Review: Grand Cathay Defenders of the Great Bastion Army Reinforcement Set

The Great Bastion stands strong with Grand Cathay’s second wave of reinforcements. We’re reviewing the Defenders of the Great Bastion Army Reinforcement Set, which brings magical Astromancers of the Celestial Court, devastating Crane Gun Teams and Iron Hail Gunners, and masses of Peasant Levies to bolster the Dragon Emperor’s armies. In this comprehensive review, we examine all the new kits with high-res sprue images, explore their build options, and let you know whether these defenders are worthy of protecting Cathay’s mighty walls.

The Grand Cathay Defenders of the Great Bastion Army Reinforcement Set, will be available for pre-order starting Saturday, 28 February 2026. The pre-order period lasts two weeks, with the official release date set for 14 March 2026.

Included in the box are 53 models:

• 1 mounted Astromancer, 1 foot Astromancer, 1 familiar
• 8 Crane Gun Teams
• 12 Ironhail Gunners
• 30 Peasant Levy
• plus an assembly guide

Defenders of the Great Bastion Army Reinforcement Set unboxing

Already a short time after the first wave (see my review of the Grand Cathay Battalion with Jade Warriors, Jade Lancers, Grand Cannon / Fire Rain Rocket Battery here), the second major wave of models for Grand Cathay now follows. The Defenders of the Great Bastion Army Reinforcement Set introduces three new units as well as the Celestial Court. You can find the rules in the new Arcane Journal: The Breaching, whose new army list replaces the original Grand Cathay army list. However, you still need the original Arcane Journal: Grand Cathay for the unit profiles – typical GW.

Astromancers of the Celestial Court reviewed

This kit comprises one medium-sized sprue, with which you can build a mounted Astromancer (30x60mm base), an Astromancer on foot (25mm square base), and a small (somehow suspiciously Tzeentch-looking) familiar (also 25mm square base).

Patreon bonus content: Ultra high-res, uncompressed versions of these sprue images (and backsides of the sprues) can be downloaded here.

The build options:

• The mounted Astromancer has the choice between an outstretched left hand (part 15) or a staff (16). Additionally, there’s a head with feathered headdress (17) or a bare head (18), which are compatible with the Astromancer on foot.
• The Astromancer on foot can receive a right arm with staff (28) or sword (2), as well as a head with imposing feathers (32 to 34) or bare head (31, both compatible with the mounted Astromancer).
• The familiar is monopose with no build options.

Crane Gun Team & Iron Hail Gunners reviewed

The Crane Gun Teams and Iron Hail Gunners share a sprue segment, which contains 2 teams and 3 Iron Hail Gunners respectively. This sprue segment is included 4x in the box. So you receive a total of 8 teams (on 25x50mm square bases) and 12 Gunners (25mm square bases).

Patreon bonus content: Ultra high-res, uncompressed versions of these sprue images (and backsides of the sprues) can be downloaded here.

Both the Crane Gun Teams and the Gunners are monopose models with no build options or alternative parts. With the four duplicate sprues, it’s Attack of the Clones. Since the models all stand in rank and file, thankfully, this isn’t too noticeable. If you want to go to the effort, you can cut away the pegs on the Gunners’ arms and heads, then you might be able to swap parts between them. However, the arms and heads are all very similar anyway.

Peasant Levy reviewed

Peasant Levies are recruited from the common folk in times of war to support the professional armies of the Celestial Dragon. The Reinforcement set contains 30 models on 25mm square bases, which you can arm with either long spears or war bows. Additionally, you can build an optional command unit per 10 models with Champion, Standard Bearer, or Musician.

Every 10 models are spread across three sprue segments, of which two are identical. The first sprue segment contains all 10 bodies and parts for the command unit. The other two sprue segments are identical and contain enough arms, shields, and heads for 5 bodies. With 30 models in the box, you therefore get 3x the segment with the bodies, and 6x the segment with the weapons and heads. A similar layout with a doubled sprue segment is also found with the Jade Warriors, my review here.

Sprue segment 1 (included 3x in the box) contains:

• 10 different bodies
• 1 right arm with sword (27), one left arm with special shield (28 to 30), and two special heads (23 and 24) for the Champion
• 1 arm pair with banner and dragon head to build a Standard Bearer (the two-part body and the two tails of the dragon windsock are found on the other sprue)
• 1 right arm with axe (45), 1 left arm with horn (47) for the Musician

Patreon bonus content: Ultra high-res, uncompressed versions of these sprue images (and backsides of the sprues) can be downloaded here.

Sprue segment 2 (included 6x in the box) contains:

• 6 bare heads (79 to 84)
• 6 heads for hats (73 to 78), which can be combined with the 5 different sun hats (85 to 89)
• 5 arm pairs with long spears
• 5 arm pairs with war bows
• 6 different arrow quivers
• Half the body of the windsock (42) for the Standard Bearer’s dragon windsock, as well as a dragon tail (43) (to build a complete dragon banner, you need two bodies and two tails, so you need the parts from both identical sprue segments)

Where to get

You can find the latest GW releases at our 🇬🇧/🇪🇺 partner stores Wayland Games, Element Games, and Firestorm Games, at 🇩🇪 Taschengelddieb and PK-Pro, and at 🇺🇸 Noble Knight Games with a welcome discount of up to 20% over RRP. Using our links helps to support Tale of Painters at no additional cost to you, so thank you very much for using them!

I hope you found this review helpful, feel free to leave a reaction or comment below, or post your questions here or discuss on our Discord channel.