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Custodes Threat Level Assessment?


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So I have this new list brewing rather close to home and would like to hear your thoughts on just how screwed I, a humble Astartes player, am.

While it's missing the dreaded Jetbike Captains and going full MSU, it's about 100% what I'd field in Custodes as well - and that scares me.

 

Shield Captain w Guardian Spear

Shield Captain w Guardian Spear

 

Custodian Guard Squad of 3 w Guardian Spears

Custodian Guard Squad of 3 w Guardian Spears

Custodian Guard Squad of 3 w Guardian Spears

Custodian Guard Squad of 3 w Guardian Spears

 

Allarus Terminator Squad of 3 w Guardian Spears

Allarus Terminator Squad of 3 w Guardian Spears

Vexillus Praetor w Guardian Spear

 

Vertus Praetor Squad of 3 w Hurricane Bolters

Vertus Praetor Squad of 3 w Hurricane Bolters

 

 

Now while the bulk of the force lacks some mobility, I guess I'll have my hands full with the bikes and Terminators while the footsloggers can take the field.

 

A loyal 32 or more bikes instead of Guardians would probably add to the punch of that list, but as it stands, I don't see a lot of weak spots anyway apart from the obvious model count problem.

 

If you were to field or face that list, what would you do/ change/ be glad not to see?

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Spears on Allarus is a weird choice tbh. I almost always use axes on them to deal with armoured targets. Same goes for captains. Keep your backline spread so the allarus are forced to drop the maximum 9" away and don't leave any corner large enough for them to squeeze into. Also their grenade launchers are trash so don't feel particularly alarmed when you have 6 of them pointing at one of your units. I find them to be totally ineffective. That being said, good luck killing the Allarus, they're an absolute dog to get rid of.

 

Go deathwatch and use the munition that wounds vehicles on 2's. Jetbikes tend to crumble beneath that particular tactic. The fact he isn't running any captains on jetbikes is good for you since they're downright terrifying.

 

In general, sheer weight of fire is your best bet against them. Custodes tend to slingshot their way across the board by charging into anything nearby and consolidating forward. Don't give them the bodies to slingshot their troops with and just kite them and lay down constant fire. Also nothing scares a charging Custodes player more than flamers!

Turn one and two I'd focus fire on your jetbikes. If I could take them out then I'd remove most of the mobility of your army. You would have to footslog to get to objectives and I'd use my advantage of superior mobility to:

  • Get to objectives before you.
  • Avoid getting my mobile units in close combat with you and instead pound you from distance with my mobile shooty units (think wood elf glade riders in WHFB before AOS) and hoping that weight of fire makes you roll those much need ones on your saves.

I am, frankly, surprised by the number of Guardian Squads (and other non-Terminator or Jetbike units).

I've played against bikes and token 3x3 Guardians, but never against Allari and never against that many... well, rather stationary Custodes units.

 

Then again, that might be a reaction to my MSU Marines army, because there IS list tailoring going on here and 2x3 Guardians beat my 1x5 Tac Marines by frakking landslides while being a lot harder to shift.

So clever me went out and played some Custodes. (And got hooked along the way with 5 Guardians already done and another 5 only missing their arms.)

 

The verdict: bikes rock, I'm glad I'll not be facing Captains on bikes since they're surprisingly even more durable than I thought. Would go for more non HQ bikes for the points though. In that case, footslogging Shield Captains make nice tax HQs - would go for Terminators myself.

And I completely get the MSU Guardian squad approach now.

Against that army that's settled somehwere between massive armor and full horde (aka Space Marines), those guys shine. Boosting them with a Captain? Overkill, but I get it.

25pts per model for +1W +1A and the Ballistus and free DS on the non-HQ Terminators compared to Guardians? Not sure. Maybe.

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