Tuesday 14 May 2019

The Rookie and the Old Timer - More Adeptus Arbites

I know I said only the other week that I wasn't planning any more Adeptus Arbites / Enforcers / Venators for my Necromunda campaign. But our campaign Arbitrator is planning a juve race multiplayer game this week. And the 250 creds received in the downtime phase of the campaign had to be spent on something to counter all the ambots people seem to be painting.

To that end, I've made a cadet (who will be a proxy Orlock juve as Venators can't get juves) and the ultimate anti-big thing champion.




The cadet is a 100% bits box creation - all the metal parts were cast-offs from previous conversions. The head came from a Rogue Trader Imperial Guard landspeeder pilot. The legs are from a Rogue Trader titan crewman. The body is from a Rogue Trader Imperial Guardsman. The hands are from the plastic IG arms sprue, and the pistol is from the Confrontation weapons sprue. I can't recall where his night stick came from.


I spliced all the pieces together, reworked his boots and hid the joins. I think he shares enough detail so that it could be a cadet uniform. I'm no expert on Judge Dredd lore, but I'm told that judge cadets are a well-established concept in 2000AD, and there's no reason to think this couldn't be the case in the 41st millennium.



A lascannon in Necromunda is something of an overkill weapon. But with a severe lack of hard-hitting guns, I figured it might be fun to use one. I based the figure on the body of an early 2000s Enforcer. The pointing hand came from the Adeptus Arbites champion I based my captain on.



The chest pouch covers the damage caused by removing the original right arm and was from the same Imperial Guardsman who donated the torso of my cadet. The new right arm is from a 2nd edition plastic space marine arm, while the lascannon is the old classic Rogue Trader IG one.


It's more than likely that this very expensive new addition to my roster will be spectacularly ineffective and/or die dramatically in his first game. But there's a chance that he might prove to be deadly!




Cadet C-245 observes a text-book random stop and search.

35 comments:

  1. We told you, no kill like an overkill !
    They're absolutely brilliant both, that cadet is just everything it ought to be.

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    1. I'm not going to lie, I'm looking forward to using him, almost as much as I fear him dying without making any impression!

      Glad the cadet ticks all the boxes!

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  2. The cadet looks like a total noob. So perfect!

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    1. Hopefully he looks a little small, less well armed and armoured and totally out of his depth :D

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  3. Last time I played with the Arbites the heavy support when suitably dug in was awesome. The cover save coupled with the already impressive armour save and ballistic skill made a very deadly bunker.

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    1. He's definitely likely to be a deadly threat and difficult to deal with, although perhaps infiltrators or similar might cause him problems!

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  4. Excellent! It's a small touch, but I really love seeing the Confrontation weapon sprue pieces getting an outing – they're such tiny pieces and give a lovely different flavour to the mainstream 40K battlefield chunky pistol. Excellent work, as always.

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    1. That weapons sprue was a dream for all the lovely little realistically sized guns. I have used a handful of the plasma pistols and hand flamers, but not too many of the other pistols to date. It's nice to have opportunity to use it!

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    2. It's magical having a sawn off shotgun in the 40K universe, for all those bank heist scenarios!

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  5. Great conversions, as ever.

    Yes, rookie judges in Judge Dredd are indeed an established part of the associated lore - the Karl Urban movie centres on Psi Judge Anderson's evaluation as a rookie.

    The heavier look of the armour on the champion really works in combination with the las-cannon. Makes me imagine that he needs it either to fortify his front as he stands firm against enemy fire, or else to protect himself if the massive weapon misfires or explodes.

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    1. I do need to watch the Dredd movie. I assume it's a significant improvement on Stallone's version?!

      I've got to say I always ranked the Specialist Games Enforcers well below the Jes Goodwin Arbites, but the heavy front armour is great for specialists and the like.

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    2. Whilst the Stallone's Dredd has its queer charm of being a terrible film that fits in all those little easter eggs from other 2000AD character strips (such as the appearance of an ABC warrior) the Karl Urban Dredd is more gritty that is simultaneously more serious but with its own brand of wry humour and has much more of a Dark Future setting than it predecessor. Plus the soundtrack alone kicks bottom....well worth watching it for that alone.

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    3. I'll get on and rectify it's omission from my watchlist :)

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    4. Yeah, watch Stallone without expecting anything faithful and you'll have a laugh at a campy action movie. The Urban version is a great movie in its own right, one of my current favourites to watch when I want to relax. But the only criticism I have is that it's almost entirely stripped back from the 2000AD feel and setting, I think in order to distance itself from the previous film.

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    5. Worth a watch then :)

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  6. Another couple of excellent conversions.

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  7. The way you managed to splice that cadet together from leftover parts is just awe inspiring. He looks just cocky enough to die in the first seconds of a fire fight. LOL Good luck with the lascannon I hope it proves effective. I'd be interested to know more about the "Juve Race" as well.

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    1. Having received more info, it might be the Juve Olympics! Apparently there are 3 events to participate in!

      It's all serendipity sometimes with these conversions. I love planning what I build, but a spur of the moment assembly is very satisfying really!

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  8. They both look different, yet uniform. That's quite an achievement! Seriously, I love how you deal with these challenges. Great work.

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    1. It's funny how much a consistent colour scheme gives the impression of uniformity, even if the details are different. I've now got 5 or so variations of uniform in the gang, and I still think they hang together because of the grey, white and blue! Thanks Suber.

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  9. Great work on the juve! He's come together really well.

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  10. Stellar work on these. The Juve looks like you did a head switch with some obscure RT pilot or something, so to find that it is a complete bitz Frankenstein is impressive indeed.

    And every gang eventually needs to bring out the big gun(s).

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    1. At one point I was looking at a damaged Space Marine scout for the juve's body. Glad I did as it wouldn't have given the result I wanted. Glad you think the mashup works!

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  11. Those bright orange visors and blue protective pads are an excellent touch. Great work axiom.

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    1. Orange and blue is something of a recurring colour scheme for me, but I think they work really nicely against the blue and white 'police' colours. Thanks!

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  12. I think everyone who is in eyesight of that las-cannon would be wise to give him a wide berth. With a mahoosive range and plenty of punch I think that he will be a valuable addition to the Arbites Jon.

    You really do need to see the later Dredd movie. It's NSFW, brutal and has cool story to boot.

    Great conversion work as always mate. Well done :)

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    1. You're right Shane - the lascannon is theoretically deadly. I've configured it so he'll hit on a 2+ usually. The lascannon wounds on a 2+ and causes 3 damage, so he should be able to kill anything.

      The Dredd movie is actually on tv later this month, so I'll make a date to catch it!

      Cheers

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  13. Very nice converted cadet. Proposition for an additionnal device to increase is cadet status. The cadet can be folowing continualy by a flying combi camera/speaker ... The flying device is connected to his instructor, of course (^_^)

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    1. A remote supervisory device sounds ideal! Perfect for instilling feelings of being watched and assessed at all times :D

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  14. Heck ya! Your creative efforts once again produce some seamless results.

    That Juve is spot on. Judge Cadets were in the comics all the time so it fits perfectly. And a lascannon? I think the fact that he'll only have one shot a turn (That will inevitably miss, of course) balances the massive power of such a weapon choice. Plus, Robo-ambulls? What robo-ambulls!? LOL

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    1. Thanks Dai! I don't have much in depth Dredd knowledge, so all this reinforcement that cadets are a valid concept is great!

      So far in the two games that he's featured, the lascannon guy has died without taking a shot (game 1) and shot and killed very dead a single model (game 2). But the threat alone makes it worthwhile!!

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