2nd Edition 40k Adeptus Arbites

Another installment of old Adeptus Arbites, a project I've been VERY slowly adding to over the years. 

The majority are standard bolter armed troopers, along with the grenadier. The plasma gunner (an option in the old Citadel Journal army list) is a digital kitbash. The Arbites Commander is a converted Ursarkar Creed with a new helmet (the helmet eagle getting a second head to reference the Imperial Aquila). Grinding off Creed's head, while leaving the Judge Dredd style mouth scowl was not an easy task! 

 

40k Frateris Miltia - Special Weapons - Preacher - Shrine

I decided to finish up a squad I've been working on for over a year, some 2nd edition 40k Frateris Militia. I needed to add some special weapons, as well as a standard. I also had a priest that could go along for the ride.

I decided to go with two hand flamers, and two heavy stubbers. The heavies use the relatively new genestealer neophyte stubbers. They're ridiculously big, even by 40k standards, but I didn't want to take the time or spend the money trying to get Necromunda bits from the olden days. The standard pole is from the Flagellant kit, with a foil banner. The banner is part painted, part waterslide transfer. I swapped some weapons and heads around as well.

I also painted the metal shrine that came with the old Sisters of Battle boxed army.

My militia group uses a few models from the VOID game, which will serve as Frateris or general mooks and rebels as needed. I like the look of these models a lot. I painted two new ones for the group.

Lastly, a group shot showing an Imperial Preacher whipping the crowd up for a crusade.

Adeptus Arbites Wheeled Chimera APCs

While scrolling through Instagram I chanced upon a post that mentioned a 'Chimera Chassis Challenge'. The idea was to complete a vehicle based on the Imperial Guard Chimera during January.

It just so happened that I had three Chimeras that I had started on about five years ago and had never finished. I thought 'Now or never'.

The wheel conversion kits are from Chapterhouse, who have gone out of business as I understand it. They took a bit of work to get to fit properly. I also took a fair bit of time trying to decide on what I wanted the front to look like... if I wanted to go with a dozer blade or ram bar, and if I wanted them to be uniform. I decided on the dozer so I could do a slogan like 'Submit for Judgement' or something like that. I didn't like the way that fit the space so I just went with 'Arbites' :)

I ended up printing off some decals for the dozer blade rather than paint the text three times. I chose an 'Insular' style font that had a pre-gothic medieval vibe. More often than not Arbites are shown with a modern sans-serif typeface and I wanted to underscore that they're deeply ingrained in the Imperium.

I guess I need to paint some Arbites now :)

Adepta Sororitas Seraphim

I've been working sporadically on my Sisters of Battle collection, hoping to get the units I have done before GW drops the new ones.

The Seraphim were my favorite unit in 2nd edition, but I wasn't looking forward to painting them, and I had some conversions in mind for a number of years. I got them done a few weeks ago but didn't have time to get pictures. I have finally remedied that for post #150.

I had the idea to convert some Seraphim to wield dual inferno pistols, but I wanted them to have the archaic looking ones found on the Inquisition miniatures. I used some arms from Empire pistoliers and added a small canister. I also made a new hand flamer sister, since GW only ever made one pose.

Lastly, a few extra seraphim superiors- I had to collect all the variants of course. The bolt pistol/power sword sister is the Ephrael Stern model from the scarce Daemonifuge set. She's almost certainly a recast, I wasn't able to acquire a legit set with the certificate until recently. I'll paint that one with the Martyred Lady scheme.

 

These took a lot of hours but as always look pretty impressive in a big group when finished.

Frateris Militia Recruits

A small group of five fresh recruits for the Frateris Militia band I'm working on.

Four of the figures are conversions based on the original Frateris bodies,  the woman is from the VOID/Urban War range. One of the laspistols is resin, from Mad Robot.

I recently read the 2nd edition 40K Sisters Codex again and saw that a Frateris band can have four special weapons if they number over ten figures, so I'll probably convert the next group to have two heavy stubbers and two hand flamers. I also need to add a standard bearer, then this unit will be done.

Frateris Milita Recruits

I added two new recruits to my small Frateris Militia band. The woman is from the Void/Urban Mammoth range, the man is a militia miniature from the old 2nd edition 40K days, with some weapon swaps from Mad Robot.

Imperial Bastion 40K 2nd Edition Terrain

I was pretty happy with the old cardstock Firebase I 'dolled up', so I decided to give the same treatment to the dilapidated cardstock Bastion I acquired in a Necromunda lot many years ago. Luckily all the parts were included.

The color of the gantries was tough for me to match for some reason, and it took a few tries to get the bulkheads close. They ended up looking pretty good and the multiple layers of airbrush probably enhanced their dimensionality.

 I'm trying to decide if I want to do the same thing (basing, matching bulkheads to platform color) for the other cardstock Necro terrain I have. I'll probably end up doing that.

I painted up some scouts for Shadow War Armageddon for my son to use. Three of them have Blood Angels heads to give them a little specificity. These were done several weeks ago and I just now got around to photographing them.

Imperial Firebase 40K 2nd Edition Terrain

I went to the 'Recruits' game convention in Lee's Summit, Missouri two weeks ago in order to run my Arena of Blood game. They have a silent auction each year, and this year's auction offered a lot of items. I managed to snag a cardstock Imperial Firebase for $10, in superb condition. The previous owner had sprayed the bulkheads black and painted them blue- pretty vibrant- but it wasn't too far off the saturated blue of the printed bits. I decided to base it into three separate elements, painted the edges of the card pieces, and weathered the bulkheads to blend them in a little more, matching the rust effects on the printed card. Considering this is card terrain I'm pretty happy with the end result.

I'll probably be giving an old beat up Imperial Bastion I have the same treatment, and I'll take a look at my old Necromunda stuff while I'm at it. I never wanted to permanently base it, but it would certainly tie it in to my existing industrial layout and probably preserve the condition too.