Goatboy’s 40K: Custodes’ New Golden Rules
Goatboy here and another week full of new 40k rules. Let’s talk some new Adeptus Custodes rules.
Goatboy here and another week full of new 40k rules. If you are living under a rock and in a basement you might not know that there is a Psychic Awakening going on. The latest chapter is out and about, so I got a chance to read some Adeptus Custodes rules – so let’s talk. First of all – it is not nearly as robust as the Death Guard update. That is a shame as I felt this book needed that type of update but I can’t be too upset as I love my Death Guard. Still this update isn’t bad as it does give Custodes a whole slew of new rules that could be useful.
CPs & Shieldhosts
The biggest update is the fact Custodes armies will get more CP in the coming weeks as 9th comes out. This is a good thing as this army really likes to chew thru CP and having more to start with is a great thing. Their power comes from having some great upgrades for their Characters that always takes some CP to get working. This update gives you even more things you want to do with your Shield Captains as well with a nifty new upgrade. At the top level of the codex you get a whole bunch of new “Shield Hosts” which are the equivalent to households, simple legions, and other options from the plethora of other armies out there. They are not nearly as robust as the other ones and remind me more of the Chaos Knight ones with a Warlord trait, Relic and Stratagem. It feels weird that the Shield host itself doesn’t gain a special Rule and I feel that is a bit of miss for this update. They should have gotten something unique whether it is a mix and match like the other books or just a couple extra army wide rules.
Warlord Traits
Most of the Warlord traits for these hosts are kind of weird. There is a whole lot of Character killing options in here with some doing things like being a -1 to hit and then giving the enemy character a -1 to their saving throw (inv saves included). I think the best one is extra movement trait mixed with being able to shoot rapid fire weapons as Assault weapons for guys around him. This is the Solar Watch army and they even have an interesting Strat that is a 0 cost, kill a character model and cause the enemy to pay an extra CP on the next stratagem they use. It can only be used once per battle but as it is a Free CP power it seems ok. I just like the idea of making all my bikes around me a 15 inch move. The Dreadhost one could also be good as it has a powerful Warlord trait that causes extra hits on unmodified 6’s in close combat and an ability for multiple units to roll 3d6 to charge out of deep strike.
Relics
On the Relic front a lot of them seem to not be for guys riding dirty on a golden bike. Until we see how armies are built and points land up it will be hard to really set up a bunch of foot bros or foot bro characters. We’ll see as again the Custodes are just paying too much rent to sit idle in your army. The regular book relics have the two powerful ones with a way to get 2 3+ inv saves for the army. Too many of them are just odd weapons that don’t do enough or only work versus Characters. I know it is fluffy for the army but we should have had more utility to be better.
Stratagems
There are a decent amount of stratagems too that are available to all the army. There is a Transhuman power that lets them ignore wound rolls of 1-3 for 2CP. That seems pretty good and would have been handy the last time I played Custodes. There is also the great 1CP get a Warlord trait for someone that seems pretty good. We didn’t get a character making Dreadnought trait but we got some protection from them with Half Damage and extra attacks if we need too. They get a 4+ deny power with a +1 if the unit doing it as a Warden unit. That doesn’t seem too bad. I love the Machine Spirit power that lets you either blow them up, have them shoot in death, or punch someone in death. It is too expensive at 2cp but it seems cute. The one I like a lot is the 2CP power that lets you make the opponent not able to reroll hits, wounds, and damage versus a Custodes unit. I would have loved to see that as a 1CP power but it could be really good. They also get a weird veterans of the long war where if you attack a unit with a higher toughness you can get a +1 to wound.
A new Stratagem for characters seems neat in that you can give our Character an extra ability for 1CP. The ones I like the most are the +1 to move, advance, and charge which when combine with one of the shield hosts gives you a 16 inch movement death monster. The 2+ wounds seems good for a bike character too. I also think the one that gives you 2 extra attacks for attacking a unit with 6 more models as something neat too. There is another one that gives you an extra attack for each wound lost up to +3 so that isn’t too terrible. They Also get the interesting power of being able to consolidate away from the enemy if you want which could be a lot of fun.
Sisters of Silence
The final thing is that Custodes can use Sisters of Silence in the army if they wanted too. They are a heavy Anti Psychic option and I wish they were a troop choice to help give the Custodes a cheap troop option to fill out their battalion. Still they seem interesting with a heavy influence of anti psychic options. They have some interesting options to push out some firepower to shoot Psykers – I just don’t know if it is enough. They give some anti psychic options but it feels like they need more to survive the battlefield. A Toughness 3 with a 3+ armor save and no real other tricks to protect ya means you will got shoot off the table if someone needs them too. Of course if the Rhino gets to stay a psychic abomination then will see.
Over all the update feels kinda small when compared to others. I don’t know what I wanted as the army really can’t get cheaper if they want it to match up with some of the other armies options.
For the Emperor!
