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Hey folks,

I have recently gotten back into playing again regularly for the first time since 5th edition. I played on and off 6th and 8th edition but sparsely.

A friend and I have committed to building up to 2000pts, I already have multiple large armies but he is building up Thunderwolf/Wulfen Space Wolves list and a footsloggy Custodes army. We're agreed to do a Doubles tournament together mid-April with 1000pts each. He is likely sticking with Custodes, mostly Wardens, Custodian Guard and terminators with options of Inquisitor Draxus, Shield Captains, Blade Champions and potentially Ventarii or Jetbikes to come.

I've put together 6 potential lists I feel could be good starts for what I envision could be the optimal setup and would like some suggestions, feedback or help. Most models are locked into their wargear by what they've been built with in the past but I have some flexibility.


Space Marine 1st Company Task Force

Ideal is another force of elite units fit well with the Custodes playstyle.


Ultramarines Gladius Strike Force
Concept is UM are good, using Calgar + Intercessors to hold the fort while Custodes bomb forward, while Repulsor can ferry around Tigurius + Hellblasters as a mobile firebase, or else just form a gunline. The main idea here is that Intercessors can sticky objective and help custodes play objective and board control games more effectively.




Firstborn Gladius Taskforce

Again, gunline type army with a better focus on MSU playstyle, splitting the Tactical Squads into 5 man squads to help cover more ground and screen out Reserves at the expense of firepower and resilience.



Grey Knight Teleport Strike Force

They play similar to Custodes with a full Deep Strike capable army full of good armour saves and melee, but are much faster due to the combination of Teleport Assault auto-advance 6" or the ability to return to reserves each turn. The idea being that Custodes can be the fort-holders while Grey Knights strike out at the far-flung objectives and secondaries like Contain and Behind Enemy Lines. GMDK are just insane linebreakers that can tackle big scary enemy units.




Tyranids Endless Swarm

Concept is essentially losts of gribblies that take up huge board space and hold objectives to let Custodes do what they do best. Swarmlord generates CP while Winged Hive Tyrant puts big scary in backline, and screen out deep strikes as much as possible.




Tyranids Vanguard

Similar to above Nids list but with better focus on Nids doing work. Genestealers can represent a massive damage unit that can move very fast and shred whatever it touches, and Deathleaper is surprisingly resilient harrowing unit not unlike the Winged Hive Tyrant. This list is more linear and aggressive than the other list but capable of more damage.

So some of this will depend on how you prefer your variance of competitive to thematic, but here's my two sense on both.

1. 1st Company: You're basically just doubling down on what the Custodes already do, which can work, but Terminators are kinda just worse at it than they are, the 1st company detachment is kinda meh, as much as I love the models. Thematically it's pretty cool though, that the Space Marine elites are the only ones that can even kind of keep pace with the Custodes.

If I were to run this style of army, I wouldn't even do it as 1st company, I'd drop two big 10 man blocks of Terminators with a Librarian in each and use the Librarius detachment for more tactical flexibility. You'd only have 170 points after that though which I'd probably use on some Intercessors (5 range 5 melee) and the Fusillade Enhancement because that's so damn good. (Or you could Slap Tigurius in with the Ranged Intercessors instead of for more protection on your sticky unit and some more flavour)

2. I'm not really sure what to make of the Calgar list, you want him up close fighting, not sitting back with Intercessors holding the fort. This could be a restriction based on models you own, but your only real threat then is Tigurius and the Hellblasters. Having some Intercessors in the army to provide sticky in support of the Custodes is great, but this list just doesn't do much.

If you were really set on it, I'd split one of the Intercessor blobs into 2 5 mans as your sticky units and swap the other out for 10 Assault Intercessors so Calgar can join them and get up the board into fighting on objectives.

3. I love Firstborn and do my best to try and make them work, but sadly they're just pretty underwhelming. That being said, you can do some fun stuff with them.

If you were going to run Firstborn, I'd suggest running Multi-Melta's in the Devastator Squad and splitting it into the Razorback for a surprise 4 meltas to the face delivery.

The problem with the Tactical Squads is that their special weapons just don't add enough to the unit over functionally not having a unit special rules as well as their base damage being lower due to no AP, assault, or Heavy on their Boltguns.

Also, the Predator Destructor gets it's buff when attacking infantry, so it should really have Heavy Bolters over Lasscannons, assuming you have that magnetized.

This is a fun thematic casual list, but it won't output very much damage.

4. I'm not a big Grey Knights expert, but I think a lot of what I said about first company applies here. Doubling down on elite units isn't necessarily bad, but it forces you to play into a specific playstyle rather than offsetting Custodies Weaknesses.

5. This is a great idea to offset those weaknesses, throwing down a bunch of chaff that can clean up enemy screens and supporting units while the Custodes go in for the kill. That being said, it could be tweaked a bit.

First off, I'd have all the Termagaunt run Devourers over Fleshborers, since you'll be focusing more on clearing away the lighter Infantry.

I'd also cut the Lictor for another 10 Termagaunts, and cut the Hive Tyrant for a Tervigon. Having a Chunky model like that as the linchpin for your massive anti-infantry swarm will either take fire off the Custodes, or allow your Termigants to run around unchecked, throwing Lethals out everywhere.

Lastly, I'd split the Warriors into 2 units to allow for more spread / objective control.

6. The Vanguard list also looks like a great support to the Custodes.

I'd run a second Broodlord over Deathleaper since you have two units of Genestealers and you want them to get in and just Shred light / medium infantry. I'd also cut 10 of the Hormagaunts for a Tyranid Prime to buff up your Warriors and give them the detachment benefit.

All and all, I think the 2 Tyrranid lists do very well in supporting a Custodes army and giving you a flexable playstyle for the event.

From the Marine lists, I think the Librarius version of 1st Company would be the best of them as they overlap durability wise with the Custodes, making them hard to take down, but output a massive volume of small arms fire to sweep chaff away, and still support with heaving hitting melee when your army closes. All while having the Librarius tactical flexibility. (I might actually try this for my next doubles tournament, it sounds like a lot of fun the more I think about it.)