Adeptus Arbites – Kill Team

Our first forray into Kill Team was a success! The games were very quick, full of narrative and had tonnes of tense, heroic moments. It also worked well for allied games too; all players could get involved and there were no long periods of waiting around

Will the sniper make this critical shot? Can we kill the suicide bomber before he reaches our lines? Will the melta gunner roll high enough to one-shot the Taurox?

Tracking victory points throughout the game increased the intensity and added new tactical elements: “We’re three points behind… if we can kill an enemy leader, get that unit behind enemy lines and reduce that army to 25%, we can still win…!”

In short, we loved it. And are hooked. Many of the lads are starting new collections and projects, myself included.

I’ve built an Adeptus Arbites ‘Execution’ team – these are my more elite, heavily armed and armoured Arbites, deployed only when the complete and utter extermination of the target is required (think; SWAT team with a 40K twist). I’ve based the models (and their rules) on Space Marines, but used Maxmini riot shields and Puppets War shoulder pads and Judge Dredd style heads

@Brawlerguts I think the @PuppetsWar Executioners will be the ones for me. I need that scowly face. 😀 pic.twitter.com/B2OEOI0Sv5

— Jimmy WarSmith (@SonofUltramar) November 25, 2015

The team includes three boltgunners, one of which has the ‘sniper’ skill – so the boltgun on the right has a silencer and scope!

The heavy bolter carrier will be given the ‘relentless’ skill, while one of the riot shield bearers will be given the ‘rending’ skill – he’ll be accompanied by his faithful K9 unit (the model will have no in-game effect, but if  I score a rending hit, we’ll all imagine he got mauled by the dog!)

The team is built around ‘counts as’ Dark Angel Space Marines

#TheTrainJob – Adeptus Arbites patrol

“Duty roster: Planet 1NA”

These were words even the most veteran Adeptus Arbites officer didn’t want to hear. 1NA was considered to be the arse-end of planets, in the arse-end of systems. To be posted here, even for the shortest amount of time, was practically a death sentence. If the radiation didn’t kill you, then the local populace of scum and villiany would.

1NA once specialised in mining, processing and the production of low-grade ceramite. Mined almost to exhaustion, the dwindling resources meant Imperial involvement slowly reduced. Those that could afford to leave the planet did, while those who remained behind were forced to scrap out a living in the slums, which soon accounted for over 75% of the habitats on 1NA.

The Arbites stationed on 1NA were fighting a losing battle. And it was a battle. Slowly, the planet was descending into anarchy and lawlessness as the Imperium’s interest dwindled and its grip loosened. Casualties were mounting and resources were scarce. The Arbites were increasingly forced to work with local militia groups, Adepta Sororitas covenants, mercenaries, bounty hunters and many other unsavory characters. And with increasing desperation, payment became increasingly unorthodox, ranging from credits, food rations, and the Emperor’s pardon for past crimes to weapons, ammunition, protection, dead bodies and even xenos captives…

—

For this game, I’ll be using the Adeptus Arbites fan-Codex written by Matthew Forish (found here Arbites 7th v1.4). I have a full squad of 10 Arbitrators with shotguns. The ‘executioner ammunition’ is represented by a unique stat line; R18, S4, AP5, twin-linked, no cover, no snaps – which ‘feels’ right and is an elegant way to represent the heat-seeking, armour-piercing ammo. One of the squad carries a grenade launcher and has a skill to ignore cover. They are led by a sergeant with a plasma pistol and shock maul (a close combat weapon that gives +1S), and he is accompanied by his faithful K-9 unit which I’ve given the fear special rule. Finally, the team is supported by a three-man pursuit team mounted on bikes. The leader of which has the hammer of wrath skill – hopefully he can simply run over his opponent before he even needs to draw his weapon!

Kill Team – trial run

Kill Team uses the standard 40k rules but with some variations and restrictions on what you can take

Teams are just 200 points, with limited units that can be taken, but the rules allow for personalisation with skills – the idea being you create an elite special forces team to complete a series of fluffy missions

We used these rules for our trial run – Kill_Team (1)

Our biggest learning point; don’t booze BEFORE a gaming day (during is fine… encouraged even… but never before)

We played a series of games all of which were great fun! There were some surprises at how effective/ineffective some units were in this environment – the Taurox for example was phenomenal (a bit too overpowered, almost guaranteeing on killing whatever it targets), yet combat troops (including Genestealers!) all seemed to struggle in hand to hand

The lads are hooked and we’ll be playing this again – in fact, it’s got us all looking at starting new 200 points collections of different armies… which I’m sure can only end well, right??

The Kill Team

Sprucing the Necromunda scenery

Gaming with fully painted models is great, but gaming with fully painted models AND a fully painted scenery set is even better, taking the experience up to 11

I raided my bits box for the scatter scenery, making good use of the battlefield accessory sprue. The orange gas canisters are from Zinge Industries. A quick coat of Typhus Corrosion, and a drybrush of orange and silver took care of the metal work, while brown washes over block base colours sorted the rest. Being a hopeless nostalgic, I’m still a big fan of the classic cardboard Necromunda scenery. It’s especially handy as it can be easily transported and stored too. But eventually I’ll upgrade it to some of the more modern kits around. Until then…. game on

Adeptus Arbites – finishing touches

I’ve just added the finishing touches to the Adeptus Arbites models I painted while on holiday.

In my plog on Warseer, “Collecting an Adeptus Arbites army – Space Police Enforcers” I show how I converted these models from Space Marine Scouts using Maxmini Space Police helmets and a cast of the Ultramarine’s Chapter Master, Marneus Calgar’s shoulder pad made using Instant Mold.

I wanted a force inspired my Judge Dredd; a flash of red on the visor, big gold shoulder pads, ‘Lawmaster’ style bikes etc, but also clearly ‘Imperial’ with echos of the classic Adeptus Arbites models such as the Aquila on the shotguns, heavy carapace armour and the dark colour scheme.

I’ve based them in the same way as my Dark Angels so they won’t look out of place within the same army. Perhaps I’ll use them as ‘counts as’ Scouts or Tactical Marines, or use them as allied Imperial Guard veterans… we’ll see

Adeptus Arbites go to Turkey

Myself and a few of the Innsmouth lads are currently on holiday in Turkey. After a spot of paragliding today, I’m now chilling out by the pool painting a few models!

Inspired by Judge Dredd, these are converted from Space Marine Scouts and use a Green Stuff cast of Marneus Calgar’s shoulder pad. They’ll be used in Necromunda as Enforcers and in 40k (probably) as ‘counts as’ Space Marines or Imperial Guard.