The Day the Law was Tried

MT, PB and I got together for a days worth of miniature gaming last Saturday.  We decided to focus on the Judge Dredd Miniatures Game this time.

Although I have access to a large and growing set of post-apocalyptic terrain (a town and other scenic stuff) which fits in perfectly with the Dredd universe, we decided to go with my older urban terrain, which isnt as nice to look at.  We felt that for our first gaming session with Judges that the atmosphere had to be urban nonetheless.  Plenty of time to venture into the Cursed Earth at a later date.

The large buildings were put together for Heroclix games about eight years ago.  They are functional at best and ugly at worst.  I am currently collecting elements for my futuristic city terrain project, but that wont be ready for quite a while.  So the terrain shown has to fill the gap in the interim.

At least they arent gothic ruins I suppose…

Record of some of the action from a selection of the games that day follows.

The first game that we played was the introductory scenario from the rules, The Barko Brothers. The Barko brothers consist of a trio of mooks plus their more formidable big brother Rex Barko.  The tipped off Judge Mix headed to apprehend the four perps in the shadow of Chester Burnett block.

The rules for combat proved to be simple, satisfying and fast.  The application of modifiers to attacks was tidier than in many other systems and proved to be straightforward and fun, as we had suspected and very much hoped.  The first game ended with three of the perps being either shot or arrested only for Judge Mix to catch a close range double-barreled stump gun in the chest while attempting to apprehend Rex Barko (above).

The second play of the Barko scenario also ended in a code 99-red, with the over confident Judge (Re?)Mix apprehending two of the lesser brothers only to be blow off his feet by another stump gun blast.

Suitably familiar with the basics of the rules after those two quick games we each then picked a proper force to game with for the rest of the day.

Street Judge Plodd and Psi Judge Geller respond to reports of gang violence in sector 11.  Those two judges made up my entire team for the first couple of games.

JDMG allows for a lot of flexibility when choosing forces.  MT tried an elite trio of gang characters to start with…

…but they proved no match for the Justice Department, with only one survivor on the gang side after the game.

Undaunted, MT recruited a Cursed Earth Desperado and some cheap mooks to make up the numbers when he faced PBs gang.  PB chose a force including a couple of characters and small number of expendable punks.  MT was taken to the cleaners again that time.

Later on we decided to try something silly but hopefully fun with the terrain.  We set up a stream of traffic with buildings in either side.  The premise was that the traffic was supposed to be in constant movement which would hinder character movement and weapons fire across it.

Another shot of Mega City One traffic congestion.

Judge Plodd and new associate Riot Judge Barabus approach the busy street with perps in sight.

PBs gangers ignore the chance to give themselves up and open fire.  Plodd shows his dissatisfaction with a pair of Ricochet rounds, taking out the heavy Spit Gunner.  Barabus uses the confusion to enter the Big Bang Burger Bar under cover of his Riot Foam and a Stumm gas grenade.

Justice is served as the last ganger is dropped by Plodds Standard Execution bursts.  Comms from Judge Geller confirm that she has theings wrapped up at her (table) end too.  Hooray for Justice Department totalitarian efficiency!

Conclusions:

We had good fun with JDMG last Saturday.  Its simple and very fast to play, both very desirable factors.  It also favours ranged combat over close assault, which feels right to me for the setting.  The weapons are quite lethal and it has captured the background and atmosphere particularly well: the games feel just like the comics.  I wouldnt be exaggerating to say that I enjoyed the core rules more than any other system that I have played that I can remember right now.  Pending another few games to confirm this data they could well be a keeper.

There are negatives too of course.  While conceptually the JDMG campaign rules have a lot in common with the likes of Necromunda or Gorkamorka they are executed in a much more streamlined way: thats great.  They also take a more fluid approach which on the whole I far prefer.  Unfortunately this is let down by some of the elements though: I think that the campaign system requires more testing by Mongoose.  It seems a bit unfinished currently for a few reasons which I wont elaborate on here.

We came to the conclusion that the next time that we play JDMG that we will simply play one off games.  There is plenty of scope for fun scenarios and varied, entertaining and unique forces with what is available currently.  Mongoose have been regularly updating the force lists and should have zombies, robots, Citi-Def (Sunday Soldiers) and a few more ready as time progresses too.  We also enjoyed the core rules a lot: they delivereda lot of what my group likes about miniature games.

The plan for the next JDMG session is that each of the three of us will prepare a scenario and the appropriate force lists to play the game.  As well as cutting out any (unlikely) elements of silly min/maxing in force choices it will hopefully provide us with some heavily themed Judge Dredd gaming sessions.  I am looking forward to them.

Workbench

Following on from last weeks post showing photos of my games room I thought that I would put up a couple of photos of my painting area, just for the sake of completeness.  Not strictly a workbench I suppose, but whatever.

Workbench July 2011

The slightly crooked picture above shows where I paint.  I have natural light from the left for when I need it and the lamp for the rest of the time.

I used a lower table for years but the constant leaning forward was taking its toll on my back.  It used to look like this…

Workbench April 2010

Therefore earlier this year I bought the rather vulgar tall bar table thing shown in the first photo and the photo below. Its not the prettiest (I particularly dislike the chrome leg and the nasty plasticy look of the big honking lamp) but its functional.

I intentionally chose a small table as while I work I slowly tend to cover all available space within arms reach with paraphenalia.  If I physically limit the size of the work area then I am forced to tidy the clutter more often, so it doesnt get too badly out of control.

Clutter is definitely the worst thing about the hobby.  Whether playing, painting or storing my hobby stuff, there is always clutter: its impossible to avoid, yet I still hate it.

Desk and Paint Storage July 2011

Alongside the table is the cheap plastic drawer set that I keep my paints in.  Four drawers have paints in them and the other two have flock, PVA, transfers, varnish and some other odds and ends that are used when painting figures.  Glue, files, sandpaper and anything else to do with figure assembly and preparation are stored and used in the man cave.

Its a functional space, but not a pretty one.  As my painting area is located in the living room we both see it every day whether I am painting or not, so I am currently on the lookout for ways to make it a bit easier on the eyes.  I may tackle the issue at the same time that I sort the Man Cave out properly, likely in September with a bit of luck.

Land War in Asia Competition

Donogh at Land War in Asia is running a fun competition.  One of the criteria for entry is that I highlight three of the posts from his blog here.

Land War in Asia: Ambush

1)

First up is a shot from a recent post about modern Afghanistan gaming.  The only modern gaming that I do involves zombies, so its safe to say that I dont really game in the modern period.  Its all cheesy sci-fi for me in one form or another.

Therefore I think that its worth noting that this post grabbed me anyway.  Mainly this was due to all of the nice details that are worked into the terrain.  I like the numbered objective markers, the dusty, dirty die cast car and the like.  The overall impression from the table is fantastic.

Land War In Asia: A Good Day To Die - Setup

2)

Another desert game although this time its not set on this planet.  Again it is the coherent look of the whole table that appeals to me.  From the troops to the vehicles to the outcrops to the buildings all of the models look like a matching set.

Although I have been pushing in that direction with my stuff for a while my tendency to flit around the place regarding my projects can often make for an less coherent look on the table than I would like.  Therefore I am envious of Donoghs harmonised set-ups and enjoy checking them out.

Land War in Asia: A Good Day to Die - Scenario

3)

Lastly, the post illustrated by the image above shows the amount of work put in to one of the games set-up on LWiA.

Its safe to say that I am the guy in my gaming group that drives things forward and generally does the majority of the prep work for our gaming. I dont tend to go into the detail shown above though, although it pleases me to see that some people do.

So, thats enough shilling for one day

Man Cave

I spotted some photos of fellow enthusiasts Man Caves in a couple of different places over the last few days and so I decided to put up a couple of photos of my toy room that I took last year.

The Man Cave

The shot above is taken from the corner of the room by the door.  It shows the place in pretty much its normal state: not very messy but with a fair bit of work in progress stuff on the table.

If anyone was bothered (which they arent) it would be possible to work out how mentally frazzled I am at any given time by examining the condition of that area.  The state and density of the contents of that table is often analogous to my mental state at a given time.  I am only half joking about this.

The table itself is an 8 x 4′ sheet of MDF sitting on the bench that the carpenter put together to work on skirtings and banisters etc when the house was being built in 05/06.  I asked him to leave it there as a stop gap until I got a “proper” table… which still hasnt happened.

More Man Cave

Another shot of the table with some ape, zombie and alien miniatures that I was working on roughly a year or so ago.  I do almost no miniature painting in the Man Cave although preparatory clean up and assembly work always takes place in here, along with the painting of terrain or vehicles and the like.

Somewhat self evidently that table is where my tabletop and board gaming pursuits take place.

Miniature Cabinet 1

The miniatures cabinet here was given to me for free by a redecorating florist, as long as I would take it away myself, which I did.

I need to organise some more brackets and shelving for it at some stage.  I reckon that I could get another two rows of shelves into it if I could work out who and where to go to to get the right bits and pieces.  Maybe I might get around to it this autumn.

There are lots of figures of various quality on show in that cabinet with my Sin Eaters Chaos Space Marine army on the bottom left and my Iacon Eldar on the bottom right.

The top shelf has loads of stuff on it dating back as far as the mid eighties right up to a year or so ago.  It consists of 6mm Epic stuff, Blood Bowl teams, some Elves, some Lizardmen, some Robots, some Grey aliens and loads of other bits and pieces.  I have plenty more in storage too waiting for some more shelf space.

Miniature Cabinet 2

The second smaller Ikea cabinet houses my more recent stuff.  This photo is a year old now though, so its a bit out of date in terms of its content.  This cabinet has worked out well and I plan to get one or two more along with more consistent shelving for the entire room later in the year.

Lead Storage

The boxes in the corner here contain some of my shamefully large unpainted lead mountain.  The less said about that the better.

Mostly Comics

Mostly comics on these shelves along with some of the assorted toys and Optimus Prime helmets and other bric a brac that dorks like me tend to accumulate for unclear reasons.

Rules

This set of shelves is largely rulebooks and game related magazines etc.  It will become slightly neater once I reorganise the room in a month or two (after the now obligatory trip to Ikea).

I have done a little work and reorganisation to the room since those photos were taken and I plan to do a large overhaul in the autumn.  I will probably revisit this topic then.

Slow Progress

While I have yet to hit the painting slump that I often get at this time of year, progress is still slow, so I dont have anything to post today.  I do have a few miniatures close to finished, but seasonal distractions have taken priority,

Weather permitting I should be able to get some photos of new stuff up by this time next week.

I also have a weekend long session of the Judge Dredd Miniatures Game with MT and PB planned to start this Friday, so I will have a few photos of that too with a bit of luck.

Countdown to Barsoom

 

I dont normally put up video on this blog.

I made an exception this time as I have had the miniatures for this project waiting to go for a while.  Therefore I couldnt resist putting up this trailer while at the very early anticipatory stage of the miniatures project.

I doubt that anyone will mind.

Lawless Vultures

Not a big update today, but some cute stuff nonetheless I reckon.

No western, post-apocalyptic or otherwise is complete without a few vultures.

I had originally planned to attach these Mega Miniatures figures to terrain pieces to add a bit of flavour but when they arrived I decided to simply base them like any other figures.

I plan to use the vultures as encounter markers for games set in my post apocalyptic terrain.  I also plan to use the vultures mark out areas on the board (like rad-zones or similar) as required.  It is always nicer to use miniatures or terrain pieces for that sort of thing rather than cardboard or plastic tokens.  I havent ruled out using the vultures as proper playing pieces in some scenario or other either.

Image from judgeminty.com. Used without permission (I do hope that the Minty folk dont mind though!)

The “No Law” sign was an idea that I had as I cut the head off a Judge Dredd Heroclix.

Although it was the figures body that I was after rather than the head, obviously I wasnt going to throw away a miniature judges helmet.  It then dawned on me to make a rough replica of the sign that was used during the filming of the Judge Minty fan film.

It is far from an exact copy, but it looks the part for me.  It was fun burning the writing into the wood with the soldering iron again rather than just painting on the lettering), just like the Standard Falls signs shown again below.

Some fun additions to my post apocalyptic terrain.

Mega City Justice Department: Pt 2

Police Brutality

More Judges today, this time from the best-of-the-best, 80% mission mortality rate Holocaust Squad.

The Holocaust Squads have access to absolutely anything that is required for them to do their job.  Their job is to take on anything from downtown volcanic eruptions to time travelling Necromagi to hordes of tower block sized rogue robots and come out on top.  This agenda does not include their own safety: it takes a special kind of Judge to work the Holocaust squad.

Holocaust Units are usually equipped with either the HS1 or HS2 suits.

HS1 Suit (plus Tech Judge for comparison)

The HS1 suit is heavily armoured while retaining flight capability.  The suit is maneuverable enough to facilitate the use of regular Justice Department personal armament.  The example above wields a MKII Lawgiver while the suit in the first shot carries the Widowmaker assault rifle (they are the same figure with magnetically attached weaponry).

HS2 Suit (plus Riot Judge for comparison)

The HS2 suit is even more heavily armed than the HS1, but it trades off maneuverability.  While too big to use standard Justice Dept weaponry it does carry the large Street Cannon, usually reserved for vehicle mountings.

These two figures were fun to paint and gave me a break from the regular Judges.  I dont know how often they will get to see the tabletop, but the figures are just too much fun to leave out of my Judge project.

(Sorry about the slightly dodgier than usual photos.  Its tough taking photos of figures around here at the moment).

Mega City Justice Department: Pt 1

Street Division Judge and Tech Division Judge

Continuing on from the Mega City One Project post, my first pair of Judges for show are from Mongoose.

They are Gangs of Mega City One figures rather than Judge Dredd Miniature Game figures.   That distinction is significant for only one reason: casting quality.  Mongoose got a lot of deserved grief for the sub-standard quality of the casting of many of the figures that they released around the mid 2000s and there were casting problems on each and every GoMC1 judge figure that I bought.  I can personally attest for the quality of the figures that they have released for JDMG though, they are cast to a much higher standard.

The Street Judge worked out fine, but I love the Tech/Tek.  Something about the miniature and the colour scheme and its application makes it look like he came straight out of a comic.  Which is fine by me.

SJS Judge and Street Judge

Next is another pair of Mongoose Judge miniatures.  In addition to the fairly standard Street Judge is the SJS (Special Judicial Squad) Judge.  SJS judges function as internal affairs, MP types.  As their quarry is highly trained Judges, SJS judges are particularly bad-ass.

SJS judges have been depicted with various different uniform colours and features.  The look above is my favourite as while they definitely have that judge feel, the grey eagle design makes them unique amongst all of the other specialist and street judges: perfect for an outsider like a member of the SJS.

Street Judge and Psi Division Judge

Another two Mongoose judges: a Street Judge and a Psi Div Judge.

I have mixed feelings about how the Psi judge came out.  I am as happy with the uniform as I am with any of the other judges and I am particularly pleased the figures red hair.  It looks quite a bit like real red hair, rather than the more fiery colour usually used on miniature gingers.

On the other hand I find painting eyes harder than ever these days (I think that I need a new prescription for my glasses).  It took me several attempts to get these ones even to the barely acceptable, astonished expression that they have now.  I also foolishly attempted to add something that looks vaguely like freckles (similarly to how ex-judge DeMarco is depicted in the comics) to the cheeks, which didnt quite work.  In fact in conjunction with the miniatures rather prominent top lip it made her look a bit like a cat.

But I am just obsessively moaning really.  She doesnt look *that* bad.

Riot Judge and Judge Giant

The first pair of Foundry Judges.

As a rule the Foundry judges have crisper detail than the Mongoose ones.  The Foundry proportions are a little odd I reckon, with quite large heads.  They also often have somewhat peculiar poses.  They are nicer to paint than the Mongoose figures that I have painted so far nonetheless.

I can imagine some scale purists having issues with mixing figures from the two manufacturers.  I dont think that its worth worrying about: on the table the difference are close to non-existent.

The characters represented here are cool.  The Riot Judge carries a Riot Foam cannister, which is a signature judge support weapon.

Pic from Wikipedia

The judge on the right is Judge Giant.  Two generations of Giant have featured in Judge Dredd stories (three if you count the civilian Jetball player who fathered the first Judge Giant).  It isnt specified which Giant this is, although the MkI Lawgiver pistol suggests that it is the first Judge Giant.

Ppenultimately, those of you with an eye for judge uniforms may notice a couple of things about the scheme that I chose.  Artists have always had some leeway with how they represented the MC1 Judge uniform over the years, both its physical shape and dimensions and its colours.

Originally Dredd was a black and white strip, with colour versions of him being shown on the cover of 2000AD and centre spreads.  This has meant that Dredds undersuit has been depicted as blue, navy and black over the years.  Similarly the shoulder pads were always yellow from the strips inception in the late seventies right through to the nineties, when gold started to appear (at least, thats how I remember it).  Whether this yellow was supposed to represent gold or not is one of the mysteries of the four colour priniting technique.  So basically, there isnt a definitive uniform scheme.

I dont mind this.  I think that leaving those details vague helps to keep the character somewhat legendary, somewhat mythological.  Usually when a setting like Dredds starts to lock down too many details it starts to collapse in on itself.  Keeping it vague suits me.

Lastly here is a shot of the nine judges that I have painted so far.  I get a big kick out of seeing a project about a setting that I have enjoyed my whole life taking shape like this

They are the Law

Mega City One Project

Judge Dredd

I am a lifelong fan of Judge Dredd and 2000AD.  With the release of the Judge Dredd Miniatures Game I have decided to put my paint where my mouth is and get a set of figures influenced by the setting ready to go.  Eventually all going well I hope to get my own miniature chunk of Mega City One made and populated for gaming in.

There are many miniatures from a variety of sources that I plan to include in the project.  I own almost all of the Foundry Judges and related MC1 figures.  I have also picked up a lot of the Mongoose Judge Dredd figures (including the figures released for Gangs of Mega City One circa 2005, the remastered versions of same for JDMG and some of the new figures that they have released).  I also have many Necromunda gangs that have been crying out for paint for over a decade and a half that are perfect for use in the setting.

Add to that the EM4/Copplestone savages and scavengers, the kitbashed mutants that I assembled in 2003 but never painted, a whole bunch of robot miniatures that I have amassed from a variety of sources, the bunch of Mos Eisley Cantina-esque aliens and of course the heaps of zombies waiting for attention and it is obvious that I could be painting for this project for years.  The Bladerunner meets The Jetsons setting of MC1 encompasses a huge chunk of my interests, which makes it an ideal fit for me.  Even Aliens and Predators have visited Mega City One.

Regarding terrain I already have quite a good head start.  Large areas of The Big Meg have been ruined by the various disasters that have hit it over the years.  My old 40k ruins and associated bits are perfect for representing those sectors.  My recent (and still growing) Standard Falls shanty town project was planned with the radioactive wasteland of the Cursed Earth in mind.  My functional but not terribly pretty modern urban scenery will be useful to represent the troglodyte infested Undercity and will do as a stand in for MC1 itself  until I get around to making are more suitably sci-fi set of buildings and terrain.

Its an ambitious project to say the least, but the vast majority of it is already bought, so its just a matter of getting stuck in.  Hopefully by about 2013 I should have made a serious dent in it.

First things first though.  The first batch of Judges follow.