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Hi all,

So I've been struggling hard with mono-Guard and wanted to try and bring in a faction that could help cover their main weaknesses, being durability and mid-board presence. Custodes seems to fill that role (as I refuse to play Space Marines/Primaris). In that end I sat down and decided I wanted my list to do two things;

To bring a nice blend of units who could cover each others weaknesses

To try and not give up too many secondaries

On the second point I think I've done okay, this list by my calculations gives up 10 points on Thin Their Ranks, 12 points on Bring It Down and 9 points on Assassinate. Unfortunate that I can't squeeze a little more there, but in the context of using Guard I think it's a great result

In any event, the list can be broken down into three components that each have a different role;

The Custodes are there to give a midboard presence and to be able to sit on enemy objectives. 2 squads of Shield Custodes is going to be very hard to shift without serious firepower, while the Shield Captain and Aquilon Terminators give a solid ball of death that can pop up anywhere from Turn 2, or can be deployed at the start as a Distraction Carnifex.

The Cadian Detachment provides some cheap bodies for backfield objectives or to rush at the end if I need to make a late-game push for something. However the star of the detachment is the 2 Full Payload Manticores, which can quite easily delete anything that looks at it funny. Adding in a Tank Commander adds a bit more redundancy in that area.

Finally the Scion detachment is there to add a bit of spice to things, with all infantry able to deepstrike behind enemy lines and elimate particular targets, or push an enemy off an objective. Running Lambdan Lions means that even if they are wounding targets on 5's, -3/4 AP means that very few will get a save beyond an Invuln or FNP. The addition of the Refractor Field will also help their survivabilty and help them draw more firepower. The Valkyrie assists by providing additional firepower and the Hellstrike Missiles can help them punch a hard target.

I guess the one main issue I see with this list is that it absolutely burns CP, taking me down to 5CP before the mission begins. With that in mind, both the Shield-Captain and Tank Commander have traits/relics designed to help CP generation, meaning I stand a good chance of generating 2 CP a turn (one from a new turn and one from either relic kicking in) so it should help give me a few stratagems to use.

Anyway, all C&C welcome and desired, I'm hoping to get some games in soon. I guess I'm not looking for a top 4 finish at a tournament, but I'd love a list that could hold it's own in most fights.

 

**++ Patrol Detachment -2CP (Imperium - Adeptus Custodes) [42 PL, 9CP, 829pts] ++**

**+ Configuration +**

**Battle Size [12CP]:** 3. Strike Force (101-200 Total PL / 1001-2000 Points)

**Detachment CP [-2CP]**

**Shield Host:** Solar Watch

**+ HQ +**

**Shield Captain in Allarus Terminator Armor [6 PL, -1CP, 118pts]:** Captain-Commander, Castellan Axe, Eagle's Eye, Misericordia, Strategic Mastermind

**+ Troops +**

**Custodian Guard Squad [8 PL, 168pts]**

. **Custodian:** Sentinel Blade, Storm Shield
. **Custodian:** Sentinel Blade, Storm Shield
. **Custodian:** Sentinel Blade, Storm Shield

**Custodian Guard Squad [8 PL, 168pts]**

. **Custodian:** Sentinel Blade, Storm Shield
. **Custodian:** Sentinel Blade, Storm Shield
. **Custodian:** Sentinel Blade, Storm Shield

**+ Elites +**

**Aquilon Custodians [20 PL, 375pts]**

. **Aquilon Custodian:** Lastrum Storm Bolter, Solarite Power Talon
. **Aquilon Custodian:** Lastrum Storm Bolter, Solarite Power Talon
. **Aquilon Custodian:** Lastrum Storm Bolter, Solarite Power Talon
. **Aquilon Custodian:** Lastrum Storm Bolter, Solarite Power Talon
. **Aquilon Custodian:** Lastrum Storm Bolter, Solarite Power Talon

**++ Patrol Detachment 0CP (Imperium - Astra Militarum) [37 PL, -1CP, 675pts] ++**

**+ Configuration +**

**Detachment CP**

**Regimental Doctrine:** Regiment: Cadian

**+ Stratagems +**

**Tank Ace [-1CP]**

**+ HQ +**

**Tank Commander [12 PL, 235pts]:** Battle Cannon, Lascannon, Plasma Cannons, Relic: Kurov's Aquila, Warlord

**+ Troops +**

**Infantry Squad [3 PL, 50pts]**

. **9x Guardsman:** 9x Lasgun
. **Sergeant:** Laspistol

**Infantry Squad [3 PL, 50pts]**

. **9x Guardsman:** 9x Lasgun
. **Sergeant:** Laspistol

**Infantry Squad [3 PL, 50pts]**

. **9x Guardsman:** 9x Lasgun
. **Sergeant:** Laspistol

**+ Heavy Support +**

**Manticore [8 PL, 145pts]:** Full Payload, Heavy Bolter
 
**Manticore [8 PL, 145pts]:** Full Payload, Heavy Bolter

**++ Patrol Detachment -2CP (Imperium - Astra Militarum) [23 PL, -3CP, 495pts] ++**

**+ Configuration +**

**Detachment CP [-2CP]**

**Regimental Doctrine:** 133rd Lambdan Lions

**+ Stratagems +**

**Imperial Commander's Armoury [-1CP]:** 1 additional Heirloom of Conquest

**+ HQ +**

**Tempestor Prime [3 PL, 45pts]:** Relic (133rd Lambdan Lions): Refractor Field Generator, Tempestus Command Rod

**+ Troops +**

**Militarum Tempestus Scions [5 PL, 110pts]**

. **7x Scion:** 7x Frag & Krak grenades, 7x Hot-shot Lasgun
. **Scion w/ Special Weapon:** Plasma gun
. **Scion w/ Special Weapon:** Plasma gun
. **Tempestor:** Chainsword, Hot-shot Laspistol

**Militarum Tempestus Scions [5 PL, 110pts]**

. **7x Scion:** 7x Frag & Krak grenades, 7x Hot-shot Lasgun
. **Scion w/ Special Weapon:** Plasma gun
. **Scion w/ Special Weapon:** Plasma gun
. **Tempestor:** Chainsword, Hot-shot Laspistol

**+ Elites +**

**Militarum Tempestus Command Squad [3 PL, 80pts]**

. **Tempestus Scion:** Meltagun
. **Tempestus Scion:** Meltagun
. **Tempestus Scion:** Meltagun
. **Tempestus Scion:** Meltagun

**+ Flyer +**

**Valkyries [7 PL, 150pts]**

. **Valkyrie:** Hellstrike Missiles, Multi-laser
. . **2x Heavy Bolters:** 2x Heavy bolter

**++ Total: [102 PL, 5CP, 1,999pts] ++**

Created with [BattleScribe](https://www.battlescribe.net)

I love it. I derive great pleasure from cadian artillery lists and note that you can give it a huge anti-chaos kick with the relic of lost cadia, if you can find some way to sneak that in.

As an example, strip the tank commander's plasma cannons off (thus removing a huge concentration of points on a very visible target that will already be vulnerable and draw a lot of fire) and put in a single platoon commander with 15 points to spare -- 3 plasma guns to pass out to the cadian troops. Just fire them at low power if you are on the move, and use the order to full reroll one of them if its not moving. He can carry the relic of lost cadia -- since you start him near the manticores and the tank, if you are playing a chaos list, you have pretty good odds of doing the total reroll madness to the enemy's super unit. IF its chaos, you won't find 2 cp you can spend better in the whole game, and if its not chaos, you can still give yourself reroll's to wound of 1 .. and potentially rerolls of 1 to fire, while frantically repositioning your manticore wing. That's not a terrible payoff for the cp.

And, your troops can do a bit of damage now, even to marines or sisters, or in late game, mabye shoot one across the board with movemvoemove to get all 4 corners., or back it in the fight at a critical moment.

Sure, you have not got piles and piles of cp, but I bet you could even swappo the relic of lost cadia onto the tank commander and the cp regen artifact onto the platoon, thus protecting your cp income turn by turn. s

(cause I would kill that tank commander first, if I faced you, right now he is both the most visible, most vulnerable, and highest points yield my plasma and metla could find.)


Well, its my thought. But then, I often run an army with far fewer CP than you have (mostly scions) .. so I view CP in a gaurd list as "if you have a SPECIFIC need for this."


So, tuning the lions.
Remember the trick with gifts of the mechanicum and FRFSRF and precision drop. You won't get this first turn, but you can drop in your stuff later when you rebuild a cp or two and dish a lot of criticals out at point blank range from these guys, so it might make sense to have a specialty unit with 4 plasma and a specialty unit with no extra expense ready to do exactly this trick out of the valkyrie.

You may, however, also consider running them as 4 smaller units to allow you to sprinkle a board presence over longer duration, if you are gunning for all 4 corners over several turns.

Those are my only suggestions off the top, I ain't really enough of a custodes player to do anything except nod "yeah, looks like they are tough". But cadians and scions are deep in my heart and I love this list.

I have a Custodes force that I play test games against because it's simple and very effective in 9th.

What I've found is that 10 Allarus Custodians with Vexilla support and Trajan are unstoppable.

You could pay 2 CP for an auxiliary detachment just for the Allarus but then you'd lose the strategems that make them nuts.

You currently are spending 829 points on Custodes. For 878 points you could replace the allarus with Custodians with stormshields to get a similar effect.

Trajan
10 Custodes with sentinel blades and storm shields
1 Vexillus Praetor with Vexilla Magnifica (-1 to hit)

These guys are solar watch for +1 move and the strat for when they kill a character the next strategem your opponent uses costs 1 more CP (0CP to use).

Just plow them up into the middle of the board and push your opponent way back. If they commit to kill your block, they have to go toe to toe with the Custodes and weather your shooting.

+40 points buys you wardens with axes with inbuilt 6+++ and some strategem benefits. You'd have to get a vanguard detachment for -1CP and another Vexilla for 110 points.

That would make your list more than 50% custodes which isn't what you're looking for I think.

normally I consider plasma to be better than hotshotvolleyguns in scions hands. but.
You have 4 open slots of special weapons and could therefore add 4 EXTRA hsvg for the exact same price, giving you almost as good of an anti-armor kick (because the order "elimination protocols" is a thing, as is boosting hotshotvolleys to 5S with a strat, as is giving them mortal wounds on sixes to wound) and you end up throwing a bunch more dice.

Against armies like sisters, gaurd, or orks, your unit has suddenly turned into an excellent light anti-horde answer, will chew through them like butter. If you drop it out inthe backfield to grab victory points for all 4 sectors and planting teleport markers or such, you can still use them at full effect, while plasma weapons beyond 12 inch go down to a meagre 1 shot each.

Just a thought.
I am sure there will be situations where 4 plasma > 8 volleyguns, but I am also sure there will be where 8 volleyguns' 32 shots is better than 4 plasma shots at range.