This week’s Grown Men Playing With Toys’ Battle Report features the Chaos Space Marines Huron’s Marauders against the Adeptus Custodes Might of the Moritoi and Shield Host. As backdrop for the game….
Huron Blackheart does not believe in standing still. The Tyrant of Badab built his Red Corsairs around a simple, brutal philosophy: hit before the enemy is ready, hit again before they recover, and never give them a stationary target to shoot back at. His marauders don’t hold ground so much as flow through it, falling back one moment and charging full-tilt the next. Huron’s watching eye only makes it worse. His warriors fight harder the moment they know he’s looking and a warband already built for relentless motion becomes something closer to an avalanche when it’s afraid of disappointing him. This is a Force that doesn’t ask whether it can be stopped. It assumes the question is irrelevant.
The Adeptus Custodes have never needed to ask that question either….just from the opposite direction. They plant themselves on the ground that matters most and dare the galaxy to find a way through. Auramite-clad and centuries-patient, these are warriors built to absorb the worst an enemy can throw because they will still be standing at the end of it.
So the battlefield becomes exactly what the mission names promise: an Unstoppable Force meeting an Immovable Object, with neither side inclined to believe the cliché applies to them. One army is betting that momentum and aggression can find the gap in any wall. The other is betting there is no gap and never will be.
They said we’re too old, but we said “hold our dice”…..as we find out whether Huron’s ceaseless aggression can crack open a wall of golden Custodian shields or whether the galaxy has finally found something that truly, literally, cannot be moved….
JUMP TO:
Chaos Space Marines Specific Strategies
Adeptus Custodes Specific Strategies
RULES / POINTS VERSION:
11th Edition, 2026-2027 Chapter Approved
August 2026 Balance and MFM Update
MATCHUP:
| Faction: | Detachment: | Force Disposition: |
| Chaos Space Marines | Huron’s Marauders | Purge the Foe |
| VS | ||
| Faction: | Detachment: | Force Disposition: |
| Adeptus Custodes | Might of the Moritoi and Shield Host | Take and Hold |
MISSION:
| Category | Description |
| Chaos Space Marines Primary | Unstoppable Force |
| Adeptus Custodes Primary | Immovable Object |
| Terrain Layout | Layout B |
| Deployed First | Chaos Space Marines |
| First Turn | Chaos Space Marines |
| Chaos Space Marines Secondaries | Tactical |
| Adeptus Custodes Secondaries | Tactical |
LISTS:
Chaos Space Marines:
List
Chaos Space Marines
Huron’s Marauders (3 Detachment Points)
Purge the Foe
Strike Force (2,000 Points)
ATTACHED UNITS
Attached unit 1
Huron Blackheart (130 Points)
• Attached as: Leader (Character)
• Warlord
• 1x Tyrant’s Claw and exalted power weapon
• 1x Tyrant’s Claw heavy flamer
Masters of the Maelstrom (145 Points)
• Attached as: Support
• 1x Garreon the Corpsemaster
◦ 1x Absolvor bolt pistol
◦ 1x Reductor array
• 1x Garlon Souleater
◦ 1x Force stave
◦ 1x Mind Wrench
• 1x Katar Garrix
◦ 1x Axe of Ending
◦ 1x Bolt pistol
• 1x Captain Sargotta
◦ 1x Laspistol
◦ 1x Power sabre
• 1x The Enforcer
◦ 1x Bionic gauntlet
◦ 1x Londaxi maimer
Chosen (135 Points)
• Attached as: Bodyguard
• 1x Chosen Champion
◦ 1x Boltgun
◦ 1x Chaos Icon
◦ 1x Plasma pistol
◦ 1x Power fist
• 4x Chosen
◦ 3x Accursed weapon
◦ 3x Bolt pistol
◦ 1x Boltgun
◦ 2x Combi-weapon
◦ 1x Paired accursed weapons
◦ 1x Plasma pistol
Attached unit 2
Chaos Lord in Terminator Armour (85 Points)
• Attached as: Leader (Character)
• 1x Combi-bolter
• 1x Exalted weapon
Chaos Terminator Squad (350 Points)
• Attached as: Bodyguard
• 1x Terminator Champion
◦ 1x Combi-weapon
◦ 1x Power fist
• 9x Chaos Terminator
◦ 2x Accursed weapon
◦ 5x Combi-weapon
◦ 2x Paired accursed weapons
◦ 5x Power fist
◦ 2x Reaper autocannon
Attached unit 3
Fabius Bile (100 Points)
• Attached as: Leader (Character)
• 1x Fabius Bile
◦ 1x Chirurgeon
◦ 1x Rod of Torment
◦ 1x Xyclos Needler
• 1x Surgeon Acolyte
◦ 1x Surgeon Acolyte’s tools
Chosen (270 Points)
• Attached as: Bodyguard
• 1x Chosen Champion
◦ 1x Boltgun
◦ 1x Chaos Icon
◦ 1x Plasma pistol
◦ 1x Power fist
• 9x Chosen
◦ 6x Accursed weapon
◦ 6x Bolt pistol
◦ 3x Boltgun
◦ 4x Combi-weapon
◦ 2x Paired accursed weapons
◦ 3x Plasma pistol
◦ 1x Power fist
Attached unit 4
Chaos Lord (90 Points)
• Attached as: Leader (Character)
• 1x Daemon hammer
• 1x Plasma pistol
Legionaries (90 Points)
• Attached as: Bodyguard (Battleline)
• 1x Aspiring Champion
◦ 1x Chaos Icon
◦ 1x Close combat weapon
◦ 1x Heavy melee weapon
◦ 1x Plasma pistol
• 4x Legionary
◦ 3x Astartes chainsword
◦ 4x Bolt pistol
◦ 4x Close combat weapon
◦ 1x Heavy melee weapon
BATTLELINE
Cultist Mob (50 Points)
• 1x Cultist Champion
◦ 1x Autopistol
◦ 1x Brutal assault weapon
• 9x Chaos Cultist
◦ 9x Autopistol
◦ 9x Brutal assault weapon
DEDICATED TRANSPORTS
Chaos Rhino (65 Points)
• 1x Armoured tracks
• 1x Combi-bolter
• 1x Combi-bolter
• 1x Havoc launcher
OTHER DATASHEETS
Mutilators (165 Points)
• 3x Mutilator
◦ 3x Fleshmetal weapons
Mutilators (165 Points)
• 3x Mutilator
◦ 3x Fleshmetal weapons
Obliterators (160 Points)
• 2x Obliterator
◦ 2x Crushing fists
◦ 2x Fleshmetal guns
Adeptus Custodes:
List
Adeptus Custodes
Might of the Moritoi and Shield Host (3 Detachment Points)
Take and Hold
Strike Force (2,000 Points)
ATTACHED UNITS
Attached unit 1
Blade Champion (110 Points)
• Attached as: Leader (Character)
• Warlord
• 1x Vaultswords
Custodian Wardens (250 Points)
• Attached as: Bodyguard
• 5x Custodian Warden
◦ 5x Guardian spear
◦ 1x Vexilla
Attached unit 2
Blade Champion (125 Points)
• Attached as: Leader (Character)
• 1x Vaultswords
Custodian Wardens (270 Points)
• Attached as: Bodyguard
• 5x Custodian Warden
◦ 5x Guardian spear
◦ 1x Vexilla
OTHER DATASHEETS
Prosecutors (45 Points)
• 1x Prosecutor Sister Superior
◦ 1x Boltgun
◦ 1x Close combat weapon
• 3x Prosecutor
◦ 3x Boltgun
◦ 3x Close combat weapon
Telemon Heavy Dreadnought (250 Points)
• 2x Arachnus storm cannon
• 1x Armoured feet
• 1x Spiculus bolt launcher
• Enhancements: Interred Expertise (Upgrade)
Telemon Heavy Dreadnought (270 Points)
• 2x Arachnus storm cannon
• 1x Armoured feet
• 1x Spiculus bolt launcher
• Enhancements: Interred Expertise (Upgrade)
Venerable Contemptor Dreadnought (195 Points)
• 1x Combi-bolter
• 1x Contemptor combat weapon
• 1x Kheres-pattern assault cannon
• Enhancements: Interred Expertise (Upgrade)
Vertus Praetors (215 Points)
• 3x Vertus Praetor
◦ 3x Interceptor lance
◦ 3x Vertus hurricane bolter
Vertus Praetors (215 Points)
• 3x Vertus Praetor
◦ 3x Interceptor lance
◦ 3x Vertus hurricane bolter
Witchseekers (50 Points)
• 1x Witchseeker Sister Superior
◦ 1x Close combat weapon
◦ 1x Witchseeker flamer
• 3x Witchseeker
◦ 3x Close combat weapon
◦ 3x Witchseeker flamer
FACTION SPECIFIC STRATEGIES:
Chaos Space Marines:
This will be my first time playing this Huron’s Marauders list in 11th Edition and the timing couldn’t be better as the detachment just got switched from Disruption to Purge the Foe. This has me more excited to run it than I’ve been with CSM in a while.
From a macro strategy perspective, this list is built around 3 “Death Stars” complemented by 3 smaller but still beefy Damage Dealers and a Smash Captain unit. It’s incredibly unsubtle and is designed to smash the opponent by pressuring them through faster than you would expect Advance and Charge units or a whole lot of Rapid Ingress or Deep Striking units. Its designed to get in your face quickly and then stay there into until one army is tabled. Its an inelegant and unsubtle way to play 40K, but is also a playstyle that I enjoy on occasion.
From a micro-strategy perspective, the list breaks down into the following roles:
– Objective Holders: Cultist Mob
– Damage Dealers: pretty much the whole army list
– Buff Pieces: Legionaries, the Detachment Rules / stratagems, Huron Blackheart + Masters of the Maelstrom
– Scoring Pieces: Not Applicable. I’ll score points once the opponent is tabled.
The idea for playing the list is to scare the opponent into making bad choices and then to punish them when they do. The sheer threat of Huron’s Chosen brick, Bile’s Chosen brick, and/or the Terminator brick should be enough to keep the opponent from pushing aggressively up the board. If they don’t respect that threat and push up despite it, they’ll get charged before the Mutilators come in to mop up. If they hang back, the Mutilators and Obliterators can Deep Strike in to “start the party” before the Chosen and Chaos Lord bricks finish it. Its designed to be oppressive and aggressive, which should match the Purge the Foe Force Disposition perfectly.
Win Condition: Generically, the Win Condition for Huron’s Marauders is to force the opponent into an impossible choice: either commit to defending against the incoming wave of Death Stars and get chewed up piecemeal or hang back and get overrun by Deep Strike/Rapid Ingress threats arriving from an unexpected angle. It’s a list that wants to win through relentless pressure and attrition rather than finesse and it’s most dangerous when the opponent has to make a decision under threat rather than at their leisure.
Specific to this matchup, the Win Condition is all about picking the right timing and matchups. The Custodes are uniquely positioned to survive the pressure of this list and Huron’s Marauders will need to compensate for that by being more strategic than usual. CSM needs to bait out the Custodian Wardens’ Living Fortress ability. These units having a once per game 4+ Feel No Pain is “bad news” for CSM if they decide to just “all in” and charge into a Warden shield wall. The Custodes will respond by popping the Feel No Pain, surviving the onslaught, and then smashing back in melee. CSM needs to bait this out or bleed the Wardens before fully committing in order to win this game.
What I Want to Work On This Game: I want to work on how I use the Mutilators. I don’t have a ton of experience with them, but I love the models. I want to work on how to effectively use them coming out of Deep Strike or Rapid Ingress. Ideally, I can line them up on the Custodes’ Dreadnoughts for maximum impact.
| Category | Description |
| Leader / Bodyguard Combos: | Huron Blackheart with Masters of the Maelstrom + Chosen (min sized) |
| Chaos Lord in Terminator Armour with Chaos Terminator Squad | |
| Fabius Bile with Chosen (max sized) | |
| Chaos Lord with Legionaries | |
| Transport / Infantry Combos: | Fabius Bile + Chosen (max sized) in Chaos Rhino |
| Strategic Reserves: | Mutilators 1 |
| Mutilators 2 | |
| Obliterators | |
| Key Stratagems: | At the Tyrant’s Command [1CP] Movement – WHEN: Your Movement phase. TARGET: One HERETIC ASTARTES unit (excluding MONSTERS and VEHICLES) from your army. EFFECT: Until the end of the turn, your unit is eligible to shoot and declare a charge in a turn in which it Advanced. |
| Seize the Prize [1CP] Movement – WHEN: Your Movement phase, just after a HERETIC ASTARTES unit (excluding MONSTERS and VEHICLES) from your army has been selected to Advance. TARGET: That HERETIC ASTARTES unit. EFFECT: Do not make an Advance roll for your unit. Instead, until the end of the phase add 6″ to the Move characteristic of models in your unit. | |
| Reavers’ Flurry [1CP] Fight – WHEN: Your Fight phase. TARGET: One HERETIC ASTARTES unit from your army that made a Charge move this turn. EFFECT: Until the end of the phase, add 1 to the Attacks characteristics of melee weapons equipped by models in your unit. | |
| To the Favoured the Spoils [1CP] Shooting – WHEN: Your opponent’s Shooting phase, just after an enemy unit has shot. TARGET: One HERETIC ASTARTES unit from your army that lost one or more wounds as a result of those attacks. EFFECT: Your unit can make a surge move of up to D6″. | |
| Encircling Surge [1CP] Fight – WHEN: End of your opponent’s Fight phase. TARGET: One HERETIC ASTARTES unit (excluding MONSTERS and VEHICLES) from your army that is within 6″ of one or more battlefield edges and not within Engagement Range of one or more enemy units. EFFECT: Remove your unit from the battlefield and place it into Strategic Reserves. | |
| Epic Challenge [1CP] Fight phase – WHEN: Fight phase, just after a friendly CHARACTER unit is selected to fight. TARGET: That CHARACTER unit. EFFECT: Select one CHARACTER model in your unit. Until the end of the phase, that model’s melee weapons have the [PRECISION] ability. | |
| Key Combos: | Fabius Bile + Chosen (max sized) + Dark Pacts army rule + Enhanced Warriors ability + Chosen Marauders ability + Chaos Icon ability + Reavers’ Flurry stratagem Enhanced Warriors gives this max-sized Chosen unit +1 Strength and +1 Toughness in melee right out of the gate. Chosen Marauders lets them Advance and still Charge, Chaos Icon guarantees the Dark Pacts Leadership re-roll so you can safely fish for Sustained or Lethal Hits, and Reavers’ Flurry adds another +1 Attacks on the charge. Stack it all together and this unit hits well above its points. |
| Chaos Lord in Terminator Armour + Chaos Terminator Squad + Dark Pacts army rule + Despoilers ability + Lord of Chaos ability + Formidably Resilient ability + At the Tyrant’s Command stratagem This is the best Terminator unit CSM has access to. It can Rapid Ingress in and then use At the Tyrant’s Command for a 0 CP thanks to Lord of Chaos, guaranteeing an Advance & Charge to ensure it “gets stuck in.” Combine that with the ability to re-roll Hit rolls every time it Dark Pacts via Despoilers, and Formidably Resilient halving incoming Damage to the Chaos Lord himself, and this unit both hits hard and is a nightmare to remove. | |
| Mutilators (x2) + Dark Pacts army rule + Tyrannical Motivation detachment rule + Crushing Charge ability + At the Tyrant’s Command stratagem This is potentially expensive, but can be used to Rapid Ingress the Mutilators in behind line of sight blocking terrain rather than risking a 9″ Deep Strike Charge. Next turn, they then use At the Tyrant’s Command to Advance and Charge alongside Crushing Charge re-rolls and mortal wounds on the Charge. Its a great way to punch a hole in a Telemon or the Venerable Contemptor before the rest of the army arrives. | |
| Obliterators + Dark Pacts army rule + Tyrannical Motivation detachment rule + Warp Rift Firepower ability + Encircling Surge stratagem Once per battle, Warp Rift Firepower gives the Obliterators’ guns Indirect Fire, letting them threaten a target without needing line of sight. Combine that with Encircling Surge to pull them out of combat or off an exposed flank and redeploy into Strategic Reserves, so they can pop back up wherever they’re needed most for another round of shooting. In prior games, I used this almost every round in the late game. | |
| Huron Blackheart + Masters of the Maelstrom + Chosen (min sized) + Dark Pacts army rule + Lord of Badab (Aura) ability + Hamadrya’s Knowledge (Psychic) ability + Choice Samples ability + Plunder ability + Chosen Marauders ability + Chaos Icon ability + To the Favoured the Spoils stratagem This gives a Death Star unit access to both a Reactive Move (Hamadrya’s Knowledge) and a Surge Move (To the Favoured the Spoils), making it very difficult to pin down with shooting. Add in Plunder’s mortal wounds once per battle, Choice Samples bringing back a model or generating CP every Command phase, +1 OC from Lord of Badab, and Chosen Marauders letting them shoot/charge after Advancing or Falling Back and this unit has literally all of the tricks and is a nightmare to deal with from any range. | |
| Chaos Lord + Legionaries + Dark Pacts army rule + Chance for Glory ability + Veterans of the Long War ability + Chaos Icon ability + Epic Challenge stratagem This is the obligatory “Smash Captain.” Chance for Glory gives the Chaos Lord +1 to Strength, Attacks, AP, and Damage on his melee weapons once per battle, and Epic Challenge adds Precision so all those upgraded attacks can be aimed straight at a Character if needed. Veterans of the Long War backs up the unit’s Wound rolls in melee, and Chaos Icon keeps the Dark Pacts Leadership test safe. Add in the Daemon Hammer having Devastating Wounds and you get my favorite unit archetype across any list/faction. |
Adeptus Custodes:
This list is a part of how I am pivoting with Custodes after the latest balance update. I’m still playing Lions of the Emperor solo, but also am pivoting to pairing the Might of the Moritoi with Shield Host so that I can still run my dreadnoughts. On paper, it looks quite good and I’m looking forward to seeing how the two detachments’ rules complement each other while playing Take and Hold.
From a macro strategy perspective, this list is built around two Blade Champion + Custodian Wardens combat units that can each anchor an objective and form a shield wall. They are then backed up by heavy armor in the form of two Telemon Heavy Dreadnoughts that bring both durable board presence and serious firepower. The two Vertus Praetors units provide fast, mobile threats that can strike anywhere on the board, while the Witchseekers and Prosecutors round out the list as small scoring and utility pieces. This isn’t a finesse list; it’s built to plant two Warden shield walls plus a “stand back up again” Venerable Contemptor Dreadnought on objectives and dare the opponent to dig them out while the Dreadnoughts and Jetbikes punish anything that tries.
From a micro-strategy perspective, the list breaks down into the following roles:
– Objective Holders: Blade Champion + Custodian Wardens (x2), Venerable Contemptor Dreadnought
– Damage Dealers: Telemon Heavy Dreadnought (x2), Vertus Praetors (x2), Blade Champion + Custodian Wardens (x2)
– Buff Pieces: Martial Mastery detachment rule, March of the Honoured Dead detachment rule, Blade Champion
– Scoring Pieces: Witchseekers, Prosecutors
The idea for playing the list is to pick three objectives to hold and to park a Blade Champion + Custodian Wardens or Venerable Contemptor Dreadnought unit on each. The Custodes then wait and dare the opponent to come and get them off. Depending on what the opponent does, the Custodes can then use the Telemons’ fire power to blast them off the board or the Vertus Praetors and Wardens’ speed to go run them down. Its a list that is designed to have a high points floor and to be fine playing the “waiting game” by sitting on Objectives, which seems to fit the Take and Hold Force Disposition really well.
Win Condition: Generically, the win condition for this list is to control the midfield through sheer durability. It wants to sit on objectives and dare the opponent to do something about it, then punish whatever comes to dig it out with the Telemons’ firepower or a well-timed Living Fortress stone wall into a melee bludgeoning and counter-charge. It wins by making the opponent bleed for every objective they try to take, rather than by racing anyone to points.
Specific to this matchup, the win condition is about not flinching. Huron’s Marauders is built to scare the Custodes into bad decisions by overcommitting Living Fortress too early, exposing the Telemons, or panicking and abandoning an objective rather than trading for it. The Custodes need to trust their own durability and let CSM come to them rather than reacting to the threat of a Death Star before it’s actually been committed to action. If the Custodes can force CSM to commit to a fight on the Custodes’ terms — while Living Fortress is up and with the Telemons already in position to answer — the sheer weight of Chaos aggression should break against a wall that simply won’t move.
What I Want to Work On This Game: I want to work on my timing with the Custodian Wardens’ Living Fortress ability. Since it’s once per battle, I want to get better at reading when CSM is actually committing to a fight versus just posturing, so I don’t burn it early against a bait charge and get caught without it when the real Death Star hits. I also want to work on positioning the Telemons to stay within 12″ for Prioritised Eradication without exposing them to an early charge.
| Category | Description |
| Leader / Bodyguard Combos: | Blade Champion with Custodian Wardens 1 |
| Blade Champion with Custodian Wardens 2 | |
| Strategic Reserves: | Vertus Praetors 2 |
| Key Stratagems: | Prioritised Eradication [1CP] Shooting phase – WHEN: Your Shooting phase, when a friendly TELEMON HEAVY DREADNOUGHT unit is selected to shoot. TARGET: That TELEMON HEAVY DREADNOUGHT unit. EFFECT: Your unit’s Arachnus Storm Cannon weapons have [RAPID FIRE 6] and Iliastus Accelerator Culverin weapons have [RAPID FIRE 2]. |
| Flawless Construction [1CP] Opponent’s Shooting or Fight phase – WHEN: Your opponent’s Shooting phase or the Fight phase, when an enemy unit targets a friendly ADEPTUS CUSTODES WALKER unit. TARGET: That ADEPTUS CUSTODES WALKER unit. EFFECT: Attacks that target your unit with a S greater than your unit’s T have -1 to wound rolls. | |
| Unwavering Sentinels [1CP] Fight – WHEN: Fight phase, just after an enemy unit has selected its targets. TARGET: One ADEPTUS CUSTODES INFANTRY unit from your army (excluding ANATHEMA PSYKANA units) that is within range of an objective marker you control and that was selected as the target of one or more of the attacking unit’s attacks. EFFECT: Until the end of the phase, each time a melee attack targets your unit, subtract 1 from the Hit roll. | |
| Avenge the Fallen [1CP] Fight – WHEN: Start of the Fight phase. TARGET: One ADEPTUS CUSTODES unit from your army (excluding ANATHEMA PSYKANA units) that is below its Starting Strength. EFFECT: Until the end of the phase, add 1 to the Attacks characteristic of melee weapons equipped by models in that unit. If your unit is Below Half-strength, until the end of the phase, add 2 to the Attacks characteristic of those melee weapons instead. | |
| Arcane Genetic Alchemy [1CP] Any – WHEN: Any phase, just after a mortal wound has been allocated to an ADEPTUS CUSTODES model from your army (excluding ANATHEMA PSYKANA models). TARGET: That ADEPTUS CUSTODES model’s unit. EFFECT: Until the end of the phase, models in your unit have the Feel No Pain 4+ ability against mortal wounds. | |
| Key Combos: | Blade Champion + Custodian Wardens + Martial Ka’tah army rule + Martial Mastery detachment rule + Resolute Will ability + Living Fortress ability + Swift Onslaught ability + Martial Inspiration ability + Unwavering Sentinels stratagem This is the shield wall the whole game plan revolves around. Resolute Will already knocks -1 off Wound rolls from anything punching above the unit’s Toughness, and once-per-battle Living Fortress stacks a 4+ Feel No Pain on top when it really counts. Unwavering Sentinels adds another -1 to Hit against melee attacks while the unit holds an objective, on top of everything else. Even scarier is what happens after this unit stone walls the attack as they can pivot into Martial Kat’ah and Martial Mastery for Sustained or Lethal Hits and 5+ Critical Hit to punish whatever dared to charge them. Even better, once they kill that enemy they can immediately press the attack via Martial Inspiration and Swift Onslaught for Advance & Charge plus re-roll Charge rolls. |
| Telemon Heavy Dreadnought (x2) + March of the Honoured Dead detachment rule + Interred Expertise enhancement + Prioritised Eradication stratagem March of the Honoured Dead gives both Telemons +2″ Move and +1 to Advance/Charge rolls, helping them get into their 12″ range band for Prioritised Eradication, which turns the Arachnus Storm Cannons into an absolute dakkastorm via Rapid Fire 6. Interred Expertise then lets those shots re-roll 1s to Hit and Wound. It’s dependent on closing the distance, which is a real risk against a melee-heavy CSM list, but the payoff is a devastating volume of accurate firepower into whatever Death Star gets too close. | |
| Vertus Praetors + Martial Ka’tah army rule + Martial Mastery detachment rule + [LANCE] ability This is how the Vertus Praetors punch well above their weight in melee. Interceptor lances already carry [LANCE], adding +1 to Wound rolls on the charge. Pop Martial Mastery for the 5+ Critical Hit bonus and pick the Dacatarai Ka’tah Stance for Sustained Hits, and every unmodified 5+ becomes both a Critical Hit and an extra attack, which really lets the unit punch up in melee. |
ROUND-BY-ROUND RECAP:
Custodes win the roll off and elect to have CSM deploy first. CSM has a lot of units in Strategic Reserves and is VERY intimidated by the possibility of a Wardens alpha strike through the center of the board. As a result, they deploy pretty conservatively by focusing on threatening the two Expansion Objectives and hiding behind terrain. Their strategy seems to concede the Central Objectives to the Custodes and instead to focus on working the flanks.
On the other side, the Custodes deploy more aggressively. They position the two Warden units to threaten the center of the board, ideally in waves, while the bikes and Dreadnoughts cover the flanks. They seem to be hoping to go first to get out early and stake a claim to the midfield.
Board state after Deployment is shown below.
Post Deployment
CSM wins the roll off and will go first. CSM has no Scout Moves and the Custodes elect to not make their only one.
Board state at the start of the battle is shown below.
Start of the Battle
ROUND 1:
| Phase: | Go First: Chaos Space Marines |
| Score at Start | 10 |
| CP at Start | 0 |
| Command | [Chaos Space Marines] Gains 1 Core CP [Adeptus Custodes] Gains 1 Core CP [Adeptus Custodes] uses Martial Mastery to select 5+ Critical Hit [Chaos Space Marines] Draws Secondaries: Centre Ground & Assassination [Chaos Space Marines] uses Tyrannical Motivation to select Huron’s Elite [Chaos Space Marines] Cultist Mob uses For the Dark Gods to Secure Objective 2 |
| Movement | [Chaos Space Marines] Chaos Rhino Makes a Normal Move towards Objective 6 to Stage [Chaos Space Marines] Chaos Lord + Legionaries Makes a Normal Move towards Objective 6 to Stage [Chaos Space Marines] Chaos Lord in Terminator Armour + Chaos Terminator Squad Advances onto Objective 3 to Stage |
| Shooting | [Chaos Space Marines] None |
| Charge | [Chaos Space Marines] None |
| Fight | [Chaos Space Marines] None |
| End of Turn | [Chaos Space Marines] None |
| Score at End | 10 |
| CP at End | 1 |
Quiet first turn for CSM as they draw 1 Secondary that is unscorable this turn (Assassination) and 1 Secondary that would put them in a terrible position to score (Centre Ground). Instead of overextending for 5 VP, they instead choose to use the first turn as a staging turn to setup for a push on the flanks in Round 2.
Board state in the middle of Round 1 is shown below.
Middle of Round 1
| Phase: | Go Second: Adeptus Custodes |
| Score at Start | 10 |
| CP at Start | 1 |
| Command | [Adeptus Custodes] Gains 1 Core CP [Chaos Space Marines] Gains 1 Core CP [Adeptus Custodes] Draws Secondaries: Centre Ground & Outflank |
| Movement | [Adeptus Custodes] Venerable Contemptor Dreadnought Makes a Normal Move onto Objective 6 [Adeptus Custodes] Blade Champion + Custodian Wardens 1 Advances onto Objectives 4 and 5 to Score [Adeptus Custodes] Blade Champion + Custodian Wardens 2 Makes a Normal Move towards Objective 5 to Stage |
| Shooting | [Adeptus Custodes] None |
| Charge | [Adeptus Custodes] None |
| Fight | [Adeptus Custodes] None |
| End of Turn | [Chaos Space Marines] Cultist Mob uses Encircling Surge for 1 CP [Adeptus Custodes] Scores Primary: Immovable Object — 3 VP [Adeptus Custodes] Scores Secondary: Centre Ground — 5 VP |
| Score at End | 18 |
| CP at End | 2 |
The Custodes respond with an equally quiet but much more productive turn. Coming into the turn, the Custodes knew that CSM had to come to them. Rather than rushing out and exposing units unnecessarily, they did the bare minimum to score points this turn while also positioning for even more in Round 2 unless CSM comes and does something about it. It’s a pretty obvious trap. Let’s see what CSM does about it.
Board state at the end of Round 1 is shown below. NOTE: the Custodes caught that they never deployed their Witchseekers at this point, so it looks like they are going into Reserves.
End of Round 1
ROUND 2:
| Phase: | Go First: Chaos Space Marines |
| Score at Start | 10 |
| CP at Start | 1 |
| Command | [Chaos Space Marines] Gains 1 Core CP [Adeptus Custodes] Gains 1 Core CP [Adeptus Custodes] uses Martial Mastery to select 5+ Critical Hit [Chaos Space Marines] Draws Secondaries: Behind Enemy Lines & Defend Stronghold [Chaos Space Marines] uses Tyrannical Motivation to select Huron’s Elite [Chaos Space Marines] Scores Primary: Unstoppable Force — 4 VP |
| Movement | [Chaos Space Marines] Cultist Mob Ingress onto Objective 3 [Chaos Space Marines] Obliterators Ingress near Objective 4 to Shoot [Chaos Space Marines] Fabius Bile + Chosen Disembarks [Chaos Space Marines] Fabius Bile + Chosen Advances onto Objective 5 to Charge [Chaos Space Marines] Chaos Lord + Legionaries Embarks into Chaos Rhino [Chaos Space Marines] Huron Blackheart + Masters of the Maelstrom + Chosen uses Seize the Prize for 1 CP [Chaos Space Marines] Huron Blackheart + Masters of the Maelstrom + Chosen Advances onto Objective 4 to Shoot and Charge |
| Shooting | [Chaos Space Marines] Obliterators uses Dark Pacts to select Sustained Hits [Chaos Space Marines] Obliterators Shoots Blade Champion + Custodian Wardens 1 and Kills 1 Model [Chaos Space Marines] Fabius Bile + Chosen uses Dark Pacts to select Sustained Hits [Chaos Space Marines] Fabius Bile + Chosen Shoots Blade Champion + Custodian Wardens 1 and Deals 2 Damage [Chaos Space Marines] Huron Blackheart + Masters of the Maelstrom + Chosen uses Dark Pacts to select Sustained Hits [Chaos Space Marines] Huron Blackheart + Masters of the Maelstrom + Chosen Shoots Blade Champion + Custodian Wardens 1 and Kills 1 Model |
| Charge | [Chaos Space Marines] Fabius Bile + Chosen Declares a Charge – Charge Succeeded [Chaos Space Marines] Fabius Bile + Chosen Charges into Blade Champion + Custodian Wardens 1 [Chaos Space Marines] Huron Blackheart + Masters of the Maelstrom + Chosen Declares a Charge – Charge Failed [Chaos Space Marines] Huron Blackheart + Masters of the Maelstrom + Chosen uses Command Re-roll for 1 CP [Chaos Space Marines] Huron Blackheart + Masters of the Maelstrom + Chosen Declares a Charge – Charge Succeeded [Chaos Space Marines] Huron Blackheart + Masters of the Maelstrom + Chosen Charges into Blade Champion + Custodian Wardens 1 |
| Fight | [Adeptus Custodes] Blade Champion + Custodian Wardens 1 uses Living Fortress [Chaos Space Marines] Fabius Bile + Chosen uses Dark Pacts to select Sustained Hits [Chaos Space Marines] Fabius Bile + Chosen Fights Blade Champion + Custodian Wardens 1 and Kills 3 Models [Adeptus Custodes] Blade Champion + Custodian Wardens 1 uses Counteroffensive for 2 CP [Adeptus Custodes] Blade Champion + Custodian Wardens 1 uses Vaultswords to select Behemor [Adeptus Custodes] Blade Champion + Custodian Wardens 1 uses Martial Ka’tah to select Dacatarai Stance for Sustained Hits [Adeptus Custodes] Blade Champion + Custodian Wardens 1 Fights Huron Blackheart + Masters of the Maelstrom + Chosen and Deals 2 Damage [Chaos Space Marines] Huron Blackheart + Masters of the Maelstrom + Chosen Fights Blade Champion + Custodian Wardens 1 and Destroys the Unit |
| End of Turn | [Chaos Space Marines] Scores Secondary: Assassination — 5 VP [Chaos Space Marines] Scores Secondary: Centre Ground — 5 VP [Chaos Space Marines] Scores Primary: Unstoppable Force — 6 VP |
| Score at End | 30 |
| CP at End | 0 |
CSM comes out swinging and draws first blood.
Coming into the turn, CSM was behind on the scoreboard and was feeling like they were out of position. The Custodes had presented them with a difficult problem to solve as it was obvious that they were trying to bait CSM into the center of the board with the goal of blocking them with the Wardens and then lighting them up with shooting next turn.
CSM took the bait, but instead of piece mealing units to the middle, they fully committed both Huron and Bile’s units to Charging into the center. The thought process was that both would be needed to kill the Wardens in order to score both Centre Ground and Assassination, as well as to score primary for killing a unit this turn. Additionally, they want to keep the Custodes so focused on the Central Objectives that it allows CSM to control the flanks with minimal investment.
From a Custodes perspective, losing the Wardens hurt but isn’t game ending as there are a LOT of guns now pointed at both Bile and Huron’s units. The only part that has them “in their feels” is spending 2CP to Counteroffensive with the Blade Champion only to watch Huron stonewall him by making 5 of 7 Saves and then 2 of 4 Feel No Pains.
CSM invested a lot of resources into the middle and are going to get hurt next turn, but did come out with a large number of points. Let’s see if it pays off for them.
Board state in the middle of Round 2 is shown below.
Middle of Round 2
| Phase: | Go Second: Adeptus Custodes |
| Score at Start | 18 |
| CP at Start | 2 |
| Command | [Adeptus Custodes] Gains 1 Core CP [Chaos Space Marines] Gains 1 Core CP [Adeptus Custodes] Draws Secondaries: Forward Position & Display of Might [Adeptus Custodes] Scores Primary: Immovable Object — 5 VP |
| Movement | [Adeptus Custodes] Telemon Heavy Dreadnought 1 Makes a Normal Move towards Objective 5 to Shoot [Adeptus Custodes] Telemon Heavy Dreadnought 2 Makes a Normal Move towards Objective 4 to Shoot [Adeptus Custodes] Blade Champion + Custodian Wardens 2 Makes a Normal Move towards Objective 4 to Charge [Chaos Space Marines] Huron Blackheart + Masters of the Maelstrom + Chosen uses Hamadrya’s Knowledge to Reactive Move towards CSM Deployment Zone [Adeptus Custodes] Vertus Praetors 1 Makes a Normal Move towards Objective 4 to Shoot [Adeptus Custodes] Venerable Contemptor Dreadnought Makes a Normal Move onto Objective 6 to Shoot [Adeptus Custodes] Vertus Praetors 2 Ingress near Objective 3 to Shoot [Chaos Space Marines] Mutilators uses Rapid Ingress for 1 CP to Deep Strike near Objective 1 |
| Shooting | [Adeptus Custodes] Vertus Praetors 2 Shoots Cultist Mob and Destroys the Unit [Adeptus Custodes] Vertus Praetors 1 Shoots Huron Blackheart + Masters of the Maelstrom + Chosen and Kills 1 Model [Adeptus Custodes] Telemon Heavy Dreadnought 2 uses Archeotech Munitions for 1 CP [Adeptus Custodes] Telemon Heavy Dreadnought 2 Shoots Fabius Bile + Chosen and Kills 5 Models [Adeptus Custodes] Blade Champion + Custodian Wardens 2 Shoots Fabius Bile + Chosen and Kills 1 Model [Adeptus Custodes] Venerable Contemptor Dreadnought Shoots Mutilators and Deals 3 Damage [Adeptus Custodes] Telemon Heavy Dreadnought 1 uses Prioritised Eradication for 1 CP [Adeptus Custodes] Telemon Heavy Dreadnought 1 Shoots Mutilators and Kills 2 Models [Adeptus Custodes] Prosecutors Shoots Mutilators and Deals 0 Damage |
| Charge | [Adeptus Custodes] Blade Champion + Custodian Wardens 2 Declares a Charge – Charge Succeeded [Adeptus Custodes] Blade Champion + Custodian Wardens 2 Charges into Fabius Bile + Chosen |
| Fight | [Adeptus Custodes] Blade Champion + Custodian Wardens 2 uses Martial Ka’tah to select Dacatarai Stance for Sustained Hits [Adeptus Custodes] Blade Champion + Custodian Wardens 2 uses Vaultswords to select Victus [Adeptus Custodes] Blade Champion + Custodian Wardens 2 Fights Fabius Bile + Chosen and Destroys the Unit [Chaos Space Marines] Fabius Bile + Chosen uses Chirurgeon to have Fabius Bile Stand Back Up |
| End of Turn | [Adeptus Custodes] Scores Primary: Immovable Object — 3 VP [Adeptus Custodes] drops Display of Might to gain 1 CP [Chaos Space Marines] Scores Secondary: Defend Stronghold — 5 VP |
| Score at End | 26 |
| CP at End | 1 |
The Custodes crack back with a decent turn, but not quite in the way that was expected.
Coming into the turn, the Custodes wanted to clear out the center of the board as much as possible. They knew that Huron had a Reactive Move, that Bile could stand back up, and that a Mutilator Rapid Ingress was coming. Rather than trying to prevent all of these, they instead chose to trigger them all by fully committing to the middle in a way that triggered Huron’s Reactive Move and left a gap for the Mutilators to Rapid Ingress in to line up a Telemon. It was a risky play, but the Custodes were trusting in their Shooting Damage Dealing capabilities to help them make it pay off. They then also committed the bikes to attacking Objective 3 as a way of holding the Terminators there. The turn ends with Bile’s unit all but destroyed (Bile stood back up again) and the Mutilator threat significantly nerfed. They also are behind on the scoreboard, but that has more to do with a not great Secondary draw than with their execution.
On the other side of the board, CSM feels great about Huron’s unit surviving pretty much unscathed but is reeling a bit from losing most of the Mutilators unit, as they were banking on using it to capture the Custodes’ Home Objective and to keep the scoring pace up.
This game is looking like it is going to turn into a brawl. Board state at the end of Round 2 is shown below.
End of Round 2
ROUND 3:
| Phase: | Go First: Chaos Space Marines |
| Score at Start | 35 |
| CP at Start | 0 |
| Command | [Chaos Space Marines] Gains 1 Core CP [Adeptus Custodes] Gains 1 Core CP [Adeptus Custodes] uses Martial Mastery to select 5+ Critical Hit [Chaos Space Marines] Draws Secondaries: A Tempting Target & Outflank [Adeptus Custodes] picks Objective 6 as A Tempting Target [Chaos Space Marines] Fabius Bile + Chosen passes Battle-shock Test [Chaos Space Marines] Mutilators 1 passes Battle-shock Test [Chaos Space Marines] uses Tyrannical Motivation to select Huron’s Elite [Chaos Space Marines] Huron Blackheart + Masters of the Maelstrom + Chosen uses Choice Samples to Heal 1 Model [Chaos Space Marines] Scores Primary: Unstoppable Force — 8 VP |
| Movement | [Chaos Space Marines] Mutilators 1 Makes a Normal Move towards Telemon Heavy Dreadnought 1 to Charge [Chaos Space Marines] Chaos Lord + Legionaries Disembarks [Chaos Space Marines] Chaos Lord + Legionaries Makes a Normal Move onto Objective 6 to Charge [Chaos Space Marines] Huron Blackheart + Masters of the Maelstrom + Chosen Makes a Normal Move onto Objective 4 to Shoot and Charge [Chaos Space Marines] Huron Blackheart + Masters of the Maelstrom + Chosen uses Plunder to Deal 3 Mortal Wounds to Blade Champion + Custodian Wardens 2 [Chaos Space Marines] Obliterators Makes a Normal Move onto Objective 4 to Shoot [Chaos Space Marines] Chaos Lord in Terminator Armour + Chaos Terminator Squad Advances onto Objective 3 to Shoot and Charge [Chaos Space Marines] Chaos Lord in Terminator Armour + Chaos Terminator Squad uses Lord of Chaos on At the Tyrant’s Command [Chaos Space Marines] Chaos Lord in Terminator Armour + Chaos Terminator Squad uses At the Tyrant’s Command for 0 CP [Chaos Space Marines] Chaos Rhino Makes a Normal Move towards the Board Edge to Hide |
| Shooting | [Chaos Space Marines] Obliterators uses Dark Pacts to select Sustained Hits [Chaos Space Marines] Obliterators Shoots Blade Champion + Custodian Wardens 2 and Kills 2 Models [Chaos Space Marines] Huron Blackheart + Masters of the Maelstrom + Chosen uses Dark Pacts to select Sustained Hits [Chaos Space Marines] Huron Blackheart + Masters of the Maelstrom + Chosen Shoots Blade Champion + Custodian Wardens 2 and Kills 1 Model [Chaos Space Marines] Chaos Lord + Legionaries uses Dark Pacts to select Sustained Hits [Chaos Space Marines] Chaos Lord + Legionaries Shoots Venerable Contemptor Dreadnought and Deals 0 Damage [Chaos Space Marines] Chaos Lord in Terminator Armour + Chaos Terminator Squad uses Dark Pacts to select Lethal Hits [Chaos Space Marines] Chaos Lord in Terminator Armour + Chaos Terminator Squad Fails Leadership Test and Suffers 1 Mortal Wound [Chaos Space Marines] Chaos Lord in Terminator Armour + Chaos Terminator Squad Shoots Vertus Praetors 2 and Kills 1 Model [Chaos Space Marines] Fabius Bile + Chosen Shoots Blade Champion + Custodian Wardens 2 and Deals 0 Damage |
| Charge | [Chaos Space Marines] Chaos Lord + Legionaries Declares a Charge – Charge Succeeded [Chaos Space Marines] Chaos Lord + Legionaries Charges into Venerable Contemptor Dreadnought [Chaos Space Marines] Huron Blackheart + Masters of the Maelstrom + Chosen Declares a Charge – Charge Succeeded [Chaos Space Marines] Huron Blackheart + Masters of the Maelstrom + Chosen Charges into Blade Champion + Custodian Wardens 2 [Chaos Space Marines] Fabius Bile + Chosen Declares a Charge – Charge Failed [Chaos Space Marines] Mutilators 1 Declares a Charge – Charge Failed [Chaos Space Marines] Mutilators 1 uses Crushing Charge to Re-roll the Charge Roll [Chaos Space Marines] Mutilators 1 Declares a Charge – Charge Failed [Chaos Space Marines] Chaos Lord in Terminator Armour + Chaos Terminator Squad Declares a Charge – Charge Succeeded [Chaos Space Marines] Chaos Lord in Terminator Armour + Chaos Terminator Squad Charges into Vertus Praetors 2 |
| Fight | [Adeptus Custodes] Blade Champion + Custodian Wardens 2 uses Living Fortress [Chaos Space Marines] Chaos Lord + Legionaries uses Chance for Glory [Chaos Space Marines] Chaos Lord + Legionaries uses Dark Pacts to select Sustained Hits [Chaos Space Marines] Chaos Lord + Legionaries Fights Venerable Contemptor Dreadnought and Destroys the Unit [Adeptus Custodes] Venerable Contemptor Dreadnought uses Unyielding Ancient to Stand Back Up at the end of the phase with 2 Wounds [Adeptus Custodes] Vertus Praetors 2 uses Counteroffensive for 2 CP [Adeptus Custodes] Vertus Praetors 2 uses Martial Ka’tah to select Dacatarai Stance for Sustained Hits [Adeptus Custodes] Vertus Praetors 2 Fights Chaos Lord in Terminator Armour + Chaos Terminator Squad and Kills 1 Model [Chaos Space Marines] Huron Blackheart + Masters of the Maelstrom + Chosen uses Dark Pacts to select Sustained Hits [Chaos Space Marines] Huron Blackheart + Masters of the Maelstrom + Chosen Fights Blade Champion + Custodian Wardens 2 and Destroys the Unit [Chaos Space Marines] Chaos Lord in Terminator Armour + Chaos Terminator Squad uses Dark Pacts to select Sustained Hits [Chaos Space Marines] Chaos Lord in Terminator Armour + Chaos Terminator Squad Fights Vertus Praetors 2 and Destroys the Unit |
| End of Turn | [Chaos Space Marines] Scores Secondary: A Tempting Target — 5 VP [Chaos Space Marines] Scores Secondary: Outflank — 5 VP [Chaos Space Marines] Scores Primary: Unstoppable Force — 6 VP |
| Score at End | 62 |
| CP at End | 1 |
CSM saw an opportunity to swing for the fences this turn and they decided to go for it. While they didn’t quite fully connect like they wanted to, it was still a big one.
Coming into the turn, CSM knew the Custodes were going to try to replicate Round 2’s game plan of brickwalling the center of the board and then using the Telemons to blow away a CSM Death Star unit on their turn. Rather than trying to avoid it, CSM again decided to lean into exactly what the Custodes wanted, but with enough force behind it to break them anyway. The plan was to push the Custodes off every midfield Objective while also getting Mutilators 1 engaged with a Telemon, so that it wouldn’t matter if the Custodes killed Huron’s unit on their turn as the knockout punch would have already been thrown.
From an execution perspective, the Movement and Shooting phases went great, with CSM doing more damage into the Blade Champion + Wardens than expected. The wheels came off in the Charge phase, though, where CSM rolled three straight snake eyes between Fabius Bile and Mutilators 1, including a re-roll of double 1’s into double 1’s on one of them. The Mutilators failing to connect turned what should have been a knockout punch into a solid body blow.
From a Custodes perspective, they’re not thrilled. They’re happy the Mutilators failed their charge and were expecting the Blade Champion + Wardens to die. They were also expecting to lose the Venerable Contemptor Dreadnought, so seeing it stand back up is a small win. The bigger issue is that Counteroffensive once again produced next to nothing, even after handing the Terminators 9 saves to make (they saved 7 of them). That’s now 4 CP over 2 Rounds spent on killing 2 models and it is mostly due to CSM over performing on Saving and Feel No Pain rolls at the most inconvenient time for the Custodes.
CSM has built a huge lead that the Custodes will need to press hard to claw back. Let’s see if they can do it or if this game turns into a blowout.
Board state in the middle of Round 3 is shown below.
Middle of Round 3
| Phase: | Go Second: Adeptus Custodes |
| Score at Start | 26 |
| CP at Start | 0 |
| Command | [Adeptus Custodes] Gains 1 Core CP [Chaos Space Marines] Gains 1 Core CP [Adeptus Custodes] Draws Secondaries: Beacon & A Tempting Target [Chaos Space Marines] picks Objective 5 as A Tempting Target [Adeptus Custodes] picks Vertus Praetors 1 as Beacon [Adeptus Custodes] Venerable Contemptor Dreadnought passes Battle-shock Test |
| Movement | [Adeptus Custodes] Witchseekers Ingress onto Objective 2 to Score [Adeptus Custodes] Prosecutors Makes a Normal Move towards the Board Edge to Score [Adeptus Custodes] Vertus Praetors 1 uses Take to the Skies [Adeptus Custodes] Vertus Praetors 1 Makes a Normal Move towards Objective 4 [Adeptus Custodes] Telemon Heavy Dreadnought 1 uses Unstoppable Advance for 1 CP [Adeptus Custodes] Telemon Heavy Dreadnought 1 Makes a Normal Move onto Objective 5 to Shoot [Chaos Space Marines] Huron Blackheart + Masters of the Maelstrom + Chosen uses Hamadrya’s Knowledge to Reactive Move towards Objective 2 [Chaos Space Marines] Mutilators 2 uses Rapid Ingress for 1 CP to Deep Strike near Objective 5 |
| Shooting | [Adeptus Custodes] Venerable Contemptor Dreadnought Shoots Chaos Lord + Legionaries and Kills 1 Model [Adeptus Custodes] Telemon Heavy Dreadnought 1 Shoots Huron Blackheart + Masters of the Maelstrom + Chosen and Kills 2 Models [Adeptus Custodes] Telemon Heavy Dreadnought 2 Shoots Huron Blackheart + Masters of the Maelstrom + Chosen and Kills 2 Models [Adeptus Custodes] Vertus Praetors 1 Shoots Huron Blackheart + Masters of the Maelstrom + Chosen and Kills 2 Models |
| Charge | [Adeptus Custodes] Venerable Contemptor Dreadnought Declares a Charge – Charge Succeeded [Adeptus Custodes] Venerable Contemptor Dreadnought Charges into Chaos Lord + Legionaries [Adeptus Custodes] Vertus Praetors 1 Declares a Charge – Charge Succeeded [Adeptus Custodes] Vertus Praetors 1 Charges into Huron Blackheart + Masters of the Maelstrom + Chosen |
| Fight | [Adeptus Custodes] Venerable Contemptor Dreadnought uses Martial Ka’tah to select Dacatarai Stance for Sustained Hits [Adeptus Custodes] Venerable Contemptor Dreadnought Fights Chaos Lord + Legionaries and Destroys the Unit [Adeptus Custodes] Vertus Praetors 1 uses Martial Ka’tah to select Dacatarai Stance for Sustained Hits [Adeptus Custodes] Vertus Praetors 1 Fights Huron Blackheart + Masters of the Maelstrom + Chosen and Kills 4 Models [Chaos Space Marines] Huron Blackheart + Masters of the Maelstrom + Chosen uses Dark Pacts to select Sustained Hits [Chaos Space Marines] Huron Blackheart + Masters of the Maelstrom + Chosen Fails Leadership Test and Suffers 2 Mortal Wounds [Chaos Space Marines] Huron Blackheart + Masters of the Maelstrom + Chosen Fights Vertus Praetors 1 and Kills 1 Model |
| End of Turn | [Adeptus Custodes] Scores Secondary: Outflank — 5 VP [Adeptus Custodes] Scores Secondary: Forward Position — 5 VP [Adeptus Custodes] Scores Secondary: A Tempting Target — 5 VP [Adeptus Custodes] Scores Primary: Immovable Object — 3 VP [Chaos Space Marines] Scores Secondary: Behind Enemy Lines — 3 VP |
| Score at End | 44 |
| CP at End | 0 |
The Custodes have a good, but not great turn. They score great on Secondaries and all but destroy Huron’s unit, which mostly clears the center. Unfortunately, it may not be enough, as CSM looks positioned to flood the center with yet another wave of bodies.
Coming into the turn, the Custodes saw another CSM “big swing” coming and knew they needed to do something drastic to avoid getting tabled. The plan was to use the Witchseekers and Prosecutors to score big on Secondaries, use the Venerable Contemptor Dreadnought to clear Objective 6, and then use the rest of the army to clear as much of the center of the board as possible to hold off the next rush.
From an execution perspective, it went well on the scoring side and the Venerable Contemptor Dreadnought did its part clearing Objective 6. Unfortunately the CP drain from the previous few turns really caught up with the Custodes here, as they didn’t have enough CP left to pump up the Telemons’ damage output. As a result, Huron is still alive on 1 Wound, took down a Vertus Praetor, and looks positioned to potentially kill the Vertus Praetors 1 next turn.
On the other side of the board, CSM feels great. They have Mutilators and Terminators positioned to rush the Custodes’ Dreadnoughts, and Huron and Bile are still up in the middle of the board. They’re heading into Round 4 looking to kill everything but the Witchseekers and Prosecutors.
Board state at the end of Round 3 is shown below.
End of Round 3
ROUND 4:
| Phase: | Go First: Chaos Space Marines |
| Score at Start | 65 |
| CP at Start | 1 |
| Command | [Chaos Space Marines] Gains 1 Core CP [Adeptus Custodes] Gains 1 Core CP [Adeptus Custodes] uses Martial Mastery to select 5+ Critical Hit [Chaos Space Marines] Draws Secondaries: Engage on All Fronts & Beacon [Chaos Space Marines] picks Chaos Lord in Terminator Armour + Chaos Terminator Squad as Beacon [Chaos Space Marines] Fabius Bile + Chosen fails Battle-shock Test [Chaos Space Marines] Huron Blackheart + Masters of the Maelstrom + Chosen passes Battle-shock Test [Chaos Space Marines] Mutilators 1 uses Insane Bravery for 1 CP [Chaos Space Marines] Scores Primary: Unstoppable Force — 4 VP |
| Movement | [Chaos Space Marines] Mutilators 2 Makes a Normal Move onto Objective 5 to Charge [Chaos Space Marines] Fabius Bile + Chosen Advances off Objective 5 [Chaos Space Marines] Chaos Rhino Makes a Normal Move towards Objective 2 to Shoot [Chaos Space Marines] Chaos Lord in Terminator Armour + Chaos Terminator Squad Advances towards Telemon Heavy Dreadnought 2 to Shoot and Charge [Chaos Space Marines] Chaos Lord in Terminator Armour + Chaos Terminator Squad uses Lord of Chaos on At the Tyrant’s Command [Chaos Space Marines] Chaos Lord in Terminator Armour + Chaos Terminator Squad uses At the Tyrant’s Command for 0 CP [Chaos Space Marines] Mutilators 1 Makes a Normal Move towards Objective 6 to Charge |
| Shooting | [Chaos Space Marines] Huron Blackheart + Masters of the Maelstrom + Chosen Shoots Vertus Praetors 1 and Kills 1 Model [Chaos Space Marines] Chaos Lord in Terminator Armour + Chaos Terminator Squad uses Dark Pacts to select Sustained Hits [Chaos Space Marines] Chaos Lord in Terminator Armour + Chaos Terminator Squad Shoots Telemon Heavy Dreadnought 2 and Deals 2 Damage [Chaos Space Marines] Obliterators uses Dark Pacts to select Sustained Hits [Chaos Space Marines] Obliterators Shoots Telemon Heavy Dreadnought 1 and Deals 3 Damage |
| Charge | [Chaos Space Marines] Mutilators 1 Declares a Charge – Charge Succeeded [Chaos Space Marines] Mutilators 1 Charges into Venerable Contemptor Dreadnought [Chaos Space Marines] Mutilators 2 Declares a Charge – Charge Succeeded [Chaos Space Marines] Mutilators 2 Charges into Telemon Heavy Dreadnought 1 [Chaos Space Marines] Mutilators 2 uses Crushing Charge to Deal 3 Mortal Wounds to Telemon Heavy Dreadnought 1 [Chaos Space Marines] Chaos Lord in Terminator Armour + Chaos Terminator Squad Declares a Charge – Charge Succeeded [Chaos Space Marines] Chaos Lord in Terminator Armour + Chaos Terminator Squad Charges into Telemon Heavy Dreadnought 2 |
| Fight | [Adeptus Custodes] Venerable Contemptor Dreadnought uses Flawless Construction for 1 CP [Chaos Space Marines] Mutilators 1 uses Dark Pacts to select Sustained Hits [Chaos Space Marines] Mutilators 1 Fails Leadership Test and Suffers 1 Mortal Wound [Chaos Space Marines] Mutilators 1 Fights Venerable Contemptor Dreadnought and Destroys the Unit [Chaos Space Marines] Mutilators 2 uses Dark Pacts to select Sustained Hits [Chaos Space Marines] Mutilators 2 Fights Telemon Heavy Dreadnought 1 and Destroys the Unit [Adeptus Custodes] Telemon Heavy Dreadnought 1 Explodes and Deals 3 Mortal Wounds to Mutilators 2 [Chaos Space Marines] Chaos Lord in Terminator Armour + Chaos Terminator Squad uses Dark Pacts to select Lethal Hits [Chaos Space Marines] Chaos Lord in Terminator Armour + Chaos Terminator Squad Fights Telemon Heavy Dreadnought 2 and Destroys the Unit [Adeptus Custodes] Telemon Heavy Dreadnought 2 Explodes and Deals 1 Mortal Wound to Chaos Lord in Terminator Armour + Chaos Terminator Squad [Chaos Space Marines] Huron Blackheart + Masters of the Maelstrom + Chosen Fights Vertus Praetors 1 and Destroys the Unit |
| End of Turn | [Chaos Space Marines] Scores Secondary: Engage on All Fronts — 3 VP [Chaos Space Marines] Scores Primary: Unstoppable Force — 6 VP |
| Score at End | 78 |
| CP at End | 2 |
CSM goes for the knockout and fully connects this time.
Coming into the turn, CSM knew this was the turn to put the Custodes away. They wanted to kill everything except the Prosecutors and Witchseekers and just needed to execute on it.
From an execution perspective, it went perfectly. All 3 Dreadnoughts and the Vertus Praetors died. The turn could not have gone any better for CSM.
On the other side of the board, the Custodes are in trouble. They may be able to barely squeak above 50 VP, but this is looking like an 18-2 or 19-1 blowout using WTC differential scoring.
Board state in the middle of Round 4 is shown below.
Middle of Round 4
| Phase: | Go Second: Adeptus Custodes |
| Score at Start | 44 |
| CP at Start | 0 |
| Command | [Adeptus Custodes] Gains 1 Core CP [Chaos Space Marines] Gains 1 Core CP [Adeptus Custodes] Draws Secondaries: Behind Enemy Lines & Secure No Man’s Land [Adeptus Custodes] uses New Orders for 1 CP [Adeptus Custodes] drops Secure No Man’s Land [Adeptus Custodes] Draws Secondaries: Overwhelming Force [Adeptus Custodes] Scores Primary: Immovable Object — 5 VP |
| Movement | [Adeptus Custodes] None |
| Shooting | [Adeptus Custodes] None |
| Charge | [Adeptus Custodes] None |
| Fight | [Adeptus Custodes] None |
| End of Turn | [Adeptus Custodes] Scores Secondary: Behind Enemy Lines — 3 VP [Adeptus Custodes] drops Beacon to gain 1 CP [Chaos Space Marines] Scores Secondary: Beacon — 5 VP |
| Score at End | 52 |
| CP at End | 1 |
The Custodes are barely hanging on and all they can do now is focus on points and getting above 50 VP to avoid a 20-0. They scored what they could and got above 50 VP, but just barely and the outlook for the rest of the game is not good.
Board state at the end of Round 4 is shown below.
End of Round 4
ROUND 5:
| Phase: | Go First: Chaos Space Marines |
| Score at Start | 80 |
| CP at Start | 2 |
| Command | [Chaos Space Marines] Gains 1 Core CP [Adeptus Custodes] Gains 1 Core CP [Chaos Space Marines] Draws Secondaries: Burden of Trust & Cleanse [Chaos Space Marines] picks Chaos Rhino to Guard Objective 2 [Chaos Space Marines] picks Chaos Lord in Terminator Armour + Chaos Terminator Squad to Guard Objective 1 [Chaos Space Marines] picks Mutilators 2 to Guard Objective 5 [Chaos Space Marines] picks Mutilators 1 to Guard Objective 6 [Chaos Space Marines] picks Obliterators to Guard Objective 4 [Chaos Space Marines] Mutilators 1 passes Battle-shock Test [Chaos Space Marines] Fabius Bile + Chosen passes Battle-shock Test [Chaos Space Marines] Huron Blackheart + Masters of the Maelstrom + Chosen fails Battle-shock Test |
| Movement | [Chaos Space Marines] Chaos Rhino Makes a Normal Move onto Objective 2 [Chaos Space Marines] Chaos Lord in Terminator Armour + Chaos Terminator Squad uses Lord of Chaos on At the Tyrant’s Command [Chaos Space Marines] Chaos Lord in Terminator Armour + Chaos Terminator Squad uses At the Tyrant’s Command for 0 CP [Chaos Space Marines] Chaos Lord in Terminator Armour + Chaos Terminator Squad Advances onto Objective 1 |
| Shooting | [Chaos Space Marines] Chaos Rhino uses Dark Pacts to select Sustained Hits [Chaos Space Marines] Chaos Rhino Shoots Witchseekers and Destroys the Unit [Chaos Space Marines] Chaos Lord in Terminator Armour + Chaos Terminator Squad uses Dark Pacts to select Sustained Hits [Chaos Space Marines] Chaos Lord in Terminator Armour + Chaos Terminator Squad Shoots Prosecutors and Destroys the Unit |
| Charge | [Chaos Space Marines] None |
| Fight | [Chaos Space Marines] None |
| End of Turn | [Chaos Space Marines] Scores Secondary: Cleanse — 5 VP [Chaos Space Marines] Scores Primary: Unstoppable Force — 15 VP |
| Score at End | 100 |
| CP at End | 3 |
And that’s game, as CSM completes their knockout and tables the Custodes on route to a perfect 100 VP.
Board state in the middle of Round 5 is shown below.
Middle of Round 5
| Phase: | Go Second: Adeptus Custodes |
| Score at Start | 52 |
| CP at Start | 1 |
| Command | [Adeptus Custodes] None |
| Movement | [Adeptus Custodes] None |
| Shooting | [Adeptus Custodes] None |
| Charge | [Adeptus Custodes] None |
| Fight | [Adeptus Custodes] None |
| End of Turn | [Chaos Space Marines] Scores Secondary: Burden of Trust — 5 VP [Chaos Space Marines] Scores Primary: Unstoppable Force — 5 VP for holding 1+ Central Objective at the End of the Battle |
| Score at End | 52 |
| CP at End | 2 |
No changes from the middle of Round 5. Board state at the end of the game is shown below.
End of Round 5
RESULT:
Singles Format: 100 – 52 CSM WIN
WTC Teams Format: 19-1 CSM WIN
GAME REVIEW:
Narratively, Unstoppable Force beat Immovable Object soundly as CSM ran through the Custodes on the way to a sounding 100-52 win.
CSM played a strong, disciplined game. They stuck to their win condition of using the Death Star units to bully the Wardens and Vertus Praetors while positioning the Mutilators as an imminent threat to the Dreadnoughts. They also used superior speed and mobility to spread the Custodes thin and to force the matchups CSM wanted rather than the ones Custodes were set up for. Lastly, CSM consistently spread damage across both the Shooting and Fight phases each round rather than committing everything to one swing, which was a deliberate answer to the Wardens’ once-per-game Living Fortress Feel No Pain, since neither Wardens unit that popped it actually survived the fight it was used in.
From the Custodes’ side, this was partly a detachment power issue and mostly a self-inflicted resource problem. Pairing Might of the Moritoi with Shield Host meant giving up the Fight-on-Death stratagem ability that Lions of the Emperor would have provided. Between lacking that option and the CSM ability to do just enough damage in shooting, Custodes’ mistimed their Living Fortress usage and then felt pressured into multiple uses of the Counteroffensive stratagem. Even worse, these CP usages were invested on a small amount of kills that didn’t meaningfully swing the game. That CP drain was then felt when it was needed later for buffing the Telemons’ damage output when it mattered and the result was that neither Huron Blackheart nor Fabius Bile ever went down, even after direct, repeated attention from the army’s heaviest guns.
The Custodes’ Deployment compounded there issues. With the plan already telegraphed (a central CSM push was always coming), the Venerable Contemptor Dreadnought and Vertus Praetors could have screened the center while the Telemons held firing lines, freeing the Wardens units to press the expansion objectives instead. This could have been used to to build a high Primary floor and force CSM to decide whether contesting those objectives was worth the trade. It might not have changed the result, but it likely keeps the final score far closer than 100-52.
POST-GAME EVALUATION:
Chaos Space Marines
| Category | Rating | Notes |
| Strategic – List Development | 5 — Worked Great | Worked exactly as designed. |
| Strategic – Force Disposition / Detachment | 5 — Worked Great | Worked exactly as designed. |
| Strategic – Win Condition | 5 — Worked Great | Followed win condition to a blowout win. |
| Strategic – Game Focus Area | 5 — Worked Great | Mutilator placement was a huge part of the late game push. |
| Strategic – Deployment | 5 — Worked Great | Deployment supported the win condition and led to solid gameplay. |
| Tactical – Movement / Positioning | 5 — Worked Great | Only potential issue was Mutilators 1’s Rapid Ingress nearly getting shot off the board, but even that ended up working out. |
| Tactical – Target Priority / Sequencing | 5 — Worked Great | Excelled here, mixing in just enough ranged shooting damage to play around Living Fortress. Obliterator usage was especially clutch. |
| Tactical – CP Usage | 5 — Worked Great | Had more than enough CP and used Lord of Chaos to further augment their CP economy. |
| Tactical – Primary Scoring | 5 — Worked Great | Maxed Primary VP and would have kept scoring if not for hitting the cap. |
| Tactical – Secondary Scoring | 5 — Worked Great | Maxed out Secondary VP scoring. |
Adeptus Custodes
| Category | Rating | Notes |
| Strategic – List Development | 4 — Mostly Worked | Worked well; most mistakes appear to be deployment or CP management. |
| Strategic – Force Disposition / Detachment | 4 — Mostly Worked | Worked well but really felt the lack of a Fight-on-Death stratagem. |
| Strategic – Win Condition | 3 — Mixed | Win condition did not properly specify which objectives to prioritize, which led to deployment and gameplay issues. |
| Strategic – Game Focus Area | 3 — Mixed | The focus area was accurately called out, but the execution was lacking. |
| Strategic – Deployment | 1 — Didn’t Work | Deployment did not prioritize the correct objectives and played directly into CSM’s win condition. |
| Tactical – Movement / Positioning | 3 — Mixed | Movement didn’t help them, but it wasn’t the core problem — deployment and CP usage were. |
| Tactical – Target Priority / Sequencing | 4 — Mostly Worked | Picked the right targets but lacked the CP to buff the Telemons when it mattered most for clearing the central objectives. |
| Tactical – CP Usage | 1 — Didn’t Work | This is where the game turned from a loss into a blowout. Overspending on Counteroffensive for minimal return was a game-losing mistake. |
| Tactical – Primary Scoring | 2 — Mostly Didn’t Work | Incorrectly focused on controlling 1 central objective per turn instead of running up points by controlling multiple midfield objectives via the expansions and CSM’s home objective. |
| Tactical – Secondary Scoring | 3 — Mixed | Secondary scoring itself wasn’t the main issue; losing units to bad trades before they could score secondaries was. |
EARNED THEMSELF A NAME:
Huron Blackheart + Masters of the Maelstrom + Chosen. They took down three enemy units across the game while surviving direct, repeated attention from the Custodes’ heaviest hitters.
Honorable Mention: Obliterators — the ranged shooting damage into the Wardens that let CSM work around Living Fortress.
MAGNUS OF THE GAME:
The Custodes’ pilot, for their CP usage and deployment decisions. Their two Counteroffensive investments (4 CP for 2 models across Rounds 2-3) are the clearest single trace of the resource mismanagement that decided the game.
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