Games Workshop Warhammer 40k - Adeptus Custodes Custodian Wardens

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At first glance this is just the standard “objective secured” rule every army has, but it’s worth a careful re-read of the conditions – these rules affect INFANTRY and BIKER units, which means that your characters, your jetbikes, and your Terminators are also obsec. This is a powerful way for Custodes to counter their hyper-elite nature, and stop you from losing every objectives-based game because someone put down more guys on one objective than your entire army contains. Weapons Changes The three exciting flavours you can take the Sisters in are Prosecutors, Vigilators and Witchseekers, who each have kind of their own deal going on. Prosecutors Indomitable Engines – 1CP: Use in any phase, when a Custodes vehicle would lose a wound as a result of a mortal wound. On a 5+ that wound is ignored, and you can continue to roll for any further mortal wounds this phase. The same as Armor of Contempt in Marines, and just as good here as it is there, especially with Harlequins being a big meta feature. A New Faces: Quite a few units even outside the Sisters of Silence were pretty much unusable in 9th. All of these have had major tuneups, so should actually see play.

It speaks volumes about the dire condition of the galaxy that Thursk left Terra but twice before the breaking of the storm, yet he has barely set foot there since the Great Rift yawned wide. Swift as the Eagle –+1 to Advance and charge rolls and +1 to Move for this model. Nice and straightforward for getting a character that little bit more movement. B+ Desperation’s Price: When a psyker suffers perils within 18″ of a Sisters squad, they take an additional d3 MWs for 1CP. This adds even further to the psychic defence angle, and makes them especially effective against armies that throw out high volumes of powers like Grey Knights and Thousand Sons, where sheer volume of dice rolled makes an eventual perils near unavoidable. Few psykers are entirely safe when suffering 2d3 MWs, and the chance of this totally ruining your opponent’s plans is real, for all that it’s necessarily situational. B Custodes benefit from one of the weapons updates that came with the 9th edition Space Marines codex – their storm shields now offer +1 to armour saving throws and a 4+ invulnerable save. For Custodians this is pure upside as they still get +1 to invulnerable saves from The Emperor’s Chosen, so they still get a 3++ and also now have a 1+ save. Lords of the Shield HostsThis makes them excellent assassins, ploughing through bodyguards and screening troops to get at their true target. Of course, Allarus Terminators are incredibly difficult to take down, especially when you give them this upgrade. Shoulder the Mantle – 1CP: When your Warlord is slain, choose a SHIELD-CAPTAIN from your army. They become your Warlord and generate a Warlord trait. Your Warlord is not considered to have been slain. Cut Off the Head is one of the lowest-scoring objectives in the game, so for pure points denial this is nearly irrelevant in 9th. Being able to get another Warlord trait on something that didn’t have one before is a reasonable use of a CP, though. B Agamatus Custodians haven’t seen much high-level tournament play, but it feels like there must be some way of utilising them – though their high price tag is certainly forbidding. Venatari Custodians (FW) After both sides have deployed, but before you have determined who will have the first turn, you must select a primary, secondary and tertiary martial ka’tah from the list below for your army to use in the battle. Note this down secretly on your army roster. Custodes also have a theme, reflected in both detachment rules and on their datasheets. A lot of their units and abilities provide a buff all the time, and a once-per-game super move, reflecting the supreme ability of the Ten Thousand to rise to a challenge when it matters. This is super cool – in my opinion, it does a good job of capturing the flavour of the army, a significant improvement on 9th. Detachment Ability – Aegis of the Emperor

Brawling MSUs: Small units of Allarus and Wardens have an actual role to play in pressuring the opponent. Every member of the Adeptus Custodes is a hero in their own right, but there are some that go above and beyond even the deeds expected of them. These veterans combine the training of their brethren with centuries of battlefield experience, each often centuries older than even the most venerable of Space Marines, and well versed in the practice as well as the theory of warfare. Fulminaris Aggressor: Relic Vexilla Defensor. Instead of the normal ability, friendly IMPERIUM INFANTRY or BIKER units within 6″ automatically pass Morale tests, plus there’s a gun and a melee profile – the gun is 8″ auto-hits, Assault D6, S4 AP-1 D1, and the melee is S+2 AP-1 D1. I have no idea why you’d ever take this. DInspire Fear – 1CP: Use at the beginning of the Morale phase. Choose a non-VEHICLE ADEPTUS CUSTODES unit. Your opponent adds 1 to Morale tests taken for enemy units within 3″ of that unit until the end of the phase. Whatever. D Custodian Wardens may, at first glance, appear very similar to Custodian Guard , and indeed, these elite warriors perform much the same role as their brethren, but with some added benefits. The first of these is Binding Oaths, a special rule that further boosts the durability of a unit that is already very hard to kill. Custodes have a lot of Character choices – a couple of powerful named leaders, three flavours of Shield Captain, the mighty Blade Champion and a couple of Sisters of Silence choices.

Superior Creation: 5+ Feel No Pain. An excellent trait for making your already-tough Warlord even more annoying to get rid of. A With the release of War of the Spider, though, they got one of the most extensive Psychic Awakening updates in the game, gaining a whole host of new options. That book arrived at a difficult time, with 8th on its deathbed and much of the world in the grip of covid-19, but the obvious potential was there.The poor Rhino does not get any of these special rules, differing only from a regular one in being able to carry the Sisters and having a chance to heal a wound each turn. It tries real hard though. Aquilon Custodians are a variant Terminator, though they don’t share any of the cool stratagems that the Allarus get since those helpfully all specify the unit name “Allarus Custodians”. Instead of carrying spears or axes, Aquilon Custodians have three different ranged weapon options, and two different melee weapons. This mix-and-match gives them the ability to tailor to a specific role, and they’ve got a lot of firepower to do that with. On the ranged front, they can take an infernus firepike, lastrum storm bolter, or twin adrathic destructor. The firepike is a d6 shot, S6, AP-1, D:1 flamer, with a 15″ range. Aquilons don’t need a stratagem to deep strike, so that’s as many as 6d6 autohits clearing out even reasonably heavy infantry screens – and the range means that they’re even still effective against Infiltrators. Lastrum storm bolters are 24″ range Rapid Fire 2 S5 AP-1 D1, and twin adrathic destructors are 18″ range Assault 2, S5, AP-3, D:3 weapons, functionally the same as the ones that Custodians can take. Any of these are solid options, with the storm bolters coming in cheapest (and up to 8 shots each within 12″ with Superior Fire Patterns), and the adrathic destructors the deadliest. Faith Absolute: Relic Vexilla Magnifica. Instead of the normal ability, friendly IMPERIUM INFANTRY or BIKER units within 6″ automatically pass Morale tests, and the bearer gets a single Deny. Between this and the Impregnable Mind Warlord trait, GW really tried to give Custodes native psychic defence. It’s probably not worth giving up the -1 to hit flag for this, but at least it isn’t an outright bad choice like the other two relic banners. B- Custodes have some interesting traits, and they get even better now that you can take multiple if you want to.