Torchbearer Custodes

[thesilverback]

I have never played Adeptus Custodes before.  But we are looking at starting a new crusade campaign at the LGS, sounds fun and with the Torchbearer rules just coming out.  I found I have some Custodes, so why not build a torchbearer army.  My question is with a Shield Captain, 3 man Custodes Squad, and a Vex, what would be the best load out for each or the whole crew in general.  

[Noserenda]

Im hardly cutting edge on 40k Custodes but i quite like getting as many spears as possible, maybe a Sword and board in the Squad to take big hits, i have heard whole squads of them are an excellent anvil though.

[N1SB]

Quick message, sorry for the late reply.

 

I've been playing Crusade, the suggested (starting) 25 Power Level.  Just won against a Wraithlord army actually.

 

We've been looking at Torchbearers intensely.  I'll start with your specific question, about loadouts.  Because Crusade is built on Power Level rather than points, then also because of the low model numbers of Custodes, and the options they have, we gravitated towards Sword & Shield for all Custodes.

 

It looks like your starting with the 5-man Custodes squad box (a solid foundation), that should be 19 Power Level, leaving you 6 Power Levels to play with.  Looking at this, because this is Torchbearers after all, we'd look to Mechanicus Troops.  They'll bring the firepower, and are cheap.  What you got is a mix of the best melee and ranged units the Imperium has to offer.

 

Then, we go to the character development mechanics, the RPG-like level-up stuff.  Now, in any army that has Psyker units, it'd be "cast another power" for the Psyker(s)...which you won't have unless you get both a Primaris Troops + Primaris Librarian (Torchbearers having a Troops "tax" after all).  So in your case, you'll be buffing your most valuable unit...which probably won't be your Custodes Captain, it'll most likely be your 3-man Custodes Squad.  Once you start buffing them, we reckon they'll be quite OP.  We found time and again the standout units are either ridiculous Psykers that cast too many powers or a single unit of something like Primaris Hellblasters, large pack of Beasts of Nurgle, Terminators and of course a squad of Custodes...those become the ones that are OP (don't worry, everyone ends up with an OP unit even if they "lose" games).  That's something you've got to look forward to.

[ThePenitentOne]

I'm also interested in a small torchbearer Crusade. I'm hoping that the Imperium dex coming in December is Talons as many suspect, because I don't want to buy an 8th ed Custodes book.

 

I tend to lean harder into SoS than the boys in the band, so I'd consider the Valerian/ Aleya combo HQ. I'm glad that torchbearer fleets exist- I've always wanted to field SoS but never had much interest in Custodes... Until I read the Torchbearer rules. I'm still not interested in huge army of the boys, but I could see myself growing the Crusade to the size where there were enough SoS that I could field them as a null maiden vanguard and attach an Inquisitor as an Agent.

 

I'm all about options.

 

Hopefully when that Talons dex drops, it will have an HQ and a Troop choice that are SoS.

 

An unsanctioned but not yet corrupted psyker unit with the Telepathica Keyword would be a really fluffy unit to accompany SoS- like they were off collecting psykers for the Black Ships and a sudden unforeseen event forced them to use some of the psykers they had rounded up to defeat the foe.