I do not think I have ever beaten a Custodes force during the 9th Edition of Warhammer 40K, not when I was using the 8th Edition codex or even the 9th Edition codex. This Custodes vs Cadians battle was my second shot using the 9th edition codex. It might be my last, too, with 10th on its way.

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This game was at Boards and Swords in Derby.

Cadians 2,000 Points List

Cadian Arks of Omen Detachment

HQ

• Warlord – Cadian Castellan with Grand Strategist
• Tank Commander with Gatekeeper, Heavy Bolters, Lascannon and Master Tactian
• Culexus Assassin (not an HQ)

Troops

• Cadian Shock Troopers with a Plasma Gun, Melta Gun and Vox-Caster with Barbicants Key

Fast Attack

• 3 Armoured Sentinels with HMKs, Plasma Cannons

Heavy Support

• Malleus Rocket Launchers
• Bombast Field Guns
• Heavy Lascannons
• Executioner with Heavy Bolters and Lascannon
• Vanquisher with Heavy Bolters, Lascannon, Veteran Commander and Elite Sharpshooters

Elites

• A Commissar
• 6x Bullgryns

Lord of War

• Banehammer with Heavy Bolter and Lascannon Sponsons with Knight of Piety

Custodes

The Mission – Tide of Conviction

• Control two or more objective markers.
• Control three or more objective markers.
• Control more objective markers than their opponent controls.

At the end of each player’s first, second, third and fourth turn, the player whose turn scores two victory points if they control at least one objective marker in their opponent’s territory.

At the end of the battle, each player scores four victory points if they control the objective marker in their opponent’s deployment zone and two victory points for each other objective marker that they control that is in their opponent’s territory (for a maximum of 8 victory points per player).

You only get your Battle Forged CP if you control your home objective. If you don’t control it, then you only get your CP on the roll of a 4+.

Deployment

I think my deployment was OK for the most part. I did not have much to screen my forces, but I placed my Bullgryns on the right and the Banehammer on the left to get some Overwatch off.

My three Leman Russ that I would reposition went on the right flank on their own – that was fine. They were exposed but I would move them…

After Pre-Game Moves

And I think this is where I lost the game. I went first and got to redeploy my units first. The Custodes were also able to do some redeploying.

I redeployed my three Leman Russ to get a line of sight to some of their units. They then redeployed to remove that line of sight. I should have just placed all three in reserve. By not doing this, my three Leman Russ were still on the right flank, exposed and had almost no targets in the first turn.

You can see below that everything in the enemy force is hidden. My Executioner can move forward to see the blob of Guardians but nothing else.

Cadians – Turn 1

The Banehammer kills two Terminators from all its shooting. Oh boy, it’s like 8th Edition Codex all over again. This was with Ingrained Precision too.

I had better luck with the Heavy Lascannons, who popped a Rhino. The Malleus Rockets then killed the Sisters of Silence that came out of the Rhino, and the Bombast Field Guns killed the Sister of Silence character from said Rhino.

That was pretty decent for taking away Grind Them Down from the enemy. And they were all on an objective, so I got 3VP for By Lasgun and Bayonet.

Nothing else was visible and so a large amount of my shooting was wasted – like the Vanquisher and the Tank Commander with Gatekeeper.

Custodes – Turn 1

It was like 8th Edition all over again…

The bikes came forward to the Executioner I had not placed into reserved and had pushed forward… it died. They also killed my Tank Commander with their shooting attacks.

The Terminators teleported and charged my Banehammer, taking away 26 of its 28 wounds in total from shooting and melee.

Cadians – Turn 2

A lot of nothing this turn. The Banehammer died in the fight phase and the Bullgryns killed nothing apart from two of themselves after they charged the bikes.

The Culexus did come in take an objective as intended which was nice.

I did kill a bike from the Vanquisher… it was one very dead bike.

Custodes – Turn 2

The banner guy came for my assassin and failed to kill him and the assassin failed too in melee.

The Vanquisher survived the charging bikes and their shooting – somehow!

On the left the Terminators moved up and killed both Bombasts and one Malleus.

Cadians – Turn 3

It was all over by now, the fun list of the Guard could not compete against the pure power of the Custodes.

I did removed the banner guy by leaping in my Cadian Shock Troopers with the Barbicant’s Key and sniping him after the Culexus fell back.

Custodes – Turn 3

Move death for the Cadians…

Summary

OK, the Banehammer or any *hammer Super Heavy is a poor choice in a 2,000-point game vs Custodes. But, Emperor, please, this is just no good.

I hope Games Workshop addresses this sort of thing in the future; a 450+ point model should be better at shooting. I know it’s my own fault for taking this sack of crap model in the first place.

But it definitely feels like 9th Edition is no longer fun. My game was fun, thanks again Henry – but only because of who I was playing and it was all a laugh. The list I thought out and took did not make it fun though – which is a shame because an army should be fun to create and use in a game and not feel worthless and ineffective.

There are about two Guard lists that are worth taking and standing a chance with. And if you do not bring those lists then the game is lost. You cannot max the easier secondaries and you cannot hope to put down anything like the sort of firepower needed to survive past turn two.

The openness that 10th seems to promise, I do welcome. I just hope that the openness allows for varied lists and that the new Detachments within a Codex are varied and worth taking. There should not be one auto take Detachment and all the rest be toilet – although I strongly expect this to be the case with said worthwhile Detachment containing Rogal Dorns, Sentinels and Kasrkin… 🥱

Final Score

Astra Militarum – 36
Custodes – 92

Custodes Victory