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So I picked up a bunch of 2nd edition Adeptus Arbites and it got me once again thinking of doing an AA army. So I'm posting a first draft on how they might be used in 40k v8. Obviously Kill Team is probably the best home for an AA force these days, but that will have to wait till I actually read those rules

Any comments or thoughts?

HISTORY

The Adeptus Arbites is one of the original factions presented in Rogue Trader and had models from the earliest days of the game. The appeal is obvious, just like Space Vikings, Space Romans and Space Mongols, Space SWAT teams holding that thin blue line between order and chaos has an obvious appeal. Plus the Arbites are both a paramilitary force pursing criminals and the Imperiums last line of defense when a world is invaded or turns rogue. The Imperial Guard and the Space Marines aren't coming until the Arbites call for them (and probably die to the last officer defending their fortress precinct).

The AA had official lists in 2nd and 3rd, appeared as a footnote in the Witch Hunters book, and you could do a pretty decent job of them around 6th and 7th editions with shotgun/carapace IG vets or Inquisition acolyes. But now...

8TH EDITION

8th has removed a lot of those options but some remain, the 3 main ones being IG, Marines and Inquisition.

Ideally an AA army list should have access to some of their iconic units. Guys in carapace armor with shot guns or bolters. Guys with shields and wacking sticks. Bikes, Chimeras, Rhinos. Characters who can kick ass and take names.

Plus there are some extras most of us would want, penal legions, sentinels, psi judges,

While home brew rules are always possible, they're not going to be universally accepted so I prefer to find ways to make a counts as army. None of the existing codexes will be perfect but some will more or less work. So what are the options?

IMPERIAL GUARD

In 8th the IG have lost a lot of options, the only units that still have access to 4+ saves are Tempestus. That's actually not a bad option, their Hot Shot/Hellguns have an 18" range and -2 saves, but that can be explained as Arbites riot guns/shot cannons/executioner shotguns being better than the common shotgun. They have tons of special weapons and the Volley Gun can serve as some kind of heavy stubber. The rest of the IG list can cover some of the other AA units, normal troops or vets for Penal Legions, Crusaders for Shock Teams and Hellhounds or Punishers for riot control vehicles (the Imperium is a bit harsher when it comes to riot control...). Plus the IG are a staple army of 40k and unlikely to go anywhere.

Another interesting option is Death Korps Engineers who can take shotguns and special weapons.

SPACE MARINES

Shotgun-toting Marine Scouts are an easy pick for Arbites Patrol Teams. Scouts with bolters and Riot Shields can serve as Tactical Marines with a 3+ save and Rhinos/Razorbacks. Scout bikers will be an essential iconic Judge Dredd type unit. Scouts with shock mauls and shields as assault marines sans jump packs. Then you can flesh things out with Land Speeders, tanks, and the inevitable 'Judge Dreadnought'.

The Improved stat lines can be hand-waved as training/equipment/enhancements/drugs.

And of course Marines are the absolute stable of 40k and short of GW eliminating Secundis Marines in favor of the Primaris these units aren't going anywhere.

INQUISITION AND MINISTORUM

Once the most flexible faction out there, the Inquisition has also been heavily trimmed. Nonetheless Inquisitors are still the best option for creating powerful judges to lead your face and Acolyes with Storm Bolters are an acceptable way to represent bolter and shotgun bearing Arbites patrols. Crusaders to serve as shield and maul squads and Arco-Flagellants as cyber-hounds and you have a decent enough basis for your force.

ALLIED MELANGE

Allies rules allow you to pull from the best options here but can cause trouble if some judges have human stat lines while others have Marine stats.

Ahhh, I like the Space Marines option with the scout shotguns and the 3+ for the riot shield guys. That seems like a perfect fit. Yeah, S4 T4, but these are squads of Dredd here. the Scout with a Missile Launcher can work for the Grenade Launcher too, if you happened to pick up one or two of those.

Throw in Scout bikes and it seems like a no brainer. Awesome project.

IG would fit the bill the most , kinda?
What with chimeras representing the modified rhinos they use for crowd controll. IG veterans can represent the rank and file, since they get shotguns and also the one or other special weaponry. (so long you don't go comptetitive i think nobody would ever enforce the rule of three on stuff like IG veterans, or disciples atleast to my experience)

Additionally the whole group of auxxilia could be very interesting.
Tech support squad with a techpriest and some heavy duty servitor interogators.

Scions for the Elite elite swat team? Preferably with some air support.

Conscripts for penal troops?

Special Weapon squads as elite sniper teams, for hostage situations?

Regiment trait would be mordian, what with the shieldwall for riot controll, or Cadia for "aim" shenaniganry.
Tallarn for the more insertion and bust style. that would be my personal three picks.

Modelling - GW Options

The look of the Arbites was pretty much set by the handful of 2nd edition models and the later Specialist Games Enforcer kits. Carapace armor, Sallet helmets, shot guns (or bolters) are the essential elements. It is possible to build a decent force out of the old metals but they're OOP and going for $15 a model (and up!) making a metal Arbites force possible if you are absolutely barking mad (or American).

But the explosion of kits from GW has made kitbashing Arbites easier than ever before. While no kit is perfect there are a few that can be pressed into service and with a bit of work get pretty good results.

Marine Scouts - With Carapace Armor and intimidating-looking shotguns (or bolters), scouts are your easiest route with alternate heads provided by Skittari Vanguard for their Sallet helmets (or any of a number of 3rd party makers). They're a bit on the beefy side and frankly are going to look like Marine Scouts with a head swap but are probably the easiest way to go.

Scions - The artists formerly known as Storm Troopers have more human proportions but would require both head and weapon swaps on an already expensive kit. The 'Start Collecting' set takes some of the price shock away and you get a Taurox in the box (which may or may not be an asset depending on how you feel about the model). Still you then have to source guns from Scouts, Orlocks or Genestealer Cults as well as heads from Skitarri. So let's call this an almost acceptable option...

Genestealer Cult - The Neophyte kit offers armored bodies and shotguns, with some simple to remove cult icons. With a head swap they can work. With no Aquillas or skulls they'll look a little underdressed for servants of the Emperor but can work, especially if you're looking to do large numbers.

Van Saar - With high-tech suits and a variety of advanced looking weapons, along with power shields, the new Van Saar kit can also work with a head swap. It would require saying their lasguns count as shot guns but given the advanced look that should be fine.

Skitarri - While invaluable sources of heads, this kit is probably too cybernetic to work for most Arbites forces though the bodies and bitz could be used for characters.

I would love to see Arbites as a 40k faction. If they ever do come out, and have a transport option, I am going to model that transport as some king of MRap with an LED lite bar on it. Yes, a functional red and blue flashing LED.

To be honest, I'd just house-rule them from the outset, but if you have to slum it, I'd consider Astra Militarum - Tempestus Scions, Taurox, Commissars and Officers.

Model-wise, Space Marine Scout legs and torsos (with added thigh plates and knee pads if you can be bothered) with Skitarii Vanguard heads and regular Space Marine arms (without the shoulder pads). the original Arbites concept art from 1990 explicitly stated that using Marine arms was the plan, and the current Marine arms fit perfectly onto those 28-year-old models. The Scout shotgun is the same as the Arbites combat shotgun, and the Cadian grenade launcher should work too.

If you can find any, the front plates off the original Rhino kit work well as suppression shields, and I've seen people use rectangles cut from soft drinks bottles to make transparent shields, too. The walkway barriers from the Sector Mechanicus scenery range would work, as well. Power mauls are easy - a length of plastic rod with bits stuck to the end - or just cut the blade off a power axe. There's one on the Skitarii sprue, one on the Chaos Terminators sprue and possibly one in the Genestealer Acolytes set?

Personally, I painted a Forge World repressor in the colours of my Arbites squad, so they've got their own ride.

The imputis for this was a small group of classic Arbitis models I picked up on ebay, so I'm thinking just a squad of Death Korps engineers to be added to my IG army. But it's fun to survey the waterfront. Especially with so many 3rd party options out there.

I... do not really want to see Arbites as a standalone codex, I would love to see them as a part of some kind of forces of the imperium though. Add maybe assassins and even inquisitor adna rogue traders in the same book.

As for using current rules/codexii While it may take the conversions I think the scions would be the closest to how I see Arbites acting with current units, though the space marins scouts idea is gool too. I would love to see those conversions if you do go into it.

(Come back next week)