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Hey, so I was just wondering if anyone has tried making a custom bastion? Their description on the GW website says, "Bastions can take the form of anything from reinforced ferrocrete bunkers to pyramidal tombs made of living metal. " In the rulebook, they are described as Medium sized buildings (9" x 9") and under wargear it says they have, " Four emplaced heavy bolters (typically one on each facing)". This leads me to think that its possible for a bastions to be odd shapes and sizes and to sport all four bolters on one side or some such thing. All on page 116
I'm considering running some tau allies with broadsides and I'd like it to be tau-ish terrain. Could I make a custom bastion, maybe 5" by 8" with battlements large enough to fit two suits and drones? I'm not looking to break the game, I just want some cover and I just don't like the aegis.
Thanks for your input.

Sadly, there are no Rules as Written when it comes to building/fielding Non-Imperial structures which means a rule forum is not going to be able to give you the best advice. When it comes to fielding non-standard terrain pieces, particularly fortifications, you will need to run these pieces by your opponent or the tournament organizers. That is the only way to get an answer which will matter to the game you intend to use this piece in. Over all, most opponents will not have a problem playing with non-standard as long as they are not clearly designed to give you an upper-hand over the standard model.

JinxDragon wrote:
as long as they are not clearly designed to give you an upper-hand over the standard model.

I'd agree with this snippet. And putting all four heavy bolters on one facing IS "clearly designed to give you an upper-hand over the standard model." Don't do it. Try to make your Fortifications as like the official model as possible.

Personally, I like little touches that do personalize an army and with some of the Stronghold Assault changes there are a few tactics to be had with the 'network' fortification rules allowing us to take combination of fortifications. Personally, I do not think the Tau should be getting any fortifications as their military style favors more 'fluid' warfare but that is just a fluffy thing and can be explained away with good enough fluff of your own. I can see a few combinations that I wouldn't mind putting into testing at the very least, now that buildings no longer follow as restrictive limitations on whom can embark.

They probably have some datasheets in the works for other factions, or at least I would like them they do.

I would love to see more custom models lie bastions. Everyone using the same exact model just painted in different colors can get a bit boring.

So I would say go for it and discuss it with your local gaming group. I say this because as you can see when reading through the threads on this type of topic here, you will find players who will scream MFA if you so much as have a different number of rivets on the door than the 'official" model and deny you being able to use the model you spent so much time and effort just to make cool and match your army. Why would someone do this to you? Because they will look at your army and see that denying you t's use might give THEM an advantage over YOU.

So while I say Go for it, Be ready for the WAAC players who will deny you using it.

Which is why you want to talk to them first. I doubt anyone (be it other players or a TO) is going to pitch a fit over something they previously agreed to allow you to field unless it shows up different from how you described it to them.

Also I second the "it's probably fine, but you'll want to build it as close to the official model as possible", stylistic choices aside. Having a tau bastion made up in tau colours and bits = fine. Designing it so all the guns are on one face in order to maximize it's effectiveness in your army = MFA. (in my opinion)

That depends on the player. most decent players will be happy to see something different.

I would recommend keeping it close to the general shape and size to avoid accidentally giving yourself any advantages.

As I said earlier, be prepared for the WAAC players will deny you it's use crying MFA just so they can get a advantage over you. If your local TO allows it, be ready to get marks against you from other tourney players crying MFA (purely as an excuse to dock you points to get an advantage over you in the lists).

Read through some of the threads here, and in this very forum section and you will see a lot ofthis. of course, it is far easier to bully someone over the internet and get away with it (especially if your one of the "in crowd" where you can do anything you want), than it is to do so in real life so those expletives are found less often in actual life but they are still there.

As I said earlier, the golden rule is to discuss it with the actual people you will be playing against. Asking here is a good place to get resources and information to take with you when you do so but should not be a replacement for it.