Hey there! So I've been thinking lately, when fielding a bastiladon my best games I have ever had with it haven't been when it sits back and shoots, but when it's in the thick of melee combat drawing lots of fire and also shooting. Brings me to ask this question; How do you guys most successfully utilise a bastiladon in its most effective form, as a tank? Have you guys been teleporting it in to the front lines close to enemy and supporting with other units? Have you been teleporting it to the rear of the opposing army to cause havoc amongst protected troops and leaders? Have you been bunkering on their objectives? Or just simply using it in your back lines to shoot? Reason I ask is I feel we could be getting a lot more value from bastiladons if we use them right! Here's one of mine as a WIP
Nice paint scheme! I mostly use mine as a shooting tank on the front line. But I'll try teleporting it as a snake bomb as soon as I play another game as Seraphon. Mathematically that should be quite effective.
The most efficient way so far is to have it as a shooting line and progresses along with the army. Now if the opponent has something big and scary like a maw crusha it's where it really shines. I charge it in and lock him down. BUT be careful : he definitely needs the mystic shield on him when doing that. At 2 games I tanked allarielle and elf dragon on charge he got annhiliated before even activasion. Since they do 3+ damage you only need to fail 3 saves which is fairly easy on 3+ !
Cheers! Yeah the more I think about it the more potential this guy has that could be super strong in our armies. The amount of headaches a bastiladon must cause for an enemy...
I love them for tying up big enemies. You wanna charge your stonehorn into my saurus warrior horde? No, my bastiladon is going to keep you busy for two turns whilst they go and decimate something else.
Bastiladons really want a 2+ rerollable save. Sisters of the Thorn, anyone? I think your opponent would rather just not attack it.
I ran my Bastiladon as a in the back line till I buffed it. Mystic shield and life surge (from Jade wizard not sure on the spell name) he took out 600pts and healed back up to full from 1 damage left. I love running bastiladons
I also like them as blockers, and they also do some great shooting sometimes, especially when buffed by an Astrolith Bearer.
We would need to be allegiance Order then, which makes us lose one of the most important tool for a bastiladon; Teleportation.
Yeah I am still angry that we can't be allied with anyone except SCE even though it might make sense in the fluff, the Slann being reclusive guys and so on.
They're great for tying up big monsters, as others have said. Buffed up with a mystic shield, and the celestial rite of skink priests, they have a 2+ rerollable that isn't affected by rend, which can take just about anything and shrug it off. That's basically the best defense you could possibly have. I don't think a single thing in the entire game, barring incredibly poor rolls on your part, could end a Bastiladon in a single turn when it's buffed up like that.
Mass mortal wounds have a decent chance. But you really need masses. And Nagash's special "I just kill it" ability of course.
I ran a pair of them at Adepticon this year in the AoS Team Tournament. I took a Slann Starmaster who would buff them and I used them to tie up big threats. Mystic shield, summon starlight and curse of fates on one let it tie up a Stonehorn and then a Great Maw so my partners Blood Knights could get their charge in.
In my first game, i teled my basty on the objective and he stayed there the entire game shooting snakes left and right. Lost the game but Basty did everything right.
I tend to either LoSaT the Basti into the enemy general to tie them up and (most often) kill them, or use them to roadblock the enemy's elite units.
Well, this cinches my decision to obtain a Bastiladon as soon as my budget can afford one. Has anyone managed to magnetize the Ark so you can switch between the two loadouts?
That is very easy, not even magnets required and the two loadouts do not share parts. Just put a small ball of poster putty on the bottom and it will stick to the Basti nicely.
2+ is hard since they changed the rules for Mystic Shield. I don't remember any ability that grants a +1 to save and works for the Basti. Rerolls can come from Mystic Shield (allows rerolling 1s) or from a Priest (reroll all failed saves), or from the Thunderquake bataillon. You can further harden the Basti by applying Summon Starlight to it, so the enemy has -1 to hit on it.