Ask anyone five years ago if the Adeptus Custodes would ever see the light of day, and you would have received a firm "no". To many, these were legendary figures, the canon Movie Marines which were simply one step below the primarchs themselves. To field even a squad would be to have a force capable of decimating whole armies, and it would have easily fallen prey to the worst aspects of writing tabletop army lore. Plus, let's face it, we have more than a few genetically enhanced power armoured Templar armies to pick from as it is.
Because of this, the addition of the Custodes was always going to be troubling. It needed a skilled hand and a very, very cautious approach to pull them off without taking things too far. This would normally be the point where I say "Unfortunately, this all went wrong" but this is an exception. It's not perfect, and there are certainly a few failings worth citing, but the lore is more or less spot on. In fact, it does an excellent job of creating a level of mystery behind the army while offering longtime fans a few answers we to some very old questions.
The Good
For those who might have somehow missed any past lore surrounding the Adeptus Custodes, here's their role in layman's terms - They're the Ace Custom versions of the Adeptus Astartes. Crafted by the Emperor as a personal guard, each needs to be individually gene-sculped and re-built over a long and painstaking process. While often teamed up as squads they often fight as individuals, teaming up into units and fighting in coordination with one another in various operations.
The codex quickly lays down similar groundwork for any newcomers and makes one thing very clear - These are the elite, and they retain every benefit and weakness of that term. Yet what immediately separates this codex from many previous ones is that it doesn't treat this as filler. It gives a brief synopsis of the force as a whole, but then dives headlong into several pages worth of their recruitment methods, genetic enhancements and builds up a true sense of the mythos.
As an aside, this is the first codex we have looked into for a very long time, so if this has been the rule for a while then my apologies. That said, this is the complete antithesis of the image padding we kept running into with many past books. When it uses a double-page spread it's there to inspire interest and engagement in the reader. Rather than skimming over things or even treating the lore as simple filler, it gives it the same level of attention as the rules.
Now, the idea of using the lore as more than a way to fill out a page count might sound like a minor thing, but you need to really stop and think of some past books. Both ones previously praised on here such as Codex: Tempestus Scions or maligned such as the ill-fated follow-up to the first Codex: Imperial Knights repeatedly tried to use assets to fill out pages rather than properly use them.
Even without getting into the over-abundance of model shots (of which, in here, there are just enough to serve their purpose) past books used things like army variety as an excuse for one big photoshopped image and a small amount of text to dominate its pages. You would have one generic image, then a hundred words or so of basic lore, and that was that, often for a sizable chunk of the book.
Here's one such example of exactly that at work -
Now, for comparison, here's a similar segment from Codex: Adeptus Custodes -
Even if you ignore the content in question, there is an immediate jump in quality when it comes to the presentation. The images are small, it has almost twice the amount of lore, and it utilises flavour text. Rather than focusing on a few key traits or even singular battles, it offers a trio of sources to build up more of a general sense behind each faction of the Custodes. This is true of the entire book, and the overall point is that there's a major effort to make people read and care for the lore. It seems that, with this being their first big-scale release of the army, Games Workshop were pulling out all the stops to get people hooked.
Still, what about the overall content of the tome? What ideas does it present? The big one for starters is the fact that the Custodes are devoted entirely to defending Terra, and that they are exceptionally good at it. While their loyalty to the Emperor himself is paramount, and the Custodes often limit themselves to his throne room, they are not above taking proactive methods to counter possible threats. In fact, their very organization has developed over the centuries to gradually reflect on this and the book does everything it can to convey this point. Rather than simply announcing it, from the very start you are given this impression from their quote of "Ours is the duty absolute. Ours is the vigil that must never end." to the closest thing each of them has to retirement.
While the codex utilises better-known elements such as the infamous blood games to a full-fledged contingency plan surrounding the Phalanx itself, you have many other elements. The details expanded upon with the various shield companies is a particularly obvious one, allowing there to be individual detachments of Custodes despite their unified identity, is a big one.
With elements such as the Solar Watch devoting themselves to the outlying star fortresses and waypoints surrounding Terra, the lore itself provides a cohesive image of just how truly bound to duty they are. Furthermore, many others such as the basic unit descriptions always push to add in minor details relating to rapid responses and beheading a threat through rapid assaults. Again, Ace Custom Astartes comes to mind. This is told as much through implication as instances in question, but that makes it all the more effective. It works to build up a sense of reputation surrounding the force and offers inspiration for players to build upon their ideas following a certain theme. Or to subvert it in the right way.
However, in a rare break from the old problems suffered in past works, the timeline itself has been extended. While admittedly weighted toward the end of the timeline and with M32-40 largely skimmed over, it devotes four pages to citing major engagements in their histories. This is used to establish their activities in each era, how to write them into past campaigns while emphasising their duty under Guilliman's new rule. This is important for two reasons, as it both better cements them as part of the larger universe and as a very old part of the setting, but also to offer players more opportunities to craft their own forces. That and, to be blunt, to give them a sense of history beyond Terra itself.
Finally, the book takes a considerable amount of time to detail the impact of Guilliman's return. Rather than simply convincing them to join with him, their active role and the changes within the galaxy had far-reaching consequences. For example, it took a direct frontal assault on the Imperial Palace and Guilliman's word to finally allow them to move out in force. Before even this their current leader was gradually militarising the force and pushing them over several hundred years into a more active role, and the sudden appearance of the Imperium Nihilus. This has proven to be both better and worse for them, creating all sorts of victories, plot hooks and new problems to explore.
While the codex notes that the Custodes rarely lose their battles thus far, it is considered an act of heresy to record a true defeat. This has caused as many problems as it has benefits for the Imperial propaganda machine, both in following strategic plans and learning from their mistakes. Equally the duty of one faction, the Shadowkeepers, was thrown into disarray as their effort to safeguard many hidden items and lost secrets was all but shattered by the appearance of the Imperium Nihilus itself. This is without even getting into things like the possibility of Dark Eldar having abducted members of their order in a recent raid, or a contingent moving to find a lost forge world to recover secrets vital to the Golden Throne. It not only shows flaws without making them crippling ones, but places a key emphasis on the future without betraying a sense of legacy. That last one is especially important, as it re-writes a major idea which had previously been seemingly forgotten, but instead pushes it into a possible story for a new era.
The Bad
Much of what has been stated thus far has been extremely praiseworthy, and yet there are more than a few problems with this book. Perhaps the greatest among these is how it sadly squanders a few opportunities surrounding their role. Above all other forces within the Imperium, the Custodes have the benefit of being located on Terra. So, you would expect that a little more might be learned about the overall world. You'd be out of luck unfortunately there. What little we do get mostly covers ideas previously seen or relates only to past source materials rather than trying to expand upon them. While it is understandable that this wouldn't be a key focus of the book, the fact we have nothing at all to show for it is quite disappointing on the whole.
Another definite problem is how the book utilises the Custodes' age. Now, it refers back to how they are strongly rooted in the Great Crusade and even that their members are functionally immortal. Both of which open up many story opportunities and ideas for future tales. However, it doesn't do enough to make them seem like a relic of a past age. Many of the semi-Greek labels and narratives here were abandoned in favour of the typical faux Latin we see in these books, which prevents them from standing out that much more. Admittedly, it doesn't help that some of the new words are a bit eyebrow raising to read. I mean, really, "auramite plating"?
In addition to this, little is truly made of the difficulties in maintaining their equipment, numbers or effectiveness following the technological degeneration of the Imperium. Their access to jetbikes, Contemptor dreadnoughts and the like is treated with too much ease, rather than being some famed item, the secrets of which have been lost to time. If you were to compare this with the Emperor's Children from the Dornian Heresy fan-project, it's evident that the latter does a better job in covering this sort of angle. A large chunk of that work was put into the problems of maintaining old wargear, their numbers with stringent recruitment standards and even the problems of attrition. Little is truly made of that here, and if it had it would have helped to give them a greater sense of being part of the Emperor's legacy.More infuriatingly still, quite a few basic bits of equipment do little to truly separate the Custodes from the typical space marines. While I joked a few times about them being simply an upgraded version of the typical astartes, they needed more than that to help them stand out. The old "lions and wolves" comparison could have led to so many ideas, points and concepts to work from, even in terms of how the same wargear was utilised by each army. Perhaps even simply one or two extra special rules could have been enough to help this along, but without it more than a few unit descriptions simply read like a space marine under a new name.
However, perhaps the most notable problem overall is how it very closely skirts a few very negative army tropes on here. As in Fifth Edition Codex: Grey Knights tropes. While the element of flaws and problems is present, as cited above, there's never an outright loss or forced retreat by the Custodes. The closest they come to this is an extremely pyrrhic victory, but even then they emerge victorious. Furthermore, a massive amount of hype is put behind their sole named character, Trajan Valoris, who slides very close to being the perfect general with no shortcomings. This is to the point where he's implied to be one of the single most effective leaders they have ever recruited, and can outstrip most lesser mortals on the battlefield.
The only thing which stops this completely taking the book is the army this covers. The Custodes have such a legendary reputation to uphold that anything less than this might have seemed like a letdown after so much time. Furthermore, it never has them pull off Draigo class acts of setting the entire Warp on fire or punching out Khorne personally, it just never features them outright losing a battle. While they don't need to be slapped about by new groups or be turned into the Worf of 40,000, it needed more to so that they can be beaten one way or another.
Finally, it would have been good to see more of their internal culture in a few ways. Legends, histories, or even personal mythos to help them seem more like a long-standing force of sorts. While what we get does make it clear that duty to the Throne is prized above all others, beyond constant practice training and the mention that entire guilds of artisans exist within their spires to craft new weapons, there's little to mention of how they interact with one another. Nothing to help give them individually a bit more character or even a better concept of how to depict them as personalities. This might sound odd, but consider how you can usually pick out the oldest and best defined 40,000 factions and immediately have characteristic tropes come to mind. Orks, Eldar, and even Necron Dynasties all have something to work with an individual sense, but the Custodes of this book seem to have an odd blind spot. As if, in an effort to build up the army, they forgot to give a bit more substance to the people who make it up.
The Art
Bloody brilliant. Really, this is another great example of how to do things right, with vast numbers of new pieces and even the old ones are placed in the right areas. For example, elements lifted from the Collected Visions works are used primarily in the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy sections, while the newer elements are shown in glorious splash pages to reserved to the greatest effect about flavour text lifted from battle scenes. Honestly, it perfectly executes the use of old and new concept art to their fullest extent.
The Verdict
It should be clear from the points above that this is a fantastic codex for lore. While its problems are evident and there are certainly a fair number of issues which could have easily been improved on, it's leaps and bounds above books of the past two Editions. The writers managed to treat a very narrow line between loyalty to the old concept while working toward something new, and giving them a greater identity while sustaining a sense of mystery. Given how easily that could have gone wrong, it's very difficult to truly hold its problems against it.
Even if you're not planning on starting up this army: Codex: Adeptus Custodes is one I would still point to as a guideline on how to do a faction justice. Everything from its basic page structure to emphasis on narrative hooks is expertly handled, and there are only a few codices which truly surpass it.
In two days time we will delve into the rules, so join us then to see how well this stands up to scrutiny on the tabletop.
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