Horus Heresy: The 5 Best Adeptus Custodes Units in Age of Darkness
Want to know the cream of the 30K Adeptus Custodes crop? Get set for success with a look at the best units that Emperor’s finest have to offer.
Unit selection is arguably the most interesting and important part of assembling your Horus Heresy armies. With nearly all of the unit rules out now for most factions it’s time to take an introspective look at the Custodes and give you some ideas on where to take your collection. If you’re playing in a competitive league or among competitive players, this list should help you balance the field and make your lists shine like…GOLD?
Custodian Guard
When your basic line unit is Terminator tough and twice as killy for fewer points, what is not to love here? The Custodian Guard statline is amazing, their standard wargear is bananas and because they are a Troops choice, you can take them in spades. The fact that they have base 4 attacks, +1 on a charge, and they have reaping blow on their Guardian Spears, *chef’s kiss*. On your average charge, you’ll be putting 6 attacks per Guard into your enemy and, in 90% of cases attacking first. Your WS5 lets you mow through nearly all generic legion units while deflecting most incoming attacks. Their shooting, while nothing to sneeze at, is incredibly short ranged. So you really want to move them up the table as quickly as possible and engage your opponent in Close Combat. When you do inevitably run into a vehicle…you have Melta bombs standard on your boys, which can be devastating.
I think Custodian Guards work best as mixed weapon squads of around 5 bodies. My reasoning for the middling number of troops is this. With so many attacks on a single Guard it is easy to overkill a unit when you’re hitting on 3s and wounding on 2s. It doesn’t make much sense to have 10 guys in a squad; 50-60 attacks are going to be overkill for almost anything these guys touch. Why commit 10 Guards when 5 will sweep a 20-man tactical squad or even Terminators? You can always commit another squad to a fight. As for mixing in weapons I think 1-2 Custodes with axes give your troops an incredible high damage – low AP punch that they may otherwise be lacking with just their standard Guardian spear. Consider that the Axe upgrade is free, and suddenly 4-5 Str 8 AP2 attacks are on the table per axe-equipped guard. While you’re hitting at Initiative 1 due to the Unweildy rule, you do have some ablative wounds on your standard Guards as well as your 2+ 6++ saves and WS5 to keep you upright.
Hetaeron Guard
Oh you wanted Veteran Custodian Guards with scarier weapons than the base unit? The fearsome Hetaeron guard from HH v1 are still around and still an answer for damn near anything that your opponent can throw at you. Equipped with the absurd Meridian Blades, they have 3 types of attacks that fit nearly any conceivable situation they will find themselves in. Best of all Meridian blades are FREE, 0-point upgrades. Keep them bundled around a Tribune or Constantine to soak up incoming hits that might otherwise kill some of your squad, and you’ll be blazing a trail through traitor scum in no time. Hetaeron Guard can get expensive quickly, especially if you start loading them up with upgrades. I think the Meridian Swords are a must-take and maybe Praesidium shields if you intend to run them around without supervision. Hetaeron Guard are a somewhat fragile unit, and monster point sink. It would be worthwhile to put them into some kind of transport to get them close to a melee.
Tribune
This was a hard choice between Valdor and the Tribune. While Valdor can be taken in sub 3000pt games he also is fairly expensive for a punching bag whose main role in is to absorb damage aimed at his deathstar. He’s not exceedingly killy as some of the other martial Primarchs like Johnson or Russ. I like the Tribune due to the fact that he’s nearly as tanky as Valdor with his Auric Battleplate, and you can take Meridian Swords. So he can maximize your damage against various targets. The Tribune weighs in at 300pts, and is a build-a-bear with a frightening statline and impressive weapon options. His WS 7 makes him an absolute monster in close combat paired with the Meridian blades. Consider taking the 5pt Archaeotech pistol as well. It’s a fun little upgrade that should knock down a marine fairly regularly; the Rending (3+) should help you get your points back in a turn or two.
Contemptor-Achillus Dreadnought
Just like its legion brethren, the Golden Bois have their own Contemptor but with blackjack and more bling. Thus far, the color options are gold, more gold, and yet again…gold. All kidding aside, the Achillus is everything you need to traumatize your opponents. Weighing in at a lofty 250pts, nearly 75 pts higher than the standard Legion Contemptor the Custodes version has some subtle differences that more than makeup for the price hike. Take into account that your weapon skill on this dread is WS6 making it so scary against other similar but “lesser” models. Also, it comes standard with a Corvae las-pulser built into its Achillus dreadspear and in close combat Str12, AP2 w/ Exo-Shock on the same weapon. Coming on the heels of the most recent FAQ for the Liber Imperium Custodes, get the same awesome Gravis Powerfist w/ Brutal (3) as the Legion Contemptor. If that smattering of Terminators before you thought they were gonna make 3 saves per attack, they can think again.
I think the best part about the Achillus is the flexibility that it grants its commander. You end up with a stellar unit that is hard to shift, and unlike the Legion version, you have tools to deal with pretty much any situation and you still get all the benefits of being a Custodes. You have decent shooting, incredible close combat, and some fun bolter, flamer, and destructor upgrades if you choose to take them. I personally think the storm bolter is adequate, and the Adrathic Destructor and flamer aren’t worthwhile.
Pallas-Attack Speeder Squadron
They’re fast, they hit hard, and they look cool. Its the Pallas Attack Speeder Squadron! These zippy little speeders are an absolute steal at 60 pts each. There’s not much to dislike on this platform. You can take 3 in a Squadron for 180pts, they have deepstrike and outflank, making them illusive and sneaky. Plus they are surprisingly effective at tagging the rear armor on vehicles as they pop onto the board in unexpected places. They come standard with Arachnus blaze cannon, which in my opinion, is superior to the Adrathic devastator option and far cheaper. Their standard flare shield should help keep these light speeders around long enough to earn back their points. I think these are best used to harass elite infantry as they have the weapon strength and AP to knock down Terminators and light vehicles effectively.
Welcome to The Ten Thousand
This is only a small fraction of the potential of the Custodes. While there are many options available, I look to these to form the backbone of my Custodes armies when I’m playing to win. At first glance the Custodes faction seems rather limiting. But if you peel back the layers, there are plenty of excellent units to choose from whether its the 5 listed above or other standouts such as Constantin Valdor, lightning claw Aquilon terminators or even the mighty Aries Gunship. However you choose to equip your Heresy era Custodes remember that the core of any golden host is going to be its elite infantry and insane statlines of your base infantry. Custodes are to Space Marines as warriors are to soldiers.
How are your Custodes shaping up, what are you finding effective? Tell us in the comments below.
