Sunday 3 November 2013

Judge Dredd Miniatures Game rulebook

Okay, I know what you're thinking. Why on earth is Bryan reviewing the Judge Dredd Miniatures Game (JDMG) on a blog dedicated to the undead? Well, for a number of reasons, not least of which is that I am a huge fan of the Judge Dredd comic strip. I have been collecting the 2000AD comic ever since the first issue, which came out in the mid-1970's. On a more spurious note, JDMG does include rules for zombies, super zombies and a zombie master/mistress to lead them. There are even a couple of scenarios listed that heavily feature zombies, one of which is called "Zombie Apocalypse" and the other "Dekker's Last Stand" pits Judge Dekker and a small force of Judges against Sabbat's horde of zombies. Will she fare better with you in control? In the comic strip she was torn apart by the zombie horde.
The JDMG by Mongoose Games is developed from the old Gangs of Mega City One (GOMC1) rules with a lot more options. The biggest change is that players are no longer limited to controlling one of the many gangs of Mega City One. If you want to take charge of a force of Mega City One Judges (and who wouldn't?) the choice is there. Alternatively, you can play Judges from around the globe, with the Brit City Judges and the East Meg Judges receiving the most attention. Or you can decide you want to control one of the many criminal gangs, be it juves and punks, apes, robots, mobsters or others. There are a lot of options for players to choose from.
Once you have chosen your gang you can arm and equip them with a large variety of gear, limited only by the amount of credits you have at your disposal. You can make your heroes even tougher by allocating Talents to them. These are basically special skills that give the figure an advantage in either scenario play or campaign play. Talents are divided into four categories - skill, weapon, judge and psi. Only Judges may take judge talents and only psykers may take psi talents.
The rules are very simple using the igo-ugo system. One side has the option of movement. melee, shooting or special action, with each figure in their force being able to do two actions per turn. When all of their figures have activated, play moves over to the second player. Anyone familiar with the GOMC1 rules will pick up the new JDMG rules very quickly. Plus, the rules are simple enough that newcomers to the game should have no trouble in learning the game mechanics. The rulebook includes numerous scenarios which may be linked to form a campaign. In addition, they include some memorable encounters from the past that appeared in the comic, like "Dekker's Last Stand" mentioned above.
The rulebook is very professionally produced with full colour throughout its 240 pages. But for me, what makes this game so appealing are the figures and vehicles. I already had all of the figures that Mongoose produced for the GOMC1 game, and they are still available for this new version. The good news is that the range has vastly increased with more individual figures, boxed sets of forces and lots of vehicles. Manta Prowl Tank anyone? Yours for a mere £99.99. No, I don't have one, but believe me, I want one!
The JDMG rulebook costs £30.00. It is hard-backed and when I ordered mine, I received a free figure of Judge Dredd himself. I can highly recommend it, more so if you are a fan of Judge Dredd.

28 comments:

  1. My mate is collecting virtually everything from the new range but I'm a massive fan of Dredd, been reading the comics for decades!

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    1. You have good taste, Fran... and so does your friend.

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  2. I'm a fan of the comics, back in the 80's I had the RPG and some of the old Citadel figures.

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    1. Yes, so did I, Robert. Those were the days when Citadel figures were worth buying,

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  3. Ape gang or robot gang? Both have tempted me in the past, though the desire isn't high and I think I can shake this one off :-) .

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    1. Probably for the best, Hugh, if you have lots of other projects on the go.

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  4. Its an interesting game with some nice mini's Its not tempted me enough to delve into it though.

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    1. My answer to Hugh/Colgar6 applies to you too, Simon.

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  5. Iam the law. Will we see a battle report of the game?

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    1. It is something I'd love to do, Commissar80.

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  6. I bought the GOMC1 boxset, feels like it must have been about 8 years ago now, and I must say that I really wanted to get into it, but it just sort of sat there. As others have said, other projects just kept pushing this one down the priority list. Maybe if they had a psychotic Ronald McDonald, I might have had a specific project to convince to bump it up that list. Oh well.

    I do wish Mongoose would re-visit their line of Paranoia figures, maybe a Paranoia skirmish game with their rules. I'd get behind that.

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    1. I ran a successful campaign using the GOMC1 rules. My gang, the Slayers, came out on top, which was cool. As for Paranoia, it is many, many years since I played that. It was good fun but I only played it once.

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  7. Interesting - thanks for the review Bryan. As a related not, I saw the 95 Judge Dredd movie and the '12 Dredd movie the other night. Both are good in their own way, but so different as to be a) surprising that they're supposedly the same character and b) incomporable!

    Alos, I don't need yet another project damn you! ;)

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    1. On the whole, the Sylvester Stallone Dredd movie sucked whilst Karl Urban's Dredd rocked.

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    2. You think? hmm interesting opinion ...

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    3. I like the first movie even though Stallone took his helmet off and Dredd was kind of a fluffy, emotional Softie .
      I like the second movie although it has absolutely no discernible storyline. It does have a lot of DAKKA!

      Would this rulebook be useful if I ever re-activate my plans to create a Judge Dredd Mod for Chain Reaction 3.0 ?

      Whiteface / Oliver

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    4. it most certainly would, Oliver. I'd love to see a Judge Dredd supplement using the Chain reaction rules.

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  8. Awesome stuff. As a long term fan I got onto the JD Miniatures Kickstarter and have followed the whole project pretty enthusiastically. Oddly enough, of the stuff I got painted in the timer I was 'away' form blogging, I did finish some Judges and Perps and have even played the game. I'd love to see a Batrep. Good job Bryan!

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    1. As I mentioned earlier, I'd love to do a JDMG batrep. With the figures and card scenery I own I'm sure I could put on a good show.

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  9. I want to get involved, but I really don't want to build the scenery! And that does put me off. Without decent scenery/terrain how much of a different game will this be to say Necromunda? Like I said I do want to get involved. Issue 2 of 200AD nuff said as far as I'm concerned. I still have my old citadel Judges lawmasters and gangers!

    Nice review. I think I would have to go for some Fatties as my force all hooked on "the Wite stuff!"

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    1. I see your problem, Clint. Good scenery can make or break a game. When Necromunda first came out I immediately thought of Mega City One with regards to the scenery. With its ramps, walkways and multi-level buildings it would make a fine industrial zone.

      A fattie force could be quite intimidating.

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    2. A fattie group would also be very characterful and totally fit the background! Also I think fun and interesting to paint. Now where did I put my belly wheel?

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  10. It's interesting that Judge Dredd is being "revived", I was a fan way back when and have the original rpg rules and played the first board game too. I gave up on it when I realised I could never have a city like the one shown in White Dwarf (possibly of a game at a "Salute") years ago.

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    1. Yes, I remember that game board, Joe. At the time, scenery like that was just a dream. But nowadays, anything is possible.

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  11. I love this and was intoduced to 2000AD from Prog1. Been a Council of Judges Kickstarter supporter and some of the new miniatures have been really nice (although getting them has been a bit of a wait!!!)

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    1. I missed out on the Judge Dredd Kickstarter. If I had more disposable income I'd have definitely backed it. I know all about long waits for Kickstarter products to arrive, so I sympathise with you, Carl.

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  12. To Vampifan
    I like your work please tell me you have a deviant art account if so please send a message to noodle21000 and I shall follow you.I was not sure where to write this message. I really like the rooms and characters you make

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    1. Hi Jonathan. I don't have a Deviant art account but you can e-mail at vampifan@talktalk.net if you want.

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