Curse of the Alabaster: the Beginning

I am the Law!

We are excited to announce that we will be taking part in an Inquisimunda event in Los Angeles later this year called “Curse of the Alabaster!”  The event is being run by the talented Shibboleth, from the Sumptown Chronicles fame, with a host of notable participants including Migsula (Iron Sleet) and Weirding Way.  The premise of the game is that the geller fields of a Black Ship, filled with psykers, failed during warp transit, leading to the ship disastrously materializing within a hive spire on the planet Tarantus, leading to utter chaos and death on a unparalleled scale.  Although there has already been quite a lot of activity and excitement over the project on the official thread over on the ammobunker, we wanted to introduce the premise of our warband here, an elite group of hardened Arbitrators from the Adeptus Arbites.

She carries the portable null-generator on her back, a defense that may prove invaluable in the coming engagements.  

Aquilas were added to their shoulders to parallel those of the Judges of the Megacities.

It had been 56 days since the Alabaster catastrophe.  In the initial days following the incident, planetary officials had hoped that the local Arbites precincts, coupled with the standing Astra Militarum forces, would be able reestablish order in the devastated hive city.  Such was not the case, and the situation continued to spiral into Warp-addled madness, with every relief effort ending in abject failure.  As the days and weeks slipped onward, the hope of resolving the incident without lasting planetary damage became nothing but a naive dream of the Noble Families and Administratum officials of Tarantus.  But with each failed attempt to quell the disaster, the fear of Inquisitorial rebuke increased.  With resources dwindling and planetary unrest reaching unprecedented levels, representatives from each major hive spire met and devised a desperate effort to save [redacted], and possibly their planet.  Pulling specialists from Adeptus Arbites precincts all over Tarantus, they assembled a team with a simple mission.  Infiltrate the condemned hive and establish a beachhead for further intervention by installing a series of high powered psi-null generators.  Any and all psykers they encountered in the process were to be terminated with extreme prejudice.

Elysian heads were modified, extending the visors to mirror those seen in the 2000 AD Judge Dredd comics.

Sidearms, knives, and other equipment were added to their waists, necessary for protracted operations.

We have been wanting to build some Adeptus Arbites for a long time now. My recent work on the Order of the Crimson Hour for Church of the Red Athenaeum for the Pilgrym project, gave me a lot of ideas of how I might make some true Arbites (particularly with making more compact shotguns).  I wanted to give them a very Judge Dredd vibe, while still retaining an efficient tactical feel for the models.  I decided on using the Death Korp grenadier models as the basis for the conversion due to their functional plate armor and awesome long coats.  One of the most iconic features of the judges in Judge Dredd are their helmets, so I needed to mimic this in my arbites.  I ended up using Elysian drop troop heads for the task, due to their excellent helmets and glare-visors.  A little green stuff work to extend the visors and add a small crest on their foreheads was all I needed to achieve the effect. While I still have a lot of work to do to finish the five arbites I am planning, they have been going really well.  I will be sure to keep everyone updated with my progress, but any comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

- Adam Wier