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I just got an Imperial Bastion to make some terrain and I am making the middle section of the Bastion something to put in the center of the table, not only to block LoS, but also to have some interactive terrain.

How does this sound: At the beginning of each players Shooting Phase, each Heavy Bolter will fire at the closest unit in its LoS.
Should I have some way for a player to either "shut off" this HB array, or even control it?

Second question: I cannot seem to find any rules for the Comms Relay that comes with the Bastion, I know that in the prior edition it gave a bonus to Reserve rolls, but since those don't exist anymore, I suspect the Comms Relay does not have 8E rules.
What is something it could do, other that just be a cool objective?

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The bastion has a statblock and is destroyable, that's at least a quick solution to shutting it off. You might allow units to occupy the bastion and fire the weapons at their own BS the way they could in 7th.

You might give comms relays some kind of connected stratagem to call in an airstrike?

 AnomanderRake wrote:
You might give comms relays some kind of connected stratagem to call in an airstrike?

That's not bad. I could use the Orbital bombardment Stratagem from the Marines Codex, but could it a free (no CPs needed) if you have an INFANTRY model in base contact at the start of the Movement phase and no enemy units within 3". Or something like that.

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 Galef wrote:

 AnomanderRake wrote:
You might give comms relays some kind of connected stratagem to call in an airstrike?

That's not bad. I could use the Orbital bombardment Stratagem from the Marines Codex, but could it a free (no CPs needed) if you have an INFANTRY model in base contact at the start of the Movement phase and no enemy units within 3". Or something like that.

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Free seems like it might be a bit much. A free 3CP strat every turn in exchange for parking your pox walker blob in the middle of the table seems like it could be a pain. I think you two are on the right track.

You also might consider using a stratagem or a second piece of terrain to mimic the 7th edition "security codes" or whatever it was called that let you make automated guns non-hostile towards you. "At the start of each game round, the player who controls the most Machine Spirit Communion Terminals" may make the automated guns hostile towards his opponent for the remainder of the round."

Fair point. How about this:
"A single INFANTRY model within 1" of the Comms Relay during their shooting phase, may call an Orbital Strike instead of shooting any other weapons that phase. Roll a d6 using the model's BS. If the roll successfully meets or exceeds the model's BS, the strike is successfully called.
Pick a point on the table visible to the "firing" model. All units with 3" of that point suffer d3 Mortal Wounds"
"If an enemy model is within 3" of the Comms Relay, an Orbital Strike cannot be called"

Set the relay up at the center of the table, make it an objective and have fun.

Regarding the Heavy Bolters, I think I'll have them as part of the same building as the Comms relay and target the closest visible unit at the start of each player's shooting phase.
At BS5+ it shouldn't be too painful, but I've also added Stormbolters (from the Munitorum Containers) above each HB, so we may treat each one as a Twin-HB to get some extra shots from each

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Each Heavy Bolter should trace LOS and distance from itself, and consider the rest of the Bastion LOS blocking. This way, it tries to fire in all directions. This will make it less locally painful, and add more depth.

Regarding the Heavy Bolters, you could give them independent defensive stats (T, Sv, and W) - so a player could destroy one without destroying the entire thing. That might make it more interesting. But might be too much.

Comms relay; another option is to allow whoever controls it a 6+ after using a stratagem - on success, spend no CP. That's quite powerful, and in line with improving communications. It'd make it fitting for most factions.

These are just off-the-cuff ideas.

Bharring wrote:
Each Heavy Bolter should trace LOS and distance from itself, and consider the rest of the Bastion LOS blocking. This way, it tries to fire in all directions. This will make it less locally painful, and add more depth.

Agreed. This is exactly what I was going for.
Although I think I'll use prior editions firing arcs so that no 2 HBs can target the same unit (unless that unit is in 2 arcs)

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