Tenth Edition Adeptus Custodes

In Warhammer 40,000, the Adeptus Custodes are the Emperor’s personal guard and as such are pure artists at melee combat. Their fighting forms are based around stances called Martial Ka’tahs, and the new rules reflect this orientation.

Army Rule: Martial Ka’tah

The Kaptaris stance makes it harder to get hit, while the Dacatarai stance and the Rendax stance each improve your own hits. Dacatari provides the Sustained Hits 1 ability, which means a critical hit results in an additional hit. Rendax confers Lethal Hits to melee weapons, which causes criticals to automatically wound.

Detachment Rule: Shield Host

Shield Host gives your models a Feel No Pain 4+ save against mortal wounds, making them harder to kill.

Trajann Valoris

Valoris has a powerful ability, Moment Shackle, narratively allowing him to alter the flow of time. It can only be used once per game, but gives a powerful offensive or defensive surge during a single fight phase.

Allarus Custodes

The From Golden Light ability gives Allarus Custodians supreme mobility, allowing them to leave the battlefield and re-enter during a Reinforcements step.

Prosecutors

Prosecutors are powerful anti-psykers, via their Purity Of Execution ability. Precision allows them to target leaders who would normally be hidden within a squad, while Devastating Wounds scores a Critical Wound, inflicting Mortal Wounds equal to the damage stat, ignoring armor and invulnerable saves.

Executioner Greatblade

The Executioner Greatblade has Anti-Psyker 4+ as well as Devastating Wounds.

Stratagem: Vigil Unending

The Vigil Unending stratagem gives you the opportunity to restore a destroyed model back to life, although it can only be used once per unit, per game. This is certainly helpful for an army that is usually going to wind up fielding a smaller number of models.