Sagittarum Guard Squad

A Sagittarum Guard of the Legio Custodes armed with a deadly Adrastus Bolt Caliver.

A Sagittarum Guard Squad, whose individual Custodians were known as Sagittarum, was a less-common formation utilised by the Legio Custodes, the elite bodyguard of the Emperor of Mankind, during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy in the 30th and 31st Millennia.

Serving as a part of the Tharanatoi caste that were Custodes' heavy shock troops, the Sagittarum Guard utilised potent portable firepower, whose weapons included those few dark relics known as Adrathic Weapons -- disintegration beams of phenomenal destructive potential, long gathered to the Emperor's household and entrusted to no other.

Squads of Sagittarum Custodians still serve in the Adeptus Custodes of the Era Indomitus in the 41st Millennium.

Role

Though less common within the ranks of the Legio Custodes than their peers, those warriors who comprised the Sagittarum Guard Sodalities nevertheless fulfilled a number of vital roles within the Custodians' order of battle. Their art of war, in contrast to the rest of the Custodian Guard, was focussed on slaying the foe primarily at distance and upon the devastating application of firepower on the battlefield.

In addition to this, the Sagittarum had entered legend as the hawk-sighted sentries of the Terran walls, charged with vigilance over the external borders of the Imperial Palace in ready anticipation of attack. Through solar decades of duty, their ability to recall movement patterns, faces and speech even standard years after the original incident was honed even more so than that of their peers, and as such their enhanced ability to analyse crowds for anticipated response grew in import upon the battlefields of the Great Crusade.

That oversight cultivated on the walls of the Imperial Palace served to ensure that their presence among the detachments of the Emperor's guard was tailored to precisely excise the greatest threats of the enemy assault, annihilating it in the actinic fire of weapons the likes of which had not been seen in such concentration since the dreaded Dark Age of Technology.

Unit Composition

• 3-10 Sagittarum Guard (Great Crusade and Horus Heresy eras)

• 3-5 Sagittarum Custodians (41st Millennium)

Wargear

• Custodes Armour

• Adrastus Bolt Caliver

• Misericordia

• Refractor Field (Horus Heresy era only)

• Plasma Grenades (Horus Heresy era only)

Optional Wargear

The entire Sagittarum Guard Squad may be equipped with any of the following options:

• Melta Bombs (Horus Heresy era only)

• Arae-Shrikes (Horus Heresy era only)

• Teleportation Transponders (Horus Heresy era only)

One member of the Sagittarum Guard Squad may exchange their Adrastus Bolt Caliver for the following:

• Adrathic Destructor (Horus Heresy era only)

• Magisterium Vexilla (Horus Heresy era only)

Dedicated Transport

A Coronus Grav-Carrier often served as a dedicated transport for a Sagittarum Guard Squad if they numbered six Custodians or less.

Sources

• The Horus Heresy - Book Seven: Inferno (Forge World Series) by Alan Bligh, pp. 116, 277
• Forge World Webstore - Legio Custodes Sagittarum Guard
• Forge World Custodes Datasheets