Starting a Custodes force

[brianb9999]

So I was able to sell off some old stuff I wasn't using and took the plunge. I've gotten 2 boxes of Custodian Guard and plan to get 2 boxes of bikes and Trajann (bc of the point decrease) to start. I've been skimming the codex and playing with battle scribe, and I'm trying to figure out what else I should get to augment the force for semi/competitive play. A few notes:

I have lots of Imperial Guard and a Culexus that I plan on using at least as a minimum ally.

I plan to build 9 Spear Guardians, but I'm not sure what to do with the last. If I get another box of Guardians, I can make 4 minimum squads of Spear guard and either build Vexilla(e), Shield captains, or sword/shield guard. Still figuring out which would be the best option.

A few random questions for anyone with Custodes knowledge/experience:

Do you find Vexillae helpful? If so, which do you use and how do you equip the Vexilla - weapon, or shield?

Are storm shields worth it overall, such as mixing a few shield guard into squads?

Are misericordia worth it? Seems like they might be, but wasn't sure.

With the pending points decreases, should Trajann now be considered the must-take over a vanilla walking shield captain? Was probably going to run him and a Shield captain on bike for my first 2 HQ's.


Trying to figure the future purchases - probably another box of bikes and guardians, and maybe one each of wardens and terminators for completeness. Just looking for a little guidance!

[neversummer]

My friend is doing basically this at the moment, here is the result of our short research:
Build one of the Guardians as Vexilla and use Vexilla Magnifica (the one with -1 to hit aura). Walk it along with the 9 guardians and Trajan. Second HQ would be the Shield Captain on a bike riding with the rest of the bikes.
If your guardians are buffed with Vex the storm shields might not be needed - they do lower their melee output a bit.
Misericordias are ok but nothing to write home about - get them if you have leftover points.
The above gets you a battalion with 1200+ points depending on the bike squad size.
With loyal 32 you should be able to get to 1500 (you could also include 1-3 heavy weapon teams with mortars - Custodes lack in the long distance shooting which this fixes a bit).
Hope this helps:)

[brianb9999]

Cool, this is kinda what I was thinking.

[gigasnail]

They got some decent points drops in CA too.

[neversummer]

Oh and one more thing - magnetise the bikers' arms with lances (very easy at the shoulder joint) -> makes them alot easier to transport!

[tomb]

The Forgeworld custodes dreadnoughts are some of the best models designed yet, very possible and very cool.

Do it...

[brianb9999]

Dec 9, 2018 19:09:34 GMT gigasnail said:

They got some decent points drops in CA too.

Yeah terminators and wardens down...liking the idea of deep striking in terminators, smashing something, then using the strategem to split up and wreak havoc in someone's backfield.

[baldwam]

So I played pure custodes for the past two seasons at my flgs with decent success. Jetbikes are your bread and butter, they let you clear out hordes pretty easily and they're surprisingly effective at killing harder targets. -1 to hit vexilla is basically an autoinclude just to make the jetbikes more survivable, depending on how many points I have available I take him as spear or axe. Since the vexilla is a character the shield isn't that necessary. If he gets into melee it was likely going to be one-sided anyway, and with a shield he is unfortunately worthless in melee. As far as misericordia usage goes: do you have the points to put an extra model into the list? If yes, do it, if no, now you give units that you think will need it misericordias.

As far as hqs, I'm very curious to play with the new valoris, he will likely be a beast for what he costs. Jetbike captains are where it's at though, give one the auric aquilas and VotBG and throw him at your opponents shinies and watch them die. For some reason I've never liked the vanilla captain, usually I go with an allarus captain even if I need a footslogging hq, extra shots, extra wound, doesn't cost that much.

For our troops, especially if you don't have a delivery system, shields to spears should be a 1:2 ratio. Shields might seem like a waste, but you can mitigate a ton of damage with just 1 shield in a unit of 3, and that can make a world of difference when 2 demon princes end up stuck into combat with guards. Plus, shields are almost as killy as spears, so you don't lose much besides the strength and strat difference.

Wardens were unfortunately traps before CA, and probably will still be so afterwards, mainly because allarus get an extra wound and shooting weapon over wardens 6+++, that said you will probably still buy a box because they get you axes for your characters.

The land raider is what has me the most curious, it was overpriced before CA, and thanks to knights it will likely still have no place, but I've been considering taking one with valoris, a +1 attack vexilla, and a unit of guard once changes happen.

Hope that answers what you were wondering about. Custodes are probably tied with tyranids for my favorite army, I just love playing herohammer way too much.

[brianb9999]

This is sage advice. Just wanted to confirm what made sense to me. Thanks!