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I find that with my mech vets they are usually much too far from an officer to get orders even when they'd come in handy like the TL heavy weapons or reroll cover saves order. So I'm looking at Sgt Bastonne and even kitbashed up a version of him.

For 60 points I get a hotshot las (meh), powersword (don't want or need), know no fear and 1 order.

Worth it?

I've tried him a few times in my mech list and he can come in really handy. But in the end, I just have trouble spending that many points for one or two orders given a game.

If he could order the unit while its in its chimera, then I would use him constantly. The problem is when vets get out of their ride, rarely do they get back in. They usually kill whatever they are pointed at (even more so with Bastonne) but then another enemy unit rolls them up.

So in the end I've found that one order is what you get out of him, sometimes two.

Bastonne is a cool idea and something neat to model, but at the end of the day 60 points is a lot to pay for one potential IG order. I vote no, if your trying to make a list with as little fat as possible, keep him out. If your not too worried about making the "uber" list and just want to play around a bit, he is fun to field and even funner to make a model for.

If I have 60 points to blow I am taking Marbo, and if I already have Marbo then to take Bastonne would be spending too many points on characters

Sounds like everyone sees what I saw.

If they'd drop him to 30 or 40, maybe. If they gave him something uber like I5 or BS5, maybe. But as he stands he's just not worth 60 points.

How about Jessie the Body Ventura (Sgt Harker)? I've thought of putting him in an autocannon/3 plasma squad to get infiltrate and another heavy bolter.

Harker is a completely different animal. I think he proves quite useful and can be played in different manners.

In a chimera with 3 melta vets you can outflank and blow something up in a backfield, nice when the rest of your army can't do so.

In a squad with *insert 3 special weapons* and additional heavy weapon and you get a reasonable survivable unit that can offer some firepower and objective sit, at a price which is high, but not unreasonable.

The issue with that build, IMO, is that if you try to marry up with the HB you look to things like SR, GL and another HB. It ends up being a lot of points for not too much bang. Or you go big with plasmaguns and the heavy bolter is just a toss in.

I would run him in the outflanking chimera, not what his fluff says, but its where he's effective.

How about Jessie the Body Ventura (Sgt Harker)? I've thought of putting him in an autocannon/3 plasma squad to get infiltrate and another heavy bolter.

I actually want to get a squad with 2 heavy bolters and 3 sniper rifles and infiltrate them somewhere along side ratlings or something, and have them be my sacrificial flank if you read that tactica article. Never playtested it though. I did dig up my old last chancer models and requisitioned Ox to use as harker