Sentinel Guard Squad

A Legio Custodes Sentinel Guard Squad

A Sentinel Guard Squad was a tactical formation of the ancient Legio Custodes Hykanatoi caste -- the main body of the Custodian Guard -- which specialised in defensive fighting as an unbreakable bulwark against enemy assault. This formation was deployed during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy eras. It is unknown if Sentinel Guard Squads are still in use by the Adeptus Custodes in the 41st Millennium.

Role

Sentinel Guard Squads were the defensive formations of the Legio Custodes, designed to function as a mobile bulwark to protect emissaries on hazardous ground and hold defensive lines against the most grievous onslaught in open battle. In order to achieve this, they were equipped with energy field-reinforced Praesidium Shields -- a precursor technology to that later employed by the prototype Legiones Astartes Storm Shields -- which were able to resist the heaviest weapons fire.

When deployed outside the walls of the Imperial Palace, their charge was often to protect key aspects of allied detachments and resources liberated from the enemy. However, it had been witnessed during large-scale sudden assaults that their close formations also served to disrupt enemy lines. While they still retained the loose unit structures of the Legio Custodes, the Sentinel Guard by their nature utilised a greater synchronicity between Custodians in service to the various phalanx formations, and this could be required of the squad at any given moment.

Unit Composition

• 3-10 Sentinel Guards

Wargear

• Custodian Armour

• Sentinel Warblade

• Close Combat Weapon (Any type as replacement for Sentinel Warblade, Guardian Spears were often favoured)

• Refractor Field

• Praesidium Shield

• Plasma Grenades

• Krak Grenades

Optional Wargear

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

• Melta Bombs

• Arae-Shrikes

• Teleportation Transponders

Any member of the Sentinel Guard Squad may replace their Sentinel Warblade with the following:

• Solerite Power Gauntlet or Solerite Power Talon

One member of the Sentinel Guard Squad may exchange their Praesidium Shield for the following:

• Magisterium Vexilla

Dedicated Transport

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

Sources

• The Horus Heresy Book Seven: Inferno (Forge World Series) by Alan Bligh, pp. 116, 120, 265