How are your Custodes doing?

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

If you have a lot of jetbike units go for the table.

[Prot]

I agree. It has seemed to me so far that pure Custodes Force you to be extremely aggressive and that may cost you in points in your zone but seems necessary to push your numerically superior opponents off the table.

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

Had an interesting game today, I forgot to bring my power tool case with most of my Custodes so I ended up using lots of Ultramarine units I built for a friendly escalation league. I only had my shield-captain on a dawneagle and two Wardens so I used them all as shield-Captains for a supreme command detachment. Game was versus AM, Custodes and Dark Angels... ended up killing his whole army except for three models and only lost one of my Shield-Captains from the SC detachment plus some Ultramarines. Wow it was bloody... Tiggy cast Null Zone second turn and I zapped two of his Shield-Captains that turn. Opponent only had three models left at the end the game - it went six turns. Prolly would have tabled if it had gone another turn. My Apothecary managed to revive two plasma Inceptors - they wasted lots of enemy units too. Shield-Captain on dawneagle cleared most of the chaff.

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

Had a game last versus T’au and almost ended up tabling them. Was my first game versus codex T’au. His flamer Riptide rolled 4 shots on overwatch even with a reroll when my Allarus charged it and didn’t inflict any wounds. I put most half of my attacks into the drones - wiped em then minced the Riptide. Smash Captain nuked two of his commanders in one go fighting twice. Lol

[Aegir_Einarsson]

Nice to hear that! I didn’t thought that it is easy to kill riptide with 3++ with shield drones...

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

The flamer tide has a 4++ and he fluffed his rolls too .

[shanewatts]

Played in a 1500 tourney this past weekend.

 

Ran 1 captain on a bike, vexilla with -1 banner, and 3 squads of bikes. With a guard battalion for cps.

 

Played against eldar (fire prisms + fliers), knights + guard, and a catachan army with artillery. Ended up sweeping the tourney. I didn't realize how cool it would be to surround a knight crusader with jetbikes, that he can't fall back from.

[CaptainMarsh]

We're involved in an ongoing campaign at the FLGS, and my Custodes 3k list won four games this weekend fighting against various Xenos threats (two Aeldari, one T'au, one Ork)

[shanewatts]

Got another tourney in this past weekend, 2000 points.

 

Stuck with the bike spam, so the same list as 1500, with more bikes.

 

Took first place again, played against DA+guard, catachans (same player from the 1500 tourney), and ynnari. The DA list crumbled fairly quickly, but did a good amount of damage from plasma. The catachan player learned from our previous game and split his tanks at the far ends of his deployment (dawn of war), which was solid since it forced me to focus on one side at a time, while the other side continued to shoot me. The ynnari list ran reapers + shining spears, rangers, 2x crimson hunter, 2xwave serpent, and psykers. The reapers took their toll turn 1, but didn't survive long enough to turn the battle, ended up tabling him turn 5 (he had a cimson hunter left, but that boots on the ground rule.)

 

Having the -1 banner, with the durability and mobility of bikes, really makes the list have staying power for being such an elite army.

 

I am sure no one is surprised that bikes are still going strong.

[noigrim]

played vs castellan and deathwatch, the knight nuked most of my army but I won thanks to obsec, thinking on putting the obsec banner on my future castellan since in the two games i've won against knight & friends I wouldn't if it had it

[AcabaramosMan]

I played against SM past week at 2k points:

 

I had 1 cap on bike, 2 squads of 3 bikes, a Calladius and a Telemon with 2 culverins. Plus a AdMech batallion with 20 rangers skitarii and 2 onagers (1 neutron laser, 1 icarus array) and finally an Armiger Halverin.

 

My friend had  3 intercesors, 3 inceptors full plasma, 2 las-predaros a redemptor dread, a captian and a biblio on retro and a techmarine with a canon.

 

I was lucky with my tactical objectives and with a Onager making 12 wounds and exploding a predator. Then he made a mistake committing his captian, librarian, lieutenant and 3 squads of inceptors ( 840 points aprox. ) to kill a single bike squad and my captain ( 435 points).  I kept my bikes close so he had to deep strike in the open. Yep, I lost this 4 models, but I obliterated all those units with the Telemon and the Armiger.

 

By turn 2 I had 8 VP and he 0. At turn 3 I had 11 and he 5 and only 5 units left, so he conceded.

 

Afterthoughts:

 

This is based on a list I had at 1,5K with which I was placed second in a tournament, it was similar but without the Armiger and the Telemon, both are great addition to a custodes army. I usually play custodes with an AdMech battalion detachment for the CP and the sweet sweet onagers.

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

Had a game tonite versus Imperial Knights with IG CP farm. Opponent was in the lead first two turns, third turn I got up then tabled him fourth turn. Those Castellan Axes did some work.

 

https://greenblowfly.blogspot.com/2018/08/imperium-vs-imperium.html

[Prot]

Black, that’s fantastic. Honestly I would have assumed a loss for you. My Raven House has been so strong.... and my K ignts match up best against elite armies... how the heck did it okay out? How about some details?

 

Great picture by the way.

 

I get stuck in a mindset about playing as Imperium.... so many people play that stuff here and it’s tons of copy and paste. My personal play group won’t touch Marines for obvious reasons.... and here you go and table what I would think is a top 5 nemesis army. Well done.

 

I know both you and I are huge Allarus fans.... amazing models too... I hope that’s what you’re referring to with Castellan axes.

[Kruso]

I came here to look for information about Allarus, and oh boy, what do I find!

 

Great job Black Orange! Assuming you had Allarus with Castellan axes. I would like to know more about using Allarus in current meta. I've been bitten by the golden boi -bug, but I'm hesitant on spending my budget on just jetbikes, as I suspect they're going to get (probably unwarranted) nerf once Chapter Approved hits.

Thanks for any replies.

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

Hey guys thanks for the + comments !!!

 

I am a big fan of Allarus and have always used them since the codex dropped. Axes are S8 which is a really big deal now plus they hit on 2+ usually with the reroll - most anything they touch dies outright.

 

Pro tip - I always spend 1 CP to put Wardens in deep strike reserve.

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

another thing id like to say:

 

Dice

 

Consistency

 

 

These things will make or break you and you can only contro one unless you are a cheater.

[Prot]

another thing id like to say:

Dice

Consistency

These things will make or break you and you can only contro one unless you are a cheater.

My dice are consistently inconsistent? Does that count? Lol

 

I have always used Allarus in my Custodes.... pretty much every list except when I sold an army of them and had to rebuild the kit. That is an indication of how much I love Terminators in general and Allarus specifically.

 

Everyone ( the internet) says don’t take them, but they do get work done. It’s a matter of timing and placement. A DG army just won BAO with 10 Cataphractii and helverins as the main stars. How easily this could be done with Custodes. While Allarus don’t have the shooting flexibility of Cataphractii. They hit harder in cc.

 

I have so much on the To Do Table right now but I’d love to take Custodes to my next ITC,,,, without CP farm.

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

I have never used IG CP Farm - absolutely don’t like it and think it’ll be addressed in the next big FAQ. GW has gotten rid of a lot of abusive things like Ravenspam and limiting any unit to no more than three... it really needs to go.

 

The Castellan Axe is a real threat to Knights since it’s S8 and inflicts d3 damage plus you’re hitting on 2+ possibly with a reroll. The way you beat Knights is chipping away all those wounds. I try to focus on the Knights that don’t have any amazing saves first... once you get rid of a couple the rest tend to really struggle. I also don’t bring any vehicles and hide units like scouts so my opponents don’t have any easy targets. Also if you can infiltrate some Scouts up and inside a building/ruin it can prevent your opponents from shooting at your Killy characters.

 

Here’s the list I’m running now:

 

Custodes Vanguard:

Shield-Captain mounted on Dawn Eagle (3++ relic)

3x Allarus Custodian - Axes

4x Warden - 3x Axe + Spear

Vexilla Praetor - Spear

 

BA Battalion:

Captain - Thunder Hammer - Jump Pack (Angel’s Wings) - Storm Shield

Captain - Thunder Hammer - Storm Shield

3x 5x Scout - Bolt Pistols & Combat Blades

 

Deathwatch Battalion:

Watch Master

Watch Captain - Thunder Hammer - Storm Bolter (Bane Shells)

2x Veteran Squad

Fortis Kill Team

 

Veteran Squad:

Watch Sergeant - Storm Bolter - Power Axe

Black Shield - Storm Shield - Power Sword

Gunner - Frag Cannon

Gunner - Infernus Heavy Bolter

2x Veteran - Storm Bolter - Chainsword

 

Fortis Kill Team:

5x Intercessor - Aux Grenade Launcher - Bolt Rifles

2x Inceptor - Plasma Exterminator

 

Had a game (open play) versus Dark Eldar last night... was basically victory points/Power Level. I win this one too - had a big piece of line of sight blocking terrain to hide behind and camped out putting a lot of my heavy hitters in reserve. I only used used 1 point strategems so my opponent wouldn’t want to burn 3 CP to block them which worked out very well. All of my Custodes survived which pretty won me the game. One of the Smash Captains and a scout squad survived as well... not much left of the xenos when it was all said and done.

Edited August 4, 2018 by Black Orange

[Kruso]

 

another thing id like to say:

Dice

Consistency

These things will make or break you and you can only contro one unless you are a cheater.

My dice are consistently inconsistent? Does that count? Lol

 

I have always used Allarus in my Custodes.... pretty much every list except when I sold an army of them and had to rebuild the kit. That is an indication of how much I love Terminators in general and Allarus specifically.

 

Everyone ( the internet) says don’t take them, but they do get work done. It’s a matter of timing and placement. A DG army just won BAO with 10 Cataphractii and helverins as the main stars. How easily this could be done with Custodes. While Allarus don’t have the shooting flexibility of Cataphractii. They hit harder in cc.

 

I have so much on the To Do Table right now but I’d love to take Custodes to my next ITC,,,, without CP farm.

 

 

 

I was thinking this kind of list as well after BAO. Lack of FNP is the thing that makes it harder for Imperium to do. Haven't seen the guys reports, but I'd imagine crawlers in front and termies with Cloud of Flies behind them would be a tactic he'd use. 

 

Maybe use many Warglaives to run up front shielding the Shield-Captains and deepstriking the Allarus on Vexilla bearer. 

[Emperor's Furor]

I've not played a game in ages and I think the rules may of changed in the new edition, I was thinking of starting Custodes cause I love the lore and read the HH books and I think they may be fun to paint, but are they difficult to use for someone whose just coming back to the game?

[Frater Cornelius]

I've not played a game in ages and I think the rules may of changed in the new edition, I was thinking of starting Custodes cause I love the lore and read the HH books and I think they may be fun to paint, but are they difficult to use for someone whose just coming back to the game?

 

I am in the same boat. Granted, I play them with IG more often than not, but they are similar to marines in terms of "easy to learn hard to master". They are limited in terms of models due to cost and their wargear. As such, you can really focus on what your dudes are doing. The challenge comes with learning how to use those few models without being shot of the board. If I can get the hang of it, you'll do just fine ;)

[Prot]

I've not played a game in ages and I think the rules may of changed in the new edition, I was thinking of starting Custodes cause I love the lore and read the HH books and I think they may be fun to paint, but are they difficult to use for someone whose just coming back to the game?

 

They are and they aren't.  The army really excels in close combat so your need to really participate in all phases of the game really isn't that high. You'll really be focusing on a difficult aspect of the game though as your strategy needs to revolve around surviving the nasties in the game to get there. Deep strike and steering your towards your opponent can be the real challenge.

 

The fact is in order to make the army stronger, just keep adding bikes. I hate to say it, but it's truly a game changer to just add more bikes, keeping the rule of 3 in mind.

 

The rest of the army is really great. I really never use more than 3-5 bikes in a squad. I usually only use 1 Shield Captain on a Dawneagle unless I'm playing very competitive. This alone is what most people cherry pick for competitive lists. I would avoid over kill in this area. If you play in any sort of relaxed environment these units can be VERY overwhelming to people when they realize how hard they hit.

 

So try lots of fun units; Guardians, Allarus, Wardens, etc. They're all very, very useful in casual games. 

 

It's amazing how well GW did with this codex and it feels very elite. But you are going to find a missmatch where your opponent is fielding something like Astra where the first 2 turns can feel like you don't have a chance, and that part of playing Custodes (without Allies) can feel very disheartening.

 

You will learn how to deal with stuff like that by playing it repeatedly. 

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

Jetbikes aren’t that great versus Knights (T8) because their lances are S6... even with the reroll when they charge. Geoff Robinson is the top ranked Custodes player in the ITC and he has a balanced army, not all jetbikes - he uses lots of Guardians for example. Jetbikes are great of course but I wouldn’t get carried away. If you’re looking to start an army consider using an ally. Edited August 5, 2018 by Black Orange

[Prot]

Well to be fair I think BAO was the time Geoff took Guardians. In his successful win of the UK GT he used massed bikes if I recall correctly.

 

In answering Furors question I still think of a new player generally speaking wants an ‘easier ‘ time of playing Custodes, then I think just adding bikes is the easy way out.

 

Foot slooging can be a tough go for Custodes if any flavour. I personally have used a min8mum of 9 Guardians in every game. I love them, but even they can get hung up on a Rhino or something you wouldn’t think should slow them down. They aren’t cheap, but I love them.

 

I use expensive units still to counter some armour. This isn’t tournament advice....I’m talking casual play where I actually get some mileage out of dropping in a melta Contemptor that is almost sure to hit. Fun stuff like that.

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

UK GT was the only time he’s run all bikes, normally he uses a battalion for his Custodes. :)