Monday 26 December 2016

JDMG MC1 Perps - The Angel Gang

Probably the most infamous of the street gangs seen in the Judge Dredd series are the Angel Gang, who made their first appearance in Prog #160 (published in April 1980) when Judge Dredd was involved in the Judge Child Quest in the year 2102. Although four of them were killed in that story, (Fink did not appear in this story) three of them, Pa, Junior and Mean Machine were resurrected. To date, Mean Machine has fought Dredd more times than any other perp, such is his popularity with the strip's readers and writers.
Originally based in the Texas City Badlands, the Angel Gang were the terror of muties and norms alike, raiding settlements for fun and profit. Their exploits are legendary and it has taken the skills of Judge Dredd himself (more than once) to put an end to their reign of terror. Whether in the wilderness of the Cursed Earth or in Mega City One itself, the Angel Gang are downright the nastiest, orneriest and most sadistic family you are likely to find.
All of these 32mm scale figures shown below were produced by Wargames Foundry and are still available. From left to right are Pa Angel, Link Angel, Junior Angel, two Mean Machine Angels and Fink Angel with Ratty.
Hailing from Texas City, Elmer Angel (or "Pa" to his boys) was the leader of the infamous Angel Gang. He married and brought up four sons to form his criminal family, although his wife died while giving birth to the last Angel, Junior. He is the inventor of the "Pa Angel Mark One Super-Scream Torture Machine" - a unique torture device. He was ultimately captured by Dredd and confined in Iso-Block 666. In JDMG Pa is a Level:5 Punk Infantry Hero armed with a Handgun Pistol and Knife. He wears Leather Armour and has the following Talents - Brave, Close Combat Shooter, Crackshot, Drokk the Law, Fixer and Voice of Command. He is worth 205 Credits.
Link, the second eldest son, is fiercely loyal to his family. Though often eclipsed by the abilities, reputations and exploits of his brothers, Link is a solid member of the Angel Gang and can always be relied upon to continue the solid traditions of cruelty and brutal efficiency his Pa raised him to respect. Such are his rages and appetite for destruction that Pa is often forced to chain Link up to a pole outside the family home. He was killed in 2102 in an explosion accidentally caused by Mean Angel during the Judge Child quest. In JDMG Link is a Level:3 Punk Infantry Hero armed with a Handgun Pistol, Hand Bombs, Knife and Stump Gun Rifle. He wears Leather Armour and has the following Talents - Accurate, Below the Belt, Crackshot, Deadly Strike and Dirty Fighting. He is worth 195 Credits.
Junior is the youngest of the Angel Gang and some reckon, his Pa's favourite. Of all the Angels, it is Junior who tries to follow closely in his Pa's footsteps and he is ever eager to torture or maim any innocent who crosses his path. His Pa always looks on in fond glee, happy he has raised a near mirror image of his earlier self.  He was ultimately captured by Dredd and confined in Iso-Block 666. In JDMG Junior is a Level:2 Punk Infantry Hero armed with two Handgun Pistols, Hand Bombs and a Knife. He does not wear Armour and has the following Talents - Dual Shooter, Dual Pistol Master and Luck of Grud. He is worth 165 Credits.
I have two figures for Mean Machine Angel - one before he met Judge Dredd and one where he lost his left arm after unsuccessfully trying to ambush Dredd during the Judge Child Quest. As a boy, Mean was not bad at all, and he developed a love of flowers, birds and all the cute creatures found in the Badlands. Even when Link killed his pet rabbit, Mean could not find it in himself to hate anyone or anything, something which caused his Pa no end of consternation! In the end, Pa took his gang to Texas City to kidnap a doctor who performed radical surgery upon Mean in order to to make him the baddest, orneriest Angel of the whole family. His work was an unqualified success. Given an armoured body, a cybernetic claw and a "mood" dial, Mean was to forever be kept in a constant state of anger and aggression. He was ultimately killed in 2134-2135 while heroically assisting an uprising by slaves in the Cursed Earth, although it has been suggested that he may once again revive.
In JDMG Mean Machine is a Level:6 Punk Infantry Hero armed with a Cybernetic Claw, Handgun Pistol and Knife. He has Cyber Armour and has the following Talents - Below the Belt, Brave, Careless Charge, Deadly Strike, Dirty Fighting and Just Plain Lethal. Note, he appears to be missing a Talent as he only has 6 and he should have 7 for being at Level:6. I'll probably add an extra one to him when I do his Character Record Sheet. He is worth 325 Credits. His "mood" dial has four official settings - on 1 he is Surly, on 2 he is Mean, on 3 he is Vicious and on 4 he is Brutal. These settings affect his stats in different ways. If he is on 1 or 2 he may perform any action but on a 3+ he may only perform Move or Melee actions. If Mean suffers a Hit while on 4 or a Critical Hit any other time roll a die. On a 6+ he gets locked onto 4.5 and he'll stay there for the rest of the game. When mean is on 4.5, he is in an unstoppable rage, almost oblivious to his surroundings. On the start of each turn, roll a die. On a 1-3, the Angel Gang player's opponent will choose Mean's actions and move him, as he goes completely out of control. When Mean is on 4.5 he will automatically pass any Will to Fight checks. Mean starts each game on setting 1, but he, or another Angel gang member in base to base contact with him, can spend a Special Action to change his setting.
Fink is the eldest son of Pa Angel and probably the most intelligent by far. He wandered the Cursed Earth where he learnt his incredible skill with poisons, which allowed him to prey on any unfortunate he met on his travels. Despite his natural resilience, he soon succumbed to the constant background radiation of the wasteland and slowly transformed into a terrifying mutant - a downright Fink! Fink and Ratty were killed by Judge Dredd in the year 2104. In JDMG Fink is a Level:8 Punk Infantry Hero armed with a Pizzen Stick and Ratty. He wears no Armour and has the following Talents - Below the Belt, Deadly Strike, Dirty Fighting, Infiltrator, Just Plain Lethal, Martial Artist, Silent Action, Silent Killer and Stealthy. He is worth 285 Credits. Ratty, his pet mutant rat, grants him a +1D bonus to his Melee Dice. His Pizzen Stick is both a melee and ranged weapon with Range 12", 1D Shooting Dice, AP -1 and Damage D5.
It is doubtful if I'll use any of these characters in my JDMG campaign, but like the Dark Judges, they are such an integral part of Judge Dredd's history that any serious fan will want them in his collection.

18 comments:

  1. I joined the Angel Gang rather late and didn't really get into "2000AD" properly until Fink (and Ratty) decided to have his revenge on Dredd and Anderson. Great collection of minis Bryan, and some detailed explanations as to how they work in the game - always a good thing imho!!! Your paint-jobs on the two Mean Machines are the best of the bunch - but as always, there's plenty of wonderful brushwork to admire :-)

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    1. Thanks, Simon. By the way, Fink and Ratty took on Dredd and Hershey, not Anderson! See, we all make mistakes - "cough, Tom Baker, cough!"
      The one armed Mean Machine is my favourite figure out of this group and I should add that I much prefer the Foundry Angel Gang figures to the ones produced by Warlord Games, which I did not buy.

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    2. Sorry Bryan, I'm still reeling from the awful "Predator Vs Judge Dredd Vs Alien #3 I've just read!!

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    3. Ah, don't worry about it! It was an easy mistake to make. I thought the "Predator vs Judge Dredd vs Aliens" series was going well. It sounds like it's gone off the rails. I'm even more intrigued than ever to reading your review of it - hopefully soon?

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  2. I was delighted to see the much love actor who plays Hershel in The Walking Dead, also play the Angel family`s "Pa" in the Sylvester Stallone version of the Judge Dredd film. That tickled me pink when I found this out (as I watched the film recently... and loved every moment of it). So I immediately came to see and read about these guys when I saw the post was up. Excellently executed minis: you`re upping your game all the time with these latest batches.

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    1. It's true, Steve, Scott Wilson played both Pa Angel in the Stallone Dredd film and Hershel Greene in The Walking Dead. Two completely different characters. Yeah, it made me smile as well.

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  3. I think I still have Junior UNPAINTED in my bits box. Having see these I really must dig him out. Nice to see the Angel Family! Well No it is never nice to see the angel family if you live in MC1

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    1. I know what you mean about it being nice to see the Angel family - okay if they're just miniatures but not someone you'd ever want to meet in real life!

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  4. Marvelous job Bryan. I keep forgetting to get these as they have so many uses for post apocalyptic to sci fi

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    1. Absolutely right, Simon. If you ignore their names they are usable in many games.

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  5. CHRISTMAS CRACKERS!!! Awesome mate, these Angels are excellent. A great gang with loads of character, fitting enemies if they ever do a Dredd 2...

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    1. Cheers, Andy. I don't mind who Dredd takes on if ever a "Dredd 2" gets made - I'll just be happy it got made at all. There's lots of speculation about it but nothing concrete as yet.

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  6. Another smashing group of miniatures, Bryan I always thought the Angel gang was one of the best bits of the Sly movie (after the ABC warrior of course).

    Cheers Roger.

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    1. Thanks, Roger. Whilst I agree that seeing the Angel Gang in the Stallone Dredd film was one of the best bits, they were frankly, wasted and died too easily. Mean's make up was first rate but we saw far too little of him and the Angel Gang.

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  7. These guys look like rough customers. Really nice job Bryan.
    Like like how you do jeans. None look the same. Looking forward to the next batch :)

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    1. Many thanks, Roger. I still have loads more Dredd stuff to show. Keep watching!

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  8. What a great trip down memory lane, with this iconic gang. Fantastic painting to bring the characters to life Bryan

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    1. Thanks, Dave. The Angel Gang most certainly were iconic villains and once seen, they do stick in your memory.

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