Custodian Guard are now Toughness 7 – see how the new Codex: Adeptus Custodes makes the Ten Thousand feel like the hand-crafted champions imbued with forbidden gene-science from a lost age that they are.
Much as the Space Marines had several key stats boosted to better fit their strength and toughness in the 41st Millennium, the Adeptus Custodes have also been empowered with a datasheet that truly matches their lore. Even their most ‘basic’ BATTLELINE infantry can soak up incoming weapons fire with Toughness 7 and 5 Wounds apiece, while they casually dish out the kind of close combat damage that even seasoned veterans with power fists struggle to match.
This overwhelming might is balanced out by a reduced model count – no squad of Custodians can now exceed three models (before you add in any Leaders), with some having even fewer than that. This helps to make every single one stand out as their own distinct hero, and the Custodian Guard Sodality in particular are spectacularly effective when fighting over objectives with Sustained Hits 1 and an OC characteristic of 4 each when including a Vexilia.
As the Captain-General of the Adeptus Custodes, Trajann Valoris is the best of a very, very good bunch. Even without his datasheet abilities he’s a close combat monster who can rip apart battle tanks with the Watcher’s Axe, and if you absolutely must ensure something dies, activating the Moment Shackle piles on the extra attacks when you need them most.
He’s also an excellent centrepiece for your army to rally around, as his Captain-General aura hands out powerful re-rolls to those around him. Virtually every ADEPTUS CUSTODES model in the book has a BS or WS of 2+, so re-rolling 1s makes missing unlikely indeed.*
At the pinnacle of the power scale, Telemon Heavy Dreadnoughts carry some truly terrifying weapons from the Dark Age of Technology. The arachnus storm cannon carves big chunks out of massed hordes like Orks and Tyranids, while the reliable adrathic desolator is equally at home blowing holes in Terminators as it is turning light vehicles and roaring monsters into bubbling heaps.
Caestus fists are so powerful they even threaten towering Chaos Knights and Greater Daemons, and if you take two, the addition of Twin-Linked means you practically have to try and fail to Wound. Such a powerful machine will be a big target, so it’s a good thing the Telemon gets as good as it gives – Toughness 11, 14 Wounds, an impressive Save and Invulnerable Save, and the Guardian Eternal ability combine to make it a royal pain in the Throne to shift, and with a 5+ Leadership score it won’t be getting battle-shocked very often either.
You may have seen an interesting ability called Martial Ka’tah on all of these datasheets, which Custodes veterans will remember was their army rule in the last edition. It’s been expanded and upgraded in the new Codex, so if you want to find out what it does now, come back tomorrow for more rules reveals.
* What doesn’t hit on a 2+, you ask? A grav tank trying to splatter heretics with its hull, that’s what.
