The Golden Legion

  Here it is, my entire Adeptus Custodes army, fully painted.  As I noted before, I planned on having the entire force painted in a week and it took me three (with many distractions).  It was an easy paint plan that was very effective, and I blame this on GW.  My skills are trained but the models do most of the work in this case.  I love these Custodes...

  The entire 2000 point force is only 25 models.  This includes four characters and six bikers, and includes every unique unit in the codex including the only named character they have.  Not only do I accomplish my goal of a fully painted army, but I also accomplish my preference of showing off a little of everything from an army (too many years of painting display case armies, I suppose).  

  It's also a cheaper army to build and paint.  This army is one blister of Trajann, two boxes of Custodian Guard, one box of Wardens, two boxes of Allarus Terminators, and two boxes of Vertas Praetors.  Money-wise, that's only $500 with taxes!  And we know that GW armies aren't typically that... affordable.  

 
  For the paints, it was only 17 colors, plus three if you count the flesh-tones that I had to sneak in there.  Including the two spray-paints (the cheap primer and the GW gold) and the basing materials, the hobby supplies come out to around $140.  Luckily, most of us wargamers have gobs of paints and other hobby materials already.  Three weeks of work and only a few c-bills to get a super-elite, good-looking army ready for the tabletop?  I'd say this project was a victory, despite the schedule creep. 

  But none of this really matters without the part that everyone really cares about, right?  That's right- the army list.  Those previous posts already explained the rules for each of the units, so now it's just a matter of sharing the whole thing put together. 

The army list
Custodes Battalion Detachment
-Captain-General Trajann Valoris 185 pts
-Shield-Captain with Castellan Axe and Misericordia  118pts
-three Custodian Guard with Guardian Spears 156 pts
-three Custodian Guard with Guardian Spears 156 pts
-three Custodian Guard with Guardian Spears 156 pts
-three Vertus Praetors with one Salvo Launcher 275 pts
-three Vertus Praetors with one Salvo Launcher 275 pts
Custodes Vanguard Detachment
-Shield-captain with Castellan Axe in Allarus Terminator armor  124 pts
-three Allarus Custodians with Castellan Axes and Misericordias  249 pts
-three Custodian Wardens with Castellan Axes and Misericordias  183 pts
-Vexillus Praetor with Guardian Spear and Vexillan Magnifica  122 pts
  Total 1999 pts, 10 Command Points

The concept
  Well, I already mentioned that I like to include a little of everything from a codex.  This allows for the player to 'test out' certain units and get a feel if they want to buy them.  Plus, I can't tell you the number of times that we'd have an argument about which unit could stomp which unit, resulting in pulling models from the display cabinets and handfuls of dice... 
 
  But I really did think this through as I was lucky enough to have an entire army but no more.  The Vertus Praetors are the best unit in the army and often allied with other Imperial forces to take advantage of their potency.  So they were obviously the first unit that I had to double up.  One of the models is built with a bare head, giving me the option to also play that one as a Shield-captain on Dawneagle Jetbike and still having a sizable unit of bikers still to use.  Two of the models between the two units have Salvo Launchers, which I think will be really useful for popping Flyers and those monstrous targets with a lot of wounds.  And if I don't have the points (which I thought I didn't but then remembered math), it's easy to explain them away as Hurricane Bolters...

  The next unit I thought about picking up multiples of was Terminators.  I'm a HUGE Terminator fan and have multiple units for every army that can, including a Deathwing army and half the Ultramarines' First Company.  While they may not be very popular in the meta, Terminators have a role to play in this army as both deep-striking-objective claimers and bringers of the horde tar-pit (between grenade launchers and a ton of attacks, they can hold other units up for a while!).  More than anything, I just love Terminators and this army is no different. 

  The Custodian Guard were the hardest part as a) I only had two boxes worth between the Talons of the Emperor box and the Prospero HH game set, and b) they may be three-man-minimums, but I'm always a fan of at least five.  As it turns out, the points worked out the conundrum for me and led me to the MSU style that my army uses and the codex encourages.  Remember that a single box of Guardians makes a three-man squad, a captain, and a Vexilla-bearer.  And nine T5, 2+ wounds isn't bad for just over 150 points...

  The characters were obvious.  Everyone says that the Vexilla Magnifica is the go-to because this army needs all the help avoiding getting shot off the table it can get.  If the standard-bearer is allied with an Imperial force, then the banner can be 'upgraded' tot he Vexilla Imperialis, which gives a 5+ invulnerable save to Imperials within 9".  Not bad, but not necessary in a Custodes army as everyone has a 5++ already (and a 4++ in an all-Custodes detachment!).  I went with captains on foot because they were cheaper and gave out the rerolls to the units that needed them most- the infantry.  But including Trajann Valoris was the "cherry on top".  I already love using Lord Calgar in my Ultramarines (despite my decades of anti-special character rants) and it makes sense to keep that theme going.  Plus, he's just really, really good. 

  That's it!  My rationale for the army is mostly based on wanting variety and having the cool stuff in there.  The first battle is going to be against Death Guard and that should be really interesting.  I think that I will be destroyed utterly because the army isn't really... substantial.  But we'll see in an upcoming post!

Let me know what you've been working on while patiently waiting for me to catch up.  This is the end of the first quarter of the year and I finished my first of four painted armies.  On track so far...

Happy Hobbying!

Now for the shiny heroes

  All told, it took about three weeks to get my whole army painted, spread out very liberally.  I would say I probably spent about 12-18 hours each week painting and was able to complete 25 models with a simple scheme and unified plan.  I've posted about the other units, so now it's time to show off the characters that got their chunks of time.

Vexillus Praetor
  This model is the 'standard bearer' of the army.  There's a couple of options and each of them have fantastic benefits as army standards.  I chose the most expensive and, I think, the most useful one, but I'll talk about that in the unit rules.  Painting the model was easy, with the least fun part being the weapon.  However, I put a little more effort (at least the minimum required, unlike the rest of the army) and got the weapon haft looking pretty good, as you can see.  Oh, and I actually painted him at the same time as I painted the Custodian Guard.

 

  Now let's talk about the rules.  For just over 140 points, you get a model with

• 5 wounds at T5 and a 2+/5++ save
• 4 attacks at S6, -3 AP, and D3 damage, hitting on 2+
• the Vexilla Magnifica, giving a -1 to hit for enemies targeting Custodes within 6"

  Imagine  how useful that can be in an elite army with very few models already.  Plus, that gets those plasma-wielding fanatics second-guessing their strategy suddenly while the Custodes casually stroll forward.  

Shield-Captain in Terminator Armor

  I painted this model at the same time as the Allarus Terminators and found it actually easier as he didn't have any shoulder boards to paint and the gems were almost nonexistent.  That allowed me to concentrate on those different details, including the face.  Remember that I'm trying to maintain an easy color scheme and quick process, so those esoteric details like faces require a detour that I'm not trying to take forever with.  In this captain's case, I enjoyed adding teeth to him real quick before the wash.  I could have obviously spent more time, but I'm going for quick and it still looks good.  Almost... cartoony with the clenched teeth!

Remember when I mentioned the details on the cloak for the Allarus champion?  Since this guy is the captain, I actually painted those.  But again, in the interest of quickness I just slapped some Retributor Gold on the details and let it go.  Sometimes quick is the answer!  

Rules-time!  For just over 120 points, this model comes with

• 7 wounds at T5 with a 2+/5++ save
• 5 attacks, hitting on 2's, at S8, -3 AP, and D3 damage
• shooting D3 shots with an assault grenade launcher at -3 AP, hitting on 2's
• the ability to Teleport into battle and threaten from up close
• and this one is important- rerolling 1's to hit for any Custodes within 6"!

  Because an army that hits on 2's needs to reroll 1's, right?  Plus, he can be given a Misericordia to get that extra attack, and there's a relic for that grenade launcher that turns it into a S10 weapon.  Hmmm...

Shield-Captain

  This model was part of the batch of Wardens and was just as enjoyable to paint as the rest of them.  The big differences were in the placement of the gems and the addition of the cape over the skirt.  Painting all that red wasn't exactly enjoyable and probably took over an hour just for this model (three watered-down coats over all those little folds requires a few layers of each color to get smooth).  But once the red was complete, the rest of the model was as easy as it looks. 

  The face also gave a little bit of some trouble as I chose to paint the Bugman's Glow basecoat rather than Cadian Fleshtone.  Starting from a darker shade makes blending a little bit more difficult, and this is a lesson I should have learned from the Vertus Praetors.  I'm more focused on speed than perfection, so those lessons aren't going to stick.  And both models came out looking fine, even if it took a bit more work than I wanted to dedicate to such unique parts...

Rules wise, almost 120 points will get you a model with

• 6 wounds at T5 and a 2+/5++ save
• 5 attacks, hitting on 2's, at S8, -3AP, and D3 damage
• an additional attack from that deadly dagger, the Misericordia
• and just like the captain above- rerolling 1's to hit for any Custodes within 6"

  Because more rerolling 1's in this army that hits on 2's!?  Imperial forces like their rerolls, so I think that's a pretty strong decision going with more...

Captain-General Trajann Valoris

  Speaking of more rerolls, I wanted to showcase the big guy himself.  Trajann is almost the same rank as the Lord Commander himself and is above all other Imperial warlords, so he deserves a little more attention than the rest of the army.  Note that the paint plan that I've been using so far is heavily amended for this guy.  

  The most obvious change is that I wanted his robes to represent his position as basically a High Lord with some Roman-looking robes and the movies always show them in white.  White robes it is!  That wasn't fun (white rarely is) and the fact that I fully asssembled the model before painting it didn't help either.  But it came out with the effect I was looking for and the color definitely makes the model stand out.  The aquila on the back of the cloak isn't yet painted because I'm not sure what I want to do.  I thought about gold again, but my kids think that it would look good in red, and there are other options as well.  So right now it just looks like old leather or something.  

  A couple of weird details that required some attention on this model- the feather and the lion's head.  I've painted plenty of feathers for Empire (now 'Free Peoples' in AoS), but not like these.  And I've never painted a lion before- I even avoided doing White Lions for my High Elf army!  I was very worried about how to pull these off.  Luckily, the codex has pictures and that gave me the guidance to pull it off (even if I didn't have the right colors).  

  Finally, the weapon was pretty much painted the same as the rest of the army.  But the giant eagle motif on the end required some extra love.  Unfortunately, the camera didn't pick up all the subtleties.  When sitting in the rest of the army, the white robes and the bright gold of his axe make Trajann very conspicuous.  Otherwise, there can always be more detail and work done, but I was still going for quick even if I'm changing the plan a bit...

  Now for the rules on this guy- he's a beast!  For the small price of 185 points, you get the HQ choice for this army with

• 7 wounds at T5 with a 2+ save and a 3+ invulnerable save
• 5 attacks, hitting on 2's, at S10, -3 AP, and D3 damage
• and additional attack with that Misericordia
• a rapid fire shooting attack, hitting on 2's, at S5, -1 AP, and 2 damage
• once per game ability to heal, attack again, or recover command points
• and even more important than that ability- rerolling 1's to hit AND to wound for Custodes within 6"

  Oh yes, more rerolls indeed!  Plus he has the Warlord Trait that gives nearby Custodes the Heroic Intervention rule.  He may be the guardian of the entire Solar Segmuntum defenses, but he also likes to get out there and scrap a bit.  Trajann!

  Finally!!!  The Custodes army has been painted and showcased.  There is one more post coming that shows off the whole army and gives the army list.  Stay tuned in for more!

They're not here to clean up...

  Finally for the units that actually make up the majority of the army- the Custodian Guard!  I am using three 3-man units, but I'm not going to give a different post to each one.  This is both because I've been done painting the army for almost two weeks and need to catch up, and because I'm just not creative enough to make the same material new three times.

  Anywho, back to the matter at hand.  As you should know if you've been keeping up, I've been using a very simple paint scheme to paint up an army of Adeptus Custodes.  Fore more information on how to copy that scheme, be sure to visit this post.  Otherwise, this force is about two-thirds of the way done and this post is to get it even closer.

  It should be noted that none of these units are marked in any way.  The fluff describes them all as champions and the Adeptus Custodes army overall having very little strict organization.  Warriors fight with warriors when and where they want to, so everyone basically becomes 'interchangeable'.  Admittedly, this makes painting them much easier...

  All of these models were painted at the same time and took me a bit more than 12 hours to do over a couple of days.  As has been the theme, I hate highlighting the weapon hafts and love painting the blades.  Noticeably, these models had such a random number of gems on them.  There was no rhyme or reason, which shows off that individuality that the Custodes are all about.  

Custodian Guard

  These are the paragons of Imperial warriors.  Centuries of experience and the most important assignments of all, they are easily the match of a squad of Astartes and nearly perfect in every way.  Their armor and weapons are clearly superior and, once released from the Imperial Palace, the warriors wielding them strike fear into any they've targeted.  

  For just 160 points, this squad has three models with 

• Three wounds at T5 with a 2+/5++ save
• Three attacks at S6, -3 AP, and D3 damage
• the typical Custodes shooting attack, which is basically a master-crafted bolter
• and even a 6+ 'ward' save against mortal wounds in the Psychic Phase

  This is TROOPS for this army.  While the disrespectable hordes have become the fashion of the meta currently, Custodian Guard are amazing and should be the envy of any army's troops.  

  Just one more post to show off the characters in the army.  Whew!