40K: Custodes Do Elite Right
Elite armies are difficult to nail down–but Custodes set the new benchmark by which other elite armies should be judged. Anyway you slice it, if we’re talking about an army that wants to succeed with a small number of resilient models, the Custodes are the… gold standard.
Elite armies are armies that rely on a small number of tough and powerful units to win battles. The idea being that the points your spending are concentrated into just a few models that give you an impressive amount of bang for an impressive amount of buck. But in the past, this hasn’t always felt that way.
Guess second place gets silver for a reason…
Take a look at some of the other “elite” armies out there. Grey Knights and Deathwatch, for instance. They are great way to look at the kinds of problems that an elite army can face. Their models are more expensive, for sure (although Deathwatch is getting a Codex here in the coming months, so that may change), but they don’t really hit that much more above their weight. They either don’t have enough firepower/close combat power to chew through the enemy, and they really suffer when facing an army with numbers on its side.
And in Eighth edition, numbers are one of your most powerful weapons. Especially since anything can hurt anything. Without templates, the game relies heavily on number of shots–this is supposed to represent everything from massive explosions to extremely rapidfire weapons. And it’s had the effect of making the number of shots you get matter more than just about anything else. A 4 Lascannon or Meltas just don’t get the job done like the Battle Cannon on a Leman Russ. Flyrants pack in 24 Strength 6 shots and basically go around doing whatever they want.
This weight of numbers cuts the other way too. When you have only 4 or 5 models taking those 24 shots, they’ll tend to melt away like butter in a microwave. Unless they’re exceptionally tough. And that’s where the Custodes come in. They set the standard by which all other elite armies should be judged. They’re tough enough that they don’t just melt to massed fire, thanks their high toughness and low armor saves–but the real saving grace is the multiple wounds on any model. A unit of Custodes can take the firepower from multiple units before they go down (barring being exceptionally unlucky), and they can hit back pretty hard.
But they aren’t unbeatable–just exceptionally tough. And honestly it feels good to both play them and play against them. You really feel like you’re getting your points worth either way–and at the end of the day, there are some bad matchups (both ways) but the Custodes really hammer home the idea that they’re an unstoppable force.
Which puts the upcoming codexes in an interesting light. The next three books, Knights, Harlequins, and Deathwatch (not necessarily in that order) all are elite armies. Whether fielding a few Knights, a few Troupes (who might be troops), or just some Xenos hunting heavy-hitters–it will be interesting to see how these armies have changed post-Adeptus Custodes. Right now, Grey Knights really feel like they’re lacking what it takes to hang with the elites. Will these other codexes have some similarly fated models?
Or will they find new ways to measure up to the gold standard? We’ll have to wait to find out for sure.
But in the meantime, what do you think? Can these armies find a place at the table (competitive or otherwise)? What will it take to make them feel just as elite?
