The Custodes Support Battle Group cuts the resin tax on Telemons, Gyrfalcons, and the Pallas Grav-attack, and it works for both 40k and Horus Heresy.
For years, building a Telemon list meant wandering into the Forge World checkout and pretending your wallet wasn’t about to get suplexed. The new Custodes Support Battle Group changes that in one plastic box, packing in a Telemon Heavy Dreadnought, four Gyrfalcon Jetbikes, and a Pallas Grav-attack.
This is the box Adeptus Custodes players have been waiting on since the resin Telemon first became the expensive centerpiece of many golden dreams. GW finally put it in plastic. Also, this is the first box stamped with both the Warhammer 40,000 and Warhammer: The Horus Heresy logos.
While it doesn’t actually make a difference, since the models have been interchangeable for a while, it’s nice for newer players to have it printed on the box rather than have to guess. So yes, the kits can serve in 11th Edition 40k lists and Horus Heresy armies from the same box.
The timing isn’t subtle, either. The 11th Edition Custodes detachments faction focus already pointed at Telemon Dreadnoughts as a top pick, and now there’s a plastic kit ready to cash in on that interest.
The Support Battle Group Box Is GW’s First Official Dual-Branded Sprues
- Three plastic kits in one box: the Custodes Support Battle Group bundles a Telemon Heavy Dreadnought, four Gyrfalcon Jetbikes, and a Pallas Grav-attack into a single plastic SKU.
- Dual-system branding: this is the first GW box stamped with both the Warhammer 40,000 and Warhammer: The Horus Heresy logos, giving the units a home in both systems.
- Journal Tactica adds rules: the paired Prospero Burns Journal Tactica includes a new Cohort Doctrine, Adjutorum Sodalities rules, a Daemons of Tzeentch army list, and rules for Magnus the Red.
This one feels like it has been a long time coming. The Custodes Support Battle Group bundles three elite units from different parts of the Ten Thousand into a single plastic kit, and it’s the first GW box to ship under both the Warhammer 40,000 and Warhammer: The Horus Heresy logos at the same time.
Inside the box, you get four Gyrfalcon Jetbikes, a Pallas Grav-attack, and a Telemon Heavy Dreadnought. That’s the cross-ecosystem consistency GW has been talking about since the first Legio Custodes plastic wave earlier this year, finally printed on the cardboard for everyone to see.
The Telemon Heavy Dreadnought Finally Ships in Plastic
The headline kit is the Telemon Heavy Dreadnought, and that’s what turns this box from interesting to dangerous for Custodes players. Telemons rival the Saturnine-pattern in size and have been stuck in Forge World resin since 2017. Lore-wise, each one is said to carry an armor plate fashioned by the Emperor’s own hand, which is about as Custodes as it gets.
The new plastic kit brings the full weapons cabinet, and the loadout options are not messing around:
- Telemon caestus with twin neutronium cascade projector, for crushing things up close
- Arachnus storm cannon, the take-all-comers option
- Adrathic desolator, for when the table is packed with Terminators
- Iliastus accelerator culverin, for putting Space Marines through a very bad afternoon
The chassis also mounts a Spiculus missile launcher on its shoulders, because apparently, being a golden walking bunker still needed a little more punctuation. GW understood the assignment here. The plastic Telemon walks straight into the 11th Edition Custodes detachments that were already making room for one.
The Gyrfalcon Jetbikes Bring Real Plastic Fast Attack
The box also includes four Gyrfalcon Jetbikes, used by Agamatus Sodalities to screen the main force and hit the flanks before the enemy has time to make good choices. Each rider is a heavily armored Custodian strapped to a plasma-boosted engine with a hull-mounted gun, which is exactly the sort of fast-attack pressure Custodes lists have needed more of.
The 11th Edition Custodes already gives them a place in the army, and the plastic kit gives each of the four jetbikes one of four weapon options:
- Adrathic devastator
- Lastrum bolt cannon
- Twin Corvae las-pulser
- The new Arachnus volley cannon
The rider can carry their power lance or leave it stowed across the back, giving hobbyists a bit more room to make the unit look less copy-paste on the table. That’s a solid kitbash budget out of one box, and it scales straight into Horus Heresy Agamatus loadouts too.
The Pallas Grav-attack Is the Custodes Hunter-Killer
The Pallas Grav-attack rides on the same grav-lift tech used by Coronus carriers and Caladius tanks, but this one is trimmed down into a fast hunter-killer platform. It can mount either an Arachnus Storm Cannon or an Iliastus Accelerator Fusil under the cockpit, which keeps the profile clean and mean.
It fits neatly beside the 11th Edition Custodes detachments, and it slides into a Horus Heresy army without needing a separate hobby plan. Rules for using all three units in Horus Heresy live in Liber Custodes: The Forces of the Emperor.
Journal Tactica: Prospero Burns Pulls Double Duty
The box is arriving alongside a new Journal Tactica covering the assault on Prospero. Constantin Valdor led the descent on Tizca, and the book digs into that attack along with more lore for the Legio Custodes.
On the rules side, it includes a new Cohort Doctrine, a Legendary Mission, and rules for Adjutorum Sodalities, specialist retinues that support a Shield Host. Then it gets even more interesting: the book also includes a Daemons of Tzeentch army list with Screamers, Horrors, and more, plus rules for the daemonic primarch Magnus the Red.
That’s two very different factions getting playable rules content from one Journal Tactica, which is a lot of value sitting next to a model box. It also lines up with the wider Horus Heresy edition updates GW has been pushing lately.
Final Thoughts on the Custodes Support Battle Group
The release schedule here is great because two Custodes plastic battle groups inside one calendar year is about all any army could ask for. As we all know, GW is steadily retiring the Forge World resin side of the range, one new bundle box at a time.
The first Legio Custodes Battle Group moved the Caladius, the Galatus, and Achillus Contemptors kits, Ventari, and the Cornus (in the same release wave) away from resin. Now the Support Battle Group does the same for the Telemon, Gyrfalcon, and Pallas. That doesn’t leave many resin Custodes kits standing, and the ones still there, including Aquilon Terminators, are probably worth watching as the 11th Edition codex roadmap keeps moving.
Perhaps the box’s dual-system branding is the strongest note of all. If GW is willing to sell one box for both 40k and Horus Heresy, Custodes are being treated less like two separate ranges and more like one army that simply refuses to stay in one era.
So, if that pattern holds, the rest of the resin Custodes range may not be far behind…
đź”— Related Reads:
- New 11th Edition Custodes Detachments Hand Telemons 36 Shots
- New Legio Custodes Battle Group Box: Review Breakdown
- The Big Summer Warhammer Preview: GW Has To Go All In
- How to Play 40k Adeptus Custodes Codex: Review
- Adeptus Custodes Lore of The Emperor’s Living Legends
- Adeptus Custodes Plastic Models Revealed For Horus Heresy and 40k
What do you think of the new Custodes Support Battle Group and the dual-system box branding?
