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I've been out of the hobby now for a few years and would like something fresh and exciting to get me back into the swing of things.

I already have small SM and Guard armies so ideally the new army would be used as an allied force until it is large enough to be used by itself.

I was intrigued by the prospect of around 1000pts of:

-The discontinued guard armies; Mordian, Tallarn, Valhallan in particular. The lack of special weapons and HQ choices is a stumbling block and just jamming Cadian models in wouldn't be ideal.

-Adeptus Arbites, something I'd looked at before but I'd have no idea how to make it function.

I'm no good with Green Stuff and have little experience with conversions so please keep that in mind.

All in all, I'm looking for suggestions and guidance on how to get any of these ideas of the ground.

My thanks in advance.

Victoria miniatures has some lines that look amazingly 'not' discontinued GW Imperial Guard. They can help you there.

Arbites I have no clue, unfortunately, short of trawling eBay, or searching for some less then legal recreations, the implications of which should speak for themselves.

All I've got sorry, hope it's some help.

Yeah, Victoria Minis can do a good (albeit expensive) job of supplying the "filler" models in your force if you're looking for Mordians (and old Cadians, Tanith, and Praetorians too). If you're patient and vigilant, you can snag the old school metal models for good deals on EBay.

That was definitely one of the sticking points with those of us who played IGuard back in the day. None of the ranges had models for all of the special and heavy weapons originally (several never got them at all).

Arbites... well good luck doing that without a four figure investment. If you manage, I'll be jealous, lol.

It was actually pointed out to me by a player at my FLGS that the Vostroyan Firstborn Squad is probably the best deal for IG troops because it includes a HB heavy weapons team.

Thanks for the replies, I feel a small inquisitorial force might be cheaper and more appropriate, and easier to obtain!

I have big armies of both Valhallans and OOP Space Marines/Cadians (links in my signature) and it's honestly not that difficult or that much more expensive to build those armies. Arbites would be prohibitively expensive, but you can do pretty well through second hand services like eBay or Dakka's Swap Shop. Even then, the old IG armies had plenty of special weapons, there was just one missing per regiment (namely Valhallan plasma guns, Cadian grenade launchers, Mordian plasma guns, Tallarn flamers) and the rest are easier to find than lasgun troopers in many cases.

Valhallans were a bigger possibility than some of the others due to the availability of their special weapons, and I have always had an affinity for that grizzled Soviet look!

And why is it, may I ask, that Arbites are so horrendously expensive? Is it the limited availability of models? Could you not supplement heavily with converted scouts?