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Alright, been tinkering with this a bit and now want some feedback. Please note, this is for a meta of very competitive players so things are pretty cutthroat on the list building front. Invisibility is unnerfed, but D-weapons were nerfed to only inflict a flat 3 Wounds or Hull Points on a 6, otherwise they remain the same.

Golden Legion
Elite: Custodes with 3 Shields: 290 Points
Elite: Custodes with 2 Shields: 280 Points

Eldar CAD
HQ: Wraithseer with Distort Cannon: 245 Points
Troop: Rangers: 60 Points
Troop: Rangers: 60 Points
Lord of War: Wraithknight with Sword + Shield and 2x Star Cannons: 345 Points

Riptide Wing
Elite: Riptide with Ion Accelerator and Early Warning Override: 190 Points
Elite: Riptide with Ion Accelerator and Early Warning Override: 190 Points
Elite: Riptide with Ion Accelerator and Early Warning Override: 190 Points

Total: 1,850 Points

The only deal breaker on the list is the Sword + Board on the Wraithknight. My wife is building a heavily custom model (half done!), but it is definitively carrying those weapons and the list needs to be WYSIWYG.

In general, the list idea is to use the Custodes and the Wraithknight to wall off enemy assault units. If the enemy army is more shooting than charging, the Custodes can Deep Strike towards the back line. I've also had some success using the Custodes to tarpit invisible deathstars for appreciable lengths of a game.

The Rangers are primarily for camping backfield objectives and scoring points on them. They also try for Precision Shots against special units getting too close to the Tau.

The Wraithseer has no one to buff, but he's there largely to be a D-Cannon platform and a solid, reliable anchor point for the middle of the board. The Cannon is Barrage and 24" range so line of sight isn't as critical and, unlike a Wraithlord, he has an invulnerable save for if all else fails. Other than that, he can fire a Witchfire and hold his own in melee.

The Riptide wing has SMS, but I'm using them largely as my heavy ordnance force. They provide long range firepower for shredding Imperial Knights and the enemy backline. Interceptor is to help protect them against Drop Pod assaults while their bodyguards get into a responsive position.

The list still feels weak at times, however, particularly the Eldar component. Anyone have any thoughts?

Well Riptide Wing + Eldar is a strong combination; Eldar are weak vs deepstrike and Wing+EWO solves that problem!

Your riptides won't be killing any Imperial knights with Ion Accelerators tough, but your Wraithknight will do them pretty handily in assault.

I'm not really sure why you take the custodus. As it stands your list, despite the 3 riptides, is not that shooty. Eldar/Tau/Battlecompany and others will outshoot you.


If I had to change the list I'd drop them and the ranger, get Jetbike farseer and the dreaded scatbikes (as you're playing in a competetive meta). Maybe 1 larger team with a Warlock as well to give them shrouded/more warp charges.

The Riptide wing is fine, while the Custodes and Eldar are questionable.
As said, I'd drop the Custodes. Rangers are too vulnerable to drop podded units.

I have to mimic others for this list. If I wanted to make a personal variant of this I would switch the CAD to be a Bike Autarch or even a lone Bike Warlock and two Scatbike units, then I'd switch the Custodes for the Blood Angels formation that allows three units of Hammernators to assault out of deep strike. If the 3++ is what you're after, even a big unit or two of Inquisition Crusaders would save some points and then you can take Coteaz or some other Inquisitor for shenanigans. I wouldn't bother with Psychic phase either, as a proper psychic list is generating 16 dice minimum.

Thank you for the advice, everyone!

So, to explain what I've used the Custodes for so far, they're primarily to blunt assault units by blocking them and to tarpit invisible deathstars.

If I added in a bunch more bikes or a windseer-type of formation, I'd lose that wouldn't I? How would I deal with it? I could try running but lots of stars I've seen can move just enough to keep bikes in range or pushed to fringes of the board.

I hadn't thought of throwing a Warlock with then though for Conceal. In general I just thought "cover=dangerous terrain check=3+ armor=could lose a bike" and instead just tried to kite with mobility, which didn't work too well.

I only took Rangers because I didn't have the points left for Scatbikes there. I didn't think naked shuriken-bikes would be worth it. Is that wrong?

@Greenshoes

The Autarch confuses me. Your instinct seems right, the top list at Nova 2016 took an Autarch, but I can't figure out why. What's he really adding over a Farseer?

I like the Inquisition idea! I'm not sure the old Codex: Inquisition is gonna stay legal so I'd have to use the big formation from C:IA. What would you recommend for outfitting the Acolyte tax there? I'm also capped at 3 detachments so I could only take 1,

AFAIK the old Inquisition codex is still gravy under ITC, but I could be wrong.

The Autarch is to add a bit of reserve manipulation and save 30 points over the Farseer. A single farseer or wraithseer is gonna get shut down by any purpose-made psychic list like Daemons, Cabal, Conclave, Grey Knights, etc. plus a lot of people still like running Culexi.

I'm not overly familiar with Custodes but it just feels like there are more efficient ways to get durable tar pits, even if they're not quite as awesome looking.