Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Hey all

I was wondering if anyone has played a pure Custodes army without the Imperial Guard CP battery? Did it go well? I am interested in them but I hate painting a ton of models so I don't want to use the guard detachment to generate CP. My group isn't ultra comptetitive so it doesn't need to be a tier 1 list or anything but I'm wondering if a pure custodes army can give say tier 2 and tier 3 style lists and ok game.

I play them with Space Marines to cover ranged AT and they are doing quite well. Knights might be a good option now.

Yes. Absolutely. You can bring a list full of normal custodian guard and still trash people because of the sheer durability. For a competitive pure list you are gonna want bikes and telemon dreadnought. For a decent list that can hold its own, you want to bring a battalion, then bikes and possibly a telemon dread. If you go casual, you can bring anything in the book and still come out on top most of the time.

Basically, if you want pure, bikes are the best option.

Arrange your matches. Go up against CC armies and have a sick melle battle.

Flamephoenix182 wrote:
Hey all

I was wondering if anyone has played a pure Custodes army without the Imperial Guard CP battery? Did it go well? I am interested in them but I hate painting a ton of models so I don't want to use the guard detachment to generate CP. My group isn't ultra comptetitive so it doesn't need to be a tier 1 list or anything but I'm wondering if a pure custodes army can give say tier 2 and tier 3 style lists and ok game.

Yes.

 McMagnus Mindbullets wrote:
Yes. Absolutely. You can bring a list full of normal custodian guard and still trash people because of the sheer durability. For a competitive pure list you are gonna want bikes and telemon dreadnought. For a decent list that can hold its own, you want to bring a battalion, then bikes and possibly a telemon dread. If you go casual, you can bring anything in the book and still come out on top most of the time.

Basically, if you want pure, bikes are the best option.

This is not true in general sense. Take dark eldar for example - they can quickly shred pure AC lists quite easily.

 Primark G wrote:

 McMagnus Mindbullets wrote:
Yes. Absolutely. You can bring a list full of normal custodian guard and still trash people because of the sheer durability. For a competitive pure list you are gonna want bikes and telemon dreadnought. For a decent list that can hold its own, you want to bring a battalion, then bikes and possibly a telemon dread. If you go casual, you can bring anything in the book and still come out on top most of the time.

Basically, if you want pure, bikes are the best option.

This is not true in general sense. Take dark eldar for example - they can quickly shred pure AC lists quite easily.

I think bike based custodes have a strong match up against deldar to be honest.

Pure Custodes do very well in my local meta. I typically bring a Battalion with 2 Shield Captains on Dawneagle Jetbikes, at least 5 Vertus Praetors, and a Telemon Heavy Dreadnought with either two Iliastus Accelerator Culverins or Arachnus Las-storms. The Telemon especially does a lot of work for me and is a pain to bring down, it's the exact anti-armor fire support Custodes needed. Sprinkle in some Allarus or a deep striking Contemptor Achillus Dreadnought for more fun.

I’ve been doing some games with pure bikes and a vexilla and done ok, I just won a local tournament (1250 pts, 3 rounds) with them. At smaller points values they do better since it’s much harder to focus them down or bring the kind of weaponry that will cause them problems.

You don't have to bring a Guard detachment but I'd definitely recommend it, beside being more competitive it's also far more fun: the Guard can sit back on objectives and allow you to be really agressive with your Custodes and you'll have enough CP to use all of their brilliant stratagems.

I don't like painting loads of models either, I just got 30 Guardsmen commission painted by a friend: he did them at £2 a model because I'd converted them to be a bit fancier than normal Guardsmen.

I replaced the heads on mine with full masks. They're such simple models I got 32 of them done in about a week.

IG CP farm is going away soon. Enjoy while you still can abuse it right?

Maybe I'm reading a different thread to everyone else, but the OP is asking about pure Custodes. Why is everyone discussing the various merits of different types of allies?

Flamephoenix182 wrote:
Hey all

I was wondering if anyone has played a pure Custodes army without the Imperial Guard CP battery? Did it go well? I am interested in them but I hate painting a ton of models so I don't want to use the guard detachment to generate CP. My group isn't ultra comptetitive so it doesn't need to be a tier 1 list or anything but I'm wondering if a pure custodes army can give say tier 2 and tier 3 style lists and ok game.

Yeah Custodes are strong enough to be competitive against most army types, but in my experience they struggle vs an optimised gunline.

In general, Landraiders and Contemptors are the only weak things in the codex (too expensive), but everything else is decent enough. Bikes and the -1 to hit banner are the most powerful choices. So best way to make a list is just put together the units you find most interesting, and then adjust the number of bikes to make it more or less powerful once you know who you are playing against.

 Primark G wrote:
IG CP farm is going away soon. Enjoy while you still can abuse it right?

Got a source for that?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Regarding your list yes you can make a pretty good low model count Custodes only list:

Battalion with 22 models and 8CP in total before tax
1x Shild-Captain on Bike
1x Shield-Captan
9x Custodian guard w/ Spear
9x Vertus Praetor w/ Bolters
1x Vexilla -1 to Hit Allarus or Guardian
1x Telemon Dreadnought w/ dual Culverins

It's not the most competitive but a good compromise of low model count and CP and you can deploy some fun tactics.
Deploy guardians and dread with vexilla then deep strike (FGLTC) bikers and captain turn 2 and then possibly also "teleport" the Vexilla to the bikers with the Praetorian Plate relic to give them -1 to hit if needed, or just keep him with the dread.

X078 wrote:

 Primark G wrote:
IG CP farm is going away soon. Enjoy while you still can abuse it right?

Got a source for that?

he claims he has a "reliable source" he of course can't say what it is, and it's not been mentioned on any rumor sites. But trust him, he knows!


TBH I'm not really sure there IS a way to "fix" IG CP farming without really hurting more then you fix. Also it's going to be a few more months before another FAQ (are we even getting one before the next chapter approved in december?)

BrianDavion wrote:

X078 wrote:

 Primark G wrote:
IG CP farm is going away soon. Enjoy while you still can abuse it right?

Got a source for that?

he claims he has a "reliable source" he of course can't say what it is, and it's not been mentioned on any rumor sites. But trust him, he knows!


TBH I'm not really sure there IS a way to "fix" IG CP farming without really hurting more then you fix. Also it's going to be a few more months before another FAQ (are we even getting one before the next chapter approved in december?)

simply nerfing Grand Strategist hard will do it. chance it to a 6+ per strat instead of 5+ per CP.
You'll still kinda want Guard for cheap battalions but it will open other options like AdMechwho also have cheap but effective troops.

And yes, I don't for a moment believe Primark G has a special in the know source.

 Ordana wrote:

simply nerfing Grand Strategist hard will do it. chance it to a 6+ per strat instead of 5+ per CP.

It will do nothing. If you are playing Custodes you really want one of your Captains to have Superior Creation, so Guard will have only Kurov's Aquila anyways.

Making Grand Strategist 1 CP per strategem instead of per CP like other similar traits is a pretty decent fix. Making it a 6+ is an interesting option as well though I think its a bigger nerf.

Regardless, I think the Aquila is the bigger issue. Not sure how to fix it, but it creates the loop that really perpetuates the Strategist issue.