then you put into casting, which would free up your other power dice. Of course it's not game-breaking for 150 points, but it certainly has it's place. I plan on taking 1 for most Slann lists as the +1I synergizes so welll with Hand of God or Mystifying Miasma on TG.

My overall rating is at least 7/10. You can put him on the flank of your TG and buff them nicely, help your magic phase, and cover the flank against a lot of things (at least in MY meta).

 

Closest thing we have to a cannon is a Boosted Amber Spear from a skink priest. Next, I think "solardon" is better. I agree, against regen, this is a dangerous spell; however it is still randomized even if your opponent doesn't dispel.

 

That str 10 attack only comes when the enemy is in the rear, as far as I know. So you've got to combat reform for that, not a given with Ld 6... Assuming you stay in combat past round one without stubborn. This thing with wyssans wildform is crazy hard to kill tho, T6 and 2+ as. That is rock hard.

 

that st 10 thing is probably open to interpretation...sadly like a lot of things in this book lol

how it is phrase it makes it sound like the tail attack is str 10, but it gets a +1 to hit targets in it's rear arc.

I have determined this codex is annoying simply because the author apparently had no clue how to phrase rules.
How hard would it have been to write

if a model is in your rear arc you can declare one attack to be a thunderous bludgeon which is st 10 and +1 to hit

instead we get
declare one attack to be your thunderous bludgeon, it is str 10 and +1 to hit in the rear arc.


hell they could have even written

declare one attack to be your thunderous bludgeon, against the rear arc it is str 10 and +1 to hit.


graaaaa I feel like I need a damn lawyer to read this book.

 

You think that rule is annoying? Try reading the Daemons of Chaos army book