In the run up to WHFest I managed to get another game in, this time against Adeptus Custodes. They're a really tough fight in 40k, and I had no idea what they would be like in HH. 

War of Lies, triangles deployment pointing at one another. This game I ditched the preds, despite how much I love them, to run a Leviathan in a HH Leviathal. I also swapped the Deredeo and something else for a Delgatus with nemesis and 3 sky hunters with MM's and a fist. 

Custodian Army

Custodian warden that can be taken at 3k

3x terminators

1x5 dudes with meridian blades

1x 5 dudes with spears

1x 5 dudes with shields

1x3 dudes with spears in reserve

3 with combi instant death things

2x3 bikes with bolt cannons

1x Galatus dead with fist and 12" lance thing. 

Custodes t2 movement. 

This time I got seized on! I swear 50% of my games someone seizes. 

The Custides leader with the 2 next to him advances down the flank to try and fight the Alphas in honourable combat. No chance. The bikes to the right of my Effrit charged in, losing 1 to overwatch (breaching 6+ shred) before killing 3 in combat. The Effrit run away, but managed to escape the bikes. 

The Leviathan and Galatus get into range and start pummelling one another, The Levi winning out despite the 4+ save due to armourbane and only S8 on the galatus. The final wounds are knocked off in melee, which was a dangerous prospect with the custodian dread being WS6. In future it might be better to let them shoot and charge me to get 2 rounds of shooting off. The Fulmentatus just massacred any unit they shot at, with AP2 Brutal. The Guided fire applies to the unit, not just models with launchers, I think, so my nemesis and telepathy shooting attack could fire through walls...

The Shield unit chases down the headhunters after rolling a double 1 charge in turn 1 and massacre the spies. 

The boss custodian failed their T2 charge, but made it into the dread t3 after I retreated with my fulmentarus. He beat this dread after it killed his bodyguard, however the other dread then charged in and smushed him to paste. 

We played 3 turns overall and after that it was a pretty clear cut win for the Alphas, I'd barely suffered any casualties (5 recons, dread, 2 seekers, 5 headhunters) while my opponent had like 8 custodians left and I was on 4/5 objectives, then also had warlord and headhunter. This was a good learning game, custodes are a lot more balanced than in 40k, the 6++ isn't great, it could have maybe even been a 5++ (we see how fast tartaros dies), however they are monsters in combat - they'll butcher any army they contact, unless you pick and choose those. I wasted a lot of precision fire in trying to take out the leader with his 4++ (he saves >50% of the saves), while I could have been easily killing the other custodians he was with, so that's a lesson for the future - those like 6 passed 4++ saves would have been 2.5 dead custodians. The headhunters did little this game, other than be the distraction I planned them to be (melta is worse than plasma v T5 2W?) howver the bikes did ok, and the fulmentarus did amazing. I'm not 100% on the rapiers, but the templates did slow stuff down. That might be very useful with alphas.