Detachment Focus: Auric Champions

In our Detachment Focus series we take a detailed look at the game's Detachments - how they work, what to know about playing them, and successful lists using that Detachment. In this article we're looking at the Auric Champions Detachment for the Adeptus Custodes.

The rather controversial launch of Codex: Adeptus Custodes came with four Detachments and a lot of hurt feelings over the changes to the faction's rules. In the time since, the faction has seen a series of tweaks and improvements that have brought it back to some level of decent. The Auric Champions Detachment is the option focused on bringing character units, and lots of them.

Detachment Overview

If you wanted to bring an army of just characters, well... Lions of the Emperor is probably the right Detachment for you. If you didn't want to run that for some reason then hey, this might work. The Detachment rule benefits characters and the Stratagems only work on Character units. That doesn't mean you necessarily want to run a lot of single model character units, but it does mean that you want to build around having characters attached to all of your key units so you can get the full benefit. And the Stratagems on offer here do mostly just buff character models and not their attached units, so you're really focusing hard on those characters.

Detachment Rule: Assemblage of Might

At the start of your Command phase, pick a unit form your opponent's army. Until the start of your next Command phase, your ADEPTUS CUSTODES CHARACTER units get +1 to Wound on their attacks against that unit.

This is primarily going to help your units punch up into bigger targets where you might otherwise struggle to push wounds through against vehicles even in melee with Castellan Axes and Spears. Going to 4+ to wound suddenly changes the math on your Ka'tahs, letting you opt for SUSTAINED HITS 1 instead of being required to take LETHAL HITS and means that you can focus down bigger threats than before. Caladius tanks provide great shooting but it can be tough to finish off big targets in melee if they manage to survive that salvo. This is an area where the conversation about spear vs. axe becomes more interesting when spears can wound the same targets on a 2+ and punch up into more durable targets with the same 4+ to wound only with an extra attack at AP-2 and only 2 damage. For what it's worth, the Spear gives you more expected damage against targets where you're wounding on a 4+.

On its own is otherwise just a generically solid always-on ability to have, but it's not going to help you nearly as much when you're going into hordes or armies with T4 or less, so in some matchups it isn't doing anything for you. And it's just not as good as what you get in Lions of the Emperor, which will be a recurring theme with this Detachment.

Blade Champion. Credit: Pendulin

Enhancements

None of the Enhancements here are terrible exciting, though Veiled Blade gives you a solid number of attacks and the extra OC once per game can be helpful for flipping an objective and denying an opponent points. This and Martial Philosopher are the only ones you really want to make sure you take in this lot.

Blade Imperator [25 pts]– Each time the bearer's unit ends a charge move, pick an enemy unit within Engagement Range and roll a D6; on a 4+ that enemy unit suffers D3 mortal wounds. Once per battle, after the bearer's unit ends a Charge move, you can pick one enemy unit within 6" of the bearer to take a Battle-shock test. 25 points is a lot to spend for a 4+ chance at D3 mortal wounds. Too much, in fact - you can find other, better uses for those points.
Inspirational Exemplar [10 pts] – The bearer has a Leadership characteristic of 5+ and once per battle at the start of any phase you can pick a friendly battle-shocked unit within 12" to stop being Battle-shocked. This is another OK ability. It's cheap but not exciting and your Custodes units won't be battle-shocking often.
Veiled Blade [25pts] – The bearer gets +2 melee attacks. Once per battle at the start of any Command phase you can improve their OC until the end of the turn.
Martial Philosopher [30 pts] – The bearer's unit can fall back and still shoot/charge. One per battle, when an enemy unit ends a Normal, Advance, or Fall Back move within 9" of the bearer, that bearer's unit can make a Normal move of up to 6". This is really handy, especially when you can use it to reactive move onto an objective as your opponent moves closer - something particularly handy on Custodian Guard, who want to be on objectives they control. The ability to Fall back and charge is also really helpful for avoiding tarpit situations, and isn't something you normally have access to.

Trajann Valoris. Credit: Pendulin

Stratagems

The Auric Champions Stratagems only affect CHARACTER units, and one of them – Superhuman Reserves – only affects your WARLORD specifically. That said, several of these only really affect character models in those character units, meaning they work just as well on solo characters and don't really do much for attached units.

Slayer of Champions (Epic Deed, 1 CP) – Used in any phase, right after one of your CHARACTER units destroys a unit you picked as the target of your Assemblage of Might ability. You can pick a new enemy unit on the battlefield to be an Assemblage target. Also, if the unit you just destroyed was a CHARACTER unit, you get 1 CP, making this functionally free if you have the CP to use it. This is really solid for when you need to take down two big things, and the fact that all big knights are Characters makes this even better.
Superhuman Reserves (Epic Deed, 2 CP) – Used in any phase, just after your Warlord uses a once per battle ability on its datasheet or wargear. You can use that ability one additional time this battle, but not in the same phase. You can only use this stratagem once per game. This is very limited but also pretty good, and your primary use for it is either going to be getting off a second use of Moment Shackle on Trajann or a second Advance and Charge off your Blade Champion. That said, you need to make sure you remember to use it because the timing is "right after" and it's easy to use the ability. resolve all your attacks, then remember, at which point dice have already been rolled and you're making a big ask to go back and use it. On top of that, 2 CP for a re-use on an ability locked to only your Warlord is pretty rough. This is good, but expensive, situational, and difficult to remember - I've personally seen many players forget to use it when they needed to, and end up stuck later when they used one of their CP to re-roll something in the attack sequence. And by "I've personally seen" I mean I've seen them do it in Lions of the Emperor, where this ability costs 1 CP and can be used on any Character model.
The Emperor's Auspice (Epic Deed, 1 CP) – Used in your opponent's Shooting phase or the fight phase, after they pick one of your CHARACTER units as a target. For the rest of the phase, CHARACTER models in your unit have a 4+ Feel No Pain ability. It'd be busted if you could do this for a whole unit, but as-is it's incredible protection for a character from a large threat and a great deterrent against [PRECISION] weapons.
Earning of a Name (Epic Deed, 1 CP) – Used in the Fight phase to pick up to two CHARACTER units. For the rest of the phase, the CHARACTER models in those units can re-roll all hit and wound rolls against VEHICLE and MONSTER targets. Another solid buff for converting your golden warriors' attacks against big targets, and it works well with Martial Ka'tahs.
Vigil Unending (Epic Deed, 2 CP) – Used in the Fight phase when a Character model from your army that hasn't fought dies. They fight on death before being removed. The 2 CP guaranteed fight on death is always a good deal, and helpful for punishing melee armies that might otherwise see an opportunity to finish you off.
Shoulder the Mantle (Epic Deed, 1 CP) – Used in your Movement phase, before the Reinforcements step on a CHARACTER model that isn't leading a unit. Your model can pick a friendly unit that isn't attached to a character or battle-shocked within 2" horizontally and 5" vertically - that model joins the unit as its attached Leader. This is pretty out there and only really likely to see use when a character survives his unit's deaths and joins another unit that never had one. Very, very situational.

Custodes Tribune Ixion Hale. Credit: Jack Hunter

Playing This Detachment

This is a rough one - this Detachment really seems to want to push you toward taking lots of characters and in smaller units, but doesn't offer you the kind of power you'd want to see form a Detachment pushing you that hard toward a specific way to build. The majority of the value you're going to get here is going to come from getting +1 to wound against big threats with Guardian Spears, where you can punch up as effectively without having to eat the hit to AP that normally comes from taking Axes. That said, in the current meta you may still want 3-damage swings available for going into heavy infantry.

Because your shooting on CHARACTER-led units is just mediocre, this Detachment tends to push toward a melee-first strategy, and Blade Champions and Allarus Shield-Captains are both very solid build-around units here. Vaultswords in particular get a lot of value out of +1 to wound, especially in Victus mode where you're throwing out S6 attacks at AP-3, 3 damage. This is also an area where you can opt for spears over axes thanks to that +1 to wound, as you'll be getting more value out of spears against everything except units which are T7-9, and there aren't enough of those to really sweat the difference.

In terms of solo characters, your best bet there is going to be the Allarus Terminator Shield-Captain, where the ability can drop incoming damage to 1 for a phase and pair that with the Emperor's Auspice Stratagem to essentially make yourself invincible for a phase (and for 0 CP, thanks to their Strategic Mastery ability). The Shield-Captain also makes a good pick for Veiled Blade, as going to 9 attacks with the Guardian Spear and 3 OC can be very relevant.

Strengths

Characters. Your Characters get a few cool tricks here, such as guaranteed fight on death and the ability to re-use once-per-game abilities.
Offense. That +1 to wound against your chosen target is a solid deal for your character units, and helps them punch up into big threats.

Weaknesses

Character-locked. Too many abilities here are only for characters, and even then, only character models, and not character units. That's very limiting.
Shooting. That +1 to wound against a chosen target does a lot more work in melee, and with nothing for your Caladius tanks, shooting big threats is going to feel rough.
Way Outclassed. There just isn't that much value here, especially compared to other Detachments. Everything this Detachment does is already done better by Lions of the Emperor.

Shield-Captain on Dawneagle Jetbike. Credit: Pendulin

A Sample List

This isn't a very powerful Detachment and as a result we haven't seen very many powerful lists running it - almost any list you can build here will be better in another Detachment and Lions of the Emperor is your real go-to for this same kind of value, where you get +1 to Hit and Wound just for being away from other units. That said, some of the same combos apply - Blade Champions with Wardens are always good, and the Caladius remains a must-take. The big difference in builds is going to be that you're taking spears over axes, with the expectation that +1 to wound will carry you against big threats and drive more value in the long run.

Sample List - Click to Expnad

Auric Sample List (1995 points)

Adeptus Custodes Strike Force (2000 points) Auric Champions

CHARACTERS

Blade Champion (150 points) • Warlord • 1x Vaultswords • Enhancement: Martial Philosopher

Blade Champion (130 points) • 1x Vaultswords • Enhancement: Inspirational Exemplar

Shield-Captain in Allarus Terminator Armour (155 points) • 1x Balistus grenade launcher 1x Guardian spear • Enhancement: Veiled Blade

Shield-Captain in Allarus Terminator Armour (130 points) • 1x Balistus grenade launcher 1x Guardian spear

Shield-Captain on Dawneagle Jetbike (150 points) • 1x Interceptor lance 1x Salvo launcher

BATTLELINE

Custodian Guard (150 points) • 4x Custodian Guard • 4x Guardian spear

OTHER DATASHEETS

Caladius Grav-tank (215 points) • 1x Armoured hull 1x Twin iliastus accelerator cannon 1x Twin lastrum bolt cannon

Caladius Grav-tank (215 points) • 1x Armoured hull 1x Twin iliastus accelerator cannon 1x Twin lastrum bolt cannon

Custodian Wardens (210 points) • 4x Custodian Warden • 4x Guardian spear

Custodian Wardens (210 points) • 4x Custodian Warden • 4x Guardian spear

Prosecutors (40 points) • 1x Prosecutor Sister Superior • 1x Boltgun 1x Close combat weapon • 3x Prosecutor • 3x Boltgun 3x Close combat weapon

Witchseekers (45 points) • 1x Witchseeker Sister Superior • 1x Close combat weapon 1x Witchseeker flamer • 3x Witchseeker • 3x Close combat weapon 3x Witchseeker flamer

ALLIED UNITS

Callidus Assassin (100 points) • 1x Neural shredder 1x Phase sword and poison blades

Inquisitor Draxus (95 points) • 1x Dirgesinger 1x Power fist 1x Psychic Tempest

Exported with App Version: v1.46.2 (108), Data Version: v732

A lot of the pieces are recognizable here - there are two units of Blade Champion Warden, a Draxus to attach to another unit, and three solo characters - two Allarus Shield-Captains and a Dawneagle Captain. These are your mobile/deep threats while the Caladius Tanks help soften up big targets and control the board.

Final Thoughts

This is a tough Detachment to love. On the surface the idea is solid - give characters a lot of support and encourage running them solo - but there isn't a enough value being added to those units to justify taking this. You'd really want to see something like making the "re-use a once per game ability" be usable on more than just your Warlord here, and the lack of support for led units really makes it feel like this Detachment forces you to do too much with too little - and you can already get better buffs in Lions of the Emperor for spreading out with single-character units and re-using your once per battle abilities.

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