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).
Filed under: Miniatures | Tagged: 2000AD, 2011, Dredd, Judge Dredd, Judge Dredd Miniatures Game, Justice Department, Sci-fi |
sho3box 
Nice work there (and on the previous post)
I really like that HS1 flying unit – should I suggest doing a version in flight?
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Hi Donogh.
The HS1 in particular came out quite toy-like, almost like an action figure. Normally that would bother me a bit but in the context of the extremely bright, colourful and plastic-y Mega City One it looks pretty bang on I think 🙂
As for a flying version, maybe, but I have doubts about either of the above ever even making it to the tabletop to be honest.
As JDMG is a skirmish game on a smaller scale than even say Necromunda, the opportunities to field hard suits (or even a borderline small mech in the case of the HS2) will be very rare I suspect.
So additional Holocaust troops are quite far down on my to-do list. If I do get around to more they will have to be modified in some way though, just for variety. I dont like duplicate miniatures in skirmish games.
Thanks for the feedback.
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Wow, those are some big-ass Judges you got there Paul. Really cool figs, haven’t seen them before – neither in the comics nor the actual minis. Then again, I haven’t read much Dredd since the mid 80s. We had a good run in Sweden, Dredd was introduced with the quite awesome Wagner/Bolland period of Judge Cal, Kleggs, The Angels and all that jazz and had his own full colour monthly book for a few years. Good times, good times. I actually bought the old boxed GW RPG as a wee sprog (must’ve been around 10 or 11 at the time). We never really worked out the rules though. Seeing your project makes me want to get a few paperback collections of classic Dredd stuff, if such are available.
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Thanks Mattias. Although the HS2 suit (the bigger guy) has featured in the comics the miniature shown has a different look. Thats because it is Mongooses reworking of a Starship Troopers miniature by adding some Justice Dept styling. I like the end result, the head is very reminiscent of the turret of the Manta Prowl tank, which is cool. The HS2 design from the comics was pretty crummy anyway, so it all worked out for the best.
The HS1 suit is a direct copy of a suit used in a story in the Megazine.
The entirety of Dredds career is being currently being collected in chronological order in the Judge Dredd Case Files series, with the Book Depository selling them cheapest. They are big volumes too, so you get a lot of strip for your cash.
I am up to volume 8 currently, which is about 1984/1985 IIRC. Stories like City of the Damned if that means anything to you.
While the era that you describe is seminal Dredd and has some undeniably stone cold classic moments I find that I prefer the Dredd stuff from a little later, but its a matter of taste. The Cursed Earth/Judge Cal/Klegg/Angel Gang/Judge Child era is essential reading for a fan of course, but looks decidedly…retro these days.
I do know that if you havent read any Dredd from later than the mid eighties then you are in for a treat with some of the stuff that you havent seen. Although the comics went through a slump in the early nineties there are some genuinely brilliant stories if you fancy dipping into later stuff than you have seen.
The obvious recommendation is the “America” storyline, which is collected into a really nice trade. The stories span approximately 15 years. As time progresses in Dredds universe in parallel with our own (Dredd is in his seventies now!) the way the the America story unfolds is pretty cool.
You could do a lot worse than start with that. Let me know how you get on if you pick some Dredd stuff up. I could talk all day about it 🙂
Now if only Rebellion would get their asses in gear and give us another Dredd video game. A small XBLA game would be enough.
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Good work, Paul. JD was a big thing for me in my younger years and I still have folders full of the comics hidden away. I loved the Judge Child search, and Judge Death still gives me the creeps. As a capsule story, my favourite was the case of the body found in the moving home that had been driving for years on autopilot without anyone knowing there was no live human on board. Thanks for reminding me.
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Hi Andrew. I didnt know that you were an old school fan of 2000AD too.
The Judge Child story is downright bananas in places and in particular with some of the trippy, surreal space travel elements. Featuring the debut of the Angel Gang is a rather big Ace up its sleeve though.
My personal preference is for Dredd stories that are essentially cop dramas in the extreme environment of MC1, with oddball crimes like Organ Legging and Body Sharking to match, just like the story that you mentioned about the murder on the mo-pad. I have been trying to remember the name of that story since yesterday evening 🙂
I have a soft spot for “The Blood of Satanus”. I used to read 2000AD stuff from before my time when it was reprinted in the mid eighties. The first reprint featured The Blood of Satanus and while the story is more than a little daft, I loved the Ron Smith artwork.
Miniatures for the Dark Judges, the Angel Gang and the old Citadel Judge Child/Owen Krysler are in the pipeline. Hopefully I can draw some more nostalgia from you with those 🙂
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