Suggested Codex for Adeptus Arbites Army?

[Masked Thespian]

So, I'm getting back into 40k after the best part of a 7 year gap (due to living in Japan, away from the majority of my collection) and I'm thinking of picking up one of my older projects: an Adeptus Arbites army.  This is something I've been toying with for almost 2 decades now, ever since I first saw the Heresy on Precinct 13 article in Citadel Journal 22, cemented by the 3rd Edition army list in Citadel Journal 29, and more recently reignited by the Bell of Lost Souls Arbites fan-codex.  Around 8-10 years ago I purchased a number of bits for the army, including several boxes of the Necromunda Enforcer gang, and I'm starting to look at getting it all glued and painted up now.

 

The biggest problem I'm having is which Codex to use to run as "counts as" Arbites, as I'd like to run it as a Battle-Forged army rather than an Unbound army.  It's mostly a combination of trying to fit my existing ideals of Arbites onto an existing Codex. That and the fact that of the three Codexes I'm thinking of using, I only have one currently available to me.

 

In an ideal world, I'd be interested in a Codex that lets me have the following things:

• Judges,
• Psi-Judges (maybe - this is more of a nod to the original source material than to established 40k canon),
• Arbites Patrol Teams (armed with Bolters or Shotguns, along with special weapons),
• Arbites Shock Teams (armed with Suppression Shields and Shock Mauls),
• Arbites Rapid Pursuit Teams (on bikes),
• Arbites Execution Teams (with hand-held Heavy Weapons),
• Cyber-Mastiff Teams,
• Rhinos,
• Razorbacks and/or Immolators,
• Repressors (a pipe-dream in Battle-Forged, I know),
• Chimeras, and,
• Valkyries.

Right now I've been playing with the idea of a combination of Codex: Inquisition and Codex: Imperial Agents.  Inquisitors (of all three types) count as Judges (and Psi-Judges), Acolytes with Carapace Armour count as Arbites and have either Boltguns or Hot-Shot Lasguns (count as Shotguns) with up to three Special Weapons (though, sadly, no Grenade Launchers), Arco-Flagellants count as Cyber-Mastiffs, Crusaders count as Shock Arbites (with Power Swords being Shock Mauls and Storm Shields being Suppression Shields across the army), Servitors with Heavy Bolters/Multi-Meltas/Plasma Cannons for Execution Arbites, and I have access to almost every vehicle I listed there.  The downsides of this particular Codex combination are that I have no access to anything that could count as Bikers, that I'm having to use Hot-Shot Lasguns as counts-as Shotguns, that none of my army gets Objective Secured (since everything is an HQ or Elites choice), and that since I have to use only the Inquisitorial Detachment detachment (from Codex: Inquisition), the Inquisitorial Representative detachment (from Codex: Imperial Agents) and/or the Inquisitorial Henchmen Warband formation (from Codex: Imperial Agents) I'm going to have a much higher number of Judges in the army than I'd like.

 

On the other hand, some people I've talked to about this have suggested Codex: Astra Militarum or Codex: Militarum Tempestus as an alternative, citing things like Veterans with the Grenadiers doctrine for my Arbites or likewise Tempestus Scions instead, particularly with the Taurox to make a "Police van" style transport.

 

For the record, this isn't ever intended to be any kind of tournament army.  It's one purely designed for fun and as a throw back to the older days of 40k.

 

What are people's thoughts on these ideas?  Should I go ahead with my idea using Codex: Inquisition and Codex: Imperial Agents or should I take a closer look at Codex: Astra Militarum and/or Codex: Militarum Tempestus instead?

[Nicodemus Doloroso]

Well, the problem of no objective secured is fairly easily cured by taking "Judge Coteaz" who for a fair price will make all your infantry obsec. 

 

No need to confine yourself to a single codex: you can always mix-and-match with allies. Castellans of the Imperium formation may be a good route for this. That way you can take Astra Militarum veteran squads with shotguns, grenadiers doctrine (carapace armour), and grenade launchers riding in a Taurox or a Chimera. You could bring roughriders to stand-in for bikers. Then you can bring more specialized squads from the Inquisition codex to get the crusaders/shock arbites, arco-flagellants/Cyber-Mastiffs, etc.

 

This would then open up wider possibilities for vehicles. Some of the Astra Militarum tanks could work well as Arbites vehicles. Banewolf could be some sort of riot supression vehicle with "extra strong tear gas". Punisher with its gatling-cannon seems like an exra "no nonsense" riot dispersal vehicle.

[Plasmablasts]

Maybe count as SM scouts? Stats are obviously higher than normal humans, but you've got the carapace armour, shotguns and bolters there.

[Inquisitor Fox]

I actually recommend a stormbolter for a counts-as shotgun.  It's still an assault weapon, one S higher and longer range, which can easily be attributed to manstopper ammo and some tooling or training.  It's what I do for my one or two Acolytes armed with shotgun for when I use them :)

[ottesoac]

I use the castellans of the imperium detachment. Scouts as arbites, inquisition as judges and other characters, vindicare as a police sniper, bulgryns with riot shields as abhuman auxilaries and guard as a last resort penal legion. 

 

The detachment seems ideal for unusual forces like arbites and rogue traders. Mix and match imperial units in 1 FOC, so you have no issues sharing transports etc.

[Masked Thespian]

Thanks for the responses, everyone.

 

Frankly, the idea of the Castellans of the Imperium detachment seems like the perfect thing for me to use.  And I even get (potentially) unlimited squads of Arbites to replace their fallen brethren from the detachment rules, which seems pretty cool.

 

Thanks again, everyone.

[Masked Thespian]

So, I've picked up copies of Codex: Space Marines and Codex: Astra Militarum and it's looking like this is all coming together.  The way it looks now, here's what my army list options are, with respect to the Castellans of the Imperium Detachment:

 

Army Role; Unit Name (Source): Counts As

HQ; Commissar Yarrick (AM): Special Character Marshal (name and background to be written)

HQ; Lord Commissar (AM): Arbites Marshal

HQ; Inquisitor Coteaz (IA): Special Character Psi-Judge (name and background to be written)

HQ; Ordo Malleus Inquisitor (I/IA): Judge/Psi-Judge

HQ; Ordo Hereticus Inquisitor (I/IA): Judge/Psi-Judge

HQ; Order Xenos Inquisitor (I/IA): Judge/Psi-Judge

Elites; Inquisitorial Henchmen Warband (I) (Arco-Flagellants): Cyber-Mastiff Team

Elites; Inquisitorial Henchmen Warband (I) (Crusaders): Suppression Team

Troops; Veterans (AM): Arbites Patrol Team

Troops; Militarum Tempestus Scions (MT): Arbites Patrol Team

Fast Attack; Armoured Sentinel Squadron (AM): Arbites Armoured Sentinel Squadron

Fast Attack; Hellhound Squadron (AM): Arbites Hellhound Squadron

Fast Attack; Scout Sentinel Squadron (AM): Arbites Scout Sentinel Squadron

Fast Attack; Vendetta Squadron (AM): Arbites Vendetta Squadron

Fast Attack; Valkyrie Squadron (AM): Arbites Valkyrie Squadron

Fast Attack; Scout Bike Squad (SM): Arbites Pursuit Team

Heavy Support; Leman Russ Squadron (AM): Arbites Leman Russ Squadron

Dedicated Transport; Rhino (I): Arbites Rhino

Dedicated Transport; Chimera (AM): Arbites Chimera

Dedicated Transport; Taurox (AM): Arbites Taurox

Dedicated Transport; Taurox Prime (AM/MT): Arbites Taurox Prime

 

 

I'm obviously cutting out a lot of the list for this theme, but I'm pretty happy with it.

 

There are, however, a couple of things I'm still kinda unhappy with.  The first is whether I ought to take Veterans or Tempestus Scions for my Troops.  Veterans (with Shotguns and the Grenadier Doctrine) seem a little closer to how I think I "ought" to do things, since I'm actually arming them with Shotguns just like the models have.  Tempestus Scions, on the other hand, have a lot more kick with their Hot-Shot Lasguns (which I would count as Arbites Shotguns with Executioner Ammo), but are a little further away from where I reckon I ought to have them.  I'm wary of taking both in the same army because I'd have to differentiate between my "Veteran" Arbites squads and my "Tempesus Scions" Arbites squads when they are modelled with the same weapon but I can't decide which of the two I prefer.

 

Also, does anyone know how Dedicated Transports work with regard to the Castellans of the Imperium's Flock to the Front Line rule?  If a unit gets destroyed, does their Dedicated Transport also need to be destroyed before I can roll to put them back into Ongoing Reserves?  Are the unit and the Dedicated Transport counted and rolled for separately?  Are the Dedicated Transports just ignored (and thus can't come back)?

 

The other thing I'm a little unhappy with is Scout Bikers.  The last time I checked, Scouts had WS and BS 3, making their 3-3-4-5 (as Bikers) stats much closer to the 3-4-3-3 stats of regular Arbites.  But now they've got 4-4-4-5, which seems significantly higher than my normal guys.  And I don't want to take Rough Riders in their place since they don't have (and can't have) a 4+ save.  I'm thinking that I can write background stating that Pursuit Teams are made of the most experienced Arbitrators (hence WS and BS 4) and are required to wear strength-enhancing suits of Carapace Armour as well as take certain, semi-legal enhancement substances in order to ride and fully control their pursuit bikes (hence S 4 and T 5), but I'm not 100% sure about that.