Solar Spearhead: The 11th-Edition Custodes Vehicle and Walker Detachment

Three components, and most write-ups only mention the first.

Auric Armour, the headline rule, scales with damage:

• While an ADEPTUS CUSTODES VEHICLE unit is at Starting Strength, unless it is an AIRCRAFT or it is Battle-shocked, add 2 to the Objective Control characteristic of models in that unit.
• While such a unit is below Starting Strength, each time a model in it makes an attack, re-roll a Hit roll of 1.
• While such a unit is Below Half-strength, re-roll a Hit roll of 1 and re-roll a Wound roll of 1.

Read the shape of that. Undamaged, you get scoring; damaged, you get accuracy. It is a rule that pays you in whichever currency your situation needs, and the +2 Objective Control on a full-strength vehicle is a bigger deal than it looks in an army whose model count makes holding objectives hard.

Moritoi Ancients, the second rule, is the one that decides your list-building: add 2 inches to the Move characteristic of models in ADEPTUS CUSTODES WALKER units and add 1 to Advance and Charge rolls made for such units. That is word for word the whole of Might of the Moritoi's detachment rule, contained inside this one. It is why the two share the ARMOURY tag, and it is why taking both would buy you nothing even if it were legal.

Keywords, the third component, is the reason to pay 2 DP rather than 1: in the Muster Armies step, you can select up to 2 ADEPTUS CUSTODES WALKER models from your army, and the selected units gain the CHARACTER keyword. The pack prints a designer's note making the consequence explicit: those models can be given Enhancements, and one of them can be selected as your Warlord.

That is not available anywhere else in the faction. A Telemon Heavy Dreadnought carrying Augury Uplink for a 5+ Feel No Pain, or a Contemptor-Achillus carrying Adamantine Talisman for +1 Attack, Strength and Damage, exists only here.

Six, all 1CP, and notice how many of them are not restricted to vehicles, which is what makes this playable as a mixed list rather than a pure armour list.

• Flawless Construction (opponent's Shooting or the Fight). Just after an enemy selects targets, target one ADEPTUS CUSTODES VEHICLE unit among them; each time an attack targets a model in it, if the attack's Strength is greater than your unit's Toughness, subtract 1 from the Wound roll. Might of the Moritoi prints a stratagem of the same name restricted to Walkers, which is the clearest sign the two detachments are alternatives.
• Unstoppable (your Movement or Charge). Target one VEHICLE or MOUNTED unit; each time a model in it makes a move it can move through terrain features. On large-based vehicles in 11th edition terrain this is frequently worth more than any damage stratagem, because it converts an impossible charge lane into a real one.
• Relentless Persecution (your Movement). Just after a VEHICLE unit Advances, it is eligible to shoot that turn; if it has the WALKER keyword, it is eligible to shoot and declare a charge instead. Stack that with Moritoi Ancients and an advancing Dreadnought has a genuinely long threat range while still shooting on the way in. This is the best turn this detachment produces.
• Punishment Inescapable (your Shooting). Target one Custodes unit that has not shot; its ranged weapons have [IGNORES COVER], and you can ignore any or all modifiers to Ballistic Skill and to the Hit roll. Two defences stripped at once, and it is not restricted to vehicles.
• Emperor's Vengeance (the Fight). Just after an enemy selects targets, each destroyed model in your unit that has not fought rolls a D6, adding 1 if your unit has the WALKER keyword; on a 4+ it fights before being removed. On a walker that is a 3+ to swing back with a Dreadnought's full attacks.
• Wrathful Advance (the Fight). Just before a Custodes unit Piles In, each model can pile in up to D3+3 inches instead of 3. Also not vehicle-restricted, and it is how you drag more enemy models into contact with a Dreadnought that is about to swing.

The habit to build: Relentless Persecution is your engine; plan the turn you spend it. Hold a point for Flawless Construction on whichever vehicle is about to be focused.

Four, and the Keywords rule is what makes two of them special, because a Walker promoted to CHARACTER becomes a legal bearer.

• Augury Uplink (35 pts). ADEPTUS CUSTODES model only. The bearer has the Feel No Pain 5+ ability. The most expensive enhancement in the detachment, and the flagship use of the Keywords rule: on a promoted Telemon it stacks a 5+ Feel No Pain onto a profile that is already the hardest thing in the faction to remove.
• Adamantine Talisman (25 pts). ADEPTUS CUSTODES model only. Improve the Attacks, Strength and Damage characteristics of the bearer's melee weapons by 1. Also legal on a promoted Walker, and on a Dreadnought's melee profile the flat +1 Damage is the half that matters most.
• Honoured Fallen (Aura) (15 pts). ADEPTUS CUSTODES VEHICLE model only. While a friendly Custodes INFANTRY or MOUNTED unit is within 6 inches of the bearer, each time a model in that unit makes an attack, re-roll a Hit roll of 1. The one enhancement that pays your infantry rather than your tanks, and it wants a vehicle that intends to sit near the line rather than race ahead of it.
• Veteran of the Kataphraktoi (10 pts). ADEPTUS CUSTODES INFANTRY or MOUNTED model only, so this one goes on a foot Character rather than a tank. In your Command phase, select one Custodes VEHICLE or MOUNTED unit within 6 inches; until your next Command phase it is eligible to shoot in a turn in which it Fell Back. Cheap, and it solves the specific problem of a grav-tank getting tied up in combat by a cheap unit.

A planning note. Augury Uplink and Adamantine Talisman both say ADEPTUS CUSTODES model only, which is broad, so they will go on whatever Character you have. The Keywords rule is what turns that from a Shield-Captain into a Dreadnought, and taking the detachment without using it is leaving the best part on the table.

(Points come from the Munitorum Field Manual and move with updates; confirm in the app.)

• Telemon Heavy Dreadnought is the best target for the Keywords rule, because a promoted Telemon carrying Augury Uplink is the most durable single model the faction can field. Reprinted in full in Faction Pack v1.1.
• Contemptor-Achillus Dreadnought is the melee walker and the other natural Character promotion. Moritoi Ancients gives it the same movement and charge bonus the dedicated Dreadnought detachment does, for free, inside this one.
• Caladius Grav-tank is the gun platform Auric Armour is written for, and a unit whose Objective Control jumps by 2 per model while undamaged. Reprinted in full by the pack.
• Coronus Grav-carrier carries your infantry alongside the armoured push and adds another Starting Strength body for the Objective Control clause.
• Venerable Land Raider is the heavy transport, and one of the datasheets Faction Pack v1.1 errata by adding the FRAME keyword, so check the current entry before you build.
• Custodian Guard are the infantry Honoured Fallen pays, and the bodies an armoured list still needs for objectives a tank cannot reach.
• Shield-Captain is INFANTRY, which is exactly what Veteran of the Kataphraktoi requires, so he is the model that keeps a grav-tank shooting after it disengages.

One buying note, and it is the same one as on the Dreadnought page. The Telemon, both Contemptor patterns, the Caladius, the Coronus and the Venerable Land Raider have no 40k entry in our catalog, so we link no box for them. Our Legio Custodes boxes are Horus Heresy kits and do not build these 40k datasheets. See the army page for the full roster.

Solar Spearhead (2 DP) + Might of the Moritoi (1 DP) costs exactly 3 DP, a full Strike Force budget, and it is the most attractive Custodes list anybody can draw on paper.

It is illegal. Both carry the ARMOURY tag, and no two detachments in your army may share a Unique Tag. Faction Pack v1.1 states the tag inside the Might of the Moritoi rule text, and the Munitorum Field Manual v1.3 and Wahapedia both record UNIQUE: ARMOURY on both detachments.

And it would be pointless even without the tag, which is the part worth understanding. This detachment's Moritoi Ancients rule and the whole of Might of the Moritoi's March of the Honoured Dead are the same effect written twice: +2 inches Move and +1 to Advance and Charge rolls for ADEPTUS CUSTODES WALKER units. You would be spending a Detachment Point to buy something already inside the detachment you took. Both pages also print a 1CP stratagem called Flawless Construction, one scoped to Vehicles and one to Walkers, which is the second signal that these are alternatives.

So which should you take? The honest answer depends on how much of your army is armoured:

• Take Solar Spearhead (2 DP) when the armour is the army. You get the walker mobility rule for free, plus vehicle-wide Objective Control and escalating re-rolls, six stratagems instead of three, four enhancements instead of two, and the Keywords rule that promotes two Walkers to Characters. That last one is unique in the faction.
• Take Might of the Moritoi (1 DP) when Dreadnoughts are a component of a list that is really about something else, and you want your other 2 DP for an anchor that solves a different problem.

We never suggest the pairing anywhere on this site, in either direction. If you want a partner for Solar Spearhead, Silent Hunters (1 DP) is the right answer and it is covered below.

Take it when you own Custodes vehicles and walkers in numbers and want them to be the centre of the list rather than support pieces, and when the idea of a Dreadnought Warlord carrying a relic appeals to you, because that is the thing only this detachment offers.

Be clear-eyed about the limits. The Auric Armour rule names VEHICLE, and Moritoi Ancients names WALKER, so your Custodian Guard, Allarus and Sisters sit outside both. The AIRCRAFT exclusion on the Objective Control clause means your Ares Gunship and Orion Assault Dropship are not scoring pieces. And the detachment shares the ARMOURY tag, so it locks out the one 1-DP detachment a walker player would otherwise reach for.

The structural weakness is the one every vehicle army has: tanks cannot run secondary actions and cannot afford to stand still on an objective. That is why our recommended partner is Silent Hunters (1 DP). Sisters of Silence that can advance and still start an action supply exactly what an armoured list lacks, and Silent Hunters carries no Unique Tag, so there is no conflict with ARMOURY.

Sample gameplan: promote a Telemon and a Contemptor-Achillus with the Keywords rule in the Muster Armies step, put Augury Uplink on the Telemon and make it your Warlord. Advance with Relentless Persecution so a Walker shoots and charges out of an Advance, use Unstoppable to take a route through terrain your opponent thought was safe, and hold a point for Flawless Construction. Meanwhile your Sisters advance onto the far objectives and start the actions the mission is asking for.

For the fundamentals underneath all of it, read the Adeptus Custodes army guide.