Hints from the April White Dwarf

[plawolf]

Sure you can use the GK codex and use henchmen to create Proxy Arbites.

What I would like to see is a proper army list entry for Arbites. Minis would also be nice, you have any idea how expensive Arbites are on ebay.

Have you seen how much GW are charging for each SS/PW warrior? If they released a model it will be in a metal blister on account of how rare arbites armies will be so that's a good indicatition of the likely price.

If you are building an arbites army, why don't you just convert them from scouts? You got shotguns and carapace as standard, even some the heads would work without any need for conversion. You can get combat shields off eBay for a bargain if you are lucky, which will do for riot shields. With a file and only a little work, chainswords can be made into decent looking power muals.

The only tricky part would be the heads. If FW sell Elysian heads seperately, you are good to go, if not, you might have to bite the bullet and buy a few squads worth. But if you resell the bits you don't want or need on eBay you should be able to recoup much of the original cost and might even make a little profit if you are lucky.

With a little imagination and effort you can build a very convincing army for a reasonable price and maybe even have some fun with the converting.

[Sister Rosette Soulknyt]

Ahhh its good to own a whole squad with a Magister of original Arbites. I mean i love these guys, they are so over looked by my opponents until they try to take the objective they are on. Eight shotguns (assailt 2) and two grenade launchers, and what ever i equip the Magister with. Love them.

And don't forget that once upon a time long long ago, many codex's and WD's ago, oh wait we are still using a 3rd ed codex, that Sisters of Battle would never be a stand alone army either. Now look at them. I know mine are.
Now i'm not sure if they will put them in the SoB codex, maybe, maybe not. I would'nt mind to be honest, just please don't waste space with Frateris Militia. Give me Arbites over wasted Meat Shields.

[Lane]

Ahhh its good to own a whole squad with a Magister of original Arbites.

I have the Magister, one grenade launcher, four bolters, six shotguns and six bolt pistol/ shockmaul. A expect t find a place for all of them in my Inquisitor only GK army.

Do you know if the Arbites with metal body but plastic SM arms was ever released? I could swear I saw a picture or drawing somewhere but can not find it.

[SandWyrm]

As for the earlier suggestions people were making about Arbites...I really, really doubt it. Outside of them showing up as a unit in an Inquisition book of some sort, they don't have much place in the game...they're law enforcement, not a military force.
Yeah, they have things like Russes, etc. and -could- fight a -minor- war...but the IG has pretty much all the same toys and that's their job, any way.
I don't think the Adeptus Arbites warrant a full book or need one at all.

If GW were to release a proper platoon-level game (i.e. something playable, competitive, and fun at 500 points or so a side), then the Arbites would make a lot of sense. So would Hrud, Gangers, and a lot of other small-scale forces that have no place in a company-scale 40K battle of 1500-2000 points.

I mean really, why would you want a large-scale arbites force? They're cops, not army.

[Fellend]

If GW were to release a proper platoon-level game (i.e. something playable, competitive, and fun at 500 points or so a side), then the Arbites would make a lot of sense. So would Hrud, Gangers, and a lot of other small-scale forces that have no place in a company-scale 40K battle of 1500-2000 points.

I mean really, why would you want a large-scale arbites force? They're cops, not army.

I fully support the platoon level game, allthough to be fair I'd probably end up running around with a single marine...

However much as I understand your point, arbites is not just cops they are more like a small army, dedicated to attacking their own instead of the opponent, if you look at the fluff usually during an invasion it says "everything fell except the arbites headquarters" why? because they are a bad *** miniarmy, using tanks to punish anyone that rebels.... I don't want to draw any real life connections to Libya but.... yeah, you get the point... actually suddenly they weren't so cool anymore