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I have a question about the interaction between the blackshield cymarie (book 6) and custodes.

For the cymarie, they cannot take an allied force at all, and they can only be takes as allies as "by the emperor's will". They can, however, be taken as loyalists. As custodes are now agents of the emperor, they may be allied with any loyal force as sworn brothers.

Could I take a primary force of custodes, and a allied detachment of BSC? Would they be by the emperor's command or sworn brothers?

Thanks.

The whole allies system need clarification.

The revised Custodes list in book 8 says: “Each of the individual factions of the Talons of the Emperor are considered to be Agents of the Emperor and may only be taken in an army with a Loyalist allegiance. A Talons of the Emperor Detachment may ally with any other Loyalist faction Detachment (other than Blackshields) as Fellow Warriors.”

To me, that says that a primary Talons detachment can’t take Blackshield allies. I suppose you could argue that maybe “ally with” means “be an allied detachment to…” and I’d disagree but I have no idea what the actual intent was.

The general Blackshields rules (not specifically Chymeriae) say what to do when allying with Astartes (By the Emperor’s/Warmaster’s Command) and “other forces (such as Omnissiah Taghmata or Imperialis Militia)” (Fellow Warriors). So until book 8, you could take them as Fellow Warriors.

Chymeriae says, “...may not have an Allied Detachment.” That’s more clearly one-directional than the book 8 Talons of the Emperor allegiance rule, so I get why you were trying to use Chymeriae as allies.

But let’s be real. The Custodes don’t think much of space marines; they’re going to think even less of freakshow space marines. And surely if you were an unsanctioned experimental Astartes who’d fled his legion, you’d assume that getting anywhere near the Custodes was a total death sentence. I can’t see them working together at all.

I'm using the +1T/+1s Cymarie to represent thunder warriors. The Custodes / TW would be used for a unification era force, so I don't have to worry about "freakshow marines".