Sergeant Lukas Bastonne

Sergeant Bastonne, like his colleague Gunnery Sergeant Harker, is another unique character upgrade for Imperial Guard Veteran squads. Bastonne is kind of pricey, weighing in at 60 pts - so for the same points you get get another Chimera and for a bit more Marbo or a Hydra - but he brings some unique benefits with him. In addition to the standard veteran wargear Bastonne is equipped with carapace armor, a hot-shot laspistol, and a power sword (would have been better if he could have held out for a power fist -but whaddayagonnado?) Handy gear to have in some circumstances - but not jaw-dropping by any means. More importantly, Bastonne gets a leadership bump up to Ld 10.

"It's Up to Us Lads!"
What makes Bastonne so potentially useful is his ability to give one order to his unit after all other orders are given. Even better, Bastonne has access to all of the Company Command Squad and Platoon Command Squad orders. This ability is potentially huge, as most Guard players acquainted with the new codex will know. And did I mention that his leadership is higher than your typical company commander?
(Though in my test game with him I still brought along a vox-caster. Good thing too since on two occasions I rolled box-cars when attempting to order the squad. One of those times was when using "First Rank Fire, Second Rank Fire!" on a group of Fire Dragons in rapid fire range, and the last thing you want your vets to do in a situation like that is to stop what they're doing and stare into space like confused Ogryn.)


"Never Give Up, Never Surrender!"
Bastonne's other special ability is "Never Give Up, Never Surrender!" This rule essentially turns Bastonne and his squad into Space Marines!
.....Well, Strength 3 Toughness 3 Space Marines, with crappy armor and flashlights instead of bolters....
What I mean by that is as long as Bastonne is alive the squad will always be able to regroup, regardless of squad strength and other restrictions.
This is potentially handy, but here I really have to agree with Stalek's analysis. The unit is really too fragile for this ability to make much difference, and unfortunately the unit can't regroup when they're dead.

Potential Uses:
The only way that I've used Bastonne thus far is with three meltas and deployed in a Vendetta. This is especially useful assuming you can get first turn - scout the Vendetta up 24", move up to 12" more, pop out the veterans with meltas and "Bring it Down!" for some extra killy first turn vehicular homicide. Then you just have to hope that they survive the ensuing explosion (There's a potential use for "Never Give up Never Surrender!")

Carapace Armor could be useful in cases such as the one outlined above - but I think that doctrines in conjunction with upgrade characters are cost-prohibitive. (ie: 195 pts for a vet squad with Bastonne, 3 Meltas, Vox, and Carapace Armor - for the same points you could two vet squads with two meltas and some change left over)

I must admit that I am tempted to give Bastonne's unit "Demolitions" for the ability to have a twin linked Demo Charge (although for the order to work it would have to be targeting a vehicle or MC,) but I think that's more of a case of "Holy crap that would be awesome!" rather than an effective (and cost-effective) option.

Overall, I like Bastonne. He's an especially effective tank-hunter("Bring it Down!") and last minute objective grabber ("Move, Move, Move!") but his utility varies substantially depending upon the composition of the rest of the army. Playing a static gun-line? Leave Bastonne at home. In a Chimera or Valk though he can make an excellent forward assault element.

Gunnery Sergeant Harker

Gunnery Sergeant Harker is the ultimate bad-boy of the Imperial Guard codex. Well, second to Marbo anyways. The chief difference between the two is that while Marbo is stuck out on his own, Harker is an upgrade for a Veteran Sergeant - thus he is substantially more survivable most of the time. (Marbo's demo charge doesn't particularly help with the whole survivability thing.)

Harker gives his unit a number of pretty substantial benefits. First and foremost, the unit gains the universal special rules infiltrate, stealth, and move through cover. The squad also gains a heavy weapon in the form of Harker's heavy bolter, and since he is relentless it does not slow the unit down. He also has feel no pain, something I have a hard time remembering when I use him, but that is unfortunately not passed on to the rest of his unit. :(

Harker costs 55 points, the same as a chimera, which sounds kind of steep for a veteran sergeant, but when all of his benefits are taken into account I think he's a steal.

What initially attracted me to Harker was my frequent use of the "Forward Sentries Doctrine" in my objective sitting vet squads. The doctrine is 30 points and the benefits are the "Stealth" USR and defensive grenades. For 55 points Harker nets you Stealth, (30 points) a BS 4 Relentless Heavy Bolter (10 Points*), Infiltrate, and Move Through Cover (both priceless.)

My first inclination for using Harker was in much the same way that I used my Camo-Cloaked Vet Squads, essentially a camping heavy weapon squad that is extremely difficult to dislodge thanks to their (potentially 2+ when gone to ground) cover save. My first couple builds for Harker's squad included three snipers and a missile launcher. With that build you've got a solid mixed-use unit able to take on light armor and infantry that's extremely difficult to dislodge from cover. Harker's ability to infiltrate also allows you to give them the best possible location to utilize their strengths.

Overall, it's not a bad use of the guy - but I admit it's not optimized.

I'm thinking that in order to take full advantage of all of Harker's benefits he needs to be mobile - not slowed down by any heavy weapon teams. I'm thinking that a veteran squad with Harker and three flamers would make perfect infantry hunters. Infiltrate makes them superb for taking out light infantry that likes to hang around the backfield and depends upon cover such as Ork Lootas, Eldar Rangers, Tau Pathfinders, and the like.

It is also worth considering dropping them in a Chimera with a hull heavy flamer for an additional 55 points (though this makes them pretty pricey at about 195 points.) Since the Chimera is a dedicated transport the "Infiltrate" USR is passed along to it - allowing for outflanking Chimera-flamer BBQ time! An astropath in the Company Command Squad can make this especially worthwhile, pretty much ensuring they come in where you want them. Also, since Harker is relentless he can fire his heavy bolter out the top hatch of the Chimera so long as it doesn't move more than 6" - AND since (according to the most recent 40k rules FAQ) the vet squad and the chimera are two different units they do not have to fire at the same target. So given the right circumstances the chimera could ruin someone's afternoon with it's hull heavy flamer and Harker and company could put the hurt on someone else entirely.

So, that's my take on Harker. I'd be interested to hear others' opinions of him as I haven't seen a whole lot of discussion on him yet. Probably as he's been overshadowed by Marbo, Al'rahem, Chenkov, Straken, Nork, and the like.