Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Just a quick couple of question I hope you guys can answer
What kind of support vechiles should they use like basalisks, hellhound and their ilk?
Would they have a dedicated Air Force of Valkyrie's or marauders?
Bearing in mind fluff says they have enough to wage a small war and finally would there be more than one precinct per world or would there be one in each hive?

Cheers in advance

T

They're cops, so Rhinos and Rhino-variants would be the norm. They might have a crowd-suppression variant of a Russ, but I imagine that is much easier to do with a Gorgon or a Chimera.

Airpower is probably the heaviest it gets at a Valk. There are bunches of lighter aircraft that they simply don't have models or rules for (not every helicopter is an Apache, after all), but these are the sorts of things that I expect the Arbites to deploy in normal operations. The Valkyries are probably reserved for SWAT deployments.

It is possible to have more than one precinct per world, though some worlds have only 1 Arbiter. So it can go either way.

Canonically, Arbites use Rhinos, Repressors and Razorbacks armed with water cannons, nothing heavier.

That said, Repressors are pretty heavy duty.

Would they use anything like a hellhound with a water cannon?
What about if its a fully fledged rebellion or an invasion?

Why would they use a hellhound when they have the same gun mounted on a Razorback?

In case of a full rebellion or invasion, the PDF will be deployed and martial law declared. Arbites units might be used in support of those elements, but they won't gain more gear of their own.

Mkay cheers,
What about the swat units would they be armed for lethal engagements with lasguns or would they prefer rubber bullets sort of thing?

All Arbites are equipped like Judge Dredd, so they would have access to both lethal and non-lethal weaponry. All depends on if they want a suspect alive or dead.

The shock-baton can be tuned to maximum lethality anyway, so they are fairly well-equipped to handle almost any foe.

Favoured Arbites weapons are shock mails, autopistols and shotguns. They wear carapace armour as a matter of course, and are often accompanied by cyber mastiffs.

Would the arbitrators have units under their command or would they be one man units? How many arbites would there be per world?

The Arbites are their own Adeptus, so would not command other Adeptus groups, though under certain circumstances they might have an officer in overall command of a theater of operations... this would be very, very rare, though.

Arbites can number anywhere from 1 to a few thousand per world. All depends on the planet.

So a productive hive world would have more like 1000?

Several hundreds to a thousand or more, sure. All depends on the specifics of the world.

During a rebellion that could threaten the world and the PDF is indisposed would the arbites be employed to protect certain areas like their precinct or would they be patrolling?

The Arbites are not beat-cops. They don't patrol the red-light district, busting pimps and petty crooks. They enforce the law of the Imperium, which is things like "tithe your Psykers to the Black Ships", "venerate the Immortal Emperor" and "Render your tithe unto the Administratum". They also prosecute people for having trade in Xeno or Corrupted goods and services, and those who engage in certain heretical acts that threaten the stability of a planet (and, thus, its tithe).

So in the event of a major rebellion that is threatening the stability of the world, they will be the front-line soldiers in putting down said rebellion, especially if the PDF is, for some reason, not present.

I suggest reading the Shira Calpurnia novels and FFGs Dark Heresy: Book of Judgement for (near)-canonical answers.

Cheers for all the answers just one last quick one
If the marshal of the court is the galaxy spanning leader than what would the planetary overseer be for a single planet?

A High-Marshal or Proctor , I would say.

Okay thanks for all the answers guys

Arbites also make use of Land Speeders in the Eisenhorn books (so might have changed since).

There's all kinds of hover-cars and Star Wars-like (and other-IP-like) speeders in the setting, based on the world you find yourself on, not just the Space Marine Land Speeder (which is, itself, loosely based on the speeder Luke Skywalker gets around on Tattooine on in Star Wars). Being that the Arbites are a mix of all kinds of space-cops, they'd have all kinds of cop-cars, whether they fly, float, or get around on tank-tracks. Some even ride horses on frontier worlds, if you want to go 1880s Texas Rangers style with your Arbites.

So fielding a few Land Speeders on the tabletop would not be out of the question for an Arbites army.

Not to mention hovertanks: There was an (official) article on using vehicles in Inquisitor which featured an Arbites Heavy Patrol Tank - which was a kitbashed Star Wars Trade Federation tank.

 Furyou Miko wrote:
In case of a full rebellion or invasion, the PDF will be deployed and martial law declared. Arbites units might be used in support of those elements

Unless of course the PDF is the one rebelling, which it falls to the Arbites to deal with if possible.

Food for thought, Codex Imperialis page 34:
"The fighting forces of the Adeptus Arbites are the Arbitrators, warriors of justice, the militant arm of the Judges. These warriors are many and well armed, capable of fighting a limited war if need be, and of transporting themselves through space in their own ships. For the Judges trust no-one they may be called to judge, and can find themselves fighting rebellious Warmasters of the Imperial Guard, or chasing treacherous Admirals of the Fleet. More often it is traitors amongst the planetary lords who are the Arbitrators' foe."

 Psienesis wrote:
There's all kinds of hover-cars and Star Wars-like (and other-IP-like) speeders in the setting, based on the world you find yourself on, not just the Space Marine Land Speeder (which is, itself, loosely based on the speeder Luke Skywalker gets around on Tattooine on in Star Wars). Being that the Arbites are a mix of all kinds of space-cops, they'd have all kinds of cop-cars, whether they fly, float, or get around on tank-tracks. Some even ride horses on frontier worlds, if you want to go 1880s Texas Rangers style with your Arbites.

So fielding a few Land Speeders on the tabletop would not be out of the question for an Arbites army.

Cool. I'd seen a neat "Arbites Patrol [Hover] Car" model a while back but then read the Land Speeder fluff, and it was full of "this tech is so super rare nobody but the Arbites gets it." I take it that's overstated?

Anti-grav tech is a funny thing in the setting. It's fairly common on some worlds, and entirely fictional on others. While the Land Speeder itself is supposedly some bit of rare, ancient tech, the Imperium still manages to build new space ships that are several kilometers long with artificial gravity systems. Then there are the suspensor units they equip all kinds of heavy weapons with to allow people who are not Bricky McLargehuge to wield effectively, so such technologies are not *that* rare in those areas of the Imperium where such things exist.

Plus, if you look at a movie like Bladerunner, they use anti-grav/vector thrust vehicles to ride around in, and that's perfect for a Hive World Arbiter. It might not be true anti-grav, but is close enough to meet the look and application (since they're landing those cars in busy streets and not throwing people and cars around like a Harrier jump-jet would).

Okaay so a central precinct is likely to be quite large if it can hold such a large amount of people and vechiles

On a large world, yes. The Fortress-Precinct is going to be, well, Fortress-like. Huge and imposing, being intimidating just to look at, which helps keep the planet's population in line. In the event of a planetary uprising or Xeno invasion, such Fortress-Precincts often become islands in the storm of war, strongholds against which the tides of recidivists and heretics or Xenos and Daemons, break themselves.