How To Play 40k Adeptus Custodes in 10th Edition 40k: Rules Guide

By Travis Pasch | April 14th, 2024 | Categories: 10th Edition 40k, 40k News & Articles, Adeptus Custodes, Games Workshop, How To Play, Tabletop Gaming News & Rumors, Warhammer Community

New 10th Edition 40k Adeptus Custodes are here – from Stratagems, Datasheets, and army rules; here is our review guide on how to play them.

In 10th Edition Warhammer 40k, each army has a new style of play, rules, and plenty of changes. If you’re wondering how to play Adeptus Custodes, what their new rules are, or if you should start collecting them, this review guide will give you plenty of info to mull over.

From the Dacatarai Stance to the Moment Shackle, each unit has its unique abilities to help players dominate on the battlefield. The Custodians are extremely durable, and the Allarus Custodians are immovable. The Prosecutors are best for targeting enemy psykers. The new Adeptus Custodes seem to be worth considering if you’re looking for a new army in Warhammer 40k.

Contents

How To Play 40k Adeptus Custodes in 10th Edition 40k: Rules Guide

The new Adeptus Custodes 10th Edition 40k rules come from Warhammer Community.

Buried under hordes of teeming alien chaff? The Dacatarai Stance will blend them up in moments. Charged by some optimistic but towering brutes? Adopt the Kaptaris Stance and parry their clumsy swings, then enter Rendax Stance in your turn to slice through their armoured hides. It really is that easy to become the undisputed master of the Fight phase.

If you are charged with some deadly units, the Kaptaris Stance is the way to go! If you need to cut through hordes, Dacatari is perfect, and lastly, if you need to kill big stuff, Rendax is excellent. This is nice because it’s pretty simple, and each has a specific use.

Watchers of the Gate Battleforce

Adeptus Custodes Shield Host Detachment Rules

Custodians deployed as part of a Shield Host exemplify the best qualities of the Ten Thousand – shining with a sliver of the Emperor’s own light, and blessed with a mote of his invulnerability. This Aegis of the Emperor protects them from the most grievous injuries imaginable, for the galaxy is full of unspeakable horrors that threaten even the Adeptus Custodes.

This is super nice, as you don’t have many minis, and getting a 4+ Fell No Pain (FNP) for all mortal wounds will give you a save against basically anything your opponent throws at you.

Plus, with their built-in Invulnerable and great saving throws, they are going to be super tough!

New 10th Edition Warhammer 40k Adeptus Custodes Datasheets

By far his most powerful tool is the Moment Shackle, a relic of the Dark Age of Technology that redirects the flow of time to his advantage. Though it can only be used once per battle, its effects are extremely powerful in both offence and defence, and can decisively swing a combat his way no matter how mighty his opponent.

The main man of the Custodes in 40k, has high toughness, a ton of wounds, FNP, and a great save. So, in theory, he should survive for a while! Trajann’s melee and shooting are decent, with the added ability to dish out a ton of damage with every hit.

Overall he hits on a 2+ and has three Damage on both attacks; however, he has some great auras, which are probably his biggest strength. First, he lets you ignore all negative modifiers (other than saving throws), and then he can strengthen himself.

If you are scared of dying, grab a 2+ invulnerable save, or if you want him to smash through the enemy, double his attacks! Against almost any infantry, he should be able to kill them all in one swing.

Plus you can always just give him and his unit fights first, which could also be super strong too.

Custodians are superhumanly durable even without a shirt on, and adding suits of Allarus Terminator armour makes them truly immovable. Despite the immense weight of their armour, the From Golden Light ability gives them surprising mobility in the midst of battle, and can hurl them across the field onto distant objectives at critical moments.

Allarus Custodians are super tough! They have 7 Toughness and a whopping 4 Wounds apiece, not to mention a 2+ save, 4+ invulnerable, and a 4+ FNP to mortals! Then, you can re-roll wounds against characters, monsters, or vehicles, redeploy them anywhere on the board, and get an OC score of three for this unit with a Vexilla.

With 4 or 5 attacks, each with tons of strength, AP, and Damage, they are also monsters in combat! Interestingly, the Misericordia doesn’t have the extra attacks rule, so we’re not exactly sure how they will fit in.

Armed with consecrated boltguns, squads of Prosecutors can pick out enemy sorcerers from their minions with unerring accuracy, as the Precision ability allows them to target Leaders who’d normally be hidden within enemy squads.

Considering you don’t take psychic tests anymore, we’ll have to see some of the other special rules (such as Anathema Psykana) before we make a final call on them. Still, they are going to be best when shooting at psykers, as they get both precision and devastating wounds.

Other than that, they aren’t super exciting but should be a cheaper unit for the Custodes to get on the field and grab objectives with an OC value of 2 for just five models.

New Weapon Rules

All of the weapons carried by the Talons of the Emperor are masterworks, with powerful ranged weapons often built into the hafts of their swords and spears. Even amongst these relics, though, the Executioner Greatblades carried by Vigilators are doom incarnate for enemy psykers, and can rend through sorcerous wards as if they were nothing but air.

If you’re against psykers, this is going to be super strong. Even if you’re not, though, with WS3+, Strength 5, and D2, they should be decent at killing two wound models.

New Adeptus Custodes Warhammer 40k Stratagems

With all of their skill and experience, the loss of even one Custodian is a tragedy that few factions can comprehend. Luckily, the Emperor’s finest don’t go down easy, and even should they fall under the furious guns and blades of their foes, these golden heroes will simply rise again to continue the fight.

For 1 CP, this is actually wild… If you bring back an Allarus Custodian, that’s a four wounds model brought back that your opponent probably put a ton into killing!

How To Play Warhammer 40k Adeptus Custodes: Points

You can find the latest points for playing this faction in 10th Edition Warhammer 40k here on our Munitorum Field Manual Points Updates Page.

Dataslate Changes

They got hit pretty hard in the first round of changes, but GW has recently reverted almost all the changes! They brought back the FNP for devastating wounds, increased unit size, and much more. It makes sense that their win rate has gone high once again!

Adeptus Custodes YouTube Review:

Watch the video below for some more insights into the faction until they get their codex book!

Is It Still Worth Playing Adeptus Custodes?

Yeah, absolutely; while, like a lot of the armies in 10th Edition, there are some issues. With the recent Dataslate changes (and reverting a lot of the NERFS), their win rate is very high once again. Not only that, but their models look amazing. Trajann still has a lot of power, and while the weapons have left some people wanting, they have plenty of options.

Updates, in general, for any game are just good business. That being said, it also seems like in 2023-2024, GW will have its hands full trying actually to get out all these codexes. However, Custodes are fairly early on the list, all things considered, so even if there are some things you don’t like about the index, you don’t have too long to wait until the codex drops.

The new Adeptus Custodes army rules in 10th Edition Warhammer 40k provide exciting changes to the gameplay, rules, and style of the army. Adeptus Custodes can dominate the battlefield with tons of their tough and hard-hitting models. The army’s squads, vehicles, and Stratagems provide players with a lot of options to defeat their enemies and have some really fun games. Overall, the new Adeptus Custodes army is a force to be reckoned with in Warhammer 40k.