Okay, so in defense of the game designers who wrote the Adeptus Custodes rules, I WAS winning until turn 6 - when my opponent ran away with the Victory Points!
Those of you who looked at the image of the battle above may ask - "Where are the Adeptus Custodes minis?" They're still in a box... not even clipped from the sprue! Yes, I am the WORST 40k hobbyist ever! (remember that last blog post about all the crap that has taken me away from wargaming?) I proxied the Custodes with Space Marine models - including two old 2nd Edition Land Speeders as the Shield Captains on jetbikes.
Okay, on to the description of the battle - and this is by no means a battle report - just a quick summary with a few observations.
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Points: 2000
Mission: Race to Victory (Chapter Approved 2017)
Deployment: Front-line Assault
Forces: Adeptus Custodes vs Astra Militarum
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So here is what I fielded for my 2000 points:
Warlord
Shield Captain on Dawneagle bike - Salvo launcher + Misericordia
Relic - Raiment of Sorrows
Trait - Radiant Mantle
Shield Captain on Dawneagle bike - Salvo launcher + Misericordia
Relic - Castellan's Mark (via Open The Vaults for 1CP)
Two squads of 4 Vertus Praetors
3 Salvo launchers and 1 Hurricane bolter equipped bike per squad
Three squads of Custodian Guard (3, 3, 4 per)
Guardian Spear + Misericordia for all
Two Vexilus Praetors
Guardian Spear + Misericordia + Vexilla Magnifica
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Opponents forces: (roughly)
Cadian Astra Militarum
4 Leman Russ Tanks - Pask - 2 Vanquishers, 1 Punisher and 1 Demolisher
1 Hellhound
1 DeathStrike Launcher
3 Squads Scions
3 Infantry Squads
Various Company Commanders, and other HQs
(and I'm sure I'm forgetting something there...)
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The game was close in Victory Points, with the end of Turn 5 having my Custodes ahead by 2 points and having achieved 8 of 10 Tactical Objective cards to complete the mission. Of course the game went another turn where my opponent racked up 5 VPs to my zero and completed all 3 of his Tactical Objective cards, bringing him to 10 and ending the mission.
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| Don't mind us bikers over here, minding our own business behind these bunkers! |
- Custodes are very resilient, especially when in cover against low AP-mod weapons (when you don't need to use the 4+ invul of a Battle-forged Custodes Army)
- Custodes have a moderate range (24") to reach out and touch opponents, but small squads have neither the rate of fire nor damage output in their troop squads to significantly influence waves of enemies as they advance. (even my 4 man team only put out 8 shots in overwatch - which isn't bad with the AP -1, but just not great for the points.
- Custodes custom wargear for the jetbikes is great, and a mix of hurricane bolters and salvo launchers worked well to hurt heavier targets and infantry masses - but unless you plan on charging a large armored target, you will need a lot more bikes to plink tanks from your enemy. (and then the downside of either an exploding tank you charged, or killing it and being in the middle of the enemy's tank line - and getting pulverized)
- Vexillas do help, especially since I took the one that gives your opponent -1 to hit - especially when facing Scions with BS 3+. But I'm not sure it was worth the points...
- Land Raider - didn't take one in the first game and HATED not having the 48" inch reach of the lascannons. Took one in my second game - and had to replace and entire Bike squad to field it. While it was able to reach out and "influence" the Cadian Leman Russ tanks, even with two twin lascannon batteries it isn't going to pop a tank every turn - unless you roll very well
- And as expected - the Relics and Stratagems really make the Custodes army feel fluffy! I used the Castellan's Mark to reposition a Shield Captain and 4 bikes from one side of the board to the other right before the start of the game. (just remember they have to stay IN your deployment zone - they aren't infiltrators) This worked great, and the outflanking maneuver led to a dead Hellhound which consumed quite a few shocked guardsmen - right until the DeathStrike actually made it to launch on turn two - and obliterated the bike squad - and put a few wounds on the Shield Captain with them.
- Raiment of Sorrows - This relic was a lot of fun - as the bikers with my Warlord kept getting picked off slowly, having one more shot with the salvo launchers or hurricane bolters just added insult to injury for my opponent. Nothing like losing half a squad of Scions when a random lascannon shot from across the board took a Custodes last wound...
So as I said - not earth shattering revelations - but certainly has guided how I will employ Adeptus Custodes next weekend against my Eldar opponent.
I would love to hear about other Adeptus Custodes players experiences with the new codex in the comments below!
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