Age of Darkness-Warhammer 30k/2.0 Tactics/Legio Custodes Tactics

"The universe has many horrors yet to throw at us. This is not the end of our struggle. This is just the beginning of our crusade to save Humanity. Be faithful! Be strong! Be vigilant!"

– The Emperor

This is the current tactics page for the Legio Custodes in HH 2.0. The 1.0 tactics can be found here

For the generals on how to play the game and the basics on listbuilding (as well as other tactica rules), you may want the General tactics page. You may also find the Horus Heresy general thread as "/HHG/" on /tg/.

Why play the Legio Custodes

Because in an age where Space Marines are the standard troops, you shall stand out as the elite. Because while the Astartes turned traitor, you're loyalty shall never be questioned. Because you are the real "finest Warriors" in this universe. Because gold never goes out of style. Because your troops put Legion terminators to shame, and your terminators scare Space Marine characters into running away.

And because your one of the few 30k factions with a decent amount of your range available in plastic.

Pros

• Your basic Line infantry are M8", WS/BS/S/T 5, 2W, I5, 4A with 2+ armour saves and 6++ Invuln saves.
• Most of your infantry get access to AP2 at initiative weapons BASE.
• You have a fair few plastic kits, and since your army is so points expensive building an army can be pretty cheap.
• WS6 Dreadnoughts.
• Gold is easy to paint and looks good.
• Agents of the Emperor gives you access to quite a few assets, including Assassins, the Silent Sisterhood (though you can't do the old Talons of the Emperor mashup tactic anymore) and the Knights-Errant.

Cons

• In a game where Space Marines can take Horde armies, your cheapest unit is 150 points 3 guys. You'll always be outnumbered.
• While having great guns, you'll get out shot by dedicated shooting armies.
• Your tactics will always be; Step 1: run up the field, Step 2: win the game. So doesn't be surprised when your opponent runs and hides in the corner to stay away from you.
• A dearth of synergy. Your HQs don't really offer any help aside from an extra beatstick, and even Valdor's armour won't be of much use unless you intend on sticking him in an allied detachment.

Core Warlord traits

• Golden Exemplar: Your only warlord trait and the one you MUST take. All combats within 12" of the warlord add +1 to the wounds caused when calculating combat resolution, and when engaged in a challenge the warlord gains +1 attack and initiative. Extra Reactions are for pussies anyway.

Special Rules

• The Legio Custodes rule gives your models bonuses when engaged with Nemesis units:
  • +1 attack
  • +1 to charge rolls
  • Always hit on a 4+ unless challenging a Primarch or fighting a unit that is only made up of a Primarch.
• Nemesis units include:
  • units with Primarch, Dreadnought, Monstrous, Reinforced, Bombard, Daemon, Corrupted, Super-heavy, Unique or Knight units
  • Units with the majority of models have a WS, BS, Initiative or wounds equal or higher than 5
  • The enemy Warlord.
• All Custodes infantry/cavalry have Chosen Warriors, Relentless, Stubborn and at least Bulky(3) and all Custodes units have the Loyalist alignment and are always considered the loyalist side for narrative games.

Wargear of the Legio Custodes

Melee Weapons

• Misericordia: THEY FINALLY HAVE RULES! Coming standard on pretty much every unit, it's S4, AP-, Instant Death. Is it useful? Not really. Is it funny to stab a Praetor to death with a bunch of attacks? Yes.

Guardian Weapons
The iconic weapons of the Adeptus Custodes, capable of both shooting and melee. The Sentinel Blade, Guardian Spear and Guardian Axe all share the same ranged profile of 18" Assault 2 S4 AP4 Shred and count as bolt weapons. All weapons count as power weapons when used in melee.

• Guardian Spear: The trademark weapon of the Custodes. The ranged weapon is shown above, the melee profile is S+1 AP2 with Two-Handed and Reaping Blow (1), giving a bit of an edge when fighting with crowds, a common occurrence for your forces. Using this against monsters, however, isn't recommended.
  • Adrasite Spear: The Adrathic attachment for the spear. The spear stays the same, but the gun is now 12" Assault 1 S5 AP3 with Armourbane (Ranged), Instant Death, and Gets Hot. This is all fairly devastating looking, but S5 means that its effectiveness against monsters is limited, let alone any vehicles or dreads.
  • Pyrithite Spear: The Melta attachment for the spear. The spear remains untouched, but the gun is now 6" Assault 1 S8 AP1 with Armourbane (Melta). Can help carve tanks open, but that range is going to drag you down so much.
• Guardian Axe: The heavier Guardian Weapon. Same shooting profile, melee is a decidedly heavier S+3 AP2 with Two-Handed and Unwieldy, so it can more easily deal with monsters and it will inflict Instant Death against marines, but won't mean much against anything smaller.
• Sentinel Warblade: The lightweight Guardian Weapon, being only S:User AP2. This is, however, the only one without Two-Handed, and thus the only one that can actually be used with a Praesidium Shield.

Solarite Weapons

• Solarite Power Gauntlet: The Custodian Power Fist. S10 and AP1 sounds badass, but Unwieldy will hold you back, absurd saves be damned.
• Solarite Power Talon: Lightning Claws with gold paint. S5 AP2 with Shred allows you to run through most marines without concern and grabbing two of them lets you gain +2 attacks for dual wielding. It's also an acceptable anti-Dreadnought weapon, as Shred means you always have at least 11/36 chance per attack to wound, and Custodes make a ton of attacks.

Paragon Weapons

• Paragon Blade: The holy grail of weapons for the legions, it's actually a little underwhelming for the Custodes. Such are the high standards of the Emperor's Golden companions. Available to all HQ choices and Hetaeron Guard it's S+1 Ap2 Murderous Strike(6+) it's less effective in combat than a Paragon Glaive or the Meridian Swords. However, it's 1-handed, which lets you use it with a Praesidium Shield in case you needed a 5++.
• Paragon Glaive: The unique Custodes Paragon weapon and just another way they tell marines "everything you can do, we can do better" It's S+1, AP2, with Reaping Blow (1), Two-handed and Murderous Strike(5+). It also has a built in S5 AP4 Shred Bolter. It's an excellent weapon that would be an auto-take in literally any other army list, but you also have the below.

• Meridian Swords: A strange (and great) new weapon for the Custodes, these are paired swords that count as Two-Handed for the sake of avoiding adding an extra attack. They're also odd because each turn lets you pick out a different fighting style to use in combat. GW doesn't seem to know how good these weapons are as they are free for characters and Hetaeron Guards, while easily being the best melee weapon available to the Custodes by being essentially 3 weapons rolled into one. That said, the whole unit has to use the same fighting style, so you miss out on the some of the versatility of actual mix-and-matching. Moreover, you still don't get Brutal, which can cause headaches against opponents that are not susceptible to Instant Death.
  • Raptor Spreads its Wings: S:User AP2 with Rampage (3) to take out crowds on his own. Fulfils the same role paired Solarite Talons or even your normal spear do; you don't get the bonuses to wound, but you can get even more attacks. That said, Rampage is dependent on being outnumbered and your Custodes are Bulky (3), which can be a problem unlike with Solarite Talons (outright extra attacks) or the spears (Reaping Blow depends on models in base contact).
  • Grasp the Rainbow Serpent: S10 AP1 with a devastating Measured Strike and Instant Death, making it ideal to kill monsters. That said, think carefully about using this, as Measured Strike means you attack once as opposed to the multiple chances to proc Murderous Strike (4+) using the style below. Also not as reliable as the Solarite Fist, as almost everything that's worth using this on (eg. Dreadnoughts) will also have some sort of immunity to ID or will be a vehicle, which means you're left with 1 S10 attack as opposed to however many you could have made with the Fist.
  • Hands Part the Clouds: S+1 AP2 with Murderous Strike (4+). This is your duelling stance, with an even better Murderous Strike roll than the Paragon Glaive to make sure whoever you're challenging dies and dies immediately. However, your S6 attacks will find difficulty wounding the bigger Dreadnoughts, Automata, Armiger, etc. and you won't do anything against vehicles; for those, use the above.

Ranged Weapons

Various types of irreplaceable Dark Age of Technology weapons, which work out in game to be high strength AP4 weapons.

• Archaeotech Pistol: A Pistol 1, S6, AP4, Rending (3+) and Master-crafted hand gun, it's available to Custodes captains and tribunes for 5 points. Not much, but it's your only ranged weapon if you trade in your spear for something that isn't a better spear or the Guardian Axe.

Adrathic Weapons
The disintegrators of yore are not to be trifled with. They've got nerfed to AP3 and thus won't wipe out Terminators outright, but they have Armourbane (Ranged) and Instant Death means that any hits you do land will destroy. They also have Gets Hot as well but this isn't too much of a worry for you 2+ armour save troops. Strangely, Space Marines seem to have a better version of this, as their Disintegrators are AP2.

• Adrathic Destructor: 12" Assault 1 S5 AP3
• Adrathic Devastator: 18" Heavy 2 S6 AP3

Las Weapons
Like Space Marines, your Las weapons tend to be of the heavy duty anti-vehicle type because small arms lasers are for mortals. Except yours are better because, you know, the Emperor's Ten Thousand. All of the Arachnus weapons are various flavors of AP1 Lance Exoshock (6+).

• Arachnus Blaze Cannon: Instead of the Meltas Space Marines have, you use this for close-range anti-tank. 18" is pretty good because all of the platforms it comes on are pretty quick, and Lance makes sure your S8 will count. Also good in a pinch as anti-TEQ, as S8 AP1 is S8 AP1.
• Corvae Las-Pulser: A mega-souped up Multilaser, with 24" S9 AP3. Great for killing MEQs and Automata, and can put in some work against lighter vehicles.
• Arachnus Heavy Blaze Cannon: The Blaze Cannon, except S9 and 48".

Lastrum Bolt Weapons
Better-er Bolter variants, in keeping with the rest of the Custodes wargear. They are stronger than their Legion equivalents and have Shred. Great at destroying Solar Auxilia units, and can be pushed into hurting light tanks if needed.

• Lastrum Storm Bolter: 24", Assault 3, S5, AP4
• Lastrum Bolt Cannon: 36", Heavy 4, S6, AP4

Equipment

• Auric battleplate: Gives whoever wears it a 2+ armour save and a 4++ Invuln.
• Auric Warplate: Standard issue on most Custodes units. Gives them a 2+ armour save and a 6++ Invuln.
• Auric Demi-plate: Given to those Custodes who must move faster, it gives the wearer a 3+ armour save and a 6++ Invuln save.
• Praesidium Shield: Grants a 5++ Invuln that won't stack with the existing one provided by their armor. On top of that, it has the same penalties Boarding Shields do, barring a Custodian from using two weapons in combat or using a Two-Handed weapon.
• Arae-Shrike: Any enemies that roll to Deep Strike or Flanking Assault take a -1 penalty to determine whether or not it's disordered. Not much, but it helps foil any surprise annoyances.
• Magisterium Vexilla: Any units that have this big banner get to re-roll any Leadership checks. On top of this, all units within 12" of this model add +1 to their combat resolution, which can help push the battle in your favor. The effects of multiple Vexillae cannot stack, but re-rolling Leadership checks aren't an issue anyways.

Unit Analysis

Primarch

• Constantin Valdor, Captain-General of the Legios Custodes, The Shield of the Emperor, The First of the Ten Thousand: The big boss of the bananas has a lot to show for, as he is a fucking Primarch with 5s to a lot of stats aside from a monstrous WS7, Ld 10, I6 and Ld 10. Being a Primarch not only means that any hiding sergeants will get flushed out in any case, but his stats are now immune to any penalties. Counter-Attack (1) assures that anyone who would dare charge him will regret it. He must be the warlord if he's taken since he is a Primarch and he has to take the same Warlord Trait as other Custodians, but it's a decent trait so that's not too bad. As an added plus, he can grab a Teleportation Transponder Array if you want Deep Striking units.
  • The Corinthine Warplate is an obscenely powerful suit of power armor, giving not only a 2+/3++ save, but also allowing ALL Loyalists who can see him or fight alongside him use his Ld10 for any reason - including Psychic tests! Why yes, let's get Revuel Arvida allied in just to have a shitton of loyalist psykers!
  • The Apollonian Spear is no slouch as a weapon crafted by the Emperor Himself. Up close it's a devastating S+2 AP2 Specialist Weapon with Lightning Blows (6+) and Murderous Strike (4+) to rip apart anything while the Hyper-velocity Bolter strapped onto it fires S5, AP2 shots and comes with Concussive (2) to soften the enemy up.
  • He sounds like a great choice, and that's because he is in a vacuum. The problem is that as a Primarch he competes directly with your Lords of War for points, which also happen to be your only Flyers and your only source of Skyfire in the list. That said, you can take allies for that kind of stuff, or have Fortifications and/or a Vindicare to do that. Still, you don't want your army to be stuck eating Turbo-laser fire from a Thunderhawk just because you forgot to bring AA, so take that into consideration when building your list.

HQ

• 0-1 Custodian Tribune: The absolute big cheese in any detachment, as he is the mandatory warlord of any detachment he is in unless Valdor is also here. While he lacks the fancy gear that Valdor gets, the Tribune is no less impressive, as he has free access to the Custodian armoury, including buying a Teleporter Transponder Array to Deep Strike up to 3 Infantry units. He has Fearless for he has no fear or doubt of his duty and Eternal Warrior, for his service to the Emperor is eternal. He has a ridiculous WS7 and he gets 5 attacks which will allow him to blend his way through most units on his own, and he is pretty much guaranteed to win any challenge he fights unless you do something stupid like challenge a Primarch. Always take the free Meridian Swords; the only thing in the list remotely close to its killing power is the 30 point Paragon Glaive.
  • As any veteran of HH1.0 may recall, Tribunes were considered one of the most outright busted characters in the game without Psyker, and this is held up here with a condition - You can't field a Tribune unless your main detachment costs 3000 points or you also field Valdor as well. However, the clause about Valdor is GREAT; you need to take a compulsory HQ anyway because Valdor is a Primarch and doesn't count anymore, while being able to take an additional Transponder Array actually saves you points by being able to Deep Strike your Custodes without taking Coronus Carriers.

• Custodian Shield Captain: The generic HQ for the Custodes, only slightly weaker than the Tribune with WS6 and W3. He loses 1W, Eternal Warrior and Fearless, instead replacing it with Stubborn and he's only 200 points. Aside from that, you can take any of the weapons you see fit with the exception of the Transponder Array, and he is lethal to pretty much all generic characters in the game due to easy access to ID at initiative through Murderous Strike.
  • That said, he is NOT the indestructible machine his bosses are and it shows. Sigismund can and will cut his head off round 1, as will several other named Space Marine ICs with various versions of Murderous Strike and/or Duellist's Edge. That's fair enough considering a. Sigismund actually costs more than this guy and b. it's Sigismund, but it bears reminding that just because you're a Custodian doesn't mean you automatically beat Marines in melee.

Elites

• Hetaeron Guard Squad: The closest you'll ever get to an elite squad in an army of elites. Each model comes with a Meridian sword, but gets free reign to take pretty much any weapon choice you want. Meridian Swords are arguably the best melee weapon available to the unit as their multiple profiles allow them to act as horde blenders or as better Paragon Blades, however they lack any ranged attacks so will be totally reliant on their melee capabilities (but that's not a big deal for Custodes). Another way to equip them is with Praesidium Shields to give them a more reliable Invulnerable save. This does lock out Two-handed weapons like the Meridian sword, but you can still give them a Sentinel Warblade, Solarite Gauntlets, Solarite Talons or Paragon Blades. Realistically there is no "wrong way" to equip them since all the Custodes weapon options are all great. On top of that, one model can exchange their weapons for a Magisterium Vexilla and the choice of either a Master-Crafted power weapon or a Sentinel Blade depending on how much you need to shoot things.
  • While being elite Custodes, Hetaeron Guards don’t bring much over regular Custodians and Sentinels stats-wise. With similar loadouts, they will deal as much damage and die just the same to attacks inflicting Instant Death. Having a 6++ means you will get murdered by models with access to AP2 weaponry that may survive your onslaught, especially if they have access to ID or Brutal. 3 Hetaeroi with spears/axes come merely cheaper than 5 regular spearboys, the latter being more resilient as a squad and throwing 66% more Damage at the enemy. Same for Sentinels if you plan to give your dudes Praesidium shields.
  • Despite being a very effective tool to deal with multi-Wounds units, the Solarite gauntlet may end up being a trap option. Unlike Cataphractii, Suzerains and other models with a 4++, you can’t just tank the hits and hope to outdamage the opponent. Any Astartes unit with WS5, a good invulnerable save and Thunder hammer will outdamage you while tanking your own Attacks. Worst, units with access to weapons hitting at Initiative with Murderous Strike and Rending (Cenobium, Phoenix Terminators, etc) will strike before you and may fish a handful of 5s or 6s to one-shot enough of your 100pts dudes to severely cripple the unit. Going for the old school Praesidium + Solarite gauntlet combo will push a 3-men squad at the insane cost of 330pts, 40pts over Aquilon Terminators which are definitely tougher, can Deep-strike and may be built to deal with a wide range of threats. If you don’t mind losing a bit of mobility and the possibility to perform Sweeping Advances, consider picking the big boys instead.
  • All in all, Meridian swords are arguably the best loadout for most of your Überbananamenschen. The Hands Cut the Couds profile alone is pure gold, as it provides reliable Instant Death at initiative, allowing your (relatively) frail dudes to slaughter elite units before they BONK! you with Thunder hammers. Adding a few Solarite gauntlets and shields will help you against the nastiest targets around but don’t overdo it. As with Custodians, striking first will remain your best chance to wipe the enemy.
  • That Vexilla is a wonderful support tool. Not only does it let the Hetaeron Guard re-roll Ld checks, but any units within 12" can also use it to add +1 to their combat resolution, letting them potentially get an edge over the enemy in an army where the numbers will tend to be against them.

• Aquilon Terminator Squad: The only way to already make the already heavy Custodes heavier is by giving the the Heavy Sub-type and making them Bulky (4). While their inventory is considerably less, the Solarite Power Gauntlet is not something to scoff at and Lastrum storm bolters are equally dangerous with Shred for that re-roll to wound. You can also pick up TL Adrathic Destructors if you really need to ID someone (eg. Automata) or an Infernus Firepike to clear out hordes. You can also get a Solarite talon over the gauntlet for free, and another instead of the Lastrum storm bolter.
  • RAW, Aquilons can wield both a Solarite gauntlet and a Solarite talon, which makes them very versatile in melee, though you lose the opportunity to soften you target from afar. It will also increase your damage output since both weapons are Melee and Aquilons don’t have a Misericord. A really good loadout, depending on what you expect your oppoment to field.

• Contemptor-Achillus Dreadnought: One WS6, dreadnought carrying a mighty dangerous spear (S12 AP2 Exoshock (4+)!) and a dangerous S9 AP3 Corvae Las-Pulser along with the customary Gravis Power Fist, now with inbuilt Lastrum Storm Bolter. The spear is better for fighting Knights because they're statted as traditional 7th Edition walkers (read: are vehicles) as opposed to the pseudo-Monstrous Creature treatment that Dreadnought and Armiger unit types received this edition, so Brutal doesn't work on them while Exoshock does. That said, the Fist's Brutal (3) is truly disgusting for the purposes of deleting anything with a toughness value and does not suffer from the problems with Atomantic Deflector and Eternal Warrior that trying to cause ID with S12 does. This implies you'll basically never use the Spear, so you might as well switch to dual Fists for the +1 attack, as the Spear being Two-handed otherwise prevents that.
  • The Achillus trully shines against Vehicles and models with WS5 your other melee units may struggle against. It isn’t much different from an Astartes Contemptor otherwise, and will die just the same against mass fire and melee units that may survive your assault. Your WS6 will be wasted on anything with WS4 or over W7, something you definitely want to avoid after paying a premium 75pts over a regular Contemptor. Stay the fuck away from big Hammernator units, hordes or Primarchs and target units your infantry can’t deal with.

Troops

• Custodian Guard Squad: The ever-reliable and iconic squad of custodians, each gifted with a Guardian Spear and one of your few Line units. Any model of this squad can pick up Pyrithite or Adrasite Spears if you're looking at something spicier to break vehicles or pop Veteran squads, and the Sentinel Axe can be taken for free if you're looking to ID Legion terminators in melee. The whole squad also has Melta Bombs as well, just in case. With almost 5s all across the board and W2, you can clearly recognize just how powerful these guys really. Of course, you also realize their great weakness because you start out with only three of them and buying more isn't cheap, as each guy costs 45 points each. One member of the squad can take a Magisterium Vexilla and swaps the Guardian Spear for a Sentinel Blade or a Master-Crafted Power weapon.

• Sentinel Guard Squad: Sword and Board Custodes, with the same stats and wargear as the Custodian Guard squad, but with the spears swapped out for Sentinel Warblades and Praesidium Shields. These are your other Line unit so you'll probably want to grab a few squads of these guys too. The Sentinel Warblades, while lacking and strength bonuses (not too bad since your infantry are all S5) are still AP2 at initiative and have the same built in bolter as the Guardian spears, allowing them to poke opposing units with bullets. You can swap the Warblades out for Solarite Talons which are flat upgrades since they also have Shred, or the anti-everything Solarite Gauntlets allowing you to tear tanks new asses and ID smaller Automata. But the real draw for these guys is the Praesidium Shield, which ups them to a 5++ invulnerable save allowing them to better survive attacks from Power Fists and Thunder Hammers. One Sentinel Guard can swap his shield for a Magisterium Vexilla as well, and while they're a bit less versatile than the Spear squad, these guys are great in melee and are terrifying for opposing elite infantry from the Legions.

Dedicated Transports

• Coronus Grav-Carrier: The lone transport of the Custodes. Its AV is a rather average AV 13/12/10 and its 16 model capacity will easily get filled up when you consider the Bulky rule all Custodians have. You can even take the termies in this. Don't expect to take many of them however, as each one is 180 points, which when stacked with the squad's cost will run you up by quite a margin. That said, it can Deep Strike (the only way Custodes can do so without Teleportation Array Transponders or Legion allies) and it will not take out its passengers after being destroyed because it's not a Flyer and does not Crash and Burn, which can mean a lot for a melee army like the Custodes. If for some reason you don't want to Deep Strike, you can also Outflank.

Fast Attack

• Agamatus Jet Bike Squadron: Dick bike return and they're here to fuck your opponents Tanks and Automata. They have the Deepstrike, Outflank and Hammer of Wrath(1) rules along with being armed with Solarite Power Lances, which at S10 AP1 Armourbane Sudden Strike (3) is one of the best weapons in the game. Their Gyrfalcon Jetbikes have Lastrum Bolt cannons, but these can be replaced for an Adrathic Devastator or a Twin-linked Corvae Las-pulser. This means they can be fantastic vehicle hunters, flanking a tank, shooting it with their heavy weapons and then charging it to finish it off with their lances. They do have some draw backs as they are wearing Auric Demi-plate so only have a 3+ armour save and one attack, and you don't get any form of Brutal (never mind that the White Scars get BRUTAL (3) LANCES), which can seriously affect their reliability against strong Invulnerable saves or Dreadnoughts/Automata that don't take ID from S10.
  • That said, there's no rule against your Custodes Lancers gaining attacks from other special rules, which means they get up to 3 attacks on the charge against Nemesis units, which at the end of the day are what you're worried about anyway. Moreover, unlike the White Scars, there's no rule against using it in subsequent rounds of combat, so enjoy your S10 AP1 at initiative at all times, even if you lose your bonus initiative. Just watch out for Automata like Castellax, which fall into the sweet spot of being too tough for S10 ID and having too few wounds to trigger Nemesis. Take ranged weapon upgrades for those; the Adrathic Devastator is AP3 ID and is thus perfect for killing Automata, while the Las-pulser also has AP3 and wounds reliably with high volume of fire.

• Pallas Speeder Squadron: For 60 points (cheaper than some infantry models) you get a floating Rhino with some ridiculous movement with a Flare Shield. Armed with a Twin-lined Arachnus Blaze-cannon that can be swapped out for an Adrathic Devastator, a squadron of these can cause a fair bit of havoc for your opponent by getting behind vehicles with Deepstrike and Outflank and shooting them in the soft bits. That said they're not tough (the one unit that can be accused of that in the entire list) and will fall apart under any serious fire power, so don't expect them to survive if you opponent dedicates some fire power to stop them. No, we don't know why they're not Cavalry like Land Speeders either.

• Venatari Squad: A Custodes Assault squad. They have Deep Strike allowing them to fall from the heavens (like lighting) and they come with a Venatari jump harness, Tarsus Bucklers and Kinetic Destroyers (functionally 12" 3-shot Autocannons) making them decent surprise shooting units, but at the cost of being limited in melee because you have to use the Misericord (though you get 5 attacks per model due to +1 from the Kinetic Destroyer being a pistol). They also only have Auric demi-plate meaning they are stuck with 3+ saves. But wait! They can swap the Bucklers and pistols for Venatari Lances; you get the same gun, but you get what is basically the basic Guardian Spear for actual killing power in melee.

Heavy Support

• Sagittarum Guard Squad: A Custodian Guard armed with what are basically combi-Heavy Bolters. The Emperor only knows why the unit is here, but any way. They are all equipped with Adrastus Bolt Calivers which are pretty nasty on their own before the ability to fire Disintegrator rounds is factored in, but they are a shooty unit in a stabby army. One model in the unit can swap his Adrastus Bolt Caliver for a Magisterium Vexilla and Adrathic Destructor. All in all these guys are great at clearing out Solar Auxilia squads, and if you feel like risking a 50+ point model every shooting attack, they can deal some damage with Terminators at range, but that's about it.

• Caladius Grav-Tank: A floating golden Sicaran. Coming with AV 13/13/11 it also has a Flare Shield and is armed with a Iliastus Accelerator Cannon and a twin Lastrum Bolt Cannon giving it some pretty decent all-rounder fire power, but you can also exchange the Iliastus Accelerator Cannon for an Arachnus Blaze Cannon for a more specialised anti-tank role. It's a pretty quick vehicle as it has M16" and the Antigrav sub-type as well as having Outflank and Deep Strike allowing you to position it where you want and Power of the Machine Spirit allows you to split fire at any units you want.

• Contemptor Galatus Dreadnought: Same stats as the Contemptor-Achilius, but with the Dreadspear swapped for a Giant Sword and Board. The Gravis Praesidium Shield gives him a 4++ Invulnerable save and the Galatus Warblade has seen a change from it's HH1 incarnation as it is now only S8, AP2. The Warblade has lost Rampage and Shred but instead it has gained Instant Death making it great against practically anything with a Toughness value. While the Atomantic Deflector on basically every single Dreadnought/Automata in the game prevents actual Instant Death, each Instant Death wound instead becomes D3 wounds, meaning a couple of swipes of the Warblade with the Galatus' superior WS should drop marine Dreadnoughts and mechanicum Thanatars quite easily, while tanking any return attacks with his 4++ Gravis Praesidium Shield. This makes the Galatus, ironically, one of the best anti-Dreadnought units in the game. The Warblade also has a built in Twin-linked Infernus incinerator, giving the Galatus anti-horde capabilties.
  • Just remember that S8 isn't much good against vehicles, Knight Armiger units get actual Eternal Warrior and the lack of Brutal will give you headaches against strong Invulnerable saves (read: TEQs), so the Galatus isn't an instant solution to everything you fight in melee. For those, consider taking the Achillus or using your infantry.

• Telemon Heavy Dreadnought: Dreadnought supreme. Bigger than a Leviathan Dreadnought and with 8 wounds, this is a very meaty unit even though he's seen a bit of a nerf this edition. He has the Move Through Cover and Hammer of Wrath(3) rules as well as the Heavy sub-type allowing him to re-roll failed armour rolls against blast weapons, and he comes equipped with two Telemon Cestus which are S10, AP2 Sunder fists which give him an extra attack for dual wielding, upping him to 6 attacks. They don't have Brutal but with WS6 and 6 attacks this isn't too much of a hinderance for the big guy. The Cestus come with in-built Plasma Projectors which are giant Plasma Flamers for annihilating any sort of infantry. He can swap one or both of the Cestus for an Iliastus Accelerator Culverin to delete Automata, or Arachnus Storm Cannon for killing tanks and Dreadnoughts. He's very expensive but can be effective if used well.
  • Taking the ranged options are generally better. A 6" movement Heavy model will take forever to get into melee with anything useful, and the Contemptor models are already perfectly good melee options. You could get the same guns on the Caladius for cheaper, but the Telemon is a heck of a lot harder to kill.

Lords of War

The only Flyers in the list. If you have the points allowance, strongly consider taking them as AA, as nothing else in the army can get Skyfire and you arguably don't need Valdor/Tribune because the Shield-Captain already massacres enemy HQs in melee.

• Orion Assault Dropship:

• Ares Gunship:

Allies

Agents of the Emperor

Sisters of Silence

Sadly, this is no longer the fun, viable option it used to be last edition. The Anathema subtype makes being near them a bit troubling with their -2 Ld aura. Granted, the Custodes have good Leadership, but it's not worth risking them joining the same fight. Moreover, both of your lists have next to no AA options, which can make things very risky. The Custodes and Sisters cannot embark on each other's transports, requiring mixed units to footslog. This does not make them absolutely unusable, however. For one, the Custodes have no way to block psychic powers, so a few sisters can provide a bit of insulation as well as inconvenience them with Vratine Bolters. Some sisters can also be usable as cheaper special weapons.

• You can join Knight-Vestal models to your Custodes for Feel No Pain, which is not available to the Custodes list and which cannot be provided by allies other than taking one Primus Medicae from an allied Legion detachment. Considering your Custodes are T5, you'll get to use it a lot.
• Sanctioner Cadres are snipers, which Custodes do not have. You don't generally need to kill particular models at range because your Custodes are very very good at doing so in close combat, but it's worth considering if you're taking a Sisters detachment anyway.

Divisio Assassinorum

Probably the last army that'd need an assassin. Sure, you don't really need to fill every HQ slot, and having two shield captains/a tribune + shield captain will tide you over more than enough, the assassins aren't actually any more effective than the custodians in a fight. As a reminder, your lowliest custodian can hit at S6 AP2 at initiative with a standard guardian spear. By comparison, the majority of your assassins rely on AP3 weapons with Rending to potentially take down AP2 weapons, often with a less than stellar strength. When you're up against a praetor or even a primarch, which would you rather rely on?

• One exception can be made for the Vindicare, as the Custodes list has no snipers. Further, he himself never takes BS penalties and is a half-decent AA option, and he can man any AA guns on your Fortifications for improved accuracy.

Legiones Astartes

Generally a good choice. The Space Marine Legions have access to a lot of firepower, which allows you to focus on taking melee Custodes units. In particular is their ability to take (relatively) cheap Line troops in Tactical Squads/Recon Snipers, which can claim home objectives while your Custodes advance into melee, as well as their widespread access to AA options. This is particularly pertinent for ranged Legions, but melee Legions can also be useful.

• While taking a Praetor is generally redundant because your Shield-Captain is already a superlative melee combatant, there are various consuls that provide buffs and/or other perks you normally cannot access. Attaching a Chaplain can confer Hatred so you hit everything on rerollable 4+ at the very least (your WS5 Custodes hit <WS5 on 3++, while Nemesis means you hit on 4+ against everyone at WS5 or above), Primus Medicae gives otherwise unavailable Feel No Pain to your T5 Custodes... you get the idea.
• As noted in Valdor's entry, his armour allowing everyone in LoS to use his Ld10 also applies to Psychic tests and that you can therefore take tons of Psykers. So take Thousand Sons allies! They have to take Psychic Tests for practically every single one of their Legion-specific choices, which become a lot more reliable when you use Valdor's Ld10 as opposed to their native Ld8/9. Look at their own tactica for details on what they can do.
  • The Thousand Sons compulsory HQ is an excellent tool for supporting your Custodes. He's basically a Librarian on top of whatever consul you made him, and then you can use his Minor Arcana on whatever unit he joins. There are so many potential combos to be found when the Psychic test is basically an auto-pass because being in LoS of Valdor lets you test on Ld10 and you can reroll it with a Magisterium Vexilla (yes, it works with all Leadership tests) every last one of your squads can take. It's doable even without Valdor; Chaplains are also Ld10, and rerollable Ld9 on other Consul types is nothing to sniff at. Take a Raptora Primus Medicae with Biomancy for 4++ S6 T6 Sentinel Guard with Feel No Pain?
• If you're not taking Valdor (which also generally means you can't take the Tribune) and thus don't have Teleportation Transponder Arrays, the Legion Warmonger Consul can confer Deep Strike to whatever unit he joins, at the cost of 1/6 chance per model in the Deep Striking Squad taking 1 wound. As your Custodes elites are 3W, this won't hurt as much as it would for Space Marines.
  • The Imperial Fists can take Alexis Polux instead and outright confer Deep Strike without any of the limitations of the Warmonger. He's also a Praetor and can unlock Rites of War for the allied detachment, and the Imperial Fists are themselves well suited for ranged support because of their widespread +1 to hit on ranged weapons. However, him being a Master of the Legion will require you to take a 1000pt allied detachment to unlock him, which can be difficult considering how points-expensive a Custodes army is in the first place.
  • The Legion list also has a lot more variety in deployment methods with various Rites of War, which can make up for the fact that all of your infantry are limited to footslogging, Deep Strike (requires Valdor/Tribune) or Coronus DTs (a 180 point vehicle that transports 6 of your models). This also reduces the overlap between your Custodes and melee Legion allies, as they can attack from different directions (Outflank) or at different times (Deep Strike in ahead of your Custodes advance).

Building your army

For price, Custodes are probably the cheapest armies to build since they have the core of their army in plastic, and since the models are so points expensive it's not hard to build a lot of points very quickly. Both of your line troops come from the same kit and the box will provide you with at least 240 points (for both Guardian Spears or Sword and Board). While some of the important units, like Aquilon Terminators and Dreadnoughts, are FW resin you don't have to buy many to have a functional army and a few of the units and weapons are simply upgrade kits for the standard Custodian guard models so are not too expensive to get hold of.

In addition a lot of the 40k custodes models are also very easy to convert and use in 30k armies. Trajann Valoris, Valerian and the Blade Champion are all usable and give you ready made, easy to convert Tribune/Shield Captain with Paragon Glaive/Blade/Meridian Swords. There is also the FW Custodes Shield Captain who also looks great so your choice of models will simply come down to personal taste. The Custodian Warden kit is also a perfect base to create Hetaeron Guard, though you will need to figure out how to convert some Meridian Swords to give them (or you can just give them Guardian spears/axes that come in the box).

Army Tactics

Warhammer 30,000 Tactics Articles
General Tactics	General (7E) Movement (7E) Psychic (7E) Fortifications (7E)
Imperium	Legiones Astartes (7E)
	Legio Custodes (7E) Sisters of Silence (7E) Mechanicum (Legio Mechanicum • Taghmata Omnissiah)
	Questoris Knights (7E) Solar Auxilia (7E) Imperialis Militia (7E)
Chaos	Ruinstorm Daemons (7E • 7E Codex) Warp Cults(7E)