Warhammer 40K: Combat Patrol - Adeptus Custodes Point Breakdown and Next Steps (2024)

Warhammer 40k

It’s time to take a closer look at the Emperor’s Golden Boys (and Gals) from their Combat Patrol to see where to go next.

When Games Workshop released all the points as a free update we got to thinking — how do the previous Combat Patrols stack-up? In this series we’re going to revisit the older Combat Patrols, breakdown their points, and talk about where to build from that box. For previous breakdowns check the bottom of this article.

Today, we’re taking a quick look at a short army list. It’s the Adeptus Custodes time under the microscope. Let’s grow this Combat Patrol from the box to 2000 points.

Adeptus Custodes Point Breakdown

Combat Patrol: Adeptus Custodes

1x Shield Captain = 105 points + Wargear
1x Vexilius Praetor = 105 points
3x Custodian Guard = 135 points + Wargear
3x Vertus Praetors = 240 points + Wargear
10x Sisters of Silence Prosecutors = 120 points

Points Total: 705 + Wargear

If you’re keeping track at home this is actually one of the most expensive Combat Patrol boxes, pointswise. Clocking in at a whopping 705 points before we add any wargear is kind of impressive. Expanding this army out to 2000 points isn’t going to be too difficult, either. Why? Because the Adeptus Custodes are a very elite army. I mean that in all the ways that it implies. Each model is a hero in their own right and they are individually strong and tough. Unfortunately, taking losses is going to really hamper them as each slain model is a drop in damage output. Except for the Sisters of Silence…more on that below.

So where do we go from here? In my initial assessment of this box, at the time, I wasn’t a fan of the Sisters of Silence. I think they could be a neat army option if you went heavy into that theme. But this box…well, splashing a small unit or two of them is kind of not the best. So what now?

Well, as we’ve done with previous Combat Patrols, we want to look at a theme. But this Combat Patrol is really a grab bag of very general units because…well, the army list of the Custodes is relatively small. So even if we’re 700 points in the hole, we don’t really have a theme yet. So let’s pick one. And we’re going to re-work the prescribed units in the box to end up with a more functional list. You’ll thank me later.

Adeptus Custodes Point Breakdown v2

1x Vexilius Praetor = 105 points
4x Custodian Guard = 180 points + Wargear
3x Vertus Praetors = 240 points + Wargear

Points Total: 525 + Wargear

Cool models, just not good for the theme we are running.

Hey…where’d the Sisters of Silence go? I took them out of the list. “But I thought this was a Combat Patrol Next Steps. You can’t do that!” Well, I just did. We’ll need the points and it’s going to be a better overall list. Besides, I’m making the rules up for these Combat Patrol lists as I go and I’m confident that if you really want to add them in later, you can. For now let’s just move on.

We also dropped the Shield-Captain. Again, we need the points. What are we going to replace him with? We’re going to put him on a Dawneagle Jetbike. Because those things are too good.

There is a slight problem here. The Dawneagle Captain doesn’t really have his own kit. You’ll need to buy a box of 3. But you can roll those two extras into the unit of 3 from above for a unit of 5. Or you can do what I would do which is to buy a third box and split them into two units of 4. So what are we looking at points wise now with a Dawneagle Captain and 5 more Vertus Praetors?

Shield-Captain on Dawneagle Jetbike = 160 + Wargear

Vertus Praetors (5) = 400 + Wargear

That brings our total up to 1085. We now have two flying bricks of Vetrus Praetors with a Captain that can keep up.

Now, unless you want to dip into some Forge World goodies, we’re still limited on options. We still need some back-line units to hold objectives and we probably need some more firepower, too. The beauty of the Custodes is that you can get some pretty small squads and still have them be effective. Let’s snag a couple boxes of Custodian Guard. With 10 more models, we can split that into 3 squads if needed. That should fill out our backline and objective holders with the 4 we already have.

Points wise, each model is clocking in a 45 points. For 10, that’s 450 points + wargear. Oof. But we’ve got 14 models to work with here. So let’s break that into 4 units of 3. Yeah, I know 2 are left out — that’s why we’re list building BEFORE we build the army…right? Reworking the math, we’re at 540 points worth of Troops + wargear. Army-wise, we’re now at 1445. Sorry for the jumble of math. Don’t worry this will all make sense soon.

I think we need a little bit more unit diversity so let’s add in some Custodian Wardens. These guys are tough and hit like a truck. A unit of 5 will run us 250 points. But that’s yet another brick on foot. At this point, we’ve got a little more to go since we’re at 1695 + wargear. We could go with those other beefy dudes on foot, the Allarus Custodians. At 60 points each, that’s a unit of 3 for 180 points. Or a full squad of 6 for 360 — but that would put us over, so we’d probably have a weird unit number.

However, I’m just a sucker for those damn jetbikes. And we need a few points for wargear still. So I’m scrapping that and we’re just gonna add 3 more Vertus Praetors because having 3 bricks is better than 2 bricks. That’s 3 for 240 points and that puts us at 1935 + wargear.

The List

1x Shield-Captain on Dawneagle Jetbike

1x Vexilius Praetor

4x Vertus Praetors
4x Vertus Praetors
3x Vertus Praetors

3x Custodian Guard
3x Custodian Guard
3x Custodian Guard
3x Custodian Guard

Points Total: 1935 + Wargear

It’s not the most exciting army list out there, I know. But the Custodes army is still kind of limited. Unless you want to dip into Forge World options…which that’s a whole OTHER set of things to worry about. While this list is very Goatboy, it’s still rock solid and pretty easy to play. Relatively speaking. If you wanted to spice things up you could look at dropping a Jetbike or two, or even a Squad of Custodian Guard for a Trajann Valoris and some of the Allarus Custodians. It’s really up to you in that department. And there’s always those Sisters of Silence you could add back in…

For more tips and tricks check out our How to Play Adeptus Custodes in 9th Edition article

Previous Combat Patrol Point Breakdowns And Next Steps

Space Marines

Chaos Space Marines

Genestealer Cults

Necrons

Blood Angels

Aeldari