Warhammer 40k Adeptus Custodes Faction Focus Shines the God-Emperor’s Golden Light on His Adversaries

Warhammer 40k Adeptus Custodes shows us the Emperor’s finest, as well as some very interesting rules – alongside a 2+ Invulnerable Save!

Few are better at what they do than the Ten Thousand, the Adeptus Custodes who guard the Imperial Palace and carry out the Emperor’s Will around the galaxy if need be. Games Workshop have finally showed us the rules for the Golden Warriors, who are just as mighty on the tabletop as they are in the legends of the Space Marines and Adepta Sororitas – and will remain a force to be reckoned with in the 10^th Edition of Warhammer 40k as well!

Faction Rules of the Warhammer 40k Adeptus Custodes Faction Focus

The Army Rule of the Adeptus Custodes is another great example of the “simplified, not simple” approach Games Workshop takes with the next Edition of the most popular tabletop wargame in the world. The new Martial Ka’tah Army Rule only contains three Ka’tahs, but they are stronger than before, and can be chosen at the start of ANY Fight phase instead of just the Custodes player’s turn:

• Kaptaris Stance is the defensive stance of the three, as it gives a -1 to all Hit rolls of attacks targeting a Custodes in the Fight phase,
• Dacatarai Stance is against hordes of enemies, as Custodes melee weapons gain the Sustained Hits 1 ability, meaning they get extra attacks on Hit rolls of 6, called Critical Rolls in the new edition of Warhammer 40k,
• Rendax Stance is the Titan-killer of the three, as it gives Custodes melee weapons the Lethal Hits ability, which makes the attack auto-wound on a Critical Hit, skipping the Wounding step of resolving attacks.

While the number of Ka’tahs have been halved, they are easier to use, can be chosen more frequently, and overall became stronger, so Custodes players should be very happy with their Army Rule.

We also got the Detachment Rule for the Shield Host Detachment called Aegis of the Emperor. This ability gives all Adeptus Custodes models a 4+ Feel No Pain against Mortal Wounds, which is perfectly in line with the elite nature and unbreakable will of the Ten Thousand.

Unit Spotlights of the Warhammer 40k Adeptus Custodes Faction Focus

The first datasheet that Games Workshop shown us was for none other than the Epic Hero of the Adeptus Custodes, Trajann Valoris, who is a legend among legends – and his new abilities certainly reflect that. He kept his Deep Strike and Feel No Pain 5+ abilities, traded a point in Wounds for one in Toughness, and retained his 4+ Invulnerable Save. His Watcher’s Axe gained a pip of AP and Damage as well as the Assault keyword, meaning it can be shot even after Advancing, which should make Trajann even deadlier.

The also gained new abilities with the revised Captain-General and Moment Shackle skills. Captain-General makes it so that while Trajann Valoris leads a unit, models in that unit ignore any or all modifiers to any tests except Saving Throw modifiers, meaning that enemies of the God-Emperor can’t run or hide, nor make the Custodes worse at their jobs.

Moment Shackle retained it’s once per battle restriction, but gained 3 completely new choices:

• It can give the Watcher’s Axe 12 melee attacks for one Fight phase instead of 6, which will work incredibly well with the weapons increased Strength,
• It can give Trajann Valoris a 2+ Invulnerable Save for the phase,
• And the relic of the Dark Age can also grant Fight First to models in the unit lead by the Captain-General.

These abilities look incredibly strong, so the leader of the Custodes should see more play in the 10^th Edition of Warhammer 40k.

Of course, no Captain-General can win battles without his finest warriors, and the Allarus Custodians are just what Trajann Valoris needs if he wants to protect the Golden Throne. The Custodes Terminators retained their 4 Wounds, but will have 7 Toughness in the next Edition of Warhammer 40k, which will make them incredibly durable alongside their 2+ Armour Saves and 4+ Invulnerable Saves.

Their ranged weapons also got the Assault keyword, which means they will be a lot faster and a lot deadlier than before. In terms of the melee weapons, the biggest change is that the Castellan axe will deal 3 Damage per hit, but has a 3+ Weapon Skill, only 1 AP, and 4 Attacks instead of 5 like the Misericordia and the Guardian spear.

The Allarus Custodians can also reroll Wound rolls against Character, Monster and Vehicle enemies thanks to their Slayers of Tyrants ability, which makes them experts at elite-hunting, while they can also take the Vexilla to increase their OC by 1 for each model. But their new From Golden Light ability is the real deal, which let’s them re-Deep Strike once per battle, as players can remove them, then set them back up 9” away from enemy models at the end of your opponents turn. This ability is extremely strong, and no place will be safe from the Golden Warriors of the Emperor come the next edition of Warhammer 40k.

Of course, the Adeptus Custodes is not only about the super-soldiers in their gold plating, as they would be much weaker without the Sisters of Silence, the blanks that are a formidable force against any psyker. The Prosecutors are the Boltgun-wielding variants of the Sisters of Silence, and they will be crucial to any Custodes force that wants to deal with enemy Characters, as their Purity of Execution gives their weapons the Precision keyword, which let’s them shoot Leaders even if they are surrounded by their troops, and also lets them deal Mortal Wounds on 6’s thanks to the Devastating Wounds ability – as long as the Sisters target a Psyker’s unit. They also retained their Daughters of the Abyss ability, which will give them a 3+ FNP against Psychic attacks in 10^th Edition.

Weapon Spotlight of the Warhammer 40k Adeptus Custodes Faction Focus

Games Workshop decided to stay in the Sisters of Silence lane in the only Weapon Spotlight of the Adeptus Custodes Faction Focus, showcasing the weapon of the Vigilators, the Elite version of the Anathema Psykana. While their melee weapon, the Executioner Greatblade retained it’s 5 Strength and 2 Damage, it lost a pip of Armour Penetration. In return, it received the Anti-psyker 4+ keyword, meaning that it Wounds Psyker targets on a 4+, no matter the modifiers, while also gaining Devastating Wounds, which let’s the greatblades do Mortal Wounds if you roll well enough in the Wound phase of an attack.

The Sisters of Silence should really be considered to any player fielding a Custodes, as they gained some interesting tools that could prove invaluable in the 10^th Edition of Warhammer 40k.

Stratagem Spotlight of the Warhammer 40k Adeptus Custodes Faction Focus

If all the new rules showcased wasn’t enough, the new Vigil Unending Stratagem is here to seal the deal. Instead of giving Fight on Death to Adeptus Custodes units for 1 CP, in the 10^th Edition of Warhammer 40k, Vigil Unending will just simply revive a Custodes for one of your units. While you can’t use this Stratagem more than once on one unit, and it can’t be used in Sisters of Silence, it’s still an incredibly strong tool for any host of the Ten Thousand.

Overall, the Adeptus Custodes look very strong in the coming 10^th Edition of Warhammer 10k. I can’t wait for all of their rules to be revealed when the whole edition drops, but what we’ve seen so far is very promising. Join ESTNN in the countdown for the 10^th Edition of Warhammer by checking out our other articles regarding the new rules dropping in a few weeks – alongside the Leviathan Starter Box!